I thought his home town was Towson, Md??????
Hometown right now, perhaps, but not where he was born/raised, that latter of which is Rochester, NY.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sigel
-Sean
I thought his home town was Towson, Md??????
I thought his home town was Towson, Md??????
Skippy,
There is a real good, strong APA Master's League in Frederick at All Star Billiards on Monday nights. You would enjoy the competition there. You will already know a lot of the good players there.
Joe
AZB is reporting that Mike will be the new house pro in Frederick (my neck of the woods). I've always had great respect and admiration for Mike's game. He was the best in the biz, when I was playing a lot.
I was curious if anyone has opinions on how he would be as a coach/instructor and as a house pro. Being a great player does not guarantee he would be "great" at either of those roles.
I look forward to hearing everyone's opinion.
Sorry RandyG. Irondequoit, NY is his original home. Northern suburb of Rochester. Grew up literally next door to my ex. Moved to Towson to learn cuemaking at Joss. Not absolutely sure of that though.
Lyn
By the way, Mike will be gone on a fishing trip most of July, but you can come by and meet him before or afte that trip.
I have taken private lessons from a number of pros, and I have learned more from Mike Sigel than any of them.
In fairness to those other pros, I have spent a lot more time with Mike than with the others. I arranged for Mike to do come clinics and private lessons in our area back in January 2010. We had 19 people for a straight pool clinic in Glen Burnie and several 9-ball and 8-ball clinics in pool halls around the Baltimore, Frederick area.
Thoughout this time, Mike and I got to be pretty good friends and he stayed with me and my wife at my home off and on for a few months in early 2010. Once he worked out a deal with Champion Billiards Sports Cafe in Frederick, he rented an apartment within a 5 minute drive of the pool hall.
I have read alot about Mike on the various forums and I realize that he can be arrogent and self centered, especially in the past. And also Mike is still very cocky about his pool game, he has really mellowed in other ways.
For example, a friend of mine, Donnie, is a SL 7 player who has followed Mike's career since the 1980's. One time, Donnie tried to get Mike to sign an autograph right before a match and Mike grouched at the him and refused to sign unless he would pay for it. As it turns out, some guy used to advise Mike to always charge for autographs and things. A few months back, Donnie told me that Sigel was a great player, but was extremely rude to him and his girlfriend...
I told Donnie that Mike had changed and I reintroduced them. Now, they have played pool together several times and they have even gone fishing together. Donnie said he can't believe how friendly Mike is now compared to before. And by the way, Mike will routinely sign photos and things for free now. I see him do it all of the time.
I asked Mike about his reputation. He said that he always felt that it was easier to beat someone if he wasn't buddy-buddy with them. Of course, this has changed now that Mike is semi-retired.
In regards to the actual pool insturction, I actively take lessons from Mike and we play a few times each week for fun. Last week, I played several straight pool matches with him, and was actually ahead of him briefly, until he got warmed up and ran 94 and out on me!
When you take a lesson with Mike, he has asks you to throw balls on the table and asks you to pocket balls. He first evaluates someone's preshot routine, stroke, etc.. When Mike started working with me, he said, "Your stroke is so choppy, if I had to watch it too much, it would put me in a mental hospital!" He even gave me the nickname "The Chopper". :grin:
But I have worked on my stroke and his "spinning drills' over the past few months and my game has picked up. Tuesday night, I played a sl 6 in 9-ball in a 46 to 46 race and won 46 - 27. I also beat a Sl 7 that I had never beaten before. I feel like I now know what to work on.
But it is a lot more than stroke. Mike showed me how to play position the way Irving Crane showed him. Mike hits low on the cue ball on about 80% of his shots and will often come back 2 rails instead of hitting high and going one rail. He can spend 3 or 4 lessons with you just going through drills on various ways to play positon.
To me, the most helpful thing he has showed me so far is what Mike called, "the slow draw drill."
Two years ago, I spent 5 hours playing pool with Mike Massey and I has him coach me on how to do the power draw. Keep the cue level, follow through with a good stroke, etc..
But some of what Mike Sigel said was actually quite different than what Massey showed me. For example, Sigel believes that the cue should alwasy have a slight down angle on a good draw stroke. And he showed me that I was holding the cue too tight, not following through enough, and releasing my wrist too soon. We spend 90 minutes one night with me doing the slow draw drill over and over on my table at my house. This one drill has helped my game more than anything. Mike says, " if you can stroke the ball in the slow draw drill, it will improve your stroke on all shots."
Also, someone in this forum made a comment that "Mike won't show up much and it won't last long". I can tell you that Mike is at Champions 5 days per week. He shows up at around 2:00 PM and stays until about 11:00 PM at night. As to whether it lasts long, that depends on how many lessons and clinics he can give. I know that he is really enjoying it right now, and he plans to do it for one year and see how it goes.
I could go on and on, but I feel like i am writing a book. If you really want to see what it is like, come by some Tuesday or Thursday evening in June and meet Mike. At least for the time being, Mike is playing 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool with anyone who asks... for free.
Two nights ago, he played one pocket for almost 2 hours with a SL 7 player who came to meet him. The guy was amazed at how good Mike is at one pocket. Mike was beating the guy 8 - 1 and 8 -2, scores like that.
By the way, Mike will be gone on a fishing trip most of July, but you can come by and meet him before or afte that trip.
Good shooting!
DUDE! I can't make it up that way to get a lesson from Mike Siegel but the LEAST you could do for us shut-ins is to give us the details on THE SLOW BALL DRILL. Come on, give it up. Explain what it is and the purpose behind it.
Thanks,
I have taken private lessons from a number of pros, and I have learned more from Mike Sigel than any of them.
DUDE! I can't make it up that way to get a lesson from Mike Siegel but the LEAST you could do for us shut-ins is to give us the details on THE SLOW BALL DRILL. Come on, give it up. Explain what it is and the purpose behind it.
Thanks,
Great overall post, Dan. I need to take some lessons from Mike. Is he available most of the time he is at Champions (based on availability, of course), or should I just email him to find out a good time? What is the hourly cost?
Joe
Another huge compliment to Mike Sigel came from most people's and mine favorite and best player of all time pick none other than Efren Reyes. Efren was doing commentary (very rare) with Jerry McWorter and Jerry was asking Efren questions during the match and one of the questions Jerry asked Efren was who was the toughest opponent he ever faced and Efren didn't hesitate saying "Mike Sigel was without question the toughest player he's faced". Coming from Efren that's quite a compliment about Mike. I own many many Accu-stats videos and to me nobody played better than Mike when he was in his glory days on the pro tour.........
James
Another huge compliment to Mike Sigel came from most people's and mine favorite and best player of all time pick none other than Efren Reyes. Efren was doing commentary (very rare) with Jerry McWorter and Jerry was asking Efren questions during the match and one of the questions Jerry asked Efren was who was the toughest opponent he ever faced and Efren didn't hesitate saying "Mike Sigel was without question the toughest player he's faced". Coming from Efren that's quite a compliment about Mike. I own many many Accu-stats videos and to me nobody played better than Mike when he was in his glory days on the pro tour.........
James
James, which accu-stats tape it that? I would like to get a copy.
People don't realize that MIke and Efren were good friends. Mike has visited Efren in the Philipines and Efren (along with 3 or 4 other pros) came to a cook-out at Mike's house in Orlando, Florida during the IPT days.
Mike said that he and Efren have played about 15 times and that Efren won the 1st time, once in the middle and the last time they played (IPT). So Mike has about 12 wins and 3 losses against Efren. Some of those were gambling, not all tournaments.
Mike has alot of respect for Efren and admires how he has kept his game strong even to this date. They are actually within one year of each other in age.
Hi all,
For whatever it's worth, I have been around Mike quite a bit lately and I can tell you that Champions could do no better in a house pro/instructor. In my opinion, he is a top notch instructor. He communicates extremely well and is able to articulate concepts in a way that makes it quick to absorb. He is also extremely observant and can find any player's achilles heel in no time....
I know he has been accused of being arrogant, but truth be told, in order to win as much as he has some ego has to come along with that. He is a true champion in my opinion. And a hell of a nice guy personally. Beyond that, his personality and stories alone can entertain people for hours.
Anyway, just my two cents- I know he will be a great asset at Champions and wish him all the best.
Megan Smith
Well, that is nice to know! Around the IPT times is was posted that he was going to give lessons and was charging $500 an hour! Glad to hear that he has come down to earth so others can learn from him!