A local pool player recently competed in the U.S. Open Pool Championship in Atlantic City. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[pool balls clacking, people talking, music playing]
It's nine-ball tournament night at Gold Crown Billiards in Harrisonburg. The bright blue tables glow under hanging lights. Reggie Jackson, from Staunton, faces his first opponent – Jimmy Childs, who drove up from Botetourt County to play. Neither of them are used to having a reporter watch the game.
REGGIE JACKSON: Started off, I had ball in hand, I'm running out the rack. I got some awkward positions on the six – no, five ball in the corner pocket. … Long story short, I didn't run the rack.
That's shooting all the balls, one through nine, without letting your opponent touch the table. Jackson does it on game three of the night.
Jackson fell in love with pool when he was 17, after moving to Staunton from New Jersey. He graduated high school in 1993 and went to Rutgers University, where he continued honing his skills.
JACKSON: I had a pool hall in Linden, New Jersey I used to go to and play every day. Every day. … Honestly, I feel like pool actually saved my life, to a point. And I'm going to explain why. Because, you know, when I was younger, I was around a whole lot of people that drank. … When I played pool, it was about pool. It was not about drinking. So it kept me from wanting to drink and do all the other stuff people were doing.
Jackson moved back to Staunton, and kept watching pool and challenging his friends and mentors. His game, nine-ball, is a version of pool where players have to sink balls one through nine in numerical order. If you miss a shot, the other person goes. Fouls, such as not hitting the correct ball at all, let your opponent place the cue ball wherever they want. Jackson gives a run-down of the rules on his Youtube channel, @k9thepoolplayer.
I asked what his signature playing style is.
JACKSON: I'm not gonna lie to you, man, I have this little punchy stroke. This little punchy stroke that I've had forever because I've never been trained. No one ever really trained me to play pool. I learned on my own, I love the game.
For years, he just played cash games in the area. Eventually he started traveling across the state or to Maryland for a tournament. He and his wife, Crystal, work at the Target distribution center in Stuarts Draft, so they had to squeeze the trips into their schedule. Then, earlier this year, Jackson signed up for a tournament in Herndon that could qualify him for the U.S. Open. The players' rankings are like batting averages – so many hundred out of a thousand.
JACKSON: I battled. And when I say I battled … the guy I beat to get to the Open was like a 689. And I'm a 657, so technically, on paper, he's supposed to beat me. Yeah, so it was a war!
On August 20th in Atlantic City, Jackson made his championship debut, playing against Canadian Alex Pagulayan – who's been competing in the U.S. Open since 2002 and won it in '05. Whoever won nine rounds first would advance.
JACKSON: I was playing Alex Pagulayan with one practice rack, so I am uncomfortable, you know, I'm nervous! … But once I loosened up, you know, and got going … I mean, I opened up and started playing a little pool!
Pagulayan started out three games to zero. Jackson took the fourth, sinking balls three through nine in one run, and then the fifth game. They battled back and forth. Jackson ran out the rack, making it 5-7. But in the end, Pagulayan won, 9-6.
JACKSON: When I got done, when the match was over with – because I almost beat him, you know – I had people coming up to me. Literally, I had one come up and get me to sign his shirt. … He had never seen a Black guy come to the U.S. Open and do what I did at the U.S. Open. … They were excited! I had a guy come up, and I don't know his name, but it was a cop from New York. And told me, he said, "Listen man, I just wanted to let you know you really inspired us." He said, "thank you so much, because we know you're a working man like the rest of us, you know."
That stuck with Jackson's friend, too. Kris Mele is the owner of Gold Crown Billiards. The two have played pool together for more than 20 years.
KRIS MELE: For somebody like us, local guy, 50 years old, that works, has kids and stuff like that, to be able to qualify and compete against people that do it every day for a living? That's a pretty big accomplishment. … He's playing really good right now, much better than he ever has in his life, I would say.
JACKSON: My thing is, just try to play my best. Don't beat myself up. I try not to beat myself up because, you know, you're going to miss shots. You're going to make mistakes. Just don't beat yourself up.
Jackson has a whole family crew cheering him on to go back to the U.S. Open next year. He said God has helped him throughout his life, and raising his son Kaleb – a.k.a. Kpup – has been the best part of it.
