An ordinarily dressed man stacked three pool balls, one on top of the other, on a table at High-Tech Billiards Tuesday night.
Then he shot the middle ball from the stack into the far right pocket, and before the top ball could even hit the ground, he shot it in as well.
That man, reigning world trick shot champion Andy “Magic Man” Segal, won ESPN’s Trick Shot Magic tournament 2009 and holds a number of world records, including the fastest time shooting 15 balls into a single pocket at 4.1 seconds. But without all the lights and cameras last Tuesday, Segal blended his amazing shots with a comedic flare, putting on a performance more akin to a magic show than a billiard game.
“The first time I was on ESPN my stomach was full of knots.” – Andy Segal
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“What a better place to start a league,” he said after the show. “There are so many tables that we can form teams at will, and don’t have to wait for an open table. It’s very rare to have tables in this condition.”
The APA holds league nights at the hall every Monday and Wednesday night. The next local league starts next week.
APA, the world’s largest pool league, even sends 40 players from Hudson County to Las Vegas for an annual tournament with a grand prize of 1.5 million dollars. But there is a handicap on each team, ensuring every team is equally matched and has an equal chance at the grand prize.
“We don’t want the sharks,” Segal said. “It’s beginner level to intermediate. Even if you just picked up a cue for the first time. People tell me they join just to meet girls. It’s a social thing.”
Best billiards around
Owner of High-Tech Billiards and former professional pool player Bob Occovono said that people love shooting a game there because of the proximity to great restaurants, like Ruth’s Chris Steak House. According to the owner, the restaurant even serves the food right inside the billiard hall.
“They have waitresses that bring the food in,” Segal said. “The league players love that.”
But the pool hall’s signature feature is a huge bar area that centers around an 18-by-9-foot pool table bar that was made to look exactly like a pool table.
“That would be one huge pool table,” the owner said.
Featuring karaoke on the weekends and regular deejays on special nights, High Tech is “a great night of family fun,” he said.
The hall is available for rentals and offers deals for APA members. Although hourly rates change, the average rate is less than $15 an hour, $6 for APA members on league nights.
Life in the spotlight
At the pool hall, Union City resident Elmer Barillas said he has seen Segal on TV before and was “blown away” by the performance. “It took me back to high school,” he said, “when we used to play tricks on each other. It was a lot of fun.”
Although Segal is now used to being in the spotlight, he said that he was certainly taken back during his first TV appearance.
“The first time I was on ESPN my stomach was full of knots,” Segal said. That might have been because Segal was only notified for that tournament after another competitor dropped out six days before the event.
“I only had about 12 shots,” he said. Most players will have upwards of 35 trick shots ready for use on game day, he said.
Still, “Then my career took off. I even got recognized in restaurants.”
But the trickster’s favorite shot is suspending a swinging pool triangle above the table and shooting balls through the triangle.
For more information on Andy “Magic Man” Segal, go to his website www.andysegal.com.
Sean Allocca can be reached at editorial@hudsonreporter.com