YOUR story with a PRO PLAYER

[bbb]

continued
one day he was down on his money so he said
come on kid ill play you 10-4 (one pocket) for $5 dollars a game
medium stakes for me /ridiculous for him (he was desperate)
needlessly to say i got creamed
i never had a shot to shoot at
once i made a mistake
there goes several ball in his hole
if he didnt have an offensive shot
i was frozen to the rail or to a ball
if i can help some weaker players
there is a point where if the skill differential is too great
no spot can you win at
jmho

 

[Robroy]

One of my stories I wrote for hollywood

Story #9 - I Gotcha
The guys at the Billiard Palace had tagged him with the nickname, “2700 Dollar John,” because he was always bragging about his cue, showing off its diamond inlays and telling people how much it had cost him. It was late one night and I was, as usual, sitting on the sidelines sweating the action. From across the room, I heard John holler, “Hey, Robin! I’ve got a game for you!”
Oh, man….finally! In action!
John pointed to an older guy I’d never seen before. He said he’d made a good game for me and was going to stake me.
I jumped up, grabbed a rack of balls and we began to play nine ball – race to five for twenty dollars. I was really nervous but I was focused. Hey, this was my time to shine! I’d show them I could play too! I’d show them I could get the cash…
The guy made a couple balls and then he missed. I stood up to shoot but before I could get to the table, he grabbed the ball and put it in the pocket!
He looked straight at me and said, “I gotcha!”
I couldn’t believe it! I looked at it him and said, “What? What are you doing?!!!” I was really upset! He was putting a move on me and I didn’t like it one bit.
He laughed and said again, “Oh, yeah...I gotcha.”
I turned around and looked at John but he just nodded and said, “Its okay, Robin. Let him shoot - you’ll get him.”
Finally, it was my shot. I made a couple balls and then I missed. I thought to myself, “This guy isn’t going to get the best of me…”
I grabbed the ball, dropped it in the pocket, looked at him and said, “I gotcha.”
Right away, he said, “Oh, no…you can only do that on even numbered balls!”
Embarrassed that I’d even considered picking up a ball I’d missed and then hearing there were rules to go with it just made me even hotter! I thought, “I’m going to bust this guy!!!” I glared at the guy, and then looked over at my stake horse and, once again John said, “Don't worry about it, Robin. Go ahead and let him shoot,” so I sat down.
The guy made a few balls and then hooked himself. He looked right at me and said, “I'm going to use fingers.” He put his hand on the table and moved the cue ball the width of his hand and out from behind the blocking ball.
Again, the guy looked me straight in the eye. “That's how we play in New York.”
Steaming, I looked to John for help and again, he said, “Robin, let it go.”
The set was going by fast, I was losing and I wasn't happy about it at all. He got to the hill and walked around the table to shoot the winning ball. He got down to shoot and suddenly stood up and said, “King, get the ball!” and from out of nowhere, a dog jumped up on the table, grabbed the nine ball, jumped back down and took off!
Finally, the lights went on and I realized the joke was on me. The Palace was packed that night. I was so engrossed in the game, I had no idea that every eye in the place was on my table. Once King took off with the ball, the whole room cracked up.
The guy called the dog and King jumped back on the table put the nine back in almost the exact same spot and jumped back down. He turned to me and said, “Five rails. Corner pocket,” got down and shot.
Yep, five rails around the table and the ball dropped into the corner pocket to beat me. He reached into his pocket and took out a little newspaper clipping. I'd been playing Johnny Ervolino, New York State Champion - a friend of 2700 Dollar John. Oh, man…!!!

I was 14 or15 at the time

 

[Lock N Load]

continued
one day he was down on his money so he said
come on kid ill play you 10-4 (one pocket) for $5 dollars a game
medium stakes for me /ridiculous for him (he was desperate)
needlessly to say i got creamed
i never had a shot to shoot at
once i made a mistake
there goes several ball in his hole
if he didnt have an offensive shot
i was frozen to the rail or to a ball
if i can help some weaker players
there is a point where if the skill differential is too great
no spot can you win at
jmho

Good story BBB, sounds like he had a Lock on you! I played in the Sports Palace a few times! I like your story. Thanks for sharing with us.
Many Regards,
Lock N Load.

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

Joey, I almost suspected you were going to say the name Niels before I got to the end of your story. Good one too at that.

He has that sculpted Aryan race look about him.

 

[Blue Hog ridr]

I knew he was serious, so I stopped playing and went to the bathroom. I knew it was "now or never," and I looked in the mirror. Straight into my own eyes and ask "do you really want to be a pool player, do you really have what it takes?"

See CJ, the only problem here was that Christopher Walken didn't walk in behind you and give you a pep talk.

 

[William]

About seventeen years ago, I was the "guy to beat" in my small town, I was backed by the manager of the hall and he put me against anyone and everyone. I never turned down a match and never left him on the losers side. I didn't know at that time how small the town really was and how those guys looking for games probably weren't the most fierce of competition. Anyway...

One night a really tall guy walks in and looking for a game. He was from out of town and everyone looked at me. For the first time (it's happened since then), I got that "I don't want to play that guy" feeling. Well, He made a game with a short stop in the bar and beat him senseless.

That tall guy a few years later now lived closer, was dominating the Viking tours and he was giving me the five out for the heck of it, running entire sets on me...

I seen Shawn Putnam about a year ago. He laughed and said I could still have the seven if I wanted it. I declined... again.

That's my pro story.

 

[Montana Mike]

I just got a game setup where I was absolutely stealing and was letting Ronnie Wiseman partner with me on my bet. I didn't want to show too much in the first set and during the first game instead of drawing the ball back 6 inches or so I drew it all the way down the table. I didn't think it was a big deal until my phone rang a few minutes and it was a guy from the other poolroom we came from. He said Ronnie called him and asked if I got nervous because I had no control of my cueball. I thought it was funny because we were both nearly on our case money that night and he was scared enough after the first game to call a guy to see if things could go really bad. I won the match pretty easy and we got more than we originaly anticipated.

Later on that night we met up at another poolroom in town and he was playing a guy from out of town one-pocket for a decent bet by the set. Ronnie was giving him 9-5 or 9-6 but it still looked out of line in Ronnie's favor. Well, he started off playing absolutely horrible so I ended up calling the same guy he called when he thought I was playing bad. He lost the first set but the guy agreed to raise the bet the 2nd set and Ronnie was able to win the next two so it worked out in the end. Not too entertaining but we were both stalling around to get the bet right and neither one of us let the other in on that plan so it caused a little concern, or at least uncertainty, on both of our parts that night.


Another little one is regarding Richie Richeson. I always make him play me for any gapper he gets from me. I never ask for a fair spot for them but I always make him work for the money. I don't do that with anyone else but it is always so much fun playing him that it is a good excuse to get him up to play. We were at the same tournament in down south a few weeks ago and I owed him a gapper from some sidebets I made. He usually asks for "some jelly" but instead he just said "ok Mikey, what's the game?" I think the last time I really threw him anything without playing was when Alex Pagulayan really came onto the scene and tried giving Richie the 5 ball on a gaff barbox back in 2000 or 2001.

 

[JoeyA]

I would share a few stories Joey but I am afraid of Eric Hu's habit of trying to ruin my enthusiasm for sharing my experiences on this forum.

Maybe later. Hint, they involve Jimmy Reid, Rafael Martinez, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Buddy Hall and several others.

One little one that happened a few years ago. I go into one of the local rooms here and see a guy I don't know. I ask him if he wants to play some and he says sure and asks if we should play 8 ball and I say fine. I actually manage to run a few good racks and he is complimentary. But he runs outs ALL of his racks and beats me two sets. In the middle of the second set my wife comes in and asks me how it's going and I say that I am losing and she says, you know that he is the current Chinese national champion right?

I said no. She says you didn't see the giant posters coming in the pool room with his pictures on them?

Luckily he was happy to only take $60 for the demonstration.

Current Chinese National Champion. Way to go John.

 

[JoeyA]

It was at one of the weekend White Spot tournaments in Fife, WA back in the 80's. The place was packed with players and spectators. I was at the bar and an older gentleman at the bar asked me "what's going on?" I told him it was 9 ball tournament and went right into explaining what 9 ball was. When I stopped for a breath he looked at me with a total deadpan expression and said, "They call me Flyboy." I felt so Silly, explaining 9 ball to a pool legend I had heard so many stories about.:grin-square:

Hahaha! Good one Greg. Jimmy Spears (Flyboy) owned a local poolroom here in New Orleans and yes he was a living pool legend. He also plays a mean game of one pocket. I've got a story about he and I playing one pocket. But I think I'd better come up with a story about how I came out on top even if I got big weight.

 

[JoeyA]

continued
one day he was down on his money so he said
come on kid ill play you 10-4 (one pocket) for $5 dollars a game
medium stakes for me /ridiculous for him (he was desperate)
needlessly to say i got creamed
i never had a shot to shoot at
once i made a mistake
there goes several ball in his hole
if he didnt have an offensive shot
i was frozen to the rail or to a ball
if i can help some weaker players
there is a point where if the skill differential is too great
no spot can you win at
jmho

Blackie had a very high gear especially at one pocket.

 

[JoeyA]

About seventeen years ago, I was the "guy to beat" in my small town, I was backed by the manager of the hall and he put me against anyone and everyone. I never turned down a match and never left him on the losers side. I didn't know at that time how small the town really was and how those guys looking for games probably weren't the most fierce of competition. Anyway...

One night a really tall guy walks in and looking for a game. He was from out of town and everyone looked at me. For the first time (it's happened since then), I got that "I don't want to play that guy" feeling. Well, He made a game with a short stop in the bar and beat him senseless.

That tall guy a few years later now lived closer, was dominating the Viking tours and he was giving me the five out for the heck of it, running entire sets on me...

I seen Shawn Putnam about a year ago. He laughed and said I could still have the seven if I wanted it. I declined... again.

That's my pro story.

Nice William. Got one of playing Shawn too and it's a good one :wink:

 

[JoeyA]

I just got a game setup where I was absolutely stealing and was letting Ronnie Wiseman partner with me on my bet. I didn't want to show too much in the first set and during the first game instead of drawing the ball back 6 inches or so I drew it all the way down the table. I didn't think it was a big deal until my phone rang a few minutes and it was a guy from the other poolroom we came from. He said Ronnie called him and asked if I got nervous because I had no control of my cueball. I thought it was funny because we were both nearly on our case money that night and he was scared enough after the first game to call a guy to see if things could go really bad. I won the match pretty easy and we got more than we originaly anticipated.

Later on that night we met up at another poolroom in town and he was playing a guy from out of town one-pocket for a decent bet by the set. Ronnie was giving him 9-5 or 9-6 but it still looked out of line in Ronnie's favor. Well, he started off playing absolutely horrible so I ended up calling the same guy he called when he thought I was playing bad. He lost the first set but the guy agreed to raise the bet the 2nd set and Ronnie was able to win the next two so it worked out in the end. Not too entertaining but we were both stalling around to get the bet right and neither one of us let the other in on that plan so it caused a little concern, or at least uncertainty, on both of our parts that night.


Another little one is regarding Richie Richeson. I always make him play me for any gapper he gets from me. I never ask for a fair spot for them but I always make him work for the money. I don't do that with anyone else but it is always so much fun playing him that it is a good excuse to get him up to play. We were at the same tournament in down south a few weeks ago and I owed him a gapper from some sidebets I made. He usually asks for "some jelly" but instead he just said "ok Mikey, what's the game?" I think the last time I really threw him anything without playing was when Alex Pagulayan really came onto the scene and tried giving Richie the 5 ball on a gaff barbox back in 2000 or 2001.

Good stuff Mikey!:thumbup: I've got mixed stories about me and Richie playing. Ronnie Wiseman is a good story. :wink:

 

[JoeyA]

Ok,
I know there are some world beaters out there. Don't worry about blowing your cover. You're using a screen name anyway so it doesn't matter.

Send it!

 

[JoeyA]

Story #9 - I Gotcha
The guys at the Billiard Palace had tagged him with the nickname, “2700 Dollar John,” because he was always bragging about his cue, showing off its diamond inlays and telling people how much it had cost him. It was late one night and I was, as usual, sitting on the sidelines sweating the action. From across the room, I heard John holler, “Hey, Robin! I’ve got a game for you!”
Oh, man….finally! In action!
John pointed to an older guy I’d never seen before. He said he’d made a good game for me and was going to stake me.
I jumped up, grabbed a rack of balls and we began to play nine ball – race to five for twenty dollars. I was really nervous but I was focused. Hey, this was my time to shine! I’d show them I could play too! I’d show them I could get the cash…
The guy made a couple balls and then he missed. I stood up to shoot but before I could get to the table, he grabbed the ball and put it in the pocket!
He looked straight at me and said, “I gotcha!”
I couldn’t believe it! I looked at it him and said, “What? What are you doing?!!!” I was really upset! He was putting a move on me and I didn’t like it one bit.
He laughed and said again, “Oh, yeah...I gotcha.”
I turned around and looked at John but he just nodded and said, “Its okay, Robin. Let him shoot - you’ll get him.”
Finally, it was my shot. I made a couple balls and then I missed. I thought to myself, “This guy isn’t going to get the best of me…”
I grabbed the ball, dropped it in the pocket, looked at him and said, “I gotcha.”
Right away, he said, “Oh, no…you can only do that on even numbered balls!”
Embarrassed that I’d even considered picking up a ball I’d missed and then hearing there were rules to go with it just made me even hotter! I thought, “I’m going to bust this guy!!!” I glared at the guy, and then looked over at my stake horse and, once again John said, “Don't worry about it, Robin. Go ahead and let him shoot,” so I sat down.
The guy made a few balls and then hooked himself. He looked right at me and said, “I'm going to use fingers.” He put his hand on the table and moved the cue ball the width of his hand and out from behind the blocking ball.
Again, the guy looked me straight in the eye. “That's how we play in New York.”
Steaming, I looked to John for help and again, he said, “Robin, let it go.”
The set was going by fast, I was losing and I wasn't happy about it at all. He got to the hill and walked around the table to shoot the winning ball. He got down to shoot and suddenly stood up and said, “King, get the ball!” and from out of nowhere, a dog jumped up on the table, grabbed the nine ball, jumped back down and took off!
Finally, the lights went on and I realized the joke was on me. The Palace was packed that night. I was so engrossed in the game, I had no idea that every eye in the place was on my table. Once King took off with the ball, the whole room cracked up.
The guy called the dog and King jumped back on the table put the nine back in almost the exact same spot and jumped back down. He turned to me and said, “Five rails. Corner pocket,” got down and shot.
Yep, five rails around the table and the ball dropped into the corner pocket to beat me. He reached into his pocket and took out a little newspaper clipping. I'd been playing Johnny Ervolino, New York State Champion - a friend of 2700 Dollar John. Oh, man…!!!

I was 14 or15 at the time

THAT WAS SUPER, Robin! What a story!:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[JB Cases]

My Ronnie Wiseman story.

One time in Vegas at the Cue Club I agreed to play Ronnie Wiseman a race to 11 even for $500 against one of my Instroke cases.

Essentially we both knew that I was giving him a case and getting some table time with him out of it. This was early afternoon at the Cue Club.

I deliberately picked a table away from the main pit but that didn't stop the railbirds from drifting over anyway.

Ronnie gives me the first break and as fate would have it I run five racks on him to jump out ahead. Then in rack six I break dry and the next time I see a makeable shot it's 8-5 Ronnie. He leaves me a two foot 8 ball where I just need to make it and draw back a foot to win the game. I shoot the 8 right into the rubber a diamond away from the pocket.

Ronnie wins 11:6.

But the kicker is that for the rest of the week I could not get any action because everyone wanted weight due to the five pack I laid down. They all thought I was way better than I actually was. Players who could have given me the seven were asking me for weight.

Probably for the best as I saved a lot of money staying out of action that week.

 

[Jive]

.......

.... They were 9 foot beauties with very tight pockets and I was kind of dialed in on them.

.......

Great story...but was kind of distracted...9 foots too tall for me though...just sayin..

 

[Jive]

I would share a few stories Joey but I am afraid of Eric Hu's habit of trying to ruin my enthusiasm for sharing my experiences on this forum.

Maybe later. Hint, they involve Jimmy Reid, Rafael Martinez, Francisco Bustamante, Efren Reyes, Buddy Hall and several others.

One little one that happened a few years ago. I go into one of the local rooms here and see a guy I don't know. I ask him if he wants to play some and he says sure and asks if we should play 8 ball and I say fine. I actually manage to run a few good racks and he is complimentary. But he runs outs ALL of his racks and beats me two sets. In the middle of the second set my wife comes in and asks me how it's going and I say that I am losing and she says, you know that he is the current Chinese national champion right?

I said no. She says you didn't see the giant posters coming in the pool room with his pictures on them?

Luckily he was happy to only take $60 for the demonstration. For the mandarin-speaking members of our forum the player was Dang Jin Hu.

Hahah John who was the Chinese player??

Oh I almost forgot I do have a story to share with a Pro! Who was it that I helped find a tailor for those last min shirts and suit for a tourney in Shanghai??

 

[JoeyA]

My Ronnie Wiseman story.

One time in Vegas at the Cue Club I agreed to play Ronnie Wiseman a race to 11 even for $500 against one of my Instroke cases.

Essentially we both knew that I was giving him a case and getting some table time with him out of it. This was early afternoon at the Cue Club.

I deliberately picked a table away from the main pit but that didn't stop the railbirds from drifting over anyway.

Ronnie gives me the first break and as fate would have it I run five racks on him to jump out ahead. Then in rack six I break dry and the next time I see a makeable shot it's 8-5 Ronnie. He leaves me a two foot 8 ball where I just need to make it and draw back a foot to win the game. I shoot the 8 right into the rubber a diamond away from the pocket.

Ronnie wins 11:6.

But the kicker is that for the rest of the week I could not get any action because everyone wanted weight due to the five pack I laid down. They all thought I was way better than I actually was. Players who could have given me the seven were asking me for weight.

Probably for the best as I saved a lot of money staying out of action that week.

I'll see if Ronnie still has that case.

Hahah John who was the Chinese player??

Oh I almost forgot I do have a story to share with a Pro! Who was it that I helped find a tailor for those last min shirts and suit for a tourney in Shanghai??

That sounds like a good story Jive. I'm intrigued. Let's hear it.

 

[Jaden]

I've got many stories, don't know which to tell.

As has been stated, Shawn Putnam has a speed that most people I don't think know about.

He hits a gear where he's simply unbeatable. He'll jump balls that have to be cut at 70 degree angles sitting on a rail and cut them in no problem with shape on the next ball.

I had to completely change my safety game against him, because safe on most people are NOT safe against him...

I recently took 5th in the second chance at the JA classic at MBC in Marietta, GA.

I wanted to play in the main tourney but couldn't be guaranteed to not have to work.

In the semi winners side match I lost to Wan Can, the kid from China...

That was a fun match. I started by breaking and running the first rack and then breaking and running and coming up short from the nine to the ten and missing, and didn't get much of a chance after that, then I played Donny Mills and was just off my game and he walked all over me.

The match before Wan Can I played Carlos Carter. He played strong and got up 5-1 on me before I really got a chance. He broke dry and I ran out and bnr'd 2 racks to get 4-5. Then I scratched on the break and he ran out to get on the hill. Then, he scratched on the break and I ran out and broke and ran out to make it hill-hill.

Then I broke dry and aside from a 7-9-10 cluster it was an open table.

Carlos ran out to the six and got a little straight on the six, he tried to force the cb off of the six to break out the cluster and rattled out the six and missed the cluster.

The six came around and the cueball was left with a cut to make the six in the side. It was call pocket tenball and I couldn't really get the break out on the cluster. So I had to bank the six into the opposite side pocket and draw into the cluster. I looked at Carlos and called the bank on the six. I made the bank and nipped the ten giving myself a thin cut on the seven, I made the seven using inside draw to shorten the angle coming off it and got good on the eight and managed to make the eight nine and ten to win 7-6 after being down 5-1.

Jaden

 

[Luther Blissett]

So I had to bank the six into the opposite side pocket and draw into the cluster. I looked at Carlos and called the bank on the six. I made the bank and nipped the ten giving myself a thin cut on the seven, I made the seven using inside draw to shorten the angle coming off it and got good on the eight and managed to make the eight nine and ten to win 7-6 after being down 5-1.

Sounds like a real nail-biter. Nice work!