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Pool
It all started back at Carl's Knotty Pine Bar in Arnold, my hometown. There wasn't much else to do in Arnold, so it was relatively normal for families, even kids, to hang out at the bar on weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. We plunked quarters into the pool table, and that's where my addiction began. Shortly after moving to Ann Arbor to attend The University of Michigan, I discovered the Billiards Room at the student union (guess what! That's where I met Derek too!), got a job there, and continued to hone my ball-pocketing skills. A conservative estimate indicates that I would consistently beat about 95% of the U.S. population.
 (Click photo to enlarge) |
Here I am with Jeanette Lee (aka "The Black Widow"), the most recognized pool player in the world. She has visited the U of M campus twice: once in 1998 for an exhibition that we co-hosted with the Korean Students Association, and again in 2003 for the BCA Junior National Championships. In 1998 I had the pleasure of playing 4 games with her in front of the crowd. I won the first game on a lovely carom shot, and I tried to quit then, but Jeanette grabbed my arm and quipped, "I don't THINK so!" and proceeded to stomp me 3 games in a row. It was very memorable.
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1980s & early 90s
I won the U of M
Women's Championship from 1989 through 1991, earning me a spot in the Big 10
Championships and the Association of College Unions International (ACUI)
Regional Championships. I won the Big Ten event in 1989 and finished in
2nd place in 1990. I also played in ACUI regionals three times, but the highest I was able to finish was 4th.
I wish I knew then what I know now!
Mid-90s
Derek and I traveled around the Midwest for almost two straight years,
playing in tournaments 2 or 3 weekends out of every month. The McDermott
Tour was perfect for people like us who loved to play pool but had jobs.
Pro tournaments sort of preclude you from having a 9-to-5 job, since they
start on Wednesday and go through Sunday. Add in travel time (they're
not often within driving distance), and you'd hardly be home long enough to
keep a job. We also liked that the entry fees were smaller, there were
multiple events throughout the country every weekend (meaning there was
usually one within 4-6 hours of home), and the events only lasted two days.
We would leave on Fridays and return on Sundays, almost always with more cash
in our pockets than when we left. A free vacation every weekend! We often compared the McDermott Tour to the Nike Tour in golf. It really
was our heyday. I can't speak for Derek, but it was in the mid-90s,
while playing on the McDermott Tour, that I played my best. After winning two tournaments back-to-back, I finished the 1995 season in 14th
place in the U.S.
The McDermott Tour went through some ownership changes in the late 90s, and before long the tournaments all seemed to be scheduled in the south, at least 10 hours from Michigan. That was the end of an era for us.
Late 90s
Although I stopped
playing pool regularly after McDermott, I can still
hold my own in women's tournaments in Michigan. I would estimate that I am
one of the top 5 female players in the state. I finished in 2nd place twice in the Ohio State Championship WPBA qualifiers (winning would have
qualified me for those tournaments you see on ESPN).
Early 2000s
In early 2002,
I joined a league with Derek's and my good friend, Aaron, and played in the
State BCA Championship at
Soaring Eagle Casino &
Resort. I was the only woman in the Master's Division of the tournament;
our team finished in 2nd place (the winning team won 91 games; we won 90,
having lost to them by a score of 13-12), and Aaron and I won the Michigan Scotch Doubles championship
UNDEFEATED!!!
In Scotch Doubles, you alternate shots--not innings--so that if I pocket a ball, my partner has to pocket the next ball, and so on until we either win the game or miss. You can't speak to each other during your turn, so a team really has to be in synch and read each other's next move in order to win. We got off to a slow start, but after a couple matches began to function like a well-oiled machine. For both me and Aaron, it was one of our proudest tournament victories. His family stayed to cheer us on (even until 3AM!), and the head referee came to our table afterwards and said how much he enjoyed watching our teamwork.
We both believe that we won because we are not a spousal couple. Haha! There were 40 other teams; among the teams who were married to or dating each other, there was a LOT of shouting and even some storming out of the room. I suspect it would be equally stressful if Derek and I were to team up. Aaron and I both adopted the perspective of having fun, not setting any unrealistic expectations of each other, and not getting mad when we made mistakes. Aaron said it's possibly the most fun he's had in any tournament (this coming from a guy who, at that time, played in 3-4 tournaments a week!!!) Here are a couple of pictures (click to enlarge):
At the same time, I joined an APA league with Derek and some of the guys who worked on his roofing crew. I was undefeated from November through June and earned a rating of 6 (the highest is 7) on that team, but stopped playing the next summer. Derek and I joined another APA league this summer (2004), and as yet I am still undefeated. So technically I can say that I am undefeated in APA since November 2001. Never mind that I skipped two years in between, haha! As of November 8, 2004: still undefeated! I have amazed myself. I'm actually starting to think I can PLAY!
Update, November 15, 2004: I suffered my first loss in three years last night. It was agonizing....I couldn't make a ball. Routine run-outs escaped me. I started off great, running the rack after my opponent made the opening break and didn't pocket anything. I scratched on the break, and my opponent pocketed several balls but didn't get out. I ran out the rack to go up 2-0 in a race to 5. It was looking really good. One one shot in the second rack, even Derek, who is very hard to impress, exalted, "Wow" and his mouth dropped open. I got a couple of really bad rolls in the third game (the fault of a non-level table--not mine), and that cracked me. From there, everything started to fall apart. My opponent played very well for the next few games, and we were eventually tied at 3-3. Whenever I got to the table after that, it was as if I was shooting at pockets and they would close up as the ball approached them. My opponent actually started to play badly too, and he gave me several chances to get back in the set. But every time he gave me a shot, the pockets said, "Sorry Betz....not today." I was bummed, but I knew it had to happen eventually. I just wish I had lost by getting outplayed, rather than by beating myself.
2003-2004
The last Ohio State Championship that I entered was in 2003; I
finished in 3rd place, just behind my good friend (and WPBA pro) Alice Rim.
That was a very disappointing tournament for me, because in both of my losses,
I handed away substantial leads. I led Alice by a score of 6-3 (racing
to 7), and the winner, Angie, by a score of 6-4, and managed to lose both
matches. My hardest battles have always been internal. "No heart"
is a phrase the runs through my mind a lot. The other one is "why don't
I make time to practice?"
Later that year, Alice founded the J. Pechauer Michigan Women's 9-Ball Tour. This provides an opportunity to compete in at least one tournament a month, against women from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Ontario. I finished 10th on the tour in its inaugural season. (Incidentally, three of the top 10 players are players on the Women's Professional Billiards Association Tour). And also, I managed to do this without practicing more than 90 minutes TOTAL between events. The only time I played was on the day of the tournaments. I just couldn't find the time.
2004-2005 was not such a good season. I only played in 3 or 4 events, and my highest finish was 9th place. At season's end, I was barely in the top 30. Too many other things going on! One highlight, however, was the birthday cake that the girls (my tour mates) and Steve Lomako, who owns The Rack in Livonia, surprised me with on December 4, our third event of the season. It was such a sweet gesture! Steve had overheard me saying TWO MONTHS earlier that the tournament at his pool room fell on my birthday. He remembered, and got this lovely (and yummy!) cake for all of us to share that day. And to think, I almost didn't make it to the tournament that day....
Another highlight, although I didn't really have any spectacular matches all season, was a come-from-behind victory against 2005 tour leader Julie Melman. She had me down 6-1 in a race to 7, and I came back to win 7-6. I didn't play in any tournaments in 2006-2007 or 2007-2008, and I don't have plans to compete again anytime soon. Pool will always be a part of who I am, and I can still run a rack now and then if I choose to pick up a cue (sometimes not for months), but I am using all of my pool energy to promote and direct intercollegiate pool tournaments. Read more about that on my Education & Career page.
