Official sign up list for 2024 MOT at Railyard Billiards, Louisville, KY

[lfigueroa]

Robert deserved the win as he played great throughout, but Lou played great up until the finals. Newkirk does that to people. Lou was one of the only one I knew of that had a couple 8 'n outs. Maybe I'll practice straight pool?

Congrats to both.

Believe I had a 9 and out against JR.

Lou Figueroa

 

[Miller]

The Miller Report

Good to see everyone (too many names to list). Wish I would have played better – but I always say that (felt like I was dabbn’ em’ good going into this). Conditions were tough as could be witnessed watching the best players on the stream table – pockets were stupid tight, balls seemed clingy (even a simple stop shot or lagging behind a ball was an adventure for me…), and the tables banked really short – always seemed to have too much spin or not enough. Assimilating/adjusting to all that in real time is no easy task. But….everyone plays on the same equipment/conditions and you just got to man up and own it.

Battled with Rowsey in Banks. Got blown away by Robert (4th time I’ve drawn him in my first match in these things – which is tough for anyone to fade). Battled again with Rowsey. Two and out. Bill was the benefactor of a few Miller bucks from both our matches.

Nice to meet some of first-time players/newer members. Talked briefly with Tony Lopez, Justin Tingle, and Liz Taylor. Especially nice to meet Bill Dagg (Beltsander Bill) – not what I expected at all…. I’ve made the acquaintance of Ken Lee before at Chris’s and the DCCs – real cool guy with a witty sense of humor and by all accounts a really solid dude (and player). However, I’m not sure I agree (nor did Steve) with someone who has not been a part of the group in any way whatsoever playing in the MOT (and more than anything, I certainly do not agree with the tone of the conversation that I was in ear shot of about it…..) and I’ll leave it at that. Once again, absolutely nothing against Kenny at all.

Thanks to Kyle Ferguson for being such a hospitable host (and running the brackets on-line while he was playing, tending to the stream, breaking out the machinist level for a table rolling off, etc.) as was everyone I had any interaction with at Railyards. They “get it.”

Great to see my road partners Arizona Jay and Lou finish well (although I’m sure they are both lamenting and licking their wounds a bit after getting so close). The STL players all got “Newkirked.” Congrats to JR on his strong finish also. And of course, congrats to Robert for booking his second MOT title.

Until next time.....

 

[12squared]

Believe I had a 9 and out against JR.

Lou Figueroa

I'm sorry (see how easy it is?) good playing

 

[12squared]

The Miller Report

Good to see everyone (too many names to list). Wish I would have played better – but I always say that (felt like I was dabbn’ em’ good going into this). Conditions were tough as could be witnessed watching the best players on the stream table – pockets were stupid tight, balls seemed clingy (even a simple stop shot or lagging behind a ball was an adventure for me…), and the tables banked really short – always seemed to have too much spin or not enough. Assimilating/adjusting to all that in real time is no easy task. But….everyone plays on the same equipment/conditions and you just got to man up and own it.

Battled with Rowsey in Banks. Got blown away by Robert (4th time I’ve drawn him in my first match in these things – which is tough for anyone to fade). Battled again with Rowsey. Two and out. Bill was the benefactor of a few Miller bucks from both our matches.

Nice to meet some of first-time players/newer members. Talked briefly with Tony Lopez, Justin Tingle, and Liz Taylor. Especially nice to meet Bill Dagg (Beltsander Bill) – not what I expected at all…. I’ve made the acquaintance of Ken Lee before at Chris’s and the DCCs – real cool guy with a witty sense of humor and by all accounts a really solid dude (and player). However, I’m not sure I agree (nor did Steve) with someone who has not been a part of the group in any way whatsoever playing in the MOT (and more than anything, I certainly do not agree with the tone of the conversation that I was in ear shot of about it…..) and I’ll leave it at that. Once again, absolutely nothing against Kenny at all.

Thanks to Kyle Ferguson for being such a hospitable host (and running the brackets on-line while he was playing, tending to the stream, breaking out the machinist level for a table rolling off, etc.) as was everyone I had any interaction with at Railyards. They “get it.”

Great to see my road partners Arizona Jay and Lou finish well (although I’m sure they are both lamenting and licking their wounds a bit after getting so close). The STL players all got “Newkirked.” Congrats to JR on his strong finish also. And of course, congrats to Robert for booking his second MOT title.

Until next time.....

Great seeing you as usual Dustin.

 

[Miller]

 

[lll]

nice report dustin
and great pic of steve

 

[NH Steve]

Believe I had a 9 and out against JR.

Lou Figueroa

Yes, I saw that!

 

[crabbcatjohn]

We have always picked up local players to fill spots. I also new Kenny from Chicago and his speed and he was going to be there all weekend anyway.. I watched him play weaker members for free the night before "as he also did afterward" so to me he was already part of the group as well as the Chicago group. I also felt me being TD gave me a right to make last minute decisions agree or not.

But the #1 reason I put him in against Steve's objection was Robert asked me to put him in. He asked me and I made it happen. As our biggest supporter getting behind a player entry I already felt made sense. I'm not disappointing Robert.

Unless we get real rules happening for sign-ups it leaves openings. Like the Facebook guy from Cali with no Fargo who knocked me out.
I do think after this one we should take great piece of advice I got from Sandra. We need to include a TD fee and hire a TD to run these with a non bending set of rules. Its a thankless, shitty job with too much work, too many voices and absolutely no upside for a player member.

 

[NH Steve]

View attachment 442937

That pullover or whatever you call it that I am wearing is a classic. Bille Miller noticed that when he commented he used to have one too. These were created by our member Cal from Pittsburgh (sorry blanking on the last name. The designs and lettering are all embroidery, so wearing it only once or twice a year I have made it last about 19 years so far. The back has the Strawberry Brook's tournament slogan, "It's an epidemic and their ain't no cure." on it, as well as a full rack of balls. The notable thing about the full rack of balls (all embroidered, so the colors are still great!) is that the 8-ball is NOT in the middle Thank you again Cal if you are reading this!!

 

[NH Steve]

We have always picked up local players to fill spots. I also new Kenny from Chicago and his speed and he was going to be there all weekend anyway.. I watched him play weaker members for free the night before "as he also did afterward" so to me he was already part of the group as well as the Chicago group. I also felt me being TD gave me a right to make last minute decisions agree or not.

But the #1 reason I put him in against Steve's objection was Robert asked me to put him in. He asked me and I made it happen. As our biggest supporter getting behind a player entry I already felt made sense I don’t say no to.

Unless we get real rules happening for sign-ups it leaves openings. Like the Facebook guy from Cali with no Fargo who knocked me out.
I do think after this one we should take great piece of advice I got from Sandra. We need to include a TD fee and hire a TD to run these with a non bending set of rules. Its a thankless, shitty job with too much work, too many voices and absolutely no upside for a player member.

John, as you know I have always liked to see one or two good candidates for ongoing onepocket.org involvement join us for our MOTs. And Kenny indeed has been making the rounds with the Chicago guys for years now, so much so that at first I thought he already was a member. But I am going to lean on him to get involved either here or our Facebook group for sure. He has joined here -- now comes the pressure get involved with posting. He did fit in with the group very nicely, so that bears out your decision.

We also had at least a dozen new sign ups to the onepocket.org forums this past week and I recognized a lot of them from the Louisville area, so that bears out our practice of rotating the MOT to different rooms here and there, to expose more players to the great time we have here -- competition and camaraderie

 

[NH Steve]

OK, I have the leftover MOT posters for this tournament, designed by our member RedCard (who stopped by Railyard to visit a couple of times!). It is a beautiful poster and has a little corner peal back visual of the late John Henderson. John Crabb had these printed on nice thick card stock in high resolution nice crisp colors. I have ahandful left, and can mail them for about $10 to about anywhere in the US if you want one. I recommend you get one! First come first serve if you missed out at Railyard. Mark Mariani gets one. Who else?

 

[crabbcatjohn]

OK, I have the leftover MOT posters for this tournament, designed by our member RedCard (who stopped by Railyard to visit a couple of times!). It is a beautiful poster and has a little corner peal back visual of the late John Henderson. John Crabb had these printed on nice thick card stock in high resolution nice crisp colors. I have ahandful left, and can mail them for about $10 to about anywhere in the US if you want one. I recommend you get one! First come first serve if you missed out at Railyard. Mark Mariani gets one. Who else?

Send me one...lol seriously...

 

[12squared]

OK, I have the leftover MOT posters for this tournament, designed by our member RedCard (who stopped by Railyard to visit a couple of times!). It is a beautiful poster and has a little corner peal back visual of the late John Henderson. John Crabb had these printed on nice thick card stock in high resolution nice crisp colors. I have ahandful left, and can mail them for about $10 to about anywhere in the US if you want one. I recommend you get one! First come first serve if you missed out at Railyard. Mark Mariani gets one. Who else?

Mine made it back nicely.

 

[Fanatic]

Thanks to all for the kind comments.

I'll write something up in a couple of days. Right now my garden needs attention.

Lou Figueroa

Believe I had a 9 and out against JR.

Lou Figueroa

Yes you did! I witnessed it! Great shooting Lou it was nice finally chatting with you…
Safe travels and see you soon

 

[NH Steve]

Send me one...lol seriously...

OK will do!

 

[Fanatic]

We have always picked up local players to fill spots. I also new Kenny from Chicago and his speed and he was going to be there all weekend anyway.. I watched him play weaker members for free the night before "as he also did afterward" so to me he was already part of the group as well as the Chicago group. I also felt me being TD gave me a right to make last minute decisions agree or not.

But the #1 reason I put him in against Steve's objection was Robert asked me to put him in. He asked me and I made it happen. As our biggest supporter getting behind a player entry I already felt made sense. I'm not disappointing Robert.

Unless we get real rules happening for sign-ups it leaves openings. Like the Facebook guy from Cali with no Fargo who knocked me out.
I do think after this one we should take great piece of advice I got from Sandra. We need to include a TD fee and hire a TD to run these with a non bending set of rules. Its a thankless, shitty job with too much work, too many voices and absolutely no upside for a player member.

Ken was a great addition… super funny and friendly, he played Liz for cheap and me for free … it didn’t bother me at all he was there.…as I see it, this event is more of a get together of comrades who have a deep love for the game. Not to mention he was up for some side action with a few of the guys.
As far as outsiders… we had a few spots open and since I spent quite a few months at Railyard, there were a few guys there that wanted to play and I was pretty certain they were dead money and I brought them to John and Steve’s attention if they wanted the full field. I mean it’s a good way to grow the game and get new members so it didn’t matter to me that they were new and didn’t post… but they will now! It was only a few spots anyway. It wasn’t like we let Fedor or Louie DeMarco play
I had the best time but again I just wanted the get together and to spar with other players. Outside of not having an independent TD and a blurry group picture, I thought it was a pretty successful event. Thanks Steve and John, you did the best you could and you are appreciated and if you weren’t around they’d probably wouldn’t be an event like this at all. Take notes, you’ll never please everyone and each event will get smoother and smoother as you go along. I had fun. Thanks again
XOXO

 

[baby huey]

Looked like a very nice event. Sorry I missed it guys.

 

[rnewkirk]

But the #1 reason I put him in against Steve's objection was Robert asked me to put him in. He asked me and I made it happen. As our biggest supporter getting behind a player entry I already felt made sense. I'm not disappointing Robert.

John, I am like Steve. I have seen him around so much, I also thought he was a member. He is a super nice guy.

I know we have rules, but I knew he wasn't a ringer. Hope he becomes a contributing member.

 

[jokerley]

Great time guys !! I will definitely be in for NOLA in May . Always great to play with you guys , I learn a lot every tournament !!

 

[Chandler1968]

Great event and super cool people. Terrific playing to Robert, Lou and JR! Sandra and Dave, good times. Cincy Kid, Chicagio Mike, Andy, Steve, John, Ben (who beat me again), Ken, Anthony (from CA), Justin all cool people. Dustin, until we do it again my friend. Jay