[ORCHESTRA MUSIC]
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[SWOOSH]
[THUMPING]
[GLASS BREAKING]
[TRUMPETS]
[SPARKLE]
[TRAFFIC]
[DOOR UNLOCKING]
[DOOR CREAKING]
[KEYPAD BEEPING]
[DOOR CREAKING SHUT]
[LOUD GUITAR MUSIC]
[GUITAR FEEDBACK]
[ELECTRIC GUITAR STRUMMING]
[GUITAR CONTINUES]
Dusty highways and neon signs
Broken dreams, livin' by the lines
Cruisin' down from town to town
Strangers' glances never get us down
Backroom deals and secret bets
Sweat drips down, it's a rush we get
We're livin' life like a roll of dice
Every strike, pays the gambler's price
[GUITAR STRUMMING]
Hittin' pool halls on a midnight quest
Cash in pocket, don't need no rest
We take our shots with a hustler's flair
Livin' off the edge, we don't ever care
Rollin' on, we're playin' for the win
Pool hustlers on the road, we're all in
Cash is flowin', the game's begun
On the road, we're number one
Doin' tricks with a cue in hand
Betting big, can't lose this stand
In smoky bars, under dimlit lights
Our lives are gambled in these endless nights
Every shot, a ticket to the ride
Rollin' on, we're playin' for the win
Pool hustlers on the road, we're all in
Cash is flowin', the game's begun
On the road, always looking for some
[CROWD RUMBLING]
Welcome everybody out to the 50th annual Texas Open 9-ball Championships.
[GUITAR STRUMMING]
City lights fade in the rearview mirror
We chase the thrill, never face the fear
Livin' life tryin' to catch a dime
Rack up, tell the mouth we'll rise
Neon glows and whiskey stains
Laughin' loud through losses and gains
Egos rise, then meet their fall
In the game of fate, we risk it all
Rollin' on, we're playin' for the win
Pool hustlers on the road, we're all in
Cash is flowin', the game's begun
On the road, always looking for some
[GUITAR SOLO]
We'll take the bets, break all the rules
On this endless road, we're nobody's fools
With every town, a new story starts
We're pool hustlers, dealing wild cards
Rollin' on, we're playing for the win
Pool hustlers on the road, we're all in
Cash is flowin', the game's begun
On the road, always losing sun
[ROCK GUITAR]
[GUITAR CONTINUES]
The engine roars and the miles fly by
With every victory, we touch the sky
Strumming strings and pounding hearts
The road's a stage where our journey starts
Guitars wail, and the shadows flee
On this endless path, we roam wild and free
With a deep voice, we sing our song
We're pool hustlers, and we can't go wrong
Rolling on through the night. We're chasing dreams and neon lights.
[POOL BALLS BREAK]
[RAY]: She told me she was a professional too.
[TYLER]: She is. She is. Yep.
[RAY]: And you're the coach.
[TYLER]: I do a little bit of coaching, yeah.
[TYLER]: When I saw that blank spot. I was like,
it'd be really sweet if I could fill that spot.
To be the Texas Open, it-
and the 50th annual, it's pretty cool.
'Cause I think everybody's going to look and
you know, who won the 25th one, who won the 50th, who won the 75th, right? So,
I don't know, the, the coin just
fell on my side this time. It's pretty cool.
When you're here, you can feel the passion and, the love for pool here.
The Texas Open, we used to
always get real fired up for it
'cause everybody wanted to win Texas, you know,
'cause Texas had more pride in their pool than anybody else.
What I do say about it is I've come in every place, but first.
[LAUGHS]
I've been two and out.
I've won two. Lost one. I've come in second, twice.
I've come in 3rd three times. I've come in fourth.
Come in 5th/6th. I've come in 7th/8th and I've come in 9th through 12th.
It seems like I've come in every place but first.
But, that's it. I've never won it. I've come very close.
couple times.
You know, it is what it is.
[PAUL]: The Texas Open, I think it was, the
Some of the, certainly the most premier tournament in, in the Southwest.
Seemed to be always full.
Uh, it was certainly the biggest
and it was, it attracted the best players.
And it might not have been that many players, the first one, maybe
30 or 40? Who knows.
I remember
when it had 60 people, maybe.
Showboat Joe running the tournament.
I mean, I remember that.
I'd play in all of them.
I'd go one, two and out, and
and sit around and watch every great player play.
So, I think that might have been part of the name, Showboat Joe...
Open, Texas Open or something, but, that was the first one.
And it-it wasn't called anything. It was just the once in the summer,
It was just a $25 tournament, $25 entry fee.
But, I remember it was Danny Jones and UJ Puckett and
Bastrop. Sammy Jon- you know the local players from the area.
It's, basically the tournament ran itself.
Uh, what was it, '75 or '74?
Uhh, Danny Jones and Joe Cromleigh started the state open.
The Texas Open had them all.
Calvin would be there, Louie would be there,
and we'd all go there to mix it up. It wasn't about the tournament,
it was about the entertainment.
We all just wanted to all get together
and showcase, you know, our, our best game.
I played in the very first one,
but, you know Buddy Hall and everybody played in all those tournaments
and, uh, tournaments were different back then.
They didn't have big tournaments, often.
So, whenever they had a big tournament,
all the hustlers and all the good players would come to those things
to gamble, you know, and make money.
You know, so, those tournaments were really for action, and there was action.
There were very few tournaments,
uh, in fact, tournaments weren't
a thing then, except for the
T-Texas State Open.
And, Bob Vanover would come down from Dallas and win it every year.
I think he won it six or seven years in a row.
The first one, uh, was held in seventy
four, I believe. Sammy Jones,
he may have won, right there, the first one, back in '74.
It started off at, uh, Moyer's.
And then that, Moyer's actually became Austin Cue Club.
Well, Moyer's had every kind of game imaginable.
Good, bad, ugly.
[LAUGH]
Anything you wanted you could find at Moyer's Cue Club.
I remember when my dad and I used to go to Moyer's
that it was called Moyers. M-O-Y - E-R-S, and apparently the
family that owned the building was a Moyer-that was their last name.
So when the gentleman, Richard Hooper, opened up that place, he kept the name, Moyer's.
As times changed, they wanted to sell beer, I think,
And, uh, the family, Moyer family, wouldn't have anything to do with it.
So they changed it to More Yours.
Kind of, sounded the same.
But, it was called More Yours after Moyer's.
Then it was called Austin Cue Club.
I think he was in partners with the guy that owned it.
He bought the other guy out or something.
It was some, some technicality where he had to change the name.
And then it became the Austin Cue Club.
But we always referred to it as Moyer's.
I mean, th-the people that were there at the start.
Cue Club was a 24-hour pool room.
They had great greasy food. Terrible tables.
You had all kinds in there, wheeling and dealing, and, gambling.
There were some big games in there.
I think it went to Stroker's for two years, didn't it?
I believe, and then Eric's took it, I think.
I don't really know all about that because then I-I
I got married and started having kids and, uh, and my pool was
kind of, uh, secondary there for a little while.
My name is James Ray Davis, Jr.
I am from Bastrop, Texas.
The majority of people know me by "Junior"
because I got the same name as my father, James Davis, Sr. and
both, uh, been around pool for so long that, that moniker stuck.
Who gave that to me was Gilbert Martinez,
three-time Texas State 9-ball champion.
He was known as Junior because his father was Gilbert Martinez, Sr.
Then after his father passed away, he started calling me Junior.
That's how I got the name Junior.
Even though it's part of my name, no one ever called me that until Gilbert Martinez.
We lived right behind a bar in Bastrop that my, uh, grandparents, um, opened.
It was Ray's Place and they had
a restaurant. They sold bait, like minnows,
and it was a bar as well too, and it had three bar tables in there.
During this time, my father was working six days a week on the oil rig.
After school, I would duck my head inside to see if there was a ball or two on the table
because I didn't have quarter to put in the- it was a quarter a game.
I didn't have quarter to put in to be able to-to, uh, keep playing,
so, I'd shoot the ball in,
if there was a ball on the table, and I'd run around to the other side
and I'd stick my hand and catch it on the track...
and then throw it up and throw it back on the table and then I- then I'd shoot again.
That's where I learned how to play pool was in that, in that bar.
It was actually the same tables that my dad learned how to play on, the exact same tables. [LAUGHS]
They said I would, whenever, um, I was too short to see over that I would pull a chair
or like a milk crate and stand on top of it to, to shoot on the, uh, table.
So, I've been playing pool my whole life.
'Machine Gun' Lou Butera, had a
video game. Little bitty floppy disk, [LAUGHS] that I would put in my computer.
And, it was playing pool. You had to play like, um,
'Dead Eye' Dan and all these other characters. There was like a
clip of him showing how to run a rack of straight pool in under a minute.
So, he would get up there
ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping, ping. And shoot them all in.
That might be one reason why at the time I would try to shoot fast
was trying to do like I saw it on the video game, you know.
But, like at that time I knew who Lou Butera was,
but, I didn't know who Jeremy Jones was, or
Buddy Hall, Bob Vanover,
I didn't know none of those people, at that time.
Rafael Martinez, or CJ Wiley, or
any, any of the players from back then, I didn't
at that time I didn't know, but I knew who Lou Butera was.
'Machine Gun' Lou. Pew. Pew. Pew.
What do I love about the Texas Open?
The consistency of it.
That's been going on for 50 years.
It's like the longest running tournament in the country.
I always loved the, uh, the tournament and, uh, because of the action.
'Cause people would come and gamble and, the action of it.
Well, I've finished fourth one time.
but, other than that,
never could, I've always struggled to get inside the top 16.
[RAY]: I guess it was like '87.
They had it at Strokers for a couple of years.
I think Country Calvin and Jerry Prado won those two.
Strokers was a short-lived deal. That was, uh,
Joe Abraham and a guy named Coy opened that, and, Bo-, uh,
a guy named Bob Wincher was the, was the manager for them.
Strokers was killer, man. Um,
They had two nine footers as you walked in the door
and then a load of four by eights. Couple of bar tables.
But again, 24/7. A little nicer than, uh, Austin Cue Club.
It was, uh, my home away from home.
And then Eric's became the hot spot and everything moved there.
That's when the Texas Open
went to 9-foot tables.
All the previous ones were 8- footers.
Well, it kind of dwindled down at Eric's.
I don't know what all the reasoning was, but I know the numbers were dropping
and it got pretty bad and then they decided
they, didn't even, wasn't gonna have it anymore.
And that's when you guys picked it up at G Cue.
It flourished. It flourished at G Cue.
And became, even, bigger than it was at
and became, to this day at Skinny Bob's, which is formerly G Cue
It's as big as it's ever been.
Bigger than it's ever been.
In the old days it was more of a regional gig, I guess.
you know, Oklahoma, West Texas. They brought all their little clans together.
Now it's more, I think it's turning into more a pro tournament,
you know, I mean, if you're a shortstop and you get in,
you're just probably hoping to cash, that'll be successful.
'Cause you know you're not gonna beat Dennis Orcollo, Shane Van Boening.
All that, go through all of them. You might get lucky and knock one off.
You know, back in the old Texas Opens
every year you would get a couple of those marquee players
from Mexico or one from back East, and
they would always be up there in the final four,
and it was cool to get to see 'em 'cause you've never seen them play before.
Now you got, 40 of those.
I went to California and I won California three times.
Californians are arrogant.
So I went over there and pounded on 'em,
but I could never win Texas.
I came in second twice,
third twice, 5th twice,
probably 4th once, I don't know, but I could never win it.
I try to come every year. I really enjoy the event and
it's, uh, It's nice down here, so
you know, I like to support the events that I actually I enjoy.
and, uh, this is definitely one of them, so I try to come every year.
It's now the, you know, longest continuous tournament in the country.
And that's, uh, you know, we're proud of that here in Texas.
You can see at the list of winners,
are-are a great list of winners. Probably the biggest pool state there is.
And you know, just kind of, the US Open's my favorite event, um
you know, the Texas Open, being a Texan's
right there with it, you know what I mean? So,
It's just kind of like in my blood.
Oh,
What is a Mexican boxer?
You know what I mean? It's, it's everything, it's
Pride. Pride.
If, uh, if I can sum up, being a Texan in one word,
Pride. Absolutely.
Great, great Grandpa got a land grant from the Republic of Texas, so
our family's been here for a long time.
We're proud of our heritage.
We like to have fun.
Willie Nelson. Cold beer.
Uh, We love pool. We love our playing.
You know, all the different forms of pool.
Uh. Cold beer. You know,
gotta have some cold beer, especially when you're younger and
doing all the things young people do.
Wonderful place. Best place on Earth for a pool player.
In the United States, I've been to, probably, like,
eighty percent of 'em.
I like Texas the most.
That could be because I was raised here, but
I love, I love Texas.
We're a proud group, I feel like. Um,
There's... a...
sense of, like, politeness within the community, I feel like.
you know, being a Texan, but then, also being tough as well.
I've never really been that homer, like, when it comes to sports or otherwise, but like,
I'm, I'm proud to say I'm from Texas. For sure.
I'm very proud to be a Texan.
We recently hired a new advertising agency for Garrison Brothers
When they asked us
what the brand identity needs to be,
I said, "Swagger".
'Cause we're Texans, and we've got Swagger.
I think it's fair to say Texas is the biggest pool state, I would think. Um,
with tournaments, leagues, uh, pool halls in general, maybe.
There's something about the, the state.
Kind of an independence. I don't know.
They're, they're proud to be Texan.
You know, just to be a part of the bragging rights. You know, we're the biggest.
We-we're the best this, we're the best that, you know.
My wife's a native Austinite.
My kids are all born here, so I guess I'm a Texan.
[LAUGHS]
You know, every- everywhere I go, when they ask where you're from,
You know, and sometimes I'm with someone else.
Well, when I say Texas, well, you know, the other person might say Missouri
You know, [LAUGH] whatever, and I say Texas and,
you know, it might be in Spain. Ohh, Texas,
you know, like, you know, it's just known.
Pool generally is thought to have perhaps be invented by the
French. 15th century.
Somewhere around there. It was played by nobility.
Came about sort of simultaneously with sort of the
great power conflicts of that era, right.
The French and the Spaniards and the English.
When the Colonialists came over to the United States, they brought pool with them.
George Washington was said to have won a pool match.
There was a pool table in the White House.
Thomas Jefferson had a pool table in Monticello.
During the very founding of our country in the 1700s, pool existed.
There's a thought that the Spaniards brought pool over to the new World in Florida. But,
we do know, for a fact, for an absolute fact, that pool was being played in Mexico.
Mexico, of course, was a Spanish territory, uh, before it gained its independence.
Texas gained its independence from Mexico in-in 1836
It became a state in 1845, in December.
There is a reference to pool in the journalistic record in Texas, five months after Texas became a state.
So, we do know that, from the very founding of Texas, pool was here.
Emperor Maximilian, of Mexico, when he came to his palace in Mexico City,
apparently the palace wasn't quite prepared yet,
had to sleep on the pool table. So, we know for a fact
pool was also part of our Southern tradition South of the border, just as it came
uh, from, you know, the Northern powers.
A lot of the first pool tables in the United States
were, uh, created by English, uh, and Dutch
cabinet makers, and they were really fantastic pool tables.
But, we also know that pool was coming up from the South. We do know that.
If you drive out West. If you go out to Langtree. Texas,
which is, um, where Judge Roy Bean held his famous court.
Uh, you can go out to Langtree, Texas
and see the pool table, at least the remains of the pool table,
that Judge Roy Bean used to play pool on.
It's been part of Texas culture since as long as we've had a state,
it's been part of Texas culture before, um,
you know, when we were part of Mexico, certainly,
and, um, It's been here for a very long time. So,
Yeah, it's a part of, part of who we are, I think.
In pure delight [SPANISH TRUMPETS]
Vamos a bailar en el cielo, tan claro
Alegría y amor en este rincón tejano
We gather 'round with friends, laughter in the air. Strumming
Lot of respect for Bob Vanover.
Probably the best Texas player of all time.
The way he carried himself, was like a true gentleman.
The way he dressed, the way he walked, the way he talked.
[NICK]: Well, I met him the first time
there was a world straight pool tournament that Irving Crane won in Toledo, Ohio.
I drew him like his first match, and I beat him, and I thought, this is
just some rich businessman, 'cause he didn't play very good, and
and he was real nervous, and, uh,
I noticed a rack or two later, he ran like 100 or something on somebody. I said,
"Who is this guy?" [LAUGHS]
And turned out, he was the real McCoy.
We were probably all lucky that he only played once in a while. He didn't play full-time.
I remember one guy thought he was like a rich sucker, but he evidently didn't pay attention,
'cause he followed him all the way to Texas to his
detriment. He-he ended up, uh, [CLEARS THROAT]
on the short end of the stick, so to speak, and [LAUGHS]
First of all, the best pool player is Bob Vanover.
Any game straight pool, 9-ball, um,
Not only was Bob Vanover a great player, he was a great guy,
a-and that, that helped pool in Texas.
Um, you just never seen him get out of line.
Bob was, um,
not only a great player, but also such a great person.
He, um, he was so humble. He was so, uh, kind to everyone.
And even sometimes when he beat someone by badly, he was treating him so kind, that, uh,
you really feel very comfortable losing to Bob. [LAUGHS]
He was pretty much kept to himself,
but, as a player, he was a real nice guy, too. He was real, real sedate,
but, man, on that pool table, he was a freaking demon.
If he had his choice, you wouldn't get to play at all.
He and I were good friends. We lived seven or eight miles from each other.
I remember playing at his house. He and I were playing straight pool.
It must have been the holidays.
Five-year-olds and eight-year olds and they're running all around the table,
and they're running in and out of the tables, and Bob ran 100.
Kids running through his legs and running underneath the table.
It didn't matter. He had, you know, a level of concentration, I guess.
Beyond, most of us.
He was very disciplined in practice.
Every night Bob would come home from work.
Before long he was in there setting up a break shot and hitting balls,
and his goal was to try to run 100 balls every night.
He just showed up to play.
You know, you just never seen the guy really like
go over there and slump in his chair and feel sorry for-
he got ready to try to get up and run the next rack. [LAUGHS]
Had them glasses on and he'd go like that and you knew you was in trouble.
[LAUGHS]
Well, you gotta go through Bob Vanover.
You really have to play good and not make any mistakes or
you just wasn't going to beat Bob Vanover.
For a guy that worked full-time and stuff, it's unbelievable how good he played.
I always loved Bob a lot. Uh,
Another one that just turned it on and became a real big competitor
'Cause he, you know, he worked full-time.
You know, family man.
Of course probably had outside interest other than pool, I would guess, just knowing Bob.
[LIZARD]: I liked the way Bob Vanover played. Me and him
got along just fine. I mean,
Uh, you know, he was a
corporate guy, you know, and most corporate guys, I don't even talk to, but
him, he was a little different.
He was in charge, at the time, they had five, uh,
Haverty furniture stores in Dallas and, uh,
and, he was one of the main buyers for those.
Vanover had an advantage over us.
He broke the balls better than anybody else because he really understood pool
in the aspect that he realized that the break was the, the major shot of the game.
And, he was a big guy and he could really,
he really practiced the break, and he knew how to break.
He probably practiced breaking balls over and over and over again.
Bob played good. He was a good player.
He was about as good a player as there was in Dallas.
Around Dallas.
We played a lot of the tournaments there at the Texas Open.
The way he played the game and, he was so smart.
You know, which made it easier for him to compete without having to play all the time, but
Uh, to have the results and, you know, I kind of felt it was kind of special to
in my- in '94 I beat him in the final there. Hahaha. So I was pretty happy for that, you know.
I guess the only player that ever run out the whole, ra-uh, session in the finals.
I think he ran nine and out or something, uh, the guy, uh, never got to shoot.
Uh, he, he ran nine and out. That's a record. I'm sure it still holds. [LAUGHS]
They had about, four or five of us
volunteer to rack the balls for the players, as opposed to, uh,
having the players rack their own balls, back then.
I had the pleasure of racking the balls for Bob when he ran
nine consecutive racks.
He was playing Steve Smith
and Steve broke and didn't make anything, and that was it.
Bob ran nine racks and out.
[LIZARD]: Alright, we're at Moyers, and I looked at him and I said,
"Bob you and I neither one of us played very good that set. Let's show them we can really play."
"Up your game, you know? Let's come with it."
And, uh, he came with it.
So when he would break, it sounded like a shotgun going off, with the [SMACK] corner
the, the wing ball going straight in.
But I couldn't stop it and I couldn't do anything about it, so I just took it like a man.
Didn't care a lot for it, but that's the way it is.
Bob Vanover was a great tournament player. He really was.
He understood how to win in tournaments.
He made no mistakes and he broke real good.
And I'm not knocking Bob Vanover at all. He knew what he was doing.
OK, so he did it, y-you know.
And, like I say,
I think it was, I, [SIGH]
It's ok. It didn't really bother me.
Really.
Everybody else put more precedence on it than I did.
You know, nine and out, that's
That's about, boy, that's perfect, you know, and that doesn't happen very often.
He beat me one time. I won the winners bracket. I think this was in '95.
They were playing the Scotch doubles tournament too, and it was dragging on a little bit
and they wanted to play and I say, "hey,
"whenever y'all want to do the match, it's fine with me."
So they agreed to finish the Scotch Doubles and I was like, all right.
This guy's 70 or pretty up there in age. He's going to be tired by the time we play.
Well, he double dipped me 9-2, 9-1.
So much for that theory.
Back then, they played the ladies and the men's final at the same time at Eric's,
and so, Vivian and Belinda, of course, are playing in the Ladies final,
just like it seemed like every year.
And Bob, come over to me and, you know, he wished me good luck, and,
You know, I knew him, but I didn't know him real well. And, uh,
I knew him much more the next few years, but
He said, "Yeah, Jeremy",
"I just seem to play real well and seem to get all the rolls in these finals. I don't know what it is.'
This before we started, right? [LAUGHS] So,
You know, I took that. I was like, OK,
I didn't let it really, I was pretty
uh, you couldn't bother me too much back then anyways, but uh,
So, I can't, I think it was Belinda heard, you know, what he said
and she came over and in so many words said.
"Don't fall for that Jeremy." [LAUGHS]
"He's trying to mess with your head." [LAUGHS]
"You just play your game and you'll be just fine."
"Hey, go out there and shoot him full of holes," you know. So, haha, eh
It was a good deal. And I, I did. I played real well and, and uh,
Bob didn't really make a mistake, he just didn't have much, much of a chance.
If there's an open table he was usually over there running balls.
[LAUGHS] You know, I seen him at G Cue
one time, and he practices just like he plays in the tournament, man.
He's bearing down over there. He's not over there, just hitting balls around.
Fierce competitor, man. I mean, guy's just pure talent, ran out from
everywhere and he was hardcore. He didn't feel sorry for nobody.
If some, some old lady was in the tournament. I guarantee he was trying to put a nine on her.
[LAUGHS] You know, he, uh, he, he was just a fierce competitor.
For years, there was no trophy at the Texas Open.
but when it made the move over to G Cues,
the owners there decided to introduce a championship trophy
and they named it, unsurprisingly, after Bob Vanover.
The Vanover Cup was first introduced to the Texas Open in 2001, and,
to choose Bob Vanover as the namesake was such an easy choice
because of the greatness of Bob at this tournament, but also
for what he's meant to Texas pool, Texas billiards.
I think that is so special and, um,
that was a great way to honor
his incredible run in that tournament.
Sorry, I feel, a little teary- eyed here.
Yeah, I think having that trophy named after him was just a great
way to honor all of his accomplishments as a Texas pool player.
When the Vanover Cup came about, that tournament had moved I believe up to Round Rock.
And, I think if there was anything disappointing from
the years of, of following Bob playing pool was that
when his game diminished and he couldn't win, he just didn't want to be around pool.
[RALPH ECKERT]: The very end of his career, I noticed
the, the recognition he got from all the other players. Then I found out also that he
used to play also privately some of the best players at that time,
and he was beating them badly.
You see his name all over the place here in Texas, and you just hear about him, and
he's kind of like a ghost in a lot of aspects.
It's hard to find history. You know, we don't have
um, proper avenues to be able to find things like you would Cooperstown in baseball and things like that. So,
Um, there's a void there and you lose great guys within the sport like a Bob.
Should Bob Vanover be in the Hall of Fame?
Yes. If- he should be.
If you go back in any publication from, say 1975 'til Bob passed away.
Every tournament Bob either won, or took second.
Um, even with the Steve Mizarak senior tour Bob won it five out of six years.
Yes, he should be in a Hall of Fame. I don't think anybody's ever nominated him.
[RANDY]: Who we got with us?
[KEVIN]: Just me and you, man. I've actually
started the ball rolling a little bit on forming the
Billiards Hall of Fame for Texas.
[RANDY]: I-I put a lot of notes down after you and I talked about, uh,
what I would like to see started here
[RANDY]: and how it should operate.
[RANDY]: What were your ...what are your thoughts?
There's all kinds of different stuff that we could do
with the Hall of Fame and use it to grow the sport within the the borders of the state.
Let's talk about secretary.
[RANDY]: I've got two people in mind,
[RANDY]: that are both executive type women.
I work with one woman and I worked with the other one for years
and they kept everything straight.
Well, that's the important part of being a secretary. [LAUGHS]
- [RANDY]: - Well, we talked about like 10 subjects and, and
I forgot sometimes what you said or I said. - [KEVIN]: - Yeah.
[RANDY]: So, who did you have in mind?
Yeah, I don't know about secretary, but for sure, like, treasurer,
- [RANDY]: - Yeah? - [KEVIN]: - The first person I thought of was Paul Guernsey.
- [RANDY]: - Wow. What a great choice. As honest as the day is long, and,
[RANDY]:corporate-wise knows, I mean, God, he built a hundred restaurants.
You get a hold of Guernsey, present it to him, and I'll get a hold of Stacy and
- [RANDY]: - I'll present it to them. Nice job, Kevin.
[RANDY]: I like this. We'll get going.
[RANDY]: You know, once we get three people, we don't sound like me and you being idiots.
[KEVIN]: Haha. Ok, buddy, appreciate it.
The first time we met, I was playing in a tournament
at Slick Willies, and we were introduced,
but, I'd already noticed her, 'cause, I mean, she was, you know, beautiful and stunning.
We met, and I was busy with the tournament.
and so I stayed focused on that. Our first talk was very short.
The next time we've seen each other, we started, uh, hitting it off a lot more
and hitting each other up, uh, you know, we passed phone numbers and
became friends on Facebook, and then started, um, going places together.
[JUNIOR]: How did I know she was the one?
- [BATROP]: - He was in love with her. He was head over heals.
[JUNIOR]: Yes, definitely. [BASTROP]: He was hopeless.
[BASTROP]: She had him.
[JUNIOR]: Yeah, she definitely had me.
- [BASTROP]: - Hahaha. She had him. I mean, he, I mean, uh, he was a, he was a goner.
[JUNIOR]: [LAUGH] That's for sure. [BASTROP]: So.
That, that is for sure, but, um
You know, I didn't even have to
to ask her, to marry me.
Whenever... we first met
when she went home, she was, at
first, when we first met she was living with her mother for a short period of time.
She went home and she told her mom,
"I met the man that I'm gonna marry today."
She told her mother that the first day that she met me.
That's a true story.
[JUNIOR]: We were going there for the, um,
National, uh, North American 8-Ball Championships for BCA.
[BASTROP]: BCA Nationals. [JUNIOR]: BCA Nationals.
Well, I mean, I think it's also North American 8-Ball championship.
[JUNIOR]: Anyway, um.
[BASTROP]: Maybe now.
[JUNIOR]: [CLEARS THROAT]
[JUNIOR]: Well, ok.
[JUNIOR]: I ain't got a first place, like you. I got, I got a third place.
[JUNIOR]: Third place master- men's masters, out there.
[JUNIOR]: But, um,
we knew we were going out there in the time frame
and, uh, we knew all of our friends in pool, who support us,
uh, would be there, so, we figured, you know, it'd be a good
time to have a wedding and, we could have a, um,
like a pool-themed wedding, all of our pool friends there.
[BASTROP]: It was probably one of my best days, you know,
to do that. 'Cause it was awesome, the wedding,
You know, I'm playing in the master's division and, uh,
I go out there. It was awesome. They had all the-uh, ton of the pool world was there
and they all put their sticks together and crossed their sticks. You know, one on each side and
formed a tunnel. And so they go up to the tunnel and then the wedding was there.
I mean, it was. It was really very cool. You know, all his friends there
then they, you know, had the wedding and then they go back through the tunnel of sticks, and uh,
And then, I had to go back in,
and play the finals in the Masters, and I won that.
I, and I won the masters division, right after the wedding, right?
And then I took them out to eat. He doesn't even remember that.
[JUNIOR]: [LAUGHS] [BASTROP]: I took him to eat, but, uh, you know,
a bunch of us went to eat and I took, well I took him and you know, him and Emma and we ate
Went to the Veni-Venitcian.
And I entered a two hund- their weekly $200 poker tournament, and I won that.
[BASTROP]: So, all-in-all, that day
you know, my son got married. I mean, it was amazing.
You know, and then I win the masters division and then I win a poker tournament and uh
It, it was really one of the, you know,
It was... a day that, you know, I think about when I think about, you know, my good days, you know.
[JUNIOR]: She was due on 11/11, but, they induced her two weeks early.
I remember, saying right when, he was being born quoting the guy from UFC.
"It's TIME!"
Or one of those, but I like, I like, you know, yelled It out loud, you know, like
chanted it out, you know, just like the announcer, 'cause, you know,
My child was coming.
That was... October 28, 2014.
Very exciting day. Yep.
Becoming a father.
Gambling definitely has a place in pool.
You look at the history of the sport. It's gone hand-in-hand with Calcutta's
and side-games and side- hustles, and all that.
You know, that adds the character to billiards.
But to, forget about the roots it has with gambling
it, it just adds an element that you don't find in other sports.
The part that I really can't stand is when people are arguing over,
you know, a handicap or trying to figure out which game they're going to play,
and it ends up being like this big scene,
I would say I'm more of the tournament player, but
I mean, I like the gambling side of it too. It's you know, it's a lot of fun and it's
you only got to play one match to try to make some money, but,
I enjoy the tournaments. It's a lot harder to win
eight matches to win the, win the money than to win one, so
The competition in pool is really what
keeps me going. I like it. It's always different. There's never anything the same.
I've had a lot of gambling stories. I've always
loved to gamble, you know. I like the competitiveness and
chasing, you know, the big dollars.
The first time I actually played for money in Austin, was at Webb's.
Arkansas was playing Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
And a gentleman came in and wanted to play 6-ball.
So, all the locals, the regulars were watching the game, and nobody wanted to play this guy.
So I begged my dad for $2.00. He wouldn't give it to me.
Begged him again for $2.00. He would not give it to me.
On the third beg he gave it to me.
So, I played the guy for fifty cents a game and beat him out of seventy-five dollars.
I was 150 games ahead... at fifty cents a game.
We had a guy come over every Sunday.
We'd kick it off for 5, 10 or 20,000.
We'd just kick it off at that.
I had a backer that was,
He'd put a bet under their ass. I'll tell you. [LAUGHS]
A lot of guys liked to come to my place and play because they liked the table that I had there.
A good table.
They'd compliment me on it, too.
None of them ever won, but they'd compliment me on how good the table was.
And of course, there were the guys that would say,
"well, we're gambling here" and I said, "what, my money's not green?"
I'd go in the bars and I was playing pool, uh,
and Bill Clinton and Roger Clinton were sitting there watching me play.
I look over and I see these two Secret Service guys sitting there.
I said, "what are you guys doing, just sitting around?"
But I knew who they were, right?
And they said, "what do you do?"
I said, "well, I'm a pool hustler."
I said, "you see that guy over there? That's Cal Partee. He's the leading horse trainer in Arkansas."
"You see that guy? That's his sucker, right? They play for a hundred a game."
"Well, I beat Cal out out of 100, but he beats him out of 100."
"So I win $1000 to pay my rent so I can live on the lake over there on Lake Hamilton "
"and hang around Arkansas, enjoy your beautiful state for a month."
And he goes, "you do what?"
I said, "I'm a pool hustler." And he says,
"well, you ought to take on a new profession."
And I said, "like what, sitting around watching other people live their lives?"
And one of them jumps out of his chair. The other guy goes,
He told him to sit down. He goes, "he's just -ing with us. None of this is true."
And it was absolutely the truth. 100 percent.
A guy set up a game with me and Fats
when I was real young, and, and anyway, we went over there and, anyway,
Fats, he was showing us his scrapbook with all the movie stars,
pictures with the movie stars and stuff and
the guy I was with had been gambling with him for many, many years,
he said, uh, "Fats, we didn't come over here to look at your scrapbook."
"We came over here to bust you." [LAUGHS]
Well, to tell you the truth, I got staked by the cook there
Ted. He was a character in himself.
He said, "come on, play that ring game, man" It was for $20 a man, like six-handed.
I win the first four games in a row, right?
I lose one. I win another game.
I lose the next one and, and Ted quits. He pulls me up.
He had enough money to pay his rent.
[LAUGHING] So he, so he,
I, I win, uh, what? Four out of, five out of six games and he pulls me up. [LAUGHS]
And they wouldn't let me play the next day.
[LAUGHS] They, they said I should have kept on playing with my part of the money.
I was playing pool with a guy named Mike.
We're playing 9-ball and 6-ball for $50 a game.
And I'd been playing him daily, or weekly for months.
There was a, a bouncer there watching. There were eight or ten people watching.
And, I missed the ball on purpose and broke the bar stick.
and the, uh, bouncer came over and he said, "that's $10.00 for a br-broken cue."
We were playing with $50.00 bills. I said, "well, pshhh, give me $50 worth."
And, he, he took the 50. I went over to the rack and broke four more cues. [LAUGHS]
And he goes. "That's enough!"
[CHUCKLES]
We ended up playing, you know, four or five more times.
I ended up, I won $6,000 and a Toyota Celica.
In, in Europe it's a little bit more like, you want to show how good you are.
In America, you try to hide your real speed a little
bit, to get more games.
One time we're on the road, we're going to, uh, driving to Las Vegas.
I was still living in Kentucky, so it was a long drive.
But I went with a couple of buddies, and
My buddy was a good pool player, but he, um,
He didn't know how to stall.
He couldn't, he couldn't hold back.
And the guys we were playing couldn't play. I mean, they just couldn't play.
So I'm going, I'm like, OK, man, don't worry about it. I got it.
I'm over there. I'm having to act like,
Can't make a good bridge. I'm having to miss balls and all this,
and he's over here making the balls. I'm like,
man, uh, this is probably backwards.
They're going to know me before you anyway,
so I, I'm probably the one that should be making more balls,
but it's OK. He just couldn't do it.
I played, uh, this guy in, in Tennessee. We started out for a thousand a set.
We had escalated and I was big winner and I'm betting on the side, and
and I'm giving this guy the call-8 now. Real good player. His name is Mark Owens.
So we're racing to 15 and it's 9-8 me and I missed the eight and I hang it
and he makes it and he breaks and runs five racks.
So he's up 14-9.
So, we only started out playing for a thousand a set.
He breaks the balls and he makes a ball, and he's got the 4-9 wired over the spot.
And the guy that's staking him is sitting in a chair,
right where the nine's wired, right in that, behind that corner pocket.
No one else is sitting near the table.
So me and my buddy see that the nine's wired, and we only got about eight thousand left.
You know, in our pocket, but we brought like 15, 20 thousand. It just so happened it's
a lot of it's in play, you know.
You can't really lower the bet, especially being on the road.
They're going to know that you're short on money, you know.
Anyways, he knocked a tough one ball in and a tough three ball. He made the two on the break.
And, he could have just tapped the four-nine. I mean just tapped it and it would've rolled in.
And, he was just the type of guy liked to fire it in on you, you know?
And he warped it in there and
it swirled around a fake drop pocket and it flew back out on the table.
It went down in the pocket flew back out almost to the spot.
So, the guy that's staking him gets up off the chair to get the money
'cause he can see the balls dead, you know what I mean? He ain't no dummy.
And, uh, as soon as that ball goes down, he just gets up to get that money and it flies back out on the table.
And I said, "Man, Frank."
I said, "Frank, the 9's on the table." He says, "Woah, I'm sorry."
Like, like, he's about 70 years old. Wore big old thick glasses.
So, long story short, I play safe on the four and he never pockets another ball the whole set.
and I beat him 15 to 14.
So, now he's pretty upset, the player is, you know.
So, he wants to quit for the night.
Frank says, "Come back the next day. We'll play you some more."
So we go back the next day and I beat him two or three sets for like 3500 a set. We start out.
So he wants to practice a little bit. So, Frank's sitting in that chair.
And so we take a break and he's hitting balls and he rifles the ball in that corner pocket.
Hits Frank. Comes off the table. In that same pocket. Hits Frank dead in the eye.
Glasses break. Blood goes everywhere.
We never played again. He went straight to the hospital. Game was done.
Still to this day, people walk up to me
and they'll say "I was at Hawks Billiards when that nine ball flew out of the hole."
For like 20,000 it went down in the pocket, swirled around and come back out.
Never seen anything like it.
Well, I, I liked playing Wade Crane 'cause he was always
one of those guys that thought he was the best player and everything.
He never beat me in his life.
He's a good guy, though. A decent guy.
The longer we played, the better I'd play and the worse he'd play.
And it got to where it wasn't much fun for him.
But it was a lot of fun for me.
And he makes statements like, "well, I love that. I love this."
He didn't love it too much. He got his ass dusted. [LAUGHS]
[GILBERT]: In, I believe it was
'90 they were going to have the, uh,
BCA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky.
Our sponsor, at the time, 'Gentleman' Mike Jackson, had a team put together, Jackson's All Stars.
So he suggested to David and I that we leave maybe a couple of weeks early
'cause there was a tournament in Lexington.
So we thought, well, Lexington. Louisville. That's not too far.
So we went up there and, uh, we get to the town,
look in the phone book, tear that yellow page out of the phone book and didn't see this place.
So now we locate a pool room, Steepleton Billiards,
and go in there and ask about this tournament they're having in this city over the weekend.
And they gave us these strange looks and said, "man, I believe y'all are lost."
"Well, this is Lexington." He says. "yeah, but there's not a place called that."
So I called, went and got some quarters.
Went to the pay phone and called Mike Jackson.
I said, "Mike, nobody's ever heard of this place."
He said, "I've got the flyer out in the car." He said, "let me go get it."
He comes back on the phone and he says, uh,
"Oh," He's laughing. He says, "oh, I'm sorry."
"The tournament's in Lexington, Nebraska, not Lexington, Kentuky."
So David and I went on a road trip and went to the wrong state.
You had to perform or, or, not eat.
Right? So, and we were able to cover our nut, and
go where we wanted to, eat what we wanted to, drink what we wanted to
play where we wanted to, for a couple of years. It was a lot of fun.
[MUSIC]
Do you feel the rush [you feel the rush] when I'm with you
Do you feel the heat [you feel the heat] when we're breaking through?
Do you feel alive in every single breath?
Do you feel the love, living life with no regrets?
Buddy Hall. Cecil Hall.
I was Buddy.
Everybody knew me as Buddy.
That's the name my dad gave me.
I was his little buddy.
You know, I was born right on a riverboat.
Lived on the river. Every day I wake up, I had a new yard.
Different yard, every time.
I didn't like that. My dad done that, his whole life.
It killed him.
Wasn't, wasn't much
to the river life.
But, I was raised on the river.
I was twelve years old. I went to a place, uh, a guy across the street at a malt shop.
His name was Eddie Taylor.
He owned the malt shop. I was twelve years old.
He had a little pool table back in the back. A bumper table.
And I go back there and play with him. It cost us a dime to play.
And that's where I started playing pool, on a bumper table.
He owned the joint and I I'd visit with him and we'd go back and play pool and
he liked playing pool with me.
I'd, I'd contest him.
I was twelve years old. I'd test his ass. [LAUGHS]
Had to be 16 at that time to go to a pool room in Metropolis. It ain't that way now.
I lied about my age.
When I was 15 I went and got me a phony birth certificate said I was 16,
and played pool, in the pool room.
Yeah, funny guy. Great attitude. Except when you're playing him.
He wasn't so nice when you were playing him,
[LAUGH]
but, off the table, they don't come any better.
Buddy Hall was my idol.
I saw buddy Hall play pool in Houston in 1978, at a place called Grand Central Station.
And there was a gentleman playing on the back table, a real tall guy playing a real short guy.
And the guy I was with he says,
"grab you something to drink and sit over and watch that gentleman play pool."
"That's Buddy Hall."
And the gentleman he was playing was getting a handicap.
He was getting the seven.
Buddy Hall, won the last game that I saw played.
And the gentleman quit and he says, "Buddy, This seven ball is not enough... I quit."
Buddy looked at him and says, "well, I'll tell you what,"
"I'll play you right-handed and spot you more. I'll give you the six ball."
I'm sitting there thinking to myself, well this guy just played flawless
pool left-handed and he's not even left-handed.
From that point forward, he became my idol.
Everybody got a nickname.
If you ain't got a nickname, you ain't got no name.
Back in the 70s, when I met Buddy, he was wearing actually cowboy boots, you know.
He was like The Rifleman. They gave him that nickname, I guess, and
He could really play pool. He was very serious about his game.
I think they called him The Rifleman for good, good reason, man. He was an eagle eye.
When he was shooting pool, he was a really, really fantastic player.
I had The Rifleman was a nickname of mine.
I shot straight man.
I was a straight shooter.
I went to the tournaments and they'd say he shot straight like The Rifleman.
And the, and the name stuck.
I always took a liking to Buddy Hall. He moved to Houston.
Lost a few dollars playing him some cheap pool every time I could.
You know, just the way he would turn it on when he was in a match.
You know, Buddy'd be over there, you know, laughing and giggling and
you know, eating a chicken fried steak or whatever else,
you know, and having a good time. And then when they called his match,
it was like, man, that's a totally different guy.
Kind of hard to say anybody can play better than Buddy Hall, in his prime.
Amazing player. He's like one of the great-greatest American players of all-time.
I really enjoyed watching him play when he came and he won it.
I think he won it in like, '98 or something.
His delivery is deliberate, and smooth.
Like, it never looked like
he tried to force it. You know, like he smoothed it around.
Well, phuuu, Buddy. Oh my gosh. His stroke is just
and it's like, he shoots the same speed all the time.
He never has to shoot like too hard or too soft.
His acceleration was so, pure
that his tip would stay on the ball, on the cue ball a lot longer than most players.
It was, he, it was. He was beautiful to watch. Oh, I loved Buddy's game.
One of the greatest, ever, um, 9-ball players, and
and I got to grow up, same area. 10-minutes from him, really.
He was an all-around player. He,
shot-making phenomenal. Banking, phenomenal.
Safety play, real good. Kicking game good.
He was, um, he was something else.
Yeah, I loved his game. I loved his, uh, precise position. Everything, was like this.
Buddy Hall. It was like getting run over by a freight train.
It was like, you were the loc, he was like a locomotive.
and the locomotive is doing like 2-miles an hour, and it's going Chong. Chong, Ch...
And he steadily makes them balls and they go, pop
Perfect angle. Pop. Perfect angle. It was like, Chshhhh.
And it would just never change. It was like being hit by a train.
It was BRUTAL!
Buddy Hall, great player.
Playing him in tournaments, or for cash,
now that's like a nightmare, isn't it?
[LAUGHS]
I'd done all of it pretty good, but I hit the pocket really good.
I hit the pocket good.
But I played, I played the game good.
I knew how to play safe and stuff like that, early. I learned how to play it early.
[NICK]: He told me one time he won eight tournaments.
He said he won all eight tournaments
and he used a different cue every week.
[LAUGHS] That's pretty strong.
Well, I was a gambling sum'bitch and I could play tournaments.
I was a tournament player and I gambled heads-up with about anybody wanted to play.
I had both of those in my repertoire.
I played good pool.
I played tournaments, and I gambled.
He had a standing deal where he played,
Uh, he would play anybod- anybody can come in there and play him $1000 set.
Which was a lot of money back then, you know, a thous-
I mean, it didn't matter it who it was. They automatically could play him a $1000 set.
I never really got to see him match up. I mean, I mean, it was very hard for him to get a game.
He offered the world the seven ball back then at one point and
Um, not very many people came and tried it.
But, um, yeah, he was just an amazing player.
It was cool to get to grow up in the the same area as him and get to see him practice.
And, actually I've gotten to share the table with him.
It's definitely cool being from around the same area as a legend,
and, hopefully, you know, I can be a legend too out of the same area. That'd be cool.
I'm getting old. Hell, I'm 78 years old.
Cute, but 78.
It is what it is, brother. It is what it is.
[NICK] He's one of the greatest that ever lived, uh, I don't think, uh,
I don't think anybody played much better 9-ball than he did.
I had an interesting life.
Some things were good, and some things, wasn't so good.
But, all-in-all, I'd say I had a pretty good life.
Well, I won, I-I became the best player in the world.
By myself.
It was good times and bad times.
More good times than bad times.
I won more than I lost.
She went shopping for groceries.
I stayed at home and watched James. He was only 10 months old.
We laid on the couch and watched Dumb and Dumber 2, and, went to bed.
[SAD MUSIC]
Then I woke up.
It was probably 4 AM.
She was making a noise, but wasn't there.
I called 911 and
[DEEP SIGH]
I tried to give her mouth to mouth, but, they told me not to do that,
that I needed to give her chest compressions.
I did that until the ambulance just showed up.
And, they, they couldn't, they couldn't help her.
Very, very
very hard to even remember. You know, to think about it.
Somewhere at the end of September or October, I guess two years and four or five months ago,
I had a seizure that put me in a coma from, uh, the fall.
Five years ago is when it started, but, we didn't find out what it was
for the first, like, year or two.
Like I thought I was just passing out.
Like I'd wake up on the ground and I thought I had just
passed out so I wouldn't tell nobody, 'cause it happened in the morning.
They said that, I came down and then apparently I had a seizure somewhere down here.
They don't really even know where, or what I even hit my head against.
'Cause it had to have been something hard.
I started bleeding and I went back up to my room.
And there's handprints on the handrail going up the stairs.
And me into my bed.
To be honest, I'm not really sure how it unfolded, you know, but they
called an ambulance, and took me to the, Saint David's, basically to the operation room.
They had to, operate. Take off part of my skull to release the pressure.
And, they didn't know if I was going to have full mental capacity, or
if I lose control of, uh, half my body or, they didn't know 'cause it was, it had to do with the brain.
Like if I was ever going to up up the stairs,
I had to put on a, uh, a belt and have someone help carry me up the stairs.
So, I, uh, basically stayed right here next to my pool table for four months,
going very, very seldom up the stairs, and I didn't hit a pool ball
because I was so scared, like, half my skull was missing.
Like, I had to wear a helmet just in case I fell, for like,
I forgot how long I had to wear the helmet for. Every day.
I'm blessed to have all my faculties.
It's threw some curve balls at me.
Phew.
Losing, losing my wife, that was, that was, that was harder than
going through the the seizures and the coma and not being able to drive, or go play pool or anything.
Losing my wife was harder, much harder than that.
Raising my son, without her.
So, that makes it hard.
Prop bet would be a proposition shot.
Generally, they say if you're going to shoot
if you're going to bet on somebody's proposition, you're in a bad bet.
So, a proposition shot, for instance, would be freezing the ball down on the bottom rail,
putting the cue ball on the other bottom rail, on top of it.
and I can shoot it one-handed and spin it in the corner.
Throwing a playing card over a building. Uh.
You know, throwing a golf ball further than a baseball... Uh.
You know, all kinds on the pool table. I mean, I know quite a few myself that I could show you and you'd be like BET.
You know, haha, you know, 'cause you're gonna, just doesn't look possible. You know so,
it's not really the tricky ones where you lick the finger and put it on the ball,
or anything like- you actually have to execute something, but
Yeah, you know. Gaff bet. Prop bet. Just
better off staying away from those, haha, for the most part.
Just play some 9-ball or one pocket, you'll be alright.
I've seen them from across the room, from 30-feet away,
betting they could throw a quarter in a tip jar, and, on the bar, and stuff, and
Seen them try to throw a quarter in, uh, the change machine.
and, and stuff, and I've seen them, I've seen them done.
It's, it's, but it's, um, I've seen a bunch of crazy stuff, it's...
Rolling, rolling the pool ball to the wall and
closest to the wall wins, but you can't touch the wall,
and all that, and so I've seen them, seen a bunch of stuff like it's crazy.
Be at the pool tournament, you're all inside and
"Hey, I'll foot race you outside for two or three hundred," and
they end up going outside and foot racing. Just a bunch of crazy stuff. Yeah, it's, uh,
Yeah, pool players they'll definitely gamble on just about anything.
We were all in New Orleans and I bet 2500 I could throw it from
the front door of Buffaloes, over a, 70-foot train,
past a 70-yard gap, onto a 5- story building.
[JUNIOR]: But yeah, it was a golf ball and they throw it over a, uh,
was it a building or was it a, uh, was it the train track?
or something. Right, and the train track is above everything, right?
Yeah, I, I, I remember that, but I don't,
It was a while back. I've had, I've had brain brain surgery since then.
Ha. My memory's not as good. Haha. I use that a lot.
So I threw it like over, it was around 130, 140-yard throw, and I, and I won.
Every time I go to Buffaloes, I pay for my trip throwing that golf ball,
but it hurts my arm a little now. I'm an old man. You know what I mean?
Fat Randy one time asked me to play some pool.
I said "No, Randy.." He said, "what if I play on roller skates?"
He went out to his car. I say, "I'll play you $1000 dollar set, if you,"
"and I'll play on roller skates." So he goes out to his car and gets some roller skates,
comes rolling in. I said, "you got me." I said, "I can't take it."
I beat him, but I mean, the roller skates were this high.
I mean for Christ's sake, he was like, you know, he's like 7-foot tall.
Me and Tony Watson, even when he was a kid.
We flipped a coin for 5,000.
We had won-beat this guy for a pretty good amount of money, you know, playing pool.
and we were kids, and, um,
and so this guy sho, said, "Show me some real gamble." You know.
"Flip me a coin for 5,000."
Tony said, "You got it." I said, "NOOO!"
You know. like, I was like, "No way." 'Cause we're playing pool.
And, Butch put us to it. "Oh, you got to do it. You ain't getting no more action."
'Cause Tony had said yes, of course. So, I said, "Ok."
And he flipped it across that first table.
It was on the ground. I yelled "Heads," and I didn't get near it,
'cause he wasn't moving towards it. I didn't want him to think anything. So,
I could see it was heads. I said, "it's heads Butch." He said, "Ok."
and, he paid the money and no one ever went near the coin
'cause they noticed he never went and looked at it.
So we go dead-busted and there's this guy named John Hager, Jr.
He's like a, a champion hustler.
He, he's made millions of dollars playing pool.
Well, he shoots 3-pointers, right.
And one day he asked me to shoot 3-pointers for 5,000, right.
So, we go shoot 3-pointers, and the guy has a, an old ball. It's like a sheep skin.
And, he's putting water on it, and I can't understand why he's putting water on it,
but, he shot first, so when he shoots his ball, has, uh, a lot of friction.
So when it hits the rim, it puts the water on the rim and it's, he has it deflated.
So, when it hits, it hits the rim and goes in, right.
And I'm playing with a gym ball with a sheen on it.
And I've been playing basketball my whole life. You know what I mean?
And so, I get to shooting and the balls zipping out of the rim. And I'm like, what's going on?
I've never seen that ever, right?
And before you know it, Justin Hall's up on the rim.
He's on my shoulders, cleaning the rim off.
And, I need two out of three to beat this guy, on credit.
Right. I show him my bank account. He's like, "you got, you got it."
And he thought he was stealing. And I hit 2 out of 3 at the very end to beat him.
Probably the greatest moment of my career. You know what I mean?
'Buddy Boy' used to shoot the cue ball out of his mouth.
[LAUGHS]
A-and play. So, I, I don't know. He had a prop for that.
Yeah, he'd put the cue ball in his mouth and, and, and shoot.
I went on the road with Calvin Carner and Gary Bright.
Gary was a coin tossing son of a bitch, boy.
He could pitch, to the line.
Like those lines right there.
He could pitch. He could pitch to 'em. He could...
That, that coin would hit, it'd go dit, dit, dit.
Just like that.
Dit, dit, dit. Stop. Right on the 'ing line.
I mean, eh, pardon my, right on the line.
We'd pitch to the dirt. Pitch to the wall. Pitch to the line.
Pitch to the spot on the pool table.
I got to where I can do that halfway decent, but not never nothing like Gary.
God, he was a joke. I mean, he'd pitch it out there, it
most the time part of it'd be laying on the spot.
He just could pitch.
So yeah, I was in the banks, and, uh
I looked on the, uh, schedule and I'm playing Efren Reyes at 9:00 the next morning.
and I was all fired up. I was like, yeah.
Uh, I was telling Billy and Sky, they were like,
"man, we love to play Efron just to play him too. You're lucky," or whatever
Then me and my wife went to casino.
Tony Chohan was over there. Johnny Rocket, all of us.
Next thing you know, we're drinking, gambling, hit a few jackpots playing blackjack, and
I look up and it's 3:00 in the morning, so I went to bed. I wake up,
and it's 9:00 exactly. There's no way I could get
to the match on time, all the way down the halls and
all that, but yeah, somebody showed up and played for me.
There's a video of it, but it ain't me.
I think, I think it was Billy's stakehorse, if I remember right.
[LAUGHS]
That's pool for you though.
[POOL BALLS BREAKING]
Since I got hurt, my game has improved.
It's gotten better, but my focus to me, is probably the weakest part.
I've gotten older, to my mid-40s now,
and the medication I take from the seizures
makes you a little more lethargic, like a little more less than
wanting to put forth the effort, or, you know
to focus, or at least it feels that way.
[POOL BALLS CLACK]
I scratch every time.
When it's imperative, to run out, to be on the right side of the ball.
I feel a little lost sometimes.
[POOL BALLS CLACK]
Trying to figure out
what's best for my game. Trying to get ready for the,
tour stop at Skinny's
[POOL BALLS CLACK] [CARMEL]: My name is
Carmel Luttrell and I am the tournament director.
Cen-Tex tour is a regional tour that's in Central Texas.
It's straight races, no handicap.
There's no eligibility requirements to be able to play.
Pros can play. Like anybody can play.
So, I have players from all skill levels attending these events.
And, it's a great opportunity to just battle
it out. No handicap, straight races.
James Davis, Jr. wasn't able to play today.
Apparently, he practiced too hard for this event and got a little too sick
My dad called me the next morning.
He was like, you know, "You want me to pick you up and bring you," you know,
"Ride to the tournament", and I was like, "man, I can't do it."
"I got sick last night and, uh,"
So I had to, cancel the tournament, even though I really wanted to play.
I was practicing, before the tournament.
Played the, the weekly tournament.
But... It's the way it goes sometimes.
[MUSIC] in a heavy load
Hittin' cue balls in a smokey room
Deck of cards, tales of gloom
On the road, chasing bucks and fame
Gambling lives in a high- stakes game
So rack 'em up, let the hustlers play
Jeremy Jones from Baytown, Texas.
Started pool, uh, at 17 years old.
I worked, uh, two jobs in high school. One of them at the pizza restaurant.
And on the weekends, we used to, you know, drink a few beers, play,
play poker with our tip money, or whatever you had planned, and
One of the guys would always go to the game room, played pool. Had his own cue.
And, uh, I had no clue about pool.
So, I followed him up there one day and he hustled me. Uh,
And then I kind of got a big itch to try and be able to beat him. So, [LAUGHS]
that's what got me interested in pool in there, you know, kind of went from there.
Well, he is a, uh, dear friend.
Uh, one of my mentors.
I was his roommate in Vegas.
His roommate in, uh, Houston.
Uh, he would, put me in events, or go in, go in with me.
You know, and help me, uh, get action.
Learned a lot from Jeremy Jones.
Oh, for sure he's the best player from Texas.
I mean, Jeremy, he's a, he's a, he's a legend. He's
an all-timer, probably already.
Oh, he was the best player around, to my opinion.
He was the best gambler, best player.
Amazing. He used to come to Moyers, the Austin Cue Club.
The players would give him weight
and then, all of a sudden, he just, boom, became the best.
I mean, you know, real, real, real tough player.
I don't think I ever saw him lose playing one pocket, so, and he played everybody.
I mean he, within a two-year span that kid, went from
Ok player to world-beater. Yeah.
Jeremy was special.
Amazing player. I think he might have won the Texas State 9-Ball championship
the first year I got to go watch it, in like, 1994.
I won the Texas Open in 1994 and then, uh, '01 and '03.
You know, he wasn't afraid to gamble. He wasn't looking to steal. He, he gambled.
I was in San Antonio when I was living there. We were at Galaxy Billiards, and
and, uh, there was a guy in there from Canada,
supposedly a really good player playing on the 9-footer.
And we were over there playing our little weekly tournament, and Jeremy walks in, and
walks up to the guy and next thing you know, they're playing. I don't know the details of it.
I mean, he literally beats the guy. I think 11, 13 games within 30, 45 minutes.
And I walked over there and I said, "Jeremy, why didn't, why didn't you play it a little slower?" And, he said,
"sometimes they love it when you pound on them."
[LAUGHS]
That's what he told me. [LAUGHS]
You could always count 100 percent. When I was captain of the Mosconi Cup a few years, and
while nobody can be guaranteed to win a match, you're playing a race to five to begin with, but, uh
One thing some people have trouble playing their game in the Mosconi Cup.
Uh, they can't, the pressure seems to be too intense for 'em
but, uh, it wasn't too intense for Jeremy. Jeremy, he could
he, I could always count on getting 100 percent from him and,
if he got the opportunity to win, he was going to win.
I think of a break and I just think of a very offensive player.
and, uh, just somebody that came with a lot of energy, and there's somebody with a drive to win.
Jeremy Jones is he's a legend, you know.
I played Jeremy maybe, like six times in my career.
He's beaten me every time and I think it's 'cause I respect him so much, it's like,
it's kind of like playing your old man, you know, he's a little intimidating. He like, really lets go of the cue.
He has that little style where the cue leaves his hand for a brief moment,
which I think which makes him so, so talented.
Even when your dogging it, if you throw your cue,
you're probably going to hit your spot on the ball, you know what I mean? So,
Yeah, Jeremy's my guy.
Jeremy has one of the biggest, smoothest strokes you can have in pool.
And he's got the most solid bridge you've ever seen. He's got these big hands.
The way he holds the cue is a little bit different than everybody else.
His thumb is actually off the cue when he plays
and he just cradles the cue. Has this super solid bridge and just swings the cue. It
It's pretty crazy, actually. He's got a very, very unique stroke, for sure.
Oh, he's just got a ton of knowledge, you know, I mean, his knowledge is big. I mean, he's
You know, he was a champion pool player before. He's still
a great player now, you know, he just doesn't play as much, and
but as we all know, he's a commentator now and he breaks it down, and
people get a really good explanation from him, you know
and he knows how to come across and make it to where
everybody understands you know, what he's saying.
One of the top commentators in pool.
We wanted people to be able to watch the show and be able to learn something about the game.
Learn some moves or, you know, learn how to play. Jeremy Jones
is a great one pocket player, so I contacted Jeremy to see,
I, I made him a deal. I said, "look."
"I got this tournament coming up. The $1000 entry"
"one pocket tournament, 16- players limit."
I asked Jeremy, I said, "Look, if you'll go, out to the tournament,"
"if you'll just commentate a match when you're not in a match or playing"
"I'll pay for the travel, the hotel, the meals, everything."
"No problem, Ray." As luck would have it, Jeremy lost his very first match.
So when you lose your first match in that format, you play every round.
And he won the tournament, and he never got to commentate a single match. [LAUGHS]
But, anyway, we laughed about it still, but, uh,
So, he still owes me one.
Yeah, you can learn a lot off of, off of him commentating. He's, um,
Explains everything well for all level of players, you know what I mean, and he
says everything the right way. So everybody understands, and
um, if you want to learn, watch a match that he commentates
'cause you'll see the shot and you'll hear about the shot and how it was done, really, so.
Yeah, I think he's greatest commentator also.
Has a lot of knowledge. You listen to him commentating you can always learn a lot.
I think he's the best commentator when it comes to
especially one pocket and those games, when it's technical battles.
He knows all the shots. So, uh, yeah, you can always learn. I did myself.
You know, listen, just listening to his streams and him commentating. Uh
I think, I think, uh, he was really good for the game and still is.
He just explains things so gracefully. He's, uh, he's a rare breed, you know, he's,
it's like, he's he would be a great salesman because he makes everything sound so good, you know.
it's like he has no chinks in his armor.
His knowledge is unmatched. He's like an encyclopedia for pool.
He, he really is. So, there's not a shot he hasn't seen.
He does so much time in the commentary booth.
He played for so long at the highest level possible.
There's a handful of guys that you can put Jeremy in a conversation with, that, um,
are probably at the pinnacle of knowledge and, uh, execution with, with pool.
Who do I hate playing? I hate playing Jeremy Jones.
The guy beats me every single time.
Funny, ironically, Mike beat me the first time we ever played.
The Great Southern Classic. It was kind of like the
it, it was the same people that ran the Derby, but they were trying to do it in the summer, in the South.
and, uh, first match. I don't know if it was a hill-hill or 11-9.
Um, but, he played real well. It was back in the corner last match of the night.
And, and he beat me, and uh, I don't know if he's beat me since, though.
Knock on woods. [LAUGHS] Yeah.
I'd like to just beat him one time at anything, just to see what his loser face looks like.
[LAUGHS] You know what I'm saying? The guy just been. [SMACK] [SMACK]
[SMACK] You know what I mean. I'm waiting for these guys to get old
and maybe they'll let me win one. I'm not sure. You know what I mean?
BigTyme Classic was coming a few months from where I was at, and a friend
said he wanted to take me to the tournament,
so I was excited to be back in the grease, back in action, go back and play again.
The, the first time in that building that I had success,
I don't think it was called the BigTyme Classic. I think it was like, Buddy Hall Classic.
I lost to Sky Woodward for the winner's bracket and ended up taking third.
Later on I won Space City Open down the street from there at Bogies,
but, at that building, BigTymes, where they held the BigTyme Classic
I think I won the Space City Open there as well.
I'm the only person to win it, to have won it multiple times and it be at two different places.
My game has been improving. I don't feel like I'm playing like I used to, but,
I did have success at that tournament, BigTyme Classic.
110 players, or something like that. I got somewhere around 8th place.
Beat a lot of familiar faces that were very strong players that wins tournaments.
Lost to Sky Woodward. He won the tournament.
And I lost to the guy who got 4th place, Jeff. Felt
very successful because of, being like I said, being
having the opportunity to be back in the grease.
I'm, I'm getting closer. Right now it's hard because I don't have nobody to play against.
And I've never been a good practice by myself person.
Well, my father is. My father, he is extremely good at practicing by himself.
He used to be able to practice 4-hours straight by himself, tossing nine balls out on the table. Running them out.
Never rushing one single shot for four hours straight by himself.
I can't do that. I've got to be gambling.
I got to, you know, have something at stake.
I mean, I know how to win. I've won against good players before. Won some tournaments before.
I think I need to try to get in, um, tough situations where pressure is there
before the tournament gets here,
because sometimes it's like being tossed into the deep end of a swimming pool.
Even though you know how to swim, if you haven't been there in a while,
it feels a little daunting and the same thing in pool.
Get putting on the stream table and you have to play Alex Pagulayan
and all you got to do is just run these four balls that you've been doing forever,
but you can't, because of pressure.
July, August, September.
90 days. The Texas Open. The best in the world are coming. They come every year now.
But they have to put their, their shoes on like we do, one, one at a time.
[MUSIC] Since she walked out that door. Yeah,
I've been feeling empty, yeah, since she walked out that door.
ohh-ahh. But she left behind my pool cue.
My baby left me lonely
But I can still play the blues
I'm Gilbert Martinez, three-time Texas State 9-ball champion.
Started playing pool in 3rd grade.
As long as I had a B average, on the weekends, I could play pool.
By the time I was
in 6th or 7th grade, my parents got me a pool table from Sears and Roebuck,
and I could play pool every day at home.
I started playing pool in terms of pool halls in San Marcos, Texas.
The gentleman was nice enough to extend my dad free pool time.
And he extended it to me, and that helped out a lot and got me interested.
From San Marcos, Austin was a little north and San Antonio was a little south.
He would take, uh, one weekend and go to Austin and one weekend go to San Antonio.
So I got the best of both worlds at a young age and didn't realize it 'til I got a little older.
Yeah, I remember Gilbert back in the early 70s. He was just a kid then.
It was him and David Hensen, Little David, uh, you know,
they used to frequently come into the pool hall, right there, on a daily basis.
You know, they probably quit school, you know, just to hang around the pool room.
You know, they were practicing every day, every day.
And, even back then they showed potentials, right there, of becoming a great pool player.
Gilbert Martinez, Jr.
He is another one that I've got a lot of admiration for. He is awesome.
I was lucky enough to be able to play pool with Gilbert a bunch
because my father would come up there and play at the same place as him.
So I feel like I got to learn a lot from Gilbert.
He's one of the most talented pool players I've ever seen.
You know, he was in Austin and we were, you know, rivals there for a while, but uh,
Yeah, he could play with anybody. He could beat anybody at any given time.
I love Gilbert, but I gotta say it, one of the biggest wasted talents ever. I just thought he was
as a pure, pure pool player. Pure stroke.
You know, I don't feel like he had to work on it near as hard as most people.
He was just naturally that talented.
I would put him up there even with some of these young guys today that are phenomenal.
He had that kind of talent.
Gilbert Martinez. The years of therapy that-that it took for me to even be able to say his name.
He owned Austin. He owned it in the late '80s, most of the '90s.
He just was the best player in Austin. Hands down.
Gilbert is, uh, such a talent. He's a really good shot maker too, you know.
And I always tell him, I said, "Gilbert, you have to make good shots 'cause you get in trouble with your shape."
[LAUGHS]
But, he's, he's very knowledgeable.
His, uh, his, his dad, you know, taught him so much.
He became a great player.
A great player. I-you know, I wish he,
the situation would have been where,
Um, greater heights would have been available to him, you know.
Gilbert Martinez, Sr. was an every day face at Moyer's.
He wore, uh, you know, the bowling-type, bowling shirt, cut off square on the bottom.
And he'd stand flat-footed. He was a good player. He'd steer Gilbert around.
This little kid comes up says, "hey buddy, you want to play some?" That was Gilbert. [LAUGHS]
He was probably 10 or 11 years old.
His dad was about 15-feet away, telling him where to go. [LAUGHS]
I know that Gilbert faced Bob many times,
and as Gilbert reminded me, he only beat him once in the finals.
um, had beaten him other times, maybe earlier in the event,
but, Gilbert, by far one of the greatest players in Texas, beyond a doubt.
Him and, him and Vanover. Those were some of the better matchups I used to see back in the old days.
Those two guys, when they got after it, it was a good match most of the time.
I played a lot of pool with Bob.
Him and Dick Lane used to come rob us at those tournaments at Eric's.
What I remember the most about Bob was at one point in my life he offered to give me lessons.
Excuse me for breaking down. [SOB]
But, anyway. Bob Vanover, I never could beat him,
in the finals of a tournament, I would beat him
here and there in a match,
but one year, at Kevin's pool hall, I did beat him. Finally beat him.
The only thing I regret is that my father was not alive to see it.
I looked up to him.
[SAD PIANO]
[CROWD RUMBLING]
[CHALK HITTING TABLE]
[CROWD RUMBLING]
[POOL SHOT]
[CROWD RUMBLING]
[CHALK HITTING TABLE]
[CROWD RUMBLING]
[POOL SHOT]
[CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY]
[CROWD CLAPPING]
[CROWD]: Gilbert!
[CROWD CLAPPING]
I was just glad I beat the man. Man, it was so long beat-playing him and not winning.
I finally beat him to, to win something. Felt good.
[KEVIN]: We've got a great project that we started working on since we last talked, so,
Uh, Randy Goettlicher, Paul Guernsey, Stacy Linerode and myself
went and contacted an attorney and formed a non-profit
[CATHY]: Ok.
[KEVIN]: for the Texas Billiards Hall of Fame.
[CATHY]: Wow.
[KEVIN]: The first person that got voted into the Texas Hall of Fame is Bob Vanover.
[CATHY]: I'm- I'm touched.
I think that's always been the hardest part of his game. He contributed so much
to the game as far as just his championship-level of play.
[KEVIN]: You know, the, the votes went in and Bob was the one that
we determined was the one that was going to be first in the Hall of Fame.
[CROWD MURMURING]
[MURMURING CONTINUES]
Want to thank everybody for coming out to the first ever Hall of Fame.
How is it that Bob Vanover, who's won nine Texas Opens and dominated Texas for so long.
Legendary 9-and-out in the finals. How is that guy not in a Hall of Fame?
Well, F-that. Let's start a Hall of Fame and put his ass in there.
[CHEERING]
I would like to introduce to you 2024 Billiard, Texas Billiards Hall of Fame,
Mr. Gilbert Martinez.
I appreciate everybody remembering me playing pool.
I was one of the fortunate ones that's had a front row seat to this Texas Open.
[GILBERT]: Thank you, man.
[CROWD CHEERING]
The legend of Jeremy's prowess as a road player and hustler is widely known.
Lethal and feared. He took on all comers, all games on any equipment, and beat most of them.
It's a tremendous honor and privilege to induct my brother, Jeremy Jones
into the Texas Billiards Hall of Fame. Thank you very much. [CLAPPING]
So Jeremy's in Saudi Arabia as we speak.
Um, this morning he sent me an e-mail.
Five emails.
with what he wanted to say and who he wanted to thank.
To be included in this is a great honor and truly unreal.
Congrats to all the other inductees as well. Very well- deserving.
First of all to be mentioned... in the same sentence with Bob Vanover. Oh, God.
Belinda Calhoun.
Where's Gilbert? Gilbert Martinez, Jr.
And, Jeremy Jones.
It kind of leaves me speechless.
Thank you for your friendship, inspiration, support and encouragement, and God bless you all. Thank you.
[CHEERING]
Just talking about Bob and all his accomplishments within the state.
A pool player in Texas that didn't know who Bob Vanover was.
You talk to any pro pool player, they're glad that Bob Vanover had a job, and that's a fact.
My father's had lots of awards.
Won lots of professional tournaments.
Set records, including world records, and is a Texas legend.
This would be the highlight, the absolute pinnacle for him.
This lasts forever. The Hall of Fame lasts forever.
[CLAPPING]
Thank y'all for coming and congratulations again to all the Hall of Fame inductees.
See y'all next year.
[LOUD CHEERING]
My health, my health has made it to where
I'm able to go play more, but pool, it gives me inspiration
to, because I love to play the game.
I love this so much because it's
so challenging, like, mentally. It's always a puzzle. You always have to figure it out.
And then, on top of that, you get the camaraderie you get with everybody that's there.
Pool has definitely helped, helped me.
You can't, you can't be, uh,
like, weak-minded or weak- hearted.
You have to have, you know, tough skin
playing the game of pool, and, whenever
I mean, I guess it's helped me, with, you know, the tragedies I've had because I've had to endure them
and keep pushing forward.
And find the, uh, silver lining in the, you know, in the dark clouds.
whenever they're, uh, around me.
Both my parents were pool players.
My dad, he is still a pool player.
He played in the very first Texas State Championship 51 years ago.
He is playing in this sta- year's state championship.
I can't remember anything without pool.
I still feel blessed to be able to go and compete because for a while I didn't know if I was gonna be able to.
But, success at the Texas Open?
Um,
in, finding enjoyment.
and, having fun with the competition.
you know, and, uh, being able to be focused when I need to be focused
and accept the cards, the way they fall,
I love pool.
Sometime you hate it, because you're playing bad.
You're like, "Oh, I hate this shit." And, sometime you play so good, it's like you're
playing a, a guitar or an instrument. You know, it's like music.
You know. You feel it through your skin. It's like, "Oh, man, I love it."
You know, and then sometimes you hate it. You know, that's why I said, you know,
sometimes I hate to lo- that I love this game, and sometimes I love that I hate this game,
So, it's, but, nothing will ever change it. I absolutely love this game.
It's, it's in my DNA.
To be a champion, you have to have the correct mental disposition. Uh,
You know, it's really, it's really easy to get down on yourself
when you're watching so many talented players.
You got, you know, Gomez and you have Skyler, and
all these guys, they're just so good and they make it look so easy.
It can be intimidating, but you just once again you got to love yourself.
You have to stay objective.
You have to fight through the negative feelings and you have to,
you have to be your best friend out there because really, they're out for blood. So,
It's kind of like a, a brawl against many men, you know. You ju-
You just got to keep your dukes up and keep fighting. You know what I mean?
Every one of them I knew that was a champion, had heart. Every one of them.
It ain't nothing more.
All that other shit don't mean nothing.
Well, persistence for sure.
And, if you got a little talent as well, more than I had,
then you can make it, uh, uh, really far in this world.
You have to believe you're the best guy. The best pool player in there.
You have to believe that. And if you believe that,
then you have a good chance of, of following through with it.
Well, if you're talking about all-around, I think I'm the best.
Yeah. A lot of people may disagree with that, but if you take, uh,
uh, 9-ball, one pocket and straight pool,
I think I'm the best.
The want to. Just want to.
Want to more than anything else.
Want to be the best.
If you want to be the best, there's a chance you will be.
If you want it.
When I was a young man, I wanted to be the best player on Earth.
I told my, uh, my wife,
when I was 18, we got married.
I told her I was going to be the best player in the world and, and she wasn't going to stop me.
And she didn't.
That was kind of cruel for me to say that to her, but,
I wanted to be the best player in the world. That's ALL I wanted.
Then I read a book.
In this book, it said if you live your life and you
put all your energy into one thing and you do it over and over every day.
You'll eventually go insane.
I used to run the weekly tournaments at Skinny Bobs.
And I get a call from Dennis one night and he's singing. "Heyyy Tracyyy."
Singing the songs to me like he always does.
He goes, "Hey, I want to practice on the TV table."
'Cause with the Texas Open was coming up. He said, "can I use it for two or three hours?"
And I said "no, Dennis, the tournament's going on."
And I thought about and I'm like this guys right now's probably the best player in the world.
I can't tell him no.
So I call him back. I said "OK, Dennis, you can have the TV table."
And, uh, people started coming, I guess people texted said, "hey, Dennis is here."
and people come in and they're wanting to just watch him shoot, right?
It was the most boring shit I've ever seen in my life.
This dude for three hours never pocketed one ball.
He broke the balls,
would walk down there, re-rack them. Break them. He did this for three hours.
And I'm sitting there. I wa-I'm like,
everybody's standing around what was waiting to see some miracle.
Run a five pack or something. He never even shoots one ball.
And, he walks over there to me and I said, "dude, that was some boring shit."
He goes, "that's the most important shot in pool."
He said, "if you learn that one, you will win." [LAUGHING] That's what he told me.
He's just practicing fundamentals, he sit, he sits over there,
and he plays hard when he practices.
Bob Vanover was another one, like that.
So, those guys have that, uh, mindset and consistency that they can do that
and I guess that's what makes them a lot better than everybody else.
Every year it's-the competition becomes tougher and tougher and tougher, so
it definitely takes a lot of luck to win a big tournament nowadays.
In my opinion, there's a lot of luck involved in pool
that may not appear as luck, but there's a lot of luck involved.
Lot of luck.
Got to get good rolls, play good, do good things, good things happen.
Slack off,
the rolls can turn in a heartbeat.
I don't know, but if you find out, will you tell me?
[LAUGHS]
I thought I was there a couple times, but
I don't know what does it take to-?
My father told me when I was young, "some people figure it out, and some don't."
[LAUGHS]
But, um,
obviously, dedication.
Y-your will to play against the better players.
Not just the better players, you have to want to play the best players every chance you get.
And not want a handicap from them and not want, you know, you have to get in there.
And, try. Fail.
and then figure out how to get better
then, like, rin-rinse, wash and repeat.
And constantly be looking for the bet-better players and your chance to play against them.
You seek it. You know you don't, it-it ain't gonna fall in your lap.
You know, you can't be, you know, be afraid to fall down.
To fail. Get back up. Try again.
What does it take to be a champion?
You play every champion you can play.
[MUSIC] Under a sky so wide where dreams begin to fade
I saw the light a burning wreck, my soul about to break
You pulled me through [Pulled me through] like a miracle [Miracle]
[TV BROADCAST]: We are broadcasting live from the 51st Texas Open 9-ball championships.
Once again, the greatest pool players in the world have descended upon Texas,
for the longest running 9-ball tournament in the world.
[SINGER]: That guides me to the dawn
Hold on my son [Hold on my son] Hold on my son
Hold on myyyy son.
[TV]: Junior takes his first match handily in this double- elimination event.
[SINGER]: You were my guide taught me strength, to rise when I would fall
To carry on [Carry on] with the love you've shown [Love you've shown]
In your embrace, I find my home,
[TV]]: JUNIOR WITH A MASSIVE COMEBACK! Down five to two, he roars back to win it nine to five.
[TV]: Chohan with a convincing nine to one win over James Davis, Jr.
[TV]: and with this shot, Henneessee will advance.
and Junior's tournament comes to an end.
[JUNIOR]: I think it does help him out a lot to see me fall down
and then climbing my way back up and being able to continue on with life.
Him seeing resilience and my willingness not to give up that, that should help him in life.
[SINGER]: With every step I take, I'm grateful for your light
Through darkest times, you were my guide
No more shadows, together we'll stride
Your love's redemption in my life
Your love saved me from the dark so why don't you just hold on
In your eyes, I see the spark that guides me to the dawn
Hold on my son [Hold on my son] Hold on my son
Hold on myyyy son.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC]
[JUNIOR]: What do you want?
Steak? Oh, man, that'd be great.
Yeah, that'd be great. Go get some rolls and steak.
[BASTROP]: Good shootin', son.
[THUMPING MUSIC]
You're asking me something that's 50 years ago, so.
Haha. Good luck with getting, get-get, getting the right recollection.
Getting tired of me bragging?
[KEVIN]: Hell, no. We haven't even gotten to the good shit yet.
[LAUGHING] Huh?
[KEVIN]: I said, I think you're holding back.
[BUDDY]: I ain't holding back. My back's holding back.
[KEVIN]: [LAUGHS]
I had a friend of mine from California come visit.
and we were shooting pool.
and Willie Nelson came on came on on the jukebox
and she started talking, talking trash about Willie Nelson
and I became the biggest redneck so quickly. [LAUGHS]
Don't be talking shit about Willie Nelson.
[LAUGHS]
That's when I realized I was a true Texan, man. [LAUGHS]
Can't come from California and talk shit about Willie Nelson. [LAUGHS]
No matter where I'm at pool's huge, but when I get back to Texas,
It's the best. If I had to
do it all over again, I'd move to Texas earlier. That's for sure.
So, that's going to be a good payday for
one pool player at least, a couple of them.
[KEVIN]: Yeah, hopefully you, right? [FEDOR]: Hopefully me, yeah.
I didn't want to say that, but, hopefully it's me. [LAUGHS]
I walked up to him and I said,
"I understand you're Bob Vanover, and,"
"I'm Cathy Petrowski, and um,"
"I understand you're a pretty good player and that you could give me some lessons."
And I don't know by then how many titles he had,
All I know is I felt like crawling under a pool table.
It was the equivalent of walking up to Martina Navritalova
not knowing who she was
and saying, "Hey, I hear you're a pretty good tennis player."
"Can you give me some lessons?"
I think every good bar should have a pool table in it.
Because pool brings people together and makes people competitive
and um, whenever I go out, I'm looking for a bar that has a pool table.
Pool is not so popular in Georgia.
I think it was illegal to play pool on Sunday. All pool rooms had to close.
Texas is a little more wide open, and uh,
Lots more players. Better players.
I play whoever the same. I don't, uh, I just get up there and play.
Nobody's really got my number, I wouldn't think, I mean.
I mean, I've lost to probably all of 'em
Once, or twice, at least, you know.
One of the best compliments I ever got paid was by Bob though
when they presented him that cup.
His name's on there nine times, and he said, "well, if that Gilbert Martinez"
"doesn't stop playing he might have a chance."
My name's on there a few times. I had a chance to be on there a few more and I dogged it.
But, it is what it is. Yep.
I was telling my son, I said, "Oh, by the way."
And then I added, "the inaugural class."
He says, "oh, I was just about to say, you mean there's a Texas Billiard Hall of Fame"
and you're not already In it?" [LAUGHS]
I'll never forget him talking, Rafael Martinez talking
about pool. Because it was the first time we got to be that close to him
and it wasn't at the pool table watching him play.
And he, he said stuff like, "My right arm, it's a mother ###."
That's what he told us. [LAUGHS] I was about 18, 19 years old and
We're sitting there listening, you know, to the Gospel, you know.
He definitely believed it and so did we.
[LAUGHS] He was a playing, playing mother ####. I'll tell you that.
I loved the game. And Louie Roberts and Buddy Hall
and all the people I played. Why did we play it? It wasn't for the money.
Money? What if I wanted money I'd go get a job.
Hahaha. It's me again.
Pool can just consume you and bury you, and
frustrate you, but then it can also be therapeutic, and
it can be beautiful and when it's done well you can really just
fall in love all over again.
For one, anytime that anyone wants to be you a prop bet
You know. [LAUGHS] Don't do it.
'Cause they, they know what they're doing. They can do it.
That's why they're betting it. You know, they're trying to pick up some extra cash.
We understand that pool has a stigma to the normal crowd, but
It's, it's changed it's ways, uh, som- mostly.
You know, I mean, we're, we got big events
I mean it's getting out on the streaming side from a lot of different areas, and
It could get more mainstream soon.
Take a little bit of an investment from who knows who.
You know, and it, it can turn around.
And every beer joint had a pool table, it's like
they'd put a pool table in before they'd put a bar.
and they had to have the pool table
and there might be a foosball or a pinball machine around, but
the pool table is where all the activity, happened.
I wasn't looking for no friends, I was looking to
put you in the loser's bracket.
It's an opportunity to play the, the best players.
I mean, you might play Vanover. Gilbert. You'd play Jeremy.
I-it could be Buddy Hall. It could be Tommy Kennedy.
It could be, any number of people.
Played really solid, played my best game in the last
two or three matches and, uh, took it home.
There's a reason people flock to barbecue joints
across the state and wait hours in line.
And there's a reason why people spend days
watching the Texas Open. Playing in the Texas Open.
It's because it's different down here. People care.
People want it to matter, and they make it matter.
And that's special, and it's what makes Texas special,
and what make the Texas Open special.
Ray Hansen was going to have me on the live stream one time and he goes,
"Well, I don't know. You cuss a lot."
[LAUGHS]
I said, "yeah, I, uh, that's the way I talk."
He said, "you did just walk up to me and say what do you want mother-"
[LAUGHS]
I said, "well, I didn't mean it like that, I meant what's up, dude."
[LAUGHS]
It's getting to where there's not as much gambling.
So, some people don't mind the gambling, some people do.
but, we don't want to shut off doors to anyone, you know.
So, I mean it's still, and it's improving on being a great living.
I mean, everyone says it's not a good living,
but, I mean, you know, top guy made about 500,000 last year to play pool
You know, it's not like golf where they're making 20 million.
but it's still better than a, a lot of jobs I know of. [LAUGHS]
Espcially getting to do something you love.
It was like a promise pool gave to the world.
and I still believe that, pool,
not only a game, or a sport,
I think it's an art and probably the
final freedom which is still existing in this world.
Oh, here's a good one.
This guy's 70 and, he's, uh,
he's doing about 80 and the state cop pulls him over.
He said, "you know I'm going to be off in 30 minutes."
He sees the guy's pretty old. He said, uh,
"If you can make me smile or laugh,"
He said, um, "I-I'll let you go."
And he said, "well, you know,"
"About 20 years ago my wife ran away with a state trooper,
and he says, "I was scared to death you was bringing her back."
[KEVIN]: [LAUGH]
[LAUGH]
Billy said he wants to play 200-a-rail on his home table.
So, if anybody wants to stake me I'm available, you know what I mean.
I play-I played him a hundred-a-rail on my own money, it's just
with four kids it's getting a little stressful, you know what I mean.
I wish I could have told you more about th, uh, Texas Open, but
M-m-me and Bob Vanover understood each other quite well, it was, uh,
Yeah, Bo-bo-Bob was, uh, was cool. Yeah.
[CLAP] Thank you.
[KEVIN]: Well, that was awesome.
Well, thank you. I'm, I talk too much, but,
[KEVIN]: No, you talk just the right amount.
[ROCK MUSIC]