Fedor Gorst
👤 PersonPodcast Appearances
And you're just getting out, man.
Well, you have such a process when you play.
Like when I watch you set up for a ball, it's always uniform.
That's what I really enjoy watching.
When a guy is like every shot, it's like...
Oh, those people are assholes.
Those people are assholes.
They think your style is boring.
Those guys, all they are is jealous.
Everybody wants to play like that.
Everybody wants to play like that.
If they say because you play too good, it's not fun to watch, shut up.
That guy, whoever that guy is, I don't want to listen to his opinion on anything.
I guarantee you he likes shows that suck.
He could get in his car and listen to his music.
How do you not like watching someone play perfect?
Well, I'll have to agree.
It doesn't make any sense.
But then there are guys who play wild that it is fun to watch, like Muhammad Sufi.
That guy, he gives me anxiety.
Sidearm, barely holding onto the cue, and he just fires balls in.
He runs around the table.
He one-strokes everything, and he's just getting out from everywhere.
He would just run around the table, fireballs in.
Yeah, those guys are fun to watch.
But what are we here for, right?
You're here to get perfect position.
You're here to dominate this very difficult table.
But under extreme pressure, it's better to have your style.
Or coping Chung style, coping Yi style, like methodical backstroke.
It always looks the same.
You know, I play half-ass pool, but I understand what's going on.
Every game is such a mindfuck.
Every time you're about to pull the trigger, you're like, now, no.
I think the derby's a little bit better.
They give you a little 10 more seconds.
The other thing that's brutal is the beeps.
The Filipinos put kicking on the map, right?
When it gets down to five seconds before you got to pull the – and you pulled the trigger on a nine ball with one second to go.
I would be having a heart attack right now.
For people that haven't seen it before, most pool tournaments are very, very respectful.
People will clap after you make an out, or sometimes in the middle of a game, like if you make a really good shot, they'll clap.
Efren, when he came over here, they changed the whole game.
If you get great position, they'll clap.
But as soon as you drop down to shoot the next ball, everybody gets quiet.
Moscone Cup, those rules are off the table.
Jose Parico was really good at it, too.
Well, it's fun to watch, though.
I'm so glad that all tournaments aren't like that, though, where you encourage people to be assholes.
It's kind of weird, though, that they've agreed to only be an asshole for one tournament.
Because people yell out in the middle of, like, you...
Yeah, this company called M Theory sent this to me.
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Yeah, let's talk about that because one thing that happened is there's a rule where you're not allowed to soft break.
But soft breaking is basically very subjective.
Like a referee can decide to call someone on it or not call someone on it.
And you thought this guy was soft breaking.
So you said something and the Filipinos went crazy.
I have a solution to that.
And it makes it more interesting too.
Easy solution, and it makes it interesting.
It's a new element that you think about.
Well, they're not playing guys, right?
Oh, right, right, right.
Ladies can join, juniors can join.
I see, but I thought you were talking about young kids.
No, for young kids, you'd have to have an exception.
And for girls, you'd have to have an exception.
But you would just change it, just like, you know, so whatever the speed is, like what is... 18 miles an hour.
What's a good break speed?
What do you think you break at?
Like Bustamante in his prime, what was he, like 30 miles an hour?
Yeah, that's what's horrible when you make an amazing shot and then lose the match.
But Bustamante had the craziest break of all time.
When he would let the cue go out of his fingers and then throw his whole body into it.
Oh, he has crazy practice.
Yeah, that's so hard to be accurate and do that.
You have to have the most insane smooth delivery.
And, again, what a mind fuck because you're about to – you're trying to hit this one ball square on the face and you're throwing all of your might into it.
I'd like to know how fast he breaks when he breaks like 10 ball.
Because when he 10 ball breaks, it's pretty crazy.
So what do you think would be like a reasonable mile per hour that you would impose where you'd say anything slower than that is soft breaking?
Yeah, look, it's a crazy game.
Is it like 15 miles an hour?
Well, they used to do that three-point rule where they would – that was very annoying.
And the game that you guys are playing right now, the reason why I said I think if you're the best player today, you're the best player of all time because the conditions are very different.
It was very annoying because sometimes guys would break hard, but the referee didn't rack them that good.
And they made a ball, and then the opponent gets to shoot.
Yes, I think the radar is the way to go.
Yeah, I mean, and also it's kind of cool, you know, when you get to... Yeah, and extra stats you have.
And this was when Efren Reyes snuck into America under the nickname Cesar Morales.
And some guys, like Shane, even in nine ball when he does the cut break, he breaks really hard.
Well, he's a big fucking dude.
Oh, yeah, he breaks the hardest.
And it doesn't even look like he's trying that hard, you know, because he's a big dude.
People, that's one thing about pool, though.
If you want to get spectators, you want hard breaks.
You know, like people love it from like the color of money.
When Tom Cruise breaks and Paul Newman goes, who's that kid with the sledgehammer break?
It's a dumb American thing.
But if you want to get American people to tune in, you've got to break hard.
This is why Earl Strickland still gets mad.
He gets mad at everything.
I heard Mike Siegel talk about it, too.
He was like, why don't they just hit it straight on the one ball and hit it as hard as you can?
For people who don't know, who don't play pool, okay, if you're going to a regular bar and you're playing on like a bar table, those pockets might be five and a half inches.
I just think he hasn't had someone lay it out to him like the way you just did with me where you explained it to me.
This is the first time that I had anybody explain to me that particular break.
And you knew that the cloth was a little worn because it's a year old cloth.
So you're like, okay, because of that, I'm going to have to hit it here and it'll go on the side.
And you smashed it and it went right in the side.
It's it's very it's not risking.
You're not like gambling.
The only thing you're gambling with is that the ball's going across the table.
But it seems like you guys kind of have that mostly worked out, too.
The fun thing to me about your life is that you're traveling all over the world playing, and then occasionally you have these marathon gambling sessions that they stream online.
And I've got a good buddy of mine, Tommy, from Connecticut.
Shout out to my boy, Tommy.
And he and I will be fucking texting each other for three days in a row while these matches are going on.
And I get so juiced up for him.
I get so excited about him.
But it's like that's the part of the game that has always been the most romantic, the gambling part of the game.
And I'm glad that people aren't shying away from that because there was a long – for a long time –
gambling was thought to be negative for professional pool.
That's not the case anymore.
It could be, sure, because you're bringing in shady people.
If you're gambling $100,000, where'd you get it?
Bob the drug dealer came over, and he wants in.
He's staking me, and if I win, I get 40%.
Yeah, for sure, in your case.
But in the case of high-level gambling in pool...
There's a lot of shady characters.
A lot of shady characters.
How often do you gamble just in regular life playing pool?
They're nine-foot tables, and the pockets are four inches.
Does anybody ask for giant spots or anything like that?
I played you when you were here like two years ago.
And I definitely play better now than I played two years ago, but you play way better.
You play even better than you were playing then, which is crazy.
But you were banking out and making shots.
And so when you get two cue balls, you try to put them next to each other and try to stick—you can't even get close to sticking them in a four-inch pocket.
Which is hard to believe because you're the best player in the world and you're getting better.
That's one of the coolest things to me about any game or any sport, anything, is that – and especially today because there's so much –
data that's available like say if you're a young player and you're learning how to play you can watch pool on your ipad until three o'clock in the morning you watch matches and you learn you learn how to play things you learn like what why did he do it that way like oh and then you rewind it you go oh that none of that was available to like mike siegel back in the day or nick varner those guys yeah there's tons of videos on youtube there's so much so much so much information
yeah yeah and so it's just like everything else with the new generation the the level just gets higher and higher with everything unless there's physical limitations and with pool it doesn't seem like it's not like you know running a four minute mile or you know running the fastest we're all crooked all of our backs are crooked oh yeah for sure you know we're always bent over it's always one-sided sport every one-sided sport is kind of like that i think
It's really tight conditions.
Yeah, your back must be fucked up.
I know your neck was fucked up.
We brought you to Waze too well last time you were here.
And now it's fucking with you again?
And I think there's better players now than I've ever seen in my life.
Oh, so like certain workouts?
Probably have a heavy head.
And I've been watching pool for 35 years and playing pool for 35 years.
Did you ever get one of those things that I was talking to you about, those decompression things where you put your head in a harness and you, like, pull on the door and set it on your door and you can, like, hang by it a little bit?
Everybody should be doing that.
Everybody should be decompressing.
Because you get to a certain age and everybody's back is just like you're carrying all this weight your whole life and your back just gets smushed.
I've never seen better players than play today.
And your posture starts to suck and then you start to get these weird pains and decompression.
And if you could do it and just be real vigilant with it, you can stop a lot of problems dead in their track.
And I think you're the best today.
So in my book, that makes you the best of all time.
Do you, the problem is it's hard to get access to a cold plunge when you're on the road.
Cold plunge is the thing, man.
It just alleviates so much inflammation, especially if you can do it first thing in the morning.
If you can force yourself to do it first thing in the morning, it is the way to go, man.
But if you just do it, you get out of there.
I just feel loose and free.
And as long as you don't do it within, like, two hours of you playing, you have to wait, like, probably two hours for your body to, like, fully warm back up again.
Because if you are cold, it will kind of mess with your coordination.
Right, with the muscles going to be too tight.
I was telling you the worst thing ever for pool is lifting weights.
You know Willie Hoppy, the old school billiard player?
You know what a hoppy cue is?
A hoppy butt is like a type of butt that doesn't have a rubber bumper on the bottom of it.
And for whatever reason, Willie Hoppy used to prefer that kind, I think.
It's named after him for some reason.
Anyway, he was a famous billiards player, like the turn of the century, and the turn of the other one, like the early 1900s.
And he wouldn't even drive a car.
He refused to do anything with his arms.
He wouldn't drive a car because it would mess up his pool game.
Cars back then, though, didn't have power steering.
So you have to think it's probably really difficult to steer them.
See if you can find a photo of Willie Hoppy.
He had the weirdest sidearm, too.
It's like these guys start playing when they're five years old, and they can't really reach the table correctly.
Isn't that crazy sidearm?
Yeah, that's him when he was an old man.
Like if you ever saw someone play like that, you'd be like, look at this lemon.
Yeah, you would want to play that guy if you watched him over the ball.
But meanwhile, as long as you figured out how to do it consistently.
And won some big tournament at Reds, wherever that is.
All the people at home that don't play pool go, what the fuck are they talking about?
The rivalries, the marching bands, the upsets.
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Yeah, the nine ball on the spot made a big difference, right?
He's arguably the greatest of all time.
He's in the conversation for the greatest of all time.
Hits the ball in a way that everybody tells you don't ever do it that way.
He stops at the cue ball.
Instead of following through and letting the cue ball slide through, he stops at the cue ball.
Again, as long as it's repeatable.
There's a lot of things like that.
If it's repeatable, if you can do it over and over and over again, there are no rules.
But how could you say that Shane Van Boding is doing it wrong?
I mean, he's probably won more tournaments than anybody ever, right?
Who's won the most tournaments of all time?
I mean, that's what Jeremy Jones says is the greatest of all time.
When you were showing me today how to break that way, I was like, oh, that's crazy.
What's crazy with him, too, is the deaf aspect, that he shuts his hearing aids off when he plays.
Life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
It is, but it's... That's the advantage he gets.
He can shut them bitches off.
You can't check and see if he has it on.
Do you say things to him?
Like you have to hit it with draw and you have to aim towards the back ball.
How do you know when he has it off?
So his hearing aid is Bluetooth.
Because you're not allowed to wear, like, noise-canceling earbuds.
Errol always wants that, but they're not allowing him.
Yeah, I remember when Earl used to wear, like, gun sight glasses.
He used to wear glasses like the kind you wear at the range.
And then he was wearing headphones for a while, so they told him not to.
Yeah, like complete noise-canceling headphones.
Ones that look like they weigh five pounds.
And then he's got weights that he wears around his waist sometimes.
He puts weights on his elbow.
He puts tape around his fingertips.
And then he makes his cue as fat as my forearm with whatever kind of tape he's using on it.
Is he the oldest guy that's still super competitive?
Like how old is Ralph Suque?
Ralph Suque is still pretty competitive.
So I think Ralph Suque is actually like my age.
And Earl is like in his 60s.
So he's probably the oldest guy that's like playing competitively and winning.
Yeah, it's an insanely competitive game now.
It's a fucking game for young people, son.
You got to have them young eyes to cut that ball in.
How many guys do you know that got LASIK surgery?
Now, are these young players that are coming up, are these guys embracing, like, a healthier lifestyle?
Because one of the things about pool is, like, it's always been connected, at least when I was young, it was always connected to, especially the gambling, connected to a lot of partying, a lot of amphetamines, cocaine, and then, you know, just...
And shout out to Matchroom, right?
Because Matchroom with DAZN, they've done an amazing job with boxing and a bunch of other sports.
Well, it's only because of the promotions, and they deserve everything.
And then, of course, the players.
But without the promotions, like putting these events on and making them a big deal, they wouldn't get all over YouTube.
It wouldn't get all over these social media sites.
But what pool really needs is something like...
They had The Hustler in the 1960s, made Pool Explode, and then they had The Color of Money in the 1980s, made Pool Explode.
They need something like that.
But what they're doing with pool is crazy.
Like fishing tournaments?
There's so many events, and it's all over.
It's like bass tournaments or something like that?
I have no idea how it works.
I know Shane's a big fisherman, right?
He goes lake trout fishing.
Ice fishing is his thing.
Yeah, that's South Dakota mentality.
It's the most boring thing I think you can do.
Sit on the ice all day long.
It's actually kind of fun.
I did it a couple years ago.
You know, like you're standing on ice.
You can get it on the World Nine Ball Tour.
So you're kind of freaked out that you're standing on ice.
And then you use a drill to drill through the ice.
And then you know exactly how much is separating you from drowning.
So you only need a few inches.
But when I was doing it, it was about seven, eight inches of ice.
Yeah, most of the times that's what guys do.
They put some kind of a tent around them, and then they get like a drill.
They go right into the ground, right through the ice rather, and then you have like a little net where you scoop out new ice that forms, and you just drop your line right down there in the hole.
It's exciting when you catch one.
The problem when you can play really good pool is really good pool is about as fun as anything.
Like really good, which is, I've always said that pool is like an art form that only the people that practice it can appreciate.
When you watch someone who plays really good, you're like, wow, that's beautiful.
But to an average person, like, oh, he just made a bunch of easy shots.
At least if you're explaining jujitsu to someone, at least people kind of get it.
Oh, he's going to break his arm.
Like, oh, he's choking him.
But when you watch someone play pool and you don't understand how difficult that three rail position was to get perfect on the four ball, you're like,
Oh, my God, that was amazing.
It's just like you're going to have to play it to understand how hard it is what that person did.
Put the headphones on, dog.
And then there's also their Matchroom Pool YouTube channel, which has tons of stuff on it for free.
The casual person doesn't understand, unfortunately.
So what we need is more people playing.
If more people played, then more people would watch people playing.
Well, I know that the top golf people are going to do something like that for pool.
That might be the thing.
You know those top golf guys?
Do you know what top golf is?
So top golf, you know, where they have this thing where you just whack the balls out into the – well, they're going to set something like that up for pool where they have –
you know, some sort of a business where you go in and play pool and it's more attractive to young people.
I don't know exactly what their model is, because it's still going to be pool.
I don't think it's going to be a bunch of people just breaking the balls.
Because that's what they're doing when they're doing Topgolf, they're just driving the ball, right?
I don't know exactly what their idea is, but the same guys, they realize like a lot of people play pool, a lot of people play pool and bars, and if we had a really attractive place for people to play, and it's probably correct.
It's probably an untapped business because people are always looking for something fun to do on date nights.
The venue, which is being backed by investors, including U.S.-based venture capital firm Sharp Alpha Advisors and the Daily Mail investment arm DMG Ventures, uses pool tables, balls, and cues from the traditional game, but adds tracking technology and video projections to add bonus targets and obstacles in an attempt to appeal to larger groups.
Bonus targets and obstacles.
Alongside its own venues and those operated by franchise partners, it's called Pool House.
Pool House plans to sell its equipment to pubs, bars, and other venues that want to update their existing pool tables.
Yeah, so it says, Steve, I don't know how to say his name, Jalifi said, more people play at Topgolf than on traditional golf courses in the U.S., and we aim to make an even greater impact on the world of pool.
I have friends who send me videos now.
We have a strong track record.
This project has been our most challenging endeavor yet.
I never even heard of it.
Well, if you get a bunch of guys that are already really successful at doing that with – the thing about golf, though, is like whacking a golf ball is really fun.
Like people just randomly find videos on TikTok or on Instagram, you know.
And then if you have like a big open pit where you can just whack a golf ball, you got like 100 yards, you can see how far people can whack a golf ball, and then you got a net at the end of it.
That's the most exciting thing.
A lot of people are going to do that.
I don't know how to make a bridge.
You're holding your hand funny and it's like moving weird your arm.
I wonder how many people are going to get frustrated.
I wonder if it's the same.
Actually, it's probably, yeah, because I suck at driving a golf ball.
I've played top golf a couple of times.
I've gone to a driving range once.
But, like, fucking Jamie over here, that dude's out in the garage every day whacking balls.
Every time I come here, he's out there whacking balls.
And so you realize, like, there really is, like...
there's a lot of technique just to the drive.
It's very similar probably to a break shot in that regard.
I wonder if they can make something like that
really marketable for pool that might be it it has to be some some type of interaction because i think it's i think it would be kind of boring yeah to just you know whack balls pool balls the other thing that might make pool really big is big money like if the saudis get involved and they get crazy and they start saying okay this this tournament's for three million dollars
$25 million would be better.
Those guys have so much money.
They could spend $25 million and it'd be like nothing.
They probably spent more than that on production.
They throw so much money around in boxing, it's kind of bananas.
It was very funny what you did in New York City, or in Atlantic City, rather, when you went to that pool hall and you went under skies.
Yeah, you got to get that oil money involved, son.
Those dudes throw some money around in pool.
Because it's like when people talk about the richest people in the world, they're like, really?
Because their money isn't public.
Like they don't have to disclose how much money they make.
Or we could not have headphones.
Like they probably laugh like, oh, silly Elon thinks he's number one.
With his paltry $400 billion.
He's basically a pauper to those people.
So they've thrown an insane amount of money into boxing.
I think it hasn't been confirmed, so I need to know whether this is true or not.
But I think Usyk made more than $100 million in his last defense fight.
against Daniel Dubois, and I think Dubois made in the 70s.
He made somewhere around 70.
I think they said Usyk made like 130-something, which is crazy, $130 million for a fight.
You can't sneak around any pool hall.
Okay, like you'd have to get into disguise.
promotions that would be exciting if it's for big big big big big money like that i mean if you ever saw a pool mat you imagine shooting a nine ball hill hill for a hundred million no i can't could you imagine i was shooting the novel for 250 000 yeah that's right yeah yeah let us straight in yeah that was crazy what was that like
Do they feel weird to you?
Well, their disguises are really good today.
Have you ever seen those CIA disguises that they use?
So I was straight on the nine ball, no pressure at all.
That's a good one for people to watch that are like, what is this all about?
Watch that one and know that they're playing for $250,000.
That's the beautiful thing about nine ball.
You can run everything and then chunk that nine.
So apparently, this is a story.
It's such a mental game.
Or you're on the right side of the ball, wrong side of the ball.
I was listening to John Schmidt do commentary once, and he was saying how crazy it is.
If you really think about it, every other sport that involves a ball, it's like something is hitting the ball.
It's like you have a bat hitting the ball.
It's like no other sport has a ball hitting a ball.
And then trying to be really accurate over distance...
Apparently, and this was told to me by someone who I really trust, Obama was having a meeting with someone in one of the rooms in the White House.
And then making that ball move around and get perfect for the next ball.
Like even golf, you're hitting a ball.
It's very difficult, but you're hitting a ball.
You're not hitting a ball with a ball.
That's a whole other element.
Oh, I don't think it's boring.
I think when you get a guy who's really good, who plays, you know.
If you watch Ronnie Sullivan play, you can't think that that's boring.
Yeah, but it's because it's so hard and because it's so big.
It's a 12-foot fucking table, which is crazy.
And the pockets are tiny and the balls are tiny.
It's a really hard game.
But when you watch a guy like Ronnie and he doesn't miss, like 30, 40 shots in a row, you're like, this is crazy.
So that's interesting that snooker is bigger.
And he's in the middle of having this meeting with someone who he's met before and had conversations with before.
I know they were making gigantic money in the U.K.
Is that still happening or has it died down a little?
Do you remember the scandal?
There was a scandal with one of the players a few years back where they got him on hidden camera saying that he'd be willing to dump a match.
That's the problem with gambling.
When gambling gets involved and you realize, like, if you get your friends to bet on the other guy...
And then they inform him, Mr. President, we just want to let you know this is not who you think you're talking to.
But is that part of the thing of not having the kind of money that golf has?
Because I doubt that people that play golf are dumping on purpose.
Because there's so much money on the line.
Yeah, they don't have to.
But the difference between winning and losing is so huge.
And then you can gamble on it.
And then you have friends.
And you tell your friends, like, listen, bet on him.
And I'm going to make sure I lose.
It's too easy to make money that way.
And you could have some offshore accounts.
Especially if you're doing it online, you use a VPN.
I'm gambling from Vietnam, you know?
And we just wanted to demonstrate how good the special effects makeup is and masks are.
But that's also kind of the fun part of pool, too, is that these places are kind of shady.
Like, they're like the outcasts of society.
You know, if you go and you watch, like, the finals of the Florida Open and look in the crowd, there's a lot of outcasts in there, a lot of Android phones.
Yeah, it's a lot of outcasts.
It's a lot of people that have spent a giant chunk of their life in pool rooms.
And the thing about pool is if you really get into it, you're playing it eight hours a day.
If you want to get good at it, you have to.
And it makes a giant difference.
I was playing my friend Jake the other day, and I said, to get really good at pool, you kind of have to be a piece of shit.
I mean, obviously you're not, and you're lucky that your wife plays pool, which is huge as well.
If she didn't, like, you know where to find me because I'm going to be playing.
It's just good if, like, we show a video or something like that.
Now, I haven't confirmed this.
Like, you're going to ignore most of your responsibilities.
I don't have Obama's number.
Do you think the people in the Philippines are going to be mad at you still when you get there?
Well, I'm like, call him up and go, bro, is that real?
Yeah, hopefully someone doesn't get crazy.
But yeah, that schedule's nuts.
Family, it's almost impossible.
If you have kids and you have to take them to softball games and stuff, like, that's why I said, if you want to be really good at pool, you have to be a piece of shit.
Well, hopefully I don't have to.
I mean, listen, obviously there's examples of people that keep it together that are really good that still have a family and, you know, spend time with their family and spend time with their kids.
Because I've seen up close, like, really, like, when...
But you're going to have to manage your time because you're going to have to get those hours in.
If you're not playing, like legitimately, realistically, if you want to be a top-flight, world-class player, what is the minimum amount of hours you think you have to play every day?
Yeah, I think it's probably a little more.
Tony Hitchcliff does Kill Tony.
And, but I guess it's like anything that's worth doing, you know, if you want to get good, that's one of the reasons why it's so fun is because you know how hard it is to do.
If it was easy to master, I think people would probably pick it up and then they'd eventually quit.
But the problem, the thing about pool is take a week off and then play again and your arm's like, what do we do here?
Sometimes they have makeup artists that dress people up and make them different people.
Like, it seems all screwy.
It doesn't want to listen for the first hour or so.
And then you finally get back in the groove again.
It's because it's so difficult that it makes it so attractive.
That's why people get stuck playing it 8, 10 hours a day.
If it was easier to play, you wouldn't play it as much.
How does it drive you crazy?
Do you wake up in the morning and feel like people nipping at your heels?
They did a Biden one, and Kyle Dunnigan played Elon Musk, and I didn't even recognize him.
And he was on the losing end of the match that I think I've probably watched the most over the last year.
And if you Google it, you can find it on YouTube.
Just Google nine-ball perfection, and it's Ko Ping Chung, who's one of my favorite players, outside of you, of course, to watch.
There's something about those guys from Taiwan.
I don't know what their methodology is in their training.
But they have this smooth, effortless stroke.
It's hypnotizing to watch.
And that dude never missed a single ball in an 11-match defeat.
I was like, who's this guy?
This is weird guy, acting weird.
Pocketed every shot he aimed at and never gave him a shot other than the opening shot.
He had one shot at the beginning of the match, a long-ass two-ball.
He didn't make it, and then he was fucked.
That's the guy who just won the last three tournaments, which is so nuts about this sport, is that if the guy's winning and it's win or break, you might not ever play.
Like, look at today, you and me.
There's like five or six games where I'm just standing there.
And they're like, that's Dunnigan playing Elon Musk.
I'm just waiting for you to miss.
You're not missing, and so I don't play.
You're not missing, and I don't play.
But at a world-class level, when you're doing that in the U.S.
Open, and it's on TV, and people are cheering every time you pocket a nine ball, that's bananas.
That dude got in the zone.
And if you can appreciate the zone, you got to watch that video.
Even if you only played pool casually.
And boy, he chunked it too.
But when you watch this guy, this guy, Ko Ping Chung, who weighs 100 pounds.
This is not an easy opening shot either.
No, it's got three ball combination rail first.
But then from this out, he just never misses.
Right in front of him, I thought it was just some—it didn't look like Elon Musk.
And you watch this guy, like watch how fucking smooth this character is.
And again, the dude weighs 100 pounds, soaking wet.
The cue is half his body weight.
And he just kind of like gently hits everything just so smooth and effortless.
It looked like a weird guy.
Dude, you came that close to being two-year-in-a-row U.S.
And the reality is you would think, well, this guy's going to win everything from here on out.
That's what's so crazy about this sport.
But it didn't look like him, and it looked like a person.
As good as this guy is and as competitive as he is, look how he hit that with follow.
To get out for the two in the corner, that's crazy.
That was really dangerous to play that shot.
Well, he's got ice water in his veins, man.
I'm telling you, we were talking about this before, but there's a match from 2018 where he plays Shane Van Boning at the Derby.
And it's Shane's on the hill.
It didn't look like a guy in makeup.
And you think, oh, Shane's going to win this.
And he runs five games and out on them.
Like, he starts with this bananas cut shot on the four ball to get three rail position, and you're like, what is he doing here?
It didn't look like a mask.
Like, the commentators don't even know what he's doing.
Like, that was John Schmidt was doing commentary for it.
It looked like a real person that just was weird-looking.
And it's also interesting to me that these guys still play with those solid wood shafts.
Like we were talking about that earlier.
It's like new technology has gotten into the game and a lot of players like yourself play with carbon fiber.
But it's interesting that a lot of these guys from Taiwan in particular, they still go with those wooden shafts.
I was like, this is crazy.
Because I've heard the opposite.
I've heard it's carbon moves the ball easier.
You've got to work on that voice, though, son.
It's such a mind fuck though, isn't it?
You rush all day with that voice.
Because it's like, it's all really what you have confidence with.
Obviously anybody could play really good with carbon fiber or anybody rather who can play really good with carbon fiber could play really good with wood.
It's just get it into your head what this, this cue does, the way it feels, the kind of deflection it has.
You put it in the brain computer after X amount of months of playing with that cue and you know what it does.
I remember I was going on one of my rucking hikes where I put a weighted vest on and I go for a walk with the dog.
And you and I were on the phone.
And this is how I remember this.
Because I was walking through this...
this wooded area, and you were telling me that the difference between your old cue and your new cue, you said there's a difference of about 5%.
And for people at home, how could he be the number one in the world if he just lost?
Like, how do you know it's 5%?
You're like, all the balls that I've pocketed, when I think about what it does and what it doesn't do, I think my game is about 5% off.
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Well, you made it to your specifications.
What is the difference in the feel?
What do you feel differently?
And so that way it doesn't give additional resistance as the shot gets further, like as your bridge gets longer?
Well, deflection is interesting, too, because some people use it to their advantage, certain deflection, like Coe, because his cue has a lot of deflection.
Didn't you say you hit some balls with it?
But I think the real matches that you play where you really get to see who's the best, and this is only for like hardcore pool nerds.
I think it just gets it in their head how to play, and then they've been playing that way for so long that it's just automatic.
Like, if they hit a ball with heavy left-hand English, they know it's going to go off to the right.
So they hit it more full with heavy left-hand English because they know by the time the cue ball gets there, it's... So they...
they have it in their head.
You know, it's just like a little computer in your brain.
It's like, okay, this distance, I gotta aim here.
This distance, I'm gonna aim here.
So the argument against that would be the difference with wood is, though, you get a superior feel.
You do get a weird difference in the feedback of the cue.
And some people get very accustomed to that wood feedback.
And they describe a carbon feedback as more dull.
You don't get the same sensations.
So I think those guys, the feedback in their hand is a part of the equation in their mind of where that ball's gonna go.
The real ones, like the one you did with Shane, was like three days, race to 40 each day, 120 games total.
It's just a different feel.
Like they all have a different feel, right?
Like we were talking about Southwest, which are some of my favorite cues of all time.
They're not cored, right?
And so they're usually generally a little heavier unless they're maple.
Sometimes they'll get lower.
But you very rarely see like an 18-ounce southwest.
You see a lot of 20-ounce southwest because they're ebony or cocobolo or something like that, really heavy.
But they have a very specific thunk to them.
And you don't get that feel with carbon.
You get a different feel.
So if you can get used to that different feel, it is...
It is like there's something to it.
Definitely the ball moves less off the line.
That way there's no questions.
Right, like a golf player does.
After three days and 120 games of pool, you know, possibly 239 games of pool.
How much does your extension weigh?
So that gets you up to, like, what, 19.5 as opposed to 18?
Is that what you play with, 18 ounce?
Oh, so it gets you, like, to 20.5.
So do you like the additional weight for like a shot where you have to really stay down?
It's lonely at the top, buddy.
There's only a few guys that you could have those kind of matches with now.
Where did they want to do it?
Oh, what if it's a draw?
But you know what I'm saying?
If you have four games, you have to play three games.
What would you race to at each game?
It's tough to get people, casuals, to watch regular pool.
Getting them to watch one pocket, they'd rather jump in front of a bus.
I watch it every now and then.
When was the last one I watched?
Justin Bergman played someone for a lot of money.
Yeah, he played the guy, what's his name?
And he was giving him a crazy spot, right?
I forget what the spot was.
Would you prefer, or do you just play it because people want to gamble it?
Yeah, it was super impressive.
right so it's more dynamic and also derby for example has shot clock I think one pocket has to be played with shot clock how much time they give you at derby it's one minute hmm if you could make the perfect nine ball shot clock what would it be I think it's good to where it's at right now 30 seconds 30 seconds 30 seconds with a 30 second extension yeah
But it was even more impressive you coming back the next year and steamrolling them.
But, I mean, the 40-second, like just a touch more to think about it.
Like you won by quite a few games.
That's another shot that people hate that you got to leave in is the jump cue.
You jumped out so many times during this U.S.
There were so many times you got hooked where you popped that ball in.
And if you can't appreciate that on tight pockets, a beautiful shot where it goes airborne and fires right into the hole and then you get position on the next ball.
Yeah, there's a lot of old school guys who just, they get set in their ways and they think that's a stupid cue, it's a little tiny cue, fuck that thing.
But why are there different golf clubs?
Because there's different shots.
Why do you break with a different cue?
Because it's a different shot.
And then also it's like the cues that people are jumping with today, they're designed so well for that.
Like I really like that Q-Tech one.
That's, I think, my favorite one.
That one is, and you helped design that, right?
When do you think that's going to be available?
So that's the thing with pool, too.
It's like when you see a guy who plays really good, everybody wants to play with whatever the fuck he's playing with.
And that was for, did you advertise how much that money was being gambled?
So it's one of – for a sport and a game, it's like one of the most marketable in that regard because almost everybody, when they find someone who's like – whether it's Efren or – like that's why so many companies like Mucci was sponsoring everybody back in the day because when these guys were playing and they were winning, everybody just wanted to go out and buy a Mucci because it's like there's a mind –
But don't you think there's a giant variety in the way those things hit as opposed to the way tennis rackets hit?
I don't know because I don't play tennis, but it looks the same.
Whereas, like, the way pool cues are manufactured, the differences in the weight, the differences in the taper, the differences in the shaft composition, whether it's wood or carbon fiber or... For sure.
And how much how accurate.
Do you have like a mental checklist that you go through before you execute a shot?
Do you have like a pre shot mental preparation checklist?
So you had a bunch of other people chomping it and throwing money in?
Do you do that when you're sitting in the chair?
That's interesting, showing emotions.
Well, I definitely think that's the case when someone misses because when someone misses and then they whack the table with their stick, boy, that empowers the other player.
Well, it's the most, I think, and Jeremy Jones and I were talking about this, I think it's the most mental game because there's this moment of pulling the trigger, this moment where you're making sure that everything aligns and you just kind of keep your mind on task and keep focused on the object ball.
Do you look at the cue ball before you strike or the object ball?
It's interesting because it is a preference thing.
I mean, unless you're lying to the IRS, which as a new citizen, I would say don't do that.
There's a guy named Joel Turner who is, I don't know if I talked to you about this guy.
He used to be – well, he was a sniper for rescue missions with the police where someone had a hostage and he would have to execute shots under extreme pressure.
He was also a bow hunter and he realized that there were certain mistakes that he was making and a lot of people are making bow hunting that had to do with anticipating the shot and anxiety before you pull the trigger.
And that the way to work around that is to have a pre-shot routine in your mind where you're talking to yourself loudly in your head.
And you develop this pre-shot routine with very specific things that you say to yourself.
You say, like, here I go.
Like, you know, whatever different things.
He's got a bunch of different steps that he said where he's talking to himself, like center your peep sight.
There's like a bunch of things.
Oh, no, you're going to get in trouble.
If you think you're going to miss, you will miss.
What I was getting at is I found a giant crossover between that and archery in that it's the same thing.
I don't think you were a citizen last time you were here, right?
If you think you're going to miss in archery, you're going to miss.
And if you think you're going to miss in pool, you're going to miss.
It just works like that.
It's like your subconscious tells you to miss.
And it's almost like the pressure is too much, so you alleviate some of the pressure by anticipating the miss in advance.
So that's why my question to you is like, what is the process that you go through to fight that off?
It's just saying, I'm going to make that fucking ball?
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So now you have those experiences and then what do you do when that's over?
When you go, okay, that can't happen again.
I got to make sure that that mindset never creeps into my head again.
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Well, that's a weird dude.
Well, there's a lot of science to that.
In terms of studies that have been done about visualization and the improvement, and they found that actual real visualization, when you're really sitting down there and visualizing, counts almost as much as practice.
And in some cases, more.
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You know, it is, it's such a weird dance that goes in your head.
Like sometimes, and again, I'm not a good player.
But sometimes I play really good.
Like if I get like six hours, two or three days in a row, I can get in stroke and I start running racks.
But when I'm not and then I go to execute, there's like this thing in my head that like right when I'm about to aim at the – like right when I'm about to pull the trigger, my head goes, don't hit it there.
I'm like, why did you change where you were going to hit it?
I've been playing pool for 30-something years.
Most of the times I miss.
Most of the times when I change where I'm going to hit last second, I miss.
Yeah, or when I think, I'm not going to be this accurate.
Let me aim to overcut it.
And then I'm like, oh, my God, you overcut it all the length of the table, you fucking idiot.
If you just accurately hit where you thought you were going to hit, you would have made that ball.
It's this weird... But that's why I love the game.
Because when you're really playing pool, the world goes away.
Seriously, $25 a month flat.
You're not thinking about...
You're not thinking about global warming.
You're not thinking about shit.
You're not thinking about inflation, how much eggs cost.
You're not thinking about shit.
The world goes away when you're on that table.
When you're playing, the world goes away.
That's what I like about archery and that's what I like about pool.
They have the same quality to them in that to do it correctly is so difficult that it requires all of your mind.
What you see is what you pay.
I totally agree with you.
And unlike chess, which also requires all of your mind, pool has the added element that you have to execute.
No hidden fees on top of that.
You have to pull it off under pressure with a shaky hand.
Well, I think it's just its own thing.
Well, it's an old thing for sure.
It's very different than any of those other things, even though I don't play either one of them.
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It's very different than any of those other things.
And when people get into it, man, it takes their whole fucking life over.
I remember my manager had to have a conversation with me once when I lived in New York.
It was like, I think you're spending more time playing pool than you are in your career.
I'm like, fuck, he's right.
I took a whole year off.
I didn't play for a whole year.
And then I came to LA and I started playing a little bit again.
I was like, God, he got me again.
Just sunk its teeth right back in me.
And now when I'm like, if I'm talking to someone and they're boring, I just think about playing pool.
I think about getting out.
I think about here, here, here, here.
it's like my default brain it falls into these but it's not really about the it is about the game for sure but what it's really about is sinking your mind to something that's where the true joy comes in sinking your mind to something and then executing it to perfection i think it's um
Don't think wireless can be so transparent, so Visible?
It's some kind of a mental exercise, like akin to cardio, akin to lifting weights.
There's a mental exercise to it.
Yeah, it's a game that I really wish more people would appreciate.
I wonder how many people are still listening to this podcast that are just regular people.
They're like, is he going to fucking talk about pool with this guy for three hours?
Yep, this one's not for you.
But that's the beauty of having four podcasts a week.
You can throw one of them entirely a pool.
But for pool players, there's a lot of people that get it.
It's not like anything else.
In this weird world of non-physical things, in this weird world of virtual things, of playing video games and of being connected with computers, which is all very, very fun.
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Those are all really fun to do.
There's a kinetic aspect to playing pool that I think a lot of people forgot about.
how satisfying and rewarding it is and how how intriguing the game is you know and that's why i always chime on about it i think i think it's good for you you know for sure and actually the way for example vietnam marketed pool is they started opening pool rooms with computer clubs in the same building
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What made it explode in Vietnam like that?
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The most luxurious pool hall in Vietnam.
Yeah, that's a weird game, right?
It's become really, really popular.
It's very lucrative, right?
It used to be called Chinese 8-ball?
So what made that game explode in China?
So why is processed food the status quo for dog food?
What does a big tournament in 8-ball pay?
Because that's what kibble is, an ultra-processed food.
But you were saying when you went over there...
So it's got a lot of nap to the claw, so the ball moves slower.
They hit balls really hard.
Is that because of the rounded edges, like you've got to fire them through there?
But a healthy alternative exists, the Farmer's Dog.
Well, there's that one shot where in the side pockets we can push through the nipple of the side pocket.
Because I watch a lot of those guys online and they fire balls in.
They make fresh food for dogs.
And when did that start in China?
That emerges 10 years ago.
So this is only, we're talking about 2015.
So that emerges 10 years ago, and then Vietnam emerges three years ago.
So let's imagine that's 10 years as well.
That's not that long ago.
So it gives me hope that something similar can happen in America.
And what does it look like?
Real meat and vegetables that are gently cooked to retain vital nutrients and help avoid any of the bad stuff that comes with ultra processing.
They play pool in a league and they don't know who Shane Van Boney is?
He plays in those bar table tournaments sometimes.
I watched some recent one from Boston.
They had some big... Right.
They're starting to... Yeah, they're starting to break through in the US as well.
Kind of crazy because it's a really quick shot clock, big-ass pockets, little-ass table, and if you miss, you're fucked.
Because these guys, they're all running out.
Justin Bergman is a wizard at that too.
You look at it, you're like, oh, small table, big pockets, this is easy.
And it's not just random ingredients thrown together.
But no, if you miss, like if you get out of line and you miss, the game's over.
You guys are going to run out, and that's additional pressure.
All the clusters and everything's all cluttered up together.
And you can't shoot your opponent's ball, so you've got to figure out a way to bump them and move them and get a shot on the eight.
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yeah yeah yeah most people don't like i had a friend here and he's like uh i play really good pool i go what do you play you play nine ball i was like no i play regular pool i'm like yeah what is regular pool like you don't play right we had a conversation i was like okay okay okay let me explain nine ball to you like you play eight ball it's not regular pool but it may change with metron being involved it may change because they push nine ball only
Well, the thing about nine ball that's very exciting is the luck factor.
You know, when you watch a guy shoot a ball into the corner and he hits the rail and it bounces three rails and goes to the side...
If you're sitting there, if you're in the chair and you were hoping, oh, he missed, it's my chance.
These people are experts on dog nutrition, and they're all in on fresh food.
And sometimes people shit in the nine ball and that's the whole, they win.
And people are like, how could that be a win?
That's part of the game.
It's part of the fun of the game.
And then also you could win off the break.
That's also part of the game.
And that drives people crazy.
I also like when someone misses an easy shot and then the opponent runs out and then makes a nine on the break.
And the pool gods do that to you all the time.
If you miss a ball, it's kind of weird.
how oftentimes like you have to sit in the chair for a few racks because the guy just gets a bunch of like really awesome lucky breaks you're like this is terrible for sure and you know what i also found when i'm winning more i'm also getting more lucky yeah i just get the love i miss the ball and then the guy is absolutely hooked i wonder what that is why is that so reliable because it's really reliable i wish i knew the answer i would be i'd be doing something for sure
The farmer's dog also does something unique.
If some like super egghead who studies pool like Dr. Dave, like if that guy could explain this, I would like to know.
They portion out the food to your dog's nutritional needs.
Because I think there's a kind of science to it.
And I think it has to do – I don't know what it is.
But I think there's a positive – when you're in gear, when you can't miss and you're in stroke and you're firing balls and you're playing really well –
You get these lucky breaks.
It's like you're putting out positive energy.
But when you're down and you feel like shit and you're like, God damn it, I can't catch a break.
And then the guy misses and you're stuck behind two balls.
You're like, God damn it.
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Are you manifesting good luck with positive energy?
I think there's a real benefit, like a real world, unmeasurable benefit that would probably show up in statistics.
I think in real life, it's the same.
Yeah, that's what I think pool mirrors life in a lot of ways.
I think that's the case.
I also think being really generous in real life is really good for you.
It's really good for everybody.
It's not good just for the people that you're being generous to, but it's good for you too.
It's good for everybody.
More good things happen for you when you do that.
Research shows that dogs kept at a healthy weight can live up to two and a half years longer.
It's the same sort of principle.
It just doesn't seem like it should be.
It seems like you should be able to figure out life on, you know, a yellow legal pad with a pen and some really good calculus.
But no, there's some things going on that nobody has figured out how to put a measuring tape to.
No one's figured out how to put it on a scale.
There's some things going on.
And there's things going on with your mind that no one is ever going to be able to figure out.
No one's ever going to be able to figure out why some people get lucky all the time.
But I think there's probably something to it.
That guy used to always say, I got lucky.
He was always saying I got lucky.
Meanwhile, who's more positive than that guy?
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When he would miss, he would laugh.
He would laugh and scratch his head.
Never looked like he was mad.
I would want her to break my fucking stick.
But he would just like, oh, no, I missed.
He'd scratch his head and go, oh, no.
And sit down and be all super positive.
Well, that's why I wonder, that's why I wanted to ask you about your pre-shot routine.
Like, what are the things you're saying to yourself in your mind?
Or is it just a lot of experience and a lot of, I'm going to make that shot?
Have you ever thought about doing what Nick Vandenberg does when he sits on the couch?
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Just, like, visualizing running out while you're watching your opponent play?
What is hype-up music for you?
What are you listening to?
What do you have to do to become a citizen?
Sometimes it's... Like what kind of gangster rap?
Oh, you got to send me some.
Yeah, tell me what's good Russian gangster rap.
It's good for the gym, perfect for the gym.
I like music like that that I don't know what they're saying.
Can you give me an example that we could play right now?
What is a good Russian gangster rap that Jamie could pull off?
Let's see if we can find that guy.
I didn't even know that they had a lot of Russian gangster rap.
Well, a lot of hype-up music is not necessarily great music.
Give me one script tonight, though, one good song that you like.
Like you and Josh Phil are about to play for half a million.
Dude, there's the real good argument you're the best player in the world.
But just tell me what it is.
I bet a lot of people in Moscow do love ecstasy.
Probably a pretty accurate song.
If you want, I can have them send it to me and I'll send it to you.
Well, you better stay away from Home Depot because those dudes are getting crazy.
All right, well, we'll cut it out.
You've got to go forward a little bit.
They're snatching people up left and right.
It sounds like he's on ecstasy, though.
You'll find everything you need.
Love or treasure in the depths of the woods.
Only the lipstick was worn off.
Ceiling, starfall, fingers on the temple.
The eyes are... This is all nonsense words.
Yeah, it doesn't translate that well.
Tomorrow, again, wet asphalt, gray face, there are only clouds above you.
That sounds like ChatGPT wrote it.
A straight translation from Russian never makes any sense.
First of all, you know how to read it, right?
Cyrillic, is that what it's called?
So you read it and write it.
What is it like when you have to learn English?
Well, that's weird if you're not a citizen, but still you get to play for the Moscone Cup.
You're a man of no country.
And if you go back to Russia, they get mad at you that you can't talk good?
But I would imagine, like, if you fell out of Russian, like, if it became uncomfortable for you and you went over there, that would be so weird for them.
There's a lot of... But listen, if...
Say, like, if my daughter moved overseas and went to Spain and started speaking Spanish and then came over to America and had a hard time talking to me, I'd be like, what happened?
But then what if you're away for 10 years?
Yeah, well, then you gain an accent and...
And then people are like, look at you.
Do you get any heat for coming to America?
Because you left Russia.
Is there a song like that?
Well, they play the song and everybody says no, not yet.
That song is very depressing anyway.
if you want to get patriotic, that's not like born in the USA is a terrible song.
It's not like, like life is awesome.
Like that, that song is like depressing.
It's, you know, it's about living in a terrible part of the USA.
And if you're the best player in the world, I think you are, you got my vote.
Right, because you were Russian.
Like you're, it's not like the American dream, but not really.
So you get more heat from Americans that are upset that you came over from Russia?
Probably because you're now playing for the Americans.
I know you could fuck up their whole Moscone Cup thing.
Oh, so they just automatically don't like Russians.
That's that always happens.
Yeah, if you don't have haters, you're not doing anything right.
Yeah, the poor unfortunate guy.
He just got it in his head somehow or another that I was responsible for what was wrong with him, that I was a bully to him, which is crazy because all I did was point out what was like super obvious, like you're lying about being on steroids.
Like, hey, don't lie about being on steroids.
Don't be a public person.
And no one will say that.
You got to take personal accountability for errors that you made.
I think there's some substances involved, if I had to guess.
That led him down a bad road, unfortunately.
But it's also fame, man.
I'm sure you experience it because you experience a lot of haters in the pool world, but fame is not what people think it's going to be.
You think, I'm going to be famous and life will be easier because people know who I am.
No, life is going to be way harder because now you're under the microscope.
And this is a guy, Brian, he calls himself the Liver King, who was not famous most of his life and then decided, I want to be famous and I have this great body.
So what I'm going to do is just tell everybody they have to eat liver.
And sell a bunch of supplements.
And he made a lot of money selling a bunch of supplements.
And then it's, can I tell the truth about steroids?
The problem with that is that physique is not achievable in your 40s without some help.
Like you could be a freak athlete and have that physique at 23.
There's a few guys that can.
But you have to have superior genetics and an insane work ethic.
And you have to be like really intelligent about how you approach your training.
But once you get into your 40s and if you didn't look like that when you were younger, oh, yeah, you're on something.
There's nothing wrong with being on something.
Like there's – here's the thing.
It's like if you want to be an influencer online –
It doesn't exclude you from taking – if you're a person who takes testosterone or even – there's guys who have huge followings who are clearly on anabolic steroids.
They just don't lie about it.
Like it doesn't make you less famous or make your physique less valid.
No one really – I mean there's going to be a few people, oh, he's a juice head.
But the reality is most people are just like, wow, that's really impressive.
But what people hate is when you mislead them, when you pretend you're doing something that you're not, especially if you're also selling supplements or selling a lifestyle and telling them about your ancestral tenets.
Got to take accountability.
If you didn't make mistakes, I'd be celebrating you.
If you were like this guy who's like, there's a bunch of people that we talk about on the podcast all the time that I know are on Juice.
But they don't lie about it.
And no one gets upset at them.
It's just, it is what it is.
But that – so guys just take a lot of heat and they just – he also funded – I think he at least had a part in funding this Netflix documentary about him, which I didn't watch it.
But I heard it was not flattering at all and it made him seem kind of insane.
And that probably sucked.
And then after that, he was mad at me.
Again, fame is not a normal thing.
And if you don't have personal sovereignty, if you don't understand yourself, truly understand yourself, not just trying to project an image of what you like people to think of you.
But who you actually are, that's where you get in trouble with fame.
And then also reading haters and reading the comments and wanting people to love you, which is probably why a lot of people get famous in the first place.
If you're the best player in the world today, you're the best player of all time.
All Russian athletes competing in America?
It's also like the thing of getting famous as a goal versus...
Becoming famous because of a thing you do.
Like becoming famous because people like your comedy or your podcast or they like the way you play pool or the way you play basketball.
That's a different thing when you specifically go out of your way because you want to become famous.
And that's a lot of people.
It's really weird that it's a lot of very wealthy people.
I know some people that are really wealthy, and the thing that they really want is to be famous.
Well, it's the thing they can't buy.
It's like they have private jets.
They got a house here and a house there, and they got a company here and a company there, but they really want to be famous.
So a lot of those guys want to go on podcasts, and they want to sort of let the world know how cool they are.
And then a lot of those guys, they take the heat.
off the comments and the, the haters and they don't like it.
And like, Jesus Christ, I didn't know it was going to be this.
Like, yeah, that's, that's what you signed up for.
You're on the, the world theater and that's a, it's a lot of eyeballs.
It's a lot of, a lot of, a lot of fucking venom tongue people out there just want to say terrible things about you.
Can't wait to something that would happen.
And you have to have the same way you have that discipline to not allow those negative thoughts in your head before you make a shot.
You also have to not allow other people's negative thoughts in your head either.
Because they're as valid, if not more valid than your own negative thoughts.
Oh, there's so many different opinions.
Yeah, or not pay attention to them, which is, I think, the best way to do it.
Everyone's aware if they fuck up, and you're always aware if people are upset at you about things.
But don't fucking focus on it.
And that's where comedians make a giant mistake.
Podcasters make a giant mistake.
I'm sure pool players do it.
Fighters do it in a big way.
Like a lot of fighters get real mad.
when they read comments, you know, and they invite trolls to come to their gym, and some of them even beat the trolls up, which is kind of crazy.
You know, some guys will talk shit, and they'll be so dumb that they'll actually think that they can go to the gym and, you know, spar with Sean Strickland or something.
Yeah, but if you can get him in the gym, it's worth it.
You know what's interesting?
Sean Strickland has a bunch of videos of guys who talk shit online.
He just beats the fucking piss out of them.
Which is like, then he wins.
It never stopped the UFC.
Then it comes all full circle.
Paying attention to the haters actually paid off because for him it's easy work.
He just tunes these guys up like it's nothing and talks shit to them while he's kicking the fuck out of them.
Yeah, but with pool, it's like you don't want to have to play some idiot who says you suck.
Like, okay, put up money.
Not only do Russian fighters fight in the UFC, but they're celebrated.
Then you'll be talking with them back and forth.
What is the most amount of money that you've ever gambled for?
So you don't want to say the full amount, but that was the most amount.
But this Joshua Filler thing, what they offered, if that ever happened, that would be the biggest one.
What was he proposing in terms of a race?
And what would you think about that?
I go there, you know... Oh, I think you're lying.
Oh, see, that's your spot.
But your home room, where you go to, is like the place where you go that's near your house, that's an actual establishment, not your home table.
I bet everybody knows your name.
Well, everybody knows your name everywhere.
But, yeah, I think we can- I can see why you wouldn't want to play there.
Maybe we're setting it up right here on this podcast.
It's a professional sport.
What's the most amount you think you could get staked for?
Yeah, consult with those gentlemen.
I'd have to tighten that table up, right?
Would you want it four and a quarter?
We'll play it four and a quarter.
I feel like you should do it in a place where you can get an audience, though.
What I mean is in person as well, like a place where there's a lot of people that can watch in person.
Shane is a huge American hero when it comes to pool.
But it just seems like he doesn't like it anymore.
I'm just hearing that for the first time now.
I thought he was beloved.
yeah there was a few a few uh i don't know if you're involved with like wpa and mature and conflicts and stuff like this oh yeah that's right so there was a lot of weirdness where he was playing for like was the wpa said you couldn't play in a matchroom event or is that what it was what happened
I was just glad that they didn't make it political.
What happened was... So we should explain to people that don't know, there's two different competing sort of organizations.
I'm like, you think fucking this guy is out there causing trouble?
And at one point in time, if you played for one, they were telling you you can't play for the other.
And everybody's like, that's kind of crazy, guys.
Like, pool is just starting to take off.
And don't schedule shit at the same time as this other one that you know is going to be there.
Well, I mean, it's really tough to... A lot of old guys talk a lot of shit, but I'm just saying.
Like he's just a fighter.
He's just a professional MMA fighter.
It was my... What better way to tell those other 10 guys that they're the best in the world...
You know, this is what he does.
All right, we're all not going.
That means you just killed off nine or ten of the best players in the world.
You have a much better chance of winning.
And let's think about that.
He's a hell of a player, though.
Let's not think about what these other people are doing that are in the same country as him.
yeah he's um sometimes when he gets hot it's crazy to watch where he's spiking balls in oh the high gear is unbelievable yeah unbelievable he would go for a long period of time without me missing any balls and the other thing about him is he never looks like he's freaking out like it never seems to be affecting him like he's never taking additional time in between shots
Even under extreme pressure.
Yeah, if you can do that, if you have that kind of temperament.
But it's always interesting to me when a guy like that just seems to be so calm under pressure and just fires balls in.
He's got an intimidating game.
Like they let a bunch of, like for the entire time of the war, Ukrainian guys and Russian guys are fighting on the same card sometimes.
Not that I don't think you could beat him.
It's a really good game, though.
It is a really good game.
It's top one and two in the world.
You know, I think at the very top, as you see with, you know, with Aloysius Yap, he won three tournaments in a row, which is crazy.
It's crazy to win like three majors in a row.
But like, you know, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz went on a tear where he was doing that for a while.
It's always... They get hot.
But it's just maintaining that.
Like we were talking about Ko Ping Chung, who had that insane match in 2023, but this year didn't play nearly as well.
Or you might have a neck injury like you had.
Your back might start bothering you.
There's a lot of stuff that can happen.
Yeah, but it's just that's why a high-level pool, when you watch it on a world stage like that, when it's executed so perfectly, so fun to watch, because you know how hard it is to get there.
So what do you do differently now that you're world number one?
Do you do anything differently to try to maintain your position?
Or is it just keep going?
Why do you say that with a southern accent?
I live in southern Indiana.
Is that a day of a southern accent in Indiana?
I never even thought of that.
What would you assume their accent in Indiana would be?
Well, you're an Ohio boy, so you're close to Kentucky.
It also depends where you are there.
But it's just, when you think about...
Just in general, like Poole's growth, I think you're in a perfect position right now in life.
It's like if you had been this good 20 years ago, you would be in the same sort of trap that a lot of the older players were, where there's no real incentive to be playing professionally.
The only money that anybody was making in Poole 20, 30 years ago, real money, was in gambling.
And there was a lot of guys that were making money gambling that weren't placing well in tournaments.
And they didn't want to.
They didn't want to play in tournaments.
They didn't want to knock their action.
But I think you're in really the perfect timeline.
Whereas as you're getting better and as pool's getting more and more popular, the money's getting bigger and bigger.
And I think it's a really awesome time for the game.
And it's also the guys, the players of today, it seems to me, correct me if I'm wrong, but they're much more systematic with their training than they ever were before.
They're treating it like a sport, but they're also examining all the aspects of the game and constantly honing them.
When I watch guys practice online, you have a channel where you put a lot of your practice sessions online.
You know, you get to see, like, there's no messing about.
It's like there's serious training involved, like serious position play, serious, like, getting that muscle memory over and over again, different ways to stroke a shot.
Yeah, he's great, The Terminator.
Yeah, he's a world-class player, too.
I mean, this guy on my shirt, he certainly gets the, like, as far as, like, the greatest of all time, most achievements of all time, effort.
Fun time to be a pool player.
And like I said, I think the sky's the limit.
I think the game is going to explode over the next few years because we've watched it get a lot bigger over the last four or five.
Just set it up somewhere in Austin.
Do it somewhere where you can have a crowd in person, though.
That's what I was getting at.
Like, you're going to have a crowd online, but it'd be cool if you had a lot of people there in person.
The cool thing about America is that it's a nation of immigrants.
So listen, congratulations on everything.
It's been cool following you and seeing what happened over the last time you were here and watching you just get better and better.
My pleasure, my brother.
Tell everybody if they want to follow you.
Oh, this is a question I wanted to ask you.
Your name, some people say Fedor, some people say Fedor, but in Russian, is it Fyodor?
Okay, that's what I thought.
Because people were correcting me.
I'm like, I think you're both wrong.
It's like, you can come over here and just say, I'm American now.
And when I was calling you Fedor, people are going, oh, he's saying that because Fedor Malianenko.
I'm like, yeah, well, that's kind of the accepted American pronunciation of Fyodor, though.
So I wanted to ask you if it was Fyodor.
Because I knew I was right.
And everybody's like, all right.
That's who you are from now on, bro.
Let's play some pool, and then we'll get something to eat.
They're like, you're not Polish.
Get the fuck out of here.
There's a lot of countries like that that are like, no, you're not one of us.
But America is like, we don't have like a nationality.
So anybody can come over here.
And if you do it the right way, we get super happy.
Yeah, but that's also the way you play.
You know, there's a thing in pool
It gets – when people play a lot and are people really into pool, it's almost like that's the only thing that matters.
The only thing that matters is how good you play.
You know, there was a – did you ever read that book, McGurdy?
It was a Robert Burns book on a guy who lived during the Depression who was a billiards hustler who traveled around the country.
There was a scene in that where they were looking at the television and Nixon was on TV.
The Z shot, like, all the crazy stuff that he could pull off with a cue ball.
And he goes, look at that guy, president of the United States and he can't make a ball.
Because you and I know what that means.
In the pool world, that really means something.
It's the fucking president.
So if you come to America, all that they care about is if you... Since it's a melting pot already.
And then it's like, all they care about is how good you play.
And you play pretty fucking good.
So far, well, you're playing better now than ever before.
Yeah, I think I'm on top of my career right now.
You're not even in your prime.
The match that you had with that Filipino gentleman before the match in the finals, what is that guy's name?
Michael... That was Michael Bowne in the quarterfinals.
So in that match, I was watching some of those outs and I was like, Jesus, like...
It doesn't get better pool than that.
Like four-inch pockets, tight competition, a really good player, a lot of pressure.
Single elimination at that point.