Steve Mizerak Championship

I made my decision to go to Hollywood and participate in the Steve Mizerak Championship, the final tournament of the Seminole Florida Pro Tour only two days prior to the event. I had long skype conversations with Mika whether we should go or not. I finally found a good deal, a straight flight for a reasonable price. I also convinced Mika to give it a shot. Interestingly he was the one to kick me out of the tournament....he should buy me dinner at least now that I think about it...

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino is one of the most beautiful hotels I have stayed in. Located only 15minutes away from the Fort Lauderdale airport and 30 minutes from Miami beach. We had 83degrees Fahrenheit and I am looking back with a tear in my eye writing these lines...30degrees in New York City right now. I am freezing my butt off...

The arena, the Hard Rock Live hall with plenty of seating and 16 Diamond tables, a perfect venue for such an event. I wish more speactators would have shown up. I guess thats the major problem in pool. The organizers even provided the players with a nice lounge, comfortable chairs, free soda's and snacks.

The evening before the tournament there was a charity event with some sport celebrities. I could not make it but I heard it was nice and the Seminole's must have spent a lot of money on the buffet...

Stroke it ! Check out Tony's and Natalie's store !

The tournament was handled well by Kevin Pickard and Brenna Mello. The game was 10-Ball, race to 8, winner breaks.

I had a bye in the first round and then Angelina Paglia for my second match. I played horrible and she was supposed to beat me but I came through at the end. There were a bunch of girls participating and the Seminole's had added bonus money for the three best women finishers.

After another victory I had to face Mika next. I played well and beat him 8:4. My next match was with Nathan Rose and he didn't show up at first. Someone told him the wrong time so I was waiting for him to arrive. We started late, it wasn't my best match but I succeeded.

Final four on the winner side - wow - it has been a long time...

And then when I was just about to say: "Tap tap Thorsten. I am proud of you." - I dogged it.

I was having some problems with the tip of my cue and being too concerned I missed an easy 9-Ball in the first rack against Rodney. He cleared and ran the next three - score 0:4...

I made a good comeback with three runs on my side - score 4:4...

The match went back and forth with some mistakes on both sides. Rodney was the first to reach the hill but left me a shot. I cleared but came dry on the break at 7:7.

Twice Rodney missed position, at last he hooked himself, kicked but left me a shot at the 7-Ball. It was almost straight in with the cueball almost frozen to the rail. I was limited in my cueball control, made the 7-Ball, just passed the 8-Ball and ended up pretty straight on the 8-Ball with less than a chalk width distance (use page arrow to view 2 pages).



Usually the German pope would have made this shot with his scepter on one leg standing, singing a psalm in latin. But I rushed into the shot, happy that I wasn't tight up with the 8-Ball and.....fouled, by not even driving the ball to a rail.

Frustrated I conceded the match to Rodney, who thankful ended up winning the tournament...

In my last match I couldnt bounce back and saw Mika performing well against me.

One little thought I want to bring in here... Yes, I felt disappointed, angry with myself and frustrated. But you can always talk to me right after my match. I am very realistic and being to mad at myself and my environment won't change what just had happened. People say: "Well, you won't make the same mistake again." But I say: "No, I will make it again. It happened in the past and it will happen again." We are all humans and make mistakes. We just have to deal with it and accept it. I know I will celebrate great victories in the future. But I also know I will suffer from hard losses too. It's part of the game.

I know everybody is different. Some people you better leave alone for the rest of the day and thats fine. But if you see me dogging it in the future like a D+ player, just come over, put your arms around my shoulder and buy me a drink...
And in case I win another big title...let me buy you a drink...

I wanna take this opportunity to thank John DiTorro. He let me and Luciene stay in his room during the tournament. I saved a lot of money, it was super convenient and part of my little success. Also thanks to my new friend Hunter Lombardo. What a cool guy he is and talented. Hunter took us to his house in West Palm Beach and showed us around. We had a blast and I hope I can come back soon...

Here a few pics from my very first trip to Miami Beach. Thanks for the great day Neil and Monica !!!

The upcoming season has been scheduled already. I will try to play in as many Seminole Pro Tour stops as possible. Here is the schedule:



See you on tour...