cristina's blog

Couples Therapy

2012-01-13T02:37:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Marco and I played in a scotch doubles event in a small city about 45 minutes outside of Zurich. As I have mentioned before, the players here have organized private clubs where most competitions are held and each one has their own little community of players. This event was in Lucerne at a club called Billard Club National Littau which has around 50 members with 7 9" tables, one snooker table, kitchen, private smoking lounge, cue storage areas and a nice bar at the entrance.

The more I play in new events around this region the more I learn about the pool culture. Before coming to Europe, I had a subconscious idea in my head of what a "normal" path for pool knowledge/development looked like but every day here challenges that idea. Players approach the game in such a different manner here that it's hard to tell what concepts a player has learned and what they have not. For instance, in the U.S. you know the "bar players" that think it's not fair play to play defensive shots? Well, I have not seen that exist even in beginners here. Strategy is considered a norm here. This is a very basic example but these differences in development really came to light at this scotch tournament and particularly in the women I see here.

I have always thought that you can kind of tell how well a player shoots just by watching one or two shots and seeing their stroke, stance, etc. What I have learned here is that since most players have a great sense for correct mechanics, that immediate determination is not as easy to do. I rarely see a female player that makes what I think are normal novice mistakes like holding the cue too far back, bridging too short, standing in an unbalanced manner. Instead, the women here are quite good shot makers and have a good grasp for the natural paths of the cue ball. They play more games (straight pool and snooker) so their experience is more well rounded. However, they seem to be a bit timid with manipulating the path of the cue ball. They play shape by adjusting their speed or by using a bit of draw but I rarely see them put any real english on the ball, or attempt any big stroke shots.

At first I thought this might be because there is a definite shortage in the number of women that play but after playing in this tournament I wonder if there is another factor. The male ego is a very funny thing and I am not generalizing for all men but it was a very big factor in a tournament like this. It always baffles me why guys insist on trying to crush the ball when we are using a magic rack! Everyone in the pool world knows that the wing ball goes in the corner every time with a magic rack so why bother risking the cue ball getting kicked in or being unsure of how far up table the one ball will go if it't not necessary?

This was our strategy and it worked great until we were on a table with a REALLY old magic rack that didn't lay right anymore. Because the first shot of the rack is arguably the most important shot and the shot that will either start us out in line for the rest of the rack or it will be the shot to hand over control to the other team, we always had Marco taking that first shot. He is the stronger player and I think that is always the best strategy in a scotch team. I did a soft break, making the wing ball every time and hitting it just hard enough to bring the 1ball to sit in front of the side pocket. Even though this was an obvious strategy to others and it was winning us game after game, I couldn't believe that the other guys still insisted on making fun of Marco because "the woman is doing the breaking." Guys really think their role is for power.

So this got me thinking when we got to later rounds against stronger players. The Male-female dynamic was so interesting, and at some points irritating for me to see. This tournament allowed all teams to talk to each other throughout the entire game and some teams took that to an extreme. During one of our matches, our opponents discussed every single shot. The male player was a top player in Switzerland but the female player was also a quite accomplished player in her own right yet when she player with him, not only did he have something to say about EVERY shot, SHE needed his opinion on every shot! In her own matches playing against other women she is decisive, confident and wins quite a few tournaments but suddenly when playing with a top male player, she is unsure of how to execute the simplest of shots. So I wonder if perhaps the fact that the women are less willing to experiment with a lot of english or try new shots has anything to do with the gender roles I see in men and women's pool here.

To encourage more women to play and to help develop the skills of the women that are already playing, one of the girls that runs our private club and I will be doing a monthly ladies night at our club. I'm hoping it will become a regular thing and we can get a good turn out.

A Different Kind of System

2011-12-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

The more I play pool here and experience new tournaments the more I see the differences in the pool culture and the way the entire system is set up. For starters, players PAY to play here, instead of trying to make a living at pool. And the federation actually supports the players and provides a service worth paying for. All players wishing to compete for the Swiss Championships must first buy a license to earn points towards their national ranking. I believe for the women this is about 100-150 Swiss Francs ($110-$165). Every tournament, big and small must be registered with the federation and pay a sanctioning fee. From national qualifiers to weekly tournaments at the local bar, they all pay fees to the federation and they all earn points. The federation runs a nice website (billard-net.ch)that lists all tournaments happening anywhere in the country and every player has a login so they can sign up online, find out all tournament information check their overal rankings. Tournament Directors can manage their event online and even post live scoring during the event. Players wishing to compete for the Swiss Championships must play in qualifiers for each discipline, qualifiers that cost a nominal fee to compete in but have no prize money. The same is true for those that qualify for the championships, no prize money. They just play for the honor of the title. So what does the federation do with all of this money? Well besides running the website, sending support staff to the bigger tournaments to print score sheets and manage the events electronically, they also fund the trips for their top players to compete in international events. This includes things like the European Championships and the World Championships. When Marco represented Switzerland in the world championships, the federation not only paid his hotel and travel, they also gave him extra spending money for the trip. From what I can tell it's a good system. Of course since there are very few tournaments with prize funds this means that weekly tournaments are not a bonus salary for the top players (as it is many times in the states) but it certainly changes the type of people that are involved in the sport.

Here pool is viewed as a Sport, not just a game played in bars. Players actively try to improve their game by studying the game. The run drills, set up practice times and learn all they can. This week the private club that Marco and I play at sent an email survey to all of our members to coordinate practice schedules. Players were supposed to list what days and times they will be at the club to practice. But the funny part is that they were doing this to they can AVOID being there at the same time as other players, not so they can see when they can meet other players at the club. It's a funny concept to me because I get bored easily once I have been shooting alone for awhile. Every time I think about going to the club to practice I call up one of the other girls to see is she is up there or is any other players are there to shoot with. I guess that must seem funny to them.

I played in my first weekly tournament last week at a private club near by called Billard Club Dietikon and had a great time. Marco was nice enough to watch lil Marco on his only night off that week so I could get out and play a bit. Imagine a $20 entry tournament with no payout that fills up every week...would never happen in the states. To my surprise (I didn't know which game it was when I signed up) it was an 8-ball tournament and I was happy to see I can still kind of play that game. I started off a bit rough with a close match in the first round but played pretty well after that. I went undefeated and won the tournament and had a great time getting to know other players from our club and new people from the Dietikon club. It's funny for me because most people I meet always comment on how great it must be to have a guy that is so good at pool that can teach me. I just smile because Marco and I rarely play together. Lately when we have free time at the same time we don't "waste" it on pool but spend it enjoying family time...funny how much my perspective has changed since we had our son. It's pretty cool :)

Back in Action

2011-11-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I played in my first big tournament in Zurich. Last year I attended the Gstaad Swiss Open so this wasn't my first tournament in Switzerland but the Color of Money 9-Ball Tournament was still an interesting experience.

There are a few differences that I have noticed about Swiss pool vs. American pool. The players here actually use practice time to, well, practice...I know that is a funny concept because most players I know in the U.S. just "shoot" when they have time on the table. The local private club near my house has "training" nights 2 days per week and when I attend, all the players are actually running drills and shooting alone, each on their own table. The mechanics of the average amateur player here is far better than what I see in the U.S. Most players there, even the more advanced ones, spend little time on their form and have adjusted to their bad habits, myself included. Most players here are very deliberate with their pre-shot routines and have a very mechanical approach to the game. I believe a lot of what they do is guided by the PAT system which is popular here.

While all of this is a refreshing thing to see, the negative to pool here is that there seems to be little interest in spectating. When leaving the private club the night before the tournament, I asked a fellow player if he weas going to watch the tournament. He looked at me like I was crazy like "why would I do that?" The first thing that flashed in my mind was a view of the bleachers that have to be brought in for the Texas Open each year to make room for all of the paying spectators. This brings me to the next point, pool tournaments are not big business for the pool halls.

In addition to not bringing in lots of extra spectators for the tournament, the format of the tournament did nothing to encourage business for the poolhall. It was a round robin format with timed rounds and short breaks in between rounds. I of course made another "American" mistake when I ordered a rum and coke half way thru the round robin stage to calm my nerves. Apparently drinking is prohibited during the tournament and is grounds for disqualification, as well as the use of any drugs.
I like this rule as it pertains to promoting pool as a "sport" rather than a game played in bars but it does little to help bring in revenue for the pool hall. The rounds ran on schedule with no waitresses tending to the match tables so also no revenue there. They took a one hour break for lunch (Everyone at one time) so naturally, most players were ready to get out of the poolhall for a bit and left for lunch rather than ordering food there.

The format of the tournament itself was very professional. All the tabulations were done electronically, score sheets were printed for each round and everything ran quickly. I liked the round robin format because it allowed all players to get their money's worth as everyone was guaranteed at least 7 matches. It was a 64 player tournament, 8 groups of 8 with the top 2 of each group advancing to the single elimination final 16 bracket. The only part I didn't like was that the round robin stage was based on total games won, no value on winning or losing your match. So you are better off losing 7-9 than winning 6-3. The rounds were race to 9 with a 45 minute time clock. I was impressed by how quickly most players played. There were no gimmicks and slow playing and all the "extra" sharking that goes on with some of the tournaments here where players have the slow playing down to an art.

Overall I was very happy with how I played. Since I moved I have practiced much more than I have in the past 2 years so this was my first real tournament after I have been able to put a little time in on the table. Since it had been sooo long since I really felt like I was playing well I had no idea what to expect about my performance. I always feel like I play worse in men's events so I also had low expectations. Being one of 2 girls in the 64 player field, I'm sure the guys in my group were happy to see me there. My boyfriend is a former Swiss Champion and still one of the top players in the country. Unfortunately for his group, the other top ranked player, Dimitri Jungo, was also in their group so they were drawing dead from the first rack. Marco and Dimitri had nearly perfect scores coming out of the round robin stage.

My first match I was happy to find that my opponent spoke perfect english so it was easy to ask him questions about the format, etc. To my surprise I broke and ran my first rack and I think that set the tone for the rest of that match. I won my next few matches with ease but still felt a bit uncomfortable, like I could be playing better but just didn't have a "polished" game yet. Then I saw my next match was against the leading player in our group who was handing out 9-0 and 9-1 losses all day. This was when I illegally ordered the rum and coke (to calm my nerves) before I was immediately warned by every player around me that I wasn't supposed to do that. I also came out with a good first rack played almost flawless. We traded break and runs most of the match until I accidentally touched a ball while bridging over it at 3-3 which could have been disaterous for me. He ran out that rack and B&R the next so I was suddenly down 3-5. I beared down though and took advantage of all of my chances at the table and came out with a 7-5 win. I was undefeated going into my last round of the round robin stages but I had not won enough games to have a shot at advancing. The top 2 guys in my group were consistently reaching 8-9 wins (except when they played me) while I was averaging 6-7 so I had no shot. If I won the last match 9-0 I would tie with the 2nd ranked player in my group. But I was a little wound up about the whole process and lost the very first game so I mentally had given up after that point.

All in all I was happy with my play and enjoyed the format. It certainly helps everyone get their playing time and the single elimination for the final 16 made for some very exciting matches.

Getting this tournament under my belt has given me the itch to play again so I'm ready for the 2012 events to start. Unfortunately, the Women's 10-Ball Italy Open is the same weekend as the Paris Open which is taking place at a pool hall that I have always wanted to visit. So naturally, we are going to Paris instead of Italy. Seeing the lack of women's pool in this area has also sparked my interest in running some events so we'll see if I can put something together next year.

My New Home

2011-10-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

My son and I just moved to Zurich, Switzerland about 2 weeks ago and we are finally starting to get settled in. My boyfriend, Marco, did a great job of getting our apartment all set-up with the exception of the main furniture pieces that I wanted help him pick out.

It's so beautiful here and the culture is so different in lots of very subtle ways, many of which you might miss if you aren't looking for them. It's a very safe and clean city, people are very trusting and many things operate on the honor system. For instance, at the main train station, there is a huge bike rack area where you see hundreds of bikes left each morning by the trains' passengers and I can count on one hand how many are chained up with a lock...the rest are just laid there assuming no one will mess with them. The curbs of their streets and sidewalks are granite and pre-school aged children usually walk to school alone with no adult supervision.

Perhaps my favorite thing so far is the amazing food and how different the food culture is here. It's funny to see the difference when I am checking out at the grocery store. I look around at all of the other customers and it's nothing like it is back home. Everyone is unloading only fresh items from their carts...vegetables, pasta, eggs, milk, bread made fresh daily, handmade pastires. You won't see one person with a frozen pizza box, pre-packaged dinners, or boxes of snacks. In fact, those things are hard to find at these stores. What they call a "chain" italian restaurant is more authentic than anything I've seen in the U.S with fresh ingredients and they prepare the entire meal in front of you. I can't wait to visit the neighboring countries and taste the real thing. For now, I am just enjoying the yummy cheeses, wines and fresh pasta.

I am loving the location of our apartment. We are just a few blocks from everything: the train station, the tram and bus stop, the Billiard Club, a nice mall, etc. There are also about 5 grocery stores within a block or 2 and a farmers market down the street 2 times a week. Zurich is also in a great location, just an hour from Austria, Germany and the Alps...so much to see!

Now that we are settled in, I am looking forward to experiencing the pool culture in my new country and will be sure to report on some of the interesting things. Marco and I have some fun things planned for the pool community here in this region of Europe so I am looking forward to getting things rolling with our plans...more info to come soon.

Unemployment

2011-08-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

My self-selected life of unemployment has been quite a roller coaster these first few weeks but I am looking forward to the holiday weekend. My mom was out of town for a bit helping my brother with his kids over the Summer but cut her trip short when she got sick. After many hospital visits and tests they have told us she is going to be fine, on the recovery end of it now. Between that and the long tedious process of immigration paperwork, I have been surprisingly busy for someone now working.

Between my due date and about a month ago (5 month chunk of time) I could count on one hand the number of times I picked up my cue. The Texas Open is always one of my favorite events of the year...minus the absence of a smoking ban in that county. It takes place right in my back yard so I love being able to play a good event, see all of my pool friends and get to sleep in my own bed every night of the event. With that in mind, I have made it a point to get out and practice over the past few weeks. Although I really feel like I have no frame of reference on my playing level right now, it's been so long since I was playing on a consistent basis, I am rather happy with how I'm playing. I hope I can play as well as I feel this weekend.

For anyone close to Texas I highly recommend coming out to this event to either play or just to watch. It's a great event, the poolhall stays open 24 hours throughout the weekend and it's always a full 128 field. Spots are almost gone so sign up soon!

Two Weeks Notice

2011-07-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

I officially turned in my letter of resignation at my job recently and I can't tell you how much peace it has brought me. I will soon be able to spend more time with my son and we will both be moving soon as well. The last few months have been tough for me. Half the time I am gone 10 hours a day and only see my little man for an hour or two each day and the other half of the time I'm traveling with work. Little Marco is no stranger to living the hotel life lately so I'll be so happy to just spend some time at home with him and watch him develop.

I had never been one of those women that got ga ga over babies but now that I have mine I totally get it. It's crazy how in an instant this little thing becomes more important to you than anything else you've ever experienced. I had no idea how rewarding being a mom would be. Nothing else seems as important as it used to be.

Between my busy work travel schedule and taking care of Marco I have had little time for anything else. I have only played pool once since the Ultimate 10-Ball in Dallas in April and recently resigned from the WPBA board. I still think there is a great amount of potential with the tour but I just didn't believe in the direction we were going and didn't have the time and energy to put towards the changes I would have liked to see. I miss seeing all the girls so I hope I can make it back to an event sometime soon but we'll see.

Once I am no longer working I hope to be able to write, practice, and work out more. I can't wait!

A New Do

2011-06-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Since I entered motherhood I have very little free time...which pretty much means none. That being said, I haven't done anything to maintain my haircut or color in a long time so my hair has grown quite long. As much as I LOVE the 100+ degree heat during the beautiful Texas Summers, I just can't manage the long hair any longer so I decided to chop it all off...well not all of it but a lot of it.

I'm completely impulsive and extremely indecisive at the same time so I need some help deciding on which hair cut to get. The rest of my hair will be donated to Locks of Love but in the meantime, let me know which hair do you think would suit me best. These are the ones I like so far.

My Analysis of the Association of Billiard Professionals

2011-06-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

First of all, I’d like to say that it’s nice to see the men trying to put something together. They have continued to complain about the state of their industry but have continued to show up to events that don’t pay out and are subpar in quality. So I’m happy they are at least seemingly trying to take a stand. However, I hope it’s about more than just “taking a stand.”

The professional men’s pool industry has been a difficult thing recently. Without having a real tour that is run by one organization, they are subject to attending events that are run by a bunch of independent promoters and there has been no organization protecting them. There is no incentive for the promoters to make the tournaments lucrative for the players, they have to make it JUST good enough for the players to attend, and the standard the players will accept gets lower and lower every day. Thus, the men are traveling all over the world chasing after small prize funds. That’s not to say that the same is not happening for the women but that is for completely different reasons and that’s a discussion for another time, maybe a blog entry soon.

That being said, I really hope this works out for the men. I hope, for their sake though, that they bring their focus beyond just simply “getting paid on time” and really do something with this organization. But let’s talk about guaranteeing the money first. They have been in an unfortunate situation where none of the organizations governing their sport will step up and protect them. The BCA nor the WPA guarantees prize money. In fact, before attending an event overseas, the WPA will sometimes send out a disclaimer form (this is not hearsay because I have received one for a women’s event I was invited to attend) that warns the players that they are at no fault if the promoter does not pay. How do you collect a 5% fee from the players prize money and not do something more to guarantee the payout? But again, that’s a discussion for another time…let’s focus on the ABP. The players are put in the situation where these two organizations sanction and assign ranking points to events that have a track record for either not paying or paying very late. So the players then have to make the choice to miss out on ranking points, or “play at your own risk”. Some players depend on these ranking points (for instance the world ranking events) to keep their status within their own federation (European players). The same is true for players hoping to play in the Mosconi Cup. For all these reasons, I hope they do find a streamlined way to guarantee prize money for the players.

But I hope that is not the limit to all of what they do. In my opinion, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. I mean that both about the new players organization (11 board members is a lot) and there are too many governing organizations in pool that are not working together so it will be a tough task for the ABP to get to a common ground with all of those organizations. Let’s also look at the composition of the board of directors…for all practical purposes, they are all American players. The two European players on the board rarely ever make an appearance at the Euro Tour events and there is no Asian representation. I know all of the members on the board and each one is a great person and I’m sure they all have great intentions. But none of them are subject to the politics involved with those other continents. The Euro players have a great loyalty to the Euro Tour and how will they address conflicting issues with the 3 different promoters in the Philippines? It would be important for them to have insiders from those regions to really understand the implications of what some of their decisions might be.

Above all, the ABP will need to think outside of the box. Time and time again the men have tried to put together a players organization and within a year or two it’s gone. They really need to go beyond simply guaranteeing prize money and do something to take their sport to the next level. Uniting all of the players will really only take them so far. They need to spend some time to brand themselves and their players, and to build some value. Many players fall into the mentality that they should earn a certain amount because of how well they play or that a promoter owes them this or that because of who they are. But in reality, they need to start thinking of themselves as a commodity, and in doing so, they need to come up with ways to quantify their value, both as individuals and as an entire organization. I do wish them well and hope that they can do something meaningful with this. However, sometimes it’s easier to build an entire new product rather than trying to regulate and fix the existing one.

Gstaad Swiss Open

2010-10-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Switzerland is a BEAUTIFUL country. I love traveling to just about anywhere in Europe because there is such a great level of diversity from one country to another and the mix of cultures is incredible. One of my best friend's (Kirstie, who is not a pool player nor does she enjoy anything about pool) decided to join me on my trip to visit Marco. Marco Tschudi is one of the top ranked Swiss pro's and our trip happened to fall on the same week as the Swiss Open, which Marco was already committed to playing. So Kirstie was obligated to enduring a pool tournament after all :)

We flew into Zurich and spent a few days doing the typical touristy things. We attended a festival that had great food and attractions, explored the city and visited Marco's family. Being the American tourists that we are, we of course had to hit up one of the Swiss Chocolate factories.

The Swiss Open took place in a pretty little mountain town called Gstaad that was located in the Swiss Alps. Although we had just a 2 hour drive from Zurich, we decided to stop in another cute town on the way called Berne. Then we were off to Gstaad to check out the venue at the players meeting.

Gstaad was a small little town, everything was walkable distance and the weather was beautiful during our visit. We checked out the town square and some of the ski lifts nearby but most of our time was, of course, spent on the tournament. Driving into the town Marco had no directions written down as to where this venue was supposed to be so we were at first aprehensive about where to go. But we quickyl saw that there were signs everywhere pointing to the tournament location...and to the BAR at the tournament venue :)

Tournaments in Europe have such a different feel from the events in the U.S. The few that I have gone to are all about the experience. The location of these tournaments have been amazing. One was on the tiny island of Malta off the coast of Italy, another was in a sea side tourist town in Spain
and this one was a popular vacation/ski destination in the alps. Every person I met in Gstaad was very friendly (well all except the french bartender, she was alittle impatient with our lack of German understanding) and the promoters were great. Our hotel was just a few blocks away and the town had signs directing you to everything we might need to go to.

The venue had a great set-up but I have to say this location was a bit too far from a major city to really attract any fans. Even at the finals (which were televised on Swiss TV) the room only had tournament players and their travel companions in attendance. I don't know if this had to do with the rural nature of the location or the lack of effective advertising on the part of the promoters. Either way, it was run very professionally with an interesting format. Players were organized into groups of 16 player double elimination brackets. The final 4 of each bracket would move on to the final bracket. On day two, players had a chance to buy back into other 16 player brackets and get a second shot at qualifying for that final bracket. My only complaint about that format is that I am not confident that the final bracket was seeded in any particular manner so some of the top players in attendance met in very early rounds. Neils Feijen was eliminated early as well as Ralph Souquet.

Europe always throws me off of my usually daily schedule and the staples of my diet are never available :) I have come to rely on the healthy fruit and oatmeal snacks at Starbucks when I'm on the road but the tiny shots of coffee in Euopre just don't measure up.

I didn't play very well but Marco did great and ended up in 3rd place, knocking out players like Ralph and Roman Hybler along the way. He ultimately ran out of steam as he was running on zero food and about 10 red bulls all day...haha. Since Kirstie has a zero tolernace for pool, we spent most of the tournament time in the bar area of the venue where we met all the fun guys from the Gstaad Billiard Club who were running the bar.

The Swiss Open was a fun event but I have to say that the caliber of the tournament was better with the last Predator event I attended so I hope they continue to hold some stops internationally. Thank you to the tournament promoters for putting together a great event and for their hospitality to us as visiting players. I hope to retun to the event if they hold it again next year.

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had a lot of time to spend in Austin on the weekends and I am LOVING IT! Austin in the Summer has so many great things to do so for Father's Day I decided to take my dad to play golf at one of my favorite nearby course, Hyatt Lost Pines. One of my good friends from high school and college was visiting Austin for the weekend so we brought him along as well.

The weather was amazing so even though I played the worst game of golf I have played in a long time, I still very much enjoyed spending quality time with my dad and a good friend that I hadn't had much time with lately.

Father's Day also happened to fall on my Grandmother's 79th birthday so we invited the entire family over for lunch and cake to celebrate both occassions.

It was nice to have the family time and enjoy Austin. I'm traveling for work and/or pool just about every week for the rest of the Summer but will be trying to enjoy all the beauty of Austin as much as possible. I'll post my pictures from my weekend on the lake soon.

The Beautiful ATX

2010-06-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Many might think I'm crazy for this but the Spring and Summer are my favorites times to be in Austin. Sure we get 110+ degree heat in the summer but I love the sun and all the outdoor fun our city has to offer.

I'm also a total foodie and as such, am very excited about the many new, fun restaurants that have popped up around Austin, particularly in the downtown area and the Domain. Since returning from Vegas I have been on happy hour overload...not necessarily for the drinks but more for the fun food and good company. Downtown Austin is the perfect setting for a relaxing meal on the patio near the lake.

Some of my personal favorites in the downtown area, just walking distance from my work are Cru, The Belmont (great live music and fun 2 stories of patio space), La Condessa (Who doesn't love flights of Tequila?), The lobby bar at the Hyatt, The terrace at the Stephen F. Austin hotel (awesome Truffle mac-n-cheese), and now Lamperts. Connie and I had a trip to Lamperts this week. While it is actually a bar-b-que place, the cheese board made me feel like I was back at the markets in Spain.

Today was the beginning on a 3 and a half month period of travel. Between work and pool (and far more work trips than pool ones) I am gone at least 1-5 days per week until mid September. My summer will consist of conferences and receptions so you can surely bet that I will be playing at the lake or relaxing at one of my favorite food places on the weekends :)

Finally Recovering :)

2010-06-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Vegas has been a frequent destination for the past few years and I have to say, it's kind of growing on me. The first few days I am there I always have this "ugh! Vegas again?" type of feeling. But this time, towards the end of my trip, I was feeling a bit nostalgic about the entire city and the Riviera in particular.

Before heading out to Vegas I of course had a TON of work to get done and tried to make some time for happy hours with the girls.

The first few days in Vegas were brutal. I ate something bad at the Chinese place at the Riv and only got about an hour or 2 of sleep that night with no real rest until a few days into the trip. I spent most of my time working at the Predator Booth or sweating matches at Pool Sharks.

A few shout outs to all my friends who did well in Vegas: Congrats to Borana who defeated OMGWTF in their $2000 challenge match. Gail Glazebrooke for winning the Women's Open Singles, I remember meeting her out in Vegas 2 years ago when we had a crazy hill-hill match against each other. One of my former Scotch partners, James Davis Jr took 3rd (I think) in the Masters Singles. Shane's Aunt, Gari Jo, won the women's masters singles. The Austin boys took 3rd in the Open Teams. And of course a Texas team (the dallas girls) won the Women's Open team event. I'm sure there are many more I've missed but all in all, the Texas Players (okay not everyone I listed is from Texas) had a great showing in Vegas this year.

While I am not much for gambling, I did enjoy the night life and some great food while in Vegas. We discovered an awesome new mexican place at the Fashion Show Mall called Segundo. I loved it so much I went back 2 nights in a row! The last night in Vegas was a long crazy one that started at what I am told is a locals spot called Cadillac Ranch where they had a mechanical bull!

We followed that up with a visit to the awesome club called XS. Most of our nightlife expeditions were headed by one of my favorite business partners and I got to have some fun with the girls from Predator. I love all the people that work for that company!

Vegas was a great trip, I met lots of amazing people, spent some good quality time with good friends and watched some great pool. Now I am starting a LONG 3 and a half months of travel for work. We have a series of receptions and conferences all over Texas so I should rack up some nice flight miles. During all of that travel I will be returning to Vegas for the BCA Expo in July. Sadly I will miss the Justin Tuck charity event in NYC this week but if you are in the area, please go out and support this event. I believe the KOD girls will be there as well as Jennifer Barretta and other local pros.

A big thank you to Poison and Predator Cues for supporting me! I had a great trip and enjoyed doing challenge matches and jump cue dempstrations in the Poison and Predator booths. Thanks also to Kim White for being my travel buddy on this trip. I had a great time!

Getting Ready for Vegas!

2010-04-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Several of my friends are in Vegas right now competing in the APA National Singles Championships. Knowing that I myself will soon be making the trip to Vegas for the BCA National Tournament soon I have been much more in the mood to practice lately. With this in mind, Shayla and I have decided to run a Scotch Doubles "Jack-n-Jill" tournament the weekend before everyone leaves for the BCA tournament.

Here are the details:

May 8th, 1PM Players Meeting
Slick Willies on Burnet Rd.
$30 entry per team, will pay 1/4 of the field
Race to 4, 8-Ball BCA Rules.
There are no skill level limits and no league membership required. Everyone is welcome to play!

Call me to get on the list 512-799-9675.

If we get a good turn out, we might try to run this tournament more often.

Big Shoes to Fill

2010-04-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about pool is the accessibility of the pro players and legends of the game. In other sports, you may never meet Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth. But the pool world is so unique in that even though the professional scene is an international community, it is still a tight knit community. At almost every major national or international event (many of which have an amateur component) you are likely to meet or watch legends like Earl Strickland or Efren Reyes compete.

I was reminded of how small this international community is when I was practicing with my friend who will be playing scotch doubles with me in Vegas at the BCA National tournament. We were talking about how he hasn't been to Vegas for the BCA in years and is excited about going back. We started chatting about old partner experiences and joked about funny things this person or that person would do and then he tells me, "The only time I ever played scotch doubles in Vegas was when I played with Vivian a long time ago."

Alrighty then! I had never really felt pressure when Shane and I would gamble scotch against other players because he is so freaking good that it was just a given that I will not play as well as him. But when the only thing this guy has to compare to is Vivian, I'm pretty sure I won't measure up :)

So far though we seem to be playing well. We think similarly about patterns, break outs and safeties so that is encouraging. And so far, he is very patient with me and doesn't seem to get discouraged when I make mistakes. We'll see how it turns out in a few weeks :)

My article is up now on PoolisFun.com so check it out.

Tournaments and MoreTournaments

2010-04-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since my last post so to remedy this, I will try to start posting smaller blogs on a daily basis.

It has been a busy month for me with 3 tournaments in my area. Our BCA state tournament just took place and we had two women's events in the Austin area just this past weekend. Both were very well attended and even though I didn't get to compete in either one, I had a great time watching and hanging out with some old friends.

I recently was asked by the APA to write an instructional blog for their website and magazine which of course I was happy to accept. I love the folks that work in the national office for APA so I'm very excited about working with them. My first article will comeout this week so I will post the link as soon as it is available.

My schedule for this week will consist of practicing with my scotch doubles partner "lil David" and gearing up for the Lone Star Billiards Tour this weekend in San Leon. I love going to events that Kim White organizes and I hear we will have a fun visitor this weekend who we missed in San Diego (Megan Smith)! It should be a good time!

Fundraiser

2010-03-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

We held a fundraiser for a local non-profit this weekend. The National Hispanic Institute is an organization that I have been working with since high school and I was very happy to see so many people come out to support the event.

NHI runs leadership programs for high achieving Hispanic high school students. Their graduation, acceptance and retention rates are incredible. 98% of the students go to 4-year universities and 68% go on to pursue post-graduate degrees. Considering they have served over 40,000 students nationwide, those are impressive statistics. They use game theory and hands-on exercises to enhance the students' critical thinking and communication skills....skills that are vital for success in many aspects of their lives.

NHI also sets up support systems and resources for their students to help ensure their success. Colleges and universities that partner with NHI are so confident and impressed with the quality of students that come out of their programs that many offer automatic scholarships for NHI students that are accepted to their schools. Colorado State, for example, offers a minimum $20,000 scholarship just for being accepted. Their students are actively recruited by top universities around the country and internationally.

Our tournament yesterday raised about $2500 to support the local chapter. The money raised will go towards travel and tuition for Austin area NHI Freshman to attend the week-long summer programs. NHI was so pleased with the results and the support of the tournament, they plan to run more tournaments through out the year.

Thank you to all of our sponsors: A-Tex Family Fun Center, Predator Cues, Westin La Cantera Resort, Hyatt Hill Country Resort, Austin Wellness Center, Barton Creek Country Club Resort and Spa, and Slick Willies Pool Hall.

Congrats to the top finishers:

1st place - Mike Lindell
2nd place - Patrick Ward
3rd place - Charles "Chaz" Kiley
4th place - Ross Brookshire
5th/6th place - Bob Stark Jr. & James Buzzard

I also want to thanks Sylver Ochoa for volunteering his time to do challenge matches and raise additional money for NHI.

For more information about NHI please visit www.nhi-net.org

Reform

2010-03-04T13:35:00.000-08:00

“The key to success is often the ability to adapt." It's no secret that the WPBA is undergoing change...some minor and some massive. But as the market changes, all businesses need to change with it, and adapt to a new economy and new business models.

“The key to change... is to let go of fear.” - Rosanne Cash

Many of these changes have been met with resistance. It is completely understandable to be fearful of the unknown and to be hesitant to change many things that have been constants for so long. However, the fans, the players and the general public are very different people in 2010 than they were in 1993.

“When you're finished changing, you're finished.” -Benjamin Franklin

WPBA and pool as an industry must evolve in order to stay competitive (or become competitive in our case) in the market. For some time now I have been skeptical of the future of the pool industry. But recently I have seen many promising things on the horizon. I'm hoping the results will be seen sooner rather than later.

“Change starts when someone sees the next step.” - William Drayton

Many pool players relate the pool industry to bowling and the PBA. A friend of mine sent me a video the other day that (if you can get past the cursing) is quite insightful and is strikingly familiar.

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” - Winston Churchill

Only time will tell...

Zo & Magic's 8-Ball Challenge

2010-02-15T05:42:00.000-08:00

Since the WPBA has such a long break from the Tour Championships until the first event in San Diego, I have had a lot of time to focus on other things. In addition to the crazy amount of work we have at the State Bar lately, I have spent a lot of time working with my sponsors. As I mentioned in my last post, Karim (CEO of Predator) was in Texas this past week making the rounds with all of the Predator/Poison retailers in Texas. I was lucky enough to meet most of these clients in Texas and to end the week, we all made the trip up to Dallas for NBA All-Star weekend.

The kick-off of the All-Star weekend was the charity event that Alonzo Morning and Magic Johnson run benefiting the Magic Johnson Foundation and Alonzo Morning Charities. It was refreshing to see that many of the pool companies supported the Zo & Magic's 8-Ball Challenge including Delta 13, Diamond Billiards and Predator Cues. I was supposed to just attend as a spectator and spend time with Karim, A-Tex Family Fun Center and the guys from the Billiard Factory. As it worked out, there were some openings on teams so I got to play in the event and was paired with a table mechanic, Ed Hagan, from Diamond Billiards. My two sponsors, Karim and Mo played on another team.

My boyfriend and I got stuck in the biggest snow storm I've ever seen in Dallas. We drove several hours in what ended up being 12 inches of snowfall and barely arrived at the event in time for the beginning of the tournament. We missed the cocktail reception and arrival of all the celebrities that participated in the event.

This was a 32 team, single elimination bracket tournament with 2-person teams. Ed was very quiet during our matches but was a great player so it worked out very well. We drew Magic Johnson's team first round and had a blast playing them. It was an interesting experience because in addition to camera men with lights mounted on their cameras shooting behind every shot you take, celebrities were standing near the table taking pics with fans so lights and flashes are going off everywhere. This definitely helped me work on my focus in matches.

After winning our first match, we played several other teams, including one with a WNBA player and several other players I didn't recognize. Sadly, I don't follow pro basketball very much so I didn't know who half of my opponents were. The strongest team we played was in the semi finals against Alan Houston and his partner. Both were very good players and understood 8-ball strategy better that most of the other players.

Ed and I ended up winning the entire event, defeating Alonzo's team in the finals. Interestingly, chatting with them after the match, I discovered that Alonzo's partner is an APA member in the L.A. area. It's always great to see celebs participating in our sport. We won some pretty cool prizes and I really enjoyed hanging out with the billiard industry guys from the BCA, Billiard Factory and of course my sponsors, Karim and Mo from A-Tex.

This was my boyfriend's first experience at a big pool event and he had a blast. Dating a non-poolplayer is proving to be a very healthy thing for me :) The rest of the weekend was packed with more travel but many exciting things. I hope that we will be invited back to this event next year to defend our title so I will definitely be pushing for Predator to participate again. Karim always has great fresh ideas of progressing the company so I expect to see Predator participating in more events like this in the near future.

Balance

2010-02-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

Returning to work after my trip to Spain was a bit overwhelming. In the process of catching up on work, I seem to have stumbled into a more balanced life. Over the past few years, my life was consumed with work and pool and very little else. Although I am a bit scared of what my pool game will look like in San Diego in march, it's a bit of a relief to have a more well rounded personal life.

In addition to working on some new projects with my family, I returned to my involvement with a non-profit organization that was a huge part of my life in high school and college. Eventually I will post more details about that organization but for now I'll stick to some pool updates.

I have been working with Predator a lot recently on sevearl different things and the CEO, Karim, has proven to be a great mentor for me. Karim is making his rounds this week in Texas visiting retailers and so I accompanied him to a sales training at the Billiard Factory. The store was a great facility in the new Galleria area and best of all, they carry lots of beautiful Brunswick tables :)

I will most likely be partnering with the Billiard Factory on a few events soon but no details as of yet.

Karim is the KING of a balanced lifestyle. He works hard and plays hard so anytime I spend time with him we do something constructive business-wise, followed by something fun. After our visit with the Billiard Factory guys, Claudia joined us for some wine and appetizers at Mandolas and then to one of Austin's tourist attractions, The Oasis.

The Oasis is a fun restaurant on the lake with overpriced mediocre food but some spectacular views. The weather was beautiful so we sat on the patio and enjoyed some margaritas and guacamoles, two Texas staples. That night, my boyfriend and I met Claudia, Karim and some girl friends out at the clubs.

During the Mosconi Cup in December, the National Finals Rodeo was in town and Karim was VERY disappointed when he polled the airport only to find that NONE of the cowboy hat wearing travelers were from Texas. With his stereotype shattered, we decided to take Karim to a new country bar with plenty of cowboy hats and boots. My boyfriend's college friends were all at this same bar so it was an interesting night.

Back to the working hard part of my balanced life this week then we are off for more fun this weekend. Predator donated items for the silent auction at the Magic Johnson and Alonzo Morning Charity 8-ball Tournament that kicks-off the NBA Allstar weekend in Dallas. So, obviously we HAVE to go represent :) I will not be joining the guys for the games this weekend but I'm certainly up for the pool part. I'll post pics of the weekend when I return.

RTC, Players to watch...

2010-01-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

The WPBA has made a number of changes over the last year and one major change is the qualifying process. In the past, players had to win a qualifier to play in just one event. There’s a lot more to that old process but it would take far too long to explain all of the ways you could qualify to play in one or many events. The new process is much more streamlined and will hopefully prove to make a stronger consistent showing of players at the WPBA events.

The top 48 players in the end of year rankings for the WPBA have earned exemptions for 2010 and the remaining 16 slots at each event will be filled in a number of ways, the most important being the top 9 finishers at the Regional Tour Championship. This is one of my two favorite tournaments of the year because it usually brings in many of my friends from around the country and it’s a great opportunity to hang out with everyone at once. That being said, I am considering making the trip as a vacation to go and support all of the girls.

The winner of the RTC receives paid entry into all WPBA events in 2010 excluding the U.S. Open and the Tour Championships. I recently was able to see the tentative list of players and am very excited to see so many great players. Although I do not know some of the girls on the list, I do have my predictions of who could very possibly win this event.

First on the list is a past RTC Champion, Amanda Lampert. She is a good friend of mine and an incredible player. She won the RTC in 2006 or 2007 (I can’t quite remember) but had seemed to lose interest in playing for a bit. But I know she is now very determined and focused and, as a result, has been spending a lot of time on her game so she certainly has a great chance to win.

The next two who have proven to be able to hang on the WPBA are Bonnie Plowman and Heather Pulford. I haven’t seen them play in awhile since they moved away from the Austin area but if they are still playing a lot, both are very capable of snapping this off. Bonnie came very close to winning it last year and Heather has previously had an exempt spot on the tour so she is very seasoned as well.

So I might be a little bias because all of the girls I have just mentioned have come thru the OBCues tour but my next one will also be from that tour, Lisa Marr. Lisa was also an exempt player in the past and regularly wins tournaments on the OBCues tour.

The next two girls that could have a strong chance at winning this event are 2 former Junior Champions, Mary Rankin and Liz Lovely. Mary has a great deal of fire power, she has a big stroke and an aggressive game, certainly a force to be reckoned with. Liz has also gained a good amount of experience on the tour recently and is no stranger to the winners circle.

Although those are the girls that stand out in my mind to possibly win this event, there are several others I expect to see in the top 9 or very close to that. Julie Comitini, another past WPBA player, has been ranked as high as the top 15 on the tour and is back on the tournament trail. Borana Andoni and Katie Cowan are younger players that have been placing high in big events over the past year or two. Katie has played in several WPBA events and Borana regularly plays in Predator Tour events in the NYC area where she has defeated a number of notable male players.

Lastly, four players that also have a good chance at earning a spot in the top 9 are Naomi Williams, Tina Larsen, Veronique Menard and Orietta Strickland. I don’t know Naomi well but have seen her play in a few events and she can certainly hang. I first met Tina through the APA at the U.S. Amateur Championships a few years back. She is another very aggressive player and regularly places in the top at many national events. Veronique had a strong finish in the Galveston event and Orietta is a very methodical steady player as well.

The format is a bit different this year so I don’t know how this will play out. I hope to see many of my friends do well but I’m sure whichever girls win, they will be good additions to the tour. The tournament takes place the 3rd weekend in February so anyone in the L.A. area should come out to watch.

La Experiencia

2010-01-04T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have loved pool since I first began playing. There are many aspects that I find intriguing but I think I am drawn to the sport for different reasons more recently than I was when I first began playing. At first, I was fascinated by the ways the balls move, the strategy and the competitiveness of the sport. But these are things you can find in many other sports.

Perhaps it is unfortunate and fortunate that the availability of an established men's tour is lacking in the United States. On the one hand, American players, men in particular, have limited options on good tournaments. However, this has caused the industry to be a global market and thus the players must travel to where the money is. I don't like to word it that way where it seems like players are only after the money but in reality, you support those that support you. Companies that are willing to put money back into the industry are the companies you want to see succeed.

Every time I fly into a new city I think about how lucky I am to have the opportunities that I have. As much as we complain about our sport sometimes, it's the intangibles that keep us coming back. There are interesting and unique characters involved in all levels of pool from players, to promoters, to sponsors. There is a distinct culture that only pool players can understand. And the tournaments we attend provide unparalleled experiences that you can't find anywhere else.

Live streaming has become very popular in our sport and it has allowed fans from across the world to familiarize themselves with top players that they may never see in person. This is a great thing. But nothing compares to experiencing a great tournament first hand. The friends you make, the dramatic matches you witness, and the cultures you engage with while at the tournament in person are all things you would miss out on.

I am currently in Lloret de Mar, Spain for the Predator World Tour event and so far it has been an incredible experience and the tournament is still 2 days away. I will be posting pics and details about the trip soon.

Best Advice I Ever Received

2009-12-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

I was filling out my player bio for the WPBA website this week and found a few pretty interesting questions on there.

"The best advice I ever received was:"

When I moved to Austin after college I joined an APA league. I am super competitive and I really wanted to improve my game so I started taking lessons shortly after I started playing. There are many very valuable things I learned from my instructor, Rod Gustafson, but this particular piece of advice continues to influence me.

"Put yourself in competitions above your skill level whenever possible."

I don't care if you are straight up DONATING in a tournament and have zero shot of cashing...if you can afford to play in it, make yourself play. This will do wonders for your game on so many levels. Obviously playing better players will help you improve because you will learn from them but you can learn from them by just watching higher level play too.

Sure you might feel completely stupid playing in a tournament that some may say you have no business playing in but believe me, it will cure you of all nervousness in other tournaments. (Well maybe not ALL nervousness but it sure puts things into perspective)

Many people wait until they think they are "ready" to play in a big tournament instead of just jumping feet first any chance they get. I understand the reasoning behind waiting until you feel mentally ready and feel like your skill level is there but I think it "wastes" your real chance at doing well. Let me explain what I mean by "waste".

If you wait until your skill level is there, you are still going to have those "oh my god" moments when you play a world famous player or when you are playing in front of a huge crowd or on the TV table. And inevitably, you will not play your best because you will have all these other things factoring into your mental game. But, if you throw yourself in before your skill level is there, you will get all those nervous moments over with. And the next time you play a top name or play on a TV table, it won't be quite as big of a distraction to your game.

Then, when your skill level has caught up with the level of competition you are playing against, you will have that seasoning that other new players to those tournaments won't have. And you won't be "wasting" your real shot at cashing or placing in a bigger tournament.

Work Hard, Play Hard :)

2009-12-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

My last post was all about the tournament...but that was all work. This will be all about the fun outside of the event. We all know you can't go to Vegas and not play a little :)

Unlike most people who visit Vegas, I don't gamble...AT ALL. Not out of principle or because I get carried away or anything like that. I just came to realize that if I gambled at every tournament we went to, I would be broke quickly. There's at least one tournament a month at a casino and I can think of a million other things I would rather with a few hundred dollars a month than blow it on slots or table games.

The first couple of days were pretty slow. I met up with Tim from Cuetec one night to catch up and just relaxed the other night after a pretty eventful Players Reception. The interviews at the reception were fun, especially as it got later, the interviews got more and more candid.

Karim from Predator arrived on Thursday and that's when all the fun began. He took me and a couple of friends to an awesome dinner at B&B in the Venetian. There's nothing like a good bottle of wine (or a couple of bottles in our case) and a great meal. After a tame first evening, we scheduled another nice dinner at a steakhouse in the Bellagio called Fix. We stopped by the bar while we waited for our reservation and stumbled upon a satellite event for the WPT tournament that was taking place.

A couple of my poker friends were at the satellite event so I hung out with Shannon Shorr for a bit while we watched his buddy at the final table. The poker boys are fun but when they are there for work, it's tough to spend time with them.

After that it was off to the club. I would love to post all my pics but I fear that I might incriminate some of my friends so these are the PG ones :)

I'm a big people watcher and this Vegas club was quite entertaining. Karim booked a VIP table at Tryst and throughout the night the bouncers brought over group after group of young girls to entertain our group (which was all guys and 2 girls). The girls started out cute but as the night went on they looked more and more rough :) but everyone seemed to have a good time anyway. I showed Karim how to dance to some spanish music (okay he kinda already knew how to dance to it) then Melinda, Michael, Mike and I cut out early to head back to the MGM. Karim and the boys closed the place down and I heard some fun stories the next day.

Shane's grandparents were in town so it was great to see them and spend some time catching up. This was also the first tournament where Shane and I were able to hang out and it not be awkward so that was a nice change.

After the tournament ended, Kevin and I went to one of the oldest steakhouses in Vegas which is a quaint little place off the strip. Then we braved the Las Vegas Cue Club which I had always heard was a very sketchy, unsafe place to go. I had heard correctly. Walking into the ladies bathroom I was confronted by transvestites and crackheads who didn't know the meaning of personal space. Our visit there was understandably short lived and we retreated back to the MGM to meet up with Shane and some of the other players.

My last day there consisted of lunch and a long practice session with Shane. It was a fun trip all around. Great people, great tournament, and I loved working with Matchroom. I'm very glad to be home though and have gotten some much needed rest. 2 more weeks then I'm off to Europe :)

Mosconi Cup 2009 - USA over Europe 11-7

2009-12-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm finally recovered from too many days in Vegas. Being a pool player, naturally Vegas is a usual tournament destination but there is only so much I can take of it these days. I've conditioned myself not to gamble while I'm there but I can't help but spend a ridiculous amount of money on food and drinks. They have some of the best restaurants and clubs, I just can't help myself.

But enough about me, let's talk about Team USA and the tournament itself. First let me say that the people at Matchroom are awesome and do amazing things for the sport. I love all of their events and hope that they can continue these traditions.

The U.S. had dominated for many years in the Mosconi Cup but have struggled in recent years. The European team (featuring 5 World Champions) were favored on the betting sites with 2-1 odds! The players of Team Europe were calling this their "Dream Team." Now don't get me wrong, I think these players are all amazing, but 2-1 being the line is just crazy. That means the US would have had to lose 11-5 or worse. Whoever did these odds obviously underestimated the power of the newbies on Team USA.

From Day 1, Jerry Forsythe predicted the betting site to be wrong and, although he did not think the USA was the favorites to win it, he was sure they would beat the spread. Now we all know the results but let me tell you what I saw from behind the scenes.

In the practice room Captain, Nick Varner, had set up inspirational posters all over the room. He had new players pictures imposed on backgrounds of Mosconi Cup sets to show them shooting in the Mosconi Cup arena. He had posters of boxers like Ali and other inspirational athletes around the wall with quotes about heart and determination. And perhaps the most important of all, along the exit he had a poster of Team Europe winning the 2008 Mosconi Cup in Malta with the words "This is NOT Acceptable!" above it. The players would slap this poster every time they exited the room.

This was the first year that Team USA acted and practiced like a team. They had team breakfasts each morning before the matches started, the would support each other in the stands when they weren't playing, team dinners every night and a curfew that kept anyone from getting wrapped up in all that is Vegas.

New this year was the public vote. The fans had it right when they chose Hatch to join this team. He was by far the heart and soul of the team and you could tell at any moment that this mean the world to him to be part of this. He played incredible all week, pumped all the other players up and would help them keep an eye on the clock from the stands. He was awarded the very much deserved MVP for Team USA. I hope they invite him back next year.

Shane played an awesome final match that was a must win situation. If he had lost that match, Europe may have had too much momentum going into the final few matches. I saw a completely different player in him this weekend, some emotion that he never shows. Hopefully that carries into other tournaments for him and he'll be "hungry" again to win.

What Does it Take to be a Champion?

2009-12-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks there has been a long thread in the AZ Forums around the question "What does it take to be a Champion?" I will avoid all the drama surrounding this and what has transpired through these posts as this is NOT why I am bringing this thread to anyone's attention. I will also start by staying that I can offer no definiative answers to this question. From my observations in being around other champions and seeing the daily lives and practice schedules of those that have acheived that level, I can make assumptions about what I think it takes, but I don't know for sure.

A friend of mine is fairly involved in the boxing world and trains athletes which at first seemed a little unrelated to pool. However, the more I have exposed this friend to the pool world the more I see these concepts of mental toughness and self discipline to be applicable to pool (or any sport for that matter). Perhaps the best piece of advice he's given me is not to fight what is in your nature to do. For instance, it's in my nature to dwell on something that has gone wrong or that may go wrong. I get this from my father. He is a habitual worrier and no matter how much I don't want to think about the negatives, I'm a "worst case scenario" type of thinker. I guess this comes with the math/engineering side of me. So instead, he has suggested that I find a way to channel that energy and change WHAT I think about those shots since I obviously will not let myself forget about them.

My favorite champion is not my favorite because he was tactful and well spoken...he was far from it. It was his sheer confidence (which many might call arrogance) that I admire because I wish I had the balls to think and be more like that.

"I like the moment when I break a man's ego." -- Bobby Fischer

"I like to make them squirm." -- Bobby Fischer

"I am the best player in the world and I am here to prove it." -- Bobby Fischer

"I play honestly and I play to win. If I lose, I take my medicine." -- Bobby Fischer

"You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to force moves and take chances." -- Bobby Fischer

"You know, I can beat all those guys." -- Bobby Fischer

"There's no one alive I can't beat." -- Bobby Fischer

"Let's play. I'm willing to play anywhere." -- Bobby Fischer

"Don't even mention losing to me. I can't stand to think of it." -- Bobby Fischer

"I wanted to give them something to think about when they prepare for me in future tournaments." -- Bobby Fischer

Win a Trip to SPAIN for the Predator World 10-Ball Tour!

2009-12-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Two of my good friends (Scooter and Kim White) are running TWO separate qualifiers next weekend (Dec. 12-13) for the Predator World 10-ball Tour in Spain! These will be in conjunction with their regular tour stops so the winners of those tour stops will also get the qualifier spot and $. Winner will receive paid entry into the Predator World 10-ball Tour event in Spain as well as some extra money to help with travel expenses.

I am selling the following products to raise money for the qualifier winner at the Lone Star Billiards Tour Finale:

(1) Poison Arsenic 1- $249.00
(1) PO VX 2.9- $229.00
(1) Predator AIR - $117.00
(1) Predator Sneaky Pete ( SP4RW ) - $399
(3) Sniper Tips- $17.75ea
(5) Sarin Tips- $14.95ea
(5) Everest Tips - $14.95ea

Prices listed are the RETAIL values, I can sell them for a little less than the prices listed. All items are BRAND NEW and in original packaging. Message me if you are interested in buying any of them.

*************************************
LONE STAR BILLIARDS TOUR
Dec. 12-13 at Bogies Billiards
Houston, TX
$1000 added
Contact Kim White for more details or visit http://www.lonestarbilliardstour.com/LSBT/Main.html for more details

************************************
NORTHERN ACTION 9-BALL TOUR
Dec. 12-13

Hall of Fame Billiards
5775 13 Mile Rd
Warren, MI 48092-8880

9-Ball, Texas Express Rules
Pros Race to 9, Amateurs Race to 7
Double Elimination
$40 entry ($5 green fee)
$1000 Break and Run Contest!

Registration at 12 noon, Players meeting starts at 1PM

Friday night King of the Hill Tournament

For more information, contact Fred Scooter Goodman at 216-316-7448 or fredscootergoodman@yahoo.com

It's Official!

2009-12-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

I have finished the year high enough in the rankings to be exempt on the WPBA Tour next year. It wasn't quite as graceful of a year as I had hoped for but the end goal was met. I played the first 3 events of the year with decent finishes but after missing the next 2 events and going 2 and out for the first time on the tour in the final event, I was worried that I might not make the cut. Fortunately, I did qualify so hopefully I can start the year off strong as I did in 2009.

All you can do is accept thing things you can't control and focus on the things you can. For me, it's now time to practice, practice, practice. I had considered taking lessons from a Texas pro but after one lesson, I think it will prove to be a logistical nightmare to get regular lessons since we don't live in the same city and have crazy travel schedules. So I am going back to my old instructor, Rod Gustafson and hopefully this will prompt me to play on a more regular basis.

The WPBA Tour Championships in Florida was a fun tournament except for the fact that I played poorly. We had some good times with some of my girlfriends and players.

This weekend is my best friend's birthday. I booked us a suite at the Hyatt downtown (because we are responsible drinkers and will not be driving home) and will celebrate in true AUSTIN fashion - Barhopping on 6th street (or vicinity). Hopefully I will make it out to the Fast Eddies Tour stop the next day :)

Up next on the agenda, I will be heading to the Mosconi Cup next week to work for Matchroom Sport. I love this event so I'm very excited. Lots of my friends will be out there for that and the WPT event so it should be a good weekend.

Then I will be preparing for the Predator World 10-Ball Tour in Spain this January. I am going to head out a few days early and spend new years in Manchester playing with Darren and then head to Gerona for the event. Hopefully that will get me geared up for the 2010 WPBA season!

Birthday in NYC!

2009-11-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

My birthday is on a cool day (Nov. 10th) because almost every year I am off of work the following day for a national holiday...Except this year. The Minority Corporate Counsel Association was holding their national conference the week of my birthday. OF COURSE one of the main conference days was on November 11th, Veteran's day and I am required to attend this for my job. At first glance, that sucks. But the silver lining is that the conference in at the Marriott in the middle of Time Square and I get to spend 3 days in NYC leading up to my birthday.

My boss and I are close friends and happen to have birthdays that are close. Since we had a busy travel schedule leading up to her birthday and mine, we decided to celebrate in every city we went to. In total, we had 4 different celebrations:
1) Happy hour at Cedar Street where we saw an awesome 80's cover band

2) Party at my favorite restaurant, Cover3, followed by dancing and drinks downtown at The Ranch
3) Dinner at Kenichi in Dallas then met up with the TAMS(my math and science academy high school) guys and some attorneys we work with
4) Celebration at Iguana and drinks at another bar (I can't remember the name) with pool and college budies in New York.

My best friend, Kirstie, had been hounding me about taking a trip with her but between work and pool, I NEVER have extra time for vacations. The consolation was to invite her with me to New York City, with the understanding that most of the days would be filled with work duties. For my 21st birthday, Kirstie and I had taken a trip to University of Maryland to visit my college friends most of which now live in NYC so it seemed fitting that we would celebrate with those same friends 8 years later.

The first night we did the touristy thing and explored Time Square and the Empire State Building.

My friend, Ivo, was in town with some friends for the weekend so I talked him into staying a few days later and hanging out with us. Somehow, Ivo and I talked Kirstie (who is not a huge pool fan) and my boss into taking the trip out of Manhattan to visit Masters Poolhall in Queens. Their Monday night tournament was underway when we arrived so naturally, many of the NYC players were there.

One of the great things about pool is that you can find a poolhall in every city where you know someone which makes you feel at home. Familiar faces at Masters were Jerry Tarantola and "Spain" Marc Vidal. Marc of course, jumped at the chance to entertain Kirstie and Caren while Ivo and I played some 3-cushion. In all the pool activities I'm involved in, I run into Jerry from NYC Grind all the time but this was my first opportunity to really hang out with him. Masters was a great time and the people were really cool. I will definitely go back next time I'm in town.

After taking care of some work things the next day, Gail made arrangements for dinner at Iguanas followed by drinks. We convinced Ivo to stay a few more hours and join us for dinner then met up with some of my UMD friends.

The next morning, Kirstie flew out and Caren and I had conference activities all day. The last night was rather uneventful as we just relaxed and I got ready for my 5AM flight. I had to get special permission to miss the players meeting at the WPBA Tour Championships in Florida and I would be arriving in Ft. Lauderdale the next morning about an hour before my 11AM match. Naturally, because I really needed to sleep before waking up at 2am to get to the airport, I could not fall asleep and as luck would have it, I was seated next to someone on the plane who wanted to talk the entire flight. I arrived in Florida with about an hour and a half of sleep and man did it show! I had a terrible first match and went straight to bed a few hours before practicing with Bartram the rest of the day.

Mosconi Cup Fever!

2009-11-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again where tournaments are winding down, the U.S. Open just finished and the last major open tournament of the year is about to take place so all attention in the pool world is shifting to the Mosconi Cup. For anyone who isn't familiar with what exactly this is, it's basically pool's equivelant to golf's Ryder Cup. Five players from Europe against 5 American players competing over 4 days in a series of different team events. For several years the U.S. had dominated but in recent years, the momentum has changed and the European team has come out on top.

Last year's European team was incredible. Almost every player was the reigning world champion in some discipline. I was fortunate enough to go to the event last year in Malta and if you have ever thought about going to watch you should definitely do it this year while it's close to home. December 9-13th in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. The crowd gets wild, the players get heated and there's non-stop drama throughout the week.

For you poker fans, the WPT is holding the Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio that same week and weekend. There are a series of $1000-$5000 buy-in events leading up to the Doyle Brunson Classic.
www.bellagio.com/casino/world-poker-tour.aspx

I am happy that so many of my friends were selected for the European team. Mika was a no brainer as he's won just about everything this year including back to back U.S. Opens. Darren Appleton barely didn't make the cut last year so it's great to see him in the mix this year. It's been a few years since Thorsten was on the team but he is certainly a strong addition.

The American team has a new member, Oscar Dominguez, who has proven to be a powerful force in any tournament. He's hungry (and very deserving) so I'm excited to see how his energy with help the dynamics of the team. Mosconi Cup veteran, Johnny Archer is also on the team joined by Shane and Corey both of which were on the team in 2007 when the event was last held in Vegas.

The last member of the team is currently being voted on. I'll be working with Matchroom Sport and producer, Alvin Nelson, this year to provide daily coverage for their website. I'm excited to be working with them and being able to witness this entertaining event first hand. To follow the updates, visit www.matchroompool.com/page/Home. You can vote for the last player on the American team at that same link by clicking on the Mosconi Cup Idol icon.

My 10-year High School Reunion

2009-10-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

For most people, their high school reunions consist of some dressy occassion like a reception or social. But my high school was anything but ordinary. For my Freshman and Sophomore year, I went to a normal high school but the last two years, I attended a math and science academy that was basically an early college entrance program. That's right, I am definitely a math nerd. I, and about 200 other 16 year olds (some younger), attended normal college courses with other college students and lived in our own little dorm on the campus of the University of North Texas.

Leaving high school early was a controversial decision in my family. My parents weren't quite ready to have me leave home and I was sad about having to miss out on high school sports. Some people ask me if I ever regret missing out on my last two years of high school. I remind them that I got to spend my last two years of high school on a college campus, you can't beat that!

Since UNT was more out school than anything else, we celebrate reunions around the UNT Homecoming game. I recruited one of my best friends, Kirstie, to tag along for the weekend and headed up to Dallas to meet up with the guys. I was initially very impressed with how organized the guys were considering they are...well...guys. The week of the reunion we were bombarded with emails ironing out the final details of the trip. They had booked a block of rooms at a hotel that was a short cab ride (or long walk) from the bars we had planned to go to on Friday night and a block of rooms at a place in Denton near the the infamous "Fry Steet".

John, our reunion coordinator, created a twitter page for the weekend festivities and we successfully coordinated getting 40-50 people to the same bars and restaurants that night. We ARE nerds afterall, so naturally they used modern technology to coordinate people. After recovering from a slight hang over, we headed out to Denton to tailgate for the UNT football game and, of course, watch the Texas vs. OU game on TV.

I hurt my leg playing kickball, yes, I said KICKBALL...so I was limping all weekend. But I found that if I just drank a littl bit, the pain goes away a bit :) Once we had all migrated to Fry Street, the toasting, speeches and stories began! Cisneros, who isn't even in our graduating class, started ordering shots by the 100's and no, I'm not exaggerating. The other customers at the bar probably hated us because bartenders pretty much shut down all other service when the shot orders would be put in. It took all 3 bar tenders to make 100 yager bombs.

Needless to say, the weekend was a blast! I enjoyed catching up with everyone and even made some new friends with people I didn't know well while in high school. I can't wait to do it again...maybe next year :)

Time To Breathe

2009-10-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

The end of the Summer and beginning of fall is always a hectic time of year for me. This is the time for our biggest annual conference planned by my boss and I. We typically have so much extra work during this time that we hire a temp for several months to help pick up the slack.

After months of planning, promoting and recruiting sponsors, it all comes together in a 3-day event filled with golf, spas, networking and (the less exciting part) legal education. When it's all said and done, we bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship and registration fees and generate enough to fund our other programs throughout the year.

To add to the kaos of this year's "crunch time", the Galveston World Classic began just a few days after my conference ended. 12 days of pool and mosquitos and I was more than ready for some time off. Scooter came down from Cleveland a few weeks before all of this and joined me for all of my work and pool functions which certainly made it all more entertaining (and less stressful) for me.

So what now? Well, for the first time in a VERY long time, I'm not going out of state for an entire month! In this breathing time I have to focus on practicing and preparing for my upcoming events. The final WPBA event is in Florida in November and is immediately followed by the Women's World 9-Ball Championships in Shenyang, China. My performance in Florida will dictate my future on the WPBA tour next year and unfortunatly, after missing the last two events, I will fall out of the top 32 and thus, not be seeded in Florida. All the more reason for me to work my butt off this next month getting ready for those 2 big tournaments.

I've never been to Asia so China will be a fun experience. I'll be traveling out there with Nicole Keeney and Angel Paglia. Some how, Nicole was clever enough to find a flight that is NOT ridiculously long. We're flying from Florida to Los Angelos and spending a day playing around and seeing the sites. Then we are off on a 13 hour flight to Beijing and a one hour flight to Shenyang...not bad for traveling to the opposite side of the planet :) I tried to recruit my friend, Clifton, to tag along and be our Chinese translator but so far (and I say "so far" because I'm continuing to pursue him on this, lol) have been unsuccessful. Even if I go and completely fall on my face, this will undoubtably be a great experience. It's always fun to travel with Nicole and I'm sure we will have lots of fun photos to share.

I'm baaaaack :)

2009-09-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

After being on haitus from my blog for a couple of months, I wanted to recap on the craziness that has been my life for the past few months. There are many intersting things I had planned to write about including the pro ping pong tournament in Vegas, interesting weekend trips to tournaments with friends, passing on my invite to Colorado and, of course, my break-up. But instead of focusing on the past, we're going to look into the future and focus on the exciting things planned for the rest of the year.

The past three weeks I have practically LIVED at work (or in a hotel conference room running a program) so there has been very little time for pool. But starting tomorrow, that will all change! I am headed to Galveston and Moody Gardens for the FIRST World Classic Tour stop. The Taylor Road Productions guys have so many great things planned for this event - I can't wait to see it all in action.

This tournament couldn't have been planned at a better time for pool players in Texas. The Texas Open just concluded today in the wee hours of the morning but that was only the beginning of this month's pool festivities.

I'll be working for Inside Pool Magazine and Taylor Road Productions doing interviews for the pro, amateur and team events taking place in Galveston and the challenge matches that are planned. I'll try to post some updates and I'm sure those will include some fun stories from the action matches.

My roommate in Galveston will be a girl that is new to the industry but certainly not a broadcast newbie. Jessica Barton will hopefully be teaching me a bit about broadcast techniques and I'll be orienting her with pool lingo/strategy.

I'll try to post some pics of the set-up and the hotel when I arrive tomorrow. I hope to see everyone there!

4th of July Tournament

2009-07-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm headed to Ray's monthly 9-Ball tournament at Click's in Waco. I just got a good shipment of Poison stuff recently so I decided we should put it to good use. I usually sell it to local players to help with my travel costs or the WPBA entry fees but this time we are doing a raffle. We'll be using some of it to support the free live stream that Ray provides every month, $650 will go towards the added money for this month's event and some will go towards my next WPBA entry fee (which I'm hoping will be Colorado in September).

A-Tex Family Fun Center here in Austin is my local sponsor and they are AWESOME! They always support me (and lots of other pool stuff in Texas) so they are donating some product too. They usually sponsor the Texas Open, support some of the other local league players & teams and may soon be supporting many of the live streams. So if you live in Austin, be sure to thank them next time you go by there.

Details on how to buy tickets can be found in BigTruck's thread: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=147966

Thanks to my friends, like Charles, who have already bought tickets to support me, our stream and this tournament! Tune in this Saturday, 4th of July and hang out with me & BigTruck and a bunch of other AZers:
www.ustream.tv/channel/bigtruck

Have a great 4th of July!

Restlessness

2009-06-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in my hotel room desperately trying to fall asleep. At any moment during my day today I could have passed out cold as I was completely incoherent from lack of sleep. But now that I actually NEED to fall asleep, my body won't let me. So I decided to share a little bit about my work trip.

There's never a dull moment when my boss and I hang out. With as much travel as we do, you HAVE to learn to entertain yourselves and find humor in small things. For instance, why is this mannequin straddeling the box she's sitting on?

I know the abercrombie display ads haven't been PG rated in a very long time but do the mannequins really need to go that far too? I guess this was American Eagle's version of that?

Anyway, the State Bar has a HUGE program/conference every year in June called the Annual Meeting. This year it's on Dallas and it draws 2000-3000 attendees. This event is complete organized kaos with a gazillion events going on at once with just as many chiefs who all act as indians as well. Some people get stuck with crap jobs where you are stuck in one location dealing with impatient people all day but my boss and I are lucky, we have our own continuing legal ed programs within this program to run and we get to work with all of the fun attorneys.

So last night, after one of our networking receptions, a large group of us went out to dinner at at restaurant/bar and somehow, my boss talked the valet security guy into letting her drive his golf cart.

Tonight though, we learned to just say "no" and skipped out on the post-reception festivities, despite some major pressure from some board members, and quietly escaped off to our hotel rooms. Perhaps the best part of these conferences is the incredible food we get to eat :)

Great Lakes Classic

2009-06-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

After a looooong trip overseas, having stomach woes from the food, catching colds from bad air, being depressed because of the 4 weeks of rain with no sun, Shane finally had a smile on his face on the very last night of his trip to the Philippines and China. I was enjoying the last day of my trip to Houston for the OBCues tour at the time but I stole away a few moments to chat with him online before he had to head home. He had a rough time over there with back and forth wins and losses in the pool rooms but on his very last night he got his revenge on Fu with a VERY big win that he was understandably excited about.

Coincidentally, that same day I was notified that I was (by default) eligible for the Great Lakes Classic...the only catch was that it started in THREE DAYS! All my favorite people stepped up for me to support my goals in pool. My boss approved me leave on VERY short notice, my sponsors (A-Tex Family Fun Center) booked me a ticket back from Chicago and my awesome boyfriend decided to drive up there with me to support me. So Tuesday night we headed out in his truck for a fun 18 hour drive. We drove straight thru with only a two hour pit stop somewhere near Memphis.

We arrived in Michigan City with about 30 mintues to spare before the Players Meeting. As luck would have it, I drew Jasmin first round. I was initially excited, there are very few players I respect more than Jasmin, on and off the table. But that excitement was short lived when Steve told me our match would be the first up on the streaming table the next day...GULP! As if there is not enough pressure playing against arguably the top female player in the world, let's display it for EVERYONE to see. And, as anticipated, I completely embarrassed myself. I couldn't think straight, made bad shot decision, and was just lucky to come away with the few games that I got.

I continued my horrible play all weekend but somehow came out with a win. I did get to spend some time with a few of the girls and am enjoying the women on the tour more each time I attend. Everyone has been very welcoming to me. I jumped in the booth a few times throughout the few days I was there with Jennifer Barretta, Nicole Keeney and Mike Howerton. The new streaming feature at the events is awesome. I love that all the members of the pool community can now connect with the tour players even more through the stream, BRILLIANT WPBA! And thanks to PoolDawg for stepping up as a presenting sponsor and making this all happen.

After being knocked out of the tournament, Shane and I went to visit my brother in Chicago. I have the absolute cutest niece in the world!

Next stop is the BCA Expo in Las Vegas this week but not before a grueling 3 work trip packed with meetings, presentations, legal ed courses and of course receptions. I will hopefully have some great updates after the Expo.

Road Trip

2009-06-11T04:57:00.000-07:00

Borana and I had decided a few weeks ago to make a trip out to Janet Atwell's poolhall for the MALT Tour's Tennessee State Championship (and U.S. Open qualifier) but we had not idea what a task that would be. The only airport that flies into that area of Tennessee is a small regional airport and only the small regional jets fly into there. I fly way too often and I've pretty much banned flying on NWA and many other flights that contract out most of their flights to those regional jets. They are really unsafe (statistically proven) and I get motion sickness VERY easily, so we opted to fly into Charlotte and drive over from there.

To our surprise, Nicole Keeney was also headed out there from Charlotte where she was visiting a friend so we decided to all carpool and head out there Friday afternoon. We get in the car and I begin to freak out because the address for the hotel is Bristol, VIRGINIA (not Tennessee) and having prepaid for the hotel I was worried. That shows how much research I did before going, Bristol is right on the border. My GPS apparently wanted to play some jokes on us though because it took us through a route that cut through the mountains and even took us down a small dirt road half way thru the trip

Once arriving at the hotel, Nicole tries to check-in to her room that her boyfriend reserved for her over the phone only to find that he made a surprise trip to meet her there and was already waiting in her room for her, SOO sweet!

The poolhall was located in a neat little area of downtown Bristol and was a good change the gross sketchy places that some tournaments are held.

The tables played great and the room was very big and open. They were a little higher than I'm used to so I was pretty uncomfortable at the table all weekend but I think it was just a mental thing that I couldn't get past. I played pretty poorly all weekend and was knocked out of the tournament on the first day. Borana and Nicole were kicking butt though so I was happy to stick around and watch the later rounds. Both of them met up with Kim Shaw early in the tournament and were knocked to the losers side but both came back strong with some impressive wins over ranked WPBA players. Borana defeated several opponents, including the house pro, Janet Atwell in and impressive 7-3 win and finished 7th in the event.

After suffering a hill-hill loss to Kim Shaw, Nicole came back strong knocking out several players from the losers side (including Val Finnie) and went on to take 2nd place and capture the qualifier spot.

Bristol itself was pretty neat, a little too country for my taste (and I live in TEXAS) but the town was pretty and had some neat things about it.

Saturday night Borana and I went next door to the Stateline Bar & Grill to grab some dinner only to find out it turns into a club at night. For our amusement, there were 2 wedding parties there that night...2 VERY drunk wedding parties. Among the interesting characters we met that night was a guy that is 6'10".

We had a fun night watching all the girls go crazy dancing and seeing the drunk spectacles. But since Borana had to play in the morning and I was exhausted, we went home early.

I got back to Ausitn on Monday and have been flying around Texas everyday since then. I'm heading to McAllen and Houston today and tomorrow. The Bogies OBCues stop is this weekend and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with one of my favorite travel partners, Carter. He's an awesome roommate and is always willing to make the starbucks run for us in the mornings. I'm sad that Samm isn't going to be here this weekend but hopefully I will see her soon.

Vices

2009-05-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

Living in Austin, there is a huge campaign to support local businesses and I get that...I really do. It's good for your local economy and many are against big corporate America. But, when you travel as much as I do, you learn to appreciate the consistencies in large franchises.

I know that I can go anywhere in the world (well maybe not ANYWHERE, but close enough) and be able to get my tall peppermint mocha twist any day of the week at the local Starbucks. I shamefully indulge with starbucks goodies far too often! I just can't help it. It's (sadly) become part of my daily routine. They have so many yummy (and seemingly nutritious) option. I'm completely aware that they are grossly over-priced but I reason with myself that it's totally worth the $5.25 to have a nutritous snack on the road when I pick up the Fruit & Cheese plate they offer. It's yummy grapes, apple slices, 3 different types of cheese (including a slice of brie) and crackers.

They also have me completely hooked on their new oatmeal choices and their Fruit Stella that is 100 whole grains that is packed with berries and omega-3's.

I recently discovered that they are now offering breakfast sandwiches! Score! They taste awesome, much more fresh and far less greasy than those from McD's or and other fast food chain.
I first tried these a couple of weeks ago in Lubbock when I was there for the Fast Eddies Tour stop and I was immediately hooked! I love a hot breakfast and it's so hard to get a good one on the road when all that is usually available is Ihop or someother heavy greasy option from your hotel. This is a quick light snack to give you just enough energy with out weighing you down before a tournament.

So I come home to Austin and am excited about this new discovery (I get way too excited about food). I get into work on Monday and take a stroll down to the Starbucks near my office with my breakfast buddy only to find that no Austin locations have them yet! It's killing me :( But tomorrow is the day! Starbuck breakfast sandwiches AND I get to leave to Vegas all in one day! I can't wait!

I also highly recommend their Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits (sure they are loaded with sugar and carbs but its' the good kind of sugars, right?) and the Protien Plate (Cheese, fruit, hard-boiled egg, whole wheat bagel and peanut butter...soo good!).

Nasa & Other Space Stuff :)

2009-04-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I met a great guy at one of the OBCues tour stops in the Houston area that works for Nasa. He offered to give Shane and I an inside, behind the scenes look at the Nasa campus in the Galveston area. Kim White invited Shane and I to Houston for her Houston Classic tournament so we decided to put the Nasa tour on our schedule last week.

First on the tour was the space shuttle bathrooms :)

Next we visited the area where they tested new versions of different parts of the shuttle. We were able to peek inside of all the different things they were working on.

Perhaps the coolest part of the tour was the underwater training facility. This is the largest pool in the world (in volume)!

Last stop on the tour was the pressure chamber. I think that was what it was called. To be honest though this was about 4 hours into our tour so I was having issues focusing at this point :)

These pictures really don't do it justice but this is all I could capture with my phone. Jeff had a digital camera so I will post more pics on my facebook page as soon as I get a copy of them.

Stay tuned next week as the Vegas extravaganza begins :) I have many fun things planned and will hopefully have some great stories to share.

The "S" stands for "Stubborn"

2009-04-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

Many people assume that those with any type of disability are somewhat dependant on others and this is usually associated with being very mild mannered. Well, that is far from how I would describe Shane. He's confident, independent and extremely stubborn.

I could go on and on with various examples of his stuborness but that might take too long :) So I'm just going to stick to the most recent one which involved his cue. For those of you who saw the ring game in Olathe last December, you may have noticed that he switched back and forth from his Schon to his Diviny (sp?) SEVERAL times. Once he gets it in his head that something is wrong with his cue or that something needs to change, he will switch his cue no matter what point he is in a tournament. Some players will say you should shoot with a cue for several weeks or months before competing with it but not Shane. Switching mid-tournament is completely normal to him.

I had heard about this infamous "Shane" cue but had never seen it. People had said he had a cue with his name on it but I thought it was something similar to Big Nasty's cue that has "Big Nasty" written on the lower end of the butt in small lettering.

Shane shows up in Dallas a couple of days ago with the "Shane" cue and says he's going to go back to shooting with it. BUT, he wants to keep shooting with the Schon shaft he likes. Only problem is that the shaft doesn't fit the butt. So any logical person would try to locate a shaft that DOES fit the joint. NOT SHANE....no, he wants to use the EXACT shaft. He is convinced that this "Shane" cue is why he won all those events back in 2007 so he HAS to go back to this cue. This is the joint he is now shooting with:

Seriously? Yes, as long as Shane has been playing and as much as he knows about pool you would think he would be somewhat skeptical about playing with a gap in his joint. This just can't be good for the joint or the cue, especially as hard as he breaks. Only time will tell though. He seems to be shooting great with it this weekend so maybe there really is a method to his madness :)

Looong week

2009-04-24T21:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, it's only a week late but I'm finally getting around to writing about the Fast Eddies tour stop in Lubbock. It turns out that 7 hour drive isn't as torturous as I expected it to be. My friend Sean drives down to Austin or surrounding areas often for pool and golf and is always pressuring me to come out to West Texas. I'm a sucker for peer pressure and there was a tournament so I had to go :)

This was my first road trip with Jr. so I wasn't sure what type of travel partner he would make but things turned out to be pretty good. We shared driving duties and he was pretty easy going about our schedules.

Lubbock traditionally draws a small field for the women's event and I wasn't entirely convinced there would be enough women to have the required minimum to add the regular $350 to the tournament. That in mind, I decided to play in the men's event. I'm sorry, the "Open" event. I got my a$$ handed to me in my first match. I honestly didn't play all that bad but I felt like I never really had a good offensive chance at the table. Coming out of that match I was very openly discouraged but I know how horrible I play when I'm in that mindset so I tried to calm myself down and focus in my next few matches. I won my next few pretty decisively (7-1 each) and somehow made it to Day-2...woohoo!

My excitement was short lived as I got ousted in the first round of day 2.

Okay, on to the ladies event. Only 12 girls show up (and that was a huge stretch, girls were calling friends to get them there an hour after it was supposed to start). We finally begin the tournament, 2 hours after the scheduled time and I draw my good friend, Cheyna Wigley first round. Crap...I won that match, not sure of the score but I lost my second match and then had a LONG day ahead of me. I eventually came up the losers side and double dipped the hot seat winner to win the tournament. Unfortunately that did not happen until about midnight or 1am.

Okay, 1am...then 7 hour drive, then work at 8 in the morning...wait, that leaves no time for sleep :( So Jr. and I decided to nap and leave early in the morning.

That was not a fun way to start the week. So, 5 days and maybe a total of 20 hours of sleep later, I'm back at another tournament, this time in Houston. Still sleep deprived, I'm watching Shane and Blaine play small sets and waiting for my chance to jump on the table with Shawn Putnam and Sylver.

The Houston Classic (I think that's the name of it) begins tomorrow morning. Shawn, Jeremy Jones, Shane, Sylver, Charlie Bryant and Kim White will all be playing. Ray will be streaming it on www.ustream.tv/channel/bigtruck so check it out. Ray and I will be doing commentating so come say hi to me.

Pool, TX

2009-04-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Texas is a ridiculously large state and I usually stick to the 4 major cities: Austin, Houston, Dallas & San Antonio. But every once in awhile I venture out to the rest of the state and last weekend it was time to visit Lubbock--for pool of course! You couldn't get me to go out to West Texas for ANY other reason (no offense to those west Texas people, just not my thing).

Before heading out of town I had a great happy hour date with two of my favorite Austin buddies, Claudia and Andrei.

Claudia delivered the great news that she will be meeting me out in Vegas for the second half of the BCA tournament. Get ready Vegas! (and all you pool players out there, Claudia is crazy!) You guys will love her :)

The next day, Bastrop Jr. and I head out on our 7 hour drive to the Texas panhandle area. Along the way we encounteres some pretty interesting things. Some were cool and some were weird.

I guess that is something you only see in Texas.

One of the fun parts was all the wind farms we saw on the way out there. Before working at the State Bar I used to do development for a wind power company so these wind farms are rather fascinating to me. Each wind turbine can cost up to $1 million to build so do the math on the amount of financing needed to create each windfarm.

On the way up I started noticing how many cities reminded me of top pool players. Morris, Putnam, Owens, Archer, Bryant, Fisher, Reyes, Webb and Lawrence are all cities or towns in Texas.

I have a crazy travel schedule this week but I'll try to post more on a tournament write up in the next day or so.

Snipers

2009-04-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started out like any other work day. We had a big meeting scheduled so many of the attorneys we work with were in town to attend. We had plans after the meeting to go to dinner at a restaurant/bar downtown with a few of the guys that work on a lot of our programs. We start out at a cool little outdoor place called the Belmont and sat on the patio having a few drinks and appetizers.

My boss and I had parked out front in the spaces that become valet parking after 5:30pm. So as it reaches 5:30pm, we drop our keys off with the valet guys and head to a sushi place a block away.

I call one of my girlfriends, Claudia, to meet us out there and we continue eating some yummy food.

The sushi chef there, Jorge, was a blast and provided some great entertainment. We did, however, fire him from being able to make food suggestions when he recommended a dish that we THOUGHT was a dessert but somehow included raw egg as a topping.

Gross...to say the least. Right about this time Claudia walks in and informs us that there is a "crime scene" going on outside the restaurant. Like a train wreck, we obviously flock to the nearest window to check out what is happening. The streets are roped off, there are cop cars everywhere and apparently the SWAT team is on their way. Awesome! Now I feel completely safe.

Our group wanted to leave but, did I mention that my car is parked in an area where the streets are shut down? Yeah, apparently there was a guy on the roof of the building across the street and they shut down all the blocks around it, including the area we were at and where we were parked.

So we decide to try to move to a bar a little further away from the comotion so we have to sneak out the side and go the opposite direction from the police. It's a good thing I had a few drinks in me because otherwise I NEVER would have had the guts to walk outside being that close to a man with a gun.

We end up on the rooftop (yeah I know we are idiots) of another place a block away. We slowly start seeing snipers showing up on the rooftops of all of the surrounding buildings while the SWAT team congregates on the street.

By this time I'm so DONE with being out there and want to go home but can't leave. Everyone is advising us not to try to go somewhere but as one of the guys with us proceeds to get way too drunk to even stand up by himself, suddenly everyone is okay with leaving :)

We had a hell of a time getting the drunk guy back to his hotel and then trying to navigate to our cars when ALL the streets are shut down was a great task too. I finally get home around midnight and 3 hours later I'm watching the news and the guy with the gun is STILL on that rooftop. What a night! I'm so mentally exhausted today. Sorry about the quality of the pics but my phone was all I had available.

The Crazies

2009-04-07T20:44:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is, but I think I attract all the crazy people...and the seem to be coming in large dozes these days. I mostly encounter them in my travels but occasionally it happens in my job as well.

For those of you that don't know what my day job is, I work for the State Bar of Texas in the Minority Affairs Department. Lawyers have to take a certain number of legal ed credits to keep their license current and we plan the conferences that they attend to earn that credit. So I work with hotels, caterers and other vendors to plan these events. Many of our conferences have networking activities like golf tournaments, spa days, casino parties, etc. so it's actually a lot more fun that it sounds. The event planning side is fun, the working with lawyers side is not always so great. Most of them are great, but you definitely encounter some interesting characters in the legal field.

Today I received very odd call from an inmate...that's right, he's IN JAIL! And was calling to discuss a letter he is so very sure he sent to my department. Apparently he could tell I was not completely concerned with the issues he wanted to speak about because at one point he yelled at me saying, "This is a very important issue." He then went on to let me in on his conspiracy theory that the entire jail is in on. It's pretty tough to tactfully end a conversation with someone who completely lacks reason.

Another recent encounter I had with a "crazy" was a recent plane trip. I love Southwest because you can sit anywhere you want but there's a downside to everything. Right after take off the man sitting in my row blurts out, "So you wanna get drunk?" I could tell he was well on his way already. I went on to have some simple small talk with him and the next thing I know, he's sharing the intimate details of his sister's eating disorder...WHAT? Who says that type of stuff to a complete stranger?

I will say though, for as many crazies that I've met out there, I've met just as many really cool people on the road...all of which keep things interesting :)

San Diego Classic Day 2

2009-04-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Day 2 was a good day for me. I won both my matches and am now in the money...yay!

I played Heather Lloyd in the first round that day. I got off to a good 5-0 lead and then we got put on a shot-clock, like all matches are this venue. I think I started to make more offensive decisions and traded games back and forth until I eventually won 9-4.

Next up I played Liz Cole from the Seattle area who had an impressive first round victory over Melissa Little. During our lag we discovered that our table had some ridiculous rolls on it. The TD and staff tried to adjust the table for about 15 minutes before finally giving up and advising up "just don't slow roll anything." Okay, fair enough. I don't remember a lot of details other than I did feel much more comfortable during this match, getting used to the tables a bit more now and I won 9-5.

Unfortunately and fortunately I now have to play my roommate this morning. It sucks that we are both playing well and someone has to be knocked out this round, but on the plus side, at least one of us is now guarenteed 17th - 24th, so I guess it could be worse.

One interesting match from Day 2 was Jennifer Barretta vs. Radamaker (I don't remember her first name). They both played pretty solid thoughout the entire match and it eventually came to hill-hill. Jennifer had a very controlled out towards the end of the rack and had a tester on the 9-ball. Jennifer made a great shot, sunk the 9-ball and her opponent shakes her hand congradulating her, then a few rails later, the cue ball slowly creeps towards the corner pocket, almost hangs up then falls into the pocket. Many fans were disappointed that she didn't push the issue of the concession but from the shot time I've known Jennifer, she's far too good of a sport to want to take a win like that.

I'll try to get some pics today and post more about day 3 tonight.

San Diego Classic Day 1

2009-04-02T23:08:00.001-07:00

This venue is great. It's located up in the mountains with beautiful weather and an outlet mall almost attached to the casino. Unfortunately, there's only room for 6 tables in the tournament arena so matches are being rushed, many resulting to shot-clocks.

Luckily, I drew the 6:00pm round which is right after the break so the late matches had time to catch up during the breaks and there was no need for a shot clock on my match. However, I also drew Ga Young Kim first round, not so lucky for me. In my usually peptalk, Shane stressed to me that I needed to be shooting all day to prepare and get my mind in the right place...he obviously doesn't understand what the WPBA formats are like. The matches are run back-to-back and there are only 2 practice tables with priority going to the 12 players that are playing in the next round. So playing all day was not really an option.

I did get to shoot for about 3 hours prior to my match and felt pretty good going into it. I took the first game and had some chances in the next few but my speed control was off a bit, not terribly but just enough to mean big consequences. I played a few bad safes early in the match and all of a sudden I'm down 8-2. She has a pretty fast pace and I was definitely letting that throw me off. So I tried to slow down my play a little bit, take my time more and make more defensive decisions. The highlight (for me anyway) was the game I won by 3-foul. The last safe was not so stellar but it turned out okay. I lost the match, of course, but I didn't feel all that bad about how I played.

There were lots of interesting matches today: a hill-hill thriller where Jennifer Chen beat Kelly Fisher and Jasmin lost first round to a local qualifier. Tomorrow morning I play Heather Lloyd (or Pulford, not sure what her official name is right now) which should be fun. She's from my tour so I've played her many times and know her game well. The local military base, Mira Mar, has asked for the women to go visit the base and play against the guys there so Nicole and I might go by there tomorrow night for a tournament they have. A lot of the soldiers have been here at the tournament supporting the tour. I'll keep you guys posted with more matches and fun stories from the weekend. There are already some fun ones but I'm waaay too tired right now to do them justice :)

April Fools

2009-03-31T20:49:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking about blogging for awhile now and haven't quite made my blog page look the way I want it to yet. So I kept putting it off and putting it off but now I actually have something fun to talk about and share with everyone so I decided that there is no better time than now. I'll be posting on here as often as I can, and hope I can amuse some of my friends and readers.

For my first entry, I thought I should clear something up. Shane and I thought it would be fun to play a joke on all of our pool friends for April Fools. Half of our friends are always asking him when he's going to pop the question and the other half are scared him having a girlfriend will change his pool career. So we decided we would scare and amuse everyone with an engagement announcement. To our surprise, word spread like wildfire and I have to admit that our little joke got a little bit carried away.

We are not really engaged, Shane and I are extremely happy with the relationship we have but are not by any means going to rush anything. We love and care about each other and do all we can to make the long distance and hectic schedules work for us. We are really touched by all the nice words and good wishes everyone sent us. It's great to know how much everyone supports us. We had to let a few people in on our joke, especially when Shane's grandfather contacted me expressing his support of our decisions. He was very understanding when Shane explained the joke to him. I'm really sorry if our joke has offended anyone, I promise it was meant in good fun.

I'm off to San Diego in the morning, Thanks everyone for being such good sports about this :)