Magic Cue Top-Flight Trickster finds Niche

NED WINNER
Sentinel Staff

Five pool balls sit lined up to the left against the rail, extending out onto the felt just above the side pocket. After a space large enough for two balls, four more balls continue the line.

The black 8 ball leans precariously on the edge of the far-left corner pocket. Perched below the line of balls are the 1, 2 and 3 balls, tightly packed.

Matt MacPhail leans over the table and fires the cue ball. With a crack that echoes through the spacious, mid-morning emptiness of McCue’s Billiards & Sports Lounge in Keene, the cue ball smacks into the 1, 2 and 3 balls. Each scatters across the table, finding a home in a leather pocket.

The cue ball, meanwhile, curves through the opening in the line of balls, dribbles toward the 8 ball and brushes it into the corner pocket.

“Through the Window,” MacPhail calls the shot, one of 40 trick shots he has mastered as a member of the Artistic Pool and Trick Shots Association.

A native of West Swanzey and a 1998 graduate of Monadnock Regional High, MacPhail is ranked 13th in the world and 10th in the country in trick-shooting. The sport, he said, allows him to be an entertainer while satisfying his competitive streak.

“Trick shots are something extra to pool,” MacPhail said, “something that people never usually see. It makes people go ‘Wow, how did he do that?’ and that’s what I really like. That’s what I really enjoy.”

MacPhail will seek to solidify his spot among the world’s top players next weekend, when he takes part in the Master’s Artistic Pool Championship in Valley Forge, Pa. MacPhail lost in the quarterfinals last year, falling to No. 3 seed Sebastian Giumelli.

At each event, competitors are judged on their performance in eight categories, including Trick and Fancy, Prop and Novelty, and Jump. Each category consists of five shots, meaning contestants need to have 40 shots in their portfolios.

MacPhail is most drawn to the sport because of its entertainment value and unpredictability.

“Even if you miss a shot by inches, in people’s eyes, they’re still saying ‘Wow, he tried that,’” MacPhail said. “If you watch 9-ball or something on TV, you know the guy is going to run the rack. That tends to get boring. It doesn’t compare, in my mind, to trick shots.”

Unlike most people who reach a world-class level at anything, MacPhail picked up the sport later in life. He wasn’t born with a pool cue in his hand, instead spending his younger years with dreams of becoming a baseball player. MacPhail played baseball at Monadnock.

When the demands of college baseball became too much for him after his freshman season at Western New England College in Springfield, Mass., MacPhail wandered down to the campus center and found a friend at the pool table.

“I started to play every day,” he said. “Sophomore year, I would play six hours a day. My grades started to slip, but that was fine. Junior year I started playing in leagues at Snooker’s.”

As it turned out, Snooker’s, a pool hall in Springfield, changed MacPhail’s life. It was there that he met Michelle, the owner’s daughter, in 2001. They fell in love in a pool hall, married, and are awaiting their second child.

Christopher MacPhail, at 14 months, already has his own cue.

It was also at Snooker’s that MacPhail ran into a man named “Dr. Cue” (aka Tom Rossman), who proved to be his entry into the world of competitive trick-shooting. MacPhail developed a friendship with Rossman, who in 2003 told MacPhail about a local qualifying event. MacPhail entered and finished high enough to qualify for a professional event a month later. The addiction was on.

In the pool trick shot world, MacPhail is known as Matt “No Fail” MacPhail, dubbed so because of his tendency to sink a shot on his third and final attempt. Other players on the circuit possess equally jazzy handles, including “The Michigan Kid” and “Tennessee Tarzan.”

The latter, also known as Michael Massey, is the world’s top-ranked trick shooter. MacPhail’s proudest moment on the tour came in the back room of a smoky Connecticut bar, when a handful of pool jockeys organized an informal trick-shot tournament.

MacPhail took the champ down on the final shot of the tournament, bucking the odds and putting a few C-notes in his pocket.

“Even though it was kind of a makeshift tournament, it was unbelievable,” MacPhail said. “It wasn’t on the record or anything, but who can honestly say that they’ve beaten the best in their sport, period?”

When he’s not at a competition, tending to Christopher or working full-time for his father-in-law at Snooker’s, MacPhail tries to sneak in an hour or two of practice every day. He hopes that his efforts will land him a spot on ESPN’s “Trick Shot Magic,” a once-a-year event showcasing the world’s eight best competitors and offering a hefty payout.

MacPhail believes he might get selected if he performs well in Valley Forge next week: “If I win this event,” he said giddily, referring to the Masters, “I have a feeling I’d hopefully be picked for it.”

Either way, MacPhail is satisfied with the way things are going. He remembers a 4th-grade assignment in which he detailed what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“I have it documented that I wanted to be a professional in some sport, and I wanted two kids,” he said, proudly.

On the eve of possible big-time national TV exposure, and Michelle at home ready to make Christopher a big brother, those scribblings of two decades ago are ringing true.

Eight ball, corner pocket.

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