Player: Mike Sigel
Event: Bicycle Club Invitational
Date: June, 1992
WHEN IT comes to professional athletes - and yes, pool players are athletes - they just seem to be a bit different from us regular folk. The way they approach their craft, the way they can do physically exactly what they see mentally, even the way they walk, there's a seamlessness to their actions that makes even the most difficult tasks look effortless. Think of Michael Jordan draining a fade-away jumper, or Ted Williams sending a ball screaming through the gap.
In our sport, Mike Sigel has that kind of talent.
Take the 1992 Bicycle Club Invitation in Bell Gardens, Calif., as an example. In the hot-seat match, "Captain Hook" had the break in the case game of a 12-12 set against CJ Wiley. Making a ball on the break, Sigel ran into a bit of trouble getting position on the 5, which was partially hidden by the surround 8 and 9 balls.
With the 3 ball deep in the lower right corner pocket, Sigel drew the cue ball off the left long rail in hopes of then sending the 5 into the top left corner. But he fell a bit short, ending up at the position shown in Diagram 1. He didn't have a clean look at the 5, so he was forced to improvise.
Taking a minute to get a few good looks his predicament, Sigel loaded up on left English and spun the cue ball off the rail for a nearly full hit on the 5 ball. The 5, just a smidge to the left of the 9, then threw the match-winning ball toward the bottom right corner. As the 5 ricocheted between long rails, the 9 ball barely snuck inside the left side of the corner pocket.
Wiley, the tough-luck loser in this 25th rack, then went on to lose to Kim Davenport in the third-place match. In the final, Sigel then trounced Davenport in the shortened championship set, 9-5, for the $12,000 payday.
(Video clip provided by
Accu-Stats Video Productions.)
See January's shot: Reyes' "Greatest Shot Ever"
See February's shot: Varner's "Astonishing" five-rail draw
See March's shot: Strickland’s two-rail kick-combo on the 9
See April's shot: Van Boening’s jump-kick safety at the U.S. Open
See May's shot: Souquet’s force-follow in Derby title match
See June's shot: Davenport Doubles the Points
See July's shot: Reyes’ Cross-Side Bank Break
See August's shot: Deuel’s Electric Draw at U.S. Open
See September's shot: Frank’s Killer Kick at Derby City
See October's shot: Deuel's Big Idea
See November's shot: Hogue’s Bank-a-thon
See December's shot: Cohen Gets Creative
See January's shot: Reyes Takes a Turn
See February's shot: Deuel, Part I
See March's shot: Deuel, Part II
See April's shot: Martinez Makes A Move
See May's shot: Harriman's Drawing
See June's shot: Efren's Jump-Draw
See July's shot: Rafael's Long Way Home
See August's shot: German Ingenuity
See September's shot: Cluster Buster
See October's shot: Mighty Draw
See November's shot: On a Roll
See December's shot: Medina's Magic
See January's shot:
See February's shot: Corteza Cross-Side
See August's shot: German Ingenuity
See April's shot: Rafa's Rebound
See May's shot: The Prodigy
See June's shot: Doubling Up
See July's shot: Bank the Break
See August's shot: Busti's Solution
See September's shot: Winning Kick
See October's shot: Pulling Back
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