Special Guests

Toasti is back in Florida and has been practicing and working out a lot since his arrival. Four !!! Straight Pool tournaments are coming up in the next two month and I am very excited about that. The Lucasi Hybrid Invitational Classic here in Jax first, then the European Championship in Willingen/Germany, next the New Jersey State Straight Pool Championship in Parsippany/New Jersey and finally the World Straight Pool Championship in East Brunswick/New Jersey. Time for some serious Straight Pool practice...

Yesterday I had some very special guests visiting me here at the crazy Dome, Jeanette Lee and Rolando Aravena.

In February at his farewell party at Amsterdam Billiards in NY I told my friend Rolando I would be one of the first to visit him in his new home. Back then I didn't know that he would be the one to visit ME first.



I had my table recovered by the Billiard Factory, Jacksonville. Great job ! I'm all ready for some crazy highruns... LOL

Fulda !

I know it has been a while but I simply enjoyed my given time in Germany. Fortunately I spent a lot of time with my coach/friend/psycho-uncle Michael Wahl. He always finds something about my game.


"Thorsten, you changed your stance. Thorsten, you twist your wrist and come out with your ellbow. Thorsten, you set up your bridge to much to the left on certain shots and more. So, that's what we were working on. Take a look at his "desk" during a typical hour with him




Twice we drove to south of our state in Hessen to spend half a day practicing there with the youth selection team in the nice club of Astoria Walldorf. It also gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of good old friends. The following week this youth group came to Fulda for an eight hour workshop every day. Some very talented young kids and all of them a lot of fun.



For all of you who don't know one of the best custom cue makers, here he is - Michael Vollmer from Rohrbach. I used to play his cue for many years. For example I won the World 9-Ball Championship, the BCA Open and ran my 404 in straight pool with his piece of art. He is celebrating his 15th anniversary this year and made an especially brutal monster cue. Check it out on his website...
On the picture in the middle you see my old beloved Vollmer Cue !

www.vollmercue.de

What is Germany without it's fantastic food ? The first thing I did when I arrived was to eat a schnitzel with green sauce and potatoes in Frankfurt with my friends Wolfgang and Carola. This should be symptomatic for my Germany trip. I basically ate every hour. Half way through my stay I told my mom "Okay mom, from tomorrow on I have to be on a diet. Only salats, vegetables, fruits and healthy stuff." She nodded and the next day she said: "Thorsten, I have potatoe dumplings in a bacon sauce." I could not resist and ate three of them...



When you live in the States for so long and come back after 1 1/2 years you see your city with different eyes. For the first time I realized how beautiful my tiny little Fulda is. Even an ordinary street with trees seems so unique and picturesque. Here a bunch of pictures of Fulda !









One of my personal highlights was, of course my 29th birthday on July 14th. I took my friends to dinner in a very traditional German restaurant on the evening of the 13th. Afterwards we went to the trendy Havanna cocktailbar where we celebrated into my 29th. As prophesied I had my very first German beer at midnight. More food battles on the 14th with family of course !



But every good thing comes to an end. And my visit was limited. With a crying eye I had to leave my Fulda, but I know I will return on August 6th ! Summary: I spent time with my family and friends, had some quality practice with my coach Michael, got a new tip on my cue, grew another grey hair, got physically back in shape and ate too much good good food. Can't beat that !

Back to the roots...

After 1 1/2 years of Germany abstinence I finally returned to my home town Fulda. Well, actually I was here for Christmas and my mommy´s birthday last year, but without counting that, it has really been that long...

I have two weeks here in Fulda, were everything (Pool) started for me in 1992. I will spend some time with my family and friends, celebrate my birthday on the 14th, having my very first German beer and go back to the roots by practicing and working out with my coach and mentor Michael Wahl.



Now I realized how beautiful Fulda is. Like one of those snow globe cities you shake and just stare at. So cute, small and pretty.
My mission is to take a lot of pictures and post them on here, so the whole world can get an impression of this wonderful place, German culture, food, architecture and my loved ones...

I will also write some lines about my tournament in Qatar, but in the meantime I will enjoy home for a little bit.

There is no place like home...

Update

Finally after all the travelling I had some quality time to spent in Florida. I signed up at a new gym here in Jacksonville where I started working out again. I have been practicing a lot with my new powerful Lucasi Hybrid Cue and enjoyed the Florida sun, the beach, the food (after weeks of eating soup) and visited Charlie and friends in Orlando (watched Iron Man and loved it). Soon I will be travelling again to compete in multiple events around the globe. And in July right before my birthday I get to go to Germany after more than one year of absence (excluding five days Christmas visit). I miss Germany, my family, my friends and I can't wait to come home. But for now: "work before pleasure"...



All my friends know how much of a Dream Theater fan I am. Well, super lucky me I was able to buy two first row balcony center tickets two days prior to their concert at Hard Rock Live in Orlando May 31st. Had a super rockin evening !
YOUR GUYS ARE ASOLUTELY AWESOME !!!







Here are my upcoming events:

June 8th - 14th Generation Pool Championship/BCA Trade Show in Charlotte/NC
June 20 - 25th Philippine 10-Ball Tour in Puerto Princesa, Palawan / Philippines
June 29 - July 5th Qatar World 9-Ball Open in Qatar / United Arab Emirates
July 6th Germany !!!!!!! (soon to be European Soccer Champions :-)

Documentation coming soon...

My Next Events

As some of you might know, I relocated myself back to Jacksonville, Florida. For quite some time now I have been house shopping which is very exciting for me and I could not update my blog as frequently. On Wednesday I will be on the road again for some serious tournament action...

Here is my schedule for the next few weeks:

April 23rd - April 27th Desert Shoot Out, Phoenix/Arizona
April 28th - May 6th Korea International Championships, Seoul/Korea
May 7th - May 11th Philippine Pool Tour, Manila/Philippines
May 12th - May 18th 10-Ball Championship, Las Vegas/Nevada
May 20th - May 21st Pool School, Jacksonville/Florida

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.