Anthony Beeler
“Toothpick” ANTHONY BEELER
I was 17 years old and was just starting to get my feet wet with serious competition. J.R.’s weekly 8-ball tournament in Lancaster, Kentucky was viewed by many as the strongest tournament in the state. When I arrived on the scene over 50 players had already paid their entries.
D
uring the tournament, one player in particular caught my attention. In fact, the man referred to as “Toothpick”, waltzed all the way to the finals of the 52-man field. This wasn’t by coincidence; at that time, Ronnie Lane was one of the best defensive 8-ball players that I had ever seen. After watching a few games, it was easy to see that Ronnie played 8-ball like most people play chess, executing shot after shot with a toothpick hanging out of the side of his mouth. Every move and every shot was both deliberate and calculated. Many times he would either pocket his opponent’s ball for strategic purposes or roll a ball
in front of a pocket to congest traffic for his opponent.
best bet was to play a difficult low percentage bank.
At the same time, I was also making my way through the one loss side and it was becoming apparent that there would be a showdown between the two of us in the finals.
But even in face of adversity, one could see the wheels turning as he decided what to do. Ronnie approached the table and did something I never expected. He shot the cue ball into the 14, freezing the cue ball to my 3 ball (leaving me at cue ball position “a”). At the same time he banked the 14 up table positioning it near the upper corner pocket.
There were a lot of clusters in our final rack, and I knew it was going to be a long defensive battle. After running a few balls, I attempted a difficult defensive shot and fell short of the mark. At that point, Ronnie had positioned his balls out in the open and decided to attempt a run out. During his attempt, Ronnie played himself out of position on his final striped ball and was left with the layout below. As soon as Ronnie got out of line I felt as though I had a chance to win the tournament. It looked as though his
Ronnie “Toothpick” Lane
Photo Courtesy of Rack and Cue Billiards
8 | Billiards Buzz • March 2020
The key to this shot is to hit the cue ball 1 tip below center striking the 14 slightly to the left of center. When executing the shot, you are better off banking short leaving the object ball near the long cushion. Speed is critical to executing the shot. If you hit the bank too hard you could pocket the ball or leave it on the end rail where it would be very difficult to pocket.
