What is the best match you ever played?

Ok it was midnight we just finised our league when I was challenged to some 9ball at 20 a rack he got me down 160 and I was about to quit when my freind Kevin told me to hang in there he was getting tired . Then my opponent said something that pissed me off ( I always play better mad I don`t` know why) so I uped the bet to 80 a game .I got him down 1160 and the bar owner came over and said he had to close .But we had time for 3 more games so we went to 500 a game and yes I broke and ran all 3 for a total of 2660 I gave kevin 10%

but it doesn`t end there

3 months later we were in a bar when kevin saw this guy in the bathroom and told him that I was there and why don`t he get his cash back .I took 450 from him that night .
 
I have to say that last night was in the top five for me. This kid was talking all kinds of smack about his "almost beat Larry Nevel 9-8 match" in one of the big GSBT events. "You got the six and the last two." I replied, after getting tired of hearing this crap. I was also quite buzzed and truly NEVER thought he'd even respond to me. "Jump." came out. Oh well, I've been called. I tried to get out of it, but; he talked so much I just had to play.

Five ahead set. He breaks and runs the first rack, and again starts letting everyone know how much he likes stealing with this game. He breaks dry. He kicks twice after that. It's over. I outrun one of the worst games I've ever made. I don't have to beat that kid even. After all, he took Larry Nevel "to the hill, and should've won."

Oh yeah, he offered to play with the five and the last three after that. Uh, I don't think so.

And _ _ _ _ , if you read this, that was a bluelight special. It might never happen again. Or......
 
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Gotta be that time I was down 6-2 to Efren playing ten ball. I won the safety battle after the break and ran out and broke and ran 4 more in coming back to win the race to nine match.
 
I was 19 in Florida for a tournament when a very good player came up and asked me to gamble. We played races to 13 for 500 a set. I was down 12 to 8 in the first set and ran a five pack to win. Then started the next set off with a six. Then I went on to win 4 straight sets. At that time I was a huge underdog in the set.
 
My most memorable 9 ball match was October 6th 2007 at the canadian 9 ball tour event #1 at Bigwigs Billiards. The place was packed with talent inclucing Alex P, Ralf Sou, Marcus Chamat, Alain Martel and others. Anyways, I lost my first match, then I won a couple matches. My next opponent was Marcus Chamat(B Side). Well it was a barn burner, I was winning 6-0 and ended up winning the match 9-8 and going on to cash in the tournament. I will never forget this day. Here is the link to the bracket.

Actually, my avatar is when i was playing Marcus. That is ralf in the background and Alex was playing beside me.

http://www.canadian9balltour.com/documents/Bigwigs Bracket Oct 5-7 2007.htm
 
About 8 years ago at the Sands Regency, I was having dinner with my brother at about 5:30pm about 5 miles away from the hotel, and we're going to catch a cab back in plenty of time for the 7:30 pm match.

6PM no cab. 6:45 no cab.

We start walking really fast at about a 5 mile an hour clip. We run a cab down about a mile from the hotel, and I stumble up to the table to play Mike LeBron, just making it under the deadline.

My hands and feet are frozen for a while, since it was the winter event, and so I just sat back and relaxed, figuring I would accept anything that happened.

Mike jumped out to a 8-3 lead going to 9, when he missed an easy cut, and I came back and won 9-8. I guess I relaxed and played a better game.

In one of the games I had made the nine on the break and continued to shoot, not even realizing it.
 
alstl said:
Weren't you also intercollegiate 14.1 champion? That had to be a great win. I know Varner won it once and a guy from St Louis, Bill Hendricks.
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My strategy for winning the ACU-I tournament was to wait until Dan Louie had graduated.
 
A moment in my history

Back in the day when I played APA 1 night per week....come to think of it, that was a long time ago.

I was a 7 and so was my opponent. We are playing 9 ball and we both need 63 balls.


He has me down 41-3 and my Team Cpt. says "When are you gonna start to play?" At that moment, my opponent starts doing a little dance and clowning around since he just hooked me real bad. On top of that, he says "If you give me the cueball now, nobody gets hurt". Of course everybody on his team laughs....and a few on mine :angry:

I took a bit to figure out what I was gonna do and then I made the best 3 rail kick I've ever seen and rolled my ball down the rail and in. His mouth was still open as I sank the 9.

I beat that fool 63-43

He wouldn't even shake my hand after the match.

Since then, whenever I play him in our BCA league.......I wear him out :p
 
Some friends called me one night to come down and play a guy they said was drunk and wanting to play for a $1000 a game. As you can imagine my thoughts were this guy is playing drunk and trying to rob people. I went to see what was going on and my backer was begging me to play this guy. The guy wins the break and prceeds to run down to the eightball, essentially confirming the idea of him pretending to be drunk. He pulls up short on the eight and misses. I come to the table with everything wide open. I get down to my last ball and come up short as well and miss. Everyone in the room was looking at me like I just killed their first born. The guy gets up with a cut on the eight that should have been fairly easy. He gets down on the eight and shoots it so hard it popped the eight right off the table. His running mate throws him in a full-nelson and drags him out of the bar. Not great shooting on my part but very memorable.
 
Beat Ronnie Alcano in the 2002 US Open in the 5th or 6th round on the winner's side, by a score of 11-10 after being down 7-1. At the time he was billed as "The next Efren" and he was coming off of a gambling trip where he supposedly won the cash every time.

The 1st 8 games I was very nervous and was dogging everything, not just missing but dogging balls left and right. I took a quick mental breather and settled my thoughts and played it one ball at a time from then on. I still remember the applause of the crowd after sinking the last 9-ball, it was crowded since we were still on the winner's side and it was during a prime time.

Priceless.
 
One of the matches that I remember the most was against a guy called Hawaiian Jay. This was back in the early seventies. We started the match at about 3am. 7 ahead for $500.

By 6 am he was up by 6 and needing just one more for the win. We were playing two shot shoot out at that time. His backer, feeling very comfortable with the way things were going, said he was going to get some breakfast and would be right back. Jay was running out and got in trouble with the seven ball and decided to push out. At that point I was happy for any shot so I decided to shoot. I banked the ball in and ran the set out in about forty minutes.

The reason I remember this match so well wasn't because I played so well for the win but because when his backer returned from breakfast he saw us sitting down knowing that the match was over. Assuming that they had won. He was across the room when someone was telling him that the game was over and that they had lost.

The look on his face is what I remember the most. It was priceless. I still chuckle at that vision.
 
a couple that stand out

Many years ago I played Danny Medina one evening. He was down to his last money and a long ways from home so his back was against the wall. We were dead even in skill and the battle went on for hours with the money just moving back and forth. The longest I have been in that fierce of competition. Danny was a great guy and great to play with too. No bs, just get down and play although we did talk to each other casually. That stands out as simply the most fun I have ever had playing pool.

The other time I remember was actually a ring game. I had a shoulder separation repaired when I was about 19. Open surgery, a cut almost 3/4 of the way around my left shoulder. Less than a week later I step into a bar I hadn't been in before and there is a ring game going with a lot of money changing hands. All I can do is look and drool. The ring game was a nightly thing and I passed by three or four more times in the next six weeks or so becoming a "regular" just sitting drinking beer and itching to get in the game. Finally I got the OK to take the arm out of a sling but don't do much with it for awhile. Just laying my bridge hand on the table ain't doing much is it? I went and busted the ring game that night. After six weeks of anticipation and not being able to play pool except a little one handed with friends that memory sticks with me.

Hu
 
Does 3-cushion match count?

My most memorable match was beating Sang Lee 40-36 in 32 innings during the preliminaries of the 1993 US Nationals. I get emotional just thinking about it.

All the planets were in alignment that evening: It was held in my home room, California Billiards in San Jose; I had no illusions of even making the finals since I lost a couple matches I should have won (round robin format) - I only had to beat Sang Lee, George Ashby & Mazin Shooni (ouch!) - so I felt no pressure; had about 100-120 spectators in stadium seating rooting for me, including my wife.

Because Sang Lee knew it was my home room, I believe he took it easy on me for the first part of the game - my favorite part is once he began his flurry of billiards after being down maybe double digits early, he ran a 7 to take the lead. My next turn at the table I ran a 7 back at him and it was a dogfight from there. When I made the game winning billiard it was like I wasn't even at the table - I was hovering above it some how. What I didn't realize was that all other games had stopped to watch - the tournament froze (we were on the last table and the final shot was with my back to everyone). I was so welled up with emotion I had to go the restroom before celebrating or I would have broke down and cried. (is this too much info????:embarrassed2:)

It was my good fortune that George Ashby was playing on the table next to me, he saw how I hit the game winning short angle so perfectly that it freaked him out a little. He was my next game and he didn't play his best so I ended up winning that game, beating Mazin & making it to the finals. I finished 5th that year.

Imagine that, I was the 5th best player in the country in 1993, but only the 3rd best playing out of California Billiards :yikes:. It's a funny game we play.

Sang Lee paid me the highest compliment when we met in the finals...he throttled me! He ran a 15 & a 9 during the 50-point game, beating me 50-23. It was a close game if not for those 2 innings :D.

Thanks for listening to me reminisce,

Dave
 
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dabarbr said:
One of the matches that I remember the most was against a guy called Hawaiian Jay. This was back in the early seventies. We started the match at about 3am. 7 ahead for $500.

By 6 am he was up by 6 and needing just one more for the win. We were playing two shot shoot out at that time. His backer, feeling very comfortable with the way things were going, said he was going to get some breakfast and would be right back. Jay was running out and got in trouble with the seven ball and decided to push out. At that point I was happy for any shot so I decided to shoot. I banked the ball in and ran the set out in about forty minutes.

The reason I remember this match so well wasn't because I played so well for the win but because when his backer returned from breakfast he saw us sitting down knowing that the match was over. Assuming that they had won. He was across the room when someone was telling him that the game was over and that they had lost.

The look on his face is what I remember the most. It was priceless. I still chuckle at that vision.
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Jay played good One Pocket too. He was Hawaii's second best player at the time, after Brian.
 
What a Difference a Year Makes...

Ok, so the previous year I was not playing very much because of work but a friend talked me into playing in the 1992 US National 3-cushion championship. Well since I was there, I really wanted to play Sang Lee so as luck would have it, he was in my bracket. We were scheduled to play at 8am - 8:00 in the morning! Who plays then? Anyway, I won the lag and set up ready to break. I was so nervous that I hit the red ball and then the bottom rail 1st instead of the side rail. I HIT THE BOTTOM RAIL! I cannot remember doing that in my life, but whatever as my niece would say. Sang Lee eeked out the win 40-10.

Dave

P.S. It was an honor to get to play Sang Lee 3 times in 2 years. He is missed.
 
I like talking about these matches. It brings back some good memories. Here's one I lost.

I was holding court at Ye Billiard Den in Hollywood and in walk a few brothers (men of color) and they have a young guy with them. They are looking for a game with anyone. One of them spots me and asks if I'd like to play some Banks with the kid. He knew I was a Bank Pool specialist. Just then, a buddy of mine comes over and whispers in my ear. "That's Youngblood, he's been beating everybody all over L.A."

So now I know who this kid is. I had heard about Youngblood but never seen him before. I tell them I'll play him some short rack Banks if he gives me one ball, 5-4. They hem and haw around a while and finally agree. I'm not going to play him without weight. What ensued for the next ten hours was the Bank Pool game of my life. We were only betting $20 a game, still not a bad bet in the 1960's.

I was in dead punch on those tables, and got the jump on him, even going ahead by four or five games. He finally found the range and starting hitting me with fours and fives. But I shot back with my own threes and fours. It seemed like every brother in L.A. heard about the match, because they all began to show up.

I played him to a dead heat for nine hours, and finally in the last hour he got five games ahead. That was about 2 AM, closing time. They wanted me to go to Tournament Billiards and continue, but I declined. Youngblood respected me from that day on, even though he beat me. And all the L.A. brothers gained a little respect for me too. After that, I could go into any ghetto poolroom and never have a problem. I was one of them now.
 
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jay helfert said:
I like talking about these matches. It brings back some good memories. Here's one I lost.

I was holding court at Ye Billiard Den in Hollywood and in walk a few brothers (men of color) and they have a young guy with them. They are looking for a game with anyone. One of them spots me and asks if I'd like to play some Banks with the kid. He knew I was a Bank Pool specialist. Just then, a buddy of mine comes over and whispers in my ear. "That's Youngblood, he's been beating everybody all over L.A."

So now I know who this kid is. I had heard about Youngblood but never seen him before. I tell them I'll play him some short rack Banks if he gives me one ball, 5-4. They hem and haw around a while and finally agree. I'm not going to play him without weight. What ensued for the next ten hours was the Bank Pool game of my life. We were only betting $20 a game, still not a bad bet in the 1960's.

I was in dead punch on those tables, and got the jump on him, even going ahead by four or five games. He finally found the range and starting hitting me with fours and fives. But I shot back with my own threes and fours. It seemed like every brother in L.A. heard about the match, because they all began to show up.

I played him to a dead heat for nine hours, and finally in the last hour he got five games ahead. That was about 2 AM, closing time. They wanted me to go to Tournament Billiards and continue, but I declined. Youngblood respected me from that day on, even though he beat me.
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Jay,

This was the younger Youngblood from Chicago, not the Youngblood that recently past, right? Boy did he play good, I first saw him play in Detroit in the early 70s. You must have played really well. Nice!

Dave
 
12squared said:
Jay,

This was the younger Youngblood from Chicago, not the Youngblood that recently past, right? Boy did he play good, I first saw him play in Detroit in the early 70s. You must have played really well. Nice!

Dave
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I think he was originally from Texas, maybe even related to Cannonball or Preacher Red. I never saw the older Youngblood play.

Youngblood is in his late 50's now, and has been living in Oakland for years. He still sneaks around here and there. It was not too many years ago he made a nice score off King Kong in a bar.

Remember he was giving me a ball, a big spot in short rack Banks. But I can still play a little. :)
 
jay helfert said:
I think he was originally from Texas, maybe even related to Cannonball or Preacher Red. I never saw the older Youngblood play.

Youngblood is in his late 50's now, and has been living in Oakland for years. He still sneaks around here and there. It was not too many years ago he made a nice score off King Kong in a bar.

Remember he was giving me a ball, a big spot in short rack Banks. But I can still play a little. :)
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I stand corrected...but it's the same guy.
 
12squared said:
My most memorable match was beating Sang Lee 40-36 in 32 innings during the preliminaries of the 1993 US Nationals. I get emotional just thinking about it.

All the planets were in alignment that evening: It was held in my home room, California Billiards in San Jose; I had no illusions of even making the finals since I lost a couple matches I should have won (round robin format) - I only had to beat Sang Lee, George Ashby & Mazin Shooni (ouch!) - so I felt no pressure; had about 100-120 spectators in stadium seating rooting for me, including my wife.

Because Sang Lee knew it was my home room, I believe he took it easy on me for the first part of the game - my favorite part is once he began his flurry of billiards after being down maybe double digits early, he ran a 7 to take the lead. My next turn at the table I ran a 7 back at him and it was a dogfight from there. When I made the game winning billiard it was like I wasn't even at the table - I was hovering above it some how. What I didn't realize was that all other games had stopped to watch - the tournament froze (we were on the last table and the final shot was with my back to everyone). I was so welled up with emotion I had to go the restroom before celebrating or I would have broke down and cried. (is this too much info????:embarrassed2:)

It was my good fortune that George Ashby was playing on the table next to me, he saw how I hit the game winning short angle so perfectly that it freaked him out a little. He was my next game and he didn't play his best so I ended up winning that game, beating Mazin & making it to the finals. I finished 5th that year.

Imagine that, I was the 5th best player in the country in 1993, but only the 3rd best playing out of California Billiards :yikes:. It's a funny game we play.

Sang Lee paid me the highest compliment when we met in the finals...he throttled me! He ran a 15 & a 9 during the 50-point game, beating me 50-23. It was a close game if not for those 2 innings :D.

Thanks for listening to me reminisce,

Dave
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Boy, that's a Triple Crown you won there! Three Cushion Thoroughbreds all!
You play good sir! :cool:
 
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