To Steve Lipsky

Hi Bob. Wow, that was in 1999 I think. Maybe 2000. Good memory!

Yes, I lost to Jason Kirkwood in the finals. Two straight sets; ironically, the first set we played was the first set I lost in the whole tournament. I missed a ball at like 1-1 and knew that was it.

Jason was the only guy I played in that tournament who I felt knew more about a bar-table than all the other players. He's a tremendous player on any equipment, but it's a rare day he'll get beat on a bar table. In addition to being very talented, he plays an incredibly smart game.

He and Norm Wines were trading the title for this tournament, year to year, around this time. I guess I was lucky that I didn't run into Norm in my draw.

Anyway, to answer your question, I neither won the set, nor should I have. There were a couple of guys in that tournament I did not want to run into, and I got lucky enough to only have to face one of them (and in the finals).

No plans to play that tournament again, Bob. Valley Forge is a great place for cue collectors and gamblers; I was never one and am no longer the other, so now it's basically just a low-paying tournament with very expensive rooms .

Thanks for the memory!


- Steve

Steve Lipsky said:

Jason was the only guy I played in that tournament who I felt knew more about a bar-table than all the other players. He's a tremendous player on any equipment, but it's a rare day he'll get beat on a bar table. In addition to being very talented, he plays an incredibly smart game.

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The kid is a monster. This last year, in the BCA GrandMasters tourney at the Riv, he loses his first match, then proceeds to go thru the entire field back to the finals against Appleton. Wins the first set and loses 7-5 or 7-6 in the second. All on no sleep, after being up all night gambling. Amazing.

To top it off, in the first match of that tournament, he was playing Rich Cunningham and I was playing Bobby Pickle on the next table. I had a particularly tough out, and got thru it. As I went back to mark the score, Jason was sitting watching Rich shoot, he leans over and says "Nice out Robert". I just said thanks, but it was just one of those moments that made me feel all warm and fuzzy.