Well it was a fun past couple weeks of streaming at www.ontherailtv.com and I got to meet quite a few people on the way from here at AZB. I will start off on May 1st with Preacher Ronn and Scott Frost playing the 7 ahead for $2,000, Scott gave up 11-4 and got all the breaks. It took 30 hours and some encouragement but Scott got there and played some great pool towards the end and Ronn played well to hold him off and get to +5 at one point.
Scott came over to me at one point when they were even and Ronn offered for them to quit about 25 hours, he asked if he should or not, I said no because Ronn asked to quit which showed weakness plus he said his feet were hurting. Scott got fired up and played some great one pocket to take it off running 8s, 9s, 10s, and 11s like most people run 2-3 balls. I included a video of some of the stuff, got so much footage to go through from that and will post up more of his runs.
After a couple days I had recouped and later on in the week on Thursday Scott calls me and says he wants me to go to Alabama because he is going to play Cliff. I have like 2 hours to make up my mind, I am not one who likes to make plans like that last minute because I would be streaming and have other obligations too. I decide to go to the Billiard Club in Mobile and bring all the action to everyone and go on the road with Scott for the first time. I am glad I did.
Alabama
So now its the 8th, a week after playing Ronn, Scott is playing Cliff 8 ahead one pocket for $6,000 a man. The room owner Bear is staking Cliff. I am there until Tuesday because who knows how long 8 ahead will take, I mean last time I sweated for 30 hours straight. This was the first time Scott has ever spotted Cliff so he was a little nervous but confident. Cliff played decent but could not fend off Scott who was pocketing much better and would make Cliff pay for mistakes. Scott wins in around 8 hours and takes it down. I have the videos of the match and will post up the links to it also.
For those who were saying Cliff was dumping are just wrong plain and simple. Cliff thought he could win as he was playing better including coming off a win the night before in a one pocket tournament. Me and Scott wanted to get action online and iusedtoberich posted a line of 6-4 and would take $1000 worth of action, I thought that was too much and offered 6-5 for the whole thing but he got his fill so I made a line of 7-5. Now use your head dump theorist, if there was business I would have known and gave the several people who wanted action the 7-4 that they asked me for and could have won a couple thousand but 7-4 is too close to 2-1 so I declined along with Scott.
We moved onto another room as The Billiard Club owner Bear kicked Cliff out thinking he had dumped him which was a bad move IMO but Cliff does have a bad rep. I thought we were not treated too good there so we went on to Breakers Billiards which is owned by Ricky Byrd. He is a real good action guy and a very nice guy to boot. Scott and him set up a game, 9-4 and the breaks for Ricky! The action was 500 a game with me and Jimmy betting 100 each on the side, Scott finished 7 games up after playing like God on him to get there.
The next day they play again but not the same way, this time Ricky gets the hit and 4 picks, pretty tough game for Scott, Scott finished up 2 games at $1000 each before they called it quits. I had to leave Scott in Mobile to get back home, he still stayed and got into some more action, I believe him and Cliff played again perhaps 8-7 and Ricky and Scott played more also. I got to see some decent one pocket with a young gun David Tress playing another young guy, those bama boys like one pocket, shoot straight and bet it. I look forward to my next trip out there.
It was fun to meet Gulfport Doc and George (gbru), both are very nice guys. George even drove me and Kolby's room owner Jimmy Langston who came with me and Scott on the trip to the airport, was very nice of him to do that considering it was over an hour drive. I also got to meet his pooch at his home and play some one pocket too. I cant forget stopping at a seafood place which was on the Mobile Bay, great stuff and thanks to George for taking us there. The only downside of the trip was we could not get a rental car anyplace, that stunk so we just got a hotel close to the poolroom.
I get home and have 3 days to get caught up with my work along with other things in life and spend sometime with my family also. My beautiful and understanding wife who I am lucky to have and lets me go overboard with my hobby, my 8 year old going on 18 son and my 1 year old princess were all happy to see me along with my dog Kolby.
Las Vegas
So early on Saturday the 15th I head to Vegas all by myself. Its a 5 hour drive that leads you over the Hoover Dam which is an okay drive but really the only highlight of the drive is the dam and bridge they are building there, otherwise its a bore. I show up to Pool Sharks and there is action going on in the pit 24-7 with some good betting. I sweated Jean-Robert Bellande playing Archie the Greek some 500 then 700 a game and got some footage of that too.
I hook up with the owner John to get myself set up, he is a very nice guy who is sharp and loves the game and action. Katie who works there who most everyone knows who has been there is awesome, she does a hell of a job there. I got to meet up with Borana and her partner Thomas right away as soon as I walked in. Dropped them off at the Riv to save them cab fare as that stuff always adds up.
I am setup and streaming at around 7pm or so, we are supposed to go off at 9pm depending on the ladies schedules but they both end up starting at around 1130 or so and it last around 8 hours for the race to 21 for $2000 9 ball.
It was a good close match with both of the girls with Borana being up 5-1 at one point I believe and then Melinda got up 17-14, she stayed at 17 as Borana got to the hill, OMGWTF could have taken it double hill but she missed a fairly easy 7 ball which sealed her fate and Borana won 21-19. Borana took down the $2000 and the Crown Cue which is pictured below along with links to the match.
OMGWTF challenged Borana right after to play in NY for $4000, so we shall see what becomes of that, I would not mind streaming that match either if the ladies will have me again. I have to say they both have a ton of heart and determination, they played their matches all day and then played until the morning with their match, kudos to both. I know they both were not happy with their play but as I said they had been playing on bar tables all day and were certainly fatigued, would like to see them both fresh.
It was a pleasure to meet many of the people in Vegas, so many I cant list them all, Eric Crisp, Eric, the KOD team, Megan Smith, Pool Addict (Chris), John Schmidt and Thorsten who jumped in the booth also and especially Tina Pawloski who spent a good deal of time in there along with Jay Helfert. The diehard who closed out the match was Bobby Dickerson, he hung in with me til the end and helped commentate the last couple hours, saved him some cab fare too.
I also did get to meet Amanda Lampert, she is a real gem and looks even prettier in person, who could not love the polish viking. Meeting the boys from Runout Media was cool, both real cool guys whose future in the industry looks bright and its refreshing too. I did not get to hook up with Fatboy or Trigger which was a little disappointing though. I did get to meet John Morra, a nice young guy who loves to play pool, saved his some cab fare too and drove him to the Riv. If I left anyone out I am sorry, I was just overloaded with people and its almost 3am now.
I picked up Scott on Monday from the airport, saved him some cab fare, so far the cab fare I saved people has to be around $100, haha. We go to the Riv where we meet up with Billy and then have dinner, meeting Billy was awesome and I was glad I had a few beers to keep myself relaxed because I was very excited to meet him.
We had dinner and then went to Pool Sharks where the action is in full swing, Jeremy Jones giving Dippy 19-5 in one pocket, I saw Ronnie Allen in the house too. It was time for me to go so I left Scott and Billy and headed back home, got about 100 miles away from home and just could not drive much more so I crashed out at a rest stop, was glad to finally get home though, might head back up there this weekend perhaps though.
Enjoy the videos and thanks again to all the people who supported me on this trip and also my sponsors who help me to bring the pool to you all. It is a great game which I love and I am sure you do too. Next for OTR is Grady Mathews vs John Henderson on June 7th at Kolby's in Tempe AZ, 4 ahead one pocket for $3000 each, hope to see you all there.
The Crown Cue awarded to Borana Andoni, what a nice cue this is, hated to part ways with it.
Scott vs Preacher Ronn, not complete but a ton of Footage!
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6592732
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6597508
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6602040
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6602652
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6618645
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6623382
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6628238
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6631003
Frost Youtube Runout Video, not the best but I still have much to go through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKKEfkRHXCw
Scott vs Cliff
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6780354
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6782153
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6786282
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6790329
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6791646
Jean-Robert Bellande vs Archie the Greek
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6959078
OMGWTF vs Borana
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6962258
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6963036
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6965076
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6967985
