This is my little report from the first day of the West Coast Challenge one pocket at California Billiards. I arrived a little after 11 AM. While heading to the pool hall, I saw some guy sleeping in his car outside. First thing that came to my mind was “Yep, that must be a pool player.” haha
Walking in the door, the first person I could make out when my eyes adjusted to the inside was Henderson playing someone. I think it was the same table I saw him playing Mitch on last month. Walking toward the back, many of the competitors appeared to be practicing. On one of the streaming tables, Ronnie was hitting some balls. Arriving back to the front, Dennis, Warren, and Jay began hitting balls. Pretty soon, Ronnie, Jeff De Luna, and a couple of others came over. At around noon, ken Shuman holds the players meeting. As many of you heard, you can’t wear tank tops or open toed shoes. Funny part about this is there was a player who appeared to play in his socks. Matches began close to one.
As mentioned previously, our 1p.org members didn’t get easy draws the first round. Jay got Tony, Masta Cruz got Jayson Shaw, Catkins(I think that was him) drew Kiamco, and of course, Hendy drew SVB. I don’t remember who Chris Swart, Martin Bick, Jeff Gregory, or Tres Kane drew for their opening matches. I know Lance Salazar knocked Hendy out. I know every one else was still in it when I left around 6 PM. Chris was playing Jeff on the streaming table next to the Thorpe/AlShaheen match.
Watching the Ronnie vs Kiko match, it was close in the beginning with Ronnie making some mistakes to keep Kiko in the hunt but Ronnie won it by winning two straight games. Ken Shuman came by the table by the door and told the player to speed it up since it was tied at 2 apiece after close to two hours. It seemed with the caliber of players and the rules, all matches were going by pretty quickly.
Up until 6 PM, the big match was the SVB vs Chohan one on the streaming table. I’m glad I was able to get a good seat for this one as this match drew a pretty sizable crowd. While there was safety play, it was more ball running and nice banking. As you may have noticed, Tony really broke one rack wide open.
It was nice seeing and meeting some of our members from the forum. I believe Howard “What’s in the case” Kurasaki was also there. He was with a couple of others guys were discussing cues while watching the SVB/Chihan match. I think I saw Kenny Koo walking around. Jeff Gregory asked me about the Ghost’s shirt which led us to introduce ourselves. I didn’t say anything to Hendy because he was always busy either playing his matches or matching up. When I left, he was on the snooker table playing. Hmmm...every time I have to leave, I always see Henderson playing on a snooker table.
One guy that is there but no playing is Ernesto. Seems he came up by himself to work on a table on a holiday of all days. As Jay said, Ernesto’s has got to be the hardest working man in pool. Later, when someone asked him how come he isn’t in the tournament, he replied that guaranteed to make money by working on a pool table than playing on one. Also working during the tournament was a guy doing tip and I think ferrule work. I saw Dennis working on his tip on the guy’s lathe.
Well, there’s might little report. Thanks for reading.
Walking in the door, the first person I could make out when my eyes adjusted to the inside was Henderson playing someone. I think it was the same table I saw him playing Mitch on last month. Walking toward the back, many of the competitors appeared to be practicing. On one of the streaming tables, Ronnie was hitting some balls. Arriving back to the front, Dennis, Warren, and Jay began hitting balls. Pretty soon, Ronnie, Jeff De Luna, and a couple of others came over. At around noon, ken Shuman holds the players meeting. As many of you heard, you can’t wear tank tops or open toed shoes. Funny part about this is there was a player who appeared to play in his socks. Matches began close to one.
As mentioned previously, our 1p.org members didn’t get easy draws the first round. Jay got Tony, Masta Cruz got Jayson Shaw, Catkins(I think that was him) drew Kiamco, and of course, Hendy drew SVB. I don’t remember who Chris Swart, Martin Bick, Jeff Gregory, or Tres Kane drew for their opening matches. I know Lance Salazar knocked Hendy out. I know every one else was still in it when I left around 6 PM. Chris was playing Jeff on the streaming table next to the Thorpe/AlShaheen match.
Watching the Ronnie vs Kiko match, it was close in the beginning with Ronnie making some mistakes to keep Kiko in the hunt but Ronnie won it by winning two straight games. Ken Shuman came by the table by the door and told the player to speed it up since it was tied at 2 apiece after close to two hours. It seemed with the caliber of players and the rules, all matches were going by pretty quickly.
Up until 6 PM, the big match was the SVB vs Chohan one on the streaming table. I’m glad I was able to get a good seat for this one as this match drew a pretty sizable crowd. While there was safety play, it was more ball running and nice banking. As you may have noticed, Tony really broke one rack wide open.
It was nice seeing and meeting some of our members from the forum. I believe Howard “What’s in the case” Kurasaki was also there. He was with a couple of others guys were discussing cues while watching the SVB/Chihan match. I think I saw Kenny Koo walking around. Jeff Gregory asked me about the Ghost’s shirt which led us to introduce ourselves. I didn’t say anything to Hendy because he was always busy either playing his matches or matching up. When I left, he was on the snooker table playing. Hmmm...every time I have to leave, I always see Henderson playing on a snooker table.
One guy that is there but no playing is Ernesto. Seems he came up by himself to work on a table on a holiday of all days. As Jay said, Ernesto’s has got to be the hardest working man in pool. Later, when someone asked him how come he isn’t in the tournament, he replied that guaranteed to make money by working on a pool table than playing on one. Also working during the tournament was a guy doing tip and I think ferrule work. I saw Dennis working on his tip on the guy’s lathe.
Well, there’s might little report. Thanks for reading.
