Prop and Pinball Shots

I just updated my website with a few new prop and pinball pool shots. The first one is the Circular Follow Pinball shot. It's an adaptation of the regular Circular Follow shot, but it gets the object ball to do just as much work as the cue ball. Pinball Wizard is another similar shot, with action going on all around the table. I first saw both of these through Andy 'The Magic Man' Segal. Gordon's Gauntlet is a nifty shot I picked up from Gordon 'The Wolf' Hedges. Finally, I put up a video of Ride The Bridge, a not-as-easy-as-it-looks shot that's been around for a while. These are some of the most creative pool and billiard shots you'll see!

Trick Shots in Billiards Digest

Check out the feature article in the May 2010 Billiards Digest! Trick shot tutorials featuring Mike Massey, Andy Segal, Stefano Pelinga, Nick Nikolaidis, and Tom Rossman!

Practice

Spent a lot of time this weekend working on some shots that I couldn't get during the last Ultimate Trick Shot tour stop. There's a double juggling speed shot which is still a work in progress. It works every now and again. Then there's a couple pinball type shots which I hoped to film yesterday before a loud party commenced in the room. And also some two-cues-in-one-hand jump shots, which aren't too bad. Finally, there's this neat shot I found posted on Samm Diep's blog, which I should take to some other tables to make sure the banks still work.

2010 World Cup of Trick Shots Team Selection

I'm getting word that the 2010 World cup of Trick Shots teams will look like this:

USA: Andy Segal, Bruce Barthelette, Tom Rossman, and Jamey Gray (unless Dave Nangle wins Trick Shot Magic in which case he would replace Jamey.

Europe: Nick Nikolaidis, Luke Szywala, Stefano Pelinga, and a player to be named, likely between Gabi Visoiu and Florian Kohler, again, pending performances at Trick Shot Magic.

2009 ESPN Trick Shot Magic Recap and Analysis

I just finished updating the 2009 Trick Shot Magic matches. Yeah, I'm a bit late, but no one else online is doing it ;) The semifinal matches featured Nick Nikolaidis versus Andy Segal and Eric Yow versus Sebastian Giumelli. The final pitted Andy Segal versus Sebastian Giumelli. Check out the selected shots as televised by ESPN. I have online videos of some of the shots too.

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.

ESPN 2010 Trick Shot Magic Players

This is an update to the ESPN 2010 Trick Shot Magic initial roster. It looks like the final player will be none other than Florian "Venom" Kohler from France! Should be a great show!