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SPM Billiards Magazine Issue 31
Trick-Shot Artists Gather for the US Artistic Pool Championship
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By Brian Pauley
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From July 21st to July 23rd artistic pool players from all over America once again descended on the Clubhouse Bar and Grill in Lynchburg, Virginia, for the 2022 Premier Billiards US National Artistic Pool Championships presented by McDermott Cues. Players were competing for the overall title as well as the eight discipline titles. Artistic Pool is broken down into eight disciplines: Trick & Fancy (set up shots), Special Arts (speed and timing shots), Draw, Follow, Bank/Kick, Stroke, Jump, and Masse. During the preliminary rounds, players shoot five shots per discipline, ranging from a 6 point degree of difficulty to a 10 point degree of difficulty. Players are given three attempts at each shot, with the point totals differing with how many attempts need to make the shot. Once the prelims are completed, players are seeded by prelim score for the playoff rounds in a “HORSE” style format where players pick shots that the other players must duplicate. Strategy is key in these rounds. This is where a player will try to highlight their own strengths while exposing their opponents’ weaknesses.
Day one saw players go through six of the eight disciplines. Each round is broken into two disciplines. Round one saw players shoot Trick & Fancy and Special Arts. After round one, Houston’s Jamie “The Bayou Bullet” Moody lead the pack with an impressive score of 75 out of a possible 80 points. Defending National Champion Abram “Too Tall” Diaz repeated his Trick and Fancy title with a score of 37/40, while Jamie took the Special Arts title with a score of 38/40. Jamie then moved to the stream table provided by Railbirds TV for Draw and Follow to compete with reigning World Draw champion Brian “Superman” Pauley, who was second behind Jamie Moody after round one with 66 points, and returning player Jimmy “The General” Glanville. Brian fired a near-perfect 39/40 to take the draw title, while young gun Theo “The Bloodshark” Mihellis won the follow title with a 30/40 score. After four disciplines, Brian Pauley crept past Jamie Moody to lead the prelims with a score of 124 points to Jamie’s 121 points.
Group Shot of all the players
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Round three saw players shooting in the Bank/Kick and Stroke disciplines. Abram Diaz repeated as National Bank/Kick champion with a 38/40 score, while Theo Mihellis and Brian Pauley both scored 31/40 in Stroke, with Theo edging out Brian in a discipline tiebreaker. At the end of day one, through six of the eight disciplines, the top three scoring players was a tight race, with Brian Pauley in first with 174 points, Theo Mihellis in second with 170 points, and Jason “The Michigan Kid” Lynch with 168 points.
Day 2 saw players finish off the prelims with round 4 (Jump and Masse) as well as two rounds of quarter-final matches. The top three scoring players took to the cloth on the stream table to see who could keep their spot. Tim “The Dragon” Chin defeated Jason Lynch in a discipline tie breaker after both players shot an impressive 38/40 in jump. Abram Diaz likewise defeated Theo Mihellis in a discipline tiebreaker to win the Masse title after both scored 30/40. The prelims were then completed, with the players being seeded and ready to go head-to-head in a playoff format.
The first round of quarter-final matches saw some familiar and new match ups. Theo Mihellis (1) defeated tournament regular Andrew “The Driver” Sozio (8) 60-21. Abram Diaz (2) defeated Jimmy Glanville (7) 64-48 Jason Lynch (3) defeated Jamie Moody (6) 62-52 in the closest match of the quarterfinals and a rematch of last year’s semi-finals. It came down to the last shot, where Jamie Moody needed to make a ten-point shot on the first try and have Jason miss on all three attempts to send the match to sudden death. Jamie failed to make the shot on the first attempt, but this match was a great one to watch. Tim Chin (4) defeated Brian Pauley (5) 63/15
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The Semi-Finals were set, and the last day looked to be some great matches.
Semi Final one saw veteran player Tim Chin vs. the young gun Theo Mihellis, which provided the best match of the event. Tim was down eighteen points early but battled his way back, picking shots that tend not to be played often. Tim finally took a lead late with a classic rail jump bank shot that gave him an eleven-point lead after his last shot pick. Theo needed to make this shot to continue to his last shot pick and have a chance to win. Theo missed all three attempts, hitting the side pocket point a couple of times. Theo played a great match, but the veteran persevered an early deficit, and multiple bad roll misses to get a 77-66 win. The second semi-final match saw Lynch vs. Diaz III. Jason Lynch and Abram Diaz had met two times previously in semifinals matches with both having one win and one loss. This is a match of mirroring styles as both players like to play the same shots. Abram struggled to get going while Jason caught a gear, and that gear let Jason to take the series and this match 72-34. The finals were then set. Two veterans of the sport with conflicting styles and a rematch of the 2019 Coughlin Auto Artistic Pool Open finals. Tim started out strong, utilizing technical shots that he is known for. The gear that Jason caught in the previous match could not be regained and led to Tim Chin winning the match 68-31 and winning the title. That is now two tournament wins out of three tournaments played for Tim Chin after returning to the sport after a four-year hiatus. The Dragon is heating up and will be a dangerous competitor in the tournaments to come. This event was sponsored by Premier Billiards, McDermott Cues, Balance Billiards, and NAPA Pool League of Madison County, with the stream being provided by Railbirds TV featuring Mark White on guest commentary.
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