At that same regional, somebody asked me if I wanted to play some banks, so I said yeah, let's get down to it. They said, "no, not me, this guy Tim Heath". I had already heard he hit em pretty well, so I wasn't too keen on throwing away what little money I had available, then I heard the stories about him being (a bit of) a nutjob, so I decided to pass on that one. :thumbup:
Lol. I have a very similar story.....in Tunica, as well.
It was right about 5 a.m. on the last full night/day (?) of the event. I had been milling around the action room, in between the Open tourneys, for the duration of the event. Just watching the real players go at it. Me? I'm just a fish. A minnow. A guppy. Tadpole or plankton, perhaps? Anyway.....I had never gotten into any action and I'm shy in a room filled with players such as those.
Finally, I worked up the nerve to walk up to Danny Smith and say, "How would you like to make a really easy, quick $20?". Immediately as I said, I realized that it sounded reeeeeeeeally suspicious. Lol.
Anyway, Danny, to his credit, just stares at me.....takes a long drag from a cigarette and asks, "What did you have in mind?"
I said, "I just wanted to play some Banks. Something small. $20. I'm donating. I know that. But, I want to play a great player and I like your game."
He continued to stare at me and finally said (in a nice tone), "Man, it's 5 a.m., I'm drunk as hell, I don't even have my cue in here with me. But, I can hook you up with Timmy Heath. He'll always play."
I stared back at Danny and slowly said, "IIIIIIIIIII don't really want to play.....him. I'd just much rather play you."
I didn't mean it disrespectfully, as I had said a few words to Tim here and there over the past few days, and while he was/is a loose cannon, he's oddly nice and respectful at times. Really likes to say "sir" a lot. He's just a total chatterbox with tons of mannerism. He'd be AMAZING to listen to.....mic'ed up on TAR or Accu-Stats.
Danny stared back at me, taking another drag off of his cig and said, "I understand. Tim is the one that's using my cue right now, but yea, I understand."
Side note: I saw Cliff Joyner a few feet away. I walked over to ask him if he'd like to play some quick Banks for cheap and that it would pretty much be a donation.
Cliff said, "Man, I would, but I just honestly don't like Banks that much. It doesn't hold my attention. I find it boring. I'll play you some 1P."
My response, as I smiled, was: "Cliff, no offense, but I'm looking for a game I can drag out to see if I can learn something. You're one of the greatest 1P players in the world. I make one tiny mistake and you're 8 and out. Boom. Over. Less than 5 minutes. I'm not sure I'd even be able to soak up enough knowledge."
Cliff's response: "Yeah, man, I understand. It's cool."
To this day, I regret it. I should have just asked Cliff if we could play for a set amount of time, for a set amount of money......and he could take the cash, as long as he would critique me or answer any questions I had, as we played. Sigh.
But, I digress.
To get back on point, I know Cliff absolutely hates it when people use too much baby powder and they get it on the rails. Lol.
....But wait thats not all!!! He would then spin the 8ball with his fingers and then tighten the rest of the rack around it to stop it from spinning all the while looking around to see if anyone was noticing his hotshot racking skills. At least by this point the balls are racked but now we have to get the rack off the table..of course this guy couldn't just pick the rack up off the balls like a normal person...nope...gotta look slick doing it...flipping the rack by the back corners between his finger tips inevitability dropping the rack on the balls a few times witch started the process back over at the spinning of the 8 ball with his fingers....I was going F@#$ing nuts...It generally took longer for him to rack than it did to play the game...
I think I will also incorporate the "rack drop" into my "show" to finish off with a bang.:banghead:
