The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #2371 - Fedor Gorst

00:00:01.000 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.

00:00:04.000 The Joe Rogan Experience.

00:00:06.000 Training by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.

00:00:12.000 Bro?

00:00:13.000 Yeah, it's a company called M Theory sent this to me.

00:00:16.000 And this was when Ephron Reyes snuck into America under the nickname Cesar Morales.

00:00:22.000 And won some big tournament at Reds, wherever that is.

00:00:22.000 Yeah.

00:00:26.000 Broly in Chicago?

00:00:27.000 I don't know.

00:00:28.000 Put the headphones on, dog.

00:00:29.000 Let's go.

00:00:30.000 I was like, you don't have to.

00:00:31.000 Or we could not have headphones.

00:00:33.000 Do they feel weird to you?

00:00:34.000 That's good.

00:00:34.000 No, no, no, that's good.

00:00:35.000 You okay?

00:00:36.000 It doesn't matter.

00:00:36.000 I don't care.

00:00:40.000 Right.

00:00:41.000 Dude, you came that close to being two year in a row US Open champion.

00:00:45.000 That fucking close.

00:00:46.000 Yeah.

00:00:47.000 How's today though?

00:00:48.000 I mean, I feel super tired because my schedule has been hectic lately.

00:00:52.000 Yeah.

00:00:52.000 You know, I played the world championships in Saudi where I also lost in the finals.

00:00:56.000 Did you play the Florida Open too?

00:00:58.000 Florida Open.

00:00:59.000 I played the tournament in between that.

00:01:00.000 So basically I played back to back to back to back four events.

00:01:03.000 Wow.

00:01:04.000 It's been over a month already.

00:01:07.000 You know, staying on the road, constantly playing.

00:01:09.000 Dude, this is the real good argument.

00:01:11.000 You're the best player in the world.

00:01:12.000 And if you're the best player in the world, I think you are.

00:01:14.000 You got my vote.

00:01:15.000 If you're the best pla player in the world today.

00:01:17.000 You're the best player of all time.

00:01:20.000 Well, I mean, it's really tough too.

00:01:22.000 A lot of old guys talk a lot of shit, but I'm just saying. 1.00

00:01:25.000 Always.

00:01:25.000 I mean, this guy on my shirt, he certainly gets the, as far as the greatest of all time, most achievements of all time, Effront, the Z shot, like all the crazy stuff that he could pull off with a cue ball.

00:01:35.000 Did you see the shot that I made recently?

00:01:37.000 Which one?

00:01:38.000 The three rail kick.

00:01:39.000 I did see that, yeah.

00:01:40.000 I mean, it is tougher.

00:01:42.000 It is a tougher kick.

00:01:44.000 It wasn't as, it wasn't as, you know, the situation wasn't like it was a hill hill that he played against Earl, you know, in the final.

00:01:51.000 So it's obviously much, much different.

00:01:56.000 environment.

00:01:57.000 But the kick that I made was sick.

00:01:59.000 It was pretty sick.

00:02:00.000 Well, you know what?

00:02:01.000 The Filipinos put kicking on the map, right? 1.00

00:02:03.000 Oh, for sure.

00:02:04.000 They're the best.

00:02:04.000 Efren, when he came over here, he changed the whole game.

00:02:07.000 Jose Perica was really good at it too.

00:02:09.000 Carlo Bialonau is the best kicker.

00:02:11.000 It's it's amazing.

00:02:11.000 So good.

00:02:13.000 Yeah, that's the one.

00:02:14.000 That's the one.

00:02:17.000 Good thing I have a filmmaker traveling with me everywhere filming me now.

00:02:21.000 That's a crazy shot.

00:02:22.000 Yeah, I was I was actually lost that match to Duong Kwak.

00:02:27.000 Almost made shape on the two wall two.

00:02:28.000 Yeah, that's what's horrible when you make an amazing shot and then lose the match..

00:02:33.000 Yeah.

00:02:34.000 That's how it goes.

00:02:35.000 Yeah, look, it's a crazy game.

00:02:37.000 And the game that you guys are playing right now, the reason why I said I think if you're the best player today, you're the best player of all time, because the conditions are very different.

00:02:45.000 For people who don't know, who don't play pool, okay?

00:02:48.000 If you're going to a regular bar and you're playing on like a bar table, those pockets might be five and a half inches.

00:02:55.000 Well, also in US people are playing on seven foot tables.

00:02:58.000 Yeah.

00:02:58.000 Whereas we play in a bar.

00:03:00.000 They're nine foot tables and the pockets are four inches.

00:03:00.000 Yeah.

00:03:00.000 Sure.

00:03:03.000 And so when you get two cue balls, you try to put them next to each other and try to stick, you can't even get close to sticking them in a four four inch pocket.

00:03:11.000 It's really tight conditions.

00:03:14.000 And I think there's better players now than I've ever seen in my life.

00:03:17.000 And I've been watching pool for 35 years and playing pool for 35 years.

00:03:21.000 I've never seen better players and play today.

00:03:23.000 And I think you're the best today.

00:03:25.000 So in my book, that makes you the best of all time.

00:03:28.000 Well, like you said, the conditions are completely different.

00:03:31.000 The game changed even in the last three years.

00:03:33.000 I think the game changed drastically.

00:03:35.000 Yeah.

00:03:36.000 You know, we went, we changed the breaking formats.

00:03:38.000 Used to be one ball on the spot with the Magic Rec, no three point rule.

00:03:42.000 So all the people at home that don't play pool go, what the fuck are they talking about?

00:03:46.000 We're talking about professional pool, ladies and gentlemen.

00:03:48.000 Yeah, yeah, we have all kinds of little rules.

00:03:48.000 Yeah.

00:03:51.000 Yeah.

00:03:52.000 The nine ball on the spot made a big difference, right?

00:03:55.000 Yeah, nine ball on the spot, break balls.

00:03:57.000 When you were showing me today how to break that way, I was like, oh, that's crazy.

00:03:57.000 Yeah.

00:04:02.000 Like you have to hit it with draw and you have to aim towards the back ball.

00:04:05.000 Like, wow.

00:04:06.000 Yeah, well, we can't really say that.

00:04:08.000 Yeah, too late.

00:04:08.000 Oh, yeah.

00:04:10.000 The others.

00:04:11.000 The others.

00:04:13.000 Yeah.

00:04:13.000 It's an insanely competitive game now.

00:04:16.000 And shout out to Matchroom, right?

00:04:18.000 Because Matchroom with DAZN, they've done an amazing job with boxing and a bunch of other sports.

00:04:24.000 But what they're doing with pool is crazy.

00:04:27.000 There's so many events and it's all over.

00:04:29.000 You can get it on the World Nine Ball Tour.

00:04:31.000 It's WNT.TV, right?

00:04:33.000 Yeah.

00:04:33.000 So they moved from Dozen to their subscription type platform.

00:04:39.000 Amazing.

00:04:40.000 It's amazing.

00:04:40.000 And then there's also their Matchroom Pool YouTube channel, which has tonnes of stuff on it for free.

00:04:45.000 Yeah.

00:04:46.000 They are elevating the game for sure.

00:04:47.000 And they are the reason why pool is where it is today versus where it was five years ago, I think.

00:04:52.000 Yeah, it's huge.

00:04:53.000 I have friends who send me videos now.

00:04:55.000 Like people just randomly find videos on TikTok or on Instagram, you know?

00:05:00.000 Pool is booming on social media.

00:05:02.000 And, you know, I do my own social media.

00:05:04.000 I have a filmmaker that follows me everywhere.

00:05:06.000 We, you know, try to film as much stuff.

00:05:07.000 It was very funny what you did in New York City or in Atlantic City rather when you went to that poolhole and you went under disguise.

00:05:13.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:05:13.000 Yeah.

00:05:14.000 That was Metron's idea.

00:05:15.000 I think it was pretty cheap budget.

00:05:17.000 We could do it a lot better, especially when we go to Asia, I think.

00:05:20.000 You know.

00:05:21.000 You can't sneak around any poolhole.

00:05:23.000 If you put me and make me look like a grandpa or something.

00:05:26.000 Okay.

00:05:27.000 Like you'd have to get into disguise.

00:05:29.000 Yeah.

00:05:30.000 Well, the disguises are really good today.

00:05:30.000 Yeah.

00:05:33.000 Have you ever seen those CIA disguises that they use?

00:05:35.000 Uh-uh.

00:05:36.000 So apparently – this is a story.

00:05:38.000 Apparently – and this was told to me by someone who I really trust.

00:05:42.000 Obama was having a meeting with someone in – And he's in the middle of having this meeting with someone who he's met before and had conversations with before.

00:05:55.000 And then they inform him, Mr. President, we just want to let you know this is not who you think you're talking to.

00:06:02.000 And we just wanted to demonstrate how good the special effects makeup is and masks are.

00:06:07.000 This is not that person.

00:06:09.000 And he was like, what?

00:06:10.000 Now, I haven't confirmed this.

00:06:12.000 I don't have Obama's number.

00:06:13.000 Well, I'm like, call him up and go, bro, is that real?

00:06:16.000 Yeah.

00:06:17.000 But I believe it's real.

00:06:18.000 Because I've seen up close, like really, like when Tony Hedgecliff does Kill Tony.

00:06:26.000 Sometimes they have makeup artists that dress people up and make them different people.

00:06:31.000 Like they did a Biden one and Kyle Dunigan played Elon Musk and I didn't even recognize him.

00:06:37.000 I was like, Who is this guy?

00:06:38.000 Like, This is this is this is weird guy, like acting weird.

00:06:41.000 And then like, That's Dunigan playing Elon Musk.

00:06:43.000 I was like, No way!

00:06:46.000 And right in front of him, I thought it was just some, it didn't look like Elon Musk.

00:06:49.000 It looked like a weird guy.

00:06:51.000 But it didn't look like him.

00:06:53.000 And it looked like a person.

00:06:54.000 It didn't look like a guy in makeup.

00:06:55.000 It didn't look like a mask.

00:06:56.000 It looked like a real person that just was weird looking.

00:06:59.000 I was like, This is crazy.

00:07:00.000 Yeah, that's what we should do.

00:07:01.000 And I think it's going to be really, really good if we do that in Asia, like Vietnam or Philippines.

00:07:05.000 You got to work on that voice though, son.

00:07:07.000 You Russia all day with that voice.

00:07:10.000 I know.

00:07:12.000 I can only be like an undercover, I don't know.

00:07:14.000 Yeah.

00:07:15.000 Somebody from.

00:07:16.000 And for people at home, how could he be the number one in the world if he just lost?

00:07:20.000 Aloysius Yap should be the number one in the world.

00:07:22.000 He should be the number one of all time.

00:07:25.000 It's like long races are really what's up.

00:07:28.000 Well, it's by the rankings.

00:07:30.000 By the rankings.

00:07:30.000 I'm number one.

00:07:31.000 And what we have now with Metroom, it's two years of prize money combined throughout all the tournaments.

00:07:37.000 But I think the real matches that you play where you really get to see.

00:07:40.000 who's the best.

00:07:41.000 And this is only for hardcore pool nerds.

00:07:45.000 The real ones, like the one you did with Shane, was like three days race to 40 each day.

00:07:50.000 120 games total.

00:07:52.000 Oh yeah.

00:07:53.000 That way, there's no questions.

00:07:55.000 No.

00:07:55.000 After three days and 120 games of pool, you know, possibly 239 games of pool.

00:08:04.000 That's how I almost won the first time we played.

00:08:06.000 Really?

00:08:07.000 I lost.

00:08:08.000 I lost the first time.

00:08:08.000 That's right.

00:08:09.000 I lost 120 to 116.

00:08:12.000 I was down and up, up and down.

00:08:15.000 And last day I was up by almost 15 games, I remember.

00:08:18.000 And he came back and beat me.

00:08:20.000 Yeah, it was super impressive.

00:08:22.000 But it was even more impressive you coming back the next year and steamrolling him.

00:08:26.000 Like you won by quite a few games.

00:08:27.000 How many did you win by?

00:08:30.000 By 42, I think.

00:08:32.000 42 games is crazy.

00:08:33.000 Yeah, that's correct.

00:08:34.000 20 to 78, I think that was a score.

00:08:37.000 And that was for Did you advertise how much that money was being gambled?

00:08:43.000 Well, we were advertising that was for 50, but it was a little bit more.

00:08:47.000 So you had a bunch of other people chumming in, throwing money in?

00:08:50.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:08:52.000 Well, myself included.

00:08:53.000 So you don't want to say the actual total?

00:08:56.000 I don't know.

00:08:57.000 So, okay.

00:08:57.000 Okay.

00:08:59.000 Are we allowed to?

00:09:00.000 I don't know.

00:09:00.000 I mean, unless you're lying to the IRS, which as a new citizen, I would say don't do that.

00:09:05.000 So, yeah, we'll play for fifty.

00:09:07.000 We'll play for fifty.

00:09:09.000 Oh, no.

00:09:10.000 You're going to get in trouble.

00:09:12.000 I don't think you were a citizen the last time you were here, right?

00:09:14.000 I'm not a citizen now.

00:09:15.000 I have a permanent residency in Ghana.

00:09:17.000 Okay.

00:09:18.000 What do you have to do to become a citizen?

00:09:20.000 I think you have to be a permanent resident for five years, and then you can apply if you follow certain rules.

00:09:26.000 Like you have to stay in the US for six out of six months of the year, out of the calendar year, each year.

00:09:31.000 Well, you better stay away from Home Depot, because those dudes are getting crazy.

00:09:34.000 They're snatching people up left and right.

00:09:34.000 Yeah.

00:09:36.000 Yeah.

00:09:37.000 No, I think I do everything right, you know, I pay my taxes.

00:09:37.000 Yeah.

00:09:40.000 I follow all the rules.

00:09:44.000 Well, you got to play that's weird that you if you're not a citizen, but still you get to play for the Mosconi Cup.

00:09:49.000 Well, Metroom Metroom changed the rules, you know, as soon as I got the green card and I wasn't able to play in any official tournaments back then.

00:09:49.000 That's kind of crazy.

00:09:56.000 Right, because you were a Russian. 0.77

00:09:58.000 Yeah.

00:09:59.000 So, the Which is really crazy.

00:10:01.000 It was really weird.

00:10:02.000 Yeah, when you think about it, even the first ban that we got as a Russian athlete happened because of hockey players.

00:10:09.000 The WADA, VADA, Anti Doping Association, they banned all the Russian athletes.

00:10:16.000 It doesn't matter what sport you're in.

00:10:18.000 What?

00:10:18.000 Yeah.

00:10:19.000 Really?

00:10:19.000 Yeah.

00:10:20.000 Oh, so it had nothing to do with the war?

00:10:22.000 The first one happened before the war, was 2018 or 2019, I think.

00:10:26.000 All Russian athletes competing in the war?

00:10:28.000 All Russian athletes competing everywhere.

00:10:30.000 It was everywhere.

00:10:31.000 We played the World Cup of Pool, I remember, in UK under No Flag.

00:10:36.000 But we were still able to compete.

00:10:37.000 Like, after the war, we were not allowed to compete anywhere.

00:10:40.000 Wow.

00:10:42.000 Wow.

00:10:43.000 You know what's interesting?

00:10:44.000 It never stopped the UFC.

00:10:46.000 Like, not only do Russian fighters fight in the UFC, but they're celebrated, no one cares.

00:10:51.000 Because they're not under the Olympic Committee, I think?

00:10:56.000 They're definitely not.

00:10:57.000 It's a professional sport.

00:10:58.000 Well, and that's what happened with Metroid too.

00:11:00.000 You know, it's a private company.

00:11:02.000 It's not a federation or association.

00:11:06.000 They're just a private company and they basically make their own rules.

00:11:09.000 I was just glad that they didn't make it political.

00:11:11.000 I'm like, do you think fucking this guy is out there causing trouble?

00:11:17.000 Like, he's just a fighter.

00:11:18.000 He's just a professional MMA fighter.

00:11:21.000 You know, this is what he does.

00:11:23.000 And let's think about that.

00:11:24.000 Let's not think about what these other people are doing that are in the same country as him.

00:11:29.000 Yeah.

00:11:29.000 It's not him.

00:11:30.000 So in some ways, the USA didn't care.

00:11:32.000 Like they let a bunch of, like for the entire time of the war, Ukrainian guys and Russian guys are fighting on the same card sometimes.

00:11:38.000 Yeah.

00:11:39.000 Yeah.

00:11:40.000 Well, I'm glad that just, you know, Metro went out of their own way to make an offer to me and say, you know, you can represent the United States.

00:11:48.000 And at the time, we were playing the US Open in Atlantic City two years ago.

00:11:52.000 Or was it, yeah, two years ago.

00:11:54.000 And the crowd is cheering for me.

00:11:55.000 You know, I'm living in the United States already.

00:11:58.000 Everybody's treating me like I'm one of their own.

00:12:01.000 Now it's obviously completely different.

00:12:02.000 You know, if you watched the US Open from last week, everybody's supporting me.

00:12:07.000 Everybody's cheering for me.

00:12:08.000 Everybody's used to me living here.

00:12:10.000 Cool thing about America is that it's a nation of immigrants.

00:12:14.000 It's like, you can come over here and just say, I'm American now.

00:12:16.000 And everyone's like, Okay.

00:12:18.000 Yeah.

00:12:19.000 Try that in Poland.

00:12:20.000 They're like, You're not Polish. 1.00

00:12:21.000 Get the fuck out of here.

00:12:22.000 Yeah.

00:12:23.000 Well, there's a lot of countries like that that are like, No, you're not one of us.

00:12:23.000 Yeah.

00:12:26.000 But America's like, we don't have a nationality.

00:12:30.000 We're all kinds of shit.

00:12:32.000 So anyone can come over here.

00:12:34.000 And if you do it the right way, we get super happy.

00:12:37.000 Yeah.

00:12:38.000 I think it's great.

00:12:38.000 And I'm really, really glad that people really welcomed you with the way they welcomed me.

00:12:44.000 Yeah.

00:12:45.000 Well, that's also the way you play.

00:12:46.000 You know, there's a thing in pool., it gets when people play a lot and are people really into pool, it's almost like that's the only thing that matters.

00:12:57.000 The only thing that matters is how good you play.

00:12:59.000 You know, there was a, do you ever read that book, McGurdy?

00:13:02.000 It was a Robert Burns book about a guy who lived during the depression who was a billiard hustler, traveled around the country.

00:13:10.000 There was a scene in it where they were looking at the television and Nixon was on TV and he goes, look at that guy, President of the United States and he can't make a ball.

00:13:21.000 Isn't that funny?

00:13:22.000 Because you and I know what that means.

00:13:25.000 Yeah.

00:13:26.000 Yeah, in the poo world, that really means something. 0.96

00:13:29.000 Like, if you can't play at all, like, it's a fucking president, you can't even play.

00:13:34.000 Like, it's real it's weird so if you come to america all that they care about is if you since it's a melting pot already and then it's like all they care about is how good you play and you play pretty good so far people just take in so far well you're playing better now than ever before and you're like 25 25 yeah come on man you're not even in your prime no yeah i think i'm not in my prime i think uh you know i'm

00:14:04.000 getting better every year i think so you were you the mass The match that you had with that Filipino gentleman before the match in the finals, what is that guy's name?

00:14:14.000 Michael?

00:14:15.000 Yeah.

00:14:15.000 That was Michael Bonner in quarter finals.

00:14:18.000 Quarter finals.

00:14:19.000 So in that match, I was watching some of those outs and I was like, Jesus, like, it doesn't get better pool than that, like four inch pockets, tight competition, a really good player, a lot of pressure, everybody's there, single elimination at that point.

00:14:19.000 Yeah.

00:14:36.000 And you're just getting out, man.

00:14:36.000 Yeah.

00:14:38.000 Yeah, the pressure, the pressure is really high.

00:14:40.000 I'm not gonna lie.

00:14:41.000 Sometimes, even, you can watch it on TV and you don't see the emotions.

00:14:45.000 Oh, yeah.

00:14:46.000 I'm sure.

00:14:48.000 Your bridge is shaking sometimes, your back hand is shaking sometimes, and you just got to, you got to manage it.

00:14:53.000 You just got to handle it.

00:14:54.000 Well, you have such a process when you play.

00:14:58.000 Like when I watch you set up for a ball, it's always uniform.

00:15:02.000 It's, it's, that's what I really enjoy watching when a guy is like every shot, it's like, some people find it boring.

00:15:13.000 Oh, those people are assholes.

00:15:14.000 Those people are assholes.

00:15:16.000 They think your style is boring.

00:15:18.000 You say it's like, you know, robotic.

00:15:20.000 They're all pussies. 0.99

00:15:21.000 They can eat shit.

00:15:22.000 Those guys, all they are is jealous.

00:15:24.000 That's all that is.

00:15:25.000 Everybody wants to play like that.

00:15:27.000 Everybody wants to play like that.

00:15:29.000 If they say'cause you play too good, it's not fun to watch, shut up.

00:15:33.000 Yeah.

00:15:33.000 I know.

00:15:34.000 You, that guy, whoever that guy is, if he says that, I don't want to listen to his opinion on anything.

00:15:38.000 I guarantee you he likes shows that suck.

00:15:42.000 You could get in his car and listen to his music, it probably sucks.

00:15:45.000 Probably.

00:15:46.000 How do you not like watching someone play perfect?

00:15:49.000 That's crazy.

00:15:51.000 Well, I'll have to agree.

00:15:53.000 It doesn't make any sense.

00:15:54.000 But then there are guys who play wild that it is fun to watch, like Muhammad Sufi.

00:15:59.000 That guy, he gives me anxiety.

00:16:01.000 Yeah, very unique, you know, sidearm.

00:16:04.000 Sidearm, barely holding on to the Q, and he just fires balls in.

00:16:08.000 He runs around the table.

00:16:09.000 He like, one strokes everything, and he's just getting out from everywhere.

00:16:12.000 You're like, ah.

00:16:14.000 Yeah, he's very, very talented.

00:16:15.000 You have a few, a few, a few guys like that.

00:16:17.000 You know Oliver Ortman?

00:16:19.000 Yeah, I remember him.

00:16:20.000 So he used to win, you know, world championships and multiple world titles.

00:16:20.000 Yeah.

00:16:24.000 He was on Mosconi Cup and won my prolife.

00:16:27.000 Tony Drago.

00:16:28.000 Yeah, Tony Drago, same.

00:16:29.000 That guy was crazy.

00:16:30.000 He would just run around the table, fire balls in.

00:16:33.000 He couldn't miss.

00:16:34.000 Yeah, those guys are fun to watch.

00:16:37.000 But what are we here for, right?

00:16:39.000 You're here to win, you're here to run out, you're here to get perfect position, you're here to dominate this very difficult table.

00:16:46.000 Yeah, everyone's different, everyone has their own style.

00:16:49.000 But under extreme pressure, it's better to have your style.

00:16:53.000 Like, or coping chung style, coping e style, like methodical backstroke, it always looks the same smooth delivery. 0.59

00:17:02.000 And, you know, I play half ass pool, but I understand what's going on.

00:17:06.000 It's such a mindfuck.

00:17:08.000 Oh yeah.

00:17:09.000 Every game is such a mindfuck.

00:17:12.000 Every time you're about to pull the trigger, you're like, now, no, one more stroke.

00:17:16.000 Now, no, one more backstroke.

00:17:17.000 Now, no, not yet.

00:17:19.000 Not okay, we're ready.

00:17:21.000 I hope we're ready.

00:17:22.000 Go.

00:17:23.000 Well, you don't really have that.

00:17:24.000 Because we play, when we play, we'll have shot clock, yeah.

00:17:27.000 Yeah, shot clock is brutal.

00:17:29.000 Shot clock is a game changer for sure.

00:17:31.000 It's hell.

00:17:32.000 Because you got to, you know, make the decision basically right out of the gate, right out of the chair.

00:17:37.000 When you're in chair, you already know what you're going to do.

00:17:39.000 Because you only have thirty seconds and one extension per rec, which gives you an extra thirty seconds.

00:17:45.000 And sometimes the pressure is really high.

00:17:48.000 And when you get completely brain dead, you don't want to be in that position.

00:17:52.000 I think the derby is a little bit better.

00:17:53.000 They give you a little bit more ten seconds.

00:17:55.000 Well, at derby, the rule is where.

00:17:57.000 you're as long as you stay down on the shot, the shot clock doesn't that's good too.

00:18:02.000 other thing that's brutal is the beeps oh yeah dude dude when it gets down to five seconds before you got to pull it and you pull the trigger on a nine ball with one second to go oh yeah i was watching i was like oh my god i would i would be having a heart attack right now i almost had almost had masconic up is definitely when it comes to pressure it's the highest pressure you can ever everyone's screaming and cheering everyone's screaming for people that haven't seen it before most pool tournaments are very very

00:18:02.000 Yeah.

00:18:32.000 respectful people will clap after you make an out or you sometimes in the middle of a game, like if you make a really good shot they'll clap, if you get a great position they'll clap, but as soon as you drop down to shoot the next ball, everybody gets quiet.

00:18:46.000 Oh yeah.

00:18:46.000 Mosconi Cup, those rules are those rules are off the table.

00:18:49.000 Off the table.

00:18:50.000 Sometimes they shark you.

00:18:52.000 They would be super loud and you have a super tough nine ball and everybody would like, for example, you're playing UK and 95% of the crowd is Europeans, so everybody's cheering for Europe.

00:19:04.000 So let's say I'm on the tough nine ball and everybody's loud and then everybody would go like shh shh and everybody would go quiet just in a second and it's really, really tough to pull the trigger in that situation.

00:19:16.000 Yeah.

00:19:17.000 So it's a tough environment to play in, but that's what makes this tournament special.

00:19:22.000 Well, it's fun to watch though.

00:19:24.000 I'm so glad that all tournaments aren't like that though, where you encourage people to be assholes.

00:19:29.000 It's kind of weird though that they've agreed to only be an asshole for one tournament.

00:19:29.000 Yeah.

00:19:35.000 Because people yell out in the middle of like you stroking the ball.

00:19:39.000 You see the crowd getting more engaged and more now.

00:19:43.000 Like you watch the US Open finals, it was loud.

00:19:45.000 When I played Michael Bowen in quarter finals, it was kind of like that because half of the crowd was Filipino.

00:19:50.000 Well, not half, but there was a lot of guys that were loud.

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00:21:00.000 Yeah, let's talk about that because one thing that happened is there's a rule where you're not allowed to soft break, but soft breaking is basically very subjective.

00:21:09.000 Like a referee can decide to call someone on it or not call someone on it.

00:21:13.000 And you thought this guy was soft breaking.

00:21:15.000 Yeah.

00:21:16.000 So you said something and the Filipinos went crazy. 1.00

00:21:18.000 Yeah, everybody went crazy.

00:21:19.000 I had to delete my Facebook for a couple days because it was just bothering me.

00:21:23.000 I was getting notifications every second.

00:21:25.000 You know, crazy Filipino goes, Yeah, you were sharking our player, you did that. 1.00

00:21:29.000 But yeah, I thought the guy was soft breaking.

00:21:32.000 And the rules state that you have to make your best effort to make a forceful break.

00:21:37.000 So that's really subjective.

00:21:39.000 And it's up to the referee to make that call.

00:21:41.000 I have a solution to that.

00:21:43.000 Yeah.

00:21:43.000 And it makes it more interesting too.

00:21:45.000 Radar, yeah.

00:21:45.000 Radar.

00:21:46.000 Speedgun.

00:21:46.000 Yeah.

00:21:49.000 I agree.

00:21:50.000 easy solution and it makes it interesting.

00:21:52.000 It's a new element that you think about.

00:21:54.000 Then you also have, for example, juniors or girls.

00:21:58.000 Do you make the rules the same for them?

00:22:00.000 It's a good, well, you don't, they're not playing guys, right?

00:22:00.000 No.

00:22:02.000 Well, girls are playing girls. 1.00

00:22:04.000 Well, yeah, but on WN2 tour, it's an open tournament, for example.

00:22:08.000 Oh, right, right, right.

00:22:09.000 Oh, I see what you're saying.

00:22:10.000 Juniors can join.

00:22:11.000 I see, but I thought you were talking about young kids.

00:22:13.000 No, for young kids, you'd have to have an exception.

00:22:16.000 Exactly.

00:22:16.000 And for girls, you'd have to have an exception.

00:22:18.000 But you would just change it, just like, you know, so whatever the speed is, like what is a model?

00:22:26.000 What's a good break speed?

00:22:28.000 What do you think you break at?

00:22:29.000 Like Bustamante in his prime, what was he like thirty miles an hour?

00:22:33.000 Well, back in the day it was different.

00:22:34.000 Back in the day, everyone was breaking over twenty, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five.

00:22:38.000 But Bustamante had the craziest break speed.

00:22:40.000 Yeah, Bustamante.

00:22:42.000 When he would let the Q go out of his fingers and then throw his whole body into it, his timing was crazy.

00:22:46.000 Have you ever watched the Russian player, his name was Eugeni Stalief?

00:22:50.000 No.

00:22:51.000 Oh, you gotta watch that stroke.

00:22:54.000 It was, it was even crazier.

00:22:55.000 Really?

00:22:56.000 It's like Roberto Gomez.

00:22:56.000 Oh, yeah.

00:22:58.000 Oh, he's the same thing.

00:22:59.000 He's up.

00:23:00.000 He's up.

00:23:01.000 Way up.

00:23:02.000 Yeah.

00:23:03.000 That's so hard to be accurate and do that.

00:23:05.000 Oh, yeah.

00:23:06.000 I don't know how they do it.

00:23:07.000 You have to have the most insane, smooth delivery.

00:23:11.000 And again, what a mind fuck because you're about to – you're trying to hit this one ball square on the face and you're throwing all of your might into it.

00:23:21.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:23:22.000 So that's how Shane – Shane's breaking the same way.

00:23:24.000 His body moves first and then he delivers.

00:23:27.000 I'd like to know how fast he breaks when he breaks like 10 ball because when he 10 ball breaks, it's pretty crazy.

00:23:33.000 He breaks pretty hard.

00:23:34.000 I like to break with softer speed and with with more control but he he just whacks them so what do you think would be like a reasonable mile per hour that you would impose where you'd say anything slower than that is soft breaking.

00:23:48.000 Is it like 15 miles an hour or 20?

00:23:50.000 I think it has to be higher, maybe 18.

00:23:52.000 And that will also push the players to practice.

00:23:55.000 For example, you wouldn't want to break borderline 18 because it may be under.

00:24:00.000 So players will try to break harder.

00:24:02.000 19, closer to 19, maybe harder than 19.

00:24:05.000 Well, they used to do that three point rule where they would that was very annoying.

00:24:10.000 Where do you think it was very annoying?

00:24:12.000 Yes, it was very annoying.

00:24:13.000 Because sometimes guys would break hard, but the referee didn't rack them that good.

00:24:18.000 Right.

00:24:18.000 And they made a ball and then the opponent gets to shoot.

00:24:21.000 I'm like, that's crazy.

00:24:23.000 That's, yeah.

00:24:24.000 Yeah, I mean in that case, yes, I agree.

00:24:25.000 But that's another simple solution.

00:24:28.000 It's better than what we have now.

00:24:29.000 Yeah.

00:24:30.000 I think the radar is the way to go.

00:24:32.000 Yeah, the radar is definitely the way.

00:24:33.000 Yeah.

00:24:33.000 I mean, and also it's kind of cool, you know, when you get to.

00:24:36.000 Yeah, and extra stats you have, you know.

00:24:38.000 And some guys, like Shane, even in nine ball when he does the cut break, he breaks really hard.

00:24:43.000 Kachi, Kachi is the one that breaks the hardest.

00:24:45.000 Well, he's a big fucking dude.

00:24:46.000 Oh yeah, he breaks the hardest.

00:24:48.000 I don't know how he keeps the cue ball on the table, to be honest.

00:24:50.000 With that speed.

00:24:51.000 And it doesn't even look like he's trying that hard, you know, because he's a big dude.

00:24:54.000 He's just wild.

00:24:55.000 Last turns, he'll break an open bridge, which is even crazier.

00:24:58.000 Yeah.

00:24:59.000 People, that's one thing about pool though.

00:25:01.000 If you want to get spectators., you want hard breaks.

00:25:04.000 Yeah.

00:25:05.000 You know, like people love it from the color of money.

00:25:08.000 When Tom Cruise breaks and Paul Newman goes, Who's that kid with the sledgehammer break?

00:25:13.000 It's a dumb American thing.

00:25:15.000 But if you want like Americans to tune in, you have to break hard.

00:25:18.000 Yeah.

00:25:18.000 Like, well, that's why Earl Strickland still gets mad, you know?

00:25:21.000 He gets mad at everything.

00:25:23.000 I heard Mike Siegel talk about it too.

00:25:24.000 He's like, Why don't they just hit it straight on the one ball and hit it as hard as you can?

00:25:28.000 Because it's no fun.

00:25:29.000 You get zero control.

00:25:31.000 That way, it's no skill, really.

00:25:33.000 I just think he's not, he's hasn't had anyone lay it out to him like, like the way you just did with me, where you explained it to me to me.

00:25:40.000 This is the first time that I had someone explaining to me that particular break.

00:25:44.000 I'm like, oh, and you did it dead on.

00:25:47.000 And you knew that the cloth was a little worn because it's a year old cloth.

00:25:50.000 So you're like, okay, because of that, I'm going to have to hit it here and it'll go on the side.

00:25:55.000 And you smashed it and it went right on the side.

00:25:57.000 I was like, oh shit, like it's not, it's very, it's not risking.

00:26:02.000 You're not like gambling.

00:26:03.000 The only thing you're gambling with is that the ball's going across the table.

00:26:06.000 But it seems like you guys kind of have that mostly worked out too.

00:26:10.000 Well, that's the thing.

00:26:11.000 Everybody on the tour is figuring out the break really fast.

00:26:14.000 Doesn't really matter what you change in the format.

00:26:16.000 The players will figure it out.

00:26:18.000 The fun thing to me about your life is that you're traveling all over the world playing and then occasionally you have these marathon gambling sessions that they stream online.

00:26:30.000 And I've got a good buddy of mine, Tommy.

00:26:34.000 from Connecticut shout out to my boy Tommy and you know he and I will like be texting to each other you know like for three days in a row while these matches are going on and I get so juiced up for him I get so excited about him but it's like that's the part of the game that has always been the most romantic the gambling part of the game and I'm glad that people aren't shying away from that because there was long,

00:26:59.000 for a long time, Gambling was thought to be negative for professional pool.

00:27:05.000 That's not the case anymore.

00:27:06.000 Well, it could be.

00:27:07.000 It could be.

00:27:08.000 It could be, sure, because you're bringing in shady people.

00:27:11.000 For sure.

00:27:11.000 Well, if you're gambling $100,000, where'd you get it?

00:27:14.000 Where'd you get it?

00:27:15.000 Bob the drug dealer came over and he wants in, he's staking me and if I win I get 40%.

00:27:21.000 But in our case it's different.

00:27:23.000 Our matches that we make, there's only a couple of them that we did.

00:27:27.000 We played twice with Shane and there's also a few one pocket matches we did, but the biggest ones were with Shane and it's only a small group of people.

00:27:36.000 It's basically just a few guys., my managers, me, and the same thing from Shane's side, so everybody knows each other.

00:27:44.000 Yeah, for sure, in your case.

00:27:45.000 But in the case of high level gambling in pool, oh yeah.

00:27:51.000 There's a lot of shady characters.

00:27:52.000 A lot of shady characters.

00:27:52.000 Oh sure.

00:27:53.000 A lot.

00:27:54.000 How often do you gamble just in regular life playing pool?

00:27:57.000 Do you, does anybody ask for giant spots or anything like that?

00:28:01.000 Well, everybody's asking for ridiculous games all the time, but I think my gambling days are over and now I'm a tournament player, really.

00:28:10.000 Well, you got too good.

00:28:12.000 Like, I played you when you were here, like, two years ago.

00:28:12.000 Yeah.

00:28:17.000 And I definitely play better now than I played two years ago, but you play way better.

00:28:21.000 You play even better than you would we're playing then, which is crazy.

00:28:25.000 But you were banking out and making shots.

00:28:27.000 I was like, this is so humiliating.

00:28:30.000 It's so humbling.

00:28:31.000 Yeah.

00:28:31.000 Yeah, I do play a lot better than I did two years ago, you know.

00:28:35.000 Which is hard to believe.

00:28:37.000 Because you're the best player in the world and you're getting better.

00:28:39.000 That's one of the coolest things to me about any game or any sport, anything, is that, and especially today, because there's so much data that's available.

00:28:49.000 Like, say if you're a young player and you're learning how to play, you can watch pool on your iPad till 3 o'clock in the morning.

00:28:56.000 You watch matches and you learn.

00:28:58.000 You learn how to play things.

00:28:59.000 You learn like what why did he do it that way?

00:29:02.000 Like, oh, and then you rewind it and you go, oh, that none of that was available to like Mike Siegel back in the day or Nick Varner or those guys.

00:29:09.000 Yeah, there's tons of videos on YouTube.

00:29:11.000 There's so much, so much, so much information.

00:29:14.000 Yeah, and you can also, I mean, you can also watch it on TV.

00:29:17.000 I think Metro, Metro has shown all those tournaments, all of the majors on TV everywhere except US, I think.

00:29:24.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:29:25.000 And so it's just like everything else, with the new generation, the level just gets higher and higher with everything unless there's physical limitations and with pool it doesn't seem like it's not like you know running a four minute mile or you know running the fastest we're all crooked all of our backs are crooked oh yeah for sure you know we're always bend over it's always one-sided sport every one-sided sport is kind of like that i think archery's like that archery golf yeah shooting yeah Yeah,

00:29:56.000 your back must be fucked up. 0.94

00:29:57.000 I know your neck was fucked up.

00:29:58.000 We brought you to waste a while last time you were here.

00:30:00.000 Yeah, yeah, it did help.

00:30:01.000 It did help for like six to eight months, I think.

00:30:05.000 And now it's fucking with you again?

00:30:06.000 No, now I actually found the way, you know, I have my pre-match routine.

00:30:10.000 I stretch every single day.

00:30:12.000 I do work a lot with like rubber bands, resistant bands.

00:30:15.000 What do you do with them?

00:30:17.000 Basically, you know, I work on my upper back.

00:30:20.000 Oh, so like certain workouts?

00:30:22.000 Certain workouts that will take some pressure off my neck.

00:30:25.000 Because my neck is where I really feel it, like my upper back, shoulder blades.

00:30:28.000 You probably have a heavy head.

00:30:30.000 That's what it is.

00:30:31.000 Yeah, maybe.

00:30:32.000 But I did all the MRIs and I did have like a bulging disc, C4, C5.

00:30:37.000 Yeah.

00:30:39.000 That started to progress and was getting worse.

00:30:42.000 I went to Russia for that.

00:30:44.000 I think I was reaching out to you at the time.

00:30:46.000 And I found the guy that helpeded me a lot with the routines that we built and since then knock on wood, everything was good.

00:30:54.000 Oh, nice.

00:30:55.000 Did you ever get one of those things that I was talking about?

00:30:58.000 Those decompression things where you put your head in a harness and you pull on the door, you set it on your door and you get like hanging by it a little?

00:31:06.000 Those are nice.

00:31:06.000 Yeah, and also, how do you call that?

00:31:10.000 Inversion tables.

00:31:11.000 Yeah, I want that too.

00:31:13.000 Those are great too.

00:31:14.000 Everybody should be doing that.

00:31:15.000 Everybody should be decompressing.

00:31:17.000 Because you get to a certain age and everyone's back is just like you're carrying all this weight your whole life and your back just gets smushed in your pockets.

00:31:26.000 Your posture starts to suck and then you start to get these weird pains and decompression.

00:31:31.000 And if you could do it and just be real vigilant with it, you can stop a lot of problems dead in their tracks.

00:31:37.000 For sure, and I felt it.

00:31:38.000 You know, I haven't really paid attention to stretching as much as I did before this year.

00:31:44.000 And I can, you know, I can play a lot longer, even though I'm not younger.

00:31:48.000 You know, I was practicing.

00:31:49.000 You're a little baby, shut up. 0.95

00:31:52.000 I was, for example, 16, 18, I was practicing a lot more, a lot more than I did now.

00:31:56.000 Yeah.

00:31:57.000 And I never really had any issues.

00:31:59.000 Then 20, 22, I'm practicing the same, but I always leave the pool hole with some type of pain and I don't want to go practicing the next day because of that.

00:32:09.000 Do you the problem is it's hard to get access to a cold plunge when you're on the road.

00:32:09.000 Right.

00:32:15.000 Yeah, it's really difficult.

00:32:16.000 I do have the cold plunge at home.

00:32:18.000 Sauna and all the good stuff.

00:32:18.000 Yeah.

00:32:20.000 Cold plunge is the thing, man.

00:32:22.000 It just alleviates so much inflammation, especially if you can do it first thing in the morning.

00:32:28.000 If you could force yourself to do it first thing in the morning, it is the way to go, man.

00:32:32.000 It sucks every day.

00:32:34.000 But if you just do it, you get out of that.

00:32:36.000 You just like, oh, you just feel loose and free.

00:32:40.000 Yeah.

00:32:41.000 And as long as you don't do it within like two hours of you playing, you have to wait like probably two hours.

00:32:47.000 for your body to fully warm up again, because if you are cold, it will kind of mess with your right, with the muscles.

00:32:53.000 Or it will make you too tight.

00:32:54.000 Yeah.

00:32:55.000 I was telling you the worst thing ever for pool is lifting weights.

00:32:58.000 There's nothing worse.

00:32:59.000 I found it myself.

00:33:00.000 It's terrible.

00:33:01.000 For sure.

00:33:02.000 You know, you know Willie Hoppy, the old school billiard player, you never heard of him?

00:33:06.000 Willie Hoppy, no.

00:33:07.000 Never heard of him?

00:33:08.000 Uh uh.

00:33:08.000 You know what a hoppy cue is?

00:33:10.000 Hoppy cue now.

00:33:11.000 No, okay.

00:33:11.000 A hoppy butt is like a type of butt that doesn't have a rubber bumper on the bottom of it.

00:33:16.000 It's just flat.

00:33:17.000 And for whatever reason, Willie Hoppy used to prefer that kind, I think.

00:33:23.000 It's named after him for some reason.

00:33:25.000 Anyway, he was a famous billiards player, like the turn of the century.

00:33:29.000 And the turn of the other one, like the early 1900s.

00:33:33.000 And he wouldn't even drive a car.

00:33:34.000 He refused to do anything with his arms.

00:33:37.000 He wouldn't drive a car because it would mess up his pool game.

00:33:40.000 Yeah, I mean, some players are super super superstitious about this stuff, you know.

00:33:45.000 Cars back then though didn't have power steering.

00:33:47.000 So you have to think it's probably really difficult to steer them.

00:33:50.000 See if you can find a photo of Willie Hoppy.

00:33:52.000 He had the weirdest sidearm too.

00:33:55.000 Yeah.

00:33:56.000 Totally sidearm.

00:33:57.000 Keith McCrady.

00:33:58.000 Exactly.

00:33:59.000 It's like these guys start playing when they're five years old and they can't really reach the table correctly.

00:34:04.000 That's exactly the reason why, for example, when I started, I played Russian Pyramid in the beginning.

00:34:09.000 And I was always side-armed because, you know, I wasn't tall enough.

00:34:12.000 They sent me to the pool table.

00:34:13.000 Yeah, look at him.

00:34:15.000 Isn't that crazy side-arm?

00:34:17.000 Like, that's nuts.

00:34:18.000 Just like Muhammad Sufi. 0.91

00:34:20.000 Yeah, that's him when he was an old man.

00:34:22.000 Yeah, just like Sufi.

00:34:24.000 Weird, right?

00:34:25.000 Yeah, it's crazy that.

00:34:27.000 Like, if you ever saw someone play like that, you'd be like, look at this lemon.

00:34:31.000 Yeah, you would want to play that guy if you wanted to over the ball.

00:34:34.000 But meanwhile, as long as you figured out how to do it consistently.

00:34:38.000 That's the thing in pool, you know, there's so many different.

00:34:41.000 variations of the stance stroke that you can overcome everything if you practice just hundreds of hours.

00:34:50.000 So it wouldn't really matter.

00:34:52.000 You can play by the book, but in the end, all that matters is how much time do you spend at the table.

00:34:57.000 The rivalries, the marching bands, the upsets.

00:35:00.000 Saturdays just got way more fun.

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00:36:24.000 Like Shane.

00:36:25.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:36:25.000 Like when Shane, he's...

00:36:29.000 One of it's in the conversation for the greatest of all time.

00:36:31.000 Five-time US Open player hits the ball in a way that everybody tells you don't ever do it that way.

00:36:35.000 Yeah, exactly.

00:36:36.000 He stops at the cue ball instead of following.

00:36:39.000 through and letting the cue ball slide through, he stops at the cue ball.

00:36:43.000 He's very unique.

00:36:44.000 Same as Filipinos, you know, Filipino players, they have the unique style of play.

00:36:48.000 They're super fluent.

00:36:49.000 They're like dancing around the table.

00:36:51.000 But nobody plays like that.

00:36:53.000 Nobody else plays like that.

00:36:54.000 Yeah, it's interesting.

00:36:56.000 It's again, as long as it's repeatable.

00:36:59.000 It's like, there's a lot of things like that.

00:36:59.000 Yeah.

00:37:02.000 If you're, if it's repeatable, if you can do it over and over again, it does.

00:37:06.000 There are no rules.

00:37:08.000 No, I mean, they are written in the book.

00:37:11.000 But how could you say that, like, Shane Van Boding is doing it wrong?

00:37:13.000 Exactly.

00:37:13.000 It doesn't even make any sense.

00:37:14.000 Exactly.

00:37:15.000 It doesn't.

00:37:16.000 I mean, he's probably won more tournaments than anyone ever, right?

00:37:19.000 Who has won the most tournaments of all time?

00:37:21.000 I mean, that's a good question.

00:37:22.000 We were just talking about it this morning, I think.

00:37:25.000 Shane is definitely one of'em.

00:37:27.000 It could be Shane.

00:37:28.000 Shane might be the greatest of all time right now.

00:37:30.000 Yeah.

00:37:31.000 I mean, that's what Jeremy Jones is the greatest of all time.

00:37:34.000 Yeah.

00:37:35.000 That's his pick.

00:37:37.000 It's what's crazy with him too, is the deaf aspect that he turns his hearing aids off when he plays. 0.99

00:37:43.000 That must be amazing.

00:37:45.000 That should be illegal, by the way.

00:37:49.000 I mean, it should be.

00:37:51.000 Really?

00:37:52.000 I mean, that's listen, man.

00:37:54.000 Life gives you lessons, you need lemonade.

00:37:56.000 I know.

00:37:56.000 The dude was born deaf.

00:37:58.000 That's fucked up.

00:37:58.000 It is.

00:37:59.000 It is.

00:38:00.000 But it's that's the advantage he gets.

00:38:02.000 He could shut those bitches off. 1.00

00:38:04.000 I mean, yeah.

00:38:05.000 I guess.

00:38:06.000 You can't check to see if he has it on.

00:38:06.000 Come on, man.

00:38:08.000 Like Shane, Shane.

00:38:10.000 I mean, do you think we're not checking?

00:38:11.000 We are checking.

00:38:12.000 Of course.

00:38:12.000 Are you checking?

00:38:13.000 He says things.

00:38:14.000 He has it off all the time.

00:38:16.000 How do you know when he has it off?

00:38:17.000 Well, because just before his match, he goes to his phone and puts it all the way down.

00:38:21.000 Oh, so his phone, it's Bluetooth.

00:38:24.000 He can't control it.

00:38:25.000 So his hearing aid is Bluetooth.

00:38:26.000 He can control it by his phone.

00:38:26.000 Oh, yeah.

00:38:28.000 Oh, that seems dirty.

00:38:30.000 Because you're not allowed to wear a noise canceling earpuds.

00:38:34.000 No, you're not.

00:38:36.000 Earl always wants that, but they're not allowing him.

00:38:39.000 Yeah, I remember when Earl used to wear gun sight glasses.

00:38:44.000 He used to wear glasses like the kind you wear at the range.

00:38:46.000 Yeah.

00:38:47.000 And then he was wearing headphones for a while, so they told him not to, like a pilot.

00:38:51.000 Yeah.

00:38:52.000 Like complete noise canceling headphones.

00:38:54.000 Ones that look like they weigh five pounds.

00:38:56.000 Yeah.

00:38:58.000 And then he had, he's got weights that he wears around his waist sometimes.

00:39:02.000 He puts definitely a character.

00:39:04.000 He puts weights on his elbow.

00:39:06.000 He puts tape around his fingertips.

00:39:09.000 And then he makes his Q. as fat as my underarm with whatever type tape he's using on it.

00:39:15.000 Yeah, he runs five miles every day.

00:39:17.000 Doesn't he?

00:39:18.000 Hundreds of squats.

00:39:19.000 Oh yeah, he's fit.

00:39:21.000 Well, I mean, he's not, he doesn't look very fit, but he works out every day.

00:39:26.000 Or does something.

00:39:28.000 Is he the oldest guy that's still super competitive?

00:39:31.000 Like, how old is Ralph Suke?

00:39:33.000 Ralph Suke is still pretty competitive.

00:39:34.000 No, Earl is older than Is he?

00:39:37.000 Right.

00:39:37.000 Yeah.

00:39:38.000 So I think Ralph Suke is actually like my age.

00:39:41.000 Yeah.

00:39:42.000 And Earl is like in his sixties.

00:39:43.000 So he's probably the oldest guy that's like playing competitively and winning.

00:39:47.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:39:50.000 It's a fucking game for young people, son. 0.99

00:39:52.000 You gotta have them young eyes, cut that ball in.

00:39:55.000 For sure.

00:39:55.000 The eyes is everything.

00:39:57.000 Yeah.

00:39:59.000 How many guys do you know that got LASIK surgery?

00:40:03.000 A few.

00:40:04.000 A lot of players wear lenses when they play.

00:40:07.000 But LASIK has been the game changer for them, for sure.

00:40:11.000 Now, are these young players that are coming up, are these guys embracing a healthier lifestyle?

00:40:17.000 Because one of the things about pool is like it's always been connected, at least when I was young, it was always connected to, especially the gambling, connected to a lot of partying., a lot of amphetamines, Cocaine and then, you know, just Well, it's just changing.

00:40:35.000 It used to be just a game played at the bar.

00:40:37.000 Now it's a sport.

00:40:38.000 You know, I think now in the US, everybody's taking the European approach, more methodical, more disciplined, and they treat it as a sport.

00:40:51.000 Especially the younger generation.

00:40:52.000 You know, they see who is more successful on the tour.

00:40:55.000 And if you look at top ten right now, every one of us, we try our best at everything.

00:41:01.000 You know, when it comes to food, pre match routines, how we practice, how we treat pool as a sport.

00:41:08.000 So I think yes, definitely it's changing.

00:41:10.000 And that's why the pool is in a different place where it was.

00:41:14.000 Well, it's only because of the promotions and they need, they deserve everything.

00:41:19.000 And then, of course, the players.

00:41:21.000 But without the promotions, like putting these events on and making them a big deal, they wouldn't get all over YouTube, it wouldn't get all over these social media sites.

00:41:29.000 But what pool really needs is something.

00:41:32.000 Like they had The Hustler in the 1960s made pool explode.

00:41:36.000 And then they had The Color of Money in the 1980s made pool explode.

00:41:40.000 They need something like that.

00:41:41.000 Like some two days ago trailer on Netflix made a documentary about Eddie and Barry Hearn.

00:41:51.000 I think it's about their family and their business.

00:41:53.000 And I think two or three episodes are about pool.

00:41:56.000 Oh, well, that's good.

00:41:58.000 That'll help.

00:41:59.000 Yeah, that's really good.

00:42:00.000 That'll help.

00:42:00.000 Most of it is about boxing, I think.

00:42:02.000 Boxing darts and how they started the company, but pool is a big part of it.

00:42:05.000 Oh, they do darts too?

00:42:07.000 Darts, snooker, fishing, I think.

00:42:11.000 And fishing?

00:42:13.000 Really?

00:42:13.000 Yeah.

00:42:14.000 Yeah.

00:42:14.000 Like fishing tournaments?

00:42:15.000 Like that kind of shit?

00:42:16.000 Fishermania, I think that's what it's called.

00:42:18.000 Fishermania?

00:42:19.000 It's like bass tournaments or something like that.

00:42:21.000 I have no idea how it works.

00:42:23.000 I know Shane's a big fisherman, right?

00:42:25.000 Oh yeah.

00:42:25.000 He goes lake trout fishing.

00:42:27.000 Ice fishing is his thing.

00:42:29.000 Yeah.

00:42:30.000 That's South Dakota mentality.

00:42:32.000 It's the most boring thing I think you can do.

00:42:34.000 It's not that bad.

00:42:37.000 It's actually kind of fun.

00:42:38.000 Freeze your ass off.

00:42:39.000 I did it a couple of years ago.

00:42:40.000 I caught a trout.

00:42:40.000 I was pretty jazzed up.

00:42:42.000 Yeah, if you catch, if you catch something then yeah for sure.

00:42:44.000 It's pretty cool.

00:42:45.000 You know, like you're standing on ice, so you're kind of freaked out that you're standing on ice and then you use a drill to drill through the ice and then you know exactly how much is separating you from drowning.

00:42:56.000 So you only need a few inches, but when I was doing it was about seven, eight inches of ice.

00:43:01.000 So what do you do?

00:43:02.000 Like, you put a tent around you?

00:43:05.000 Most of the time, that's what guys do.

00:43:05.000 Yeah.

00:43:07.000 They put some kind of tent around them and then they get a, like, a drill.

00:43:11.000 And then they go right into the ground, right through the ice, rather.

00:43:16.000 And then you have like a little net where you scoop out new ice that forms and you just drop your line right there in the hole.

00:43:24.000 That sounds real fun.

00:43:26.000 It's exciting.

00:43:27.000 It's exciting when you catch one.

00:43:29.000 Yeah.

00:43:30.000 I did I did fish a couple of times in my life, but nothing, nothing really exciting.

00:43:36.000 The problem when you can play really good pool is really good pool is about as fun as anything.

00:43:42.000 Like really good, which is I've always said that pool is like an art form that only the people who practice it can appreciate.

00:43:48.000 When you watch someone who plays really good, you're like, wow, that's beautiful.

00:43:52.000 Like, that's beautiful.

00:43:53.000 But to an average person, like, oh, he just made a bunch of easy shots.

00:43:56.000 Exactly.

00:43:57.000 You can't really see, you know, the beauty of fundamental.

00:43:59.000 Exactly.

00:44:00.000 Yeah.

00:44:01.000 Positional play, you know.

00:44:03.000 At least with, if you're explaining Jiu Jitsu to someone, at least people kind of get it.

00:44:09.000 Oh, he's going to break his arm.

00:44:11.000 Like, oh, he's choking him.

00:44:13.000 Oh, he's got his neck.

00:44:15.000 Yeah.

00:44:15.000 But when you watch someone play pool.

00:44:19.000 and you don't understand how difficult that three rail position was to get perfect on the four ball.

00:44:23.000 You're like, oh my God, that was a battle.

00:44:25.000 Or when they say, you know, he's in jail, he's hooked, just doesn't have a shot.

00:44:30.000 You know, just people, regular people, they probably don't understand.

00:44:32.000 They don't get it.

00:44:33.000 They don't get it.

00:44:34.000 And they never will.

00:44:35.000 It's just like you, you're going to have to play it to understand how hard it is what that person did.

00:44:40.000 The casual person doesn't understand, unfortunately.

00:44:42.000 So what we need is more people playing.

00:44:45.000 If more people play, then more people would watch people playing.

00:44:48.000 I think more people start playing.

00:44:51.000 I think the game grew up quite a bunch the last couple of years.

00:44:54.000 Well, I know that the top golf people.

00:44:56.000 Top Golf people are going to do something like that for pool. 0.94

00:45:00.000 That might be the thing.

00:45:01.000 You know those Top Golf guys?

00:45:03.000 Do you know what Top Golf is?

00:45:04.000 Yeah.

00:45:05.000 So Top Golf, you know, where they have this thing where you just whack the balls out into the well, they're going to set something like that up for pool where they have, you know, some sort of a business where you go in and play pool and it's more attractive to young people.

00:45:22.000 I don't know exactly what their model is because it's still going to be pool.

00:45:25.000 I mean, I don't think it's going to be a bunch of people just breaking the balls.

00:45:28.000 Right.

00:45:29.000 You know, like, like, because that's what they're doing when they're doing Top Golf.

00:45:32.000 They're just driving the ball, right?

00:45:35.000 I don't know exactly what their idea is, but the same guys who they realize.

00:45:38.000 like a lot of people play pool, a lot of people play pool in bars, and if we had a really attractive place for people to play, and it's probably correct, it's probably an untapped business.

00:45:48.000 Because people are always looking for something fun to do on date nights.

00:45:51.000 So what they do in China, for example, or somewhere, I've seen it in Asia, they put like a projector above the table, and it gives you like all kinds of different games and interactions while you're playing.

00:45:51.000 Yeah.

00:46:02.000 What is it saying?

00:46:03.000 The venue, which is being backed by investors, including US based venture capital firm Sharp Alpha Advisors and the Daily Mail investment arm, DMG Ventures uses pool tables, balls, and cues from the traditional game, but adds tracking technology and video projections to add bonus targets and obstacles in an attempt to appeal to larger groups.

00:46:22.000 Bonus targets and obstacles, huh.

00:46:25.000 Alongside its own venues and those operated by franchise partners, it's called Poolhouse.

00:46:30.000 Poolhouse plans to sell its equipment to pubs, bars, and other venues that want to update their existing pool tables.

00:46:37.000 Hopefully they can create a speed gun too.

00:46:40.000 Yeah, so it says Steve, I don't know how to say his name, Jalif Jalifi, Jalifi said, more people play at Top Golf than on traditional golf courses in the U.S., and we aim to make an even greater impact on the world of pool.

00:46:54.000 We have a strong track record.

00:46:56.000 This project has been our most challenging endeavor yet.

00:46:58.000 Hmm.

00:47:00.000 That's exciting.

00:47:01.000 Maybe that'll do.

00:47:02.000 I've never even heard of it.

00:47:03.000 Well, if you get a bunch of guys that are already really successful at doing that with the thing about golf though, is like, whacking a golf ball is really fun.

00:47:13.000 Yeah.

00:47:13.000 You know, it's and then if you have like a big open pit where you can just whack a golf ball, you got like 100 yards, you can see how far people can whack a golf ball, and then you got a net at the end of it.

00:47:22.000 Especially if you just straight.

00:47:22.000 Yeah.

00:47:23.000 Yeah.

00:47:23.000 That's the most exciting thing.

00:47:25.000 A lot of people are going to do that.

00:47:26.000 Pool is like, you don't know how to make a bridge, you're holding your hand funny, and it's like, right.

00:47:32.000 Moving weird your arm and I wonder how many people are going to get frustrated.

00:47:36.000 I wonder if it's the same.

00:47:38.000 Actually, it's best.

00:47:41.000 Probably, yeah, because I suck at driving a golf ball, you know?

00:47:46.000 I don't, I'm not good at it.

00:47:47.000 I've done it, I've played top golf a couple of times.

00:47:49.000 I've gone to a driving range once, it was fun, but I'm not good at it.

00:47:53.000 Yeah, same as me.

00:47:54.000 But like, fucking Jamie over here, that dude's out in the garage every day, whacking balls.

00:47:58.000 Every time I come here, he's out there whacking balls.

00:48:01.000 Yeah.

00:48:01.000 And so you realize like there really is, like, there's a lot of technique just to the drive.

00:48:08.000 It's very similar, probably, to a breakshot in that regard?

00:48:12.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:48:14.000 Same.

00:48:14.000 Absolutely the same.

00:48:15.000 I wonder if they can make something like that really marketable for pool.

00:48:21.000 That might be it.

00:48:22.000 It has to be some kind of interaction, because I think it would be kind of boring to just, you know, wag balls, pool balls.

00:48:32.000 The other thing that might make pool really big is big money.

00:48:35.000 Like if the Saudis get involved and they get crazy and they start saying, okay, this tournament's for three million dollars. 0.60

00:48:41.000 Well, we have, we have now.

00:48:43.000 The World Championships is the biggest tournament we have on tours in Saudi Arabia.

00:48:46.000 Right.

00:48:46.000 What's the first place?

00:48:48.000 $250,000.

00:48:49.000 Pretty good.

00:48:50.000 $25 million would be better.

00:48:52.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:48:53.000 Imagine that.

00:48:54.000 For sure.

00:48:54.000 Those guys have so much money.

00:48:55.000 They could spend $25 million and it'd be like nothing.

00:48:58.000 They probably spent more than that on production.

00:49:00.000 I don't know.

00:49:02.000 I don't know.

00:49:03.000 I don't know if they spent more on production.

00:49:05.000 They throw so much money around in boxing, it's kind of bananas.

00:49:08.000 Boxing, for sure.

00:49:09.000 And that's where Matchroom is really helping, because they have those deals for multi-sports.

00:49:09.000 For sure.

00:49:16.000 boxing and that involves snooker and pool right so they have the snooker tournament in Saudi they have the boxing event going on in Saudi Arabia you gotta get that oil money involved son yeah those those Those dudes throw some money around.

00:49:28.000 because it's like when people talk about the richest people in the world, they're like, really?

00:49:33.000 Because their money isn't public.

00:49:35.000 Like they don't have to disclose how much money they make.

00:49:38.000 They're kings.

00:49:39.000 Okay?

00:49:40.000 Like they probably laugh like, oh, silly Elon thinks he's number one.

00:49:45.000 You know?

00:49:46.000 Yeah.

00:49:46.000 With his paltry $400 billion.

00:49:50.000 You know?

00:49:51.000 He's basically a pauper.

00:49:52.000 Yeah.

00:49:53.000 To those people.

00:49:54.000 So like they've thrown an insane amount of money into boxing.

00:49:57.000 I think it...

00:49:59.000 It hasn't been confirmed, so I need to know whether this is true or not.

00:50:03.000 But I think Usyk made a hundred, more than a hundred million dollars in his last defense against Daniel Dubois.

00:50:12.000 And I think Dubois made in the 70s.

00:50:15.000 He made somewhere around 70.

00:50:16.000 I think they said Usyk made like 130 something, which is crazy.

00:50:20.000 $130 million for a fight.

00:50:22.000 That's crazy.

00:50:23.000 Bananas.

00:50:24.000 What do you think if pool goes that route?

00:50:26.000 Just one-on-one matches.

00:50:28.000 That would be exciting if it's for big, big, big, big, big money like that.

00:50:32.000 I mean, if you ever saw a pool match, you imagine shooting a nine ball hill-hill for $100 million.

00:50:38.000 No, I can't.

00:50:39.000 Could you imagine?

00:50:40.000 I was shooting a nine ball for $250,000 last year.

00:50:44.000 Yeah, that's right.

00:50:45.000 Yeah.

00:50:46.000 Let us straight in.

00:50:47.000 Yeah.

00:50:48.000 That was crazy.

00:50:49.000 How was that like?

00:50:51.000 I mean, it was a crazy match against Kaji. 0.84

00:50:54.000 We played the World Championships finals.

00:50:56.000 He went in the hill first.

00:50:57.000 Yeah, it was hill hill.

00:50:58.000 Hill hill.

00:50:59.000 I get ball in hand.

00:50:59.000 He scratches.

00:51:01.000 Shaking like a leaf.

00:51:02.000 Where you?

00:51:03.000 Oh yeah.

00:51:04.000 That was incredible.

00:51:05.000 I mean, that's the biggest turn we've ever had.

00:51:07.000 Right.

00:51:07.000 The biggest turn I've ever had in my career.

00:51:10.000 You know, we only have so many tournaments that pay that kind of money.

00:51:14.000 And it's really difficult not to think about it when you're playing.

00:51:17.000 Yeah.

00:51:18.000 And yeah, that's definitely the highlight of my career.

00:51:21.000 You know, making that tough eight ball.

00:51:23.000 I mean, it wasn't tough, but the positional play was tough because I had to go up and down with the keyball and I landed right where I wanted to be.

00:51:32.000 So I was straight on the nine ball, no pressure at all.

00:51:34.000 That's a good one for people to watch it.

00:51:36.000 They're like, what is this all about?

00:51:37.000 Watch that one. 0.88

00:51:38.000 Watch that one and know that they're playing for $250,000.

00:51:42.000 Yeah.

00:51:43.000 And the second place paid $100, so it was a $150,000 difference.

00:51:48.000 That's a lot.

00:51:49.000 It is a lot for one rec.

00:51:52.000 And for one nine ball.

00:51:53.000 That's the beautiful thing about nine ball.

00:51:53.000 Yeah.

00:51:55.000 You could run everything and then chunk that nine.

00:51:57.000 Yeah, game over.

00:52:01.000 It's a it's such a mental.

00:52:03.000 It's a game of millimeters, really.

00:52:03.000 game.

00:52:05.000 You know, single roll this way, that way, and you're hooked.

00:52:09.000 Yeah.

00:52:10.000 Or you're on the right side of the ball, wrong side of the ball.

00:52:13.000 I was listening to John Schmidt do commentary once, and he was saying how crazy it is if you really think about it.

00:52:18.000 Every other sport that involves a ball, it's like something is hitting the ball.

00:52:23.000 It's like you have a bat hitting the ball, or it's like no other sport has a ball hitting a ball.

00:52:29.000 And then trying to be like really accurate over distance.

00:52:33.000 And then making that ball move around and get perfect for the next ball.

00:52:38.000 Like even golf, you're hitting a ball.

00:52:40.000 It's very difficult, but you're hitting a ball.

00:52:42.000 You're not hitting a ball with a ball.

00:52:45.000 That's it's a whole other element.

00:52:47.000 Do you think pool is the most difficult sport in that regard?

00:52:52.000 It might be snooker.

00:52:54.000 Excuse me.

00:52:55.000 Snooker.

00:52:56.000 Snooker is boring.

00:52:57.000 Oh, I don't think it's boring.

00:52:58.000 I think when you get a guy who's really good, who plays, you know, I think it's really difficult when it comes to like how difficult is it to execute the shot because the balls are smaller.

00:53:11.000 The cues are thinner.

00:53:13.000 The pockets are tinyer.

00:53:15.000 The table is bigger too.

00:53:16.000 Have you watched Ronnie Sullivan play?

00:53:18.000 You can't think that that's boring.

00:53:19.000 Of course.

00:53:20.000 I mean, if of course you have players like Ronnie, I mean, you can never you can never say that it's boring.

00:53:26.000 Yeah.

00:53:26.000 But I think the game itself, it's just too much safety, it's nothing shots here and there.

00:53:32.000 Yeah.

00:53:33.000 But it's because it's so hard and because it's so big, it's a 12 foot fucking table, which is crazy.

00:53:39.000 And the pockets are tiny and the balls are tiny.

00:53:42.000 It's a really hard game.

00:53:43.000 But when you got watch a guy like Ronnie and he doesn't miss for like 30, 40 shots in a row, you're like, this is crazy.

00:53:49.000 What's really crazy about snooker is there's only, you know, four or five countries that really play that game.

00:53:55.000 But it's a lot bigger than pool.

00:53:57.000 Really?

00:53:58.000 Pull is a lot more international.

00:54:00.000 If you look at the major that matchroom have, look at the last 64, the last 32, you will have, you know, 20 different countries represented.

00:54:08.000 So that's interesting that snooker is bigger.

00:54:10.000 Like, how much do they make?

00:54:12.000 It's like a I know they were making, like, gigantic money in the UK.

00:54:16.000 Is that still happening or has it died down a little?

00:54:19.000 Well, that most of the majority of the tournaments are in the UK, I think.

00:54:23.000 There's a lot of them happening now in China as well.

00:54:26.000 But I think really Scotland, Ireland, Wales, UK, China, that's about it.

00:54:33.000 A few European players.

00:54:35.000 And they make, I would say, the top top.

00:54:39.000 guys they make over two three million a year do you remember the scandal there was a scandal with one of the players a few years back where they got him on hidden camera saying that he'd be willing to dump a match oh yeah there was a lot of Chinese guys that got banned for it too oh really for dumping a match that's the problem with gambling yeah right when gambling gets involved and you realize like if you get your friends to bet on the other guy That's the problem with,

00:55:06.000 I guess, getting the bookies to be involved in tournaments as well.

00:55:10.000 Because when the prize money are not big, you will have players thinking, you know, winning the tournament is is nice, but I don't have to win that.

00:55:18.000 I could just lose my round one, go through to the lower side and take a free shot and drop 10,000 real fast.

00:55:27.000 Yeah.

00:55:29.000 That's unfortunate.

00:55:30.000 But is that part of the thing of not having the kind of money that golf has?

00:55:34.000 Because I doubt that people that play golf are dumping on purpose.

00:55:39.000 Because there's so much money on the line.

00:55:41.000 Yeah.

00:55:42.000 They don't have to.

00:55:43.000 Yeah, they don't have to.

00:55:44.000 But when you the difference between like winning and losing is so huge and then you can gamble on it and then you have friends and you tell your friends like listen.

00:55:55.000 Yeah.

00:55:56.000 And I'm going to make sure I lose.

00:55:58.000 It's like, I think it's too easy to make money that way.

00:56:00.000 Yeah, but also, I'm pretty sure they're always investigating.

00:56:05.000 Every big bet is investigated, I'm pretty sure.

00:56:08.000 I'm sure.

00:56:09.000 But you don't have to do big bets.

00:56:10.000 No, you don't have to.

00:56:11.000 It could be multiple.

00:56:12.000 And you could have multiple offshore accounts.

00:56:13.000 Yeah, it could be multiple offshore accounts.

00:56:15.000 Yeah, it could be multiple offshore accounts.

00:56:16.000 You could also be doing it online, you use a VPN.

00:56:18.000 I'm gambling from Vietnam, you know?

00:56:20.000 Yeah.

00:56:21.000 Yeah, you can find ways, I'm sure.

00:56:23.000 But yeah, I mean, it's the problem.

00:56:25.000 Yeah.

00:56:27.000 Shady businesses, man.

00:56:29.000 Yeah.

00:56:30.000 But that's also kind of the fun part of pool too.

00:56:33.000 So these places are kind of shady.

00:56:35.000 Like they're they're like the the outcasts of society.

00:56:41.000 You know, if you go and you watch like the finals of the Florida Open and look in the crowd, there's a lot of outcasts in there, a lot of Android phones.

00:56:50.000 Yeah, it's a lot of outcasts.

00:56:52.000 It's a lot of people that've spent a giant chunk of their life in pool rooms.

00:56:56.000 And the thing about pool is, if you really get into it, you're playing it eight hours a day.

00:57:02.000 Yeah.

00:57:02.000 You have to.

00:57:03.000 Yeah.

00:57:04.000 If you want to get good at it, you have to.

00:57:06.000 It's the only way.

00:57:07.000 Yeah.

00:57:09.000 And it makes a giant difference.

00:57:11.000 And a lot of people fall in love with a game really fast, and if you do, then you don't want to quit it.

00:57:16.000 Yeah.

00:57:16.000 And did you just, you just hit balls for hours and hours and hours?

00:57:19.000 I was playing with my friend Jake the other day, and I said, To get really good at pool, you kinda have to be a piece of shit.

00:57:25.000 Because why is this why?

00:57:26.000 This is why.

00:57:27.000 You don't have to, I mean, obviously you're not, and you know, and you're lucky that your wife plays pool, which is huge as well. 0.99

00:57:35.000 Oh yeah.

00:57:35.000 Because if she didn't, like, you know where to find me, because I'm going to be playing.

00:57:41.000 Sorry.

00:57:42.000 Like, you're going to ignore most of your responsibilities.

00:57:45.000 But it's also really hard.

00:57:46.000 But it's also really hard.

00:57:47.000 It's really hard.

00:57:48.000 Oh yeah.

00:57:48.000 Personal life, especially with the schedule that we have now, like the first half of the year was okay, but now it's just back to back.

00:57:55.000 Like even after this tournament, I have Texas Open starting on Wednesday.

00:57:59.000 From there, I go to China.

00:58:00.000 Then I go to Vietnam for three weeks.

00:58:02.000 From there, I go to Philippines for two weeks.

00:58:04.000 Do you think the people in the Philippines are going to be mad at you still when you get there?

00:58:07.000 For sure.

00:58:07.000 Oh, for sure.

00:58:08.000 Reyes Cup, that's going to be another one.

00:58:10.000 Oh no.

00:58:10.000 Reyes Cup is now the rest of the world against Team Asia.

00:58:14.000 That's happening in Manila.

00:58:16.000 So they already told me all the comments.

00:58:18.000 All the comments, if you see, like, yeah, wait until you come to Manila.

00:58:21.000 We're going to welcome you with open arms.

00:58:23.000 Oh no.

00:58:24.000 Yeah.

00:58:25.000 I'm going to get it, but that's going gonna be fun, I'm sure.

00:58:31.000 Yeah, hopefully it doesn't someone doesn't get crazy.

00:58:34.000 But yeah, that schedule's nuts.

00:58:37.000 Yeah, so it's really tough to balance, you know, pool, personal life, family.

00:58:42.000 Family, it's almost impossible.

00:58:44.000 If you have kids, you have to take them to softball games and stuff, like, that's why I said, you want to be really good at pool?

00:58:50.000 You have to be a piece of shit.

00:58:52.000 Well, hopefully I don't have to.

00:58:54.000 You don't.

00:58:55.000 I mean, listen, obviously there's examples of people that keep it together that are really good that still have a family and, but, and, you know, spend time with their family and spend time with their kids, but you're going to have to manage your time because you're going to have to you have to get those hours in if you're not playing like legitimately realistically if you want to be a top flight world-class player what is the minimum amount of hours you think you have to play every day i think somebody said that you have to spend 10 000 hours to get good at anything but

00:59:25.000 i think in pool it probably is more yeah i think it's probably a little more because it's It's really complex.

00:59:36.000 Yeah, because if you're talking about like top, top professional player, it's not just practicing.

00:59:40.000 You know, you will have to start traveling and playing tournaments.

00:59:44.000 You will have to start playing and sparing with somebody.

00:59:48.000 Sparring.

00:59:49.000 Sparring, yeah.

00:59:50.000 And then you have to gain experience from those tournaments.

00:59:57.000 It's going to take a lot of time.

00:59:59.000 Yeah.

01:00:01.000 But I guess it's like anything that's worth doing.

01:00:04.000 If you want to get good, that's one of the reasons why it's so fun.

01:00:08.000 It's because you know how hard it is to do.

01:00:10.000 Yeah.

01:00:11.000 If it was easy to master, I think people probably pick it up and then they'd eventually quit.

01:00:16.000 But the thing about pool is, take a week off and then play again and your arms are like, what do we do here?

01:00:22.000 Like, uh, it seems all screwy, doesn't want to listen for like the first hour or so and then you finally get back in the groove again.

01:00:29.000 It's because it's so difficult that it makes it so attractive.

01:00:33.000 That's why people get stuck playing it eight, ten hours a day.

01:00:36.000 If it was easier to play, you wouldn't play it as much.

01:00:39.000 Right, right.

01:00:40.000 And I mean, for me, the big thing is I just always have to do something.

01:00:44.000 I have to always hit balls because there are so many good players now, so many good players.

01:00:49.000 And if I just stop for a moment or if I focus on something else for, I don't know, a short period of time, even, they'll just catch me.

01:00:58.000 Isn't that nuts?

01:01:00.000 It is.

01:01:01.000 It's driving me me crazy, but I just can't stop.

01:01:03.000 I just can't stop.

01:01:04.000 How does it drive you crazy?

01:01:06.000 Do you wake up in the morning and feel like people nipping at your heels?

01:01:09.000 Well, like, for example, now I know that Yap, for example, August Yap, he won the UK Open.

01:01:14.000 Florida Open.

01:01:15.000 And the US Open.

01:01:16.000 He won the US Open.

01:01:17.000 He won the three out of the last four big tournaments we've had.

01:01:21.000 Which is crazy.

01:01:22.000 Yeah, which is it's really, really tough to be dominant in our sport.

01:01:26.000 Almost impossible.

01:01:29.000 But he's just proving that it is possible.

01:01:33.000 And he was on the losing end of the match that I think I've probably watched the most over the last year.

01:01:39.000 And if you Google it, you can find it on YouTube.

01:01:42.000 Just Google nine ball perfection.

01:01:45.000 And it's Ko Ping Chung, who's one of my favorite players outside of you, of course, to watch.

01:01:50.000 He, that guy is so smooth.

01:01:53.000 There's something about those guys from Taiwan.

01:01:55.000 I don't know what their methodology is in their training, but they have this smooth kind of effort

01:02:25.000 He had one shot at the beginning of the match, a long ass two ball.

01:02:29.000 He didn't make it and then he was fucked.

01:02:32.000 Yeah.

01:02:33.000 Which is crazy.

01:02:34.000 And that's Yaft.

01:02:35.000 That's the guy who just won the last three tournaments, which is so nuts about this sport is that if the guy's winning and it's winter break, you might not ever play.

01:02:44.000 For sure.

01:02:45.000 You never know.

01:02:46.000 Like look at today, you and me.

01:02:47.000 There's like five or six games where I'm just like standing there.

01:02:50.000 I'm just waiting for you to miss.

01:02:51.000 You know, I'm missing and so I don't play.

01:02:53.000 You know, I'm missing and I don't play.

01:02:54.000 You know, like, but at a world c class level when you're doing that in the US Open And it's on TV and people are cheering every time you pocket a nine ball.

01:03:03.000 That's bananas.

01:03:04.000 Yeah, that's rarely happens.

01:03:07.000 Yeah.

01:03:08.000 But it was it was a very, very special moment, I think, because that video went viral everywhere.

01:03:14.000 That dude got in the zone.

01:03:16.000 And if you can appreciate the zone, you got to watch that video, even if you only played pool casually.

01:03:20.000 Yeah.

01:03:21.000 That's the only shot the other guy missed.

01:03:22.000 Yeah, this is it.

01:03:23.000 This is Yap.

01:03:24.000 And he, boy, he chunked it too.

01:03:25.000 Yeah, he did.

01:03:26.000 He fucked it up.

01:03:27.000 But when you watch this guy, this guy coping chunk who weighs 100 pounds.

01:03:32.000 This is not an easy opening shot either.

01:03:34.000 No, it's got three rails.

01:03:35.000 Combination rail first.

01:03:37.000 It's crazy.

01:03:38.000 But then from this out, he just never misses.

01:03:43.000 And you watch this guy, like, watch how fucking smooth this character is.

01:03:48.000 And again, the dude weighs 100 pounds, soaking wet.

01:03:52.000 The Q is half his body weight.

01:03:55.000 And he just kind of like gently hits everything just so smooth and effortless.

01:04:02.000 I remember this match because I was waiting for this match in the finals.

01:04:06.000 I was watching it in the steakhouse.

01:04:09.000 And it was pretty painful for me to watch it.

01:04:13.000 Was it?

01:04:14.000 Well, I mean, you don't want to have somebody.

01:04:16.000 Have someone just not make a single mistake and play you in the finals, you know?

01:04:21.000 It's just hurting your confidence a little bit.

01:04:23.000 And the reality is you would think, well, this guy is going to win everything from here on out, but no.

01:04:29.000 That's what's so crazy about this sport.

01:04:31.000 As good as this guy is and as competitive as he look how he hit that with follow to get out for the two in the corner.

01:04:37.000 That's masterful shit.

01:04:40.000 That was really dangerous to play that shot.

01:04:42.000 I have no idea why would you even play that shot.

01:04:43.000 Well, he's got ice water in his veins, man.

01:04:46.000 I'm telling you, we were talking about this before, but there's a match from 2018 where he plays Shane Van Bon's on the hill.

01:04:57.000 It's 10-6.

01:04:59.000 And you think, oh, Shane's going to win this.

01:05:01.000 And he runs five games and out on them.

01:05:03.000 And they're crazy outs.

01:05:05.000 Like he starts with this bananas cut shot on the four ball to get three rail position.

01:05:10.000 And you're like, what is he doing here?

01:05:12.000 Like the commentators don't even know what he's doing.

01:05:14.000 Is he ducking?

01:05:14.000 Yeah.

01:05:14.000 And he fires it in.

01:05:15.000 You're like, no way.

01:05:17.000 Like that was another, that was John Schmidt was doing commentary for us.

01:05:20.000 I'm a big fan of Cole Brothers.

01:05:22.000 You know, they're genuinely good people.

01:05:23.000 And they're putting a lot of work.

01:05:26.000 And it's also interesting to me that these guys still play with those solid wood shafts.

01:05:37.000 Like we were talking about that earlier.

01:05:40.000 It's like new technology has gotten into the game and a lot of players like yourself play with carbon fiber.

01:05:46.000 But it's interesting that a lot of these guys from Taiwan in particular, they still go with those wooden shafts.

01:05:53.000 Yeah, well, I don't know.

01:05:57.000 I know that the industry went to carbon fibers maybe four or five years ago and maybe some companies were kind of like pushing the players.

01:06:05.000 You kind of have to make a switch.

01:06:09.000 But I don't think that's the case now.

01:06:12.000 Because now, for example, I find it maybe advantageous to play with a wooden shaft when you're playing in like a sticky, sticky pool room in Asia where the humidity level is super high.

01:06:26.000 Why not?

01:06:28.000 Just because, I don't know, you can move the cubola around easier, or at least I found it easier.

01:06:33.000 Easier, interesting.

01:06:34.000 Why easier?

01:06:35.000 Because I've heard the opposite.

01:06:36.000 I've heard it's carbon moves the ball easier.

01:06:38.000 Not in a really sticky condition.

01:06:40.000 Hmm.

01:06:41.000 I think when we play, for example, Metroid tournaments, everything is brand new cloth, brand new rails, brand new balls, everything slick, perfect conditions, then I think carbon fiber is perfect.

01:06:52.000 But I think that's the reason why the Asians prefer wood as well, because the humidity level is just over top.

01:07:00.000 It's really, really bouncy.

01:07:03.000 And that's what they used to play back in the day, I guess, and that's what they refer to this day.

01:07:08.000 It's such a mindfuck though, isn't it?

01:07:10.000 Because it's like, it's all really what you have confidence with.

01:07:13.000 Obviously, anybody could play really good with carbon fiber, or anybody rather, who can play really good with carbon fiber, could play really good with wood.

01:07:20.000 It's just get it into your head, what this cue does, the way it feels, the kind of deflection it has.

01:07:26.000 It's a lot of things.

01:07:27.000 You put it in the brain computer after X amount of months of playing with that Q and you know what it does.

01:07:32.000 Yeah, I've been, you know, I've been experimenting with Qs.

01:07:35.000 Maybe not as much as you did, but I've started testing Qs for the company that I was working with right now, 766.

01:07:45.000 we've been doing testing for three years so i know everything about like the foams the wall thickness what the material of the feral the hardness of your tip the weight the balance so there's so many different things that will change the way the shaft plays and then there's also but there's so many different things it's like a magic wand you know yeah you have to try you have to try so many things before you actually understand what you like and what you're looking for.

01:08:13.000 And it's not an easy process, I would say.

01:08:17.000 I remember I was going on one of my rucking hikes where I put a weighted vest on and I go for a walk with the dog and you and I were on the phone.

01:08:26.000 And this is how I remember this.

01:08:29.000 Because I was walking through this wooded area and you were telling me that the difference between your old cue and your new cue, you said there's a difference of about five percent.

01:08:43.000 And I was like, five percent?

01:08:44.000 Like, how do you know it's five percent?

01:08:46.000 5% you're like all the ball balls that I've pocketed when I when I think about what it does and what it doesn't do I think my game is about 5% off I'm like that.

01:08:54.000 I think I think actually with the new cue I was winning a lot more so I used to I used to put this was like right when you first changed yeah yeah well since then since then I was winning yeah so I guess I guess it was the truth Well it's you made it to your specifications.

01:09:10.000 Yeah.

01:09:11.000 Yeah.

01:09:11.000 That's the thing about it.

01:09:12.000 I'm with a longer chef because I have longer arms.

01:09:15.000 Yeah.

01:09:15.000 Long fingers.

01:09:17.000 I do prefer a longer taper, which doesn't really exist on the market.

01:09:21.000 So I created the chef with a longer taper, especially for the che shots like off the rail, let's say one the cue ball is one diamond distance off the rail.

01:09:31.000 That's where you feel that change in the taper thickness.

01:09:34.000 We have the straight taper in our shaft.

01:09:36.000 What is the difference in the field?

01:09:38.000 What do you feel differently?

01:09:39.000 For example, the pro taper or the conical taper, you can feel the change of the thickness.

01:09:44.000 Right.

01:09:45.000 The closer you go to the pin.

01:09:46.000 Right.

01:09:47.000 We don't have that.

01:09:48.000 Our shaft is straight.

01:09:49.000 And so that way it doesn't give additional resistance as the shot gets further, like as your bridge gets longer.

01:09:55.000 Right.

01:09:56.000 You just don't feel the change in thickness.

01:09:58.000 It's a mind fucking game.

01:10:01.000 Yeah.

01:10:02.000 It is.

01:10:04.000 And then you can go to deflection.

01:10:06.000 The deflection is another thing.

01:10:09.000 There's so much science behind that I don't even know where to start.

01:10:13.000 Well, deflection is interesting too, because some people use it to their advantage, certain deflection, like Ko, because his Q has a lot of deflection.

01:10:20.000 Didn't you say you hit some balls with it?

01:10:22.000 Yeah, yeah.

01:10:24.000 Basically, you have to aim to miss the ball to make the ball.

01:10:29.000 Doesn't make any sense.

01:10:31.000 I don't know why would players prefer that, but a lot of players do.

01:10:35.000 I think it just gets it in their head how to play, and then they've been playing that way for so long that it's just automatic.

01:10:43.000 Like if they hit a ball with heavy left hand English, they know it's going to go off to the right.

01:10:48.000 So they hit it more full with heavy left hand English because they know by the time the QL gets there, so they have it in their head.

01:10:56.000 It's just like a little computer in your brain.

01:10:58.000 It's like, okay, this distance, I gotta aim here.

01:11:02.000 This distance, I'm gonna aim here.

01:11:04.000 Well, in my case, I also have that.

01:11:08.000 We also have little, little, little deflection.

01:11:11.000 But when it's just too much, it gets really, really difficult.

01:11:15.000 Especially, like I said, when we play on shock clock.

01:11:18.000 Yeah.

01:11:19.000 Pressure out there and you have to pull one crazy shot and that's hill hill.

01:11:25.000 So the argument with that against that would be the difference with wood is though, you get a superior feel.

01:11:32.000 You do get a weird difference in the feedback of the cue and some people get very accustomed to that wood feedback and they describe a carbon feedback as more dull.

01:11:43.000 Yeah.

01:11:44.000 You don't get the same sensations.

01:11:45.000 You almost don't get no feedback.

01:11:47.000 So I think those guys, the feedback in their hand is a part of the equation in their mind of where that ball is going to go.

01:11:56.000 So when you say feedback, is it like a vibration that you get in your hand by the time you hit the ball.

01:12:01.000 It's just a different feel.

01:12:02.000 Like they all have a different feel, right?

01:12:04.000 Like we were talking about Southwest, which are some of my favorite cues of all time.

01:12:09.000 They have a solid butt.

01:12:10.000 They're not corded, right?

01:12:12.000 And so they're usually generally a little heavier, unless they're maple.

01:12:17.000 Sometimes they'll get lower, but you very rarely see like a 18 ounce Southwest.

01:12:22.000 You see a lot of 20 ounce Southwest because they're Ebony or Cocoa Bowl or something that's really heavy.

01:12:27.000 But they have a very specific thunk to them.

01:12:30.000 Yeah, the sound.

01:12:31.000 This is like a feel.

01:12:33.000 And you don't get that feel with carbon.

01:12:35.000 You get a different feel.

01:12:36.000 So if you can get used to that different feel.

01:12:39.000 It is, it is like there's something to it.

01:12:43.000 You definitely the ball moves less off the line.

01:12:46.000 Also, I mean, like I said, there's so many different environments we play in.

01:12:52.000 For example, we play in China in a poolhole with a dirty cloth and it's super muggy and the rails are playing super spongy and bouncy.

01:13:03.000 You would prefer one queue.

01:13:06.000 compared to the other one.

01:13:07.000 Yeah.

01:13:07.000 And you go to, I don't know, Saudi Arabia where it's super dry and it's perfect conditions.

01:13:13.000 Everything's slick and brand new.

01:13:15.000 I prefer carbon fiber in that case.

01:13:18.000 So maybe, I don't know, five years, ten years from now, we will have different cues for different shots.

01:13:24.000 Right, like a golf player.

01:13:25.000 Yeah, or like a golf player.

01:13:28.000 Could be the case, and some players already do that.

01:13:31.000 They use some cues, for example, when they stay close to the vertical center of the cue ball, they use one cue, and when they use sidespins, they use the other cue.

01:13:39.000 Really?

01:13:40.000 They bring who's doing that?

01:13:40.000 Yeah, some players do.

01:13:42.000 Mario He was doing that.

01:13:43.000 Deally?

01:13:44.000 Yeah.

01:13:45.000 He brought two different cues.

01:13:46.000 Yeah, to Saudi Arabia last year.

01:13:49.000 I think some other players do that.

01:13:50.000 For example, what I do, I put the extension on the back of my cue for some shots.

01:13:55.000 I play without the extensions for certain other shots.

01:13:57.000 How much does your extension weigh?

01:14:00.000 It's super light, like 1.5.

01:14:02.000 So that gets you up to like what, 19,5, as opposed to 18?

01:14:05.000 Is that what you play with 18?

01:14:07.000 19.

01:14:07.000 You play with 19 ounces?

01:14:09.000 Oh, so it gets you like 20.5.

01:14:09.000 19, yes.

01:14:11.000 20.5.

01:14:12.000 So do you like the additional weight for like a shot where you have to really stay down?

01:14:17.000 I just use it for like balance purposes for longer shots.

01:14:22.000 For example, when, like I said, I'm one diamond off the rail and I have a long shot where I want to have like a long follow through, I just simply don't have enough of my Q on the back.

01:14:33.000 So add an extra length.

01:14:33.000 Got it.

01:14:36.000 But, you know, it's lonely at the top, buddy.

01:14:42.000 It is.

01:14:43.000 There's only a few guys that you could have those kind of matches with now.

01:14:46.000 Well, next one will be probably Josh Reilly.

01:14:46.000 Yeah.

01:14:48.000 You think so?

01:14:50.000 We're trying to make it happen.

01:14:51.000 Is he interested?

01:14:53.000 I think he was, but he's not really responding to messages really well lately.

01:15:00.000 I think he was interested.

01:15:01.000 So he had a guy who was willing to back him for a lot of money.

01:15:06.000 And they said, well, we have to do it in this place with these rules.

01:15:10.000 This is how it needs to be done.

01:15:11.000 Where was that?

01:15:12.000 Where did they want to do it?

01:15:13.000 In Germany?

01:15:14.000 No, they wanted to play it in Vegas.

01:15:16.000 Oh.

01:15:17.000 I like to say it's a neutral territory.

01:15:18.000 Vegas is good.

01:15:19.000 Where would you go?

01:15:20.000 To Griff's?

01:15:21.000 Yeah, I think they wanted to do it in Griff's.

01:15:23.000 Great place.

01:15:24.000 Good place, yeah.

01:15:26.000 Oh, you don't like it?

01:15:27.000 I mean, they wanted to do like High Roll Me.

01:15:32.000 They said, we'll play in Vegas.

01:15:35.000 You got to bet like half a million.

01:15:39.000 Something like that.

01:15:41.000 what I really wanted to do is basically what we did with Shane you know like a $50,000 bet play race to 120.

01:15:51.000 Half a million is a lot.

01:15:52.000 And what I really offered him was to play multiple disciplines.

01:15:56.000 We play like an all-around.

01:15:57.000 We play eight ball, nine ball, ten ball, or was it nine ball, ten ball, one pocket and banks.

01:16:02.000 That's what I offered him.

01:16:03.000 Oh, what if you draw?

01:16:05.000 In case of a draw, we play another set.

01:16:07.000 But you know what I'm saying?

01:16:08.000 four games.

01:16:09.000 You have to play three games.

01:16:10.000 I mean, I'm not playing to lose, so...

01:16:18.000 What would you race to at each game?

01:16:20.000 I mean, it would have to be something we can fit in within eight to ten hours, so maybe race to th 30 in 10 ball, race to 30 in 9 ball, race to 10 in 1 pocket, and race to 10 in banks.

01:16:31.000 I think it's a good format.

01:16:33.000 People will like to watch that, I'm sure.

01:16:35.000 And it's good for the game.

01:16:37.000 It's good for our sport.

01:16:38.000 It's tough to get people casuals to watch regular pool.

01:16:42.000 Getting them to watch one pocket, they'd rather jump in front of a bus.

01:16:46.000 I agree.

01:16:47.000 Well, you don't like one pocket, you don't like it.

01:16:50.000 I watch it every now and then.

01:16:51.000 The fans like it, for sure.

01:16:53.000 Yeah.

01:16:54.000 When was the last one I watched?

01:16:56.000 Justin Bergman played someone for a lot of money.

01:16:59.000 He played the guy, what's his name?

01:16:59.000 Yeah.

01:17:02.000 Little John.

01:17:03.000 And he was giving him a crazy spot, right?

01:17:05.000 Yeah.

01:17:05.000 And he lost.

01:17:06.000 Oh, no, he won.

01:17:07.000 Justin won.

01:17:08.000 Justin won.

01:17:08.000 Yeah.

01:17:09.000 But it was close.

01:17:10.000 It was really close, yeah.

01:17:12.000 Everybody liked the other guy.

01:17:13.000 It was a nutty spot.

01:17:14.000 I forget what the spot was.

01:17:16.000 11-6, because I give that guy 12-6.

01:17:19.000 Oh, did you?

01:17:19.000 Yeah.

01:17:20.000 We actually played Not to One ago in New Orleans.

01:17:23.000 How'd that go?

01:17:24.000 I won.

01:17:25.000 Congratulations.

01:17:25.000 Nice.

01:17:27.000 Do you like One Pocket?

01:17:28.000 Would you prefer it or do you just play it because people want to gamble it?

01:17:31.000 I think I like it because it's a good gambling game.

01:17:34.000 I don't like the game itself.

01:17:36.000 I think the new modifications they make in the game where you have to respot the balls, for example, if you get more than four balls past the kitchen, the fifth ball gets respotted back to the spot so it makes the game more alive, more dynamic.

01:17:53.000 So you don't get those wedges where 50 balls go up table and people just play nothing shots for hours.

01:17:59.000 Right.

01:18:00.000 So it's more dynamic and also derby for example has shot clock.

01:18:03.000 I think one pocket has to be played with shot clock.

01:18:06.000 How much time they give you?

01:18:07.000 At derby it's one minute.

01:18:09.000 Hmm.

01:18:10.000 If you could make the perfect nine ball shot clock, what would it be?

01:18:14.000 I think it's good to where it's at right now.

01:18:16.000 30 seconds.

01:18:17.000 30 seconds with a 30 second extension.

01:18:19.000 Yeah.

01:18:20.000 man.

01:18:21.000 Because if you make it any shorter, it's Shorter is too difficult, but I mean, the 40 seconds, like just a touch, just a touch more to think about it.

01:18:32.000 I think it's good where it's at.

01:18:34.000 Yeah.

01:18:34.000 It's difficult when you have to like switch cues.

01:18:36.000 You have no extension.

01:18:37.000 For example, you jumped.

01:18:39.000 So that's why you see us grabbing both of our cues.

01:18:42.000 Ronnie's out there throwing your cue on the side and switching.

01:18:47.000 It's really difficult sometimes.

01:18:49.000 That's another shot that people hate that you got to leave in is the jump cue.

01:18:54.000 When you jumped out.

01:18:55.000 I love it.

01:18:56.000 You jumped out so many times during this US Open.

01:18:59.000 There were so many times you got hooked where you popped that ball.

01:19:03.000 in and if you can't appreciate that on tight pockets a beautiful shot where it goes airborne and fires right into the hole and then you get positioned on the next ball yeah i think it's great i think those that are voting against it are those that can do it yeah there's a lot of old school guys who just they get set in their ways and they think that's a stupid cue it's a little tiny cue fuck that thing but Why are there different golf clubs?

01:19:32.000 Because there's different shots.

01:19:33.000 Why do you break with a different cue?

01:19:35.000 Because it's a different shot.

01:19:36.000 Of course.

01:19:37.000 Come on.

01:19:38.000 Of course.

01:19:39.000 I think it's what gets actually need new people to watch it because it's exciting.

01:19:43.000 Oh, look, this guy jumped over this ball.

01:19:45.000 He was this close to the ball.

01:19:46.000 It's amazing.

01:19:47.000 It's like a trick shot.

01:19:48.000 And then also, it's like the cues that people are jumping with today, they're designed so well for that.

01:19:55.000 Yeah.

01:19:56.000 Like, I really like that QTech one.

01:19:58.000 That's, I think, my favorite one.

01:20:00.000 That one is, and you helped design that, right?

01:20:04.000 Yeah, I was involved.

01:20:05.000 I was involved, yes.

01:20:07.000 But not more.

01:20:08.000 Not more.

01:20:09.000 I'm with a different company.

01:20:10.000 Now we're starting a new brand.

01:20:13.000 I will be starting my own brand really soon.

01:20:15.000 When do you think that's going to be available?

01:20:17.000 My personal job cue?

01:20:18.000 Yeah.

01:20:20.000 Probably I would say if everything goes by the plan maybe first quarter of next year.

01:20:27.000 So that's the thing with pool too.

01:20:29.000 It's like when you see a guy who plays really good, everybody wants to play with whatever the fuck he's playing with.

01:20:33.000 Right.

01:20:34.000 So it's one of...

01:20:37.000 For a sport, in a game, it's like one of the...

01:20:58.000 Because it's like there's a mind.

01:21:00.000 It's like any sport.

01:21:01.000 game aspect of it.

01:21:02.000 Tennis, tennis the same or golf.

01:21:04.000 You just want to have the same tennis racket as Roger Federer.

01:21:07.000 But don't you think there's a giant variety in the way those things hit, as opposed to the way tennis rackets hit?

01:21:13.000 I don't know, because I don't play tennis, but it looks the same.

01:21:17.000 Whereas, like, the way pool cues are manufactured, the differences in the weight, the differences in the taper, the differences in the shaft composition, whether it's wood or carbon fiber, or for sure.

01:21:30.000 And I think when it comes down to like a playing cue, then it's really, really personal.

01:21:35.000 Some players like softer hits.

01:21:37.000 Some players like harder hits.

01:21:38.000 But when it comes to the jump cue, it just comes down to how effortless the jump cue does the job.

01:21:45.000 And how much, how accurate you can be with it.

01:21:45.000 Right.

01:21:48.000 Yeah.

01:21:49.000 Do you have like a mental checklist that you go through before you execute a shot?

01:21:57.000 Do you have like a pre-shot mental preparation that you go through?

01:22:01.000 I do a lot of breathing, breathing technique.

01:22:04.000 So for example, I would breathe in on four counts, then I hold it for like four or five and then i'd breathe out for like seven or eight seconds to calm myself down do you do that when you're sitting in the chair yeah i do that all the time time when I'm sitting in the chair.

01:22:19.000 Usually I would do like a loud breathe out when I'm at the table sometimes, just let it out.

01:22:25.000 And I kind of started to show emotions too, because I just feel that's okay.

01:22:30.000 You know, before I used to be like, you know, I can't show any emotions because it's weakness.

01:22:35.000 But now just.

01:22:36.000 The Russian way.

01:22:37.000 I just don't care anymore.

01:22:38.000 You're American now.

01:22:39.000 Yeah.

01:22:40.000 I'm fully Americanized now.

01:22:43.000 That's interesting, showing emotions.

01:22:46.000 Well, I definitely think that's the case when someone misses.

01:22:49.000 Because when someone misses and then they whack the table with their stick, boy, that empowers the other player.

01:22:54.000 Yeah, of course.

01:22:55.000 It definitely does.

01:22:56.000 And that's what some of the coaches that I've worked with in my childhood, they were all telling me, you know, don't show any emotion.

01:22:56.000 Of course.

01:23:03.000 You don't want to show any weakness to your opponent.

01:23:06.000 They're going to be feeding off of it.

01:23:08.000 And that's what kind of got stuck with.

01:23:10.000 But I'm just glad that I'm out of it right now.

01:23:13.000 Well, it's the most, I think, and Jeremy Jones and I were talking about this, I think it's the most mental game.

01:23:21.000 There's this moment of pulling the trigger, this moment.

01:23:26.000 where you're making sure that everything aligns and you just kind of keep your mind on on task and keep focused on the object ball.

01:23:34.000 Do you look at the cue ball before you strike or the object ball?

01:23:37.000 So it really depends on the distance between the object and cue ball.

01:23:40.000 For example, if it's when it's close to each other, object ball and cue ball, I look at the cue ball first.

01:23:45.000 When it's long distance, I look at the object ball first.

01:23:49.000 Why is that?

01:23:50.000 That's just how I find it working for me.

01:23:55.000 It's another thing that's very personal for other players.

01:23:58.000 I think most of the people look at the cue ball first, but I just prefer the object ball works better for me.

01:24:06.000 It's interesting because it is a preference thing.

01:24:08.000 Yeah, so definitely a personal preference.

01:24:10.000 I feel like if you have the straight stroke, if your stroke is straight, you will always hit the cue ball where you're intending to hit it.

01:24:18.000 So it's more about where you're going to hit it on the object ball.

01:24:21.000 There's a guy named Joel Turner who is, I don't know if I talked to you about this guy.

01:24:26.000 He used to be, well, he was a sniper for rescue missions with police where someone had a hostage and he would have to execute shots under extreme pressure.

01:24:44.000 And he was also a bowhunter.

01:24:47.000 And he realized that there were certain mistakes that he was making, and a lot of people are making bowhunting that had to do with anticipating the shot and anxiety before you pull the trigger, and that the way to work around that is to have a preshot routine in your mind where you're talking to yourself loudly in your head.

01:25:08.000 And you develop this preshot routine with very specific things that you say to yourself.

01:25:14.000 You say like, here I go.

01:25:17.000 Whatever different things, he's got a bunch of different steps that he said where he's talking to himself, like center your peep site.

01:25:24.000 There's like a bunch of things.

01:25:25.000 I have almost the same.

01:25:26.000 That's what I wanted to ask you.

01:25:27.000 Visualization and meditation is really big.

01:25:30.000 So what do you say to yourself?

01:25:32.000 My biggest demon in my head is I'm just scared to miss the ball.

01:25:37.000 I'm just, you know, when I'm down on the shot, sometimes my brain goes, well, you're going to miss the shot.

01:25:42.000 What are you doing?

01:25:42.000 You're going to miss it for sure.

01:25:43.000 Like the way you're aiming this shot, you're going to miss it for sure.

01:25:46.000 So my thing is just telling to my brain that I have to stay positive.

01:25:50.000 No, I'm going to fucking make this ball.

01:25:52.000 I'm making this ball.

01:25:54.000 bitch and I It works for me. 1.00

01:26:00.000 Yeah.

01:26:01.000 But if you think you're gonna miss, you will miss.

01:26:03.000 Yeah.

01:26:04.000 100% works like that.

01:26:05.000 What I was getting at is it, I found a giant crossoverrossover between that and archery in that it's the same thing.

01:26:12.000 If you think you're going to miss in archery, you're going to miss.

01:26:14.000 And if you think you're going to miss in pool, you're going to miss.

01:26:16.000 Right.

01:26:17.000 Yeah.

01:26:18.000 It just works like that.

01:26:19.000 It is.

01:26:20.000 It's like your subconscious tells you to miss.

01:26:20.000 It's crazy.

01:26:24.000 And it's almost like the pressure is too much, so you alleviate some of the pressure by anticipating the miss in advance.

01:26:33.000 It's weird.

01:26:33.000 Right.

01:26:35.000 So that's why my question to you is like, what is the process that you go through to fight that off?

01:26:40.000 It's just saying, I'm going to make that fucking ball?

01:26:43.000 Well, yeah, it's an experience already.

01:26:47.000 You have to miss a few shots to understand why that happened.

01:26:51.000 Right.

01:26:52.000 And I did.

01:26:52.000 I did lose a few big ones like that.

01:26:54.000 For example, I played Josh Filler in Germany in the European Open.

01:26:58.000 It was a really, really big match.

01:26:59.000 You know, the whole crowd is cheering for him.

01:27:01.000 Quarterfinals of the European Open.

01:27:03.000 And I landed on the nine ball really weird.

01:27:06.000 But I'm still a big favorite to make the shot.

01:27:09.000 It was like an off angle.

01:27:10.000 I was shooting from the rail.

01:27:12.000 Quarterfinals of the European Open.

01:27:14.000 I was up 9-8.

01:27:16.000 race to 10, and I missed the 9-ball just because I was...

01:27:21.000 Same thing happened in Saudi Arabia.

01:27:23.000 And I was up 10-3.

01:27:26.000 I think it was last 16.

01:27:28.000 I'm almost straight on the 9 ball, but I just know that I'm going to miss the ball.

01:27:32.000 Oh no.

01:27:33.000 I just know that.

01:27:34.000 And I'm down on the shot and I know that shot clock is running on me.

01:27:37.000 I'm like, no way.

01:27:38.000 I just can't get up.

01:27:39.000 I just can't get up.

01:27:41.000 I don't have enough time.

01:27:42.000 So I missed the ball.

01:27:44.000 I'm glad that I've won the match and I won the next wreck, but it's just weird how that works.

01:27:52.000 Now you have those experiences and then what do you do when that's over?

01:27:56.000 When you go, okay, that can't happen again.

01:27:58.000 I gotta make sure that that mindset never creeps into my head again.

01:28:02.000 So you just have to switch your focus to your fundamentals.

01:28:06.000 That's what helps me.

01:28:07.000 For example, Nick Vandenberg, he used to be a big player back in the day in the Netherlands.

01:28:12.000 He would practice sitting on his couch for hours.

01:28:17.000 Just practice visualization, just practice on the table.

01:28:21.000 He would imagine himself practicing in the poolhole, like straight in shots.

01:28:26.000 He wouldn't even go and practice.

01:28:28.000 Whoa.

01:28:29.000 That's weird.

01:28:29.000 Well, that's a weird dude.

01:28:31.000 Yeah.

01:28:32.000 But it worked for him.

01:28:33.000 Well, there's a lot of science to that in terms of, like, studies that have been done about visualization and the improvement and they found that actual real visualization when you're really sitting down there and visualizing counts almost as much as practice and in some cases more and no one knows why well visualization is really big for us for example you're never going to win the tournament without believing that you can actually win it right and you can only believe that

01:29:03.000 you can win if you can only visualize visualize that you won that tournament right Which is why I say that this is like the most mental of games.

01:29:12.000 Yeah.

01:29:13.000 You know, it's such a weird dance that goes in your head.

01:29:21.000 I'm half asked.

01:29:23.000 But sometimes I play really good.

01:29:25.000 Like if I get like six hours, two or three days in a row, I can get in stroke and I start running racks.

01:29:32.000 But when I'm not, and then I go to execute, there's like this thing in my head that like right when I'm about to aim at the like right when I'm about to pull the trigger, my head goes, Don't hit it there, hit it here.

01:29:44.000 And you're like, Okay.

01:29:45.000 At a touch of outside.

01:29:46.000 And I do it and I miss.

01:29:47.000 I'm like, Why did you change where you were going to hit it?

01:29:50.000 Like last minute.

01:29:51.000 What the fuck is that?

01:29:52.000 And I've been playing pool for 30 something years.

01:29:55.000 But sometimes that works.

01:29:56.000 And you're like, I'm glad I did that.

01:29:58.000 Yeah, rarely.

01:30:00.000 Most of the time I miss.

01:30:02.000 Most of the time when I change where I'm going to hit last second, I miss.

01:30:06.000 But we all do that.

01:30:07.000 Or when I think, I'm not going to be this accurate, let me aim to overcut it.

01:30:07.000 Yeah.

01:30:10.000 And then I'm like, oh my God, you overcut it all the length of the table, you fucking idiot.

01:30:14.000 If you just accurately hit where you thought you were going to hit, you would have made that ball.

01:30:19.000 It's this weird thing, but that's why I love the game.

01:30:24.000 Because when you're really playing pool, the world goes away.

01:30:29.000 It goes away.

01:30:31.000 You're not thinking about anything.

01:30:34.000 You're not thinking about global warming.

01:30:36.000 You're not thinking about shit.

01:30:37.000 You're not thinking about inflation, how much eggs cost, you're not thinking about shit.

01:30:41.000 The world goes away when you're on that table.

01:30:44.000 When you're playing, the world goes away.

01:30:48.000 That's what I like about archery and that's what I like about pool.

01:30:51.000 They have the same quality to them in that to do it correctly is so difficult that it requires all of your mind.

01:31:00.000 I totally agree with you.

01:31:00.000 I agree.

01:31:02.000 And unlike chess, which also requires all of your mind, pool has the added element that you have to execute.

01:31:09.000 You have to pull it off under pressure with shaky hands.

01:31:11.000 It's kind of like a mix of chess with, I don't know, golf, I would say.

01:31:16.000 See?

01:31:17.000 Yeah.

01:31:18.000 Well, I think it's just its own thing.

01:31:20.000 Well, it's an old thing for sure.

01:31:21.000 It's its own thing.

01:31:22.000 It's very different than any of those other things, even though I don't play either one of them.

01:31:27.000 It's very different than any of those other things.

01:31:30.000 And when people get into it, man, it takes their whole fucking life over.

01:31:33.000 I remember my manager had to have a conversation with me once when I lived in New York.

01:31:38.000 He was like, I think you're spending more time playing pool than you are in your career.

01:31:42.000 I was like, fuck, he's right.

01:31:44.000 He was right.

01:31:45.000 I took a whole year off.

01:31:46.000 I didn't play for a whole year.

01:31:48.000 And then I came to LA and I started playing a little bit again.

01:31:52.000 I was like, got it.

01:31:53.000 He got me again.

01:31:54.000 It just sunk its teeth right back in me.

01:31:57.000 Oh, yeah.

01:31:58.000 Yeah.

01:31:59.000 The amount of cues you have is crazy.

01:32:01.000 And now when I'm, like, if I'm talking to someone and they're boring, I just think about playing pool.

01:32:05.000 I think about getting out.

01:32:06.000 I think about hair, hair, hair.

01:32:07.000 I think about hair.

01:32:08.000 Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

01:32:15.000 It falls into these...

01:32:17.000 But it's not really about the...

01:32:20.000 But what it's really about is sinking your mind to something.

01:32:23.000 That's where the true joy comes in.

01:32:25.000 Sinking your mind to something and then executing it to perfection.

01:32:29.000 I think it's.

01:32:33.000 some kind of mental exercise, like, akin to cardio, akin to lifting weights.

01:32:38.000 There's a mental exercise to it.

01:32:40.000 Also the enjoyment from developing a skill and you just know how hard it is.

01:32:46.000 I think the enjoyment is even bigger in that regard.

01:32:49.000 Yeah.

01:32:50.000 Yeah, it's a game that I really wish more people would appreciate.

01:32:54.000 I wonder how many people are still listening to this podcast that are just regular people.

01:32:58.000 They're like, what the is he gonna fucking talk about pool with this guy for three hours?

01:33:03.000 Yeah.

01:33:03.000 This one's not for you.

01:33:05.000 But that's the beauty of having four podcasts a week.

01:33:08.000 You can throw one of them entirely at pool.

01:33:10.000 But for pool players, there's a lot of people that get it.

01:33:14.000 It's not like anything else.

01:33:18.000 In this weird world of non-physical things, in this weird world of virtual things, of playing video games and of being connected with computers, which is all very, very fun, those are all really fun to do.

01:33:33.000 There's a kinetic aspect to playing pool that I think a lot of people forgot how satisfying and rewarding it is and how intriguing the game is.

01:33:48.000 You know, and that's why I always chime on about it.

01:33:52.000 I think it's good for you.

01:33:55.000 Yeah.

01:33:55.000 For sure.

01:33:56.000 And actually the way, for example, Vietnam marketed pool is they started opening pool rooms with computer clubs in the same building.

01:34:06.000 So that's like a computer cafe type deal?

01:34:09.000 Type of thing, yeah.

01:34:10.000 But the huge ones.

01:34:11.000 Huge ones.

01:34:12.000 They have pool rooms with hundreds of tables.

01:34:15.000 Oh, wow.

01:34:16.000 Yeah, Vietnam.

01:34:16.000 Vietnam right now is probably the most pool playing country in the world.

01:34:21.000 Wow.

01:34:22.000 And how long ago did this start?

01:34:23.000 Maybe three, four years ago, really.

01:34:26.000 That's crazy.

01:34:27.000 What made it explode in Vietnam like that? 1.00

01:34:30.000 For example, Hanoi Open, the first major we had in Vietnam three, three years ago.

01:34:30.000 I had no idea.

01:34:36.000 I had no idea or any expectations going to the event.

01:34:40.000 But I always knew that I had some fans because on Facebook, like, 40% of my followers are from Vietnam.

01:34:45.000 What?

01:34:46.000 Which always seemed weird.

01:34:47.000 40%?

01:34:48.000 Yeah.

01:34:50.000 Now it's more.

01:34:51.000 Now it's more.

01:34:52.000 Whoa.

01:34:53.000 So I went over there and I was amazed, amazed.

01:34:56.000 Like, In Hanoi alone, there's 2,000 pool rooms.

01:35:00.000 In Hanoi, just one city.

01:35:02.000 2,000?

01:35:03.000 Yeah.

01:35:05.000 That's crazy.

01:35:06.000 What is this?

01:35:07.000 The most luxurious pool hall in Vietnam.

01:35:11.000 I've actually been to this pool room before.

01:35:13.000 Damn.

01:35:15.000 But yeah, they have pool rooms with like hundreds of tables.

01:35:19.000 This is Chinese 8-Bowl, by the way.

01:35:21.000 Yeah, that's a weird game, right?

01:35:23.000 It's become really, really popular.

01:35:24.000 Hugely popular, right?

01:35:26.000 Really popular.

01:35:28.000 It's very lucrative, right?

01:35:32.000 Yeah.

01:35:33.000 Yeah, those guys are making big money now.

01:35:37.000 They call it Hayball now.

01:35:38.000 It's called Hayball, right? 0.91

01:35:39.000 It used to be called Chinese 8-Bowl.

01:35:42.000 So what made that game explode in China?

01:35:45.000 They were just throwing big big money in the game and it really exploded everywhere because now all the English and snooker players English hateball players and snooker players are traveling and playing all those tournaments there and maybe top 30 guys now on their tour are making good money and they are I think they are trying to get the pool players to join them as well.

01:36:08.000 A lot of guys will probably do it just for the cheese.

01:36:11.000 Yeah, that's the problem.

01:36:13.000 What does a big tournament in hateball pay?

01:36:15.000 The biggest one pays $750,000 for first.

01:36:19.000 But they have almost big tournaments every month.

01:36:24.000 They pay $200,000, $300,000 for first.

01:36:26.000 Wow.

01:36:27.000 And small tournaments, you know, they pay $50,000.

01:36:31.000 They're happening every two weeks.

01:36:33.000 But you were saying when you went over there, like regular dudes that you were playing were like robbing you.

01:36:39.000 Yeah, the competition is really high.

01:36:41.000 The game is a little bit different.

01:36:43.000 So they use pool balls, snooker type of rail.

01:36:46.000 So the pocket is round.

01:36:48.000 And they use like a snooker cloth.

01:36:51.000 cloth So it's really thick and like hairy.

01:36:55.000 So it's got a lot of nap to the cloth, so the ball moves slower.

01:36:59.000 Right.

01:37:00.000 They hit balls really hard.

01:37:01.000 Is that because of the rounded ed edges, like you have to fire them through there.

01:37:04.000 For example, if the ball is close to the rail, that's probably the best way to make the ball because you can push through the rubber.

01:37:12.000 Kind of like a Russian pyramid type thing. 0.57

01:37:14.000 Well, there's that one shot where in the side pockets where you can push through the nipple of the side pocket, if it's yeah, so it's like kind of the same thing, kind of.

01:37:24.000 Because I watch a lot of those guys online and they fire balls in.

01:37:27.000 I'm like, this is crazy.

01:37:29.000 Yeah, the competition is really, really high there because there's so many players in so many pool rooms in China that just have hay ball tables.

01:37:37.000 And it's becoming popular everywhere.

01:37:39.000 And when did that start?

01:37:41.000 in China?

01:37:42.000 I would say it started like 10 years ago, maybe even before that.

01:37:44.000 That's crazy.

01:37:45.000 So think about that.

01:37:46.000 That emerges 10 years ago.

01:37:48.000 So this is only, we're talking about 2015, something long ago.

01:37:51.000 So that emerges 10 years ago, and then Vietnam emerges 3 years ago. 0.97

01:37:55.000 Vietnam, Vietnam is booming.

01:37:57.000 But maybe I just found it out 3 years ago.

01:37:59.000 Maybe it started.

01:38:00.000 So let's imagine that's 10 years as well.

01:38:02.000 That's still nothing.

01:38:03.000 That's not that long ago.

01:38:04.000 Yeah.

01:38:05.000 Like, so it gives me hope that something similar can happen in America.

01:38:10.000 I think so.

01:38:12.000 I think the audience is different.

01:38:14.000 How so?

01:38:15.000 Because something has to happen in order to draw the younger audience here.

01:38:23.000 I don't know if the social media is the answer, but in Vietnam it's just they don't have any bars and pool rooms.

01:38:29.000 They don't drink in pool rooms.

01:38:30.000 They just play the game.

01:38:31.000 Everybody's following professional pool.

01:38:33.000 Everybody know who Shane Van Boeing is.

01:38:36.000 That's going to be tough to get people with no bars.

01:38:38.000 People are here a bunch of drunkards.

01:38:38.000 Exactly.

01:38:40.000 Well, APA has 270,000 members.

01:38:44.000 270,000 US alone.

01:38:46.000 And those are mostly bar players.

01:38:48.000 Those are mostly bar players that play on Fridays and they probably don't know who Shane Van Boeing is.

01:38:52.000 What?

01:38:53.000 Yeah, that's not possible.

01:38:54.000 It is possible.

01:38:55.000 Come on, really?

01:38:56.000 Really?

01:38:56.000 Yeah.

01:38:57.000 They play pool in a league and they don't know who Shane Van Boning is.

01:39:00.000 I'm telling you.

01:39:01.000 That seems insane.

01:39:03.000 He plays in those bar table tournaments sometimes.

01:39:05.000 I remember there used to be a lot more of them.

01:39:07.000 Yeah.

01:39:07.000 I watched some recent one from Boston.

01:39:09.000 They had some big.

01:39:10.000 Right.

01:39:11.000 Yeah.

01:39:11.000 That's Ultimate Pool they started.

01:39:13.000 That's a company from UK.

01:39:14.000 Oh, is it?

01:39:15.000 They're starting to, yeah, they're starting to break through in the US as well.

01:39:18.000 Kind of crazy because it's a really quick shot clock.

01:39:21.000 Big ass pockets, little ass table. 1.00

01:39:21.000 Right. 1.00

01:39:25.000 And if you miss, you're fucked. 0.87

01:39:26.000 Right.

01:39:27.000 Because these guys are all, they're all running out.

01:39:29.000 Justin Bergman is a wizard at that too.

01:39:31.000 Yeah.

01:39:32.000 Bar table table is a different game.

01:39:35.000 It looks easy.

01:39:36.000 You look at it like, oh, small table, big pocketckets, this is easy.

01:39:39.000 But no, if you miss, like if you get out of line and you miss, the game's over.

01:39:46.000 Your guys are going to run out.

01:39:46.000 Yeah.

01:39:47.000 And that's more additional pressure.

01:39:48.000 Yeah.

01:39:49.000 There's more strategy in eight ball.

01:39:50.000 All the clusters and everything's all cluttered up together.

01:39:53.000 Right, right, right.

01:39:54.000 And you can't shoot your opponent's ball, so you have to figure out a way to bump them and move them and get a shot on the eight.

01:40:00.000 Do you think the eight ball is still the most played game because of leaks?

01:40:04.000 Yeah.

01:40:05.000 Yeah.

01:40:05.000 Most people don't like, I had a friend here and he's like, I play really good pool.

01:40:08.000 I go, what do you play?

01:40:09.000 Do you play nine ball?

01:40:10.000 He's like, no, I play regular pool.

01:40:11.000 I'm like, yeah.

01:40:12.000 What is regular pool?

01:40:13.000 Like, you don't play.

01:40:14.000 Right.

01:40:15.000 We had a conversation.

01:40:16.000 I was like, okay, okay, okay.

01:40:18.000 Let me explain nine ball to you.

01:40:19.000 Like you play eight ball.

01:40:21.000 It's not regular pool.

01:40:22.000 But it may change with Metroid involved.

01:40:24.000 It may change.

01:40:25.000 Because they push nine ball only.

01:40:27.000 Yeah.

01:40:28.000 Well, the thing about nine ball that's very exciting is the luck factor.

01:40:32.000 Luck factor is huge.

01:40:32.000 Right.

01:40:34.000 You know, when you watch a guy shoot a ball into the corner and he hits the rail and it bounces three rails and goes into the side, it's fucked.

01:40:43.000 If you're sitting there, if you're in the chair and you were hoping, Oh, he missed, it's my chance.

01:40:48.000 No, he got lucky.

01:40:49.000 Right.

01:40:50.000 And that's luck is part of it.

01:40:51.000 Sometimes people shit in the nine ball and that's the whole thing that they win.

01:40:54.000 And people are like, how could that be a win?

01:40:56.000 It was an accident.

01:40:58.000 That's part of the game.

01:40:59.000 It's part of the fun of the game.

01:41:01.000 And then also you could win off the break.

01:41:03.000 That's also part of the game.

01:41:05.000 And that drives people crazy.

01:41:06.000 No, spot that.

01:41:08.000 I think it's great.

01:41:10.000 I mean, luck is part of any sport, I think.

01:41:13.000 I also like when someone misses an easy shot and then the opponent runs out and then makes a nine on the break.

01:41:19.000 So it's like, fucking.

01:41:21.000 You fucked up.

01:41:22.000 And the pool gods do that to you all the time. 0.98

01:41:25.000 If you miss a ball, it's kind of weird how oftentimes you have to sit in the chair for a few racks because the guy just getsets a bunch of really awesome lucky breaks.

01:41:25.000 They do.

01:41:34.000 You're like, this is terrible.

01:41:36.000 For sure.

01:41:37.000 And you know what I also found when I'm winning more, I'm also getting more lucky.

01:41:41.000 Yeah.

01:41:42.000 I just get the love.

01:41:43.000 I miss the ball and then the guy is absolutely hooked.

01:41:46.000 I wonder what that is.

01:41:48.000 Why is that so reliable?

01:41:50.000 Because it's really reliable.

01:41:51.000 I wish I knew the answer.

01:41:53.000 I would be doing something for sure.

01:41:55.000 If some like super egghead who studies pool like Dr. Dave, like if that guy could explain this, I would like to know.

01:42:02.000 Because I think there's a kind of science to it.

01:42:05.000 And I think it there's a positive when you're in gear, when you can't miss, and you're in stroke, and you're firing balls and you're playing really well, you get these lucky breaks.

01:42:24.000 It's weird.

01:42:25.000 It's like you're putting out positive energy.

01:42:28.000 But when you're down and you feel like shit, and you're like, God damn it, I can't catch a break, and then the guy misses, and you're stuck behind two balls, and you're like, God damn it, this always happens.

01:42:38.000 I wonder, I often wonder, did you make that?

01:42:41.000 Did you manifest this?

01:42:43.000 Are you manifesting good luck with positive energy?

01:42:46.000 That's what I do.

01:42:47.000 I mean, I'm always trying to be positive because I think there's a benefit to it.

01:42:53.000 I think there's a real benefit, like a real world unmeasurable benefit that would probably show up in statistics.

01:42:59.000 But not even in pool.

01:43:01.000 I think in real life it's the same.

01:43:03.000 Yes, I think so too.

01:43:04.000 Yeah, that's why I think pool mirrors life in a lot of ways.

01:43:08.000 I think that's the case.

01:43:10.000 I also think like being really generous in real life is like really good for you.

01:43:16.000 It's really good for everybody.

01:43:17.000 It's not good for just the people that you're being generous to, but it's good for you too.

01:43:21.000 It's good for everybody.

01:43:23.000 It's the same sort of principle.

01:43:28.000 There's a condom is real.

01:43:30.000 It is real.

01:43:31.000 It just doesn't seem like it should be.

01:43:33.000 It seems like you should be able to figure out life on a yellow legal pad with a pen and some really good calculus, but no.

01:43:41.000 There's some things going on that nobody has figured out how to put a measuring tape to.

01:43:46.000 No one has figured out how to put it on a scale.

01:43:49.000 There's some things going on.

01:43:51.000 Yeah, that's a difficult one.

01:43:52.000 Yeah.

01:43:53.000 And there's things going on with your mind that no one is ever going to be able to figure out.

01:43:59.000 Like no one is ever going to be able to figure out why some people get lucky all the time.

01:44:04.000 But there's I think there's probably something to it.

01:44:07.000 Like Efren, for example.

01:44:10.000 That guy used to always say I got lucky.

01:44:13.000 He was always saying I got lucky.

01:44:15.000 Meanwhile, who's more positive than that guy?

01:44:17.000 When he would he would miss, he would laugh.

01:44:20.000 He would laugh and scratch his head.

01:44:21.000 Oh yeah.

01:44:22.000 Never look like he was mad.

01:44:23.000 I would want her to break my fucking stick, but he would he would just like, oh no, I missed.

01:44:29.000 He'd scratch his head and go, oh no.

01:44:31.000 And sit down and be all super positive.

01:44:34.000 Right.

01:44:35.000 But he got lucky a lot.

01:44:37.000 I agree.

01:44:38.000 Maybe that's the case.

01:44:40.000 Yeah.

01:44:41.000 Well, that's why I wonder, that's why I wanted to ask you about your pre-shot routine.

01:44:45.000 Like, what is the, what are the things you're saying to yourself in your mind?

01:44:50.000 Or is it just a lot of experience and a lot of I'm gonna make that shot?

01:44:56.000 Well, it's basically shutting down the negative thoughts.

01:45:00.000 You know, being positive is really difficult at times, especially when things are not going your way, when the opponent is, I don't know, missing and shit saves on you or flicking a few balls or just doesn't miss any balls.

01:45:13.000 It's really difficult to stay positive in your chair.

01:45:15.000 Yeah.

01:45:16.000 So you just gotta focus on what you can control and hope for the best.

01:45:23.000 That's all I do.

01:45:24.000 Have you ever thought about doing what Nick Vandenberg does when he sits on a couch?

01:45:28.000 Just like visualizing running out while you're watching your opponent play?

01:45:34.000 I think I have that going through my brain when I'm like listening to like a hype up music.

01:45:39.000 Well, for example, when I'm walking into the match and I'm like whole hyped up.

01:45:43.000 What is hype up music for you?

01:45:44.000 What are you listening to?

01:45:46.000 Different, different.

01:45:47.000 Depends on the mood.

01:45:48.000 Sometimes it's like gangster rap.

01:45:50.000 Sometimes it's like what kind of gangster rap?

01:45:52.000 What do you like?

01:45:53.000 Russian, Russian stuff.

01:45:54.000 Oh, you gotta send me some.

01:45:54.000 Russian?

01:45:56.000 Okay.

01:45:56.000 Yeah.

01:45:57.000 Tell me what's good Russian gangster rap.

01:45:59.000 It's good for the gym.

01:46:00.000 Perfect for the gym.

01:46:01.000 Yeah, perfect.

01:46:01.000 Yeah?

01:46:02.000 Oh, nice.

01:46:03.000 Funk, funk music.

01:46:04.000 I like funk.

01:46:06.000 Like Brazilian funk.

01:46:07.000 I like music like that that I don't know what they're saying.

01:46:10.000 Right.

01:46:10.000 I mean, I do understand what they're saying, but sometimes it just doesn't make all that sense.

01:46:19.000 Russian gangster rap.

01:46:21.000 Like, can you give me an example that we could play right now?

01:46:23.000 Like, what is a good Russian gangster rap that Jamie could pull up?

01:46:28.000 Well, his name is Scriptonit.

01:46:30.000 Yeah.

01:46:30.000 Scriptonit?

01:46:31.000 Like Scriptonit, like Kryptonit?

01:46:33.000 Well, his name is Scriptonit.

01:46:33.000 Yeah.

01:46:34.000 He's really popular in Russia.

01:46:36.000 See if you can find that guy.

01:46:37.000 What's a good thing?

01:46:38.000 Usually, usually it's a few remixes.

01:46:40.000 Well, let me see.

01:46:45.000 I didn't even know that they had a lot of Russian gangster rap.

01:46:48.000 Ah, yeah.

01:46:50.000 For sure.

01:46:53.000 I mean, it's not great music, but it pipes me up.

01:46:58.000 Well, a lot of hype up music is not necessarily great.

01:47:00.000 The guy's called Eisgergert.

01:47:03.000 I don't even know if he's popular or not.

01:47:04.000 I just like his stuff.

01:47:06.000 Give me one script tonight though.

01:47:08.000 One good song that you like.

01:47:09.000 Let me see.

01:47:12.000 Like one like you and Josh Filler about to play for half a million.

01:47:16.000 You're on your way.

01:47:17.000 So this song is not good.

01:47:22.000 Oh, perfect.

01:47:23.000 But just tell me what it is.

01:47:24.000 We'll have Jamie pull it up.

01:47:27.000 Moscow loves ecstasy.

01:47:29.000 Oh.

01:47:35.000 I bet a lot of people in Moscow do love ecstasy.

01:47:38.000 Oh, pretty accurate song.

01:47:42.000 You got it, Jamie?

01:47:43.000 Yeah, well, I mean, it's not written in English.

01:47:47.000 Yeah, it's not written in English.

01:47:49.000 I just want to hear.

01:47:50.000 No, I'm Oh, save the actual song.

01:47:52.000 I got to get the right version of it because it didn't...

01:47:55.000 It's called Moskva.

01:47:56.000 Moskva.

01:47:57.000 Let me do a copy-paste here.

01:47:59.000 Hold on.

01:48:01.000 If you want, I can have them send it to me and I'll send it to you.

01:48:03.000 No, that's not the issue.

01:48:05.000 Oh, okay.

01:48:07.000 I'm literally it's written and I don't even know how to type that one.

01:48:11.000 There it is.

01:48:11.000 I can't type that, so I'm just saying, like, it wasn't Oh, right, right.

01:48:17.000 But this also is going to get us in trouble.

01:48:19.000 This is going to get us in trouble.

01:48:20.000 We can't play any music anymore.

01:48:22.000 Oh, yeah.

01:48:23.000 Okay, well, we just we'll cut it out.

01:48:28.000 You've got to go forward a little bit.

01:48:29.000 Okay.

01:48:35.000 I like it.

01:48:36.000 Yeah, so it's something like that.

01:48:37.000 It sounds like he's on ecstasy though.

01:48:40.000 I bet he is.

01:48:40.000 Maybe.

01:48:41.000 Maybe.

01:48:42.000 I mean, most of the stuff he says, you can't even understand what he's saying because he's so fast and he's actually from Kazakhstan.

01:48:47.000 Here's a translation.

01:48:49.000 Oh, here it is.

01:48:50.000 Wet asphalt, gray face.

01:48:51.000 You'll find everything you need.

01:48:53.000 Love or treasure in the depths of the woods.

01:48:55.000 Only the lipstick was worn off.

01:48:57.000 Sealing, starfall, fingers on the temple.

01:49:00.000 The eyes are This is all nonsense words.

01:49:03.000 The eyes are gathered together.

01:49:05.000 Tomorrow, again, wet asphalt, gray face.

01:49:08.000 There are only clouds above you.

01:49:09.000 Okay.

01:49:10.000 That sounds like ChatGPT wrote it.

01:49:13.000 Like ChatGPT 2.

01:49:14.000 A straight translation from Russian never makes any sense..

01:49:17.000 No, right?

01:49:17.000 Mm hmm.

01:49:18.000 Is that, what is that like?

01:49:20.000 Like learning, but first of all, you know how to read it, right?

01:49:23.000 So you read, what is it, Cyrillic, is that what it's called?

01:49:26.000 So you read it and write it.

01:49:28.000 Like, what is it like when you have to learn English?

01:49:30.000 Like, how much of a weird juxtaposition when you see the two languages together?

01:49:36.000 Well, it's, I don't know.

01:49:38.000 It was kind of easy.

01:49:39.000 I think English is the easiest language to learn.

01:49:42.000 Really?

01:49:42.000 Because I was, I was studying French in school.

01:49:45.000 I was in the French school.

01:49:46.000 And for me, it was a lot harder to learn French.

01:49:49.000 I used to speak fluent French before.

01:49:51.000 Now I just don't, don't remember anything.

01:49:54.000 Really?

01:49:54.000 Yeah, I actually start forgetting Russian a little bit because I start thinking in English because I spent so much time here.

01:50:00.000 Oh.

01:50:01.000 So I didn't learn English properly enough, but to where I can speak and understand and, you know, at least have a conversation.

01:50:09.000 And then I don't really speak with anyone in Russian, so I start forgetting it.

01:50:14.000 Oh no!

01:50:15.000 You're a man of no country.

01:50:16.000 Exactly.

01:50:17.000 That's terrible.

01:50:18.000 That would be terrible.

01:50:19.000 And if you go back to Russia, they get angry at you, they can't talk good?

01:50:22.000 No, I mean, I still, I still talk good.

01:50:24.000 I actually go to Russia at least once a year.

01:50:27.000 Just to stay tight?

01:50:28.000 Stay close to the game?

01:50:30.000 Stay close to my family.

01:50:33.000 But I would imagine, like, if you fell out of Russian, like, if it became uncomfortable for you and you went over there, that would be so weird for them.

01:50:43.000 No.

01:50:44.000 No, I mean, they're fine with it.

01:50:46.000 There's a lot of But I would, listen, if, say, like, if my daughter moved overseas and went to Spain and started speaking Spanish and then came over to America and had a hard time talking to me, I'd be like, what happened?

01:50:57.000 I'm not going to get ahead of myself.

01:50:59.000 I'd completely forget the language.

01:51:02.000 But it would just be that I would be using, like, a lot simpler words.

01:51:05.000 My vocabulary is going to be tinier.

01:51:07.000 Right.

01:51:08.000 But then what if you're away for ten years?

01:51:10.000 Yeah, well then you gain an accent and And then people are like, look at you.

01:51:16.000 You went America on us.

01:51:18.000 Yeah.

01:51:18.000 You son of a bitch.

01:51:20.000 Do you get any heat for coming to America?

01:51:23.000 At first, of course, I did.

01:51:24.000 Yeah.

01:51:25.000 I've had all my friends.

01:51:26.000 My friends actually, they supported me all the time, so I'm just, uh, glad that I had good friends and have good friends.

01:51:34.000 But, uh, of course, the casual fans and, uh, you know, the keyboard, keyboard, uh, warriors.

01:51:39.000 Yeah.

01:51:39.000 They're always on me.

01:51:41.000 I get the heat from that.

01:51:42.000 Because you left Russia.

01:51:44.000 Yeah, sell out, you know, not born in the USA. 0.98

01:51:49.000 That's the music they always play in Most of the country.

01:51:52.000 Not Born in the USA. 0.83

01:51:55.000 Is there a song like that?

01:51:56.000 Well, they play the song.

01:51:58.000 Born in the USA?

01:51:59.000 No, not yet.

01:52:00.000 Oh, not.

01:52:00.000 That song is very depressing anyway.

01:52:02.000 If you want to get patriotic, that's not like Born in the USA is a terrible song.

01:52:07.000 It's like so sad.

01:52:08.000 It's not like, life is awesome.

01:52:12.000 That song is like depressing.

01:52:15.000 It's, you know.

01:52:17.000 It's about living in a terrible part of the USA.

01:52:21.000 It's not like the American dream.

01:52:24.000 But not really.

01:52:25.000 I mean, I don't have...

01:52:28.000 Not really.

01:52:28.000 I don't have that.

01:52:29.000 That's good.

01:52:30.000 There's a lot of Russians living in the United States.

01:52:33.000 So you get more heat from Americans that are upset that you came over from Russia?

01:52:36.000 Not really the Europeans, I think. 0.96

01:52:38.000 The Europeans that are the most upset ones, I think. 1.00

01:52:41.000 Probably because you're now playing for the Americans.

01:52:43.000 Because they know that you could fuck up their whole Mosconi Cup thing.

01:52:46.000 Maybe, maybe.

01:52:47.000 Yeah.

01:52:48.000 I do have a lot of, I would say, Polish haters just because I'm Polish.

01:52:54.000 Yeah, Polish. 0.58

01:52:55.000 I have a lot of Polish haters.

01:52:56.000 Just because I was born in Russia.

01:52:58.000 So they just automatically don't like Russians?

01:52:58.000 Oh.

01:53:01.000 Yeah.

01:53:02.000 That's that always happens.

01:53:03.000 Yeah.

01:53:04.000 If you don't have haters, you're not doing anything right.

01:53:06.000 Right.

01:53:06.000 You know, if you're I'm sure you have a lot of them too.

01:53:09.000 I'm sure I do.

01:53:10.000 Yeah.

01:53:11.000 Who was that crazy guy that was he was trying to fight you or something?

01:53:15.000 Oh, the liver king.

01:53:16.000 Yeah.

01:53:16.000 Yeah, that poor unfortunate guy.

01:53:19.000 I don't know, man.

01:53:21.000 He just got it in his head somehow or another that I was responsible for what was wrong with him, that I was a bully to him, which is crazy because all I did was point out what was like super obvious, like you're lying about being on steroids.

01:53:34.000 Like, hey, don't lie about being on steroids.

01:53:37.000 Don't be a public person and no one will say that.

01:53:39.000 It's that simple.

01:53:40.000 You have to take personal accountability for errors that you made.

01:53:44.000 I think there's some substances involved, if I had to guess.

01:53:47.000 that led him down a bad road, unfortunately.

01:53:52.000 But it's also fame, man.

01:53:54.000 It's not, you know, I'm sure you experienced it because you experienced a lot of haters in the pool world, but fame is not what people think it's going to be.

01:54:04.000 You know, you think, I'm going to be famous and life will be easier because people know who I am.

01:54:08.000 No, life is going to be way harder because now you're under the microscope.

01:54:13.000 24 hours a day.

01:54:14.000 And this is a guy in the Brian, he calls himself the liver king, who was not famous most of his life and then decided I want to be famous and I have this great body, so what I'm going to do is just like tell everybody they have to eat liver and sell a bunch of supplements.

01:54:29.000 And he made a lot of money selling a bunch of supplements.

01:54:32.000 And then he's, cannot tell the truth about steroids.

01:54:36.000 The problem with that is that physique is not achievable in your 40s without some help.

01:54:43.000 It's just not.

01:54:46.000 Like, you could be a freak athlete and have that physique at 23.

01:54:51.000 It's possible.

01:54:52.000 There's a few guys that can, but you have to have superior genetics and insane work ethic, and you have to be like really intelligent about how you approach your training.

01:55:04.000 But once you get into your 40s, and if you didn't look like that when you were younger, oh, yeah, you're on something.

01:55:10.000 Everybody knows it.

01:55:11.000 There's nothing wrong with being on something.

01:55:14.000 Like there's, here's the thing, it's like, if you want to be an influencer online, it's, it doesn't exclude you from taking, if you're a person who takes testosterone or any, even there's guys who have huge followings who are clearly on anabolic steroids.

01:55:30.000 They just don't lie about it.

01:55:31.000 That's all it is.

01:55:32.000 Like it doesn't make you less famous or make your, your physique less valid.

01:55:38.000 No one, no one really, I mean, there's going to be a few people, oh, he's a juice head.

01:55:43.000 But the reality is most people are just like, wow, that's really impressive.

01:55:48.000 But what people hate is when you're misleading them, when you pretend you're doing something that you're not, especially if you're also selling supplements or selling a lifestyle and telling them about your ancestral tenets.

01:56:02.000 It's just, you've got to take accountability.

01:56:06.000 You made mistakes.

01:56:07.000 If you did make mistakes, I'd be celebrating you.

01:56:09.000 If you were like this guy who's like, there's a bunch of people that we talk about on the podcast all the time that I know are on juice.

01:56:15.000 But they don't lie about it.

01:56:17.000 And no one gets upset at them it's real simple right it's just it is what it is but that you know the guys just take a lot of heat and they just he also funded i think he at least had a part in funding this netflix documentary about him which uh i didn't watch it but i heard it was not flattering at all and it made him seem kind of insane and that probably sucked and then after that he you know was mad at me but Again,

01:56:48.000 fame is not a normal thing.

01:56:50.000 It's not normal.

01:56:52.000 And if you don't have personal sovereignty, if you don't.

01:56:57.000 understand yourself, truly understand yourself, Not just trying to project an image of what you like people to think of you, but who you actually are.

01:57:07.000 That's where you get in trouble with fame.

01:57:10.000 And then also reading haters and reading the comments and wanting people to love you, which is probably why a lot of people get famous in the first place.

01:57:19.000 It's also like the thing of getting famous as a goal versus becoming famous because of a thing you do.

01:57:29.000 You know what I mean?

01:57:30.000 Like becoming famous because people like your comedy or your podcast or they like the way you play pool or the way you play basketball, like that's a different thing when you specifically go out of your way because you want to become famous.

01:57:47.000 And that's a lot of people.

01:57:48.000 It's a lot of it's really weird that there's a lot of like very wealthy people.

01:57:52.000 I know some people that are really wealthy and the thing that they really want is to be famous.

01:57:57.000 It's weird.

01:57:58.000 Just an ego, ego maniac.

01:58:00.000 Well, it's the thing they can't buy.

01:58:01.000 It's like they can they have private jets, they got a house here and a house there and they got a company here and a company there, but they really want to be famous.

01:58:09.000 You know?

01:58:09.000 So they will, that's a lot of those guys want to go on podcasts and they want to like sort of like let the world know how cool they are.

01:58:16.000 It is.

01:58:18.000 You know, it's like, and then a lot of those guys, they take the heat off the comments and the haters and they don't like it.

01:58:25.000 Like, Jesus Christ, I didn't know it was going to be this.

01:58:27.000 Like, yeah, that's that's what you signed up for.

01:58:29.000 You signed up.

01:58:30.000 That's the game.

01:58:31.000 Yeah, you're on the World Theater.

01:58:34.000 And that's a lot of eyes.

01:58:37.000 It's a lot of a lot of a lot of fucking venom tongued people out there just want to say terrible things about you.

01:58:45.000 Can't wait to something happen.

01:58:45.000 Yeah.

01:58:47.000 And you have to have the same way you have that discipline to not allow those negative thoughts in your head before you make a shot.

01:58:53.000 You also have to not allow other people's negative thoughts in your head either.

01:58:56.000 Right.

01:58:57.000 Because they're as valid, if not more valid than your own negative thoughts.

01:59:01.000 Wow, there's so many different opinions.

01:59:03.000 This is, for example, every time I make a, I don't know, bad decision to their opinion, you know, they will always voice it to me and say, well, sure.

01:59:13.000 And you just gotta, you gotta deal with it.

01:59:16.000 Yeah, or not pay attention to them, which is, I think, the best way to do it.

01:59:21.000 You, you must be aware.

01:59:23.000 Everyone's aware if they fuck up.

01:59:25.000 And you're always aware if people are upset at you about things.

01:59:28.000 But don't fucking focus on it.

01:59:30.000 Don't pay attention.

01:59:31.000 And that's where comedians make a giant mistake.

01:59:34.000 Podcasters make a giant mistake.

01:59:36.000 I'm sure pool players do it. 0.96

01:59:37.000 Fighters do it in a big way.

01:59:39.000 Like a lot of fighters get real mad when they read comments.

01:59:42.000 Yeah.

01:59:43.000 You know, and they invite trolls to come to their gym and some of them even beat the trolls up, which is kind of crazy.

01:59:48.000 You know, some guys will talk shit and they'll be so dumb that they'll actually think that they can go to the gym and, you know, spar with Sean Strickland or something.

01:59:56.000 That's the worst thing you can do because that's what troll is wanting.

01:59:59.000 That's what his goal is.

02:00:01.000 He's trying to get to your head.

02:00:03.000 Yeah, but if you can get him in the gym, it's worth it.

02:00:07.000 Yeah.

02:00:07.000 Like Sean Strickland has a bunch of videos of guys who talk shit online.

02:00:11.000 He just beats the fucking piss out of them.

02:00:14.000 Which is like, then he wins.

02:00:17.000 You know, then it comes all full circle.

02:00:19.000 Like paying attention to the haters actually paid off because for him it's easy work.

02:00:24.000 He just tunes these guys up like it's nothing and talks shit to them while he's kicking the fuck out of them.

02:00:29.000 Yeah.

02:00:30.000 Well, I guess in that case it doesn't work.

02:00:32.000 Yeah, but with Poole, it's like you don't want to have to play some idiot who says you suck.

02:00:36.000 Like, okay, put up money.

02:00:38.000 like they probably won't then you'll be talking with them back and forth what is the most amount of money that you've ever gambled for Against Shane.

02:00:49.000 That was it?

02:00:50.000 Yeah.

02:00:50.000 So you don't want to say the full amount, but that was the most amount.

02:00:53.000 But this Joshua Filler thing, if what they offered, if that ever happened, that would be the biggest one.

02:00:58.000 It could be the biggest one.

02:01:00.000 It could be the biggest one.

02:01:02.000 But also on my end, I just don't want it to be a one match and done.

02:01:07.000 Right.

02:01:08.000 I want to play, you know, if I lose, I want to play again.

02:01:10.000 If I win, I want to play again.

02:01:13.000 What was he proposing in terms of a race?

02:01:16.000 He wanted to do the same.

02:01:18.000 120.

02:01:19.000 120-10 ball over three days.

02:01:22.000 Just the same thing.

02:01:23.000 And what would you think about that?

02:01:25.000 I think, yeah, we should, we can do.

02:01:27.000 that for sure.

02:01:29.000 But my my take on this was I wanted to play in Railyard in Louisville where we play all of our.

02:01:36.000 Well, it's not really my spot.

02:01:36.000 Your spot, yeah.

02:01:38.000 It's considered a spot you go to a lot, right?

02:01:40.000 Not really.

02:01:41.000 I go there, you know, a couple of times a year.

02:01:45.000 I live thirty minutes from there.

02:01:47.000 Oh, see, that's your spot.

02:01:49.000 But I don't I don't go there.

02:01:51.000 That's your home room.

02:01:51.000 shut up.

02:01:52.000 It's not my home room.

02:01:53.000 I have a table at home.

02:01:54.000 I practice at home.

02:01:55.000 Right.

02:01:55.000 But your home room, where you go to, is like the place where you go.

02:01:59.000 That's near your house.

02:02:00.000 That's an actual establishment, not your home table.

02:02:03.000 I mean, you can you can say it like this, but I don't I don't go there.

02:02:08.000 I don don't practice there.

02:02:09.000 I'm never there.

02:02:10.000 Right.

02:02:11.000 I bet everybody knows your name.

02:02:13.000 Oh yeah.

02:02:14.000 Walk in the door.

02:02:15.000 Well, that everyone knows your name everywhere.

02:02:17.000 It doesn't count.

02:02:20.000 But yeah, I could see why you wouldn't want to play this.

02:02:22.000 Yeah, of course.

02:02:23.000 We can find a neutral spot.

02:02:24.000 We can find a neutral spot.

02:02:26.000 Maybe we're setting it up right here on this podcast.

02:02:28.000 What's the most amount you think you can get staked for?

02:02:34.000 I will have to consult.

02:02:36.000 Yeah, I'll have to consult.

02:02:37.000 Yeah, consult with those gentlemen.

02:02:39.000 100,000 maybe?

02:02:41.000 Could be for.

02:02:43.000 That's a lot of money.

02:02:44.000 That's a lot of money.

02:02:45.000 Let's do it right here.

02:02:46.000 I'd be into doing that.

02:02:49.000 I would have to tighten that table up, right?

02:02:51.000 Yeah, well, would you want four and a quarter?

02:02:54.000 What would you want four and a quarter?

02:02:55.000 Oh, that's another thing he wanted to do.

02:02:57.000 He wanted to only play in a four inch table.

02:03:00.000 So he wants to make it tighter.

02:03:03.000 Because me and Shane, we played in four and a quarter.

02:03:05.000 Oh, I see.

02:03:06.000 And he thinks if he makes it tighter, I'm not going to be making as much balls on the break and I can't control the break.

02:03:11.000 You know, it's always when you negotiate a match like this, you always want to have an edge.

02:03:16.000 And little change here and there may make the outcome different, but I mean.

02:03:16.000 Right.

02:03:23.000 I feel like you should do it in a place where you can get an audience though.

02:03:27.000 We can.

02:03:28.000 Yeah, but it's not going to be the biggest draw of the audience we can possibly have.

02:03:33.000 Online, for sure.

02:03:34.000 It's going to be the biggest draw.

02:03:35.000 What I mean is in person as well.

02:03:37.000 Like a place where there's a lot of people that can watch in person.

02:03:40.000 I think me and Shane would draw a bigger crowd, but maybe.

02:03:43.000 Really?

02:03:44.000 Yeah.

02:03:44.000 Yeah, probably.

02:03:45.000 Shane is a huge American hero when it comes to pool.

02:03:49.000 Right.

02:03:50.000 But it just seems like he doesn't like it anymore.

02:03:52.000 With Filler it's different.

02:03:54.000 You know, he's like Jake Paul.

02:03:56.000 A lot of people watch him, but they watch him because they want him to lose.

02:03:59.000 Really?

02:04:00.000 Well, I just found it like this.

02:04:02.000 I'm just hearing that for the first time now.

02:04:05.000 I thought he was beloved.

02:04:07.000 Well, it's kinda changing, I think lately.

02:04:11.000 Why?

02:04:13.000 Just the way he responded to a few different things and social media makes it worse.

02:04:19.000 Oh, no, social media stuff?

02:04:21.000 Yeah.

02:04:22.000 There was a few, a few, I don't know if you're involved with like WPA and Metroom conflicts and stuff like this.

02:04:30.000 Oh, yeah, that's right.

02:04:32.000 So there was a lot of weirdness where he was playing for like, was it WPA said you couldn't play in a Metroom event or is that what it was?

02:04:42.000 What happened?

02:04:43.000 What happened was So we should explain to people that don't know there's two different competing sort of organizations.

02:04:49.000 And at one point in time, if you played for one, they were telling you you can't play for the other.

02:04:49.000 Yeah.

02:04:52.000 And everybody's like, that's kind of crazy guys.

02:04:54.000 Right.

02:04:54.000 Like pool is just starting to take off.

02:04:56.000 And don't schedule shit at the same time as this other one that you know is going to be there. 0.78

02:05:01.000 Work together.

02:05:02.000 So what happened was WPA is implementing all those bans.

02:05:06.000 And they say if you play in Hanoi Open, you will be banned for a certain period of time from WPA tournaments.

02:05:14.000 And all the top players at the time, we wanted to change that by just stopping playing in WPA tournaments.

02:05:21.000 So we're just all of us top 16 players or top 10 players, we just don't go to WPA tournaments.

02:05:26.000 And by that move, we wanted them to change that rule.

02:05:30.000 We wanted them to lift the band.

02:05:31.000 Right.

02:05:32.000 So the very next event, after we spoke with all the players, we were in the meeting room.

02:05:39.000 We fly to New Zealand.

02:05:40.000 And I was flying with Christina, with my girlfriend at the time.

02:05:45.000 She was playing the World Championships and there was a World Championships for Men's, which was a WPA tournament.

02:05:50.000 And we all agreed that we're not playing there.

02:05:54.000 But Josh was there and he was playing.

02:05:57.000 So he basically decided and went against what he was saying in that room.

02:06:02.000 He turned up and signed up to play.

02:06:04.000 It wasn't just him.

02:06:05.000 It wasn't other players.

02:06:08.000 But then it just led to more, like he went on social media and tried to say, you know, he was trying to defend himself and say, you know, it wasn't, it was my dream to win that championship.

02:06:22.000 It was my.

02:06:23.000 And what better way to tell those other ten guys that the best in the world, you're not going.

02:06:27.000 Or we're all not going.

02:06:29.000 And then you sign up.

02:06:30.000 That means you just killed off nine or ten of the best players in the world.

02:06:35.000 And you have a much better chance of winning.

02:06:37.000 He did get a lot of back backlash from that.

02:06:40.000 And I think to this day, that kind of stuck with him.

02:06:44.000 I see.

02:06:44.000 That makes sense.

02:06:45.000 That makes sense.

02:06:46.000 He's a hell of a player though.

02:06:47.000 Oh, he's an unbelievable player.

02:06:49.000 Yeah.

02:06:49.000 And he's really young too, right?

02:06:50.000 How old is he?

02:06:51.000 He's a little bit older than me, maybe 26, 27, but.

02:06:54.000 He's the most fearless, the most talented player.

02:06:54.000 Yeah.

02:06:56.000 He's kind of like Rony Osalvan of pool.

02:06:59.000 He's, um, sometimes when he gets hot, it's crazy to watch.

02:06:59.000 Yeah.

02:07:04.000 Where he's spiking balls in.

02:07:06.000 No, the high gear is unbelievable.

02:07:07.000 Yeah.

02:07:08.000 Unbelievable.

02:07:09.000 He would go for a long period of time without me missing any ball.

02:07:13.000 And the other thing about him is he never looks like he's freaking out..

02:07:17.000 Like it never seems to be affecting him.

02:07:20.000 Like he's never taking additional time in between shots.

02:07:23.000 No, he's a very fast player.

02:07:26.000 Even under extreme pressure.

02:07:28.000 Yeah, he doesn't really fall under pressure.

02:07:32.000 It just seems like he doesn't feel it.

02:07:34.000 Sometimes it's not so good.

02:07:36.000 Sometimes it does feel like it.

02:07:37.000 And he was feeding off the actual hate of the crowd in Mosconi.

02:07:42.000 Like Mosconi Cup, if you watch Las Vegas, I wasn't playing on those years, but everybody is kind of rooting against him.

02:07:49.000 And he's just feeding off the crowd, kinda like Jason showed us.

02:07:52.000 Wow.

02:07:53.000 Yeah.

02:07:54.000 If you can turn that into a fuel and just run rex, that's amazing, in my opinion.

02:08:02.000 Yeah, if you can do that, if you have that kind of temperament.

02:08:05.000 But it's always interesting to me when a guy like that just seems to be so calm under pressure and just fires balls in.

02:08:12.000 It's almost like shocking.

02:08:14.000 Like, he's got an intimidating game.

02:08:17.000 Right.

02:08:18.000 Not that I don't think you could beat him.

02:08:20.000 It's a really good game, though.

02:08:21.000 It is.

02:08:22.000 It's a really good game.

02:08:23.000 It's top one and two in the world.

02:08:25.000 You know, I think at the very top, as you see with, you know, with Aloysius Yap, he won three tournaments in a row, which is crazy.

02:08:33.000 It's crazy to win like three majors in a row.

02:08:36.000 But like, you know, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz went on a tear where he was doing that for a while.

02:08:41.000 You can, if you look back at like the years, even like 10 years from where we're at right now, it's always one player winning tournaments for like a year or two and then switches to another player.

02:08:52.000 Like Shane won back-to-back U.S. Open.

02:08:54.000 Or Mika.

02:08:55.000 Mika won back-to-back.

02:08:56.000 Darren won.

02:08:57.000 Darren Appleton won back-to-back.

02:08:59.000 It's always...

02:09:01.000 Yeah.

02:09:03.000 But it's just maintaining that.

02:09:04.000 It's just so weird.

02:09:05.000 Like we were talking about Koping Chung, who had that insane match in 2023, but this year didn't play nearly as well.

02:09:12.000 It's really tough.

02:09:13.000 I mean, life gets in the way.

02:09:15.000 Something, I don't know, family, business.

02:09:18.000 Or you might have a neck injury like you had.

02:09:20.000 Right, right.

02:09:21.000 Your back might start pothering you.

02:09:23.000 You get sciatica.

02:09:24.000 There's a lot of stuff that can happen.

02:09:26.000 Yeah.

02:09:26.000 But it's just, that's why high level pool, when you watch it on a world stage like that, when it's executed so perfectly, so fun to watch.

02:09:36.000 Because you know how hard it is to get there.

02:09:39.000 Yeah.

02:09:39.000 It's harder to even stay there.

02:09:42.000 So, um, what do you do differently now that you're world number one?

02:09:45.000 Do you do anything differently to try to maintain your position or is it just keep going?

02:09:50.000 No, just keep going.

02:09:52.000 I know what I've what I know what I did to get me where I'm at right now.

02:09:56.000 Why would I change it?

02:09:58.000 Yeah.

02:09:59.000 I mean, I guess unless Because a lot of people they stop because for example they had a goal.

02:10:05.000 Their motivation is gone.

02:10:07.000 Right.

02:10:08.000 You know, my motivation is has always been money really.

02:10:12.000 Most of the time it was just the money.

02:10:14.000 I wanted to win as much as I can.

02:10:16.000 I was kinda from the poor ish family growing up and I always my biggest motivation was financial.

02:10:25.000 But obviously I wanted to be to be a world champion and I had the dream to be a world champion.

02:10:29.000 When I won the first world championships, that dream was kind of gone.

02:10:34.000 Now it's just another major, major, major.

02:10:37.000 So they always ask me those questions where, how would it feel to you if you won another US Open or Whirlpool Masters?

02:10:44.000 it would be great.

02:10:45.000 But I think it would mean a lot more when I stop playing.

02:10:48.000 Like when I'd be sitting with my grandkids and like, well, your grandpa was a two-time world nine ball champion back in the day.

02:10:55.000 It was four railing that nine ball right there.

02:10:57.000 Why do you say it with a southern accent?

02:10:59.000 Well, because I live in Indiana here.

02:11:01.000 I live in southern Indiana.

02:11:03.000 Is that a day of a southern accent in Indiana?

02:11:06.000 Yeah.

02:11:06.000 Oh, that's interesting.

02:11:07.000 I never thought of that.

02:11:09.000 Huh?

02:11:10.000 Who would you assume their accent in Indiana would be?

02:11:10.000 Yeah.

02:11:14.000 Well, you're an Ohio boy, so you're close to Kentucky.

02:11:17.000 It depends where you are there.

02:11:18.000 Right.

02:11:18.000 They have an accent.

02:11:19.000 Cleveland's got an accent.

02:11:21.000 That's true.

02:11:22.000 People have accents where.

02:11:24.000 But it's just when you when you think about just Just in general, like Poole's growth, I think you're in a perfect position right now in life.

02:11:24.000 true.

02:11:39.000 It's like if you had been this good 20 years ago, you would be in the same sort of trap that a lot of those – The only money that anyone was making in pool twenty, thirty years ago, real money, was in gambling.

02:11:59.000 And there were a lot of guys that were making money gambling that weren't placing well in tournaments.

02:12:04.000 They just and they didn't want to.

02:12:06.000 They didn't want to play in tournaments.

02:12:07.000 They didn't want to knock their action.

02:12:09.000 But I think you're in really the perfect timeline.

02:12:12.000 Whereas as you're getting better and as pool's getting more and more popular, the money's getting bigger and bigger.

02:12:18.000 And I think it's a really awesome time for the game.

02:12:22.000 I agree.

02:12:23.000 I definitely feel fortunate to be.

02:12:23.000 Definitely.

02:12:25.000 in the right time, in the right era, with the way my career was going, because like you said, 20 years ago, I wouldn't have been nowhere.

02:12:34.000 And it's also the guys, the players of today, it seems to me, correct me if I'm wrong, but they're much more systematic with their training than they ever were before.

02:12:42.000 Absolutely, absolutely.

02:12:44.000 100% everybody's more disciplined.

02:12:46.000 Everybody's treating it as a sport, like I said.

02:12:49.000 They're not treating it as a game.

02:12:50.000 They're treating it as a sport, but they're also examining all the aspects of the game and constantly honing them.

02:12:58.000 It's different.

02:12:59.000 Like when I watch guys practice online, like you have.

02:13:03.000 a channel where you put a lot of your practice sessions online and you get to see like there's no messing about.

02:13:10.000 It's like there's serious training involved.

02:13:13.000 Like serious position play, serious like getting that muscle of memory over and over again and different ways to stroke a shot.

02:13:19.000 For example, my idol growing up was always Neils Fyan and he has his own channel on YouTube.

02:13:25.000 The Terminator.

02:13:25.000 Yeah, he's great.

02:13:26.000 He's the best to follow, the best.

02:13:29.000 The guy's doing visualization every day.

02:13:34.000 He's practicing every single day, I think.

02:13:36.000 You know, he's doing his 90 minutes of hardcore practice on a pool table he's live streaming explaining why why would you have to practice and if you follow just everything he does you will get to a different level 100 yeah 100 world-class player too he's fun to watch yeah super disciplined super like a rafa rafa nadal he's a rafa nadal in pool it's fun time fun time to be a pool player and Like I said,

02:14:07.000 I think the sky's the limit.

02:14:08.000 I think the game is going to explode over the next few years because we've watched it get a lot bigger over the last four or five.

02:14:14.000 Yeah, for sure.

02:14:16.000 Let's set up that filler match. 1.00

02:14:17.000 Yeah, man.

02:14:18.000 do commentary, how about that?

02:14:18.000 I'll do.

02:14:21.000 Get Matchroom involved.

02:14:22.000 Just set it up somewhere in Austin.

02:14:24.000 I'll do it.

02:14:25.000 Let's do it.

02:14:26.000 Do it somewhere where you can have a crowd in person though.

02:14:28.000 That's what I was getting at.

02:14:29.000 Like you're going to have a crowd online, but it'd be cool if you had a lot of people there in person.

02:14:33.000 Okay.

02:14:34.000 You got it.

02:14:35.000 We'll set it up.

02:14:36.000 Okay.

02:14:37.000 Well, I want to see it.

02:14:38.000 So listen, congratulations on everything.

02:14:41.000 It's been cool following you and seeing what happened over the last time you were here and watching you just get better and better.

02:14:48.000 Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Joe.

02:14:50.000 My pleasure, my brother.

02:14:51.000 Tell everybody if they want to follow you.

02:14:53.000 What's your Instagram?

02:14:55.000 My Instagram has a weird name, Christianich.

02:14:58.000 But I have Facebook mostly.

02:14:58.000 Yeah.

02:15:00.000 I spend a lot of my time on Facebook, TikTok.

02:15:02.000 Oh, this is a question I wanted to ask you.

02:15:04.000 Your name, you some people say Fedor, some people say Feder.

02:15:09.000 But in Russian is it Fyodor?

02:15:11.000 Fyodor.

02:15:12.000 Okay.

02:15:13.000 That's Russian.

02:15:14.000 Because people were correcting me, I'm like, I don't think you're both wrong.

02:15:16.000 I think it's Fedor.

02:15:17.000 I've heard Fedor.

02:15:19.000 Yeah.

02:15:19.000 A lot of that.

02:15:20.000 I've heard Fedor.

02:15:21.000 I've heard and when I was calling you Fedor, people were going, Oh, he's saying that because Fedor Melianenko.

02:15:27.000 I'm like, Yeah, well, that's kind of the accepted American pronunciation of Fedor.

02:15:31.000 though.

02:15:31.000 So I wanted to ask you if it was Fjodor.

02:15:34.000 Yeah, I did.

02:15:34.000 So I knew I was right.

02:15:35.000 Right.

02:15:35.000 But nobody called me like that.

02:15:36.000 Okay, Fjodor.

02:15:37.000 That's who you are from now on, bro.

02:15:41.000 Let's play some pool and then we'll get some meat.

02:15:43.000 All right.

02:15:43.000 Bye, everybody.

The Joe Rogan Experience - August 27, 2025

Joe Rogan Experience #2371 - Fedor Gorst

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