Tag Archives: SAM

Pool Exhibition at the Houses of Parliament

Posted on by

Doing something tricky for Her Majesty’s Government


Me with Michaela

I had some fun at the House of Commons last night, performing at the annual Annie’s Bar Pool Tournament.   The competition is open to MPs, the winner getting £1,500 to donate to a charity of their choice.

It’s an interesting night, with some surreal moments, when I first picked up a pool stick I never imagined that I would be playing comedy trickshots at the heart of British Government in the most historic venue a pool tournament has ever been played in!

Add to that, there were a few famous faces – Barry Hearn made an appearance,  and Michaela Tabb was there to see fair play.   The event, staged by Rileys, was won by Gregg McClymont, member of parliament for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East.

My show went down well, I did a 30 minute spot between the semi-finals and final – I chose shots with lots of audience participation, the former Minster for Sport held my basket for the ‘Rapid Fire’ trickshot.

Other MPs involved:  The event was sponsored in the Commons by Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse) and hosted by my good friend Steve Pound (Ealing North). My thanks go to Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) who let me read his mind for the purposes of entertainment.  SAM Leisure supplied the very stylish ‘Le Lambert’ table for the event.

 

EAG Expo at Excel

I spent most of last week down at Excel in London, on the GB9 stand at the EAG Expo in the Excel exhibition centre. 

It's a very busy event, as well as all the major players in the billiards industry; the exhibition hall is packed with the latest fruit machines and video games.  This goes on for three days – and the noise is incredible!

I had the privilege of playing on the SAM Mango table that is used on the GB9 tour.  As with all SAM tables, the build quality is fantastic.  The pockets on the Mango are a little tighter than the K-Steel, and that caught me out more than once – balls that I thought were in, were not!

Over the course of the show, I played all comers, with regular trickshot shows every couple of hours.  I was at the table for almost 24 hours during the three days of the exhibition. 

For more photos from the EAG Expo click here to visit the gallery.