Pool master’s $100k test
For Dave Pearson, addiction set in the first time he picked up a pool cue in a poky English bar and sank six balls in a row.
It wasn’t enough – he needed to sink 10, then 20, then 150.
Fast forward 20 years and Pearson – dubbed the ‘‘Ginger Wizard’’ – holds four Guinness World Records for pool.
But he’s prepared to cough up US$100,000 to any Kiwi who beats one of his records today.
He’ll even supply tips and tricks for anyone willing to give it a crack.
To win the sum, players will have to sink 150 balls in less than eight minutes and 50.1 seconds at Hamilton’s Masse´ cue sports club.
Pearson is visiting New Zealand with ‘‘Dr Cue’’ Tom Rossman, to impart some seasoned poolwisdom to up-and-coming players.
‘‘The secret thing about pool is not to move your head,’’ Pearson said, as he sends a flurry of pool balls hurtling into holes with a few flicks of his cue.
It’s natural to raise your head slightly, to see where the ball is travelling once you’ve clipped it.
But you should never move until the white ball has hit the other, Pearson said.
And if you’re trying to beat his time you’ll have to ‘‘speed and run around the table like an idiot’’.
A pint or two doesn’t hurt for some, Pearson said.
Players find it helps to calm the nerves. Some English clubs used to allocate 12 free pints to pool competitors or performers.
The smell of the bars put Pearson off booze early on, though.
‘‘I never had a drink in my life.’’
It would be pretty miraculous if somebody beat Pearson’s record, he admits.
But New Zealand players might have an edge on other countries – they do it for fun, not money.
‘‘This place [Masse´] does it purely for the love of pool. I’ve never ever seen that.’’
Rossman – a founding fathers of modern-day artistic pool – agrees.
His 59-year love affair with pool began when he was a rack boy at a bar run by a woman named Elsie. He’d buy a hamburger at the end of the night with his $1.50 earnings.
One day, Elsie’s nephew taught him how to play. And he never stopped.
The sport’s popularity has boomed over the decades, possibly spurred on by the films like The Hustler.
‘‘The game went from being a wholesome quality game and it went into backroom gambling,’’ Rossman said. ‘‘It became dingy, smoke-filled rooms swinging cues.
‘‘Then all of a sudden New Zealand comes along and opens up this. So they took it into the light again.
‘‘I’m back in Elsie’s bar.’’
‘‘The secret thing about pool
is not to move your head.’’