What is the best win you ever had in a pool match up?

I won a game of barbox eightball once long ago . . .

I was fifteen, maybe sixteen, and one of my favorite places to play was the challenge tables in a naked dancing lady place near my house. Plenty of action, on the tables and off. The bets were small but still three or four times my hourly wage so they weren't to be sneezed at, besides which, you never got bored sitting in the chair! (A side note, one of the ladies working there is still the best lady pool player I have ever played, of course I don't play that many ladies)

Anyway, I had reached the point that I was winning more than I was losing in the bars but still a long ways from a player. I'd hooked myself shooting at the eight, playing eight ball. My only shot was to bank off of an end rail into a side pocket, naturally without much window to work with. About ten inches out from the pocket and a little towards the rail I was banking off of was a ball of the opponents. It was a big fat ball and caroming off of it coming off the rail meant the side pocket would be wide open. The naked dancing lady I was playing with was standing with some of the stronger players in the place when I verified there would be no whine playing off of her ball, announcing my shot.

Never a doubt from when I first saw the shot, it was dead. The game itself meant almost nothing. Calling that shot and it dropping like it was on rails announced that the kid was ready to run with anybody in the place. It was a small pond but nicer to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in a small pond!

Hu
 
My biggest win was at the VNEA in Las Vegas quite a few years back.

I was practicing with a friend one night after our team match and some poor guys on the table near us was being badgered by a very large obnoxious guy(later found out his nickname was Slammin Sammy) to play some scotch doubles. The guy just wouldn't let up and it was very clear that the two guys he was trying to match up with had neither the ability nor the desire to gamble.

I finally got tired of listening to him and said that I would gladly play him some singles, he looked at me kind of stunned and declined. Luckily it seemed to shock him enough to stop bothering the two near me, but that only lasted until he came back a minute later with a friend(that I'd never seen before) in tow. He approached me and said that he wasn't up for singles but his friend would try me some.

I said sure and he asked what I wanted to bet, I said it didn't matter but the more we bet the longer the race got. He suggested a race to 5 for $100, I agreed and grabbed a coin to flip. I tossed the coin up and he called tails, I caught the coin and he started complaining that I could cheat him with the flip...etc. I replied by telling to him break if he was that anal about it, he looked at me a bit shocked and said flip again but on the table. He lost the flip and I opened up the first set with a 4 pack and cleaned up a table after he missed in the 5th game. We flipped again and I won the break, 2nd set ended 5-1 for me and he pulled up $200 loser.

Later I was approached by a friend asking how I made out with "Troy", having gambled with quite a few guys that day I couldn't put a face to the name. He described him and I remembered, saying that I beat him pretty badly for $200 and he pulled up. He then informed me that I had played Troy Frank and not long before he had beaten Efren in the finals of the Derby City Classic. Sometimes not knowing your opponent pays off I guess....
 
Great story, Hu.

ShootingArts said:
I was fifteen, maybe sixteen, and one of my favorite places to play was the challenge tables in a naked dancing lady place near my house. Plenty of action, on the tables and off. The bets were small but still three or four times my hourly wage so they weren't to be sneezed at, besides which, you never got bored sitting in the chair! (A side note, one of the ladies working there is still the best lady pool player I have ever played, of course I don't play that many ladies)

Anyway, I had reached the point that I was winning more than I was losing in the bars but still a long ways from a player. I'd hooked myself shooting at the eight, playing eight ball. My only shot was to bank off of an end rail into a side pocket, naturally without much window to work with. About ten inches out from the pocket and a little towards the rail I was banking off of was a ball of the opponents. It was a big fat ball and caroming off of it coming off the rail meant the side pocket would be wide open. The naked dancing lady I was playing with was standing with some of the stronger players in the place when I verified there would be no whine playing off of her ball, announcing my shot.

Never a doubt from when I first saw the shot, it was dead. The game itself meant almost nothing. Calling that shot and it dropping like it was on rails announced that the kid was ready to run with anybody in the place. It was a small pond but nicer to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in a small pond!

Hu
Click to expand...

I like it a lot. Good to hear from you too. What are you giving up is what people are going to ask you now!!
Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
jay helfert said:
Back in the 70's and 80's the biggest regular tourney in L.A. was the monthly 9-Ball at the House of Billiards in the Valley. They would only let 32 players in and you had to be there early to get a spot. I had played a few times and never got higher than top five or six. Now I was in good stroke thanks to a recent road trip with Cecil Tugwell. I made it to the finals, beating several pretty fair players (Rich Relf, Ron Dickie and Jerry Chappel). My opponent was none other than Keith, who had won this tourney many times. I had actually beaten Keith before with the eight and the break. But this was even, a Race to Seven.

Naturally we went hill-hill and I had the break. I made a break and run out that I will never forget, struggling on every shot. Somehow I kept making balls and banked the eight to get long and straight on the nine. I must have stayed down on that shot for thirty seconds before pulling the trigger. When it went in I was more relieved than overjoyed. Keith just smiled and said, "Good shot Toupee."

I rarely played in tourneys, it just wasn't my thing. Fats once said, "The only trophies I want have pictures of Presidents on them." I felt pretty much the same way. In the mid 80's my friend Debbie Aarens put on the San Francisco Bar Table Championship at the Moscone Center and she invited me to come up and play. I took my daughter with me for a vacation in S.F. and to play a little pool. I never thought about winning, since this was all the league champions and me, the only outsider. Debbie had one "invitational" spot and she gave it to me.

Once again I made it to the finals beating some pretty fair bar table players. I had to play Delbert Wong (he owns Family Billiards in S.F.). They had bleachers set up in the playing arena and it was packed with people, many of them friends of Delbert's. I was a nervous wreck but my little daughter Breanna looked up at me and said, "Don't worry daddy, you'll win." I played nervous all the way and just kept getting down and making balls anyway. I vividly remember the final rack. I ran out to the eight ball and had to make a kick shot in the side. I had gotten hooked on the eight. I must have looked at that shot from every angle ten times. I knew if I missed it he would win the game and make it hill-hill. Well, I made that kick and must have jumped a mile in the air.

I won $500 and a brand new Heubler cue, worth another $500. Richard Flatto had put us up in his pad and when we went home that night he kept admiring the cue. The next morning my instincts kicked in and I decided to leave the cue behind for Richard. Bre and I were heading out to drive home to L.A. and Richard stopped me, holding the cue in his hand. He had a big smile on his face and said, "You almost forgot this." I told him, "No I didn't, it's yours." Now his smile got really big and he was speechless. Let me tell you that moment was worth more than winning the tournament. 😄
Click to expand...
Hey Jay, do you ever see Rich Relf around recently? He was a good friend in AZ in the 70's and I am hoping to reconnect. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
Early 2005, I went to this club with friends. Clubs aren't my scene, but friends are friends so I tagged along. Thankfully, they had a coin barbox and a couple of decent house cues in the back and I just shot balls instead of downing shots. Some guy noticed and joined me so we started playing with loser paying for next game. In one of the last games he made a great safety to try and stop me from shooting the 8. I masse'd around his ball for a nice cut on the 8 to pot the money ball. Guy yelled and dropped his cue on the table, then ran over to give me a hug. Turned out to be an awesome night!
 
9ball mike said:
A little less than a year ago I won the winner bracket of a tournament in Dallas and Stevie Moore came back to face me in the finals. He had lost earlier (not to me). It was a race to 7 and I was so excited I was getting to play a big name like him in the finals. He had to double dip me.

Stevie walked over to me and asked if I wanted to split the pot half and half. I told him no way because I have a chance to prove to myself that all the hard work I have put in has paid off. He said ok but not to ask him to split it after he wins the first set. I say no problem. I would rather try to beat a pro like that than split 350. I got very focused for the match and never missed a ball. Game was alternate breaks 9ball and I won the first set 7-4. That was a very big win for me.

I had won that tournament several times before but this one was so much better because I had beaten a top player like Stevie.
Click to expand...
I beat Stevie in a race to 9 in a Southeast Tour event. Unfortunately for me it was winners bracket race to 11. And he won the last three games and beat me 11 to 9.
 
I was playing a pool bully in his home area and the place was packed for a bigish tourney.

We were battling and he had me 6-4 and missed a ball...going to 9.

He never got to shoot again and he was not happy about it.

But my best outing- imo- was when I played final day of a different event and I don't believe I made a single error the whole day.
 
91 Pheasant Run IL.
Bobby Williams vs Me.
Score was 3-2 me.
Put a 3 pack on em, then a safe.
Then closed the match with a 5 pack and out, race to 11.
The was the second event that Buddy Hall was in that year, where the light fixture fell off the cables and landed on the table.
This happened to be one of those LARGE Diamond 4x8 light fixtures.
No one got hurt either incident.
 
inthezone said:
Hey Jay, do you ever see Rich Relf around recently? He was a good friend in AZ in the 70's and I am hoping to reconnect. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen Rich in years. He used to come around Hard Times once in a while and I heard he was still playing bar table tourneys in the Valley, but that's been several years ago. I do know that for many years Rich made his living playing in all the bar table tourneys around L.A. He was that good, a favorite to get first or second every time. They might pay a hundred ot two to win, but he was playing in one every night and pumping out five or six hundred a week. That was good money in the 1980's and 90's.
 
Lock N Load said:
A match up that meant the most to you in your pool matches , since you have been playing pool! And of course you won the the match. A match that you can look back on and be real proud of being able to pull the win off! The one match that you will remember for years to come!
Regards,
Lock N Load.
Click to expand...
I’ve had a few nice cheap $ set / session wins against a few well-past-their-prime name players - Grady Matthews and Wade Crane, who stumbled in our pool room roughly 20 years ago. It likely wasn’t for enough $ to spark their interest or to get their best game, and I’m smart enough to realize it didn’t mean much.

The likely most satisfying win I can recall was in the finals of our weekly 9-ball tournament here just a few years ago.

In a race to 4 finals (he had to beat me two sets), playing even against a buddy of mine, he basically broke and ran out the 4 games in the first set. In the second set, I basically returned the favor and did the same to him. There may have been a couple of push-outs, but there was not a missed shot by either of us in the 8 games.

Although it was just our weekly 9-ball tournament, that may have been the most satisfying win I’ve ever had, particularly coming against one of my close friends, as we are quite competitive with each other.
 
Last edited:
jay helfert said:
I haven't seen Rich in years. He used to come around Hard Times once in a while and I heard he was still playing bar table tourneys in the Valley, but that's been several years ago. I do know that for many years Rich made his living playing in all the bar table tourneys around L.A. He was that good, a favorite to get first or second every time. They might pay a hundred ot two to win, but he was playing in one every night and pumping out five or six hundred a week. That was good money in the 1980's and 90's.
Click to expand...
Yes, it was.

There was a time when that was my job too...I wish I could still live on 1k/ month!!
 
I have two stories.
It was about 1963 and I was a 16 year old kid.
Billy was a full grown adult WWII veteran.
He says "Hey kid I'll play a 9 ball race to 5 for $25.00"
Now $25.00 back then was a pretty good bet,gas was 25 cents a gallon,cigarettes 35 cents a pack and you could feed yourself real good for a week on $25.00.
I was the better player and beat him,to this day I still remember the 9 ball shot I made to win.

It was the late 80's and I beat Grady Mathews a game of 14.1.
He was a slightly better player then me at that time but not that day.
 
garczar said:
Ran 5 racks on nice GC1 on my 21st birthday. Haven't done it since. ;)
Click to expand...
Still a chance....thats only been what, a year or 4, right?
Screenshot_20210521-194215.jpg
 
Black-Balled said:
Wanna split a bottle of Geritol?
Click to expand...


There used to be a fancy decorated bottle of prune juice at the last desk job I worked. You turned forty, it sat on your desk until somebody else turned forty, be it days or months. Just a bit of humor on the job, was a pretty tight knit bunch!

Hu
 
I played so strong against Oscar in Reno he actually stopped texting while I was at the table and put that fucking cell phone away to put me away after I closed his 5-0 lead to 5-3. Disrespectful bag of douche he was that day.
 
JC said:
I played so strong against Oscar in Reno he actually stopped texting while I was at the table and put that fucking cell phone away to put me away after I closed his 5-0 lead to 5-3. Disrespectful bag of douche he was that day.
Click to expand...

Some people have gotten so wrapped up in cell phones that they don't realize it is disrespectful to spend all of their time texting on them when they are supposed to be engaged in something else. I have played people that had to set the phone down every time I missed. That little delay over and over was annoying to say the least! Certaiinly added a little incentive to make them put the phone down to rack though.

I often wonder what the hell these cell phone addicts did before cell phones. Most people didn't spend every spare moment of their lives on the phone.

Hu
 
Yesterday I'm playing a guy 9-6 in one pocket and I ran 9 and out on him.
After 6 hours of play I came out 3 games ahead.
Not serous gambling just passing time on a Saturday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top