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Lewis Jones, at the age of 15, won $9,000 in one night when a friend convinced him to play pool with someone for money.
That money lasted all through high school and into college, and that one night so impressed him that he has spent the rest of his life shooting pool.
Jones, now 56 from Magnolia, Ark., has won two major tournaments, the Disneyland Classic, in the mid 1980s, and Oklahoma State, in the early 1990s, and has placed high in many other major tournaments.
Jones is now a tournament director for PKL Promotions and travels all over Texas organizing nine-ball tournaments along with his partner, Paul Blank, who went to Trinity University and took a few classes at this college.
Jones said he couldn't do the tournament without Blank, who takes care of announcing table assignments and keeping the scoring chart up to date. They also record results on a laptop computer.
Running a pool tournament starts weeks in advance with the task of finding sponsors, advertisers and collecting entry fees.
Tournaments that start on Saturday usually continue through Sunday night unless there is a small field of players.
Jones said planning starts on Friday with drawing lots to position each player on the big chart. The planning becomes more complicated if there is a Calcutta game played.
A Calcutta is a separate tournament in which players are auctioned off to the highest bidders. All of the money goes into a separate pot to be paid out to the owners of the top winners in the tournament.
The auctioned players have the option to buy half of their auction fee before the lots are drawn, which means the bid winner must share the winnings with the player.
After the lots are drawn, the names are put on one of two charts, Flight A and B; the losers from Flight A go to Flight B and vice versa.
The charts have a place for winners, losers and the final score, which lets everyone know who will play who and who they have beaten or lost to.
Some of the best pool players in the state play in their tournaments, and occasionally, one of the national players like Buddy Hall or Danny Medina turns up, but that doesn't happen often.
Each match has a race to nine format, which means the first of two players to win nine games wins the match.
Jones carries a Billiard Congress of America rule book in his back pocket. Most of the time he has to read a rule out loud and some still don't want to believe him. Luckily, they have never had a fight.
Participants play by Texas Express Rules, which allows for one foul ball in hand, but Jones remembers once he played in a tournament that ran short of time. To make up for it, the rules were changed so that each player got ball in hand at the end of the other player's turn, which means, each player was able to move the cue ball where he pleased, which drastically quickened the game.
Jones said he and Blank officiate about 20 to 25 nine-ball tournaments a year all over the state of Texas.
"It's a lot of work putting on a tournament of this size. Some of them coming from as far as Amarillo, McAllen and Lafayette, La., and we put in 16 to 18 hour days in running the tournament," Jones said.
Pool Call
Players not required to call shots; express rules allow for faster play.Pool and billiards can be frustrating for many would-be players because the best strategy for getting better is luck.
Many claim players have to call all shots and that the object ball must go into the pocket clean, or without hitting any of the other balls or the sides of the pocket as it drops.
This is supposed to be the gentlemanly way to play the game, but after checking with some of the national organizations about official tournament rules, it seems that this is not the case.
According to the General Rules of Pocket Billiards by the Billiard Congress of America at www.bca-pool.com/, under Play Pool, Rules and Specifications:
Calling shots - For games of call-shot, a player may shoot any ball he chooses, but before he shoots must designate the called ball and called pocket. He need not indicate any detail such as kisses, caroms, combinations or cushions (all of which are legal). Any additionally pocketed ball(s) on a legal stroke is counted in the shooter's favor.
Most pool tournaments usually choose formats that are designed to speed up the play, minimize disputes and eliminate the boredom factor, which is why nine-ball is so popular.
Players with a lot of experience love express rules because it allows them to keep everyone guessing at their skill level.
With express rules, a legal shot is when the cue ball hits an object ball resulting in any of the balls striking one of the cushions. If this does not happen, it is considered a foul and the other player gets to place the ball anywhere on the table.
Players can shoot safe shots that leave the cue ball stuck behind one or more balls, forcing the other player to try to kick at the object ball.
Lewis Jones, tournament director of PKL Promotions, said that call shot is used only in straight pool, 14-1 continuous and also for the eight in eight-ball.
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