Mosconi Cup 2019 In Review (King Woodward Rising) Mosconi Cup 2019 In Review (King Woodward Rising) The Mosconi Cup — the legendary 9 ball team event between team Europe, and team USA, much like the Ryder Cup of golf, highlights some of the best players in the world, and is an electric billiards atmosphere to say the least. These past two years, 2018 & 2019, USA has won it 11-9 and 11-8. This is a testament to the tenacity of team USA to compete in the event again after over

NAPA — North American Poolshooters Association I’ve been playing in the NAPA (North American Poolshooters Association) pool league, individual play, not team play, this last 15-week session. Overall I’m happy with this league, as I believe it has a more precise ranking system than the APA, and a better computer model, with difficult match-ups against players of varying skill levels. Here is the breakdown of the Ranking system: NAPA CLASSES: Grandmaster Class – Skill level

#1 Best selling author Steven H. Gifford afforded me the opportunity to interview him today. He has a lot to say about pool and has been a driving motivator and leader throughout his life, writer, pool player, Marine, and USA patriot. I have just downloaded Gifford’s book entitled, ‘Final Expense Boot Camp: Earn Your Stripes Today,’ and have gleaned some insight into the man behind ‘Top Shots,’ and so many other upcoming books on the game of pocket billiards & pool. The first

Billiards is a game of skill. Pocket billiards the game of choice for so many in the US and worldwide. Players invest in nice cues that sometimes cost thousands of dollars. Some types of tip chalk costs twenty-plus dollars a piece. Sure, it’s great to have nice things, but ultimately pool is about how well one plays the game. Respect is earned by a players skill, ability to run out, make shots, win — not by how much his or her pool cue cost. Some say, “the game is the teac

FACBOOK POSTS & BILLIARDS OUTAKES, Volume 1.87: WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS — TEAM PEP TALK (The Tallahassee Squirrel always talking shit {and backing it up}): We have been on a winning streak for a while now, and also, I’ve been personally doing better on an individual level, which gives our team a boost. It’s been fun most of all, being a part of a team with some cool peeps. Andrew, Lee, Ricardo, D Boy, Phil, (Sam, maybe if he ever comes out…lol), and Lee — and we have won now for

Tyler ‘Airborne’ Styer The 2018 Mosconi Cup, held this year in London, England in the Alexandra Palace December 4th through the 7th, was a clash of the Titans billiards battle for the ages — USA winning it ultimately 11-9 — team Europe making a comeback the final day from a 9-6 deficit. Woodward won the first match that final day vs former world number one, Albin Ouschan, and SVB (Shane Van Boening) came through against Alexander Kazakis of Greece, the combination US-duo pr

“I’ve paid my dues Time after time. I’ve done my sentence But committed no crime. And bad mistakes‒ I’ve made a few. I’ve had my share of sand kicked in my face But I’ve come through… We are the champions, my friends. And we’ll keep on fighting ’til the end. We are the champions. We are the champions. No time for losers ‘Cause we are the champions of the world.” –MERCURY, FREDERICK. The Mosconi Cup 2018 between Europe, and 13 other countries and the US just concluded

I just sat down with the guys of Gaijin Custom Cues, and they want to make a cue to suit you. Robby, Marshall, and Josh are just typical southern guys with a love of the game of pool and non-traditional design. They have a simple philosophy, each of us has a natural stroke and the closer a cue is taylored to the player, the closer the player can stay to the stroke they were born with. Armed with this simple idea, Gaijin Customs was formed. Multiple veneers in the points in v

When I first walked into Mafia Mike’s pool hall, a semi-circle layout of tables, evenly measured out in a big open space, thriving with light and vigor a pool Oasis — the place was alive and thriving with people playing pool. It was like coming home. I felt at ease — at one with the game. The pool arena exudes pool, and opens up into a room awash with green. Mafia Mike’s pool hall is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Google — but I rate it a 5. It’s a small place, but has a big

Nick Varner’s Hall Of Fame No other player dominated professional pool in the 1980’s quite like Nick Varner. In fact, in 1989 alone, Nick won 11 professional events, which is currently recognized by many as the greatest single season ever recorded in professional pool. During his heyday, Nick won eight World Championships in various pool disciplines. He traveled to the Philippines and is one of the few to defeat Efren Reyes on his home turf. Many pool experts consider him to

APA Pool Diaries Entry One The pool hall calls the players to that perpetual sea of green felt that blankets the tables in most pool rooms across the country and around the world. Billiard balls are spheres, and so is the moon, and I hear pool balls colliding in the gargantuan scope of infinite time and space — pool balls rocketing throughout the universe in the form of so many stars, planets, moons, and the mathematical world of geometry, physics, psychology, sociology, and

Champion Sports — Quality Cues At Great Prices (The Cues I Play With) Pool players want a pool cue they can count on for repeatable precision, solidly constructed, smooth in their hands, and a standard they can rely on time and again — shot after shot. Champion Sports has said cues. My cue is one that can be ordered at https://www.championcue.com . It’s an excellent playing cue, and I’ve shot with many. Indeed, I’ve owned several cues from Champion Sports over the years —

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to Facebook, always remember that pool is the buzz! Yes indeed! Pool players worldwide are uniting, networking, and getting the word out about the game we all love, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” And the word is spreading, and people are listening — and we may be entering a new enlightened age of billiards, where all saunter through the kaleidoscope universe cyberspace of billiards pontification, proliferation, pool

The Tao flows through all things, and is the underlying current that electrifies CJ Wiley’s pool game — guiding him towards a greater meaning and purpose in life — the life of a consummate martial artist, and professional pool player. “Lao Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching explains that the Tao is not a ‘name’ for a ‘thing’ but the underlying natural order of the Universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe due to it being non conceptual yet evident’ in one’s being of

Dave Proctor — Starcade Billiards “I know what they don’t wanna tell you Just hope you’re heaven-sent, and you’re hell-proof I walk up in the world and cut the lights off And confidence is a stain they can’t wipe off” — Lil Wayne. When I think of all the pool players that have won various Starcade open 9 ball events — always a cascading escalator of legendary champions comes to mind, and the “confidence is a stain they can’t wipe off” speaks words of wisdom, and I realize the

For pool players, we live in a day and age where there’s a plethora of varying products for the billiards enthusiast to choose from. We have low deflection shafts, phenolic tips, jump cues, break cues, cue extensions, billiards gloves, layered tips, etc. With all the gear to select from, it can be hard to determine what’s the best choice for the individual. In most cases (pun intended), players are proud to show you what’s in their cases. Many players I’ve seen have expensive

Anthony Beeler is a no-nonsense billiards player, tactician of the pool table, and pool instructor of the highest caliber, providing lessons from his home and on the internet. He plays the game the way it should be played, with beauty, grace, and a simple elegance that sets him apart — moving around the table as an artist does on the white canvas — his cue is his brush, and the table is his canvas. He began his journey in the game at the young age of 12 or 13 in the small Ken

Monday, September 22, 2014: John Schmidt is called Mr. 400. However, when I interviewed him today, he informed me that he actually ran 400 the first time he got his high run in straight pool (14.1), and then 403 the second time. Therefore, he is more correctly called Mr. 403. I’m here to set the record to rights and let it be known. I actually met him years ago, back in 2007 at Starcade Billiards in Fort Walton Beach, Florida; he told me then that he had run 403 (I’d forgotte

The ocean of green felt that canvases most pool halls calls to me, and I feel like a musician when I play the game, holding a good piece of wood in my hand — the instrument we pool players use to perform our art with — the cue stick. This is my Zen. This is where I go to find that inner peace and silence those voices inside my head. This is where I go to find my enlightenment. Like dervish dancers we pool players sashay to the tune of a kaleidoscope of multi-colored balls cli

Today I had the privilege to interview Dennis “The Hatchet Man” Hatch. Hatch is a man with a passion for pool; he has a seemingly indomitable heart for the competition, and his favorite color is red which may indicate the hue of that passion, the timbre of his moxie, and the fiery, all-guns-blazing way he attacks the game with the force of a hurricane. I was curious about the psychology of what it means when red is your favorite color, and I found that “Having red as your fav