Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 – I've been working on my pool game lately, working on writing a Predator Cue article, article on Mark White, 'More Than Just A Pool Commentator,' hopefully an interview with Jayson Shaw soon, had writers block lately too however, been up to the top, down to bottom – slip-sliding away. But also the Super Billiards Expo just came to a conclusion, and I missed it because I've been hiding in my lair – I think it's time I came out of the Bat Cave. "Jayson Shaw has moved up to seventh in the latest update of the Live 2023 Nineball World Rankings after claiming the annual Diamond Open Nineball Pro Players Championship at the Super Billiards Expo in Philadelphia, taking the $10,000 first-place prize beating fellow Brit Darren Appleton in the final…" – https://matchroompool.com/news/live-2023-nineball-world-rankings-update-shaw-on-the-march/
Jayson Shaw has had a stellar year as one of the premier players in the game, setting a new Guinness world record 714 ball run in 14.1 consecutive, straight pool in exhibition, making the case that he is perhaps the greatest cueist of all times – standing atop the heap of professionals in the game, side-by-side with greats like Efren "Bata" Reyes, Earl "The Pearl" Strickland, Nick "The Kentucky Colonel" Varner, Shane Van Boening (SVB), and of course Willie Mosconi.
Meanwhile, in my personal game:
I've come in tied for second in tournaments – and I've come in 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, etcetera – but I can't seem to break on through to first. It is what it is, and sometimes you are destined to win it seems, and then other times, it looks like the entire universe is working against you; Me? Not so much. I mean you. You there reading this pool-hall-junkie account of a life less ordinary, you, the pool player, aficionado, fan of the game eternal.
Get into the box – the table, the surface we play on, that slate, with Simonis cloth hopefully. We play, all day every day if possible, but work and family usually come first, except for the rare few that earn their living on the table – ye professionals. Kudos to those that can survive at the top level in the game, a rare breed indeed.
And we have our favorites, cues we play with, weapons of the cueist, the "paintbrush" we paint our "canvas" (table) with. What an art it is: Avant Garde. And balls paint a picture, a graphic of geometrical collisions in space-time, so sublime I rhyme…oh wait! Again I digress, don't stress, pass the test, jest, make haste, evermore, even up the score, quoth the Raven, "Lenore." And when you play like that, you know, you just know those balls are going to drop – and you play that game like no one else ever has before Sarah, and few men ever get to feel that way about anything, you're a winner Eddie – champion.
So, I've been writing flow of consciousness in this, and maybe they will publish it, but my mind has been fragmented, and it's coming back together, and I'm going to…to…to…infinite logic loop fail…abort.
(Back online…)
At any rate, suffice it to say: I'm BaaaaaaaaAAACCCKKK!!!
What else is going on in the game? The world 9 ball pool rankings? SVB is atop the world pool rankings, having recently won a big major event with the World Pool Masters, a title which has eluded him until now, making his case as perhaps the greatest player the game has ever seen, having surpassed legends like Strickland, Mosconi, Reyes, Higgins, Varner – so many greats the game has seen come and go – but SVB isn't nearly done yet, and actually seems to be gaining momentum – a seasoned professional of the highest caliber.
And the top ten 2022 world ranked 9 ball players? 1.) Shane Van Boening 2.) Albin Ouschuan 3.) David Alcaide 4.) Carlo Biado 5.) Max Lechner 6.) Aloysius Yapp 7.) Naoyuki Oi 8.) Alexander Kazakis 9.) Joshua Filler 10.) Chang Jung-Lin
https://matchroompool.com/world-rankings/
So, above we have SVB from USA, Filler from Germany, Ouschuan from Austria, Biado from the Philippines, Oi from Japan, etcetera – so many different countries represented in the world top ten, the USA still atop the heap, however, only one player from the US in the top ten, highlighting the fact that pool has become a world sport at this point – and a sport it is, especially at the highest level, many modern players keeping in shape and training like true athletes; not all, but many.
Yes, pool is alive! And the world will never be the same.
Keep on hitting them balls, and check back here for updates on everything billiards related, pool related more specifically.
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