gulfportdoc
Verified Member
Went over to Buffalo's yesterday to see some of the 2 P.M. matches, see some old friends, and see the new room.
First of all Buffalo's is very nice, a huge improvement over the Metairie facility. It's spacious, with 30' ceilings, plenty of walking room, and even clean bathrooms! Due to the high ceilings and good air movement, I probably wouldn't have known that people were smoking, except to see them. My clothes didn't even smell when I got home. They offer a pretty good sandwich & plate menu (which was sorely lacking at the older place), and the ubiquitous full bar. There is an arcade room for the younger set, although presumably the poker machines will be going in there following the wait time.
A little bird told me that Buff's rent will remain the same as the smaller facility, due to the deal he struck with the amusement company who will provide the video poker machines! If true, that's like a 200% improvement for his money.
I did chat with Tony C., who told me that he was only 7 minutes late in the forfeit snafu. I talked with others, who said that he was much later than 7 minutes. Reportedly it was JJ who raised the issue, which he had every right to do. In any case Tony's integrity should not be in question here. He's an earnest down to earth guy who just didn't get up in time. I've known Tony over a period of 25 years or so. He's a big tough looking individual, but basically he's just a nice guy from a good family.
I don't know who is actually running the event, so I did not actually talk with him about the forfeit circumstance. However, Joe Long (BRLongarm) told me that in future events they will just penalize a late-comer one game for each 15 minutes late. That seems like a good rule to me, and after this year's penalty, the guys will probably be more careful in future.
Had a very nice chat with Maurice LeBlanc, who came over from Houston with his pal Mr. Gonzales (can't recall his first name). He offered me one of his ring side seats for the streaming table matches. He said that Jeff Sparks and John Rizzo had also come over from Houston to sweat and bet, but that they were presently making deposits over at Harrah's casino.
Had a very nice chat with Alex Lely, whose screen name I think is Eengat. He and his pal were visiting the U.S. for a few weeks. They're from The Hague, Netherlands, where Alex's friend owns a pool room. He said no one plays billiards there any more. The younger set all want to play pool, and listen to loud music. BTW, Alex is a very good pool player. He made it to the final rounds in the 80-man 9 ball tournament on the 7' tables. Hope he can get into the good dough in this very strong field.
Also had a nice chat with Gerald Huber ("Humphrey"), who wrote the well received book, The Green Felt Jungle. For the past several years he's lived down in Thibodaux, in Vapros' country.
I watched part of the Reyes/Gray match. Gray plays well, but he was no match for Reyes' experience. The Roberts/Pagulayan match was another matter. Roberts played extremely well for the first 3 hours or so. He has a great touch, and is a good banker. Alex was missing shots, and even missed one or two with ball in hand. Roberts got to 4-1, needing only one game. Roberts had a good chance to win the sixth match, but he made a mistake, Alex got a great roll, and Alex won that game. When it became 4-2, defeatism started to creep in. Josh missed a couple of banks that he normally would make, got a couple of bad rolls, and Alex actually slopped a couple of balls in. From then on you could tell that Alex became more confident. From that point everything went Alex's way, and against Roberts. Alex won 5-4. Whether there was an "Alex factor" at play, like there used to be an "Efren factor", I don't know. But how often that does happen, where a guy is substantially ahead, should cruise home with cautious play, but ends up going south mentally, as the other man gets on a roll...
A word about the streaming table. It was not in great condition. The pockets were probably 4-1/8 (I measured the pockets with 2 pool balls, but I couldn't tell if they were 4-1/4 or 4-1/8), which is too tight IMO. But the cloth was worn, and needed vacuuming. Although the pockets would not accept firm or hard shots unless the ball rolled into the center of the pocket, the pockets were forgiving if rolled in-- even after contacting both facings. Table 7, used for the Reyes/Gray match, would have been a better choice, but they probably didn't want to move it, and the table they did use was already set for the arena and streaming features. I am surprised they didn't change the cloth for the tournament however. Perhaps their table guy wasn't available.
All in all it is a great tournament at Buffalo's, and my guess is that it will continue to be a major annual event for some time.
~Doc
First of all Buffalo's is very nice, a huge improvement over the Metairie facility. It's spacious, with 30' ceilings, plenty of walking room, and even clean bathrooms! Due to the high ceilings and good air movement, I probably wouldn't have known that people were smoking, except to see them. My clothes didn't even smell when I got home. They offer a pretty good sandwich & plate menu (which was sorely lacking at the older place), and the ubiquitous full bar. There is an arcade room for the younger set, although presumably the poker machines will be going in there following the wait time.
A little bird told me that Buff's rent will remain the same as the smaller facility, due to the deal he struck with the amusement company who will provide the video poker machines! If true, that's like a 200% improvement for his money.
I did chat with Tony C., who told me that he was only 7 minutes late in the forfeit snafu. I talked with others, who said that he was much later than 7 minutes. Reportedly it was JJ who raised the issue, which he had every right to do. In any case Tony's integrity should not be in question here. He's an earnest down to earth guy who just didn't get up in time. I've known Tony over a period of 25 years or so. He's a big tough looking individual, but basically he's just a nice guy from a good family.
I don't know who is actually running the event, so I did not actually talk with him about the forfeit circumstance. However, Joe Long (BRLongarm) told me that in future events they will just penalize a late-comer one game for each 15 minutes late. That seems like a good rule to me, and after this year's penalty, the guys will probably be more careful in future.
Had a very nice chat with Maurice LeBlanc, who came over from Houston with his pal Mr. Gonzales (can't recall his first name). He offered me one of his ring side seats for the streaming table matches. He said that Jeff Sparks and John Rizzo had also come over from Houston to sweat and bet, but that they were presently making deposits over at Harrah's casino.
Had a very nice chat with Alex Lely, whose screen name I think is Eengat. He and his pal were visiting the U.S. for a few weeks. They're from The Hague, Netherlands, where Alex's friend owns a pool room. He said no one plays billiards there any more. The younger set all want to play pool, and listen to loud music. BTW, Alex is a very good pool player. He made it to the final rounds in the 80-man 9 ball tournament on the 7' tables. Hope he can get into the good dough in this very strong field.
Also had a nice chat with Gerald Huber ("Humphrey"), who wrote the well received book, The Green Felt Jungle. For the past several years he's lived down in Thibodaux, in Vapros' country.
I watched part of the Reyes/Gray match. Gray plays well, but he was no match for Reyes' experience. The Roberts/Pagulayan match was another matter. Roberts played extremely well for the first 3 hours or so. He has a great touch, and is a good banker. Alex was missing shots, and even missed one or two with ball in hand. Roberts got to 4-1, needing only one game. Roberts had a good chance to win the sixth match, but he made a mistake, Alex got a great roll, and Alex won that game. When it became 4-2, defeatism started to creep in. Josh missed a couple of banks that he normally would make, got a couple of bad rolls, and Alex actually slopped a couple of balls in. From then on you could tell that Alex became more confident. From that point everything went Alex's way, and against Roberts. Alex won 5-4. Whether there was an "Alex factor" at play, like there used to be an "Efren factor", I don't know. But how often that does happen, where a guy is substantially ahead, should cruise home with cautious play, but ends up going south mentally, as the other man gets on a roll...
A word about the streaming table. It was not in great condition. The pockets were probably 4-1/8 (I measured the pockets with 2 pool balls, but I couldn't tell if they were 4-1/4 or 4-1/8), which is too tight IMO. But the cloth was worn, and needed vacuuming. Although the pockets would not accept firm or hard shots unless the ball rolled into the center of the pocket, the pockets were forgiving if rolled in-- even after contacting both facings. Table 7, used for the Reyes/Gray match, would have been a better choice, but they probably didn't want to move it, and the table they did use was already set for the arena and streaming features. I am surprised they didn't change the cloth for the tournament however. Perhaps their table guy wasn't available.
All in all it is a great tournament at Buffalo's, and my guess is that it will continue to be a major annual event for some time.
~Doc