In the 90's in SF/Bay Area/Sacto, I got to play one pocket against some great players coming through town, including Ronnie Allen, Shannon Daulton, Tang Ho, Mike Zimmerman, Efren, Danny Medina, Parica, Keith McCready (who lived at the Q Club for almost a year in 93 or 94), Youngblood, Santos. As others have said, there were also many really good (or decent) local players, like Billy Palmer, Snake, Hendy, Filipino Gene Ventura, George Bailey, Ricardo Aquino, Baby Frank, Dave Piona, Cee, Bee, John Campbell, Lettuce Larry, Dave LeBlanc, Bill Cress, Billy Teeter, Bob Simon, Chris McDonald, Rex Norman, Jimmy Duval, Poker Paul, Rusty Jones. I got down with all of them (except John H. somehow) and they taught me how to play the game.