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View Full Version : There Is A Billiard Table In This State


HDPM
01-12-2003, 04:11 PM
On a trip to the big city to do Republican B.S. I tried a pool hall. Hadn't bothered in years, and never in Boise. Stuck my tie with elephants on it in my pocket and walked in the door to a place in a strip mall and saw 2 12 foot snooker tables, one with a golf game going. Huh? In my adopted state? No way. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask. So I asked and they pointed out one table with no holes and handed over 3 balls. It was only a 4.5X9, which I had never seen on a billiard table before. It wasn't great, shots usually came off short and the table wasn't that fast. I found a house cue with an OK tip and not too bad of a funny noise when you hit and started whacking the balls around. A guy saw me playing and asked to play. He liked billiards and was glad somebody else played. We played pasttime incompetently and he insisted on splitting time even though I offered to get it since he won. I was ahead most of the way but lost right at the end. I was awful and struggled to score at all. Made a decent shot or two, but there was a lot of flailing about. Anyway, it was a nice room that has some tournaments and seems to get some decent players. I'll be back, but will probably play mostly pool. I am bad at that too, but pool incompetence is more common at least.

Ray Zee
01-12-2003, 09:41 PM
good for you to find a place to play some. ive never heard of a 4.5 by 9 billiard table. but you are right as usual. you being a republican conservative find thats its hard to make a billiard with the tunnel vision. and the liberals always beat you at billiards as they see the whole picture. haha

p.s. you brought politics into the post

Phat Mack
01-13-2003, 04:41 AM
I've played on 4.5 x 9's and 4 x 8's. A lot of the Asian joints have them. They're fun to play on, but you'll find the kisses have moved to different places! According to Robert Byrne, the Europeans once staged a tourney on 4 X 8's with all the top players. The averages didn't go up because of the increase in kisses....

HDPM
01-13-2003, 07:30 PM
The big car wrecks I had were not caused by my super knowledge being thrown off by the table. Trust me. One shot I said, boy this has a huge kiss in it. (I was just happy to have noticed.) There was an immediate pile up of course, but I scratched into a decent safe. I am really bad.

Phat Mack
01-13-2003, 09:35 PM
I heard a story about Boston Shorty. He would watch a billiard player for 30 minutes. If the player hit into a kiss, Shorty knew that he could beat him.

Ray Zee
01-13-2003, 11:22 PM
ive watched shorty play pool and billards many times 35 years ago. he was just about the best 3 cushion player around in those days for sure. i dont believe he really knew the game perfectly as much as he had raw talent. i could be way off on that though. he did show me how to avoid many kisses with your stroke action that i didnt know at the time. is he still alive. what about tommy holliday, cuban joey, rotation slim, jersey red, toby.

Phat Mack
01-14-2003, 01:39 AM
Shorty died about a year ago. I remember watching him play for hours on an old 10 foot Brunswick. No shot was out of reach for him. He could shoot wrong handed, hit five railers using the bridge, stretch out, etc. I was amazed to notice that his bridge remained a constant distance from the cue ball for every shot, five railer or short angle. His back hand would move quite a bit, but not his bridge hand. I don't remember him shooting anything fancy, but was impressed with his game. He was playing a tough opponent: (Levy or Levine, not a gambler but an A shooter) and all his shots were safe.

Red died of cancer years ago. He was always nice to me for some reason. I once approached him and asked for 3C lessons. He told me it wasn't really his game. This after I had watched him run a ten while discussing obscure one-pocket rules.

I ran into Blackie about 20 years ago in Texas. He had permed his hair and was backing a 20 year old girl on the road. I don't know if you knew him, he was a Filipino who played in that upstairs joint above Roseland.

Another guy you might remember is Johnny Ervalino. I watched him playin one-pocket 3 or 4 years ago. He's an old man now with no voice.

Ray Zee
01-14-2003, 10:53 AM
yea i knew eralino. he was from new jersey where i grew up. he was good back there. he dealt blackjack in vegas for years.