Pool Cue News and Review

Seriously, did anyone not see this coming? 15-6 and from what I understand it wasn’t even that close. I couldn’t tell you first hand since I won’t watch any of KT’s programming until he starts handing out refunds to all the suckers who bought his book on how to lose weight/cure cancer/grow hair/add 10 inches to your junk by blowing out your colon, but based on what the peanut gallery has been saying, it sounds like it was barely watchable.

Anyway, ya’ll shouldn’t be so hard on little Austin. Aside from his extremely questionable selection of sponsors (/shudder), he seems like a nice enough kid.  Obviously the kid’s got some game, but it isn’t fair to hang the “prodigy” tag on him.  The reality is that he’ll probably end up being a solid player that will be tagged as “never living up to his expectations” (calling Tiffany Nelson… is there a Tiffany Nelson in the house…).  Hopefully he’ll keep clear of the crack, meth and/or the bottle to avoid ending up like good old Keith.

I don’t know what to say. I’m just so proud of my 3 faithful readers that you took part in creating the train wreck that will be the upcoming IPT challenge match. For those who haven’t seen it yet, the honorary fourth member of Hanson, Austin Murphy, has been selected by you “the fans” to play Efren Reyes. Now some of you might think this is just a mean way to set up a kid full of hopes and dreams. A kid with visions of barely scraping out a living playing pool once he gets old enough to go on the road and hustle suckers out of their dough. It really isn’t though.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a win/win. Austin gets to play against one of the greatest players of all time in Efren Reyes. The kid gets some exposure and good experience, Efren gets $5k and the IPT ends up laying a monster egg, as no one is really going to watch this (except friends and family of course).

This is gonna get ugly. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a score along the lines of 15-3 come April 29th.  Part of me would really like to watch it, but because I hate all things Kevin Trudeau, I’ll have to read about it on the AZ Billiards forum. I’m sure there will be someone from there willing to sit through 3 hours of pool shot in what looks like Freddy Kruger’s boiler room watching on a 17″ monitor.

It seems our boy Kevin Trudeau is at it again. His latest “book” entitled “Debt Cures: What They Don’t Want You To Know About” claims to give you secret strategies to cut your credit card in debt. As with all of his “cures” if it sounds too good to be true, you know it isn’t. There’s no magic bullet for curing cancer, regrowing hair, losing weight or reducing credit card debt.

Naturally, the FTC is on his heels again for his weight loss book which tells you that the easy way to lose weight is to get a shitton of colonics and receive daily hormone injections. Also, according to reports, he also enjoys reneging on his 30 day money back guarantee, getting around it by taking forever to ship the book and then saying that the customer is past the return deadline.

It makes me wonder… why does anyone support this guy or any of his companies? Back when he was giving out massive paydays I understood. Hey, if a guy’s dumb enough to pay out a $500,000 prize in pool, he deserves to be taken advantage of. But now his events suck, the production quality blows and the prizes are not exactly spectacular. Sure, its fun to try and put a little kid into an event the same way it was fun for Howard Stern to make Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf People Magazine’s most beautiful person back in 1998. All I’m saying is that when it comes time to watch one of his events, don’t tune in.  Just watching his freebies gives him ad impressions which he can sell.  For this upcoming match, make a statement and tune out.  As for the players, make a stronger statement and when the IPT approaches you for a challenge match, just say no.

That’s it… I’m officially declaring shenanigans on the IPT.  According to the latest voting results, some guy named Vilmos Foldes is in the lead, capturing 15.76% of the vote.  I get Efren in 2nd, that makes sense.  He’s got a huge following worldwide, but Foldes?  Does he have the entire nation of Hungary voting for him?

At any rate, it appears that you all have been listening to my impassioned pleas to push votes for a Murphy v Strickland showdown.  They’re currently in 4th and 5th respectively, but that’s not enough.  Don’t you want to see if Earl can actually behave himself for an entire match?  You all know he can’t… that’s what makes Earl Earl.

So if you haven’t done so already, get out and vote!  You get 5 votes per user account, so as the IPT says, be sure to find some “friends” to vote too.

Austin Murphy
http://www.internationalpooltour.com/EventVoting/Vote-4-Murphy_Austin.aspx

Earl Strickland
http://www.internationalpooltour.com/EventVoting/Vote-4-Strickland_Earl.aspx

Anyone following the IPT Viewer’s Choice rankings for their upcoming challenge match knows that Jasmin Ouschan has been sitting up near the catbird seat for some time. As of just a few days ago, she was #2 and less than a percentage point away from #1. Now she’s gone, along with Shane Van Boring, Allison Fisher and the majority of the “name” players on the circuit. Apparently, not everyone wants to play in a challenge match for the IPT. As it stands you can get ready for some real excitement as Vilmos Foldes is leading with Gerda Hofstatter in second place. Seriously, is anyone planning on tuning in to watch this? Look, I’m all for anyone trying something new when it comes to pool, even if it is a skidmark like Kevin Trudeau, but this shit just keeps getting worse and worse. The matches have been all but unwatchable, the play has been sloppy and now the IPT is putting up two names that really no one cares to watch. It should be called the IPT Viewers Choice Assuming We Can Get Them Challenge Match.

All that said, there is a challenge match possibility that I would tune in for. I would love to see a match between 14 (or 15, I can’t remember) year old Austin Murphy and perennial shitheel Earl Strickland. This match could bring about any or all of the following: Earl browbeating a kid, Earl losing to a kid, Austin’s pop going Hockey Dad on Earl after said browbeating. Now that’s entertainment! So people, start casting your votes for Austin Murphy and Earl Strickland.