MY KINGDOM FOR A DRINK OF WATER

My Kingdom For a Drink of Water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The small, quiet man stared at the chess board with mayhem on his mind. His opponent, a slightly older man also pondered the chess board with great intensity. A couple of battles had already taken place when I came upon the scene and to offer a pardon of sorts, for my invasion to their privacy, I whispered, "Would anyone like a drink? The older man, one whom I knew many years ago in Jackson Mississippi, barely looked up but nodded a no. The small, quiet man meekly replied, "Water". In a few minutes I supplied an unopened bottle of water from one of the many places you could purchase food and drink throughout the Horseshoe Casino. The gift was politely accepted with an appreciative nod of thanks and that was all that was needed. The game commenced and I watched as the two titans battled on the checkered field. Both men played an excellent game and afterwards they traded "what if" games. This chess match was a pleasant but not a complete surprise as many pool players seem to enjoy the game of chess.

A few days later, I was having a fun time with the heavy drinking boys from Norway and another from Chicago and it was getting late. We had several beers at the table buying round after round when someone mentioned if we were going to watch the mini-one pocket tournament. I must have turned ten shades of red when I realized that not only did I possess ONE of the 32 entries but that I was far too merry to play a decent game of one pocket, especially after the long days, long nights and the occasional sampling of some multiple domestic beers. I take my mini-tournaments and any other tournaments rather seriously. Jose Parica passed by and remarked that he had won the last several one pocket mini tournaments at the DCC and that comment was met with severe skepticism by yourse truly since I had the honor of getting "lucky" against him and several other good players a couple of years ago. Someone mentioned if Efren was playing in the mini-one pocket tournament and Jose giggled a faked fear of death shudder and said "Efren????" We all laughed and continued our merriment as Jose went his way. Roy D'Fish from Norway suggested that I find Efren and give him my "ticket" to the mini-one pocket tournament. I have never really had much conversation with the Magician in past years although I have waited to play him in tournament play for over ten years, never receiving the honor. We quickly spied Efren walking around close to our table so we beckoned him to come closer and I offered him my place in the tournament. After he accepted my offer, I went to the booth to have my name to be replaced with his. As midnight quickly approached, we went to watch the games in progress.

My roommate ChicagoMike was quickly vanquishing his opponents when he ran into "Bata" and although Chicago MIke fought a good battle, Efren won the war. The tournament was a lot of fun and I could only think of the players who played Efren and how they must be enjoying themselves. A slight bit of envy surfaced for a moment but it was combined with a sunshine of pride for it was me that had brought all of them this great opportunity. Efren didn't disappoint anyone and captivated all of us with his sterling play and unique shot selection. He bested all of his opponents but not without all of them giving their best. By this time it must have been seven o'clock in the morning and so we retired to enjoy some food at the breakfast buffet, just Efren, Roy and myself. We broke bread with the greatest pool player the world has ever seen and listened to his stories as he did with ours. Efren and I divided the spoils of his labor and I paid for the breakfast and Roy and I sauntered off to get some much needed rest while Efren was asked by a regular fan of his to play a set of nine ball for small stakes. He seemed to be in a bright mood with energy to spare and started out on yet another journey while Roy and I went to visit the Sandman exhausted from the day's play and long week at the Derby City Classic.

After an exhausting long stay at the Derby City Classic, having more fun than a man should be allowed to have, I was sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight when I spied two of the great players from the Philippines sitting together, across from the lobby where I was sitting. One of them was Efren "Bata" Reyes, the quiet and humble man I had offered a drink of water to while he played chess. While Bata means "kid" in his native language, he has long since passed that stage. Now most call him The Magician and for good reason, if you have ever seen the man play. He can really swing it as you can tell from my story above. He sat with another great player in his own right, Filipino champion Francisco "Django" Bustamante. Efren's narrow eyes somehow connected with mine and he gave a nod to me from across the airport lobby and I went back to reading my book and he to his conversation with Busty.

I was looking forward to returning home and my plane couldn't arrive quick enough for me. Finally, the boarding started and I was one of the last ones to get on the plane. As I was making my way to the back of the plane where me seat was located, who do I spot sitting by himself but Efren Reyes. He was asleep or trying to sleep and I fumbled around for my digital camera. I had never seen a photo of Efren sleeping, especially on an airplane and thought it would make a nice memento. I was trying to hurry and the camera settings were off and just as I was about to snap the picture, Efren's eyes opened and he grinned wildly at me. I laughed and he laughed and I apologized and muttered something about, "I wanted to get a picture of you sleeping" and I went on back to my seat. I could only imagine the rest of the people behind me that were still trying to get their seats were not too happy with me holding up the plane so I hurriedly took my assigned seat. I was happy to see that "The King" was on the same flight as me and that we passed that humorous moment together without incident.

As the plane filled to its capacity, I craned my neck to see Efren who was several seats in front of me and I noticed that the seat was still empty and it looked like no one was sitting beside him. I anxiously waited another couple of minutes, in case his seat mate was away using the airplane's restroom or just late getting on the plane. Minutes ticked by and as I determined that no one was sitting beside Efren, I made my move, dashing down the aisle of the airplane, hoping to not bring any attention to myself, since the seatbelt signs had already been posted. I plopped down in the seat next to Efren and he quickly opened his eyes again and smiled. I said, "A backer always likes to sit next to his player on the ride home." He smiled and said, "From now on, you are my OFFICIAL MINI-TOURNAMENT BACKER!". It was me that now was grinning wildly but for some reason that made me very happy. I knew it was just a token of his generosity and his humility as well as his appreciation for the moments we had spent together at the Midnight Mini-One Pocket Tournament but it was special and I enjoyed the moment immensely. We talked about his friend Francisco and his family. We even discussed making a video together. I have my own ideas about what people would like to see and shared my ideas with Efren and he agreed to make a video with me. There were certain things that he thought would be needed to make the video a success and I had the answers he sought, so it was agreed that if I got my project together, to just give him a call and if the timing was right, we would do the project. My head was already spinning with plans of what I thought would be best to share with the viewing public. Efren contributed as much to the conversation as I did. Anyone who thinks Efren doesn't speak English is mistaken and one day, I hope to have Bata join me in the commentary booth. Like his fellow countryman, Roberto Gomez, I hope one day to introduce Efren to the world as a contributing commentator. I had even decided to ask the Internet forums what questions they would like to know about Efren and during a slack in the action of the match that we would commentate, I would ask some of those questions. I've also heard audio interviews in the past with Efren made in England and the interviewer had some of the best questions I have ever heard asked of a champion. Efren did quite well in that interview and I know I could make him feel comfortable in the booth, despite my inability to speak Tagalog. So now you know, THE REST OF THE STORY. (compliments to Paul Harvey) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MAGIC IN THE CUE

Magic in the Cue... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, it was the one he used to win the 2011 U.S. Open One Pocket Championship with. We all know it is the Indian and not the arrow, right? Well, it could not be more true than in this case. When Efren walked away from the table, Alex P was "admiring" his Efren's cue and I asked Alex to tell me what kind of cue it was. Alex being the perennial pixie, quipped, "bamboo stick", grinning wildly. That brought a chorus of laughter from the gallery and I slipped on down to the TV table to get a closer inspection of Efren's personal cue. I and most others have seen Alex's respect for Efren on more than one occasion. Alex and the rest of the Filipino players all acknowledge Efren as THE KING. One time during the tournament Efren was walking past Alex and not talking to anyone, Alex bowed low and extended both of his hands toward Efren like you see in the movies and would not stop until Efren shooed him away with a wave of his hand. I thought that was some funny stuff. Wish I had that on video. Alex is my favorite comedian pool player for sure.

Getting back to the cue.....It was a rather thin shaft, just guessing that it was probably below 12.0 mm. The cue but itself had a few points but for all practical purposes, it was a very plain looking cue. Another thing that caught my eye was the collar of the shaft. It was odd to say the least and did not match the collar on the butt of the cue. The taper looked similar to a pro taper but I can't be sure as I did not have a caliper with me. Alex had been hitting some balls with THE CUE and I took my chances with facing the wrath of Efren. I know, I know it was stupid for me to hit balls with the champs cue but sometimes as human beings we do stupid things. I figured that my excuse that I was Efren's OFFICIAL "mini-tournament backer" might give me a stay of execution if the tip were to fly off of the cue or the ferrule breaking.

Alex warned me that he did not give me permission to use the cue and I acknowledge that and inspected the cue closer. The ferrule had a thin line under it where there was "separation" from the wooden shaft. I placed my fingernail along the separation to make sure that I was seeing things clearly and sure enough there was a thin space not quite as thick as my fingernail under the ferrule. On one side of the shaft, the ferrule actually extended out enough for my fingernail to sit under the ferrule. I was careful not to put pressure on the ferrule for fear of it coming off. I knew I didn't have much time as Efren would be returning soon. My blood pressure was increasing with each passing second so I set up my signature shot, the one with the object ball frozen to the middle diamond on the foot rail. Cue ball in the kitchen on the head string with the cue ball almost perpendicular to the object ball. I aimed just like I do with my OB Classic Pro and put the same amount of English and was very careful in doing so. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw that the cue ball hit the rail approximately 2 1/8" from the object ball. I shot a second and third time, thinking maybe I was being too careful or not aiming careful enough. I have made this shot many, many times and could not believe that I could not even hit the object ball let alone make it. After aiming directly at the object ball, I managed to barely clip the object ball, not coming close to making it.

I whined to Alex that I couldn't play with THE CUE. Alex, opined, "That is what makes Efren such a great player". Efren can truly play with any cue if he can beat the best one pocket players in the world with THAT CUE. I stopped after a few shots just in time to see Efren returning to the table and took a few moments to ask him a few questions, not wanting to disturb his continuity and focus. He replied that the cue was made or provided to him by Denny Glenn if I heard him correctly. Denny Glenn must be some kind of sorcerer and had given THE CUE some magical powers that only Efren can control. For me, the experience although it aged me quite a bit, I simply came away with more awe than I already had for "Bata". I still don't know if Efren saw me hit any balls with his cue. I only hit four shots with it but I know I couldn't play with it. I was just thankful that he didn't have one his minions punish me for my foolhardy move. As the tournament came to an end, I was in my room, listening to the commentary by Billy I, Corey Deuel and I think Larry Schwartz and I was kind of dozing off because of lack of sleep from the prior days. I set the alarm clock for 3:30 am so that I could donate a few dollars to the blackjack tables before I left for my 7:30 am flight and when I woke a couple of hours later, showered and packed my suitcase for the very early departure, who would I see sitting at the table next to me but THE KING himself. When he walked close by my table, despite still being embarrassed by my outrageous move, I managed to mutter a "CONGRATULATIONS CHAMP" and he kindly smiled at me and tapped me on the shoulder. He must have passed on some of his magic to me as I won the next few hands of blackjack and retired a winner. JoeyA

The Curse Of One Pocket

One pocket has been recongnized by many as the best of the pool games for various reasons. It is a great gambling game and involves skills from different disciplines such as banking, kicking, safety play, creative shots and shot making as well. For me and many who have taken the time to learn the game it is by far the most interesting. As a gambling game it is easy to hide one's speed and barely beat your opponent if they lack all of the experience that is necessary to play the game.

While I have never been a great player, I have had the honor to give some of the top players fits on occasion, especially in tournaments and small money matches with the right spot. A working man has trouble achieving the highest honors in pool but I won't make excuses for that. It is what I chose to do. Pool is a wonderful hobby that I take very seriously and I enjoy it immensely at least when I can see semi-positive results from my efforts.

All that being said, I have come to a personal conclusion and it may not be one that most agree with but I think that if you choose to play one pocket as your game of choice, you will never be a very good nine ball player and vice versa. I have seen many good nine ball players get beat in one pocket by players who couldn't run three racks of nine ball if their life depended on it. I have always tried to play different disciplines with a modest amount of skill. After years of attempts to play the best one pocket I am capable of I have become convinced that this attempt to play the best one pocket has come at a cost. The cost comes in the form of poor nine ball play. I have on occasion played fairly decent nine ball but for the most part have always failed to play up to what I THINK is my ability in nine ball. I believe that my ability to play one pocket, inhibits my ability to play nine ball so for a period of three months I plan to discontinue playing one pocket and will make attempts to play only nine ball and straight pool to see if I can achieve better results with my nine ball game. If my nine ball game was even close to my one pocket game, I wouldn't attempt to discontinue playing one pocket because I truly love the game. As an amateur player, while I may lack the consistency of the pros I still can be competitive at one pocket but I cannot say the same thing about nine ball and so I plan to do this experiment.

I have witnessed many pool players whose game is nine ball and when they switch to playing one pocket, their nine ball game suffers immensely. For one pocket players when they attempt to become nine ball players they revert back to being one pocket players. The stroke that it takes to play one pocket and the skills that it takes to play one pocket are different from each other. For amateurs, I think one pocket is a better game because if you learn the moves and safety play you can compete even if you are not constantly in stroke. With nine ball, you have to not only develop and maintain a different type of stroke, you must have a different mentality about the game.

You can name many players who have played one pocket well and most of them cannot play nine ball at the same level. It is the curse of one pocket. I hope that in three months I will be able to increase my level of play at nine ball to the point where I can be comfortable with that game and continue playing both games. At this point in time, I am disgusted with my speed at nine ball and am almost ready to quit the game altogether. It is really disgusting to play 50% worse at one game over another. Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot and see if I can discover any new Epiphanies.

All Pool Players Are Not Scum!

Mark Moore, the cuemaker and I, decided to put pool players to the test.

Mark had a used cue case that he donated for the experiment. We stood the case outside the hotel room door to perform the test. The test was to determine if pool players were really as low down POS as people say they are.

Our first knock came on the door 5 minutes after setting the case outside. We thanked the player and repeated the test a few minutes later. This went on for over an hour, with pool player after pool player letting us know that we left our cue/case standing outside our hotel door. Approximately, 7 pool players let us know that the case was there. We could see the case standing just outside our door through the crack under the door and were hoping to catch a thief in progress. We never did. Finally after much laughter we decide to leave the room to go eat and left the case standing there. As we were walking down the stairway some very young children passed us in a pack and Mark grinned at me and said, "They will get it." When we returned the case was gone. While we don't know what percentage of pool players are scum, we are happy to report that all pool players are not scum.

Mark said he would be soon be going to stay with Vagabond for a few months.

The DCC tournament is great. Meeting lots of new AZ faces and old ones as well. Speaking of old, I did see Williebetmore. (in memory of Breakup only). Williebetmore had the difficult task of hanging out with Jeanette Lee for most of the day and she would come by the AZ Room often and say nice things to Williebetmore to get him to take her to dinner. It was kind of sad, really. I could tell that he had no idea what to do with his new good fortune but being the gentleman that I am, I allowed him to stumble along without my help.

Ronnie Alcano (Easy Money)

Two friends and I decided we would attend the U.S. Open 9 Ball Championship 2007 but only for the last three days of the tournament.

Normally, I don't attend a tournament unless I play in it. I enjoy donating. :-) Actually, I just enjoy supporting the tournaments. If I "come in the money", it is lagniappe. My goal as in all tournaments is to win every match. LOL. It really is. The reality is that no one wins all of their matches all of the time.

My two friends, David Walters and Duane Bourgeois and I had reservations close by, a rented car with Duane operating the portable GPS. The little women had given their permission to let us make the great escape and we went at it with a vengeance. We had permission, money, transportation, good seating reservations, time and couldn't wait to get after it.

The tournament was superb. It was difficult to make the choice about which matches we were going to watch. The seating is so good that you could watch several matches at one time. Duane had the foresite to bring each of us a pair of binoculars. There were many attractive ladies that caught our eye, I mean there were many attractive ladies there but we used the binoculars to watch different matches at the same time and to update our less fortunate neighbors who lacked the vision to see clear across the tournament room and report scores which were mounted above each table.

I could have sworn that some of the people who noticed that we were using binoculars actually were flirting with Duane, I mean our male egos thought some of the ladies were using body language to make contact with us. Just goes to show you what egotistical pigs even the good guys can be. I guess its the way we are wired. Oink, oink. We didn't let our toys get in the way of what we came for and we used them to watch matches of our choice. I recommend bringing binoculars to this tournament. It was a lot of fun.

I'm not going to tell you all of the matches we watched. The last two days were pool, pool, pool. We set aside just a small amount of time to eat and get limited rest.

Shane Van Boening took the final match, competing against Ronnie Alcano who put up a very good fight. Shane edged Ronnie out but not without feeling some of Ronnie's fire. After the tournament on Saturday night, David, Duane and I decided we would go over to Barry Berman's pool room, Q Masters. This was the largest pool room I had ever been in.

As we walked in, we slowly took in all of the surroundings, tables and players everywhere. We were looking for ACTION and our initial gaze saw none. We wanted to rent a table but all of the available tables had been reserved for the players who played in the Open. I thought that was kind of regal and didn't whine nor did my two buddies. We cruised around the cavernous pool room looking for money piled high on the lights or wads of cash being freely distributed about. We saw little of that, although there were pockets of gambling going on, we didn't feel brazen enough to get close enough to disturb the players concentration so we watched from afar.

An hour had passed and in walks Ronnie Alcano and his traveling companions. Since most of these fellow were from another country and might not have the skinny on the tables, I volunteered the information to Ronnie's front man who acted like he knew what he was doing, leading the pack. In perfect English he thanked me and they got a table on the spot over in the corner of one of the rooms in the large pool hall. I watched from a distance and all I saw was Ronnie knocking balls around by himself. He would look around the room with a forlon look on his face. I knew that look. He was looking for action but no one was looking to give him any. That's when I made my move. I sauntered up to his table and walked right up to him and politely asked, "Ronnie, would you like to play some $10 one pocket?". He grinned and said, $10 one pocket? "SURE!", followed by more grins from he and I.

I racked the balls, giving him the first break and was just as excited as I could be. This was SWEET. Here I was playing one of the best pool players in the world for $10 a game and at a game I enjoy quite a bit. Ronnie broke the balls and made a good break and he gave me a couple of easy shots the first game and I muffed the easiest of each of the easy shots. Ronnie grinned and cajoled in his high pitched voice, "EEEEEEasy MONEY!", much to everyone's delight as he easily won the first game. I paid off quickly and broke the next rack eager to make up for my faux pas(s). The same thing happened again, I missed easy shots one after the other. I ordered another beer to boost my courage and missed again. Ronnie, squealed with delight, "EEEEEasy MONEY!". I laughed and grinned and paid again. One of my Internet buddies, Dead Poked from AZ Billiards, slipped up along side of me and whispered "Can I play him next game, Joey?" I whispered back, "Let me win the next two games and you can play him the rest of the night". DP looked at me like I was crazy. DP had never seen me play pool before and what he saw was a bumbling, stumbling, BANGER--ME. DP was kind enough not to put up a fuss and continued to watch and drink a beer. The next rack I got out of Ronnie's break and had a good run at him and beat him quite soundly 8-2 at which time, I squealed, EEEEEEEasy MONEY" and all of the Filipinas and Filipinos and especially Ronnie, laughed loudly grinning and chatting animatedly. The next game proved similar and I got out on top and stayed on top to win 8-5. I didn't squeal with too much delight because I knew I was fortunate and didn't want to be an ass, but Ronnie unscrewed, probably bored with the $10 bet but I was happy as I could be. Ronnie had some business to discuss with some of his friends and I could only hope that I had made a good impression with him. Ronnie and the rest of his entourage were great fun to be around and you can be sure that I will be hunting him down for some EEEEEasy MONEY. :-)

Ronnie's Photo by Allen Cortez