Author: Dick Schneiders
Date: 15:53:46 07/21/05
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On July 21, 2005 at 16:04:55, James T. Walker wrote: >Hello Dick, >Where do you live (State)? I suspect the Northeast somewhere since you like >14.1 billiards. Down here it's mostly 9 Ball or One pocket. By the way I just >updated my profile (it was 4 years old). I'll be 65 in Sept and the trip to the >U.S. Open 9 ball tournament is my birthday present to myself each year. >Jim Hi Jim, Bad guess!! :-) I live in Kansas - you know, Dorothy, Tinman, tornados, etc. Willie Mosconi visited Kansas State University, my alma mater, when I played him in the exhibition. I still play some 14.1, as I have been able to get many of the much younger 9-ball players to see the beauty of the game. I don't do a lot of travelling, but whenever I do I take my cues and often will venture into a pool hall. I am surprised that many of the *very* good 9-ball players have never heard of or seen 14.1 played. When they see me practicing and getting ready to play a break shot, they sometimes will ask me what it is. I will try and challenge them to give it a try, by making comments that I didn't care how good of a 9-ball player they are, that I could probably beat them easily at 14.1. They often take the bait, since they figure that any game where you can shoot any ball on the table into any of the pockets has to be easy. They are generally surprised at how difficult the game really is to master. Often they can run out an open rack, but then get stalled and are unable to continue into the next rack. I am also very good at playing safeties in 14.1 and do it whenever I am not confident in making a shot. This generally frustrates a 9-ball player that wants to run off the balls quickly. I live in a small town of about 40,000. I have interested 5 or 6 of the local hot shot 9-ball players enough that they now will play 14.1, especially whenever they see me. While there are several much better shot makers then me that can kill me in 9-ball, I have yet to lose a 14.1 game to any of them - but a couple have come close. Playing to 125 or 150 seems to be way too long for most of them. :-) I don't get the opportunity to play as much as I used to, due to many different interests that take up my time. I suppose I am an old die-hard. I still love to play a game that went out of fashion in the 1970's, and also love the old dedicated chess computers that are now rapidly doing the same. While I have several nice cues, one of my favorites is still the 1964 Brunswick Willie Hoppe, with nice Titliest points, that I used when I "played" Mosconi. Sorry about the long off-topic rant, but this is a topic I dearly love. My birthday is also in Sept., the 17th. A few years ago there was a US Open in 14.1, surprisingly, and one of the qualifiers was in Tulsa, OK. I made plans to enter the qualifier, but then got scared as my skills, and my eyesight, have greatly diminished in the last decade or so. My wife and I drove from Kansas to Orlando in early June for a week stay at Disney World. On the drive out we took several days and wandered around the gulf and drove along the beach front - Highway 98, I think was one of the roads. Beautiful country, but I would not be able to live with the ever present threat of hurricanes. My email address is dickschnei@aol.com, if you would like to continue this conversation, or if you wanted to contact me about your Munich/Risc computer. :-) Dick Schneiders
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