Here's a good one-pocket shot I once made ftw in Marburg while playing Jan at Bermuda Billiards.



FTW!

Valley Forge Super Billiards Expo

I have many things I should have blogged since last post... Let's see, when I left off I was in Basel, Switzerland, it was right before Christmas.

Since then:

French alps for new years, Normandy for a couple days with my parents, Liverpool, Manchester, Marburg (Germany), Siena (Italy), back to Basel, Zurich, Liverpool, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Boston, Siena, Marburg, Frankfurt, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Philadelphia.

Today is Sunday, March 21st 2010, the last day of the 2010 Super Billiards Expo at valley Forge.

This event has been going on for a few years now, and is one of the largest pool expos in the world. It also happens to take place in one of my ex- "home" neighborhoods, as I lived in this area for about 7 years.

Now if you haven't been to expo, let me tell you about expo. IT IS AWESOME. They have all sorts of events, amateur and pro, everything on bar-sized tables. That's right, every table is a 7 foot diamond, and there are HUNDREDS of them.

For 4 full days and nights, this place is filled to the brim with everything POOL. It doesn't close. Pool 24/7. Thousands of shooters of all skill levels. Trickshot events. Cue vendors. Cue repairmen. The parking lot is full of campers, from all the road players and other pool junkies coming from far away lands such as Florida or Arizona. Hustlers everywhere.

The local Philadelphia suburb area shooters simply call it "Expo". Elsewhere in the country, is it usually referred to as "Valley Forge". It is quickly becoming famous for the ridiculous amount of action that takes place, in particular in the "pit".

You see, most of the tables are used for the pro and amateur tournaments. But they keep about a dozen tables open for anyone who wants to shoot. These are infested with hustlers, most of them playing 9-ball and 10-ball. Out of that dozen tables, there is one that has MASSIVE amounts of action. This is what people refer to as "The Pit". Imagine 300 people in a circle around a 7-foot Diamond with some of the best shooters in the world playing no-call 10-ball for several hundred dollars a rack, winner-stays-on. And the people around this are not just watching, they all have part of the action. You wouldn't believe this place. Each rack, even before the 10-ball is sunk, you start hearing yells : "I got the breaker for $100!!!" "Who likes the racker??? Who wants the racker for $300" You gotta see this, I don't think there is anything like this anywhere else in the world.

I flew in from North Carolina thursday evening, headed straight to my friend Brian's place in Conshohocken, and later shawn picked me up from there and we headed to expo. Shawn had never been, so I showed him around a bit. I bet some racks for $20, some for $40 and actually made $100 thanks to the shooter I was betting on who ran 3 racks. I was about to stop betting, but got convinced to take the breaker again for $40 and lost.

Friday night, I went back with my brother and his girl to see my friend Robyn play in the women's 9-ball open. Unfortunately, she lost in the first round. We met up there with Doug (the guy in the red hat at the beginning of the video) and Rob (our APA league operator). We drank beers and bet on pool for a while, did allright. I got my tip redone. There were flyers at the expo saying that Markley Billiards was open 24/7 during the expo and that they had a 1-pocket tournament on Saturday at 2pm!! One-pocket tournaments are a rarity in this area.

At about 2am saturday morning, we headed to Markleys, where they were playing winner-stays-on 1-pocket for $500 a rack (pic).

Also, poker in the back. We stayed until 5am. The next day, got a cab back to Markleys and played in the one-pocket tournament. I lost my first match, but then won 3 and was 1 win away from the money when Adam Kieler (?) destroyed me 8 to -2. He proceeded to win the tournament, I actually have the whole final match on video. The guy he beat in the finals was the guy who beat me in the first round, so I didn't have the luckiest of draws. Still proud of myself tho. My bro picked me up from there and we went to BJ billiards with Brian, Scotty and Shawn and had a more relaxed evening, messing with Brian's new camera (I think we took some really good pictures, about to check them out with Brian).

I took 20 min of walkabout video of expo on Friday night - all one continuous shot. Check it out and get a feelof the Valley Forge Super Billiards Expo!

Doug gets his tips back from Big Sexy over here :

0:00 to 3:31 - quick tour of the upstairs : vendors, open tournaments.

3:35 to 3:56 - the "small money" tables

3:56 to End - THE PIT

Beginning: I get paid lol

1:10 - the women's open

2:25 - The poor girl gets to be filmed missing this shot...

2:35 - just walking around the TAP event, some vendors and the food stands

6:25 - THE PIT again.

6:45 - Check out the break. lol.

9:15 - Gambloor wants the racker for $100

Written Sunday, March 21st at noon in Conshohocken, PA