Bend billiards buddies rack up trip to Vegas competition

Not just anyone with a cue stick can qualify for the American Poolplayers Association National Team Championships, held annually at the Riviera Hotel and Casino Convention Center in Las Vegas. In fact, it's unusual for a Central Oregon team to qualify for the tournament. But, as the local pool players emphasize, it does not take long for a pool player to progress to the national level.

"I started playing pool in the military (2000-2006), and when I moved here last July, that's when I joined the (APA) leagues," says Mark Prokop, 31, over the hum of pool players at Fox's Billiard Lounge in Bend. Prokop was a member of the local team that competed in nationals earlier this month. "This is my first year doing leagues and playing competitive pool."

Teammates Erica Skatvold, John Smith and Jeff Johnson all started in the local APA pool league less than a year ago and also found themselves at nationals last week.

Skatvold, 23, admits that she "definitely did not" think she would be going to a national pool competition this year. "We just play for fun," says Skatvold, who started playing in the local league just this past May.

A former alpine ski racer, Skatvold compares pool playing to speeding down a mountain slope. "You're always competing against yourself," she says, "and it's all mental."

The players on the national-tournament team - including Prokop, Skatvold, Johnson, Smith, team captain Eric Novak, Kevin Kyle and Jim Stinger, all from Bend - gather at Fox's every Monday night for APA nine-ball.

(The object of nine-ball is to pocket the nine ball in a legal manner. On all shots, including the break shot, a player must cause the cue ball to contact the lowest numerical ball on the table first before the cue ball strikes any other ball).

"Nine-ball is a race for points. We could be playing seven or eight games before one of us wins," notes Stinger, 28. "You have a quota of balls you are supposed to make. Each ball on the table is worth one point, the nine-ball is worth two points. Depending on your handicap, you have a certain quota and you just play until one of the players reaches their quota."

Some of the Fox's team members also compete in weekly Sunday tournaments at their home establishment. Through the league, the players advanced to state and regional tournaments to land their spot in Vegas.

"I knew we had a good chance," notes Prokop. "Our team was really good when we went to regionals in Salem. At that point - right at the beginning of regionals - I realized we had a chance to go to Vegas. ... We won every match at Tri Cup (the regional qualifier held in Salem) and at regionals (also held in Salem). ... For most of us, nationals was the biggest ordeal we had ever been to."

"The odds of winning at regionals are pretty slim," notes Kyle, 55, between pool shots at Fox's, "because you are playing the cream of Oregon, of the Northwest - I mean, it's the cream."

Nationals at the Riviera, as the Bend players describe, occupied two spacious rooms filled with about 200 pool tables in each and thousands of players.

"There were probably 400 teams for nine-ball and each team has about eight players, so you are looking at 3,200 players just in the (nine-ball) team event," says Marshall Fox, owner of Fox's Billiard Lounge and sponsor of the Bend national team. Fox also competed at the national tournament, playing in the eight-ball doubles division with teammate Melinda Vachon, also of Bend.

The national tournament hosted thousands of pool players competing in a number of divisions, including masters and even wheelchair divisions.

"It was a collection of people with different skill levels," explains Skatvold. APA nine-ball uses a handicap system, much like golf, and players are rated 1 (beginner) to 9 (expert). The total team ratings for nationals can equal no higher than 23.

Members of the seven-player Fox's team say they didn't have as much luck in Las Vegas as they did in the tournaments leading up to the national competition. The first matches at the Riviera were scheduled for 11 p.m. The worn-out Central Oregonians were still racking 'em up at 3 in the morning - and then had to return for their second day of play at 8 a.m.

"Everyone was pretty burnt out," Kyle recalls.

Nonetheless, the team members all agree that the experience was unforgettable.

According to Kyle, it was a lot of pool. "But there's nothing more satisfying," he adds, "than making a ball and putting a cue ball where you thought and wanted it to be."

"It was all of our first times for this tournament," says Fox, "and hopefully not our last."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)