The Box Game

Hello everyone!  Occasionally, I like to make up pool games for fun and as a practice aid.  One of these games I call, The Box Game.  It's pretty easy and will help you with position play.

Arguably, the best position (in most cases) to be on the table is in the middle of the table.  Obviously, is some instances, the middle of the table isn't going to work out for some shots, but most of the time, the middle of the table is a good place to be.  So this game will help you with position play to the middle of the table.

As with most of my games I create, it can be played either alone or with multiple players.

For solo practice.  Rack all the balls like you would for 8-ball, order of the balls doesn't matter.

Break the balls like you would for 8-ball.  Spot any balls pocketed.  If you leave the cue ball in the middle of the table in the blue box as indicated on Figure 1 (see below), give yourself 2 points.  If the cue ball ends up outside the blue box, but still contained within the red box (see Figure 2 below), then give yourself 1 point.  The goal here is to break the balls with a good spread, leaving the cue ball in the middle of the table to have a good shot on the remaining balls.

For each ball pocketed after the break, if the cue ball ends up in the red box after coming to rest, give yourself 1 point.  If the ball is pocketed and comes to rest in the blue box, give yourself 2 points.

The maximum score is 32 (15 balls x 2pts = 30 + 2 bonus pts for leaving cue ball in blue box after break = 32pts)


For multiple players.  Rack all the balls like you would for 8-ball, order of the balls doesn't matter.

Player 1 breaks the balls as in 8-ball.  Spot any balls pocketed.  If Player 1 pockets a ball, their turn continues after any pocketed balls are spotted.  If Player 1 leaves the cue ball in the middle of the table in the blue box as indicated on Figure 1 (see below) after the break, give them 2 points.  If the cue ball ends up outside the blue box, but still contained within the red box (see Figure 2 below) after the break, then give them 1 point.

For each ball pocketed after the break, if the cue ball ends up in the red box after coming to rest, give the shooter 1 point.  If the ball is pocketed and comes to rest in the blue box, give the shooter 2 points.

Player 1 continues shooting until a miss occurs.  After a miss, the next player shoots until they miss or all the balls have been pocketed.

The player with the highest score wins that round.  An alternative could be to play similar to 14.1, such as, play to 100, 150, or any number.

The maximum score is 32 (15 balls x 2pts = 30 + 2 bonus pts for leaving cue ball in blue box after break = 32pts)

Figure 1. The Inner Box.  Box is formed by drawing a line from the diamonds closest to the pockets on both the ends and sides of the table.

Figure 2.  The Outer Box.  Box is formed by drawing a line from the diamonds closest to the pockets on the end rails and the middle diamonds on the side rails.

*Note:  If half or more of the ball appears to be across the line, it is considered inside the box.

Inaugural Scotty Townsend

If you didn't know Scotty Townsend, there's a good chance you have at least heard the name.  He was a larger than life pool player and legend.  I had heard so many tales of Scotty Townsend while playing pool in North Louisiana that I wasn't sure he was even real.  Until the one day he walked into a pool room in Ruston, Louisiana.  Shenanigan's was the name of the place, no longer in business in Ruston.  The owner knew Scotty and we practically begged him to call Scotty to come up there...and he did.

Tragically, Scotty was killed while riding his motorcycle.  Being from around the Monroe/West Monroe area, The Arena Billiards in West Monroe held the Inaugural Scotty Townsend Memorial Tournament March 13-19, 2017.  There was a HUGE turnout!!

There were some big names that showed up to the tournament including:

Shane Van Boening
Dennis Orcollo
Jeremy Jones
Sky Woodward
Warren Kiamco
Billy Thorpe
Charlie Bryant


One Pocket ($1,000 entry with $5,000 added to the Calcutta)

1st - Billy Thorpe
2nd - Shane Van Boening
3rd - Evan Lunda
4th - Charlie Bryant

10-Ball Ring Game ($100 entry)

1st - Dennis Orcollo
2nd - Warren Kiamco
3rd - Johann Gonzales Chua
4th - Joshua Roberts

Open 9-Ball ($75 entry, $25 Green Fee)

1st - Dennis Orcollo
2nd - Sky Woodward
3rd - Ramil Gallego
4th - Gary Abood


Here are some pics I took during the 9-Ball tournament.

Shane Van Boening warming up.

Warren Kiamco playing right in front of where I was sitting.

Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant.  Skylar Woodward is just behind him in the b/w shirt.

Want to get rich? Don't play pool.

Ok, so my title of this post isn't necessarily true.  There are some pool players who I would consider, by my salary anyway, rich.  They are doing pretty well for themselves.  But why aren't professional pool players making millions of dollars like pro football or baseball players?

I read an interesting article not long ago where the author was explaining why professional pool players don't make the kind of money that other athletes make and it made a lot of sense.  I wish I could find the article again, but I'll try to remember what it said.

According to the article, the reason that professional pool players now don't make lots of money was that back at the start of mainstream sports on television, TV deals were made with sports like baseball, football, basketball, etc. to broadcast them to a huge audience.  Then, of course, because of the viewership, commercial slots became huge because of the massive amount of people watching them.

Ok, you are probably thinking, but sitting in front of a TV watching pool would be boring to probably the majority of people.  You may be right, but how exciting is it to watch a pro baseball game when both pitchers are striking out batters and it's the bottom of the 6th inning and neither team has scored yet?  I guess you could argue that it's exciting waiting for that crack of the bat to send the ball over the outfield wall, but baseball, at least to me, is fairly boring to watch on tv, but yet, those players (some of them) are making MILLIONS of dollars.  Advertising, merchandise, those are the keys.

So what does professional pool need?  It needs a miracle at this point.  Professional pool got left behind years ago.  Imagine if pool were marketed like pro football or basketball.  Pool needs a revival.

In my opinion, what needs to happen to professional pool is almost a complete overhaul, at least in terms of broadcasting, marketing, and excitement.  Is pool exciting to watch for fans of the sport?  Absolutely.  Two top players playing for a big payday in a tournament or challenge match hill-hill, give me some of that!  Could it be tweaked to be more exciting?  I believe it can.

Here's a final thought.  I don't know how to fix pool so that the players can get paid, but here's an idea.  What if there were a dedicated outlet for pool.  What I mean by this is what if there were an all billiards channel on satellite or Netflix.  I'd pay to watch quality billiard broadcasts.  I'd pay to watch some of the greatest pool and billiard players in the world battle for a tournament title.  Make this happen!

The smoky pool room

March 7-8 Sidepocket Billiards in Shreveport hosted their annual Open 9-ball Championship.  I decided to go over there to watch, but not play in the tournament as I haven't played in a tournament in quite a while.  So my friend and I drove over there the day before the tournament started so he could get a feel for the tables and see who was there.  I was also interested in seeing which pro players might show up.  Johnny Archer had come to the previous tournament (and won it) back in October, I believe.  Skyler Woodward was there along with a few other names I've heard in big tournaments.

We walked in and it was like somebody had set a big pile of wet leaves on fire.  The smoke was BAD.

Now I don't mind a little smoke, hey, if you choose to smoke, that's your business, but when it's so thick that I can barely see across the room, that's too much for me.  5 minutes in there and I felt like I was at risk for lung cancer.

I think it's pretty clear with all the research done that smoking is bad for you and second hand smoke equally bad if not worse.  Many of establishments I've been to over the years allowed smoking, but NONE as bad as this place.  I will not go back there.  Ever.

It was disappointing too, because it's a fine establishment.  Good size place, lots of tables (mainly bar tables and two 9-footers), great food, etc.  But the smoke...

Many places now don't allow smoking, which I feel is a good thing.  I know some smokers that don't even like all the smoke.  It gets in your clothes, hair, hell, I even smelled the smoke on my leather belt...days after I left.

I feel it would just be better for pool in general if places did not allow smoking inside.  Smoky pool rooms just add to the negativity that pool has accumulated over the years.  Time to fix that and get more people interested in shooting some pool.

2014 Mosconi Cup Results

Well, another Mosconi Cup has come and gone...to team Europe, again.  Being a US citizen, I had hoped for a different outcome given the fact that Team USA retooled this year and had a stronger team, in my opinion, than in years past.  Unfortunately, I did not get to watch this year's event.  I did see some video clips on YouTube and the environment there looked outright hostile.  The Europeans really get behind their players.

Although Team USA lost again, I feel as though this year's team was much better than in year's past.  The European team over the last few years has taken the Mosconi Cup very seriously by forming the team months early, practicing together, spending time together, and becoming a team focused on winning.  This is something the USA team didn't do, usually throwing the team together weeks before and never spending time together or practicing...and it showed.

This year, Team USA selected Mark Wilson as the team Captain and he handpicked eight players.  The eight potential players were:

Shane Van Boening *
John Schmidt *
Corey Deuel *
Brandon Shuff
Justin Hall *
Oscar Dominguez
Justin Bergman *
Jeremy Sossei

* 2014 Mosconi Cup team members

Team USA had a tough task ahead in this year's Mosconi Cup.  Team Europe had been dominating, winning the last 5 in a row and the last 7 of 8 Mosconi Cup tournaments.  Also adding to the fact that Team USA took a whole new approach to the 2014 Mosconi Cup, they had to travel to Blackpool, England to play on the Europeans' home turf.  Following, last year's drubbing  11-2 loss by Team Europe, Team USA had nowhere to go but up.

In the hostile environment of Blackpool, Team USA started Day 1 pretty well, ending the day with a final matchup of Shane Van Boening vs. Darren Appleton and a chance to take a one point advantage.  Darren ruined those hopes with a 5-3 victory, putting the European team ahead 3-2 at the close of the first day's matches.

Team USA started Day 2 on a high note, tying the score at 3 each, but Team Europe charged ahead to 6-3, winning 3 matches in a row before Appleton/Gray fell in the last match of the day to Deuel/Van Boening, ending Day 2 with a score of 6-4 in favor of Team Europe.

Day 3 started off with a European win to make the score 7-4.  Justin Hall beat Nikos Ekononmopoulos 5-3 to get back to within 2 points, but Team Europe was too strong and won the next 2 matches to pull ahead 9-5.

It was over quickly for Team USA on Day 4 as Team Europe only needed 2 wins to claim the 2014 Mosconi Cup and they cleaned it up in the first 2 matches.  Darren Appleton defeated Shane Van Boening 5-2 and Nikos Ekonomopoulos also defeated Shane Van Boening by the same score to once again claim the Mosconi Cup for Team Europe.

Although Team USA lost by 6 points, there were some positives in my mind.

1.  We actually formed a team vs. previous years where we just threw a team together at the last minute.
2.  We had a non-playing Captain, which I feel is important to actually have time to properly form a team, schedule practices, etc.
3.  We didn't lose by 9 points like last year.
4.  We added youth, which in time could grow as a team and hopefully win.
5.  We play next year in LAS VEGAS!!  

Hopefully this team will be able to stay together for the 2015 event, which will be held on US soil and should provide the advantage to Team USA.

We'll get them in 2015!!!

Coming on strong...Skyler Woodward

If you haven't already heard the name, let me introduce you to Skyler Woodward.  Skyler, according to his Facebook fan page, is 21 years old and is from Ledbetter, Kentucky.  I've been hearing his name more and more lately as he is starting to rack up top 5 finishes left and right.  Starting in January 2014 at the Derby City Classic, he has continued to get hot.  At the Derby City Classic, he placed pretty low in the 9-Ball Banks division at 65th, but placed 13th in the One Pocket tournament.  He won the Bank Pool Ring Game, taking home $6,000 for that win alone.

The next month, February 24 - March 2, he placed 5th in the US Bar Box Championship in Reno, Nevada, and took 3rd in the 9-Ball division.  But he was just getting warmed up...

In March 2014 he placed 5th in the Big Tyme Billiards One Pocket tournament and took home the top prize in the 9-Ball tournament ($4,000).  Later that month, he played in the White Diamond Billiards annual tournament in Lafayette, Louisiana, placing 7th.

In a unique event, Skyler took on Jesse Bowman in Wisconsin June 13 - 14 for a 9-Ball race to 100 event for $20,000!!  After the first night, Skyler was up by just 1 rack, 50-49.  On day 2, after it was all over, Skyler came out on top 100-82.  $20,000!!

July saw Skyler play in the 2014 BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships...he won it.  Rounding out the top 5 were Charlie Bryant, Oscar Dominguez, Dennis Hatch, and Greg Harada, Jr.  Stiff competition!

Lastly, Skyler just won the Smokin' Aces Bar Box Tournament...undefeated, I might add, held August 16-17, in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.  Key to this win was defeating Shane Van Boening, not once, but twice!!

I predict we'll be seeing a lot of Skyler in the future!

If you would like to keep up with Skyler, you can follow his Facebook fan page.

Pool is dying in America. Can it make a comeback?

     It's easy to see that over the last few decades pool in America has been on the decline.  I personally can think of several places where I have played pool that are now closed.  You don't see pool on tv anymore.  I used to faithfully check the tv listings to see when pool was going to be on ESPN or ESPN2 and even record them on VHS.  A media format that has gained steam since broadband internet, live streaming over the web, seems to be the future of pool events, but TAR closed it's production, due to presumably lack of viewers.  Apparently snooker is broadcast on tv in Europe and people watch it.  So what has caused the decline in the US?

     In the 40's, 50's, and 60's, pool was thriving.  Large cities had (and probably still have a few) famous pool halls where the greats such as Ralph Greenleaf, Willie Mosconi, Eddie Taylor, and Willie Hoppe played.  Pool seemed to be classy back then.  All the old photographs you see show these great pool players in suits, sure, that's how they dressed back then, but it gave pool a more elegant feel.  After the movie, The Hustler, pool was probably at it's peak.  Towards the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I feel that pool halls became places where the gamblers, criminal types, and seedier people hung out and they lost the elegance and nostalgia.  Not all the pool halls had these types of people, but I believe the perception was there.  Pool halls weren't somewhere you would go to take the kids or a date for an entertaining afternoon of pool.  They were to be avoided.

     Also, I believe part of the decline has been technology.  Before cell phones and the internet, guys that traveled around playing pool, like most of the greats did, could walk into a place and if nobody knew them either win the tournament or clean the place out playing for money.  There are several books out now that chronicle the life of some of these great pool players.  I'm currently reading a book about Danny Diliberto and his life on the road.  It's interesting reading about this age of pool that will never be again.

     Good pool players today can't walk into a pool hall without being recognized or recorded and put on YouTube.  Going on a road trip like they used to do back in the golden age of pool is tough.  Everything is more expensive.  Food, gas, hotel not to mention if you are recognized, not many people will play you for massive amounts of money.  Makes it hard to make a living playing pool on the road these days.  So where does that leave the guys that play pool really well?  How do they make money?  They either play in tournaments, challenge matches that are set up by folks like TAR, which is now shut down, Accu Stats, or they give up a lot of weight because everybody now knows them thanks to the internet age.  You might ask, how has that added to the decline in pool in America?  Well, why would you want to go on the road if you can't make any money?    So I believe there has been a decline in the non-pro great pool players due to the fact they can't go on the road and make lots of money.  They are relegated to playing locally or going to a few large tournaments if they can afford the entry, trip there, and hotel.

     Can pool make a comeback?  I think it can, but it's going to take a lot of work.  Organizations like the American Pool Players Association and the BCA are making it happen.  Mike Sigel is trying to start a pool league that looks interesting.  I see pictures from the big amateur tournaments and it looks like there are literally thousands of people at those events, so the amateur side seems pretty well off.  I think the professional side needs help.  The men need a professional billiard association that regularly holds events that pay well.  The women professional players (and men) need to have more events and more live streaming via the internet so people can watch.

     There also needs to be more interest in watching pool.  I think the Mosconi Cup event could be a way to do this.  USA vs. Europe, I mean, what better way to get behind pool in America than watching YOUR team of the best American players compete against Europe's best.  Marketing needs to happen to pump up this match and have it broadcast, if nothing else on a pay-per-view cable or satellite channel.  I'm hoping to be able to watch some of this year's Mosconi Cup online.

     Pool can make a comeback, so get out there and play some pool!!