APA 8-ball featuring Greg Cordero

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of the Guys & Dolls APA 8-ball and 9-ball pool teams. Since I joined the teams we have won every season (except 1), and qualified to go to Las Vegas for the national competition. But that is because of the team effort.

While I have plenty of videos showing how I play pool, and explaining defensive shots, I am continuing to detail the other players on each on my teams. It is the combination of all our skills that have allowed us to dominate the Central New York region.

Today I will be focusing on Greg Cordero. Long-time readers will recall Greg from the interview I did with him back in 2008, discussing the mortgage and home buying markets. Greg is a real estate broker.

{Yes I know the audio is missing. Youtube pulled the music I had set. I will fix that soon.}



I still love that triple bank shot he does in the video. Greg is a 5 ranked pool player in 8 and 9-ball.

There are plenty of other pool videos, and others, at my youtube channel. Check them out if you have the chance.

Also, please remember to check out the online store World of Vass and my latest online store Alchemy at World of Vass. You might find something you like, and I appreciate the support.

APA challenge - can a rank 4 beat a rank 7 in 9-ball?

From time to time I have discussed the American Poolplayers Association league that I play in. Located in Endicott New York, I play in the 8-ball and 9-ball leagues.

Most notably I have commented on how my 8-ball team qualified and went to the Las Vegas APA National Tournamnet this summer. And I provided a bit of video of not only me but the rest of my team.

But I have not given my 9-ball team (playing out of Guys and Dolls Pool Hall in Endicott) as much attention. Because while I am good, no one player is a team. And while I am captain, and my team is currently leading the fall session, this would not be tryue without a great team.

So I decided to show a bit of video on some of the rest of my team. this one focuses on Gary Hinkley (the man in the video). He is ranked a level 4 - though he may go up a level after this game. he is playing a level 7 player (the woman in the video). This is the last rack of their match.



You can see why Gary is one of the leading players in the league, and a great asset to my team. And yes, Gary did win the match. 18 - 2.

More on the rest of my team soon.

Planning for APA Las Vegas Nationals in 2010

I really haven't posted any of my APA pool league videos in a while. Actually since I got back from Las Vegas and the tournament there. So for those that follow how my teams and I are doing, a quick update. (I'm still ranked a 5 for the time being in both 8 and 9 ball)

So far my 8-ball pool team, Guys & Dolls, is leading the league. It's the same team of guys, minus one and added a woman, that went with me to Las Vegas. Currently we are already qualified for the competition match in 2010 to earn a spot back at Las Vegas. Our plan is to get back there and take first place this next time, now that we know what to expect.

As for 9-ball, my team is in 2nd place. I am captain of this team, so I feel good about that news. This team also has qualified for a try to get the Las Vegas trip. I admit my game is off the mark just a bit lately (I dropped from 4th in the entire league to 25th recently), but the team is a solid group and winning big.

The following runs gives you an idea of where I am right now. My shots are decent, with a couple of harder difficulty shots going well (ie the shot at the 43 second and 1:38). Just not finishing off as much as I should be. No doubt my concentration is off due to the economy and its impact.

Video of APA Las Vegas National Pool Tournament

Here is the promised video of Round 2 of the Guys and Dolls 8-ball team at the Las Vegas 2009 APA National Pool Tournament. The quality is not perfect but it is the best that we could make without disrupting the other teams.



Vegas has been fun so far. The tournament is still going forward. More videos, soon.

Live from Las Vegas 2009 APA National Pool Tournament

Hey everyone. Well I arrived in Las Vegas Monday afternoon. A bit of jetlag and tired from the 3 planes we had to take to get here(the plane and room was paid for by the APA). The entire Guys and Dolls team from Edicott NY arrived safe and sound.

We got lucky and did not have to play until 8am today (tuesday). So I went out and played some craps in Circus Circus. So far I have been down, even, and back down a little. Which isn't too bad considering how fast craps can go. Hope to get comped and rated by the time we leave.

Enjoyed a nice buffett at Circus Circus, though the rooms in the manor are pretty poor - though large. I have a room (seperate of what was paid for) in the Sky Tower, which is far nicer.

The weather is great. About 105, dry, and sunny.

As for how things are going in the APA National Pool Tournament of 2009, things are even better. I played in the first match and won my games against a 6. It was a strong showing, 4 - 2, and helped my team win our first 3 games and thus the match. Gary Hinkley and Zach Majka also won their matches in the same manner.

Our next match will be at 6pm. We plan on continuing our winning streak.

I plan to have video of one of the games in my match up once Youtube loads the video. Quality is a bit low, but you can watch the whole game.

I also got to meet Jeanette Lee. I will have a picture of her shortly. She is great. There was a mentally disabled young man that came to have her sign a picture for her. He mentioned that she was his favorite. And Lee decided to do something special. She got one of her personal gloves, (which were not available for sale or signing) and signed it for the young man. Then took a photo with him. It was really swwet and everyone there cheered afterwards. She is really sweet, was talking to her fans and being very generous to us all.

Obviously I'm having a great time. I expect to speak with a few players, and have interviews for you soon. Most of it all will be after I get back.

Look for the video later. Need to eat and then go to my next match.

Going to Las Vegas for the APA National 8-ball competition

Written by Black Entertainment USA

So some of my readers may be wondering where I was over the weekend. The source of my silence was linked to my American Poolplayer's Association pool league. As I have mentioned in the past, I play in the Central New York APA. My team in 8-ball and 9-ball represent the Guys & Dolls pool hall in Endicott NY.

Since my team has been formed, we have won the 2007, 2008, and 2009 season playoffs, which gave us the opportunity to play in the regional matches against all the season winners from the leagues in Binghamton, Ithaca, and the other surrounding areas for Central New York. The winner of this Championship Playoff gets a trip to Las Vegas to play in the National APA Pool Tournament. That takes place in August, and has some several hundred teams from across the nation competing for cash and pride.

Sadly, while my teams have always made the regional competition and gone to the final match, we had not won. Which is a tough feeling, as we have become odds on favorites to win every time we arrive. There is nothing like having to battle through multiple teams and hours of matches, to arrive at the key game and then not get to move forward.

That completely changed this year, as the Pandemic team out of Guys & Dolls for 8-ball won the Championship and will be going to Las Vegas this year, along with Dysfunctional Fighters who also qualified. I must admit that there was a good chance for the team to spend 10 days in Las Vegas and play both the 9-ball and 8-ball Nationals. But the week prior we had again played thru the pack right up to the final and missed the critical win.

Still I have no complaints. It was a long weekend, with massive competition. There were several very good teams, each with multiple great players, that we had to defeat. I commend every one of them. This was no cake walk, and any one of the teams could have gone to Vegas and represented our area with pride.

How well did our team do? Well we had one player moved up a rank before the final match. 3 out of 8 of team were at 67% in the competition, with another 3 that went 100%. So that gave the entire team an 83.5% win percentage over the competition.

So for a little heads up to our competition in Las Vegas, I give you the members of my team. [Yes we all look tired, it was a long weekend.]

Team Captian - Gregg Cordero




"Panama" Grabow




Gary Hinkley




Gauge Majka




Zachary Majka




John Miller




Robert Miller




Michael Vass


Oh, I am working on the video as we speak. It’s a lot to edit, and may wind up being several videos. But give me a little time for that.

Again I salute all the other teams we played. They gave it their all and we had a great time playing them all. I am sure that in next year’s competition we will see them all again.

Celebrating my birthday with a re-launch of clothes

Yes, as of 2:41am I broke the barrier on 41. I think I look decent for my age. Plus I wanted to talk about something different than the recent tragedy that stuck Binghamton.

So I want to celebrate my birthday with the re-launch of my online store - World of Vass - and the recent photo shoot at Guys and Dolls pool hall in Endicott, NY. For those that have not taken a look at the 19 different clothing lines and over 1500 designer products offered at the online store, now is a good time to look it all over.

What you will see are designer clothes with something for everyone. In particular if you look over my models section, or go to any of the clothing sections of this site, you will see how good the t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other items look on real people.

Here is a sample of some of the models and clothes:

Christina Blank


Dorian Whitehead


Dylan Miller


Juliana Coates


Shawn Kennedy - the male calender model of M V Consulting, Inc.


Tiffany Murphy


These are just a few of the fun, sexy, political, intelligent, flirtatious and uniques clothes that we offer. And yes I too am a model of my clothing - as well as owning several shirts for my own use.



So I ask you my readers, to take a moment and visit World of Vass and or my catalogue. Let me know what you think of the clothing lines, my models, or just wish me a happy birthday. And if something catches your eye, I won't be offended if you buy it.

Also I want to mention that the photographer was Todd Messinger of Talent House Advertising. I think he did a great job. And I want to thank Guys and Dolls poolhall in Endicott, NY for allowing me to use their location.

Model photo shoot - March 28th

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the models and photographer that came to the March 28th photo shoot on location at Guys and Dolls Pool Hall in Endicott NY.

The shoot was great. We got a lot of photos, in virtually all of the 19 different clothing lines found at World of Vass (the online store). The models looked great, and we had fun. Which is always the best of both worlds.

The models include:

• Christine Blank
  
• Juliana Coates
  
• Shawn Kennedy
  
• Dylan Miller
  
• Robert Miller
  
• Tiffany Murphy
  
• Dorian Whitehead
  

and photographer Todd Messinger of Talent House Advertising

The youtube video introducing some of the models will be out shortly.

We took a huge number of photos, which I am going through right now. I will be redesigning the catalogue page, and creating a page dedicated to the models that have worked for M V Consulting, Inc. So fans and those interesting in our models and photographers will have a way to check them out.

I am already planning my next photo shoot. I have several choices of models in mind already, but as always I love to hear back from my readers. I am also always interested to hear from models that would like to become part of our photo shoots.

And for those wondering who designed the graphic arts for the t-shirts and other designer clothes and goods, they are - Mark Lewkowicz in Florida and Heidi Baker in Pennsylvania.

Give me about a week, and I expect to have all the photos and designs up.

Does size matter in pool tables

So at my most recent pool league match I, again, wound up in an argument over the question about the size of the tables in use. In my league every pool table is the standard bar table – 3.5’ by 7’ – with the exception of my team which is in a pool hall and are 4.5’ by 9’ (both are considered legal by the league). So the question is does the size of a pool table matter, and if it does who benefits.

Now in my league many of the lesser players absolutely hate playing at my home pool tables. The pool tables at Guys & Dolls are all level, clean, maintained and have plenty of space between all 10 tables. When teams come to our home they can practice while games are ongoing, have room to sit, and have the best tables in the league to play on.

When my team is away we play on bar tables. They are mostly all unlevel to varying degrees, usually the only table in the bar, coin-operated, and several get moved during the week. Adding to this is the fact that practice for both teams is limited to before the match starts. And the size of the cue ball is bigger and heavier than regulation.

Now the away tables vary on how bad they might be. The local VFW has brand new tables and they are kept in excellent shape. The rest of the league is not as sensitive on their maintenance. In fact there are 3 tables that are known to be horrendous. One has a 4 inch lean to the left, 2 others are turtle backed – literally the center is higher than the pockets. One of those turtle backed pool tables also has a lean to the right of 2 inches.

So who has the unfair advantage?

In my opinion the local teams are at the advantage (my team always plays more away games than home as everyone complains about our tables). Both because they practice and are used to the difficulties of the various bar tables. Going from one table to the next is merely adjusting to the slightly more or less table lean, more or less table roll, and so on. And on the bigger table they have the advantage (more in 8-ball) in that they can play short and set up every shot for themselves [depending on the ability of the opponent of course].

In their argument we have an unfair advantage. They say the angles are harder to figure out, speed is difficult to determine, and the speed of the felt is very fast in comparison.

But for my team we are dealing with shorter angles, slow felts, have to hit softer shots, and the balls are more likely to cluster than on a bigger table this limiting shots.

Now it’s a given that a good player can adjust to any table. That is not the question. The question is if there is an inherent advantage between playing on one type of table as opposed to another.

I say bar pool table player have a massive advantage, they believe the reverse.

What do you think?