A Journey Into Billiards

I could've sworn I posted this once, but I can't find it in the archives and I don't really care. Here's a short video that starts off with a road story - then the trailer for Power One Pocket - then a sequence of shots from a match that is just UN-REAL! The whole video is only like 6 minutes long - and well worth it. Enjoy!

This is, what I'm assuming, an unedited sneak peek/leak preview of one of the shots from the upcoming Power One Pocket, featuring Scott Frost.

It's unlikely that anyone would shoot this for money, however, it's one hell of a shot to show off with and maybe bet on, if you're very... very familiar with the table. 5-rail bank with 3-rail shapes!

It's finally happening!  I will buy the PPV then the DVD when it's released.  These 2 powerhouses of pool are matching up for a race to 100 in 10-Ball.  Each player puts up $10,000 and winner takes home the pot.  It's being spread over three days and will be held in mid-October in New York.  For all the details, visit The Action Report.

Last Friday, I hit up what will be my nice and quiet pool hall for practice.  What makes it so nice for practice? Check this out:

As you can see, it's empty, quiet and has decent tables.  As such, I worked on a few things, but mainly I really wanted to work on a few shots; I know them, but I wanted to make them nearly instinctual.  I set up the cueball dead center table and placed an object ball 1 ball width off the rail at the 2nd diamond on the long rail. I shot it with no english [center-ball] until I made it 10 times in a row. Then I shot it until I made it 10 times in a row with high+inside, then 10 times with low-outside. Then I mirror-imaged the layout and did it all over again. I did the same exercise with 3 shots I miss more often than I ever should. It took about 3 hours with breaks for snacks and smokes etc. It felt really good to be practicing, for real, almost like in a hardcore "practice zone".

I'm going back tonight, once I decide what I want to work on. I have the IPAT book, but I'm not sure if I want to work on 9-ball play, or just particular shot-making. I guess it will depend on how I feel later. However I feel, it'll be good to get some more practice time.

Last night, I played Josh again (see this post for the results of that), but this time instead of playing an all-around, we only played One Pocket only. Got started around 9:30pm, finished up around 3:30am. I played pretty well, and I'm very happy about the night overall. I made a few mistakes, but those were far less costly than the last time. I made most of the shots I sent to my hole and I played pretty conservatively. I won the first 2 sets, and we doubled the bet on the 3rd. I knew it would be tough to win a 3rd game, as he was getting stronger as the night went on, but I figured the worst that can happen is I break even - and that's almost like a win when it comes to gambling, in my mind.

You can catch all the action in these three videos: