"I wouldn't walk across the room to watch Fats shoot...

... but I'd drive across the country to listen to him talk."

(Jersey Red)

I'm really liking this remark as one of the top

Minnesota Fats stories of all time.

For the full story, check out R.A. Dyer's website at this link.

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The Most Important Thing About Pool

Dear fellow PoolSynergy bloggists...

In the fullness of time, it has come to be,
my turn.

Thank you for your attention.

It has been interesting watching and participating in this experiment,
although I feel particularly constrained by writing on a deadline.
It is an un-natural act.
I feel that writing should spring out from the spirit.
Writing is like other bodily functions,
which should not be required on command.

Well, now you know how I feel about that.

This month's subject, if I may be so bold to suggest, is...

"The Most Important Thing about Pool"

And here is the basic premise. You are in this scenario.
You are watching a loved one struggle with their game,
and you are on your way out,
only moments to live,
victim of blue chalk disease
which pisses you off because you paid more for the good stuff...
but let's get back to the story.

With only moments to live,
you want to impart the true secret to pool,
all the knowledge, experience, emotion, physicality, and spirit,
the true essence of pool...
the one thing about pool,
that if it was truly done,
one would be the master of all,
the Embodiment of Pool.

What is that?
You pick up your pen*, and write...
Follow through? Keep your head down? See the shot? Have fun?
How to use the rails? Inside English? Depends on the cue ball in use?

What is The Most Important Thing About Pool?

Fade out.
Your writing goes on to become a classic.
Book, movie, t-shirts, fame and fortune.
It all starts with what you write this month...
No pressure...
------------------

So, I hope you have fun with this month's topic.
Thanks for your participation, and your time.
Now, let's all work for a deadline (!) of midnight on April 10, 2010
(ok, if you like to work late, then make it 9am on April, 11.)

:-)

M.

* remember pens? I loved those...
And books!
They really worked well together, didn't they?

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How to get more people playing pool

This article is the 5th in a series of posts written in coordination with other pool bloggers entitled "PoolSynergy" . To see others, go to:http://nycgrind.com/?p=9778

Pool has a bad reputation because it has earned it. It's simple Cause and Effect. Pool is the way it is because of everything that has happened, and not happened, to cause it to be that way. But let's not beat a dead horse. We can't change the past; it's more productive to focus on what can be done to make things better.

There's a lot of talk about how the billiards industry has fallen on hard times, and how pool has a bad image in the mind of the General Public (people who don't play pool). There's always talk about what can be done to make things better, but it seems that there's no consensus, and nothing gets done. Pool just keeps circling the drain, hoping for another movie with Paul Newman to give it a shot in the arm. But that would just be a temporary fix, and do nothing to address the real problems.

This month's PoolSynergy topic is an opportunity for me to express a few thoughts that have been on my mind. One of the cardinal rules that I try to live by is to speak only positive thoughts, but when you are dealing with pool, I feel I have to abandon that rule and deal with some really negative stuff that bugs the livin' bejeezus out of me, such as:

1. Use commentators who can speak English properly. I won't name names, but if you graduated from high school, you should know who they are. There is just no reason whatsoever that pool tournaments should have guest commentators who routinely use double negatives (even triple negatives) in a sentence. It perpetuates the stereotype that pool players are uneducated low-life bums, or stupid, or criminal, or all of the above. Additionally, it speaks volumes about the sort of people who run the tournaments and who run the organizations that control pool. None of it is good. Why is there not more pool on TV? This single factor could be one of the prime reasons. TV executives certainly know that these commentators are bad for TV, so pool doesn't get the coverage it could.

2. Live streaming video is a great step forward, and getting better all the time, but still nowhere near good enough to get anyone other than pool addicts to watch. It would be much better to explain the strategies instead of having commentators just killing time with inane banter that has nothing to do with what is happening at the moment. Show more stats of the players during the dull moments of video productions, rather than have someone rattle off a few disjointed facts. People remember a lot more of what they see than what they hear.

3. Commentators should deal with the game going on, and not the instant messaging chat. Am I the only one who goes full-screen with the stream so that I can see it better? And if you go full-screen, you lose the chat feed, but the commentators seem to use the chat feed as a crutch to fill in dead air with blather which is completely unrelated to the game at hand. There's only so much of this disjointed stuff I can take before I just mute the commentating completely. I just want an intelligent, live analysis. Is that too much to ask?

4. When making a product for network TV, edit the video to delete all the think time and rack time. Show only the excellent run-outs, the great shots, and the "color" moments. Use slow motion to accentuate the details. A major problem with pool video broadcasts is that there is so much dead time. Only die-hard pool fans want to watch players think. And nobody on this planet wants to watch a player trying to get a decent rack, re-racking ad nauseum... If you want to attract more people to pool, then you have to make it more interesting. That means action! This is the internet age; the average attention span is now down to around 5 seconds. Get with it.

5. Invest in video products that show the best of the game, by the best players. This could be paid for by BCA, APA, WPA, etc. if they would co-operate to increase the number of players rather than competing for an ever-dwindling number of players. Use more CGI and tricks of the video trade. Look what's being done with football and apply some of the tricks to pool. It doesn't have to be expensive if it's done in post-production.

6. Get local players into the game with national and regional contests. Use video to show the winners and post the videos online. Recognize and reward excellence and more players will be brought into the game. There is one excellent method that has been developed which is independent of the APA rating system, or the BCA rating system. So you don't have to join these organizations, and keep paying dues and showing up for matches at inconvenient times and places. It's the International Playing Ability Test (IPAT) and anyone can try it, but there's too much math involved for people to deal with it easily. But the principle is excellent. It just needs to be simplified. That's why I created a spreadsheet program to do all the math easily. It's available here, free.

Oh, I could go on and on, but heck, I just like to play pool. I don't want to get all worked up about what's wrong with the business and marketing models in the industry, but since I was asked, well, now you know. Thanks for listening. Have a nice day!

This article is the 5th in a series of posts written in coordination with other pool bloggers entitled "PoolSynergy" . To see others, go to:http://nycgrind.com/?p=9778

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In A Time Long Ago

Recently I was cleaning out some stuff from storage, and came across a mailing tube, dated 1988, sent to me by my father, who, it seems, was doing some cleaning out of his own when he found this, and sent it along to me.

Prior to that, the last time I saw this was on the day it was done, way back in 1962, while I was still in college, on a vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. There, while walking along the boardwalk, I stumbled into a caricaturist's shop and tried unsuccessfully to talk my date into memorializing the moment with a drawing. She thought that instead that I should be the subject. And so it was. While the artist was doing her work she asked what I like to do, and of course pool was the big thing in my life at the time, and there you have it...

When I got back to the school dorm, I filed it away where it remained undetected for a quarter of a century, until my father found it in some pile of stuff in his storage. I suppose I didn't know what to do with it then, so I relegated it to my storage locker, with all the other stuff that is somehow too important to discard, but not important enough to keep handy, and there it remained for another 22 years.

When I re-opened the mailing tube recently, and removed the paper, it crumbled into several pieces. It had dried out and become brittle to the point where I feared it might just go to dust in my hands. But luckily, with the help of someone who has experience with saving ancient paper artifacts, it was unrolled, pieced together, and mounted on a foam board, where hopefully it will last a bit longer.

The wonderful advantage of having the internet is that now we can scan stuff like this and send it into "The Cloud" where it will stay fresh for all eternity. It's like a bit of immortality.

Even reviewing my math for accuracy, I can not really grasp the fact that it has been 48 years since that event, almost half a century.

Many things have changed in that time, but my love of the game of pool has remained strong.

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PoolSynergy, February 2010, My Favorite Pool Player

This article is the 4th in a series of posts written in coordination with other pool bloggers entitled "PoolSynergy" . To see others, go to:

http://gailglazebrook.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/poolsynergy-volume-iv-fan-favorites/

It would be easy to say that my favorite pool player is Willie Mosconi, who is generally acknowledged to be the best of all time, and because he holds the high run of all time (526) and because he won more straight pool titles than anyone (straight pool is my favorite). The problem with choosing Willie Mosconi as my favorite is that I have never seen him play in real life, and there are NO videos of him playing a significant amount of straight pool. So Willie Mosconi is more of a fantasy player, not good for real world learning, for me or anyone.

A player who I have watched intently, in real life, and who has plenty of videos available is Allison Fisher, who I have always regarded as an extraordinary player not just because of her great ability, but because of her demeanor. She held my interest as a role model for a while because so many videos were available on ESPN.

And then I met Johnny Archer, and he ran 120 balls on my table at my home, and did it like it was a walk in the park, and I got it all on video (see it here)! After that performance, he was a natural to take over as my favorite player. And what a nice guy, too! Really a first class human being.

But again, Johnny Archer would be an obvious choice for favorite player, and there's not much to share with you, dear reader, by offering an obvious choice.

So, allow me to introduce a player who I have watched more than any other player, and therefore I can state that I am more of an expert on his game than any other player alive or dead, and I consider him to be, without question, my favorite player. Tony Sorto is "El Maestro", the man who taught me the game.

The best proof of his impressive shot making ability is this one video clip where he runs a perfect rack of 15 balls in rotation, with 14 of the balls frozen to the rails. This is the game they play in his native Honduras. It has never been shown on video until he did it, on my table.

Click through to YouTube and watch this video, and follow along with the notes under "more info" (on the upper right) to see what's going on with each shot.

What I see when I watch this is absolute focus, total confidence (watch the 7-ball bank, and the 13 ball bank is spectacular!), and the rhythm, even when it is interrupted on the 14 ball bank, and the outward calm masking his inner "controlled fury", and his magical mastery of english as demonstrated on the 4-ball shot to get position on the 5.

Here's the full description of the run:

For the first time ever, recorded on video! Something extraordinary happened at FastMikie's Fun House today. And I got it on video! Tony Sorto ("El Maestro") did in fact run a perfect rack at Honduran rotation pool. Honduran rotation is extremely challenging, and is the ONLY game they play in Honduras, the birthplace of Tony Sorto. It starts with the 1-ball on the foot spot, and the other 14 balls frozen on the rails in ascending order, as you see in the video. The game requires a wide range of skills including banks, combinations, as well as pinpoint accuracy and extraordinary touch. This is the first time a perfectly run rack has been recorded on video. Yes, it is that challenging! Try it!

1. The one ball is a natural spot shot, from behind the head string, but positioned so that the cue ball falls onto the inside edge of the 3-ball, bumping it just off the rail. This sets up a later bump on the 6. That's right, on this opening shot we are playing 6 balls ahead!

2. The 2-ball is easily enough pocketed but the flawlessly played strategic draw into a bump on the 6-ball is a key setup in the run.

3. The 3-ball is easy only because the play on the 1-ball popped it out. In this shot, Sorto gives a good bit of inside english to kill the travel, avoiding trouble with the side pocket and offering shape on the 4-ball.

4. The shot on the 4-ball is classic Sorto. Gobs of inside english, with a rail-first hit on the 4-ball cause the cue ball to go downtable under the 15 ball, and then back uptable in a most unexpected display of control and touch, delivering the cue ball to the 5-ball.

5. The 5-ball is relatively simple because of the spectacular position off the 4-ball, and because the 6-ball is waiting near the side pocket, thanks to the perfect shot on the 2-ball. It seems as if there is some Grand Plan going on here, and there is!

6. The 6-ball is so simple, but remember that this easy 6-ball was set up earlier by a shot on the 2-ball. Now it may become clearer that this game is quite a bit more than it appears.

7. Sorto is heard to speak for the second time in this video when he says "Not what I wanted, but I'll take what I get." And then he proceeds to lay the object ball cross corner with such confidence that he doesn't even watch the lazy slow roll to the hole. Sorto stays down through it all, with utter confidence that it will drop.

8. The 8-ball is a combination on the 9-ball, and he left himself perfect on it with his spectacular shot on the 7-ball. He sinks the combination and the cue ball follows to the head rail and back out for the bank on the 8-ball.

9. The 8-ball is banked almost nonchalantly, surprisingly gently, coming off the rail for natural shape on the 10-ball.

10. The 10-ball gets inside english, of course, but with strong follow-through and top english as well. I love this shot, one of the first he taught me. It's almost a diagonal, downward-twisting motion of the cue at delivery. The action it produces is poetry, coming around nicely, three cushions for the 11.

11. The 11-ball is a carbon copy of the 10-ball, but of course different, especially with regard to speed and touch, but Sorto handles it flawlessly.

12. The 12-ball is surprising in its simplicity, but it leaves you wondering because it is so far away from the 13, which now seems impossible. Could he be playing for the three ball combination?

13. This shot is absolutely stunning, on several levels. First of all, it is completely unexpected, and it happens so fast, with such incredible force, and with such deadly accuracy.... well, the senses are overloaded on this one.

14. Sorto knows he is closing in on a perfect rack. After such an adrenaline pumping shot on the 13, it would be easy to shoot the next shot too quickly, but Sorto shows the wisdom of his many years with this game, and and he is shown taking a bit of extra time on the bank shot into the side pocket. And he comes 3 rails for shape on the 15.

15. A shot like this is where many a choke would occur, but Sorto nails it with such an abundance of confidence that one could truly say that he achieved the limit with this shot.

And there you have it. A historic moment in the world of pool. Congratulations, Tony Sorto for showing us the world class shot-making skill that it takes to complete a perfect rack in Honduran rotation, and to do it on video, first time ever, so all the world can enjoy it and learn from it. Fantastic! Gracias, Maestro!

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Sorto's Masterpiece #1, Pure Pool

The previous version of this video was removed this morning from YouTube and is being replaced by this shorter version, without comments or other noises to distract from the absolute artistry of "El Maestro" Tony Sorto. Pure pool. Enjoy.

The previous version of this video had been viewd 11,666 times, enjoyed a perfect 5-star rating, and had some 55 comments, all ragingly positive. I expect this version to do better!

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The Rules

When I first started playing pool again, after 40 years of no pool, I had no idea how the rules had changed. I had no idea what a push-out was, and in general I was completely ignorant of virtually all of the finer points in the rules. When I joined the APA, I was lucky to have a team mate, Rob Clark, who did in fact know every nuance of every rule, and he made it clear to me that I couldn't win if I didn't know the rules.

Now, I'm not the kind of guy who takes kindly to being told to follow the rules. You give me a rule, and I want to break it. That's how I roll.

But here we are talking pool rules, and you can not get away with breaking the rules if you want to win. Well, maybe you can if the other guy doesn't know the rules either, but you can't count on that, so there's really only one choice: know the rules, all of them.

This is where the World Pool-Billiard Association comes in. They finally got together in 2006 and decided to put an end to the many different versions of rules that had confused everyone for so long. Now, can you imagine trying to standardize the rules for 8-ball, 9-ball, 10-ball and straight pool for the entire world? Big job, right? Now try to do it with a committee! It seemed like an effort that was doomed to failure, but they had one stroke of genius working for them. The meeting was held in Gary, Indiana! Now, if you have ever been to Gary, Indiana, you know that you want to get out of there as soon as possible, and that is my guess as to why the committee agreed so quickly and easily on these new rules.

The rules have been in existence since January 2008 and are available at this link: http://www.wpa-pool.com/index.asp?content=rules but trying to read them could easily put you into a coma. What would be better is a DVD explaining the rules, and especially if they were helped along by a pretty, smiling face in the person of Michaela Tabb, the world's leading pool referee.

I have just had the pleasure of playing the two DVD set and, in a word, they are excellent. Every rule, explained in detail, and some of the trickier ones are illustrated on the table by Andreas Huber, the German national pool coach.

This is a worthwhile investment if you are a serious player. The production values are excellent. The content is priceless.

You can get your set at PlayPoolLikeAPro or at Amazon.com only 24.95 each.

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Second win in a week

This time, instead of winning a pool tournament, I won a pool painting, on eBay.

Check it out, a real oil on canvas painting by local artist/pool fanatic Tina Hou. And because Tina is local, she has promised to deliver it personally and we get to play some pool. Hopefully, Tina will help me select the best place to hang it...

I will be proud to display this on the wall of my home pool room!

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FastMikie Wins Again (unexpectedly)

The storms in SoCal have been raging for several days, and today was supposed to be the worst of it, in effect the worst storm of the decade (this new decade is only 3 weeks old). So I thought it would be interesting to get out of the Fun House and go shoot some pool, especially since today was the Big Quarterly Tournament in Encinitas (8-ball). I wasn't expecting much because I haven't practiced at all for a year, and no serious competition either.

Well, I guess I got lucky, because I was the last man standing. While I played pretty good overall, I missed some positions, and then got out of trouble with some good safety play. Also, I played the percentages a lot, taking only high-probability shots or playing safe. Another thing that helped was my new conditioning program (treadmill, nutrition, sleep, etc.) which seemed to keep my energy level up for the duration.

"I love this game!"

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For Love of The Game

It is rare to find a painting which evokes the simplicity and elegance of the game in such a pleasurable way as this one by artist Tina Hou, a dedicated player on the San Diego APA scene.

An original work, oil on canvas, signed and framed, is available now on eBay at this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170434814406 and is listed with a very reasonable opening bid and seems destined to increase in value while providing pride of ownership and attesting to your good judgment and excellent taste in the finer things in life.

Wouldn't this look great on your wall?

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PoolSynergy, January 2010, Guest Writer Rolando Aravena

This article is the 3rd in a series of posts written in coordination with other pool bloggers entitled "PoolSynergy" .

To see others, go to: http://www.billiardcoach.com/home/2010/01/15/poolsynergy-volume-iii

This month's PoolSynergy article was written by Rolando Aravena, house pro at Strokers II in Tampa, Florida. His views in this article are right on target with my own, and I am also a big fan of the books he mentions. Thank you, Rolando!


As a means to the end, pool, carom and snooker, with all their variations, can be vehicles to achieve inner perfection. Unfortunately modern man externalizes his world in order to achieve recognition and greatness. It is a way to see progress whoever is watching.


In the early days, I knew something was not right with me and my game. I could practice and play well but not play well in a match. Why I wondered was the reason? After a couple of years I knew I needed help. So I decided to look for material on the mental aspects of sports. With a needle and thread I started to go through books and subliminal audio tapes. The pieces were coming together with clarity. The mental process, quiet eye, nutrition, fitness, desire, observation, deductive reasoning and much more were the pieces that were becoming the fabric of my tapestry.


Then my search came upon, “Zen and The Art of Archery” and “The Inner Game of Tennis”. I took it all to heart and playing with a Zen like attitude. I came to understand that life is as much an inner journey as well as an outward one. For that matter all the cue games were ways I could use to achieve My Way.

Enter Kyudo – The Way of The Bow.

see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA2EnemzBpk

(The Empty Mind - Kyudo or Japanese Archery).

The 8 stages are known as Hasetsu. All stages are performed with seamless integration. It is all geared towards one goal – perfection through action. Bushakei is the shooting style of the foot soldier.

1. Ashibumi – footing or stepping into the shot.
2. Dozukuri – correcting the posture and alignment.
3. Yugamae – readying the bow.
1. Torikake – gripping the bow (your backhand).
2. Tenouchio – setting your hand on the bow grip (bridge hand).
3. Monomi – viewing the target. It is not an aiming technique but a method of sending one's spirit to the target before shooting. From this point on, do not blink or look away from the target.
4. Uchiokoshi – raising the bow (the cue is poised to facilitate falling down on the cue ball).
5. Hikiwake – drawing the bow (stroking).
6. Kai – completing the draw (pause on the back swing) Energy builds up before the release.
7. Hanare – the release (after the buildup of Kai, the point of release).
8. Zanshin – continuation (staying down after the shot is taken).
1. Yudaoshi – Lowering of the bow while still maintaining contact with the shot. Start getting up and moving on.

Since these games involve motor skills and judgment, we need to isolate the one to learn from the other. Try to be methodical, systematic and ritualized in everything you do prior to and including the stroking of the cue ball. This will build consistency. Please miss for errant aiming and delivery reasons but not because of faulty technique. The one thing you should have control of is Self. If you cannot control self, how can you consistently score that point?

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PoolSynergy topic for January

The topic for January is:
"some activity, training, or experience outside of the world of billiards and how that could be applied to help a person's pool game".


The deadline for completion is January 13 for a post date of January 15, at 7am Pacific time.


Your thoughts?

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Winning

Only a man who knows 

what it is like to be defeated 

can reach down to the bottom of his soul and 

come up with the extra ounce of power it takes 

to win when the match is even.


Muhammad Ali

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