Fats and Mosconi actually played some pool in 1978. Unfortunately, this was not.
Shane Van Boening on "60 Minutes," December 4, 7:30 p.m. Eastern
- Thread starter JAM
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would you care to share why you have this opinion of him
on another topic not directed to "trob"...i know most of the ill-tempered hot headed gamblers in this area and wonder which one threw the pool ball which struck Shane...i've got two likely suspects
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Shane is a little misrepresented in regards to gambling, but I don't really see an issue with it. I thought it was a very well thought out piece covering pool. An uncle of mine, that knows I play pool even texted me asking if I was going to watch this 60 minute piece on pool. So I think the coverage definitely didn't hurt.
Shane or my uncle....That's a good point actually. Unless playing maybe Gorst and or 1 or 2 others at that game, he's really just "pooling" the money together.does he gamble when playing winner break 10B?
I don't consider playing a challenge match for money (an entry fee), to be gambling. It is a competition of skill, a 2-person tournament. Gambling is when someone bets on an outcome over which he has no control (like a horse race, or the spin of a roulette wheel, or someone else's pool match).
BlueRaider
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I thought they might have been referring to hustling but just called it gambling.
I sometimes provide written documents for TV shows and documentary films, and it is amazing how many hours they film, to include B rolls, just to get 13 minutes, as in this case, of video. I would venture to guess the "60 Minutes" crew filmed several hours and thereafter edited it to this brief 13-minute segment.
I thought the segment was brilliant. Jon Wertheim wrote a book about pool, "Running the Table," featuring Kid Delicious, which was supposed to be turned into a movie by Lions Gate, though Lions Gate dropped it land did not proceed with the movie. I met Wertheim in 2004 at the Glass City Open in Toledo where he was following Danny Basavich around and interviewing others about pool in general. He was working for "Sports Illustrated" at that time.
It was fun to see people we know on the "60 Minutes" segment "The South Dakota Kid," even though it was so brief. I saw Jay Helfert whispering to Alex Pagulayan on the rail, sweating a match, quite a few Filipino pool stars, Fedor, Joshua, Jayson, Karl Boyes, one of the Ko brothers, Van-Van, and many others at Derby City Classic. The tall guy gambling in the photo, that's Jean-Robert Bellande, a well-known poker player who goes to the DCC and gambles high as the Georgia pine and pays off in bitcoin, so I was told. That's LilJon behind him on the rail.
A little tidbit about the life of a professional pool player: "Shane Van Boening spends 300 days a year on the road playing professional pool." This should put the rumor to rest that so-and-so makes $100,000 in pool and it's doable because if the best player in the world says after taxes, it is less than six figures, that tells the story. Expenses and taxes are brutal in professional pool.
Finally, the truth comes out about how much money one can make in pool.
WERTHEIM: What can a top player make?
SHANE: A top player in pool can make only six figures. After expenses, maybe five figures.
WERTHEIM: No one is making a million bucks—
SHANE: No.
WERTHEIM: —as a pool player?
SHANE: That's never happened.
Who is the jerk-off in Tennessee that threw a cueball into young Shane's chest when he was on the road with his uncle? That's when Shane said no more gambling on the road. I get it. I had a gun pulled on me in Dalton, Georgia, when my counterpart was gambling on a bar box. It's legal to carry guns in Georgia—well, at least it was back in the '80s.
I thought he segment was great. Shane was perfect! Best line of the show. SHANE: "Jayson who?" Hahahahaha!
A few screenshots which need no labels. Y'all know who's who.
I thought the segment was brilliant. Jon Wertheim wrote a book about pool, "Running the Table," featuring Kid Delicious, which was supposed to be turned into a movie by Lions Gate, though Lions Gate dropped it land did not proceed with the movie. I met Wertheim in 2004 at the Glass City Open in Toledo where he was following Danny Basavich around and interviewing others about pool in general. He was working for "Sports Illustrated" at that time.
It was fun to see people we know on the "60 Minutes" segment "The South Dakota Kid," even though it was so brief. I saw Jay Helfert whispering to Alex Pagulayan on the rail, sweating a match, quite a few Filipino pool stars, Fedor, Joshua, Jayson, Karl Boyes, one of the Ko brothers, Van-Van, and many others at Derby City Classic. The tall guy gambling in the photo, that's Jean-Robert Bellande, a well-known poker player who goes to the DCC and gambles high as the Georgia pine and pays off in bitcoin, so I was told. That's LilJon behind him on the rail.
A little tidbit about the life of a professional pool player: "Shane Van Boening spends 300 days a year on the road playing professional pool." This should put the rumor to rest that so-and-so makes $100,000 in pool and it's doable because if the best player in the world says after taxes, it is less than six figures, that tells the story. Expenses and taxes are brutal in professional pool.
Finally, the truth comes out about how much money one can make in pool.
WERTHEIM: What can a top player make?
SHANE: A top player in pool can make only six figures. After expenses, maybe five figures.
WERTHEIM: No one is making a million bucks—
SHANE: No.
WERTHEIM: —as a pool player?
SHANE: That's never happened.
Who is the jerk-off in Tennessee that threw a cueball into young Shane's chest when he was on the road with his uncle? That's when Shane said no more gambling on the road. I get it. I had a gun pulled on me in Dalton, Georgia, when my counterpart was gambling on a bar box. It's legal to carry guns in Georgia—well, at least it was back in the '80s.
I thought he segment was great. Shane was perfect! Best line of the show. SHANE: "Jayson who?" Hahahahaha!
A few screenshots which need no labels. Y'all know who's who.
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The tall guy gambling at Derby is JRB. He was on Survivor back in the day and is always on late night poker for huge action. He is always in action at Griff's as well for big money playing one pocket. His one pocket game has got much better over the years and everyone always gives him huge spots because he has all the money!
Thanks for the info. Somebody on FB helped me out. His full name is Jean-Robert Bellande. He's the Big Kahuna for action players. You can win big if you can outrun him, but you can also lose a big chunk of change. Tough action in some ways, especially if you can't handicap his game correctly.
The 60 minutes segment was great. No complaints.
Michigan's poker winning, one-pocket playing, action match making man -- Tom Medina was also spotted in the Derby segment.
I was skeptical this would be a positive piece, and while my skepticism was warranted, the piece was excellent.
I was skeptical this would be a positive piece, and while my skepticism was warranted, the piece was excellent.
I thought it was great.came across very positively. Nice story on Shane!
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BlueRaider
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I loved this. Had it been a little longer, I'd like to have seen a very quick breakdown of equipment differences. The layperson doesn't immediately recognize the difference between a 7' Valley, which is what many people associate pool with in America, and a 9' Diamond that pros play on.
I would also like to have seen a longer segment of Shane showing the reporter how to run a rack, or at least shots of a little more spectacle than a simple stop shot (and knowing that the reporter wrote a book about pool, I imagine he was playing up his amazement at such a simple shot...or maybe not).
All in all though, it was wonderful to see the modern state of pool on a national broadcast like that. I had a weird feeling of pride while it was on, like my secret obsession was being revealed to the world as a positive underdog that just needs a little attention and, well, money to thrive.
I would also like to have seen a longer segment of Shane showing the reporter how to run a rack, or at least shots of a little more spectacle than a simple stop shot (and knowing that the reporter wrote a book about pool, I imagine he was playing up his amazement at such a simple shot...or maybe not).
All in all though, it was wonderful to see the modern state of pool on a national broadcast like that. I had a weird feeling of pride while it was on, like my secret obsession was being revealed to the world as a positive underdog that just needs a little attention and, well, money to thrive.
Great segment. Emily is absolutely right about all of it - except for the purple five.
I don't know if Wertheim was just playing it up for the camera, but it is strange that he seems to know so little about pool if he has written a book about it (the astonishment about a stop shot). Not an insult, just an observation- I'm happy they ran this segment. Hopefully more mainstream coverage will follow
She even mentioned, when asked about cash games/gambling, how she did not want to mess with the history of the game, and I was screaming in my head: "then what about the purple 5????"
