The best banker thread got me to thinking.....
- Thread starter DrOnePocket
- Start date
That's because no one will play him any banks...
DrOnePocket
Banned
I watch Tony play 1 pocket most of the weekend and saw a few incredible banks, but mostly just routine 1 pocket banks that he executed well. I guess you have to actually watch bank pool to see his true form
Tony plays good no doubt on full rack banks. He moves really good, but how does he do playing short rack or Chicago style where every ball counts down to the last one and you play to a certain number such as first to 31 banks or whatever. That takes some of the moving out of it and opens the offense side more. I think Breedlove held his own with Tony playing some bank pool one handed jacked up (short or long I do not know) but I could be wrong about that as I was not there and only heard it through the grapevine.
Also another item about Tony Fargo. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame 2 years ago at the Derby (first one at the Casino in Indiana) and he did not even show up for the dinner and I thought that was too bad, I am pretty sure he was there for the event. Those guys who put that together are great. I wish he could have been there so I could have had some sense of Tony as person, it was great hearing Jack Cooney and Flyboy tell some stories.
Also another item about Tony Fargo. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame 2 years ago at the Derby (first one at the Casino in Indiana) and he did not even show up for the dinner and I thought that was too bad, I am pretty sure he was there for the event. Those guys who put that together are great. I wish he could have been there so I could have had some sense of Tony as person, it was great hearing Jack Cooney and Flyboy tell some stories.
Thank you. That was the year of the brutal ice storm. Tony did not get to the Derby at all that year -- he definitely was not on site.
I was there too! Tony ended up with the money on day two and Mike quit. I was surprised to see how good Mike played Banks.
As much as I like Tony, I'd have to rate Truman over him, in his prime. Maybe somebody can correct me, but this is my observation. Gary Spaeth was another monster banker and believe it or not, Wade Crane as well. I'm not so sure that a younger Donny Anderson wasn't also a better player.
Don't get me wrong, Tony always has been one of the country's best Bank Pool players, but to say he is THE BEST, I'm not so sure. In the 80's I would have rated them like this. 1. Bugs 2. Donny Anderson 3. Truman 4. Tony Fargo. Romberg is another one who would have been up there.
From the mid 80's til his death in 2000, there wasn't a bank pool player in the world who could beat Gary. Only a few would play him even and no one got the dough from him. He almost ruined bank pool tournaments winning every one he entered during this time period. The only player in that time that might have had a chance was Mark Tadd but they never played. Donnie, Eddie Taylor and Bugs were a little past their prime when Gary reached his peak so it's like the old "Joe Louis vs Mohammed Ali" thing, but for about 15 years Gary Spaeth was the BEST in the world! I was there, I staked him against all the top players, there was no doubt about it! We used to joke about his luck, being the best in the world at something that you couldn't get paid for!