All the previous post were from some time ago but I'll just update a little story about Shane at the Viking Championships in Atlanta.
This was the first time I ever had the opportunity to see Shane and had never heard of him before I was at this tournament. I had just finished watching him put a brand new wax job on Gabe Owen and was truly impressed with his play. A friend of mine came over to me and asked me if I might be interested in putting a young player into the Texas Hold-Em ring game they were having later that night. They already had 4 entries and had room for one more. First I wanted to know who were the four already entered and he told me they were Larry Nevel, John Schmidt, Corey Duel and another I can't recall. I asked who he wanted to put in and he said it was Shane Van Boening. The entry fee was $500 but I thought we had a good chance so we put him in. The table was fast and had extremely tight pockets. As we watched the game progress, I think Larry Nevel was the first one out and the chip count was about even. Another player bought the dust and it was down to Shane, Corey and John. One interesting thing I had observed was, that as usually happens in a ring game, players would stand around the table waiting for their turn at the table. But, unlike other ring games, when Shane came to the table for his turn, the others seemed to find a seat. I couldn't help but chuckle at that. My wife and I were keeping a record of the chip count at out table and at one point Shane was down to one chip and he came over to the table to see what the count was. I told him what the other players had and that he was down to his last chip, giving him only one more game if he had lost the game they were playing. He looked at us and said in his quiet demenior, "Don't Worry" ! LOL ..... Yeah, right, it wasn't his $500 that put him in the game. hehe ..... Moments later, Shane won that game and then put Cory Duel out and it was down to Shane and John Schmidt (just recently off a big US Open win). For the next hour of so, it was a back and forth battle, with one player having to win the match by a margin of five games. Finally, John was all in and shot a pretty good safety at Shane. I thought it was going to go back to another see-saw battle but Shane made a remarkable kick shot and a even more remarkable and very difficult run out to win the match. The prize was $2,000. We paid the table time, tipped the rack boy, gave Shane his share and my friend and I split the left overs and became Shane Van Boening fans forever. Good Shooting Shane !!!!!!!
I remember telling my wife as we headed back home to our small Western Carolina pool room, "I wish I had a kid like that to take on the road again". It was my vision of the sequell to "The Color Of Money".
The pool world hasn't seen the last of this kid. He loves the game and that's what it takes to be a champion. Your time is comming Shane and good luck to you !
..... but im up in FT. Collins just to kill some time..... Ill be in Atlanta next month..
) just to say I did. In retrospect, I would have played him even up just for the experience.
