The 2010 APA Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championships were last week in Las Vegas. Fourteen of the best trick shot artists in the world were there to vie for the title, including six that have been invited to ESPN's Trick Shot Magic or World Cup of Trick Shots this year - Andy Segal, Nick Nikolaidis, Bruce Barthelette, Jamey Gray, Tom Rossman, and Dave Nangle. The preliminary brackets looked like this: Flight A - Andy, Bruce, Tom, Tim Chin, Paul Danno, Dainius Stipinas, and Gordon Hedges; Flight B - Nick, Jamey, Dave, Jason Lynch, Jason Kane (a late replacement for Stefan Mendrick), Joe Bonge, and Matt MacPhail. On the surface, it looked like a race for fourth place and the final playoff spot in each group. Flight B turned out that way with Nick going undefeated followed by Jamey and Dave. The final preliminary round match between the two Jasons was essentially a play-in match which Jason Lynch won as he pulled away towards the end.
In Flight A though, I had other plans. I started out well against Paul and almost stumbled against Dainius, but strung together enough shots in the end for the win. A tougher match awaited against Bruce, who I defeated last year in the quarterfinals. This year's match was a little closer, but I took advantage of a couple of misses from him to prevail 9-7, his only loss in the preliminary round. It didn't get any easier against Tom who just came off an incredible tie against Andy. In the end, I just played for the tie instead of going for a bigger shot and we drew 9-9. Against Andy, the shots got a little stranger, but we also tied 7-7. I rounded it off with a late win against Gordon on Thu night to cap off first place in the group, followed by Tom, Andy, and Bruce (fourth place with just one loss, ouch).
That stuck me in the quarterfinals against Jason Lynch and his intimidating stroke. I kept to my plan and managed to capitalize on a couple misses from him, sealing the match with one of Nick's shots which I'll try to post in the near future. My semifinal match against Jamey took a similar route, as he missed one of his challenges that I was able to make, and I kept the pressure on by making most of mine. In the end, he conceded when I had the last shot and a one point lead. Against Nick in the final, we went back and forth in the beginning before he took a lead toward the middle of the match at 4-3 and 5-4. I pulled the point back with a frozen masse shot, squeezing the cue ball out between two frozen balls and getting it to masse back to make a hanger. We each missed a couple shots after that and I made my last challenge which looked like it confused Nick to take a 7-6 lead. He tried an audacious jump-fouette shot, narrowly nicking the rack on his last two attempts to give me the victory. It was quite an amazing run for me, especially to beat some of the biggest names in the game in the same tournament.
Check out this video clip and American Poolplayers Association news brief about my win!
Showing posts with label ultimate trick shot tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ultimate trick shot tour. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championship Draw - Las Vegas, NV
I just got the draws for the Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championships to be held Aug 24-27 at the Riviera in Las Vegas, NV. I'm grouped with Andy Segal (again), Bruce Barthelette, Tom Rossman, Paul Danno, Dainius Stipinas, and Gordon Hedges. The other group is Nick Nikolaidis, Jamey Gray, Dave Nangle, Joe Bonge, Stefan Mendrick and Jason Lynch. My schedule's a bit tough as I only have one match on Tue, two on Wed, and then three on Thu, the final two with only a one match rest in between.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Stop #4: Willow Billiards, Hoboken, NJ Recap
Back on July 10, I competed in the Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Stop #4 at Willow Billiards in Hoboken, NJ. It's a nice little pool room with 11 9-ft Gold Crowns, mostly with Simonis, and a couple other tables out front. The tournament itself had a healthy 13 player turn out. We split up in to 3 groups and were guaranteed four matches each. I ended up playing Paul Danno, Dainius Stipinas, Jamey Gray, and Steve Markle.
Paul is a cagey veteran whose results don't justify his skills and our matches are always tight. This one was no different. I had a 4-2 lead heading in to the last three shots, but he persevered and pushed me to the limit. His final pick was a center spot, two diamond draw shot, which made me nervous as soon as he picked it. He made it on his third attempt to bring the score to 4-4. On my turn, I took a few warm up strokes, closed my eyes, and was as surprised as anyone as the cue ball drew back straight to the corner pocket and letting me escape with a victory.
My match against Dainius was only slightly more comfortable. The creativity in some of his shots was bewildering and I only made one of his challenges. Luckily, I made four of mine and rode those to a 5-3 win with one shot remaining.
I figured my match against reigning world champion Jamey Gray was going to be tough. Surprisingly, he only made one of his challenges and looked out of sorts as I thrashed him 6-1 with four shots left. I'm sure he'll use that motivation the next time I have to face him though.
My final match was against an impressive Steve Markle, fresh off a tie with Andy Segal. I didn't quite carry the momentum over from my previous match and had to gut it out at the end for a 5-3 victory on the final shot. Perhaps I got a bit fortunate as Steve missed a couple shots I'm sure he'd usually make 90% of the time.
That preliminary round left me undefeated and atop of my group, getting a quarterfinal matchup against Gil Olsen. He was hosting me for the weekend and we had driven down together, so it was a friendly affair. He shot well making five of his six challenges and I showed my lack of practice with the APTSA book shots. We were tied going in to the final shot, which was my choice, and I picked a double one-handed jump shot (jumping two balls with two cues in one hand simultaneously). I squeezed that one in and his unfamiliarity with even how to hold the cues was evident as I took a 7-6 victory.
That set up a semifinal showdown with Andy Segal, the reigning ESPN Trick Shot Magic champion. The first shot he pulled out against me was an extension of the double one-handed jump, except using both left and right hands and executing it twice with each hand. That was too much for me. He ended up making 5 of his 6 challenges while I made 3 of 5, neither of us making the other persons shots. There was no 3rd place match, so I shared the position with Bruce Barthelette.
All in all I thought it was a pretty good showing from me. I've never placed higher than 3rd though, so I'm still looking to crack the ceiling. Perhaps my downfall was choosing shots against Andy that I hadn't even attempted earlier in the tournament. I caved in to the pressure of picking shots I didn't think my opponent could make rather than just making my own. The next tournament will be the season ending Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championships in Las Vegas in a few weeks!
Paul is a cagey veteran whose results don't justify his skills and our matches are always tight. This one was no different. I had a 4-2 lead heading in to the last three shots, but he persevered and pushed me to the limit. His final pick was a center spot, two diamond draw shot, which made me nervous as soon as he picked it. He made it on his third attempt to bring the score to 4-4. On my turn, I took a few warm up strokes, closed my eyes, and was as surprised as anyone as the cue ball drew back straight to the corner pocket and letting me escape with a victory.
My match against Dainius was only slightly more comfortable. The creativity in some of his shots was bewildering and I only made one of his challenges. Luckily, I made four of mine and rode those to a 5-3 win with one shot remaining.
I figured my match against reigning world champion Jamey Gray was going to be tough. Surprisingly, he only made one of his challenges and looked out of sorts as I thrashed him 6-1 with four shots left. I'm sure he'll use that motivation the next time I have to face him though.
My final match was against an impressive Steve Markle, fresh off a tie with Andy Segal. I didn't quite carry the momentum over from my previous match and had to gut it out at the end for a 5-3 victory on the final shot. Perhaps I got a bit fortunate as Steve missed a couple shots I'm sure he'd usually make 90% of the time.
That preliminary round left me undefeated and atop of my group, getting a quarterfinal matchup against Gil Olsen. He was hosting me for the weekend and we had driven down together, so it was a friendly affair. He shot well making five of his six challenges and I showed my lack of practice with the APTSA book shots. We were tied going in to the final shot, which was my choice, and I picked a double one-handed jump shot (jumping two balls with two cues in one hand simultaneously). I squeezed that one in and his unfamiliarity with even how to hold the cues was evident as I took a 7-6 victory.
That set up a semifinal showdown with Andy Segal, the reigning ESPN Trick Shot Magic champion. The first shot he pulled out against me was an extension of the double one-handed jump, except using both left and right hands and executing it twice with each hand. That was too much for me. He ended up making 5 of his 6 challenges while I made 3 of 5, neither of us making the other persons shots. There was no 3rd place match, so I shared the position with Bruce Barthelette.
All in all I thought it was a pretty good showing from me. I've never placed higher than 3rd though, so I'm still looking to crack the ceiling. Perhaps my downfall was choosing shots against Andy that I hadn't even attempted earlier in the tournament. I caved in to the pressure of picking shots I didn't think my opponent could make rather than just making my own. The next tournament will be the season ending Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championships in Las Vegas in a few weeks!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Stop #3 at Shooter's Billiards
The third tour stop of the Ultimate Trick Shot Tour was this last Sunday. We had a pretty good turn out of 13 players, which made the brackets a bit tricky, but everyone was guaranteed four matches. I got grouped with Gil Olsen, Andy Segal, Bruce Barthelette, Jason Kane, Gordon Hedges, and Paul Danno. Matt MacPhail, Dave Nangle, Jamey Gray, Peyton Thomas, Dainius Stipinas, and Joe Bonge were in the other group.
In my first match, I played Gil. He had some really creative shots including a jump-masse railroad shot. He didn't convert too many of his shots though and I ended up winning 5-1. I played Andy in my second match and lost 7-3. I got close on a few shots, rocking hanging balls, so maybe it should have been closer. After a bye, I played Paul in my third match. We both didn't do so well although I again nudged a couple hanging balls without pocketing them. The final score was 3-2. In my last group match, I went up against Gordon, getting to try out some of his crazy shots, including a splitting triple jump which I failed miserably at. I ended up winning in the end though, 4-3.
That was good enough for third place in my flight and a trip to the playoffs against Matt. The match was tense all the way through as we each made the same shots. He missed my last challenge, but I missed his as well leading to a tie breaker, a five rail kick and lag to a ball on the spot. We both shot it pretty horribly, but after some deliberation and fine measurements, I was declared the winner by less than an inch. That gave me a semifinal date with Andy again. He made most of his challenges and I wasn't able to take advantage when he missed and ended up losing 6-3. Dave lost his semifinal to Jamey, so I had to face him in the third place match. He got off to a poor start and I was able to take a three point lead and held it for the rest of the match, winning 7-4 to take third place. Andy ended up beating Jamey in the final for his second win on the tour.
In my first match, I played Gil. He had some really creative shots including a jump-masse railroad shot. He didn't convert too many of his shots though and I ended up winning 5-1. I played Andy in my second match and lost 7-3. I got close on a few shots, rocking hanging balls, so maybe it should have been closer. After a bye, I played Paul in my third match. We both didn't do so well although I again nudged a couple hanging balls without pocketing them. The final score was 3-2. In my last group match, I went up against Gordon, getting to try out some of his crazy shots, including a splitting triple jump which I failed miserably at. I ended up winning in the end though, 4-3.
That was good enough for third place in my flight and a trip to the playoffs against Matt. The match was tense all the way through as we each made the same shots. He missed my last challenge, but I missed his as well leading to a tie breaker, a five rail kick and lag to a ball on the spot. We both shot it pretty horribly, but after some deliberation and fine measurements, I was declared the winner by less than an inch. That gave me a semifinal date with Andy again. He made most of his challenges and I wasn't able to take advantage when he missed and ended up losing 6-3. Dave lost his semifinal to Jamey, so I had to face him in the third place match. He got off to a poor start and I was able to take a three point lead and held it for the rest of the match, winning 7-4 to take third place. Andy ended up beating Jamey in the final for his second win on the tour.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Ultimate Trick Shot Tour - Big Shot Billiards
Andy Segal won the Ultimate Trick Shot Tour stop at Big Shot Billiards on January 24, beating out Jamey Gray in the final and Dave Nangle in the semifinals. Jamey Gray made it in by beating Matt MacPhail. The tournament had a strong showing of 12 of the most creative trick shot artists in the region. After the preliminary rounds, Dave bested Joe Bonge in the first quarterfinal while Jamey ousted Danius Stipanis. The rest of the players included Bruce Barthelette, Tim Chin, Gerry Woodlief, Gordon Hedges, Gil Olsen, and Paul Danno.
*****
I finished with one victory and five losses, having been paired with Andy, Dave, Bruce, Jamey, and Gerry. Talk about your group of death. The tournament was on Valley bar boxes, which I didn't quite get the hang of like I did in Vegas. I actually went down to Gil's place on Friday night and spent the weekend there practicing on his 9-ft Brunswick Gold Crown 3. Much of our time was focused on the program though preparing for the Masters. It was a fun time at least and I got to see a lot of new shots in the rapidly evolving world of trick shots.
*****
I finished with one victory and five losses, having been paired with Andy, Dave, Bruce, Jamey, and Gerry. Talk about your group of death. The tournament was on Valley bar boxes, which I didn't quite get the hang of like I did in Vegas. I actually went down to Gil's place on Friday night and spent the weekend there practicing on his 9-ft Brunswick Gold Crown 3. Much of our time was focused on the program though preparing for the Masters. It was a fun time at least and I got to see a lot of new shots in the rapidly evolving world of trick shots.
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