Tony Watson road stories

Pushout said:
I heard he did some time but must have got out early from what I've heard recently.
I saw Tony and Alex woofing at each other at the Open in 2000 or 2001. Alex wound up giving Tony the 7 and the last three, if I remember right. Tony won two sets in about 20 minutes and that was the end of that. I don't remember the bet.
Tony is awesome beyond doubt when he's on, alright.
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Hey i was there when that game happened, it was a cheap set 5k.
I watched tony for years. I played him twice ( i mean racked ) . Tony has a lot of skills . but he is a very good gambler and beat a whole lot of players big and small,
But he did tell me one time he played some guy in Texas that worked on cars , This guy had a table behind his shop. He said the pocket just big enuf for a ball . tony said the man never missed a ball for 1hr for 500 a ball .. He said it took 3 day to break even , He said he'll never do that agian.....But i never got the players name...
 
Realizm said:
Hey i was there when that game happened, it was a cheap set 5k.
I watched tony for years. I played him twice ( i mean racked ) . Tony has a lot of skills . but he is a very good gambler and beat a whole lot of players big and small,
But he did tell me one time he played some guy in Texas that worked on cars , This guy had a table behind his shop. He said the pocket just big enuf for a ball . tony said the man never missed a ball for 1hr for 500 a ball .. He said it took 3 day to break even , He said he'll never do that agian.....But i never got the players name...
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LOL! For quite a few years when he started coming out of Canada, Alex didn't do well making his own games. Always giving too much weight. I love him and Tony both!
 
I belive he just got out of jail and a buddy of mine said he saw him at a shannon daulton tourny in hickory, nc......I heard he isn't in full gear but that could change by the day.....I have heard that story about them getting robbed before in job's.....I thought he made a big score that night just before the robbery.....wasn't it durbin he beat?
 
Wow, this theme of BIG scores followed by armed robbery is becoming all to common! I personally have heard of 5 players falling prey to these stick up artist who are TIPPED off by broke pool players in search of a buck or two!!!

Wiseman was hit
Pooky was hit
Tony watson was hit
Schmidty escaped when a friend over heard the plot
& one other notorious thread involving a top pro

That's 5!!!!

KD
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
 
ComptonCustomCues said:
I belive he just got out of jail and a buddy of mine said he saw him at a shannon daulton tourny in hickory, nc......I heard he isn't in full gear but that could change by the day.....I have heard that story about them getting robbed before in job's.....I thought he made a big score that night just before the robbery.....wasn't it durbin he beat?
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It's a true story. I heard it from a friend of mine who was with Tony at the Waffle House. :cool:
 
JAM said:
If only I had known then what I know now, I would have spoke up and stated no jumped balls allowed. Keith had no problem making the tough shots, and he ran out a few times as well. When he didn't have an out, he left Tony a tough shot. Well, Tony jumped balls like they had eyes, one after another after another. You couldn't give Tony a tough leave. The side-betters were licking their chops as Tony proceeded to shoot Keith full of holes like Swiss cheese. :blush:
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I have never seen anyone play the jump shot like Tony. Pure magic. :cool:
 
I played Tony in reno in 86? when he came out with JA. I knew I had way the worst of it, I decided to fire a $50 barrel at him race to 9. I lost 9-2:(. I got ran over before I knew what happened, he hit me with a 3, the 2 times he missed I ran out, but I had ZERO chance(big pocket table) Man could he play for his age, some are just born great. I knew he was gonna be a hell of a player so that why I played him, I yelled at JA to play too that trip-We didnt play, I really wanted to play JA. Now years later who would have thought we would be where were at?? and what the hell is going on in 20 more years???...
 
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This is a good post(wish I could write better)

Realizm said:
But he did tell me one time he played some guy in Texas that worked on cars , This guy had a table behind his shop. He said the pocket just big enuf for a ball . tony said the man never missed a ball for 1hr for 500 a ball .. He said it took 3 day to break even , He said he'll never do that agian.....But i never got the players name...
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I swear on my moms grave, Kim Davenport called into the pool room in Modesto one day, he got busted by the gas station guy and needed a $$$ wire. Kim said "the guy asked us if we liked to play pool" when they came for gas. It figured to be easy action. Kim continued on about how this guy had real tight table and played real real good, but had never heard of him. this was in about 87 Kim was winning Reno sometimes and could be a threat to win anything, perhaps Keith was the only threat to Kim in Ca at the time. The guy had Kim busted, Kim was pissed off,

So were all sitting there at the counter listening to half the phone call, kim telling the story and the guy repeating everything Kim said, Hell I could hear Kim yelling into the phone, "I need more $$$, I can beat him" "And you know what the worst part is the SOB aint even wearing any shoe's" When Kim said that-game over I never seen so many people laugh so hard.

So later on after Kim cooled off they put some $$$ on the wire(Western union I suppose). Kim played him the next day and got out even. The gas station owner pulled up.

about a month later Kim gets back to Modesto and everyone gave him shit about bare foot players. A few guys kicked off their shoes and asked if he wanted to play, Kim would just get red, man we milked that one for a long time. I asked Kim about it just a couple years ago-he didnt want to talk about it.


I was just a fly on the wall back in those days, but Thats what I saw, heard and asked about many years later. My memory of this is clear as can be. Somewhere out there is a gas station trap joint. there is no doubt about it.


best
eric


one last thing, the table was in a room behind the gas station, had to be the same trap. It wasnt off to the side where the garage usually is at old school filling stations. IMO nobody ever got the guy's name. Dollars to doughnuts he gave a different name to everyone he clipped, wow what a trap back in the day.
 
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Fatboy2 said:
I played Tony in reno in 86? when he came out with JA. I knew I had way the worst of it, I decided to fire a $50 barrel at him race to 9. I lost 9-2:(. I got ran over before I knew what happened, he hit me with a 3, the 2 times he missed I ran out, but I had ZERO chance(big pocket table) Man could he play for his age, some are just born great. I knew he was gonna be a hell of a player so that why I played him, I yelled at JA to play too that trip-We didnt play, I really wanted to play JA. Now years later who would have thought we would be where were at?? and what the hell is going on in 20 more years???...
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I believe this story ;):rolleyes:
 
Kid Dynomite said:
Wow, this theme of BIG scores followed by armed robbery is becoming all to common! I personally have heard of 5 players falling prey to these stick up artist who are TIPPED off by broke pool players in search of a buck or two!!!

Wiseman was hit
Pooky was hit
Tony watson was hit
Schmidty escaped when a friend over heard the plot
& one other notorious thread involving a top pro

That's 5!!!!

KD
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
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Loose lips sink ships, as they say! :frown:

We were holding about 15 large one time, and I got a real bad feeling about the pool room we were in. It was just vibes I was getting, but I wanted to get the heck out of there and leave immediately. It was the end of the night, like 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning, snowing and cold. My partner was oblivious to the weather and to the bad vibes I was getting. He didn't want to drive back home. I insisted and threatened to leave him there if he did not come with me. We made the long trek back home right then and there in the snow blizzard, and I'm glad we did. We heard later that the pool room was robbed that very same night.

First rule of thumb when you're an action player is to never flash your cash to attract action, unless you've got an anonymous bodyguard packing a piece nearby watching your back.
 
There is no doubt that Tony Watson is a talented player. Pool is most definitely in his blood and may always be a part of his life in one form or another.

The biggest challenge he will face getting his game back is learning how to play pool without enjoying a brewskie or anything else to settle his nerves. This is not easy for some, and it takes a lot of strength to overcome this hurdle.

I know Tony will be back soon, and I can't wait to see him hitting 'em strong once more. He's really a good kid with a ton of heart. :smile:
 
I also recall tales of Weenie Beenie and a road partner being heisted one time. They were taken to a field and left naked and broke.

Kid Dynomite said:
Wow, this theme of BIG scores followed by armed robbery is becoming all to common! I personally have heard of 5 players falling prey to these stick up artist who are TIPPED off by broke pool players in search of a buck or two!!!

Wiseman was hit
Pooky was hit
Tony watson was hit
Schmidty escaped when a friend over heard the plot
& one other notorious thread involving a top pro

That's 5!!!!

KD
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
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I saw Tony in Chicago in 92. He was about 14 at the time and had been on the road for a while already. He was with his own entourage that included a girl who was over 18 and made no bones about it that she was sexing him. Tony had a knot of money that could choke a horse and he flashed it numerous times to get action.

He played a number of people that week and was constantly woofing at people left and right to play. The first night we were there he played Dennis Hatch getting the 8 or it might hve been the last two on these gaff super tight 9ft "world of leisure" tables. i think it was the last two. The tables played super tough, balls could not be fired in down the rail unless u hit the center of the pocket. At one point late in a race for 1k Tony got left with the cueball near the end rail in the center. The 8ball lay next to the cueball and the 7 ball was uptable just past the side pockets in the center of the table. With no hesistation, Tony jacks up, two strokes it and fires it into the corner, drawing the side rail and then spinning it three rails with inside to get perfect for the 8. When he executed that shot the rail really murmured with a bunch of wows/wtf/holyshiats.

Later in the week I was at the cuerepair shop. Leonard Bloodworths portable lathe i think. Leonard is there chatting with Buddy Hall and here comes Tony and entourage. Tony saunters up and says "Cmon old man, ill play you some for 5000 with the xyz spot." I want to say it was the 6 but i cant recall now its been so many years. Buddy just laughed and said something like oh you young gun, you have to try harder than that to get me. Tony just laughed and said Ill be ready when u get a heart transplant and walked off.

I shot a photo of Tony at that event using one of those disposable cameras. I have the photo at home and ill try to dig it up and post it. Its a classic. He looks like a total little baby face kid when in fact he was already a stone killer on the pool table.
 
These are some good stories. Glad everyone is posting. I have only heard of him so I wasnt sure what to think about the guy.
 
His robbery incident was after leaving JOB's in Nashville,like the week after the Derby. It was on the Nashville news too.

I remember one of the detectives assigned to the case talking about asking Steve and Tony how they came up with 33k in cash "legally". Word is guy with the gun knew both of them by name at least,so he either cased them at DCC and Music City,or actually knew them. Tommy D.
 
tony in stroke?

i've enjoyed watching tony for years. i have seen a lot of "A" players. saw tony play for years before i saw him tell the room he was going to win the particular tourney he was in- maybe one of shannon daulton's tour tourney's.
he flat out offered to bet anybody that he was indeed going to win. he did win and frankly blistered the guy he played in the finals- a fine player i won't name. i think the score was 9-1 or 9-2 tony all the way. it was the first and only time i have seen his "A" game. absolutely showed me the door/opened my eyes/ whatever you want to say.
always a threat , anytime to get the cheese. i will try to get some stories for azb from local room/friends/foes.
 
If I'm not mistaken Tony and Keith Bennett played not to long ago and Keith came out ahead. Not getting into all the bs that supposedly went down, but it was a slaughter game Keith won 10 in a row.
 
woodyosborne said:
i've enjoyed watching tony for years. i have seen a lot of "A" players. saw tony play for years before i saw him tell the room he was going to win the particular tourney he was in- maybe one of shannon daulton's tour tourney's.
he flat out offered to bet anybody that he was indeed going to win. he did win and frankly blistered the guy he played in the finals- a fine player i won't name. i think the score was 9-1 or 9-2 tony all the way. it was the first and only time i have seen his "A" game. absolutely showed me the door/opened my eyes/ whatever you want to say.
always a threat , anytime to get the cheese. i will try to get some stories for azb from local room/friends/foes.
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Race cars run best on good fuel and he musta known hi-test.
 
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