what is the best gambling match you have ever seen?

Joseph Ortega

Joseph Ortega

Daddy's little girl
Silver Member
I was wondering what is the best match anybody has seen in person. ive been told by a few people that the best match theyve ever seen was at the derby. efren spotting cliff a ball for 10k or 15k. have been told by longtime fans of the game that that match was absolutely the best one pocket ever played. the best i have ever seen was cliff joyner giving cj wiley 10-8 on a ten foot table at cjs billiard palace in dallas. they were playing something like 1000 a game and yup you guessed it cliff walked away with the cash. i bet yall have some awesome stories.
 
I watched Billy "the Kid" Aguero (sp) play Warren "the Monk" Costanza one pocket about 10 years ago and they played all night. I think they broke out pretty close to even. Their games were awesome to watch.

Another good game was watching Efren and Jose Parica play 1h as parters against two guys from Alaska. The guys from Alaska had some money to burn and they just wanted to have a good time. The game was set up so that each player had to down a shot of whisky after each game. After about 5 or 6 games, Parica went to the bathroom wobbling and never returned. Efren stayed and played on drinking both his drink and Parica's. They were all having a ball. Efren won on his feet.

I also watched Grady playing 1h against Bucktooth at Reno. Bucktooth was getting a weird spot. Bucktooth was winning and he starts talking saying something like, "I'm such a dog the ought to call me Purna dog chow." It was really something, he's beating Grady and calling himself a dog. Grady wanted to keep playing but his backer said no.
 
Shannon vs Alex

My best match, although not for the most $$$$$ has to be Shannon Daulton and Alex Pagulyan playing 9 ball 10 ahead for 5000 bananas. At q-masters in Virginia. What made it so great was that Shannon was up 9 and breaking and i sat there and watched Alex come back and win the set without Shannon winning another game. I would have bet the house (and lost) on Shannon being up 9 and breaking. To me, Alex showed alot of heart that day.....mike
 
kilojo420 said:
I was wondering what is the best match anybody has seen in person. ive been told by a few people that the best match theyve ever seen was at the derby. efren spotting cliff a ball for 10k or 15k. have been told by longtime fans of the game that that match was absolutely the best one pocket ever played. the best i have ever seen was cliff joyner giving cj wiley 10-8 on a ten foot table at cjs billiard palace in dallas. they were playing something like 1000 a game and yup you guessed it cliff walked away with the cash. i bet yall have some awesome stories.
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I have a few...

Derby 2001;Ronnie Allen gettin' 10-3 from Cliff Joyner and Ronnie plays one handed...Ronnie wins a ton. They adjust to 10-4, Ronnie still won:eek:

Late 1990's; Santos came to SoFla and spotted Toby Sweet the 7. They played "Boston Shorty's Rules" no one foot rule and they were climbin' on the table like two cats, Toby wins on the hill.:cool:

Disclaimer; I hope I got the whole spot right for the last game mentioned, its been almost 20yrs:

1987; Efren gives a young CT. player Carlos Vierra the 7-8, the breaks and 10 games to 25 for a few digits. Efren won and it was the best two hours I ever spent in a pool room:D


The one I missed was Cooney/Walden at the Derby <kicks self in the ass>:mad:
 
Rickw said:
Another good game was watching Efren and Jose Parica play 1h as parters against two guys from Alaska. The guys from Alaska had some money to burn and they just wanted to have a good time. The game was set up so that each player had to down a shot of whisky after each game. After about 5 or 6 games, Parica went to the bathroom wobbling and never returned. Efren stayed and played on drinking both his drink and Parica's. They were all having a ball. Efren won on his feet.
Click to expand...


I too watched the "A" team play together once. Efren/Jose played Jimmy Reid some Captains one pocket in the late 80's in WPB after a tournament. I watched for awhile and couldnt stay but the next morning I saw Jimmy and asked how he did. HE smiled, shook his head and said "I got waffled"...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
 
Voodoo Daddy said:
I have a few...

Derby 2001;Ronnie Allen gettin' 10-3 from Cliff Joyner and Ronnie plays one handed...Ronnie wins a ton. They adjust to 10-4, Ronnie still won:eek:

Late 1990's; Santos came to SoFla and spotted Toby Sweet the 7. They played "Boston Shorty's Rules" no one foot rule and they were climbin' on the table like two cats, Toby wins on the hill.:cool:

Disclaimer; I hope I got the whole spot right for the last game mentioned, its been almost 20yrs:

1987; Efren gives a young CT. player Carlos Vierra the 7-8, the breaks and 10 games to 25 for a few digits. Efren won and it was the best two hours I ever spent in a pool room:D


The one I missed was Cooney/Walden at the Derby <kicks self in the ass>:mad:
Click to expand...
I have seen pictures of and heard Toby Sweets name several times so have to ask a newbie question;is he still playing presently?Mike S.
 
One of the most entertaining was Tony Watson attempting to give Allison Fisher the 6 out. This was years ago at Mothers. They played 7 ahead for $5000 if I remember correctly. Kelly Oyama took money out of the safe and we passed a hat around to collect the rest so Allie could play. She beat him in less than 20 minutes. He came back a couple of nights later and tried again. Not quite as fast, but she won again. Later that weekend she beat him pretty bad playing even in our big Fathers Day tournament. The look on his face was priceless as she never missed or even got slightly out of line. Another woman won the tournament that weekend. Nobody had ever heard of her. I lost a ton as Kelly O. was covering all the action on if Sam Monday would win at least 6 games in the race to 9. Sam & I thought we were stealing, we bet it all...he only won 3. Funny how those "unknown" players zap your bankroll...her name was Karen Corr and she been in the country only a few days. LOL!!!
 
Mark Tadd giving Scotty Townsend the 8 ball. I have never seen that
many racks ran on a consistent basis by any 2 people in one match.

Paul Turner in a ring game in Atlanta. He ran 14 or something like that and then cam back with a few 4s,5s and 6s. Scotty was in for 19 games before getting to shoot. It was $100 a man I believe.

Efren playing Billy Palmer 1pocket at the DCC was a great match IMO. I really enjoyed it. Not gambling however.

Tony Watson playing Robbie Hudson in Atl on a triple shimmed (at least)
table at World Gym. Tony caught a gear and made balls on that table that HE even said that he could not believe he was making. I dont belive that anyone on earth would have beat him that night.
 
Surfer Rod came through Lubbock, Tx in 1970, busted all of us, so we reloaded and called Keith "Suirrel" Thompson from Houston; he came up and he and Rod played bar 8ball for 1K a game. Rod busted everyone again and we gladly bid him a fond farewell. Haven't seen barbox 8ball played much better than that match.

Early 70's, Billy Incardona giving Bucktooth the 6 in Bucktooth's room in Castro Valley. The stakes kept jumping around, so I'm not sure what they played for or exactly how much was won, but Bucktooth took it down, as he normally did. He played a LOT better than people thought he did.

About 4 years ago, Scotty Townsend giving Charlie Williams the last 2 on a triple-shim GC, 10 ahead for 2K. Both played flawlessly, missing nothing, for hours. Last call for alcohol rolled around, and Scotty faded a hair without his beer, and Charlie took it down. Some great 9ball was played that session.
 
efren playing 1h, giving up 12 to 7 and the breaks, race to 4 for 2 dimes. his opponet....our own keith. efren ran the first set, they played all night and morning, i heard they broke even
 
Before I ended up in the Pool Scene. I would play often at Murphy's Brass Rails in Athen,GA. I played a lot. But never interacted with other players. So I don't recall who these people where.

But while at Brass Rails they use to have a table right near the front. It is where the Dart Boards are now. I think it was shimmed and no one could play on it except certain people. While there I saw a large crowd gathered around the table. Someone told me they were playing $1,000 a game. I don't recall what game they where playing because I didn't really care.

I felt it was interesting but I was there to shoot some pool.
 
whiteoak said:
I have seen pictures of and heard Toby Sweets name several times so have to ask a newbie question;is he still playing presently?Mike S.
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I wish I could say yes Mike...but he doesnt play anymore. Thats not to say he couldnt get in stroke inna couple days!! When he played Santos...he was playing once a month, maybe less.
 
The most memorable for me was the first big money match I ever saw. Gene “The Machine” Cooper and James Christopher played for $2500 on a bar box. They counted out the cash and Bill Stigel held it while they played. The action was pretty exciting for me but I don’t even remember who won now.
 
cueball1950 said:
My best match, although not for the most $$$$$ has to be Shannon Daulton and Alex Pagulyan playing 9 ball 10 ahead for 5000 bananas. mike
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Why the hell would someone play for 5000 bananas?
Where would you get 5000 bananas?
What would you do with 5000 bananas once you were able to find them?
 
Hal said:
Why the hell would someone play for 5000 bananas?
Where would you get 5000 bananas?
What would you do with 5000 bananas once you were able to find them?
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You've come full circle on your initial question...

Once you get 5000 bananas... You PLAY for them...!!
 
The first one I ever saw was exciting for me. It was between Chew (Derek Leonard ) and this guy we call (the Kid) Tommy... They were playing a race to 7 ahead for 2 g. Tommy gets up 6 and on the 7th game scratches on the 9 ball. Chew wins after 3 hours of play. I am the money holder...first time ever and have everyone in the rooms roll in my pockets.. They decide to play a second set but for 4 g. The Kid wins in 30 minutes. Best hustle I have ever seen.
 
was anybody at the reyes/joyner match? i heard busta is a hell of a gambler. heard busta and scott frost played some. i know gabe, danny b, cj, tony chohan, jon hager, all grew up playing on the road. there must be a million stories out there.
 
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