A collection of the best writing in pool.

Welcome to the 22nd Edition of PoolSynergy!

I’m so thrilled to be hosting this edition! I can’t believe we’re only a couple months away from our two year anniversary.

I hope everyone out there has been enjoying your summer. And speaking of summer, since that’s traditionally off-peak for pool, I wanted to keep this month’s topic pretty simple. As a result, you’re in for a real treat. I love the variety of submissions we got this month!

The theme: “10 Things”

Basically, list 10 things or reasons for something pool-related, e.g. your 10 favorite ???, 10 reasons why you ???, 10 tips on ???, 10 random pool thoughts???, essentially, a list of 10 anything pool-related.

It’s always a good PS month when the number of contributors are in the double digits, especially when we can welcome some newbies. This month, we are treated with 20 talented writers, and some I think you’ll recognize. *Our first seven are first-time PS’ers.

So, without further adieu, here are this month’s contributors…
(click on photo for summary)

1. Mark *

2. Suzanne *

3. Frank *

4. Marc *

5. Tim *

6. Ivan *

7. Jennifer *

8. Ace

9. Jarno

10. Markus

11. Mike

12. Melinda

13. Michael

14. Jake

15. Gail

16. Mike

17. Gary

18. Samm (me)

19. Alison

20. John

1. Mark Greenhaw

Welcome our first new contributor! Mark began playing in Birmingham, Alabama in 2009 and has since also introduced his loving wife of 20+ years to our world. Next will be his daughters. Mark’s been blogging about his experiences since December 2010 at Pool Padawan. “Padawan” is somewhat of a Jedi rookie which makes “Pool Padawan” quite an appropriate title for his blog.

Mark’s 10: Ten Things I’ve Learned Since Beginning

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2. Suzanne Smith

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3. Frank T. Dawg

Let’s welcome our four-legged friend Frank, the PoolDawg mascot. He’s been to more big events than most pool players. Since one of my favorite things to do is eat, Frank joined the bandwagon and listed ten of the places I’ve taken him for grub during our travels.

Frank’s 10: 10 Places Samm’s Taken me for Chow

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4. Marc Vidal Claramunt

My sweet husband came to my rescue this month when one of our writers backed out at the last minute. I suppose I could’ve just changed the title to “19 Writers. 10 Things.” but it just didn’t quite have the same ring to it. Well, when you’re dealing with 19 different lives with 19 different things going on, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Marc threw this quick list together for us and believe me, the man has seen a lot of pool.

Marc’s 10: The Ten Best 9/10-Ball Players in the World Today

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5. Tim “Trick Shot Tim” Chin

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6. Ivan Lee

We’re graced by the presence of the one and only , Mr. Ivan Lee himself. In the 11th hour, I asked Ivan, Man of the Decade and President of Simonis Cloth (my personal cloth of choice), to send me a quick top ten list so I could complete my circle of 20. Within minutes, I had about 15 items. We whittled them down to 10 but it wasn’t easy. Maybe this will help you make a decision the next time you get your table recovered.

Ivan’s 10: 10 Great Reasons to Choose Simonis Cloth

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7. Jennifer Barretta

Another newcomer that requires no introduction is the “9mm” herself, Jennifer Barretta. The uber talented professional player, body builder, model, actress, and mother has graciously agreed to contribute this month with a clever topic. Since 2009, she’s been giving us a little peek into her world through her blog as she cleverly puts it, “eviscerating my soul for your reading pleasure.”

Jen’s 10: 10 Ways to tell the level of a player without ever seeing them hit a ball

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8. Ace Toscano

We are joined once again by our Ace in the hole. As he puts it, “I’m not one of those ‘give me lemons, I’ll give you lemonade’ kind of guys,” so his list of ten is quite appropriate. Though he’s an infrequent contributor, his blog is always up to date and I hope we will be seeing more of him in the future.

Ace’s 10: Ten Poolroom Things That Make Me Grumble

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9. Jarno Virtanen

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10. Markus Hofstatter

Everyone’s favorite Austrian photographer, Markus Hofstatter has attended and photographed just about every big pool event around the world. This month, he’s sharing some of those great memories with us.

Markus’s 10: 10 Most Exciting Pool Moments

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11. Mike Feiman

Mike’s 10: 10 Things I Love / Hate About Pool

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12. Melinda Bailey

We’re so proud to have on board the lovely Melinda Bailey and her BD’s runner-up for Best Blog of 2010. Though I tried to keep the topic light, Melinda admitted that she struggled to decide on something to write about. I like what she ended up going with. I’m sure we could all use a bit of this advice to ourselves.

Melinda’s 10: The Top Ten Things She Wish She Knew 10-15 years ago

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13. Michael Reddick

Michael Reddick, our official BD’s Best Blog of 2010 award winner also went through a few topics before finally deciding on his list for this month. If you’ve been following his journey through his transformation and progress as a player, you’ll understand why his blog received such acclaim.

Michael’s 10: 10 Quick Ways to Improve Your Game

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14. R.A. “Jake” Dyer

No matter how many different takes we get on a particular subject, we can always count on Jake to remind us of where it all came from. This month is no different. He reviews a list of 10 key players from before our times that were each significant in their own way.

Jak’s 10: 10 Important Dead Guys

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15. Gail Glazebrook

I always love Gail’s stylings! Her witty posts keep us entertained and add a certain spice to the synergy pot each month. I’m sure we can all relate to her list of 10 things this month. I know I can!

Gail’s 10: My Top 10 Donkey Moments

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16. Mike Fieldhammer

“I waded through my collection and plucked out 10 good ones that have meaning to me,” said Mike for his post this month.

Mike’s 10: Top 10 Favorite Pool Photographs

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17. Gary Frerking

What the heck do Kung Fu Panda II, Forrest Gump, Eddie Van Halen shredding through the Eruption solo, and Tom Cruise’s character in Top Gun have to do with billiards? Find out in Gary’s article. Hope I didn’t give away too much. His posts are always worth reading and this one is no exception. What a great topic!

Gary’s 10: 10 Ways to Quiet the Mind

Gary will also be hosting our special two-year anniversary edition in October, When Sharks Attack. If you’re interested in contributing, let me know.

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18. Samm (Diep) Vidal

I must have an obsession with “10 things.” Find out why in my post.

My 10: 100 Things

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19. Alison Fischer

Alison Fischer, contributor for NYCGrind.com can be seen at many of the big events and works tirelessly with the rest of the staff to cover our world of pool through their eyes. They can all be truly admired for the work they do and would also be considered some great ambassadors for our sport themselves.

Alison’s 10: Top 10 Best Player Ambassadors for the Sport of Pool

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20. John Biddle

John Biddle has had his hands full recently with all the additions to his family so we’re glad whenever he’s able to get away and join us for the synergy. This month, he shows us 10 shots involving the use of throw, caroms, billiards, rail-first, and more. There’s sure to be something to try here.

John’s 10: 10 Useful (and Fun) Shots

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John will also be hosting next month’s edition of PoolSynergy with his theme: Practice: What Works for You? Don’t miss it! If you’d like to contribute, hit me up.

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• Chalk It Up, The Proper Way
• The Big Break Theory
• Product Review – The Ultimate Pool Challenge
• The Bridge To Victory
• The Anatomy of a Pool Match
• Product Review – Zone Pool
• Consistency Begins with 1-2-3
• Tried and True (Tip 1 of 2)
• Tried and True (Tip 2 of 2)
• The Eyes Have It
• The Power of the Stop Shot
• The Power of the Stop Shot (Part 2)
• Happy Feet
• 10 Resolutions to Improve Your Pool Game
• Alignment, My Dear
• Dealing with Performance Anxiety
• Can’t Read My Poker Face

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me with Frank, the PoolDawg mascot

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PoolDawg Pillowfight

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We spent all of Thursday and Friday morning hanging out with the Stadum family in their beautiful home in Rugby, ND. I swear, I’m so lucky! I have stayed at some of THE BEST guest rooms across the country! Theirs is no exception!

We got some fun photos with Frank and V-dog while waiting for Mike at the shop.

Frank meets the Garden Gnome

Frank meets the Garden Gnome

Frank meets the Garden Gnome

Vegas wants to play too

Say "Cheese!" everybody

Vegas, stay!

me and my boy

me in my b-day shirt

Friday, we had to stop through the Sprint store in Fargo so Mike could pick up his new phone. Apparently, everyone else was picking up their new phones too which caused the computer systems to crash nationwide. Oops.

See Mike enter Sprint store

See Mike get his new phone

Thankfully, we had a cool place to hang out at Fargo Billiards. While I was there, I played some Fargo Pool with Mike Page, the owner of Fargo Billiards and creator of Fargo, the game. We didn’t get to finish our 10 innings but it’s a super fun game and I can’t wait to play more of it.

I also played some one-pocket with Rory, their GM and one of the instructors there. Rory is a phenomenal player with a beautiful stroke. He’s won all kinds of stuff regionally and nationally. He’s a super nice guy and he was a sport for giving me 11-5. Believe me, I needed at least that against him.

We played a handful of games. Aside from hitting a few snooker balls at Fatboy’s house and playing a couple games before my clinic on Tuesday night, I hadn’t seriously hit a pool ball since the end of my singles journey in Vegas three weeks prior. My heart just hasn’t really been in it. It really felt great though. I couldn’t believe how little I had lost.

Though I only won one game against Rory, I finished strong. It was very exciting. I only needed one ball and he need the final two. I sold out one but he didn’t have a shot at his final ball. This is what he left me and I three-railed it in with speed. OMG! It was so cool! I don’t even play this game and I totally couldn’t believe it went, but it did.

3-railer

What a great note to end on. The phone was ready and we hit the road. We made a quick pit stop to Alexandria to visit his ‘folks’ before making our way Minneapolis. It’s nice to finally unpack for more than a week.

Vegas loves road trips. I’m not sure how long we’ll be here but I do know that I’ll be doing lots of cookin’ and relaxin’ (in between all the massive amounts of writing and working I’m catching up on).

my boys in the car

Hope you’re all enjoying your summer!

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I have to admit, this year’s stint was much less focused on competing and a little more focused on relaxing, managing my time better, spending time with new & old friends, and doing some great work. Truthfully, there will be plenty to time for great pool and more tournaments in the future!

This year in Vegas…

• We drove 1,547 miles round trip in 23.5 hours
• I took 275 photos, 135 of which included Frank
• We stayed 14 nights, 13 of which were in a kick-a$$ poolside suite
• I played 10 total pool matches between 3 events (that’s pretty bad, actually)
• I had 3 double-doubles from In-n-Out
• I tried 5 new restaurants (some were better than others)
• I got about 5 hours of poolside sun (3 of which were with J-Bar at the Encore – that was super fun!)
• I got 1 wicked tan
• I sold 2 Inspiration Bracelets
• I received 1 beautiful new custom Jim Murnak case
• I conducted 5 player interviews for AzBilliards.com (Sarah Rousey, Johnny Archer, Allen Hopkins, Allison Fisher, and Ralf Souquet)
• I did 11 “Samm’s on the Case” player equipment profile interviews (Sylver Ochoa, Jennifer Barretta, Mika Immonen, Thomas Engert, Liz Ford, Raj Hundal, Rodney Morris, Tony Robles, Gail Glazebrook, Alison Fischer, and Rafael Martinez)

Aurora to Las Vegas to Aurora

Aurora to Las Vegas

Las Vegas to Aurora

Early in the tourney, we got to sneak away to our favorite little secret restaurant with one of our favorite pool couples.

Dinner with Gail & Tony

I grabbed some dim sum with my NW friends.

Dan Louie, me, and Stan T. at dim sum

I also got to stop by the LV Cue Club with Summer for Julie‘s elegant service. Everything was very nicely done.

In Loving Memory of Julie Nogiec

Mike‘s team snapped off the Open out of nearly 700 teams. That was pretty exciting!

"Who Needs A Billiard Coach?!" (Jared Bailey, Dustin Morris, Jesse Engel, Brian Haffner, and Mike Fieldhammer)

Frank with the plaque

We caught Earl “The Pearl” on a good day.

Earl and me

Earl and Mike

We decided to stay an extra day after the big team win. It was EXTREMELY cold that day.

poor lifeguard

We got to visit my friend Steve at the Beef Jerky Store. He’s so great!

Beef Jerky Store

The trip would not have been complete without one final stop for sushi at Todai‘s.

mmmmmm.... sushi.....

And, we saved the best for last. What trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to Fatboy’s pad. I love the guy! He’s a good egg, for sure!

Snooker with Fatboy

Click here for the complete non-Frank photos from Vegas

Here are the Frank photos:

Frank-ventures in Vegas

Frank attends the 2010 BCAPL Nationals
Las Vegas, Nevada
May 12-22, 2010

102 Photos

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