To say TAR had a pretty busy couple of weeks in May would be like saying me and Nasty are husky. It would be true but quite an under statement. My brain is still fried from work, fun, not enough sleep and the wonderful madness that is the BCAPL Nationals in Vegas. I just wanted to post some pictures and a few of the memorable moments from a great couple of weeks.
The absolute best part of every event we do is seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The people we come in contact with are the best part of what we do. This one was no execption.
I could write a book about what I saw the last few weeks. Lot's of comedy, a little drama and even a bit of tradgedy. Since I am way too lazy for that I will just write some of the highlights that stick out in my mind and as always have some fun with photo captions.
First up was Hatch vs Appleton sponsored by OB Cues at Pool Sharks in Las Vegas. Pool Sharks owner John Kutcher went out of his way to make this event the success that it was. He was a generous host who worked harder than anyone. We owe John and his staff a great deal for all their help and hard work.
Dennis and Darren were great to work with and made the event a lot of fun for us. The match saw some ragged play, especially on the second day that both players admitted was due to some nerves. These are not average tournament or action matches. They really are something special to the players involved. Dennis was able to take down the dough by getting out in front of Darren and holding him off every time he made a charge.
This match saw the debut of some new equipment we recently went deep in the hole for. We believe it will set TAR apart from the crowd in the future and look forward to all the cool things it will make possible.
After the match at Pool Sharks ended Wednesday night we broke all the gear down, packed up the TAR Bus and moved the show over to the Riv. We set up the OB Cues TAR BAR all day Thursday. I want to say a special thank you to Royce Bunnell and Jessica Massey of OB Cues. They have been one of our biggest and longest running supporters. They are great people with a great company who go out of their way to support the game through many different avenues. Support the companies who support the game.
Thursday night we had a couple bangers ask if they could play some. Some little dude named Alex matched up with a kid from South Dakota named Shane. Just a little random action to kick off the week. Alex got the best of Shane but I suspect we will see more from these two for many years to come. I could watch them play forever. Ronnie Wiseman said "Somebody ought to just put up a little money and have these guys play here every year. We could see them develop and change over the next 10 years and know that every year in May there is going to be a special match." I think it is a hell of an idea. Like everything else in pool we just need the money.
Friday saw the kick off of Chris Bartram vs Rodney Morris. It was to be the beginning of Bartram Week in the TAR BAR. Chris played excellent for the entire first day, breaking well and playing safe like a monster. He was 11 games ahead in the 15 ahead at the end of the first day's play when Rodney caught a gear and put it on him. Rodney won the last 8 games to close the gap to 3 Ahead going into day 2.
I went to buy a hard drive on day 2 because we were running out of storage and by the time I got back it was over. Chris's break and execution were too much for Rodney to overcome. Rodney was a complete gentleman throughout the match as was Chris. There was some controversy over a few things and I suspect that things between Chris and Rodney are different now than when the match began but both guys showed up and played like the pro's they are. We want to thank them both very much.
After that it is a blur. Chris played seemingly any world beater walking by. First was Dennis Orcullo. The nicest guy on the planet and IMO one of the top two money players on it as well. A funny story:
Before the Rodney match Chris and I were sitting on a couch in the TAR BAR when Dennis walked in. He comes over sits on the arm of the couch, grabs Chris's arm and says "Hey Buddy!! How you doing? When we play?" Chris told him that if he won against Rodney and they made the game right he was in. Dennis then asks "How you play my friend?" and points to Roberto "Superman" Gomez. Chris says I don't know him. Someone else says "That is Gomez. Superman" Chris says something like "Superman ???" and without missing a beat Dennis says "Don't worry buddy. He may be Superman but you Bat Man!!!" I live for these moments LOL.
Chris went on to play Dennis and came up short. Actually he didn't come up he just ran into a monster. Dennis is truly on another level. To my knowledge Chris is the only American to play him four different times for serious money. Again I think we will see more from these two in the future.
Next up after Dennis was John Schmidt. John gave up the last two and they were off to the races. Chris defeated John after another ahead set battle. Time for another funny story:
After John lost I was sitting in the Predator Arena watching the matches with Bill Maropolis. Bill got up and went outside. He left a take out box of some BBQ ribs on the table. John came in a minute later and sat down. He opens the box of ribs and says to me "I hope these are poisoned." and began to eat with a vengeance. I laughed my ass off. Win or lose Schmitty is the best.
So the final standings are:
Bartram 2, US Open Winners 0, Little Monsters From Across The Sea 1.
Later that night I went with Jason Kirkwood, Chris and his brother Barry to try our luck at the dice table. We did good. To quote Bartram "FRONT LINE WINNER !!!!"
At this point I am just going to toss out some random stories and quotes:
Alex Pagulayan was talking about a guy he didn't like and dropped the following gem. Untranslated it went like this "Da next time dat mudderblanker comes to da Philippines I am gonna have his ass kidnapped!" Priceless.
After Yu Ram Cha beat Shane in the Predator event I saw her and told her "Nice match. That has to be a huge win for you." She said "Yes. It is revenge for the World Pool Masters. Now I want to play Stevie Moore. I like to revenge." LOL. Yu Ram has got heart and spirit.
This story might knock Chris Bartram's action a little but it shows his huge heart. Before the Schmidt match I honestly thought he made a bad game. I normally do not say a word to a player about my opinion on anything to do with a match up but I knew nothing I could say would change anything with Chris so I asked him "The last two?? Really ?". He looks at me serious as hell and says "Well if you think you can beat a guy even you are supposed to play with the last two aren't you?" I couldn't argue with that.
I was drinking late one night with the British contingent at the center bar at the Riv and Mick Hill was totally smashed. Mick proceeds to tell me that he will play Jesse Bowman bar table 8 ball for "all of the bleeping money you can possibly find." I said "Do you even know who Jesse Bowman is or what he looks like? Mick thinks for a second and says "No." LOL. Two days later I see him at the snack bar with no shoes on looking white as a sheet. He says "I have been asleep for 24 hours. Did you put me in a cab the other night cause I have no idea how I got to my room." Needless to say all matches discussed that night are on hold.
A different night at the bar Karl Boyes coming walking up in the middle of the casino holding an assembled cue like he is waiting his turn to play. There isn't a pool table around for a 100 yards. I ask him WTF? Seems Karl didn't bring a cue and had to borrow one. "No case either pal" he says. I LOL. Next day I see him carrying around the same cue but this time he added a break cue. As I laughed my ass off at him again I said "Karl, go back to the same people you got the cues from and ask for a damn case. You look like an idiot." Sure enough the next time I see him he has a nice new case on his shoulder. I told Chad the story and he said "I know, I asked Karl about the case and he said he had to get one because people were laughing at him." The last day I passed him and he had all the stuff with him. I asked where he was going and he said "Got return this stuff pal" I love Karl Boyes.
If you are still with me I just want to say that the people responsible for the BCAPL Nationals deserve sainthood. Mark Griffin and his staff work hard for many months to put this on. Bill and Glenna Stock, David Vandenbergh and the entire BCAPL office staff work 18 hour days during this thing. It is truly impressive to witness.
The other team responsible for the event is Ric and Bonnie Jones of Bad Boy's Billiard Productions. They turn empty rooms into a tournament and make sure everything runs all week. Ken Shuman and Bill Stock organize and run all of the referee's needed for the event as well. These people are what make an event out of nothing. They never get the attention they deserve and they do not seek it. To borrow a term from the Army Special Forces they are quiet professionals and deserve many thanks from all who enjoy this event.
Man, this is longer than I thought. Enough of my rambling, on to the pictures.
Unlike previous posts I did not take all of these photos. I have done my best to credit them to the proper photographers. Most came from Samm Diep, Sunny Griffin, Andy Chen and myself.
These were taken at Pool Sharks by Ray V. Photography in Las Vegas.
Dennis Hatch in front of our new and IMO bad ass TAR banner.
Me in the new and improved TAR nerve center. I am online looking to buy more video crap.
Nasty and Ken Shuman in the booth. After looking at this I think we need a bigger booth.
Wide shot of the Pit at Pool Sharks. Very cool set up.
MC Alex and DJ Rodney on the ones and twos.
Darren has a running joke with Chad and I. He comes up to us and says "Give us a kiss pal" then either makes a smooching sound or actually gives us a kiss on the cheek. The look on bystanders faces is priceless. After the match I was trying to lighten the mood a little and told Daz to "Give us a kiss pal" Darren is the nuts.
This would never happen.
TAR has instituted a strict new formal dress code.
A shot of the TAR BAR during the Alex/SVB set. Photo by Andy Chen
A shot of Andy Chen rocking the TAR patch. Andy is a freaking video whiz who we hope to have doing some work with us very soon. Hell of a nice guy too.
The absolute best part of every event we do is seeing old friends and meeting new ones. The people we come in contact with are the best part of what we do. This one was no execption.
I could write a book about what I saw the last few weeks. Lot's of comedy, a little drama and even a bit of tradgedy. Since I am way too lazy for that I will just write some of the highlights that stick out in my mind and as always have some fun with photo captions.
First up was Hatch vs Appleton sponsored by OB Cues at Pool Sharks in Las Vegas. Pool Sharks owner John Kutcher went out of his way to make this event the success that it was. He was a generous host who worked harder than anyone. We owe John and his staff a great deal for all their help and hard work.
Dennis and Darren were great to work with and made the event a lot of fun for us. The match saw some ragged play, especially on the second day that both players admitted was due to some nerves. These are not average tournament or action matches. They really are something special to the players involved. Dennis was able to take down the dough by getting out in front of Darren and holding him off every time he made a charge.
This match saw the debut of some new equipment we recently went deep in the hole for. We believe it will set TAR apart from the crowd in the future and look forward to all the cool things it will make possible.
After the match at Pool Sharks ended Wednesday night we broke all the gear down, packed up the TAR Bus and moved the show over to the Riv. We set up the OB Cues TAR BAR all day Thursday. I want to say a special thank you to Royce Bunnell and Jessica Massey of OB Cues. They have been one of our biggest and longest running supporters. They are great people with a great company who go out of their way to support the game through many different avenues. Support the companies who support the game.
Thursday night we had a couple bangers ask if they could play some. Some little dude named Alex matched up with a kid from South Dakota named Shane. Just a little random action to kick off the week. Alex got the best of Shane but I suspect we will see more from these two for many years to come. I could watch them play forever. Ronnie Wiseman said "Somebody ought to just put up a little money and have these guys play here every year. We could see them develop and change over the next 10 years and know that every year in May there is going to be a special match." I think it is a hell of an idea. Like everything else in pool we just need the money.
Friday saw the kick off of Chris Bartram vs Rodney Morris. It was to be the beginning of Bartram Week in the TAR BAR. Chris played excellent for the entire first day, breaking well and playing safe like a monster. He was 11 games ahead in the 15 ahead at the end of the first day's play when Rodney caught a gear and put it on him. Rodney won the last 8 games to close the gap to 3 Ahead going into day 2.
I went to buy a hard drive on day 2 because we were running out of storage and by the time I got back it was over. Chris's break and execution were too much for Rodney to overcome. Rodney was a complete gentleman throughout the match as was Chris. There was some controversy over a few things and I suspect that things between Chris and Rodney are different now than when the match began but both guys showed up and played like the pro's they are. We want to thank them both very much.
After that it is a blur. Chris played seemingly any world beater walking by. First was Dennis Orcullo. The nicest guy on the planet and IMO one of the top two money players on it as well. A funny story:
Before the Rodney match Chris and I were sitting on a couch in the TAR BAR when Dennis walked in. He comes over sits on the arm of the couch, grabs Chris's arm and says "Hey Buddy!! How you doing? When we play?" Chris told him that if he won against Rodney and they made the game right he was in. Dennis then asks "How you play my friend?" and points to Roberto "Superman" Gomez. Chris says I don't know him. Someone else says "That is Gomez. Superman" Chris says something like "Superman ???" and without missing a beat Dennis says "Don't worry buddy. He may be Superman but you Bat Man!!!" I live for these moments LOL.
Chris went on to play Dennis and came up short. Actually he didn't come up he just ran into a monster. Dennis is truly on another level. To my knowledge Chris is the only American to play him four different times for serious money. Again I think we will see more from these two in the future.
Next up after Dennis was John Schmidt. John gave up the last two and they were off to the races. Chris defeated John after another ahead set battle. Time for another funny story:
After John lost I was sitting in the Predator Arena watching the matches with Bill Maropolis. Bill got up and went outside. He left a take out box of some BBQ ribs on the table. John came in a minute later and sat down. He opens the box of ribs and says to me "I hope these are poisoned." and began to eat with a vengeance. I laughed my ass off. Win or lose Schmitty is the best.
So the final standings are:
Bartram 2, US Open Winners 0, Little Monsters From Across The Sea 1.
Later that night I went with Jason Kirkwood, Chris and his brother Barry to try our luck at the dice table. We did good. To quote Bartram "FRONT LINE WINNER !!!!"
At this point I am just going to toss out some random stories and quotes:
Alex Pagulayan was talking about a guy he didn't like and dropped the following gem. Untranslated it went like this "Da next time dat mudderblanker comes to da Philippines I am gonna have his ass kidnapped!" Priceless.
After Yu Ram Cha beat Shane in the Predator event I saw her and told her "Nice match. That has to be a huge win for you." She said "Yes. It is revenge for the World Pool Masters. Now I want to play Stevie Moore. I like to revenge." LOL. Yu Ram has got heart and spirit.
This story might knock Chris Bartram's action a little but it shows his huge heart. Before the Schmidt match I honestly thought he made a bad game. I normally do not say a word to a player about my opinion on anything to do with a match up but I knew nothing I could say would change anything with Chris so I asked him "The last two?? Really ?". He looks at me serious as hell and says "Well if you think you can beat a guy even you are supposed to play with the last two aren't you?" I couldn't argue with that.
I was drinking late one night with the British contingent at the center bar at the Riv and Mick Hill was totally smashed. Mick proceeds to tell me that he will play Jesse Bowman bar table 8 ball for "all of the bleeping money you can possibly find." I said "Do you even know who Jesse Bowman is or what he looks like? Mick thinks for a second and says "No." LOL. Two days later I see him at the snack bar with no shoes on looking white as a sheet. He says "I have been asleep for 24 hours. Did you put me in a cab the other night cause I have no idea how I got to my room." Needless to say all matches discussed that night are on hold.
A different night at the bar Karl Boyes coming walking up in the middle of the casino holding an assembled cue like he is waiting his turn to play. There isn't a pool table around for a 100 yards. I ask him WTF? Seems Karl didn't bring a cue and had to borrow one. "No case either pal" he says. I LOL. Next day I see him carrying around the same cue but this time he added a break cue. As I laughed my ass off at him again I said "Karl, go back to the same people you got the cues from and ask for a damn case. You look like an idiot." Sure enough the next time I see him he has a nice new case on his shoulder. I told Chad the story and he said "I know, I asked Karl about the case and he said he had to get one because people were laughing at him." The last day I passed him and he had all the stuff with him. I asked where he was going and he said "Got return this stuff pal" I love Karl Boyes.
If you are still with me I just want to say that the people responsible for the BCAPL Nationals deserve sainthood. Mark Griffin and his staff work hard for many months to put this on. Bill and Glenna Stock, David Vandenbergh and the entire BCAPL office staff work 18 hour days during this thing. It is truly impressive to witness.
The other team responsible for the event is Ric and Bonnie Jones of Bad Boy's Billiard Productions. They turn empty rooms into a tournament and make sure everything runs all week. Ken Shuman and Bill Stock organize and run all of the referee's needed for the event as well. These people are what make an event out of nothing. They never get the attention they deserve and they do not seek it. To borrow a term from the Army Special Forces they are quiet professionals and deserve many thanks from all who enjoy this event.
Man, this is longer than I thought. Enough of my rambling, on to the pictures.
Unlike previous posts I did not take all of these photos. I have done my best to credit them to the proper photographers. Most came from Samm Diep, Sunny Griffin, Andy Chen and myself.
These were taken at Pool Sharks by Ray V. Photography in Las Vegas.
Dennis Hatch in front of our new and IMO bad ass TAR banner.
Me in the new and improved TAR nerve center. I am online looking to buy more video crap.
Nasty and Ken Shuman in the booth. After looking at this I think we need a bigger booth.
Wide shot of the Pit at Pool Sharks. Very cool set up.
MC Alex and DJ Rodney on the ones and twos.
Darren has a running joke with Chad and I. He comes up to us and says "Give us a kiss pal" then either makes a smooching sound or actually gives us a kiss on the cheek. The look on bystanders faces is priceless. After the match I was trying to lighten the mood a little and told Daz to "Give us a kiss pal" Darren is the nuts.
This would never happen.
TAR has instituted a strict new formal dress code.
A shot of the TAR BAR during the Alex/SVB set. Photo by Andy Chen
A shot of Andy Chen rocking the TAR patch. Andy is a freaking video whiz who we hope to have doing some work with us very soon. Hell of a nice guy too.
