NH Steve
Administrator
Part One of Steve’s Hard Times Sacramento Jamboree, One Pocket report…
What a great place to play One Pocket – 8 very tight-pocketed tables in a separate tournament room – with food and beverage available right there, and open 24 hrs to boot.
And the service! Chuck and son really took care of the players, including stretch (and I mean strrrrrrretch) limo service to and from the door. At 38 players, I thought it was a good turnout, although you always hope for more…
I had a great time – got to meet our friend Tom Suarez, aka Sactown Tom, the resident tournament director at Hard Times Sacramento, who worked with well-traveled veteran tournament director Scott Smith to run both the One Pocket and the 9-ball.
That’s Tom and Scott Smith working on the One Pocket draw.
My very first night there, as I dropped in to check out Hard Times at about 1 in the morning (I had a late night flight arrival), and had just started hitting a few balls to get a feel for the tables, I overheard two guys at the table next to me talking about “that new One Pocket web site”. Turns out it was our own John Henderson – aka jrhendy – snapping a picture of Lou Butera. The entire Hard Times was packed at that time, btw, and it remained that way for a couple more hours – we’re talking after 2 in the morning on a Monday night folks! Somebody is doing something right!!
That’s BCA Hall of Famer Lou Butera’s car, with the Top Cue plate, parked right outside the front door at Hard Times.
Lou and his wife were both incredibly friendly, and very proud of their seven children and eighteen grandchildren -- wow Lou shot pretty well in the tournament, too -- especially for someone not known to be too into One Pocket. At one point he made this shot for his case ball to close out a set (might have been against jhendy, even ), giving John the hanging ball, but at the same time caroming the other ball right into his own pocket -- it's great when it goes!
START(
%AI6F4%JD2D2%PZ4N1%WE9D2%XH5E6%YD2Z1%ZE4D3
)END
I always love to see a good One Pocket player helping out another player, who might be a great player, but isn't really familiar with the game of One Pocket. I saw that last January at the Derby City Classic, as Nick Varner gave Johnny Archer about a one hour One Pocket primer. And I saw it at Hard Times as none other than Ronnie Allen took Lou aside and showed him the Ronnie Allen way to play a few basic shots that he had seen Lou misplay earlier. The only one I can remember is this shot -- how to play safe when you are left like this -- you shoot the ball two rails towards pocket A, and at the same time swing the cue ball around to the end rail:
START(
%AD7V0%Pi6G9%Qs4B1%WL9E2%XC7T4%YE8T5%Zh2H3%[I6Z5%\E5V9%]p3H5
%^J7Z9%_p5W0%`g0Z1%aN9D7
)END
With all those rumors about the wide open aggressive California style One Pocket, isn’t it interesting that the guy that wins, plays the most conservative style…
Billy Palmer lining up a shot
Actually, I see a contrast of styles in Billy Palmer’s game: he’s very conservative, patient, and favors simple safeties during the back and forth sparring while he waits for an opportunity to shoot; but then when he gets a shot he becomes a different player – and very aggressive (and successful!) at running the balls.
Anyone who is a strong 9-ball player, seeking to improve their One Pocket game, would do well to study Billy’s approach to the game. He seems to play the old fashioned lock down patient safety style – laying off the more complicated and splashy power shots that open up balls, but that might leave a bank – in favor of waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. Of course, you guys see him a lot more than I do, I could be wrong, but this is what I saw during the tourney, IMO.
More to come...
What a great place to play One Pocket – 8 very tight-pocketed tables in a separate tournament room – with food and beverage available right there, and open 24 hrs to boot.
And the service! Chuck and son really took care of the players, including stretch (and I mean strrrrrrretch) limo service to and from the door. At 38 players, I thought it was a good turnout, although you always hope for more…
I had a great time – got to meet our friend Tom Suarez, aka Sactown Tom, the resident tournament director at Hard Times Sacramento, who worked with well-traveled veteran tournament director Scott Smith to run both the One Pocket and the 9-ball.
That’s Tom and Scott Smith working on the One Pocket draw.
My very first night there, as I dropped in to check out Hard Times at about 1 in the morning (I had a late night flight arrival), and had just started hitting a few balls to get a feel for the tables, I overheard two guys at the table next to me talking about “that new One Pocket web site”. Turns out it was our own John Henderson – aka jrhendy – snapping a picture of Lou Butera. The entire Hard Times was packed at that time, btw, and it remained that way for a couple more hours – we’re talking after 2 in the morning on a Monday night folks! Somebody is doing something right!!
That’s BCA Hall of Famer Lou Butera’s car, with the Top Cue plate, parked right outside the front door at Hard Times.
Lou and his wife were both incredibly friendly, and very proud of their seven children and eighteen grandchildren -- wow Lou shot pretty well in the tournament, too -- especially for someone not known to be too into One Pocket. At one point he made this shot for his case ball to close out a set (might have been against jhendy, even ), giving John the hanging ball, but at the same time caroming the other ball right into his own pocket -- it's great when it goes!
START(
%AI6F4%JD2D2%PZ4N1%WE9D2%XH5E6%YD2Z1%ZE4D3
)END
I always love to see a good One Pocket player helping out another player, who might be a great player, but isn't really familiar with the game of One Pocket. I saw that last January at the Derby City Classic, as Nick Varner gave Johnny Archer about a one hour One Pocket primer. And I saw it at Hard Times as none other than Ronnie Allen took Lou aside and showed him the Ronnie Allen way to play a few basic shots that he had seen Lou misplay earlier. The only one I can remember is this shot -- how to play safe when you are left like this -- you shoot the ball two rails towards pocket A, and at the same time swing the cue ball around to the end rail:
START(
%AD7V0%Pi6G9%Qs4B1%WL9E2%XC7T4%YE8T5%Zh2H3%[I6Z5%\E5V9%]p3H5
%^J7Z9%_p5W0%`g0Z1%aN9D7
)END
With all those rumors about the wide open aggressive California style One Pocket, isn’t it interesting that the guy that wins, plays the most conservative style…
Billy Palmer lining up a shot
Actually, I see a contrast of styles in Billy Palmer’s game: he’s very conservative, patient, and favors simple safeties during the back and forth sparring while he waits for an opportunity to shoot; but then when he gets a shot he becomes a different player – and very aggressive (and successful!) at running the balls.
Anyone who is a strong 9-ball player, seeking to improve their One Pocket game, would do well to study Billy’s approach to the game. He seems to play the old fashioned lock down patient safety style – laying off the more complicated and splashy power shots that open up balls, but that might leave a bank – in favor of waiting for his opponent to make a mistake. Of course, you guys see him a lot more than I do, I could be wrong, but this is what I saw during the tourney, IMO.
More to come...
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