3.20.2008

Snooker in Brazil

In one of my previous posts I was showing some pictures of my vacation in Brazil. Let me add this...

My girlfriend Luciene comes from Araraquara. A for Brazil small city in the countryside of Sao Paulo state. Most of you probably have never heard of this city before. I could not believe it when I found out that one of the best Brazilian Snooker players lives in that city and a friend of Luciene's mother knows him. What are the odds ? We arranged a meeting with Wagner Monteiro at Araraquara's private sports and recreational club "Clube 22 de Agosto".



Wagner who speaks fluent English has spent several month in England to learn more about the game, introduced me to the Brazilian version of snooker. It's really more related to snooker than it is to pool except the fact that it's mostly played on a pool-size table. The cut of the rails, the cloth and the balls are very similar to snooker.



Here are some of the rules:

The game is played with all the colored snookerballs but only one red ball. (instead all 15). The player with the most points in the end wins the frame.
The player who begins the match has to play a safety. (can not score, but also can not snooker his opponent)
Red counts one point, yellow two points, green three, etc...just like in snooker
A player doesn't necessarily have to shoot the red ball first. He can choose to play a colored ball first. However, if the player misses the shot, his opponent receives seven points.

@Wei... you need to make a snooker table version of cuetable...



I played Wagner a few frames and I picked up the rules and strategy fast. At one point I almost ran the whole table at once.




Gave a speech to the members of this very nice club. I mentioned that I wish to see a Brazilian player in one of the future World Pool Championships and International events to represent their country. I think I made a lot of friends and fans that night.







After the "little exhibition" we went to Wagner's house, who by the way won multiple Brazilian championships. He owns one of very few full-size snooker tables in Brazil and we played some snooker and "pool" matches, which was a lot of fun. We made two teams and Luciene's daddy made the winning shot for our team !



On top of that there is another great player that lives only one hour drive away from the city. His name is Miguel Costa and he represented Brazil in the World Games 2005 in Duisburg, Germany. I was there too. When Miguel found out that I was in the city he came to Araraquara and we played some snooker. Man, he can play...



I am sure I will be back soon. I see a lot of potential in Brazil and would love to see them play pool as well. For everyone who is interested... There is going to be a big tournament at Miguel's snooker salon in the beginning of April.

3.19.2008

Blatt Billiards NYC 85th anniversary party



Last night it was my pleasure to attend the opening party of Blatt Billiards 85th anniversary celebration. For the next two weeks Blatt Billiards will present the first of it's kind antique pool table, cue art and billiard memorabilia exhibition at The National Arts Club in Gramercy Park.



It was very interesting to walk through the museum and see all these collectibles about the history of billiards. I own a copy of Victor Stein's Billiard Encyclopedia, but to see his originals here was very exploratory.



I can advise everyone who lives in the New York area or has the loose cash to travel to come out here and check this rare collection out



Blatt Billiards has been manufacturer, engineer and supplier to some of the finest and most demanding furniture and design firms in the world. You can spend 60 000$ easily on a pooltable here and acquire a piece of art, which will last a lifetime



I had a lot of fun, met interesting people and saw some nice pieces of art. Congratulations to Blatt Billiards for 85 years of excellence !



3.17.2008

Super Billiards Expo Final Day

Shane van Boening once again impressed with rock-solid performance to claim another tournament victory on American soil over Shaun Wilkie in the final with 13:7.

1. Place Shane van Boening
2. Place Shaun Wilkie
3. Place Rodney Morris
4. Place Mika Immonen





Check out the new pool sports drink "Extreme Focus"



Some more pictures with my friends...



Wanna add this one on without any further comments...



Going to New York City for a couple days to visit my dentist Louis Pannullo and attend Blatt Billiards 85th anniversary party...


3.14.2008

Super Billiards Expo Day Two + Three

Wasn't my tournament. Again.

Just lost to my friend John Schmidt 4:10 and now have two days off. I will walk the Expo, take some pictures and post it here on my blog.

Well, usually I am the one taking all the pictures for my blog with the result that I'm almost never seen in my pictures. So I started walking the Expo hunting the stars down for a snapshot... Enjoy !







Bought two books which I am gonna start reading today. You can find my reviews soon here on my blog ;-)

"Running The Table" from L. Jon Wertheim about the life of
"Kid Delicious" Danny Basavich




From Bob Watson the beautiful title "Painting On Green Canvas"



Got my first autograph from upcoming ten year old superstar Taylor Reynolds :-)



With the weekend and all the amateur events starting the Expo is getting a bit busier...


More later...