 Tips & shafts By George Fels Consulting Editor George Fels has been writing for Billiards Digest since 1980, and his "Tips & Shafts" column is usually our readers' first stop when they crack open the magazine. For better or worse, pool has been his only mistress for 40-plus years.
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August: Larry, Victor, Nick & Piggy August 2025 [Reprinted from January 2007] So, why wouldn’t I talk to myself a great deal? Not only do I have gobs of time alone, my very name is a simple anagram of “sel.” And self-monologues can be invaluable tools when you’re a spectator at long sessions of Chicago-style one-pocket. The father up-table the balls go, the more of a purist one must be to find the intrigue in the game, to say nothing of fending off coma from boredom.
At Chris’ Billiards, the most consistent high-stakes action takes place between this magazine’s distinguished 8-ball instructor Larry Schwartz and a Mexican-American named Victor. In fact, of the four men we shall visit here, Victor is the only one who has not graced this publication with teaching wisdom. And that’s too bad, because he is by far the most handsome of the four, not that that was much of a sizzling competition to begin with. He has a dazzling smile, although few have seen it; sometimes he wears a cap proclaiming him a Teamster, sometimes one that says Sherriff. No one seems to know about his Teamster affiliation; most are pretty sure his is not the sheriff.
By far the most fascinating aspect of Victor’s skill is that he is not likely to take on any competition much tougher than the game he plays against himself. Not only does he play and practice one-pocket for hours on end there is not one scintilla of difference between his practice and money play. He takes the same amount of time (and in great quantities) between shots; he takes no fliers; he plays the same ducks and traps and escapes on himself that he would on anyone ese; he sends the balls up-table as he needs to.
While no one would single Schwartz out for speedy play, Victor makes him look like Lance Armstrong; a reasonable over/under on any single game they play would probably be 90 minutes. If they start at, say, 8 o’clock, chances are the room’s management will be getting fidgety during game five. As they are betting high, naturally nobody expects recklessness, but runouts are still few and far between; any given inning can be a matter of minutes. Schwartz’ game is slightly the more aggressive of the two; he believes Victor to be a marginally better player with the balls down-table than when they go the other way around, this he does not mind getting underneath the balls and sending them long, nor the ennui of the mostly stalemated games that ensue. Neither competitor seems bothered by the opponent’s pace, if it can fairly be called that. Yet they find far more obscure causes for bickering, which only extends the sessions even further.
Twenty-plus miles to the south, Chicago-area room, Red Shoes, hosts a one-pocket tournament. The finalists in the last one-hold meet at Red Shoes, local Ike Runnels and Missouri’s Danny Harriman, are both absent this time, but the room still manages to attract 24 strong players. Nick Varner, who visits the room fairly regularly to promote his line of cues and accessories, is in from Kentucky; the fine Wisconsin cuemaker/teacher/gentleman Frank “Sailor” Stellman has brough a 21-year-old protégé in from nearby Racine. The favorites will probably be Varner and the popular Glenn “Piggy Banks” Rogers, one of America’s best bank pool specialists. Alas, the draw pits them against one another in round two.
Rogers’s one-pocket game, formidable though it may be, is actually a notch below his banks. In fact, like the last great black Chicago player before him, Leonard “Bugs” Rucker, he occasionally over-prioritizes his reliance on his banking ability in the game, taking chances that might easily have been avoided. Because of Rogers banking strength, Varner must not only get the balls up-table in defense, but he must bunch them up there. Rogers’ counter strategy will not only be to nudge the clusters apart, but to pocket one or more of those balls in a back pocket to get them back into play at the business end of the table. For his part, Varner plays much more conservatively, although he is a strong banker himself, with a number of moves from 14.1 that make him a somewhat more dangerous run-out threat. A race to three tournament match is nothing like a money match in terms of pressure; neither player gets to fight on until winning or dead. Thus, the game between Nick and Piggy are even more cautious than those of Larry and Victor.
“Geezer,” I said to myself during their seemingly interminable game three. “This is like watching Larry and Victor all over again! Except if you were watching Larry and Victor, you would be 15 miles closer to home, just a short sprint from you beloved beagle and TiVo. Maybe you should affect that change.” So, I drove the 20 miles to Chris’s to take in yet another epic struggle between Larry and Victor. This time, the bickering over which table they would choose took 40 minutes all by itself. In game one, with the score 1-1, all 13 remaining balls went up-table.
“Geezer,” I sighed silently once again. “Search any harder for the beauty in this and you will very likely go blind. Why don’t you phone in a pizza order and go home?”
And so I did. |
