Rafael Martinez.....??

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Shane used to play with his tip completely wore down to the ferrule as well. No side walls. Just a radius sitting on a ferrule. He made it work. I like mine 3/32” to start with in a new tip. Funny how everyone likes a different thing.

I saw Mike Davis at an event in Grand Central in NYC and his tip was also down to the nubs. Jimbo was sitting next to me and he leans over to Mike and says, "Your cue mechanic doesn't do tips?"

Lou Figueroa
 
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7stud

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Look how solid he is at the table! Nothing moves except his piston like right arm. Absolutely zero movement in his head or his body when he shoots. Talk about staying down on the shot. This is textbook. Rafael is sold as a rock! I loved watching him shoot. He was a terror for the cash too. The man had no dog in him! I used to introduce him as "El poco hombre con el grande corazon!"
The thing I noticed about his stroke on that bank shot at 30:58 in the other video (see post #33) is: it looks like he stopped his forward stroke when his elbow reached 90 degrees, i.e. he had very little follow through, despite hitting the CB very hard. You can tell by the way he was winding up on his practice strokes that he was going to let his stroke out, then he delivered a ferocious, compact punch.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
tried watching that but it gave me a headache. beyond blurry.
I love this match. This was when Francisco ruled Germany and pretty much all of Europe. Rafael stopped in to put an ass whipping on him. Look how solid he is at the table! Nothing moves except his piston like right arm. Absolutely zero movement in his head or his body when he shoots. Talk about staying down on the shot. This is textbook. Rafael is sold as a rock! I loved watching him shoot. He was a terror for the cash too. The man had no dog in him! I used to introduce him as "El poco hombre con el grande corazon!"
 

Dead Money

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I saw RM at a few Fast Eddies tour stops in Texas when that was going on still. There was a guy named Jui Lung Chen that seemed to be the top guy at most of those events from what I remember. Marco Marquez was at a few as well.

LOL this is cool...a quick google turned this up- I lived up to my Name Sake at this event btw.

 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
I love this match. This was when Francisco ruled Germany and pretty much all of Europe. Rafael stopped in to put an ass whipping on him. Look how solid he is at the table! Nothing moves except his piston-like right arm. Absolutely zero movement in his head or his body when he shoots. Talk about staying down on the shot. This is textbook. Rafael is sold as a rock! I loved watching him shoot. He was a terror for the cash too. The man had no dog in him! I used to introduce him as "El poco hombre con el grande corazon!"
Rafael was muy chingon in this one! I love the shots of Bustie's reactions. He goes from "I got this, no problem" to "this might be a little more work than I expected" to "what decisions have I made that brought me to this point in life and how can I not repeat them". Finally, when Rafael gets on the last rack, he looks relieved.

Here's a match featuring Martinez that has better video quality

I love Rafael's out in the second rack. He just fires those banks in.
 
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jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Rafael was muy chingon in this one! I love the shots of Bustie's reactions. He goes from "I got this, no problem" to "this might be a little more work than I expected" to "what decisions have I made that brought me to this point in life and how can I not repeat them". Finally, when Rafael gets on the last rack, he looks relieved.


I love Rafael's out in the second rack. He just fires those banks in.
I love this match. Check out how Rafael hits the bank on the nine to get on the ten in the second game. Only a handful of players could make that shot. Rafael's mastery of the cue ball is simply awesome. He delivers touches of english with precision to guide the cue ball where he wants it. Late in the match he comes back from 7-5 down to make it hill-hill at 7 each. Rafael proceeds to make a beautiful run out, only to be left with a very touchy shot into the narrow side pocket on the nine ball. He hits it good but it catches the point and stays out. The important thing for me here is that Rafael did not dog the shot. He hit it good and got good shape on the ten. It was just one of those shots that can be missed by anybody. You are watching one of the premier cue artists of his generation. Superb!
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I watched RM play Corey in a late night gambling match at DCC in '07. Rafael had just been knocked out of the 9b and was PISSED OFF. He came in the 'practice room' and immediately got down playin Duel. He proceeded to absolutely TORCH Corey for a pretty good sized stack. Master class performance of power run-out pool. Rafael also finished second(Silver O. won btw) in Gabe Owen's T-Town 1p event in Tulsa in 2010. He came with some shots that were just off-the-charts. He put some shit on Scott Frost that turpentine won't take off.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rafael was muy chingon in this one! I love the shots of Bustie's reactions. He goes from "I got this, no problem" to "this might be a little more work than I expected" to "what decisions have I made that brought me to this point in life and how can I not repeat them". Finally, when Rafael gets on the last rack, he looks relieved.


I love Rafael's out in the second rack. He just fires those banks in.
Here's the final:
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rafael was muy chingon in this one! I love the shots of Bustie's reactions. He goes from "I got this, no problem" to "this might be a little more work than I expected" to "what decisions have I made that brought me to this point in life and how can I not repeat them". Finally, when Rafael gets on the last rack, he looks relieved.


I love Rafael's out in the second rack. He just fires those banks in.
I agree- never seen someone fire in banks like that- he made it seem like he was shooting hangers!
 

galipeau

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
He used to hang around the joint cue in Sacramento when I worked there. Regret not playing with him. He wasn't the type to hand out lessons, and I was a small fry back then so not much incentive for him I guess.
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I love this match. Check out how Rafael hits the bank on the nine to get on the ten in the second game. Only a handful of players could make that shot. Rafael's mastery of the cue ball is simply awesome. He delivers touches of english with precision to guide the cue ball where he wants it. Late in the match he comes back from 7-5 down to make it hill-hill at 7 each. Rafael proceeds to make a beautiful run out, only to be left with a very touchy shot into the narrow side pocket on the nine ball. He hits it good but it catches the point and stays out. The important thing for me here is that Rafael did not dog the shot. He hit it good and got good shape on the ten. It was just one of those shots that can be missed by anybody. You are watching one of the premier cue artists of his generation. Superb!
That last rack was certainly tricky. I think Rafael may have wanted more of an angle on the 8 so he didn’t have to play such a touchy shot on the 9- meaning if he had more of an angle he could have set up for the 9 in the left corner instead
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
Check out how Rafael hits the bank on the nine to get on the ten in the second game.
There's a couple of other games from that tournament on YouTube. In Rafael's next game the announcer says "Did you see that 9 ball he stabbed through the heart last night?"

He wasn't the type to hand out lessons
What do you mean? I just watched him take Bustie to school! I was at the Jointed Cue the other day, I'd "let" him take my money just to see someone shoot like that up close!

He plays some nice one pocket here:
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
There's a couple of other games from that tournament on YouTube. In Rafael's next game the announcer says "Did you see that 9 ball he stabbed through the heart last night?"


What do you mean? I just watched him take Bustie to school! I was at the Jointed Cue the other day, I'd "let" him take my money just to see someone shoot like that up close!

He plays some nice one pocket here:
Rafael miscued on his first shot of the match, lol
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
One observation I made while watching the match vs Deuel is that Martinez used an open bridge on every shot except the break and rail shots
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There's a couple of other games from that tournament on YouTube. In Rafael's next game the announcer says "Did you see that 9 ball he stabbed through the heart last night?"


What do you mean? I just watched him take Bustie to school! I was at the Jointed Cue the other day, I'd "let" him take my money just to see someone shoot like that up close!

He plays some nice one pocket here:
Who were the commentators for this match?
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Some guy named Spanky and Stevie Moore. Stevie Moore was a pro at the time and I guess the other fellow was just an enthusiast.
I remember Stevie Moore really well- actually spoke with him for a while at Hard Times- very friendly guy. Does he still play?
 
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