There Can Only Be One

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!

WPA Artistic Pool World Championships

I recently found out there will be no 2010 WPA-APD (Artistic Pool Division) World Championships. The 2011 Worlds will be held at Valley Forge in March 2011, taking over for the usual slot for the Masters. The winner will be guaranteed an invitation to 2011 Trick Shot Magic.

Trick Shot Magic 2010 schedule

Here's the quarterfinal schedule for Trick Shot Magic 2010 on September 1 at Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas, NV.

10am: Nick Nikolaidis vs. Gabi Visoiu
11am: Stefano Pelinga vs. Florian Kohler
1pm: Jamey Gray vs. Tom Rossman
2pm: Andy Segal vs. Dave Nangle

Trick Shot Calendar

Busy stretch coming up in the trick shot calendar. Lot's of entertaining pool action to be had, coast to coast and even in between. Get to one in your area!

2010 APA Ultimate Trick Shot Championships
August 24-27, 2010
Riviera Hotel and Casino
Las Vegas, NV

2010 ESPN Trick Shot Magic
September 1-2, 2010
Green Valley Ranch Resort
Las Vegas, NV

2010 APA Southeast Classic
September 30 - October 3, 2010
Atlanta Billiard Show - Gwinnett Center
Duluth, GA

2010 World Cup of Trick Shots
October 7, 2010
Mohegan Sun
Uncasville, CT

2010 Dr. Cue Artistic Cup IV
December 2-5, 2010
Side Pockets
Saint Charles, MO

Trick Shot Magic 2010 at Green Valley Ranch Resort

Due to the recent closing of the ESPNZone at the New York New York Hotel and Casino, Trick Shot Magic 2010 will instead be held at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, NV.

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.

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!