What a great tournament!! It was held in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The Billiards Expo. was going on at the same time, as was a pro 9-ball tournament, the amateur open, and a ton of other events. I'm currently on the Board for the Artistic Pool & Trick Shot Association (APTSA) and I helped run this tournament. I had almost no time to myself during the tournament, but what a great time I had!!
The balls were Aramith Pro Cup TV balls, the cloth was Simonis, the chalk was Blue Diamond and the tables? Well... the tables were Diamond and they played beautifully... however... the pockets were PRO CUT!!!!! For those of you out there that are just learning this sport, regular pool tables have corner pockets that two balls plus a space the size of a pinky finger fit into. Pro cut pockets don't even fit the two balls!! VERY TIGHT! It's one thing to shoot 9-ball on a pro cut pocketed table... just don't cheat the pocket.. but when you're ripping a ball down the table and trying to hit it into the corner with the cue ball on the fly... UUUGGHH!!!! :)
Actually, the above shot is called a wing shot and we have one chance to shoot seven of them in competition - I made 3 of the 7... not all that terrible considering!! I believe Bruce Barthelette made 6, ugh, the 'Big Guy' strikes again!
In Artistic Pool our tournaments are split up into different disciplines - Trick & Fancy, Prop/Novelty/Special Arts, Stroke, Bank/Kick, Draw, Follow, Jump, and Masse. In each discipline we shoot five shots with increasing difficultly and we get three attempts at each shot. For a player to have a perfect discipline they need to make all five shots in the discipline on the first attempt. This has never been done.... until the 2008 Masters Tournament!!! Andy 'The Magic Man' Segal did it in the Jump discipline, and I was there to see it! It was truly unreal!
I had a great time at the tournament and this was also Stefan 'The Governor" Mendrick's first professional tournament (he just happens to be lucky enough to be married to me!) He came in 16th! Just out of the money! Everyone better look out for him - he's coming for a title!
