Recent content by sjm

Keep up the good work.

I quite like SAS but know where you are coming from. It seems that the role of everyone on his show First Take is to worship him, and that's a shame because some of his regular guests are pretty darn good as sports analysts. A good example is NBA analyst Brian Windhorst, who is consistently...

Of course they know there will be savers! But there's not much they can do about it so, like most event producers, they will look the other way.

This is great. For what it's worth, I've tended to favor top heavy payouts, even though this may be a bit over the top. Make winning really special. To put the prize money in perspective, only seven pool players have career earnings that exceed the $1,500,000 first prize on offer here. May...

Toby was a great player, one of the best for the cash. Perhaps on a par with Wade Crane or CJ Wiley, but certainly not with a Buddy or a Parica. Toby was still a very tough out even in the mid-1990s, beating Rempe at the Florida Flare Up (a PBT event in Ft Lauderdale) in about 1995. He was a...

Pretty bad effort by the spectator here. This is not terribly uncommon. Spectators that rarely attend events don't always understand that when you are in a shooter's line of sight, you must make a much greater effort to stay quiet and still than on other shots. I recall how a cell phone went...

Yes, the prize fund is big at Buffalos. So what? You have argued that WNT should schedule around Buffalos and I can't see any reason they should. Historically, some events in American WPA sanctioned tours (such as PBT and UPA) had date protection, but I'd guess that no independent event has...

Wow. While some have suggested that WNT and Predator should do their best to avoid scheduling clashes with each other, asking the major event producers in pool to schedule around an independent one-pocket event is a bit much. As we saw, there were a few that played both events. The world pool...

I failed to mention that there was a junior event at the UK Open. I didn't get to watch much of it, but I've always admired Matchroom for its continuing commitment to giving the juniors some nice events in which to play. Thanks, Matchroom.

As a sidenote, Johan Ruijsink was at the event. I believe he arrived on day four, by which time just three Americans remained in Styer, Verner and Hohmann. By day five, all three of them had been eliminated. I wonder just how much scouting for Team USA he was able to manage.

Until next time, my friend!

Thanks to you and Maha for your kind words. The joy that pool has always brought me is, of course, reward enough.

Of course, you are right about this. As a group, the top 10 are walking away with most of the money and the middle of the road pro player (perhaps Fargo 790) is not walking away with much after expenses.

Sounds like we've lost a good one. Condolences to his family and friends.

Something I left out was that I had a chat lasting nearly half an hour with snooker crossover Gary Wilson on Day 3 of the event. He is a congenial, engaging fellow and could hardly be a better representative for our sport. Sadly, he was among several that caught Filler in dead stroke, but his...