You Want a Piece of Me?

Think you can win?

1. Click Here to Check My Calendar

2. Choose day/time.

3. Then e-mail me!

I need some serious competition.
I'm spending too much time in my hammock!

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New Predator 314

The new Predator 314 #2 series shafts are shipping now.
Just ordered mine from Seybert's.
Supposed to be even less deflection, better feel.
Experiment: 30" shaft (one inch longer)

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Chess and Billiards

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Chess and billiards are two of my favorite games.

New furniture delivered to the Fun House this week
significantly upgrades these facilities.
The table is the "Del Mar" model by Darafeev,
and has an inlaid chess board in the surface.
The chairs swivel, of course, and are ideal for
my opponents in billiards, who must endure long
periods of waiting for their turn, while
I run rack after rack after rack...
(it's a fantasy I have).

The new chairs, with arms and backs,
replace the armless, backless stools which
were quite uncivilized for the spectators.

Furniture purchased from Billiards and Barstools
in San Marcos, who also supplied the
Brunswick Gold Crown IV pool table
which I had recovered and releveled when they
deliviered the furniture.
They are a first class company to deal with.
Good people.

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Sweet New Simonis 860, and victory

Yesterday afternoon the Gold Crown IV table
was recoverd in new Simonis 860 cloth,
and releveled to be P E R F E C T.
How sweet it is!
I just love playing on new cloth.
Today I had a chance to really get into it
with a challenge match with the guy who
knocked me out of a tournament two years ago.

We played the Masters format,
both 8 and 9 ball, in a race to 7.
I won the first set 7-3, and was doing great
after winning the first 5 games in the second set.
I guess I lost focus because he came roaring back
to win the next 6 games in a row to get on the hill.

But I "stayed in the game" and ran the next two
racks of 8 ball to eke out the win for two sets to zip.
Dave is a serious competitor.
That second set could have gone either way.

I think the reason I won is because
I was focused on El Maestro's advice:

Because wining and losing is so important to you
try not to look at these matches
as a win/lose situation
as this adds unnecessary pressure on you.
Use them to test yourself to see if you can
approach every shot
with the same importance and intensity,
finding a comfortable rhythm and
maintaining a constant positive feedback
throughout the whole match.
Once you master this,
you will have conquered your demons.

He is truly a wise man.
I am fortunate to be his student.

Gracias, El Maestro!

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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Progress is not linear.
It comes in fits and starts.
Two steps forward, one step back...

Over the past couple of weeks,
my challenge matches have been mostly victorious.
Occasionally, I have a "learning experience".

It is said that we
learn more from our setbacks
than we do from our successes.

I try to learn from all experiences,
every shot,
every game,
every match,
every opponent,
every day.

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Major table improvements

Last week it all came together...
I have been planning
major improvements for some time.

For starters, I have wanted to
reduce the clanging noises
created by the metal hangars
for the bridges and rack.
What a racket they make!

So I removed the bridge hangars entirely.
And store the bridges on the wall.
What a relief!

The rack hangar
was a more interesting challenge.
First of all, I needed a way to store
both the wood rack, and the Sardo rack,
and to keep noise to a minimum.
This was accomplished with a custom
Fast Mikie design which works very well.
See photo below.


(click to BIGGIFY)

The inside of the wood rack area
is lined with rubber,
which deadens all sound.
The brackets for the Sardo rack
are also lined with rubber.
The entire unit is attached using existing holes
that were for the old metal rack hanger.
This way the table remains completely unmodified
and can be fully restored to original.

Now, for the piece d'resistance!
My ever-growing library of pool books & DVDs
was stored under the pool table, on the floor,
but it was constantly getting disorganized,
and was a bear to vacuum around the mess.
So my solution was to design another
Fast Mikie exclusive.


(click to BIGGIFY)

These shelves are completely detatched
from the pool table itself,
and hang suspended from the major
cross-beams on the Gold Crown IV.
There are no screws or nails anywhere.
Nothing has been done to defile the table.
Notice that pool racks are used as shelf supports!
One shelf on each side gives perfect balance.

The shelf shown holds my instructional books.
The shelf on the other side holds
fiction, biographies, DVDs, other trophies, etc.

All the woodwork was done by friend Walter Lilly.
Let me know if you want to contact him...

The trophies shown include:
Right side:
APA 8 and 9-ball team Division 1st.
Left side:
2004 California US Amateur championships (undefeated)
2005 APA Masters Division Triple Play MVP (undefeated)

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Victory has a sweet and lingering aftertaste

Victory has a sweet and lingering aftertaste.

Sleep is peaceful
after a battle well fought and won.
And the morning after brings
increased strength and confidence.

I could get addicted to this...

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The Longest Game

Today was a challenge match
in preparation for the US Amateurs.
The format is both 8-ball and 9-ball.
Winner of the lag calls the game,
or gets to break first.
I lost the lag, he chose the break.
I chose 8-ball.

That first game of 8-ball was a killer.
We played more consecutive safeties
than I can remember ever playing.
El Maestro was watching,
and he said it was 27 safeties,
and he could be right.
It felt like a hundred.

My head was completely gone,
because on one safety,
I hit the 8-ball first,
INTENTIONALLY!
Of course, that's about the stupidest
thing I could do,
because it gives up ball-in-hand.

I don't even remember who won that game.
I was just happy it finally ended.

I did go on to win the match 7-3.
But I need a lot more practice!

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New Balls

Brunswick Centennial vs. Aramith Super Pro

With nothing better to do on a Sunday,
I wandered into my local billiard supply store
(Billiards and Barstools)
and bought myself a new set of balls.

I had been using the Aramith Super Pro balls,
and the "measles" cue ball
for the last couple of years.
Needless to say, they have been
getting pretty banged up and grungy
and were way overdue for a serious cleaning.
But even a day without my balls
would leave me feeling like something
was missing...

And, I've been wondering if
there is any difference
between the Aramith and Brunswick product.

So, before I started playing with
my new Brunswick balls,
I completely vacuumed the table,
and cleaned it with Quick-Clean.

Then I got down to weighing each ball
and found that eight balls weigh 169 grams each
seven balls weigh 168 grams each
and one ball was 167 grams.
Not exactly the kind of quality control
I would have expected!

Next, I got down to some shooting.
The Brunswick balls seemed heavier,
more sluggish than the Aramiths,
but that could just be an illusion.
"Feelings" are not very scientific.
Maybe I was just looking for a difference.
Was it the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle?
Who knows!
And isn't that what the Principle is all about?

What I do know is that
the Centennials have richer colors,
especially the 7-ball...
but, again, that's a personal opinion
and nothing scientific.

Something I did notice that was interesting:
The numbers on the Brunswicks stripes are in the white
but the numbers on the Aramith stripes are in the color.

On to the micrometer test...
The Brunswicks seem a smidge fatter.
A "smidge" is not exactly measurable
using my micrometer,
but it's significant,
especially considering that I'm
measuring dirty Aramiths.
I'll have to redo this test
after I get the Aramiths cleaned.

More later...

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Allison Fisher bows to El Maestro!

In the pro-am challenge matches
the night before the Viejas WPBA tournament,
Tony Sorto went up against Allison Fisher,
the undisputed #1 woman professional
pool player in the world...
and beat her like a red-headed stepchild.
(skunked her 2-zip)

Actually, Allison was more of a spectator
than a competitor.
But, truth be told,
Allison seemed to be mesmerized
(one might even say smitten)
by El Maestro's talents on the table.

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Renewed Dedication

Circumstances have conspired
to keep me away from the pool table
for more than a week.

Today I played for seven hours...

Over the past two years of part-time focus
I have achieved a winning record
against strong competition.

And I know I can go so much deeper!

I have superior knowledge, creativity, strategy.
I continue to learn and practice and improve.
And, I have a Goal.

I have FIVE MONTHS to prepare for the test.
What will I do to achieve my goal?
What price will I pay,
with no Guarantee of Reward?
What number of hours will I work?
What other challenges will I endure?
How bad do I want it?

I can not know what will happen.
But I know what I have done in the past.
I know what I can do.
I have very good judgment.

In the past I have achieved other great Goals.
Some of them requiring exceptional focus,
and creativity, sense of touch, skill, practice,
high intelligence, judgment...

So, the signs are favorable.
Victory is possible.

I will enjoy that moment!

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2006 US Amateur Championships

Skill - Determination - Endurance - Prestige

Today I completed my application to compete
in the 2006 US Amateur Championships.

In 2004, I won at the state level (CA),
(click here to read that story)
and competed in the nationals,
but fell short.
In 2005, another setback.

These learning experiences
have made me a better competitor.

There is no money involved,
only a trophy which is butt-ugly,
and a jacket, which they do not show,
and a free ticket to compete in a 2007 Pro event.
Guess which one I'm going for!

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In search of perfection...

In the never ending pursuit of perfection, last night I went back to basics:Oxygen.Here's how the logic works:Pool is 90% mental (and the other half is all in your head)
;o)And your mind lives on oxygen(it requires 90% more oxygen than other organs)Thereforethe critical path of pool perfectionmust optimize oxygen delivery to the brain.And so you have it,the reason why I tried Oxiathe portable, personal oxygen delivery system.This product was brought to my attentionby a good friend and business partnerwho lives in Australia.I heard about it a couple of months agobut it has taken a while to get hold of a sample.I figured I'd try it in the presence of othersso they would rush me of the hospitalif my brain exploded(I hate when that happens).

Heck, I was concerned thatmaybe the oxygen bottle might explode!

Nothing exploded.I opened it,pushed a button,and breathed through my mouth.No "rush" was sensed,and in fact it seemed like an irrelevant event,so much so thatI was not curious to do more.One, maybe two quick breaths.Unremarkable.

I had been shooting pool before and afterthose insignificant breaths.I won the first race to 5 in 8-ball.But it was not my opponent's best game.

Next we played straight pool, which he prefers. I won the first match to 100 pointsby more than 50 balls,which is good, for me.

It was sometime during that game to 100that I inhaled Oxia for the first time.I didn't notice anything different,but my opponent,who by that time was looking for any excuse,did remark that perhaps that oxygenwas having a beneficial effect to my game. I think his exact remark was"You're shooting good, maybe it's the oxygen."

I continued shooting good thru the end.And then we shot another game to 100.This time I lost by 4 balls,and there is no question in my mind why.In the beginning of the second gameI started to yawn, a lot.I was feeling tiredand started to slouch.I was not feeling as alert.

Would another shot of oxygenat that first yawnhave changed the outcome?Did I get tired because of a sort of chocolate high, then crash,sort of effect?

Obviously more experimentation is needed.However, be warned...If it does what I think it can do,it will be worth every penny.

As I mentioned,Oxia is the product of my Australia friendsso if you want to experiment on your owntell them "Fast Mikie sent me",and maybe,if there's enough interestwe can get them to stock somehere in San Diego.(Mine was shipped in from Las Vegas).

Website: www.oxia.com1-800-OXIA-USA

Remember, tell 'em Fast Mikie sent you!