2centsworth
08-06-2005, 11:32 AM
Read this amazing story last night about two guys who bet every dollar to their name on one of the guys making 70 of 100 3pt shots. 70 freakin percent.
The Magnifacent Woo
BY Josh Arieh
Tuesday, April 12th, 2005
The Magnificent Woo
After a virtual complete air ball at the 2002 World Series of Poker I came back to Atlanta thinking I was going to have to go back to work. It was the first time since 1999 that money was actually a problem. I couldn’t believe that I had done this to myself, I had never had a problem drawing a line in the past. And shit, I didn’t even get to play the Main Event this year!!!! I flew home from Vegas with $2000 in my pocket and $2500 in bills due in 3 days!!!! In our 4 years together Angela had never seen me in this situation. I didn’t want to say anything unless it was crunch time….. I brainstormed for the entire flight home, it was actually the first time I didn’t sleep on my flight home from Vegas. My mission for the next couple days was to raise at least $500 and anything extra would be gravy and a head start at starting my new bankroll.
It takes a strong person to think positive thoughts at this point. Many people could look back and say “oh man, where did I screw my money off, in the last three years you have won over 300k in tournaments and its gone”. Honestly, those thoughts never crossed my mind, all that filled my brain is the task at hand. The minute I stepped off the plane I was calling around town to see who has a game coming up in the next two nights. Man, did I hit the jackpot here or what!!! My first phone call was to a close buddy of mine David Woo. I was extremely shocked he answered his phone at 10 am, he is one of those late night kinda folks that needs his 12 hour beauty sleep sessions. He informs me that is driving around town collecting every bit of money that is owed to him so he can go to the gym and try to shoot 70 out of 100 three pointers against a friend who doesn’t think he can do it. We will call this friend “Fish”. At this point the natural first thought in my head is, “do I owe woo any money?”, then the next thought is “man, I’ve seen woo shoot and DAMN!!!!! This mo fo can drain em non stop for hours from three point range!” I tell woo my situation and he is more than happy to help a buddy out. He not only lets me bet my money on him (I was betting as a partner), he lends me another 2k on top of mine so I have the chance to win $4000.
Now the fun begins. I get home and drop my bags off and Woo picks me up after all his running around… There is a old school backpack that 99% of America thought it would have school books in it sitting in the front seat of woos car. I actually thought myself that it had David’s school books in it as well, when I picked it up so I could get in the seat, it flew open and all I saw was $100 bills…. About 350 of them!!! David had gone around town and scrounged up $35,000... Every nickel to his name at that. This kid was on a mission. David didn’t have many worries, he had plenty of ways to make money and could get credit from just about anyone in town, no wife, no kids,,,, shittttttt, if he went broke, who cares????? Right???? Well not the same for me… I HAD TO WIN!!!!!! My bill money was in action and I definitely didn’t want to come home to my wife and tell her I didn’t have my share of the bill money this month.
David’s phone rings and its none other than Fish. He says I will meet you guys at the Baptist church gym on Ashford Dunwoody rd. Woo had never been there and wasn’t too skeptical about it, I mean a hoop is a hoop, right? WRONG!!!! We get to the gym and half the place is lite up. And there are some people working on one of the rims. So our only choice is the goal on the far side of the gymnasium. Woo and I immediately give each other that look, both of us thinking “what’s he up to, are we getting set up?” Well we give it a shot… Woo shoots a couple times and man is this rim stiff….. Let me give you an idea of how pure Woo shoots. If he misses, its one of those misses that skim off the front of the rim, slide over the basket, and bounces off the back iron back over the front of the goal… this kid is pure from the top of the key!!! Man o man, what have we gotten into, this rim must be 6 inches high, woo can barely get it over the front of the rim!!!! After long debate, (more like my dumb ass begging woo to go ahead and shoot) we decide we aren’t going to shoot there and take the risk of losing fish’s action. Well, much to our surprise, fish obliges and agrees to go to another gym 5 minutes down the road.
When we get to the gym it was like pulling teeth in order to get this bet going. First we had to find parking spots (we drove around for 20 minutes looking for a parking spot in the garage (by now it was about 5 pm and people had made their way to the gym for their evening workouts. Next, we had to grease the guy at the counters palms with a $20 just to let us in the door, none of us were members. With the $30k backpack fastened securely to woos back, we made our way in. It still looked like we weren’t going to be able to get our bet going. There was one court and 10 guys were running full court action with guys waiting for their turn to run with the winners. We picked out a guy that looked like he was the ring leader of the bunch and pulled him aside, told him what was going on and before we knew it we were ready to get it on. I couldn’t imagine being in Woo’s shoes. Both his and my bankrolls were at stake(his much bigger than mine) it seemed like word spread around this entire 3 story gym what was going on and they all stopped to come down and watch it. They were 6 deep around the perimeter to see this 5 foot 5 Korean kid do the impossible. There musta been 100 people watching and cheering for us to win. Did they know the entire situation? Were they aware that both of our entire bankrolls were on the line? Could they smell the fear coming off of both of us prior to the match?
When Woo was ready it was pure silence. I am standing under the goal, I am his designated rebounder. My sole job is to make sure that if he gets in rythem, make sure he doesn’t lose that momentum, get him the ball quick and accurately. The first shot leaves his hands and it seems likes its in the air for eternity. CLANK!!!!!! And you hear a gasp of air from the crowd, just like in the movies… they saw woo’s stroke for the first time and wanted to break out laughing. After the first 10 three-point shots he had made 3 out of 10, way behind this 70% pace that we had wagered our money on. Ater 50 three-point shots woo had made only 32, which equals 64%, which equals a couple broke 25 year olds leaving the gym with our tails between our legs trying to do the impossible. This is when I start thinking crazy thoughts,”what the hell is wrong with me, what on earth made me think that this kid who had never played organized basketball at any level can shoot a better percentage than ray allen, reggie miller, and even Michael Jordan? I’m going broke here and there is no way out!” Woo had to make 38 out of his next 50 for us to win. For those who arent too good at math, he has to shoot 76% for the next 50 shots! LOL YEA RIGHT!!! Woo takes a two minute break for some water and comes back with this look in his eye. I get him the rock and he starts shooting again, at one point he drained 18 in a row and I could see a little pep in his step for the first time since we got to the gym. I could honestly see the finish line from here… but you have to remember, 78% is a hard task. Even as well as Woo was shooting , all he had done is make up the lost ground from the early mishaps. We were down to 10 three-pointers left and if woo makes 7 we win and have money in our pockets, if he makes 6 we come up one shot short and are both dead broke! Its all or nothing here, I send him the ball and we make 3 out of the first 5(notice how I say we now, at this point I am so into it… all the pressure coming down to these last 5 shots, in my mind, the accuracy of my pass back to him is as important as the shot itself.) Five shots left, make 4 we win, make 3 we are broke, busted and disgusted. First one-SWOOSH, second one-SWOOSH, third one-SWOOSH… OH MY LORD, we have a chance, my man Woo just drained 3 in a row for his whole bankroll… one more, one more… JUST MAKE ONE… next one…………. ITS GOOD!!!!!!!!!! WE WIN… my man woo just hit 4 in row for his whole stack… the place went nuts, it was like everyone was on our side and like we were paying them something if we had one…. For some odd reason we were the home team here…but, ironically, we knew no one…..
After about what seemed like a 5 minute celebration. Mr. Fish took it like a man and said good job kid. He was a complete gentlemen in a spot that many people could become assholes. Man, that was weight off my shoulders, I had bill money and I had $3500 to spare. That night I went to a $15-$30 game with woo and won $3000... You heard it, $3000. I never claimed to be a good limit player… (bad players have big wins (with a grin). What a turn of events, in the past 12 hours I had gone from the possibility of job hunting to back in action. That was the last time I have come close to the felt and thought about hanging up this gambling thing. But, I stuck to my guns and was lucky to have made that phone call to David, otherwise I may have never known what was going on.
The Magnifacent Woo
BY Josh Arieh
Tuesday, April 12th, 2005
The Magnificent Woo
After a virtual complete air ball at the 2002 World Series of Poker I came back to Atlanta thinking I was going to have to go back to work. It was the first time since 1999 that money was actually a problem. I couldn’t believe that I had done this to myself, I had never had a problem drawing a line in the past. And shit, I didn’t even get to play the Main Event this year!!!! I flew home from Vegas with $2000 in my pocket and $2500 in bills due in 3 days!!!! In our 4 years together Angela had never seen me in this situation. I didn’t want to say anything unless it was crunch time….. I brainstormed for the entire flight home, it was actually the first time I didn’t sleep on my flight home from Vegas. My mission for the next couple days was to raise at least $500 and anything extra would be gravy and a head start at starting my new bankroll.
It takes a strong person to think positive thoughts at this point. Many people could look back and say “oh man, where did I screw my money off, in the last three years you have won over 300k in tournaments and its gone”. Honestly, those thoughts never crossed my mind, all that filled my brain is the task at hand. The minute I stepped off the plane I was calling around town to see who has a game coming up in the next two nights. Man, did I hit the jackpot here or what!!! My first phone call was to a close buddy of mine David Woo. I was extremely shocked he answered his phone at 10 am, he is one of those late night kinda folks that needs his 12 hour beauty sleep sessions. He informs me that is driving around town collecting every bit of money that is owed to him so he can go to the gym and try to shoot 70 out of 100 three pointers against a friend who doesn’t think he can do it. We will call this friend “Fish”. At this point the natural first thought in my head is, “do I owe woo any money?”, then the next thought is “man, I’ve seen woo shoot and DAMN!!!!! This mo fo can drain em non stop for hours from three point range!” I tell woo my situation and he is more than happy to help a buddy out. He not only lets me bet my money on him (I was betting as a partner), he lends me another 2k on top of mine so I have the chance to win $4000.
Now the fun begins. I get home and drop my bags off and Woo picks me up after all his running around… There is a old school backpack that 99% of America thought it would have school books in it sitting in the front seat of woos car. I actually thought myself that it had David’s school books in it as well, when I picked it up so I could get in the seat, it flew open and all I saw was $100 bills…. About 350 of them!!! David had gone around town and scrounged up $35,000... Every nickel to his name at that. This kid was on a mission. David didn’t have many worries, he had plenty of ways to make money and could get credit from just about anyone in town, no wife, no kids,,,, shittttttt, if he went broke, who cares????? Right???? Well not the same for me… I HAD TO WIN!!!!!! My bill money was in action and I definitely didn’t want to come home to my wife and tell her I didn’t have my share of the bill money this month.
David’s phone rings and its none other than Fish. He says I will meet you guys at the Baptist church gym on Ashford Dunwoody rd. Woo had never been there and wasn’t too skeptical about it, I mean a hoop is a hoop, right? WRONG!!!! We get to the gym and half the place is lite up. And there are some people working on one of the rims. So our only choice is the goal on the far side of the gymnasium. Woo and I immediately give each other that look, both of us thinking “what’s he up to, are we getting set up?” Well we give it a shot… Woo shoots a couple times and man is this rim stiff….. Let me give you an idea of how pure Woo shoots. If he misses, its one of those misses that skim off the front of the rim, slide over the basket, and bounces off the back iron back over the front of the goal… this kid is pure from the top of the key!!! Man o man, what have we gotten into, this rim must be 6 inches high, woo can barely get it over the front of the rim!!!! After long debate, (more like my dumb ass begging woo to go ahead and shoot) we decide we aren’t going to shoot there and take the risk of losing fish’s action. Well, much to our surprise, fish obliges and agrees to go to another gym 5 minutes down the road.
When we get to the gym it was like pulling teeth in order to get this bet going. First we had to find parking spots (we drove around for 20 minutes looking for a parking spot in the garage (by now it was about 5 pm and people had made their way to the gym for their evening workouts. Next, we had to grease the guy at the counters palms with a $20 just to let us in the door, none of us were members. With the $30k backpack fastened securely to woos back, we made our way in. It still looked like we weren’t going to be able to get our bet going. There was one court and 10 guys were running full court action with guys waiting for their turn to run with the winners. We picked out a guy that looked like he was the ring leader of the bunch and pulled him aside, told him what was going on and before we knew it we were ready to get it on. I couldn’t imagine being in Woo’s shoes. Both his and my bankrolls were at stake(his much bigger than mine) it seemed like word spread around this entire 3 story gym what was going on and they all stopped to come down and watch it. They were 6 deep around the perimeter to see this 5 foot 5 Korean kid do the impossible. There musta been 100 people watching and cheering for us to win. Did they know the entire situation? Were they aware that both of our entire bankrolls were on the line? Could they smell the fear coming off of both of us prior to the match?
When Woo was ready it was pure silence. I am standing under the goal, I am his designated rebounder. My sole job is to make sure that if he gets in rythem, make sure he doesn’t lose that momentum, get him the ball quick and accurately. The first shot leaves his hands and it seems likes its in the air for eternity. CLANK!!!!!! And you hear a gasp of air from the crowd, just like in the movies… they saw woo’s stroke for the first time and wanted to break out laughing. After the first 10 three-point shots he had made 3 out of 10, way behind this 70% pace that we had wagered our money on. Ater 50 three-point shots woo had made only 32, which equals 64%, which equals a couple broke 25 year olds leaving the gym with our tails between our legs trying to do the impossible. This is when I start thinking crazy thoughts,”what the hell is wrong with me, what on earth made me think that this kid who had never played organized basketball at any level can shoot a better percentage than ray allen, reggie miller, and even Michael Jordan? I’m going broke here and there is no way out!” Woo had to make 38 out of his next 50 for us to win. For those who arent too good at math, he has to shoot 76% for the next 50 shots! LOL YEA RIGHT!!! Woo takes a two minute break for some water and comes back with this look in his eye. I get him the rock and he starts shooting again, at one point he drained 18 in a row and I could see a little pep in his step for the first time since we got to the gym. I could honestly see the finish line from here… but you have to remember, 78% is a hard task. Even as well as Woo was shooting , all he had done is make up the lost ground from the early mishaps. We were down to 10 three-pointers left and if woo makes 7 we win and have money in our pockets, if he makes 6 we come up one shot short and are both dead broke! Its all or nothing here, I send him the ball and we make 3 out of the first 5(notice how I say we now, at this point I am so into it… all the pressure coming down to these last 5 shots, in my mind, the accuracy of my pass back to him is as important as the shot itself.) Five shots left, make 4 we win, make 3 we are broke, busted and disgusted. First one-SWOOSH, second one-SWOOSH, third one-SWOOSH… OH MY LORD, we have a chance, my man Woo just drained 3 in a row for his whole bankroll… one more, one more… JUST MAKE ONE… next one…………. ITS GOOD!!!!!!!!!! WE WIN… my man woo just hit 4 in row for his whole stack… the place went nuts, it was like everyone was on our side and like we were paying them something if we had one…. For some odd reason we were the home team here…but, ironically, we knew no one…..
After about what seemed like a 5 minute celebration. Mr. Fish took it like a man and said good job kid. He was a complete gentlemen in a spot that many people could become assholes. Man, that was weight off my shoulders, I had bill money and I had $3500 to spare. That night I went to a $15-$30 game with woo and won $3000... You heard it, $3000. I never claimed to be a good limit player… (bad players have big wins (with a grin). What a turn of events, in the past 12 hours I had gone from the possibility of job hunting to back in action. That was the last time I have come close to the felt and thought about hanging up this gambling thing. But, I stuck to my guns and was lucky to have made that phone call to David, otherwise I may have never known what was going on.