Jack Colavita Memorial New Jersey State Straight Pool Championship

Hi Straight Pool Lovers,

I am in Parsippany, right here at beautiful Comet Billiards. We are just about to start the 6th edition of the Jack Colavita Memorial New Jersey State Straight Pool Championship.

Many great players have shown up, such as Tony Robles, Danny Barouty, Jonathan Smith, Mike Davis, Tom Walter and many more, including me ;-)
The tables are playing great. I just ran a 130 balls in practice and I am sure we will see some great Straight Pool matches with many high runs during the event.

We were supposed to play with 16 players, but Comet owner Bill Haley gave Jim Gottier from New York City an extra spot, so that we are playing a 32 player chart with a lot of bye's in the first round.
And that's why I am not playing tonight. I have to wait for the Mike Davis versus Ed Hodan match to finish. I am going to meet the winner tomorrow.

I am gonna use my iPhone to post updates about the event here on my blog. Check it out !

10.45pm

- Tony Robles came very close winning the 100$ bonus for the first 100ball run of the tournament. He was on 93 when he played a great combination to open up the stack but the cueball found it's way through all the balls into the corner pocket. No luck...

- Featured matches of this round as far as I can see are Mike Davis against Ed Hodan and Danny Barouty against Steve Lilis. Both matches very close so far...

I wanna mention that I love this pool room. Great ambiance, great tables, very clean and so friendly people. There is even a free buffet here tonight ! Pool fans in the area - drive your car to Comet Billiards and check this tournament out live !
Anybody else - read my updates ! ;-)

Saturday, 3pm

Sorry, it was kind of late yesterday and I couldn't post the last results of the day. We had to drive back to Manhattan and there was crazy traffic going into the city. Didn't get to sleep before 3am in the morning.

Well, Ed Hodan beat Mike Davis so my first opponent was Ed. I started out with some good runs but silly mistakes at the end of each run and lead the match 143:7. Ed came back with a 83 and 24 until I finally escaped with 150:114.

My next game against Jonathan Smith was simple. He broke and I ran the 150 balls and out unfinished ;-) whoo-hoo...

The four players on the winners side playing at 5pm

Barouty vs Robles

Walter vs Hohmann

On the one loss side playing right now

The winner of Bill Horn and Ed Hodan plays Carmen Lombardo

Jim Gottier vs Bob Madenjian

Don Polo vs Jonathan Smith

Winner of Steve Lillis and Mike Davis vs Ed Deska

Saturday 8.00pm

I have to admit - I am a little frustrated. After a flawless performance earlier my last match was a desaster. Walter played quite well, finished the match with a 46ball run. But I took too many wrong decision, too many terrible safeties and some weird misses. Anyway, I am still alive...

Tony Robles just beat Danny Barouty and is gonna meet Walter in the winner side final tomorrow.

Unfortunately we are running a little late. I was supposed to play at 8pm but the match to determine my opponent hasn't even started yet...

Saturday, 9pm

In the next match against Jim Gottier, I had calmed down and put the recent lost behind. Jim scratched on the break, and I countered with an intentional foul. Soon we had 2 fouls each. In a safety attempt Jim left me a shot while the cue ball was buried in the pack. From there I ran 152 and out! More to report tomorrow!

Sunday

I made a nice comeback against Danny Barouty. Danny only needed one more rack but he missed on an open table. I ran 89 and out from there.

In the semifinal I got my revenge with Tom Walter who had just lost to Tony Robles. The match was medium okay, I had some medium runs but no problem winning 150:46.

Final Robles vs. Hohmann

The final took more than four hours. Tony started with a 80+ run but scratched in the side. I was just getting into my rhythm when I had a skid on a side pocket shot. From there the match went back and forth. I was the first player to reach 150 so the match was extended to 200 points. A stupid position error forced me to go for another break shot than I originally had planned. I was trying to stun the cueball into position for the breakshot but missed by a mile. Tony closed the match with a nice 63 ball run.

The first place for me would have been the icing on the cake. I had a 150 and out, another 152 and out (both caught on DVD), plus several nice high runs but I just could'nt keep it up in the end. I am still happy with my overall performance and I won the bonus for the first 100ball run of the tournament and the high run of the tournament. The week of fitness and pool has paid off I think. Tony deserved the win and I am really happy for him. Just have to make sure he buys me dinner next week ;-)

Thorsten
Sent from my iPhone

This past week...

Had a great week with some good practice. I am still not 100% happy with my game but I am doing the right things. As you can see from the image below I have been doing a lot of physical activities. I am feeling much better and it helps my game a lot. The Yoga on wednesday really got me - I hadnt eaten all day and was still a little sore from the running in the morning. I really pushed myself and afterwards I had to vomit. Everybody was making fun of me...

I was practicing some drills, mostly working on my stroke and playing a lot of Straight Pool. Three poolrooms I wanna mention - Amsterdam Billiards, Broadway Billiards, both in Manhattan and CueBar in Bayside.

Looking forward to this week full of pool and work out. The weather supposed to be nice in New York for a few days and at the end of the week I have the Jack Colavita Memorial in Parsippany / New Jersey.

Going to talk some pool very soon...

Error 404 - lucky error

By the way...

The 404 Error that occurs when you try to go to my profile section is one of the most common errors on the internet. Try to open a page that doesn't exist (for example www.thorstenhohmann.com/cantplaystraightpool) and you will notice the big 404 error.

So, why did JP put it on there?

404 is also my highrun in straight pool and after completing the IPT season end of 2006 I had completed 404 racks... lucky number; thanks Roy :-)
Soon my profile section will be filled anyway...

Cut Shots Exercise

Let me show you a typical shot Mr Hohmann misses a lot. Too often Mr Hohmann concluded. Mr Hohmann noticed it and started working on it. Here it is:




Instruction

Start from Cueball position A and cut ball number one in the corner - ten times without missing. Continue with ball number two, three, etc.

Next is Cueball position B and cut ball number five, six, etc...

Switch sides...

Note

Usually when I haven't been playing for a while I start with Straight Pool. It's a great way to get into your rhythm. After I ran a couple of 100+ runs I continue with other drills and exercises.

By the way, I decided to play in next weeks New Jersey State Straight Pool Championships in Parsippany. I won the event in 2003 and have very good memories. So, I guess I will be up for a lot of Straight Pool this weekend and next week before the 9-Ball is going to take over again...

Weekend with Mickey and Co....

Had a fabolous weekend in Orlando. My butt has a big purple bruise from all the hardcore slides at the waterparks, but it was so much fun. Luciene, Justin, Gloria, Larry, James and I went to Disney's MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon and Wet and Wild. Gloria has super connections, so we had free access and the fastpass for some of the parks :-) And because pictures say more than thousand words I have uploaded some here...

Share my pain:

Ok, that was the fun part. I'm back in New York City to get ready for the remaining tournaments this year. I haven't been performing well almost the entire year (which really sucks big time) except my European Championship 9-Ball win earlier this year (which meant a lot to me). It's tough to play 100% all the time, especially after winning such a historical event like the IPT in Vegas last year. But I will give my very best to come back again. My coach Michael promised me (despite the fact that he is afraid of flying and never been on a plane before) to come to New York City on October 3rd. I am really looking forward. Working with him always gives me a boost.

If there is anyone out there who wants to meet the probably best pool instructor in the world, or maybe even wants a lesson, contact me.

I have started "my mission" already. Went running this morning along the Hudson River. I will document my training and talk about it more on my blog this month. I thought I will pick one day and describe in detail what I am doing. A day in a life of a professional pool player I would call it. I will share some of the pool exercises that I am doing as well as my physical activities. I have some secrets to reveal and whether you are just interested in my personal training or you want some tips for your own, you should not miss out to visit my blog.

Florida life...

I like coming back to Jacksonville. It's so peaceful and relaxing. I went to the beach this morning running. My heart rate monitor watch says:

Duration: 50minutes,
581calories burned; 25% fat.
I averaged 169beats per minute, my high was 182. It was hot and I think I got a little sunburn. I miss running on the beach. Central Park and the Riverside area in New York are nice too, but nothing beats the beach...

After getting my car fixed on the other side of the city I had lunch with my good friend Shane Sinnot and then returned to the "Dome".



I will talk more about the Dome and it's inmate's soon. A crazy place everyone should get to know ! Beware of Eightball !

Gonna head to Bankshots now to practice with Neil Fujiwara for a bit. My laundry is done, my bags are packed. I am all ready to spend the weekend in Orlando. Mickey here I come... :-)

Say hello to thorstenhohmann.com

I am so excited. After months of hard work I am sooo proud to finally present my new website.

My french esprit supérieur Jean-Philippe Parmentier from Paris has exceeded my wildest expectations and created a dream of a pool player website. Along with crazy mastermind "Mr Cuetable" Wei Chao we have spent the last several days (and nights) in New York City to give the site the last touch.



And here it is...voila...http://www.thorstenhohmann.com/

I hope it will serve pool players and fans around the world in many ways...

At first of course I wanna let you know who I am, where I'm coming from and where I am going... check out the large biography section with tons of pictures, the video gallery or my upcoming tournaments !

The focus I definately wanna put on my blog. My friend William Fuentes from New York City has inspired me to start a blog. This guy is so creative and consistent, a rolemodel for all bloggers. Find out - www.williamfuentes.com

My goal is to talk on a regular basis about my life as a professional pool player, stories that happen to me on the road and the latest gossip :-)


I hope not only to represent myself well with this site but also our beautiful sport in general. Hit me with some feedback. Let me know what you like, what you don't like or what in your opinion is missing.