Saturday, July 29, 2006 | 7:56 a.m.
What: North American 8-Ball Championship
When: Today and Sunday
Where: The Venetian
Tickets: Daily general admission is $5; VIP tickets are $25. Tickets can be purchased at the Venetian Convention Center .
On the Web: www.internationalpooltour.com
Click, thump. Click, thump. Click, thump.
The sound of cue striking and the balls dropping obediently into the pockets is permeating the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian as the best pool players in the world warm up for the North American 8-Ball Open Championship, which runs through Sunday.
With the brightly colored balls skittering around the table like the paint on Leroy Neiman's canvas, it is almost sensory overload. Yet through the colors and over the din, a strident voice going a mile a minute cuts through, asking about this guy or that shot and a myriad other topics related to dropping the 8-ball into the corner pocket.
Mike "The Mouth" Sigel is holding court.
Mike "The Mouth" Sigel, I am told by one of the International Pool Tour's publicity guys, is always holding court.
Voted the Greatest Living Player of the 20th century and winner of 105 pro pool and pocket billiard tournaments, Sigel eventually makes his way to where I am standing. I remember reading that a 19-year-old Sigel - he's 53 now - once ran 339 balls in a pool hall in his native Rochester, N.Y. I make a mental note to ask him about that. I also plan to ask about his many interests outside of pool, such as bass fishing.
The tape in my recorder runs out before I get the chance.
My name used to be Captain Hook. That's a name I got 35 years ago. When I play, I talk to myself, I talk to the crowd. So Kevin (Trudeau), the founder of the IPT, he goes, 'Your name's not Mike the Hook, your name's gotta be Mike the Mouth.'
Nah. Well, maybe. I probably put my foot in it a few times.
Probably the best pool movie ever made was "The Hustler." It was one of the great movies - a "Citizen Kane"-type movie.
Well, "The Baltimore Bullet." You probably didn't see it. I was in that one. It was a funny take-off. But it didn't do anything for the game like "The Color of Money."
Yeah. Actually, he came up with some of that. But he couldn't make a ball from anywhere when we started. We worked for three or four weeks prior to filming and then during filming. He picked the game up so fast it was amazing. He still loves to play.
He was very good. He knew how to play. He understands the English (spin) and all that stuff. As he practiced throughout the movie, I could see his game getting better and better. He's actually an avid player.
Uhhhh. I don't know about that. I mean, this is pretty tough out here today. You've got 200 of the best players in the world. In those days (the original "Hustler" film debuted in 1961), they had a lot of good players but not as many. Today, you can lose to almost anybody.
Paul Sorvino is a great player. I've played with Jay Haas, the golfer, several times. Very good player. The New York-New Jersey-Philly guys, Danny Aiello, those guys, they all grew up in a pool room.
I like Vegas. It's 24 hours a day, eat, drink, do whatever you want to do. There's always action going on. I've even thought about moving out here. I mean, look at this place.
No, because here's what happens: I go into a bar - I don't care how I'm dressed - somebody will always go, 'There's Mike Sigel, the world champion.' And then I'm playing a guy for a beer and he wants to get into a fistfight with me.
I was doing an exhibition tour, and they did an ad on the radio and said I was going to be appearing at Joe's Bar or wherever, and Kevin called and said he wanted lessons. I charged him $500 an hour for lessons, and we've been friends ever since.
I went into Joe's Stone Crab in the Caesars Forum and we had a couple of drinks, and they said, 'We're going to take care of that.' Then we had a nice dinner, like a $300 or $400 dinner, and they go, 'Mr. Sigel, it's all taken care of.' People see the (TV) shows, and now it's like all of a sudden, 'That guy's a pool player.'
The money's nice, but I'd like to get to a place where I can stand next to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. Because it's the same thing. Every shot in pool is like putting in golf.
Here's another thing about pool: You never know when it's your last shot. You could be leading 7-nothing, break, nothing goes in, and guess what? You lose the match. At least in golf, I'm playing 18 holes.
I bought this at Cuzzens in the Forum Shops the last time I was here. I spent $10,000. I bought the Brioni suit, the $300 shirt I like to walk around the casino with $10,000 in my pocket.
Gambling doesn't interest me anymore. I might play $200 a pull (on high-limit slots), but to me it's jerkin' around. I'm over it. But my wife, we don't even check into the hotel and she's hitting jackpots.
Usually in pool, there's a light over the table where you put the money up. This actually happened here in Vegas. A big, tough guy was the backer. It was like I was winning the match - not really me - but this guy was winning the match, and it looked like it was almost over, and then this other guy's backer, the guy who was losing, just walks up and grabs the money, right? And then he just sits over there in the corner and there's nobody that can do anything about it because he's one of those killer guys.
Yeah. But those guys usually wind up in a trunk somewhere down the road.
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