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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Played like a complete bum and still managed to come out 2 sets ahead for the cash. I'll take it.
Anything related to pool, billiards, snooker etc... (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter buffalojim
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
I love that scene. Whitaker plays that scene really well, they both do.
What's the most money you've won or lost playing pool, tournament or gambling?
Nothing major at pool, $400 maybe in my early 20s in a small hole in the wall bar in the back of a place called Brothers Pizza in Fredericksburg Va.
The son of the owner was the only guy around that would race anyone to 5 for $100.
Never won or lost more than that in a session of pool.
I played in a local league for a couple years where you could make a couple hundred bucks on any given night but that is about the extent of it. Playing for bigger money meant traveling 50 miles up to Northern Va. to Champions Billiards in Arlington or Rack and Roll in Manasses. Could probably had done at lot better or worse
if I had made those journeys more often. Biggest pool tournament was going to Valley Forge Pa. a couple times in the mid 90s. Would usually play in the team event and singles event there but never got much further than early day 2 of those events.
Had the honor of meeting Jeanette Lee on one of those trips. She was hanging out in the bar of the same hotel I was staying at. After about 5 minutes of chit chat, my friend Johnny accidentally bumped the table and it knocked her drink over on her.
It was soooo embarrassing. Lol.This lifestyle didn’t bode well for me during that time frame of my life, I was engaged with a home and full time job at 23 and married by 25. Never found what ever potential I had or didn’t have either way.
I’ve had a much better run at poker over the years than i ever had playing pool. My biggest one session cash game cash is $3600 and change, biggest one session cash loss was $1260.
I’ve never had a super large tournament cash in poker, maybe just over $8000 in a private locally hosted game. In 2018 a good poker buddy of mine and I played together in the Borgata Winter Open where we agreed to chop our winnings if either of us cashed.
Out of 2967 entries, I managed a 123rd place for about $1800 and my buddy placed 9th for $17300. After setting aside 5k for the taxes on that, we each took $7000 and he got stuck with the 1099.
2006-2009 was my best run ever in poker. I was plus 60k those 3 years combined just playing mostly local cash and $2/$5 on the weekends in AC.
I played in a local game hosted by my great uncle for almost 18 years. The game was dealers choice spread limit. $1-$5 from 9am to noon, $2-$10 from noon till quit.
I don’t want to mention numbers but let’s just say in 18 years, that 1 game was my bread and butter.
Never had a day worse than a $600 loss (and those were super rare) but couldn’t tell you how many plus $1000 days I had there.A little history…..
This is my friend Johnny and I below many years after he knocked over the “Black Widow’s” drink in Valley Forge.
My good friend and poker buddy Jerry. We went on many trips to AC together over the years to play in the WPT events at Borgata.
He unfortunately passed away last year a month after I moved to Texas.
Playing against David “The Dragon” Pham and running real good in day 1 of one the Open events.
Some memories from my great uncles game. My “ Bread and Butter” for many years. I really miss these old codgers!
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Great stories, thank you for sharing! Your run in poker is obviously very good and I can see why you gravitated towards that. I've never had sessions like that but won a little here and there. As far as pool goes I'm a bit of the same, when I was playing well back in the day I didn't have a lot of money so the gambling wasn't high and I didn't like the idea of a backer, so most I ever cashed in a session of gambling was probably around $6-700. Tournaments, which were mostly just local I think I cashed a high of around $3000 with calcutta included. The calcutta was almost always higher than the tournament winnings, because degens lol. Traveling more would have been the way, just couldn't do it.Nothing major at pool, $400 maybe in my early 20s in a small hole in the wall bar in the back of a place called Brothers Pizza in Fredericksburg Va.
The son of the owner was the only guy around that would race anyone to 5 for $100.
Never won or lost more than that in a session of pool.
I played in a local league for a couple years where you could make a couple hundred bucks on any given night but that is about the extent of it. Playing for bigger money meant traveling 50 miles up to Northern Va. to Champions Billiards in Arlington or Rack and Roll in Manasses. Could probably had done at lot better or worse
Biggest pool tournament was going to Valley Forge Pa. a couple times in the mid 90s. Would usually play in the team event and singles event there but never got much further than early day 2 of those events.
Had the honor of meeting Jeanette Lee on one of those trips. She was hanging out in the bar of the same hotel I was staying at. After about 5 minutes of chit chat, my friend Johnny accidentally bumped the table and it knocked her drink over on her.
This lifestyle didn’t bode well for me during that time frame of my life, I was engaged with a home and full time job at 23 and married by 25. Never found what ever potential I had or didn’t have either way.
I’ve had a much better run at poker over the years than i ever had playing pool. My biggest one session cash game cash is $3600 and change, biggest one session cash loss was $1260.
I’ve never had a super large tournament cash in poker, maybe just over $8000 in a private locally hosted game. In 2018 a good poker buddy of mine and I played together in the Borgata Winter Open where we agreed to chop our winnings if either of us cashed.
Out of 2967 entries, I managed a 123rd place for about $1800 and my buddy placed 9th for $17300. After setting aside 5k for the taxes on that, we each took $7000 and he got stuck with the 1099.
2006-2009 was my best run ever in poker. I was plus 60k those 3 years combined just playing mostly local cash and $2/$5 on the weekends in AC.
I played in a local game hosted by my great uncle for almost 18 years. The game was dealers choice spread limit. $1-$5 from 9am to noon, $2-$10 from noon till quit.
I don’t want to mention numbers but let’s just say in 18 years, that 1 game was my bread and butter.
A little history…..
This is my friend Johnny and I below many years after he knocked over the “Black Widow’s” drink in Valley Forge.
My good friend and poker buddy Jerry. We went on many trips to AC together over the years to play in the WPT events at Borgata.
He unfortunately passed away last year a month after I moved to Texas. View attachment 946908View attachment 946915
Playing against David “The Dragon” Pham and running real good in day 1 of one the Open events. View attachment 946909View attachment 946910View attachment 946907
Some memories from my great uncles game. My “ Bread and Butter” for many years. I really miss these old codgers! View attachment 946917View attachment 946918View attachment 946913View attachment 946914
I finally made it down to Valley Forge in in 2009. Now that was a lot of fun! Played like ass but I had a great time. My buddy won the 2009 Pro-Am bar table event that year. Would love to get back into the game enough to want to make the trip back down there. Here's just a few pics from that trip
Awesome stuff Jim! I remember thinking to myself the first time I went to Valley Forge, “Damn, I’ve never seen so many pool tables in my life.”Great stories, thank you for sharing! Your run in poker is obviously very good and I can see why you gravitated towards that. I've never had sessions like that but won a little here and there. As far as pool goes I'm a bit of the same, when I was playing well back in the day I didn't have a lot of money so the gambling wasn't high and I didn't like the idea of a backer, so most I ever cashed in a session of gambling was probably around $6-700. Tournaments, which were mostly just local I think I cashed a high of around $3000 with calcutta included. The calcutta was almost always higher than the tournament winnings, because degens lol. Traveling more would have been the way, just couldn't do it.
I finally made it down to Valley Forge in in 2009. Now that was a lot of fun! Played like ass but I had a great time. My buddy won the 2009 Pro-Am bar table event that year. Would love to get back into the game enough to want to make the trip back down there. Here's just a few pics from that trip
View attachment 946927View attachment 946928View attachment 946929View attachment 946930View attachment 946931View attachment 946932View attachment 946933View attachment 946934View attachment 946935
It was good times indeed but it really was a reality check for me also. I knew after a couple trips there that I’d never be anything more in the world of Billiards and Pool than a small time local who could pull in a few bucks here and there.
This was the time in life (mid 90s) that if I had gravitated more quickly over to poker and had taken it to the level of my mid 2000s interest then, who knows what that may/could have turned into. There were a TON of really bad card players in the mid 90s and the game was still well below the radar of where it would eventually end up.
Pool at that time seemed like a more legitimate side hustle than playing cards. It made sense in my mind where as poker seemed more like “gambling.”
How the times have changed. I’ve spent enough time in card rooms to realize that trying to earn a full time living playing poker most likely wouldn’t have been my calling either.
As much as I enjoy the game and the potential extra income that can come with it, I have my moments of fill where the thought of sitting at the table just has no appeal.
Since moving to West Texas, I’ve not pursued the poker scene much at all. They have several card houses down in Lubbock and one literally opened close to me in Amarillo yesterday.
(I did stop in to check it out)
The potential income from poker out here is good. I’ve played 11 sessions since moving here and only had one losing session for $30 and a break even session. The other 9 were all $200-$500 wins.
They don’t play $1/$2 and $2/$5 here in the clubs, most of the games are $5 OTB ( on the button) $5-$15 OTB (great game) or $10-$25 OTB ( out of my comfort zone) Lol.
I’ve managed to get into my friend Tyler’s game that his buddy runs out of his local business. It’s a great game but they only play maybe every other month. It’s a .25/.50 cent game and these dudes are just playing to get away from their wives for an evening.
My last session with that crew was in for $50 out for $390.
Shitty chips and paper cards, Lol, but the money always spends.
I’ve gone out to shoot pool once since moving here. Some buddies from work called me after 9pm one night that we didn’t work because of bad weather.
Told me I was a big fat pussy if I didn’t meet them up at Fast Eddie’s for some beers and pool.
Kissed my girl on the cheek and was at Fast Eddie’s in under 30 minutes. Proceeded to drink a beer and bang around a little 8 ball till,
“ Hey, wanna play for $20?”
Of course I want to play for $20.
Ended up leaving him with 5 balls on the table first game and he never got to shoot in the second.Took my $40 and was back home before midnight.
There’s another pool hall in Amarillo called Slims. When I first moved out here I was renting a place around the corner from Slims. I thought about checking the place out a couple times but was detoured from doing so because the parking lot was usually half full before 10 am almost every morning.
I’m pretty sure that is NO place I’d really ever want to be.
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Samuel
Straight
If you have one under 2gb, yes please! Thanks!
OP
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
I'll re-encode it to a 1080p 2gb file and send you a linkIf you have one under 2gb, yes please! Thanks!
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Brilliant stuff, I enjoyed reading all this. Must be pretty nice to have an overwhelming amount of winning poker sessions compared to losing onesAwesome stuff Jim! I remember thinking to myself the first time I went to Valley Forge, “Damn, I’ve never seen so many pool tables in my life.”
It was good times indeed but it really was a reality check for me also. I knew after a couple trips there that I’d never be anything more in the world of Billiards and Pool than a small time local who could pull in a few bucks here and there.
This was the time in life (mid 90s) that if I had gravitated more quickly over to poker and had taken it to the level of my mid 2000s interest then, who knows what that may/could have turned into. There were a TON of really bad card players in the mid 90s and the game was still well below the radar of where it would eventually end up.
Pool at that time seemed like a more legitimate side hustle than playing cards. It made sense in my mind where as poker seemed more like “gambling.”
How the times have changed. I’ve spent enough time in card rooms to realize that trying to earn a full time living playing poker most likely wouldn’t have been my calling either.
As much as I enjoy the game and the potential extra income that can come with it, I have my moments of fill where the thought of sitting at the table just has no appeal.
Since moving to West Texas, I’ve not pursued the poker scene much at all. They have several card houses down in Lubbock and one literally opened close to me in Amarillo yesterday.
(I did stop in to check it out) View attachment 947002
The potential income from poker out here is good. I’ve played 11 sessions since moving here and only had one losing session for $30 and a break even session. The other 9 were all $200-$500 wins.
They don’t play $1/$2 and $2/$5 here in the clubs, most of the games are $5 OTB ( on the button) $5-$15 OTB (great game) or $10-$25 OTB ( out of my comfort zone) Lol.
I’ve managed to get into my friend Tyler’s game that his buddy runs out of his local business. It’s a great game but they only play maybe every other month. It’s a .25/.50 cent game and these dudes are just playing to get away from their wives for an evening.
My last session with that crew was in for $50 out for $390. View attachment 947006
Shitty chips and paper cards, Lol, but the money always spends.
I’ve gone out to shoot pool once since moving here. Some buddies from work called me after 9pm one night that we didn’t work because of bad weather.
Told me I was a big fat pussy if I didn’t meet them up at Fast Eddie’s for some beers and pool.
Kissed my girl on the cheek and was at Fast Eddie’s in under 30 minutes. Proceeded to drink a beer and bang around a little 8 ball till,
“ Hey, wanna play for $20?”
Of course I want to play for $20.
Took my $40 and was back home before midnight.
There’s another pool hall in Amarillo called Slims. When I first moved out here I was renting a place around the corner from Slims. I thought about checking the place out a couple times but was detoured from doing so because the parking lot was usually half full before 10 am almost every morning.
I’m pretty sure that is NO place I’d really ever want to be.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Cards have been pretty good to me over the long haul. I did fail to mention that when I first started playing in my great uncles game, it took me about 4 months and $3000 to book my first win there.Brilliant stuff, I enjoyed reading all this. Must be pretty nice to have an overwhelming amount of winning poker sessions compared to losing ones
Those dudes were relentless and it took me some time to figure out all their little nuances and house rules. They had been playing together over 20 years when I was able to get into their game.
Once I got all that stuff down along with their tendencies and BS,
It was literally like an ATM. Some of the most fun I’ve ever had was sitting at that table listening to and being apart of their nonsense. Again, just a bunch of retired dudes looking to spend one day a week gambling and carrying on. The money to them really didn’t mean shit and a good day to them was playing on their initially $100-$200 buy in all day. But it was nothing for a couple of them to be down $400-$500 by lunch time and the bets getting ready to double for the rest of the day.In 2017 a friend of mine from the Richmond area decided to run a 10 month long satellite series for the opportunity to win a paid entry into the Main Event + $3000 in travel expenses.
24 of us put up $540 up front and then every 2nd Saturday of the month we’d play our tournament.
The tournament was based completely on points, top 8 at the end of the series played a final table and the winner goes to Vegas. The group would also put up $100 each month so there was always something to win besides points.
I got heads up in that final table and ran my pocket QQs into KKs.
It was devastating to me for many weeks afterwards.I didn’t play for a couple months after that.
This was the start of that final table, I lost to my friend Steve in the blue shirt directly across from me.
The good thing was that I had played well enough during the season to still come out pretty well. I booked 6 cashes in that series and two of them were wins. Ended up about $2700 hundred after subtracting the initial buy in.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
64 man tourney today. $2500 added. Gonna be a very long or very short day.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Still hanging in there. Lost the first match (lame) bit won the next three so far.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Eh, played 12 hours to lose on the bubble for the cash. Sucks. Record of 4 wins and 2 losses. Better than the last tourney when I went 2 and out.
Samuel
Straight
Thank you Sir! Anything I can shoot back your way?
ETA - perhaps some Robert De Niro? https://we.tl/t-UmSR2sgb7R (Midnight Run, Analyze This)
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
No problem. I have those actually, but thank you. We should probably avoid sharing links to any future movies. I really don't want to put the site in jeopardy. PM is better for this.
Samuel
Straight
Copy that!
Following along, pool brings me fond memories of my old man and I shooting in the basement growing up. He beat me constantly until I was about 15, when I beat him for the first time, and then he said “ok I’ve taught you everything” and we stopped playing after that lol. This is how it went with darts, ping pong, and poker too
I’ll share my cue stick at some point once I dig it out from the back of the closet!
I’ll share my cue stick at some point once I dig it out from the back of the closet!
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Funny thing. I ran into this guy the past weekend at the tournament we played in this past weekend. I hadn't seen him for almost 25 years or so. He remembered me of course and immediately brought up this incident and we both had a good laugh. He said he still has the cueGreat story, thank you! Look forward to the picture of your cue
You made me think of something I'll never forget when you said McDermott. When I first started playing early on, I was probably 16 or 17, I remember playing this guy in a tournament, or maybe we were gambling. Anyway, the guy had his prized McDermott cue which he had won somehow, raffle or tournament, something like that. Was telling me for a while that it was valued at $1000 and he only used it on rare occasions, and it was indeed nice. At the time he was one of the best shooters around and I was intimidated because I was just starting to play decent but he was still better than me, he had long straight hair, like down to his ass. He looked like he should have been in a Sweedish metal band or something. Nice guy. So, he's at the foot end of the table, all of our cues are in crevices at a bar along the back wall directly behind the table. First game, I'm breaking. I miscue so badly, the cue ball went flying like it was laser guided right over the rack, directly off the table, right into his McDermott
He never brought that cue out againOh, and his girlfriend was really nice and smoking hot. Just thought I'd throw that in there
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
This is an absolute steal of a price for a nice looking 9ft pool table. Pickup only but if you're in the market join the forum and find out where it's at in Connecticut.
"For Sale: 9 Ft. Custom 3 Piece Slate table with Simonis 860 Cloth, Naugahyde Table Cover, 4 Light Table Light, Armamith Balls, Spectator Chairs and Wall Decor. Set up for a entire game room.
EVERYTHING IN MINT CONDITION....$1000
MUST PICK UP IN CT."
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/9-ft-custom-table.532856/
"For Sale: 9 Ft. Custom 3 Piece Slate table with Simonis 860 Cloth, Naugahyde Table Cover, 4 Light Table Light, Armamith Balls, Spectator Chairs and Wall Decor. Set up for a entire game room.
EVERYTHING IN MINT CONDITION....$1000
MUST PICK UP IN CT."
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/9-ft-custom-table.532856/
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
So this just arrived
I need to get a table now. I want to put it outdoors as we have a huge covered patio. A Brunswick black wolf looks like a good fit…
I need to get a table now. I want to put it outdoors as we have a huge covered patio. A Brunswick black wolf looks like a good fit…
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Very nice! Is that bocote wood, any idea?So this just arrived
View attachment 968721
I need to get a table now. I want to put it outdoors as we have a huge covered patio. A Brunswick black wolf looks like a good fit…
It's a Lucasi LZSP2 which I think is all maple with walnut inlays. I saw it on Billiard Factory for $350 and everywhere else for $440 so I snap bought without thinking. I figured it would make for a good starting cue.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Good for you, congrats on the deal
I can get a 2nd hand 8ft Brunswick Contender for $2k delivered - does this sound reasonable?
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
I am really not sure, I don't have much experience with the cost of tables since I have no place to own one right now.
Hopefully somebody else can chime in with some advice.
I paid 2k for a brand new Olhausen 8ft table delivered and set up in 1996. In todays #s and the table being a Brunswick, I’d venture to say your doing pretty good.
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buffalojim
Royal Flush
Turning Stone Classic XXXV
Tons of great players "Reigning champion Jayson Shaw is once again in attendance, along with four time winner Shane Van Boening, six time winner Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen, Earl Strickland, Thorsten Hohmann, Brandon Shuff, Danny Hewitt, Frankie Hernandez and Erik Hjorleifson."
https://www.azbilliards.com/turning-stone-classic-day-three-underway/
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