My Story

I was born and raised in the lovely Detroit Motor City where our love for pool is overshadowed only by our love for cars. I was raised around both, and while my inner mechanic never bloomed I was lucky enough to catch a double dose of the pool bug. Both of my parents were amazing shots. My dad was an SL7 in the APA and my mom was an SL6. I learned a lot from both of them over the years as well as getting some pretty badass hand-me-downs in the form of cues and cases.

By the age of 14, I was doing the Rounders style grind, but in pool halls instead of card rooms. I made quite a good living for a 14-20 year old who didn't have rent to pay, probably because I was good at negotiating weight.  It was ring games, big money sets, or even just fishing through the whole room looking for a sucker.  I even worked at one of the local pool halls for a year or so before I ended up getting a "real job" out in California's Bay Area writing computer software where I put my cue to rest indefinitely.

Roughly 10 years later, I found myself living alone in the city. I walked into my new local bar for the first time on New Years Eve 2008/9. It was a dimly lit dive bar with a decent pool table in the back and cigarette burns scattered over the shabby carpet. I chalked my name onto the massive waiting list and was finally called up to play a couple hours later, around 10pm. I shot for four hours without losing a game, but hey it was NYE and everyone was pretty bombed.

Just a hair before closing time (2am around these parts) a gentleman staggered up to the table with a Jamison in hand and declared a "Master of the Universe" game. I had no idea what this meant at the time, but I also had no worries considering that I had been winning for hours and this guy could barely walk straight. I lost. It was too late though, I was already sucked back in and well on my way to rekindling my love for the sport of pool.

I am now trying to use my professional experience as a Software Engineer to make a positive difference in the pool community.  I write and maintain a website called NomadPool.com where you can run tournaments and challenge your friends.  I also wrote DrawShot for iOS which is an app that lets you draw and share pool shots.