|
John Schmidt (pool player)
John Schmidt (born April 12, 1973) is an American pool player, born in Keokuk, Iowa.[2] Nicknamed "Mr. 600", specialising in straight pool, Schmidt held the record for the highest run made (626), until Jayson Shaw broke that record with a high run of 669 in January 2022. Schmidt won the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships in 2006 defeating Rodolfo Luat in the final. He was also part of the American team at two Mosconi Cups in 2006 and 2014.[3] CareerJohn Schmidt was born April 12, 1973, in Keokuk, Iowa.[2] At a young age, he played as a golfer, winning tournaments at high school and college.[4] He began playing pool at age 19,[5] but didn't play his first professional tournament until he was aged 27 in 1999.[4] Schmidt won the 2006 US Open 9-Ball Championship Championship, with a 11–6 victory in the final over Rodolfo Luat.[1][6] Schmidt would later go on to win the Dragon 14.1 Tournament in 2012, winning 200–169 against Efren Reyes in the final.[7] On May 27, 2019, at Easy Street Billiards in Monterey, California, Schmidt defeated the longstanding 14.1 pool record run set by Willie Mosconi in 1954 of 526 with a video-recorded run of 626.[8] Critics have argued that Mosconi's record was made in competition while Schmidt simply set up break shots for himself, and that his video was never released.[9][10] Schmidt had made a personal best run of 403 balls in 2007, but in 2018, he began a concerted, dedicated effort to defeat Mosconi's record, shooting six to eight hours a day, filming the sessions for verification. Beginning May 8, 2019, the record was his fourth attempt.[8] Mike Panozzo, publisher of Billiards Digest, praised Schmidt's "focus and the perseverance to run 380, and then you miss and start over again."[11] Mosconi's record 526 happened under circumstances somewhat different from those that Schmidt faced. Mosconi, then 40, was competing in an exhibition match with a man named Earl Bruney in Springfield, Ohio.[12] Having defeating Bruney, he just kept shooting until he reached 526. Schmidt was purely going for the record, with no opponent, starting anew each time he fell short.[11] In similar fashion as Schmidt, the record would be later broken in 2022 by Jayson Shaw of Scotland, who ran 669.[13] Filmed at the Derby City Classic, Schmidt ran 112 in straight pool on video by Accu-Stats, sharing many insights on the DVD version.[14][15] Filmed at TAR Studio on July 13–15, 2012, Schmidt competed in an all-around challenge match against Corey Deuel in the disciplines of eight-ball, one-pocket, and ten-ball.[16] Titles and achievements
References
External links
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
