Posts from — May 2008

Tim “The Dragon” Chin of Boston, MA edged out Stefan “The Governor” Mendrick to claim the 1st Annual Diamond Eight Billiards Open Trick Shot Challenge, held at Diamond Eight on Saturday, May 24th.

Although Stefan started a comeback in the stroke and jump disciplines, Tim’s performance in the prop/novelty and follow disciplines assured him the 4-point advantage he needed to take first place.

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Diamond Eight regular and karaoke star Tom Acciavatti turned in an awesome performance to claim second place at the 1st Annual 14and1.com National 14.1 Championship, held in Atlantic City in mid-May.

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The Thursday night 9-Ball division has completed regular weekly play for 2008’s spring session. Tom Acciavatti’s “D89″ dominated the session and claimed first place honors. Julie Levenberg’s “Take it to the Nines” were 2nd by a wide margin, while Joe Sinicropi’s “Rack ‘em Up” squeezed out 3rd place. Michael Fitch’s “Midnight Cues” are the wild card.

The first round of playoffs will be held Thursday, May 29 when “D89″ will face “Midnight Cues” and “Take it to the Nines” will meet “Rack ‘em Up 2.” Winners advance to the June 5th finals. Good luck to the teams! Thanks for a great session!

If you are interested in playing 9-Ball on Thursday nights during the short summer session, please stop in! Summer session will begin Thursday, June 12th!

The finals are set for Diamond Eight’s Wednesday night in-house 8-Ball division! Frank Majewski’s “Off the Wall” lost their footing against the wild card, Christine Skawinski’s “Billiard Bandits.” The 2nd place team, Frank Bogardus’ “Pool Nutz Too” defeated Brian Dunning’s team, who took 3rd place in session points.

“Billiard Bandits” and “Pool Nutz Too” advance to the June 4th finals. Good luck to the teams! Thanks for a great session!

The 2008 Spring Session Double Jeopardy finals will be held Sunday, June 1st. And for the first time in our five years doing Double Jeopardy, the same 2 teams will compete for the 8- and 9-Ball titles! Click the link to read more…

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Have you ever heard of the 90° Rule of pool? the 30° rule? Have you ever seen a rail cut shot in super slow-motion? All this and more is featured in “The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards,” a great web resource (also available as book and DVD) for pool players of any skill level. Developed by Dr. David G. Alciatore (Dr. Dave), a mechanical engineering professor at Colorado State University, the site has a number of high speed videos and accompanying articles detailing the physics of pool. Most of the articles are very easy to understand. Cool stuff!

Visit the “The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards” when you get a chance! Enjoy!

Regular play for the Spring Session Double Jeopardy was completed May 11, 2008. Thanks to all the teams for another great and fun session! Click the link to see the results!

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APA-leaguer Dave Alexander tied for 5th place in the APA National Singles 8-Ball Classic (blue tier) held in Las Vegas May 1-3, 2008. Dave plays on two Diamond Eight division teams and won the singles qualifier at Diamond Eight. After winning the qualifier, Dave was victorious in Amsterdam, NY to advance to the National level. Dave also went to Vegas in August 2007, when his team earned the trip for the 8-Ball National Championship. Congratulations Dave!

Congrats to Tom Acciavetti, who also competed in the National Singles 8-Ball Classic tournament (purple tier) and Frank Rich and Natasha Singletary, who competed in the National Jack and Jill Championship. Great job! It is quite a feat just to get to play in these National events, so we are very proud of you! It is a great experience as well! Congrats!

Diamond Eight Billiards will host the First Annual Diamond Eight Trick Shot Challenge on Saturday, May 24th. Play starts at Noon, and spectator admission is free!

Experience the magic of artistic pool at Diamond Eight as trick shot artists from the Northeast and beyond compete in 7 disciplines: Trick & Fancy, Prop & Novelty, Follow, Draw, Jump, Bank & Kick, and Stroke. Playoffs will feature players choosing one shot from each category. Highest score wins.

Players can sign up through the Artistic Pool & Trick Shot Association web site. Entry fee is $100. Practice starts at 10am, and the mandatory players’ meeting will be held at 11am.

The tournament is being organized by Diamond Eight’s own First Lady of Trick Shots, Stacy Mendrick. You can download the Diamond Eight Trick Shot Challenge flyer as a PDF.

UPDATE: Tom and Natasha are headed to Vegas! They earned the trip and entry to the APA National Jack and Jill Tournament by defeating Frank and Kathleen 4 games to 2. Great play by both teams! Good luck to Tom and Natasha!

Kathleen Durand and Frank Rich bested Jen Oliver and Fred Giovannetti in the February 9 Jack and Jill Scotch Doubles Tournament at Diamond Eight, to advance to the big playoff match against Natasha Singletary and Tom Acciavatti, who had won the December “Phase 1” tournament. The winner of that match will advance to the APA National Jack and Jill Championship, to be held at the Riveria Casino in Las Vegas in April. Good luck to both teams, all of whom play in leagues at Diamond Eight. A few pics from the day are posted.

The Scotch Doubles format is a lot of fun to play; it features partners alternating shots, not turns. For example, player A breaks and pockets a ball, player B takes the next shot, etc. Future APA partners tournaments will be announced soon.