Today NCS qualifier: Illinois State 14.1 Championship May 30-31 Red Shoes Billiards

Rich93 said:
Too busy playing 9-ball and 8-ball. They love the big breaks and loud noise - it's a testosterone thing. Also, the biggest break means the guy has the biggest .... oh, never mind.



It's not really a 14.1 thing. The north-siders are just afraid to travel south of Cermak. Always have been. The Levee, Al Capone, the stockyards, the steel mills - they've been scared of the South Side for generations. Also, many fewer Starbucks. And absolutely no famous French chefs.
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I guess'n that's a 'guantlet' that's always been thrown down? Well.... if it weren't ... it are now. :groucho:

Come to think of it.. it was my first venture to the south side and I'm going back!

Good meetin you Rich.. wish I'd had more time to talk with you and the other az'ers I met.

I sure wish I was closer but I'm from much further on the 'south side' ... i.e. about 3 hours (with minimal traffic it's 3 hours) and 200 miles south and west. I sure wish I was closer because Red Shoes is the nuts.. a real pool hall. What a great place. Anytime I'm just standing around and Miles Davis starts wafting from the ceiling I'm a very happy stand'r around'r.

I walked in the front door for the first time and as I stood inside the entrance waiting for my eyes to adjust from the outside sunlight to the proper darkness of the pool room I immediately heard what I wanted to hear... click...click...click... and a 'plunk' in the pocket or two... very few muted voices and no blaring music! Just the sounds of pool. How sweet it is!! (The Miles came about 4 hours later and I have no idea why... it was just there and when Miles was over there was no more music. It was heaven for me!)

Then... when, as I'm standing around... I realize I'm in the company of Sailor, George Fels, Bobby Hunter, Jeff Carter, Larry Nevel, Freddy The Beard, and all the rest of you talented regulars.... I know I'm home.

Sure wish it was closer to home. Or maybe I was home... ok.. wish 'home' was closer to where I live. It's a long commute... that 3 hours w/no traffic.

As you can guess I had a great time Saturday. I've been wanting to meet Dennis and so many of you but never got up that way. I did get to meet, fruehlein... our friend from Austria!, and Angel who was doing a documentary, as well as Dennis, Rich 93, rukiddingme, and ???? dammit... I've forgotten a couple other names who were introduced to me but didn't have time to speak with. My aging memory cells have developed a coating of teflon... not much sticks. :)

I had a ball listening to Fels and Sailor talk about Bensingers and the other old places and watching all the fine players. After supper at my favorite spot in Chicago land .. Portillo's, I got back to Red Shoes in time to watch Freddy Bentivegna dismantle a local player for more than a few bucks as he put on a banking show and make it clear that he did, in fact, write the book(s) on banking.

Anybody wanting to learn to bank, I gotta tell ya, Freddy knows somethun 'bout it. :thumbup: I saw him make a few what 'don't go'. :D

I didn't have much time to talk with Dennis and look at his beautiful cues, or to talk with others from the area. Just too much to take in, in one day.

Red Shoes is just the nuts and John Lavin was as cool an owner/bartender and general good guy as you could hope to find anywhere... thanks to John for making my welcome to his place a warm and gracious one. I really enjoyed his hospitality and the day in general. Red Shoes (I gotta find out where the name came from!)... Red Shoes is to serious pool what Miles Davis is to jazz... just as cool as it can get. You can be sure I'll be back and next time I'm staying overnight.

Edit: Thanks Dennis for the video! Won't have time to watch it right now but I'll come back and watch it tonight.
 
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JimS - I'm glad Dennis introduced us and I was looking forward to chatting with you about our RKC experiences and such like, but I guess I was playing and then you were gone. Next time.

I didn't even know Sailor was there. Dennis? :angry::angry::angry:
 
Sailor

Rich93 said:
I didn't even know Sailor was there. Dennis? :angry::angry::angry:
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If you had been smart and lost your two games quickly like some, you would have had plenty of time to socialize with all the spectators.:wink:
 
John, Dennis, all the players who were at Red Shoes this weekend...you're the best.
 
Scott, a qualifier event can send more than 1 player, depends on the amount of entries in the qualifier. $350 entry fee to the championship, so every 7 players ($50 entry) can represent a qualifier. But some events decide to pay out some of the entry fees in cash prizes as well if over 7 players. So I was wondering what they decided, sounds like they may have had 14 or more players.
 
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Scott Lee said:
selftaut...I think only the winner qualifies for the national tourney.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Scott, post 11 in this thread
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=1849651&postcount=11

Originally Posted by sunnyday
What a surprise Are they fighting for 1 qualifying spot or more?
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dmgwalsh
Quote:
2 spots. First one paid entry and $500 spending money. Second one I am not sure exactly what probably just entry fee.
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JimS said:
I got back to Red Shoes in time to watch Freddy Bentivegna dismantle a local player for more than a few bucks as he put on a banking show and make it clear that he did, in fact, write the book(s) on banking.
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Did you get a chance to also see Freddy play the player named Demi, banks, a race to 3 for $50? The player is a fan of Freddy's books and internet postings and wanted a chance to play a legend. Demi (who has never played banks before) proceeded to beat Freddy 3-0.

Freddy lashed into a verbal tirade calling Demi a string of things not fit to post on this board and threatening to post about Demi on the internet, lol. Demi, being the gentleman that he is, gave Freddy his $50 back AND paid Freddy's time. It took Bobby Hunter and a few others to finally cool Freddy down from his tirade.
 
Rich93 said:
JimS - I'm glad Dennis introduced us and I was looking forward to chatting with you about our RKC experiences and such like, but I guess I was playing and then you were gone. Next time.

I didn't even know Sailor was there. Dennis? :angry::angry::angry:
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The day/evening went very quickly. I lost track of time it all seemed to just fly by and I didn't get to do several things I wanted. The big thing I wanted to get done, but didn't, was that I took 13 of my Sailor cues with me and wanted to ask Sailor questions about several items. Sailor got me paranoid about security and I didn't even get them out of the car. I wanted to get a picture of them with Sailor.

Most of my early evening was spent up in the corner, under the coffee machine, sitting w/Sailor and watching Freddy play banks. It seemed like you and Dennis spent more time towards the back of the building and I was mostly up in the front with Sailor and/or George Fels, or watching Hunter, or talking to Veronique, or listening to Freddy and Sailor talk.

Every time I thought about doing something I realized I'd miss out on something else! :eek: ... and I very much wanted to spend time with Sailor. He's a very unique character.
 
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tanco said:
Did you get a chance to also see Freddy play the player named Demi, banks, a race to 3 for $50? The player is a fan of Freddy's books and internet postings and wanted a chance to play a legend. Demi (who has never played banks before) proceeded to beat Freddy 3-0.
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Were you one of the guys that came down from Minnesota for the tournament?
 
Demi is an AzBer who plays strong and always a gentlemen. Being beaten is no excuse for a tirade so maybe Freddy was trying to work an angle.
 
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