Presented by PoolDawg.com
Video provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions

Player: Jayme Goodwin
Event: 1996 U.S. Open One-Pocket Championship
Location: Kalamazoo, Mich.

IF YOU'VE had enough of unbelievable shots from world-title-winning, big-name-bringing players like Efren Reyes, Mike Sigel and Earl Strickland, we've got a shot for you. This month, after a steady diet of entries from pool's Goliaths, we're taking a look at a David.

At the 1996 U.S. Open One-Pocket Championship, Jayme Goodwin radically shortened the learning curve for pool's most cerebral discipline. At the time one of Michigan's best, Goodwin had only started playing one-pocket a few months before the event. But his lack of experience was nothing of a hindrance, as he cruised into a championship match against Jose Parica.

In the race to 4, Goodwin opened up a 2-1 lead when Parica opened up the next rack. After trading a few shots jockeying for control of the table, Goodwin, shooting at the bottom left pocket, faced the situation shown in Diagram 1. Commentator Freddy Bentivegna liked the idea of using the 1 ball, aligned like a break in straight pool, to open the stack. But Goodwin had other plans.

Hitting high on the cue ball, he pulled off the tricky 11-6 combo in Diagram 2 that left Parica in rather rough shape. The cue ball followed forward off the long rail and cozied up to the 9 ball, just a hair from frozen. The 6 ball went three rails and sat alongside the left long rail. Maybe not the shot Freddy the Beard would've played, it nonetheless got rave reviews from Bentivegna, who said it was "a home run."

The shot went a long way toward putting Goodwin in position to take the rack, but Parica eventually came back to win it. All was not lost, though; the underdog came through in the end and won the championship in the case game, 4-3.

(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)

See Past Shots:

2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

(Check out Accu-Stats’ full library of great shots and amazing matches at www.accu-stats.com)