Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 20, 1994 TAG: 9405200003
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Some of the nation's most revered professional players hollered "rack 'em" Thursday afternoon as the first Roanoke One-Pocket Tournament got started at Guys & Dolls Billiards on Williamson Road.
The double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday, when the championship match will start at approximately 8 p.m. The format is a race to three (first player to win three racks).
Top pros on hand include Steve Mizerak, Nick Varner, Buddy Hall, Grady Mathews, Wade Crane, Allen Hopkins, Mike Massey and Steve Cook.
"These guys are some of the world's best," said Julian Robertson, Guys & Dolls manager.
The one-pocket game is unfamiliar to many. Most casual stick-pushers play games such as 8-ball, 9-ball and straight pool.
"One-pocket is the chess game of pool," Mathews said. "It's a very complex and intricate game. Sixty or 70 percent of the shots are defensive in nature."
The first player to put eight of the rack of 15 balls into his designated pocket wins the game. The first player to win three games wins the match.
The player breaking gets the choice of which corner pocket behind the rack he will be shooting. The other player is left to shoot at the other corner pocket. The extreme emphasis on defense can make single games run as long as an hour.
"You will see a lot of the older players do well in one-pocket," Robertson said. "It's a very old game that you don't see much anymore. It's not a shootout-type game, so the older fellas can hang pretty good with the young studs."
Robertson said he hopes to make the tournament a Roanoke fixture.
"We don't expect to make any money," he said. "If the figures come up good, we will probably try to move it into one of the bigger hotel ball rooms next year.
"In case you don't know, pool ranks only behind bowling as the second-largest participatory sport in America. Approximately 40 million Americans play pool at least once a week.
"I've found there to be an extremee amount of enthusiasm for pool in Roanoke. In fact, the whole Virginia area has become known as a one-pocket capital. There's an abundance of one-pocket players in this area."
The tournament is split into afternoon and evening sessions each day. Tickets are $3 this afternoon and $5 tonight. Tickets are $5 for the weekend afternoon sessions and $7 for weekend evening sessions. A full-tournament pass costs $35.
by CNB