I'm back in the Philippines, spending the holidays here with my daughter and a girl friend. Kind of sad really with no close family around me, but that's life. I've spent a lifetime in the pool world, sometimes to the detriment of my family life and these are the consequences.
Been here nearly two weeks and finally walked into a little poolroom in Davao yesterday to check out the action. They were playing partners Rotation for small stakes and all four players were competent, probably a lot better than me right now. It's important to be honest with yourself about your current speed and mine is maybe C speed right now, having played only league pool the last few months.
I got into a friendly conversation with a guy watching the game standing next to me. His name was Adoy and he told me about when Dennis Orcollo first came through here in the late 90's wearing shorts, sandals and a plain white t-shirt. No one knew how good he was and Dennis beat everyone before they figured it out.
I showed him a cool little shot and pretty soon a lot of people were curious, so I showed them a few more. There were smiles all around and that made me feel good and to be accepted. I had to leave then but told them I would return later. When I came back this morning Adoy was there and asks me to play some with him. Turns out he is one of the owners of this room (maybe the only one). He was practicing Ten Ball, just throwing all ten balls on the table, spotting the one and shooting the opening shot from behind the line. When he missed he handed me a cue, a dirty old house cue with tape around the butt. It was fairly straight with a decent tip so here we go.
You've got to know how challenging it is to play here in wet humid conditions (you will work up a sweat - no aircon here!). The table plays funny and the rails are all different and the pockets look large but are very shallow and reject a lot of shots, but once you figure it out you can play. At first he won every game, but after maybe three or four games I won a couple. We were playing for nothing, absolutely zero! Just playing to play the game and that's cool with me. I still love the challenge that the game of pool presented to me over fifty years ago. I started getting the feel of the cue, the balls, the rails and the pockets and I was winning some games. Finally I made a nice run out and all the people watching gave me a little cheer. Now I was winning most of the games and Adoy was struggling to win one. He was working hard to beat me, not wanting to lose to an American. After a couple of hours he told me last game as there were people waiting to play on the table and pay time. When we quit (I banked the ten to win the last game) I asked him if I owed any table time and he just ignored me. That was my answer.
I left feeling good that I had conducted myself well and made some new friends. Pool is once again my refuge from loneliness and isolation. When I'm on the table all is right in my world. After all these years that's about all I have sometimes, my love for the game.
Been here nearly two weeks and finally walked into a little poolroom in Davao yesterday to check out the action. They were playing partners Rotation for small stakes and all four players were competent, probably a lot better than me right now. It's important to be honest with yourself about your current speed and mine is maybe C speed right now, having played only league pool the last few months.
I got into a friendly conversation with a guy watching the game standing next to me. His name was Adoy and he told me about when Dennis Orcollo first came through here in the late 90's wearing shorts, sandals and a plain white t-shirt. No one knew how good he was and Dennis beat everyone before they figured it out.
I showed him a cool little shot and pretty soon a lot of people were curious, so I showed them a few more. There were smiles all around and that made me feel good and to be accepted. I had to leave then but told them I would return later. When I came back this morning Adoy was there and asks me to play some with him. Turns out he is one of the owners of this room (maybe the only one). He was practicing Ten Ball, just throwing all ten balls on the table, spotting the one and shooting the opening shot from behind the line. When he missed he handed me a cue, a dirty old house cue with tape around the butt. It was fairly straight with a decent tip so here we go.
You've got to know how challenging it is to play here in wet humid conditions (you will work up a sweat - no aircon here!). The table plays funny and the rails are all different and the pockets look large but are very shallow and reject a lot of shots, but once you figure it out you can play. At first he won every game, but after maybe three or four games I won a couple. We were playing for nothing, absolutely zero! Just playing to play the game and that's cool with me. I still love the challenge that the game of pool presented to me over fifty years ago. I started getting the feel of the cue, the balls, the rails and the pockets and I was winning some games. Finally I made a nice run out and all the people watching gave me a little cheer. Now I was winning most of the games and Adoy was struggling to win one. He was working hard to beat me, not wanting to lose to an American. After a couple of hours he told me last game as there were people waiting to play on the table and pay time. When we quit (I banked the ten to win the last game) I asked him if I owed any table time and he just ignored me. That was my answer.
I left feeling good that I had conducted myself well and made some new friends. Pool is once again my refuge from loneliness and isolation. When I'm on the table all is right in my world. After all these years that's about all I have sometimes, my love for the game.
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