Eric Yow, 25, has tales to tell his future grandchildren that will demand pictorial proof to be believed. Having freshly passed the Bar exam, Yow is now an attorney at Kennedy Law Firm. He also does motorcycle tricks, is a Christian minister with three years of full-time pulpit experience, and holds a world champion title in a unique billiards discipline, masse.

Just days ago, Yow returned from St. Petersburg, Russia, where he competed in the 2007 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship against the best pool players worldwide. His challengers came from the Ukraine, Argentina, Romania, Mexico, Italy, Poland, and several other countries.

..> ..> ..>..>"There were 21 people representing 10 countries from around the world," Yow says. "They were clearly the best."

They converged on The Lider Club in St. Petersburg, where they were tested with a series of 40 pool shots — some of them impossible looking — to determine who is the world's best. Yow describes The Lider Club as "an absolutely amazing facility."

"They have probably 100 (pool) tables. They have a bowling alley with probably 30 lanes," Yow says. "They have a dance hall, a full out arcade, a target range for air soft pellet guns. At the back of the pool hall, you walk through these glass doors, and you're on the third floor of a huge three-story mall."

Yow had a disadvantage from the time he arrived, because his bags were lost in Amsterdam, and he was in sub-freezing weather with no warm clothes, and worse, much worse, without his own pool cues. Yow even lost a contact lens on the plane.

"I had to wear dirty clothes, and I had no pool cues with which to practice," Yow says. "It was miserable."

Of course, Yow was surrounded by the top artistic pool players in the world, all of whom have top of the line cues, but Yow says borrowing one from another player just doesn't cut it.

"Each cue is made differently. I have my different cues I perform best with," Yow says. "Using someone else's cue is like driving someone else's car."

Fortunately, Yow's bags caught up with him three days later, the night before the Dec. 6-9 competition began, and he was able to practice a little bit with his own cues. Despite the last-minute reprieve from ill circumstances, Yow didn't win the WPA World Artistic Pool Championship. Ultimately, he placed sixth overall. The winner of the competition was an artistic pool player Yow has long admired, Andy Segal. Yow defeated Segal in 2006 to become a Masse World Champion, which is a title that stays with Yow for a lifetime.

Still, Yow is a fierce competitor, and is poised to pounce on his next opportunity to defeat Segal. Yow will take on Segal and other artistic pool greats in the Artistic Cup in Louisville, Ky. Jan. 4-7.

Masse, Yow's forte, is an artistic pool discipline that requires the player to thrust the cue downward, perpendicular to the pool table. The result produced is often opposite what one would expect, with the spinning ball moving left when it appears it should go right, or vice versa. Segal and Yow are among the best masse shooters in the world, and Yow is pumped about matching up with Segal again.

"He will be there," Yow says, "and he will go down."

When he's not competing on the world's artistic pool stage, Yow uses his talents to entertain people, while bringing them the message of God's love and forgiveness.

On Jan. 20, he will perform his signature show, Eric Yow's Trick Shot Madness, at New Providence Church of Christ. The public is invited to the church for dinner at 5 p.m., followed by Yow preaching the evening service at 6 p.m., with Trick Shot Madness as the evening's finale.

Yow is also the house pro at the Night Deposit, where pool players of a different ilk can learn a trick or two. Although he's happy to be home, back to shooting at the Night Deposit, teaching Bible classes at Hilldale Church of Christ and representing clients for Kennedy Law Firm, Yow says his experience in Russia was a difficult one to leave.

"It was awesome," Yow says. "I did not want to come back."

Stacy Smith Segovia is a features writer for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be reached at 245-0720 or by e-mail at stacysegovia@theleafchronicle.com.

___________________________

PROFESSOR Q BALL'S NATIONAL POOL AND 3 CUSHION NEWS

It has been said that in life we are either kings or pawns.  In Russia, we were kings.  At the Leader Club in St. Petersburg, Russia, the world's best Artistic Pool players came to compete in the 2007 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship.  For us, they did all but roll out the red carpet.  Words cannot begin to describe this event, what was spoken of by many of the players as "the best tournament that Artistic Pool will ever see!"  Suffice it to say that the venue was such to which no pool hall in the United States could compare.  With over a hundred tables, an exquisite menu, bowling lanes, a dance club, an arcade, and even an air-soft shooting range – The Leader Club was the perfect place for an event like this.  More than just the venue, though, the hospitality shown to each of the players was incredible.  From the free meals to the bodyguards, they treated us like the international celebrities that we are!  All of this created the perfect setting for what turned out to be the most incredible, edge-of-your-seat World Artistic Pool Championship imaginable.

In the preliminaries of an Artistic Pool competition, all of the players shoot 40 shots in 8 disciplines, each with specified degrees of difficulties, having three attempts for each.  A preliminary score is calculated to determine each's position going into the finals.  The top 12 make it to the finals, the top four getting a bye, going into the head-to-head matches.  At this event, quite the phenomenon occurred, as positions 5-12 after the finals were filled by the same names in the same order as 5-12 after the prelims!  In the finals, Mike Massey, Andy Segal, Sebastian Giumelli, and Luke Szywala all got a bye.  In the first round, Bruce Barthelette defeated Mark Dimick, Dave Nangle beat Charlie Darling, Tom Rossman overcame Alexander Kasyanov, and Eric Yow barely beat the rookie Gabi Visoiu.  Going into the quarterfinals, the top eight duked it out.  These familiar names and faces are those that continually show up at the top of such lists, so it was no surprise that they were battling each other yet again.  There, Massey beat Barthelette by one shot, Giumelli skated past Nangle, Segal overcame Rossman by 14 points, and Szywala came from behind to defeat Yow.  And so, in the Semis, taped for European television, Giumelli dominated, leaving the infamous Mike Massey trailing by 24 points at the match's end.  In a fantastic match between Segal and Szywala, Segal showed that he was simply on fire.  While Szywala, who still holds the record for the most points scored in a prelim, was also on top of his game, Segal showed Russia why they call him the "Magic Man," making nearly every shot he attempted, for the win.

The Finals Match in a World Championship is always a heated battle for the most prestigious title in Artistic Pool.  This year was unique, however.  There, for the first time in ages, for whoever won this match, it would be their first World Championship victory!  For that reason, while spectators may have had their favorite picked out, it was certain to be exciting no matter who turned out the victor.  Coming down to the wire at the very last, after such an intense battle, Giumelli was up by one point going into the last shot.  Giumelli was to shoot the YoYo Masse first, driving the cue ball from the headstring near the long rail, past the 50 yard line, then to reverse in order to pocket a ball hanging at the side pocket.  A very difficult shot, this is worth eleven points.  Mathematically, if Giumelli makes it on his first try, he wins.  If he makes it on his second attempt, worth 10 points, Segal still has a chance.  Amazingly, he makes it on his second try!  You could cut the suspense with a knife!  Segal has to make this incredibly difficult shot on his first attempt to tie with Giumelli and drive him to a tiebreaker.  With the whole crowd silent, on the edge of their seats, Segal hits it good, watches the cue ball dance forward past the object ball, over to the side to strike the long rail twice, then back to make the ball in the side pocket!  The room exploded with cheer, Segal holding his cue up high!  But it wasn't over yet.  To break a tie in a finals match, the players lag to see who shoots first a shot from the preliminaries called the 5/4/3.  There, each player shoots a 5 rail kick, a 4 rail kick, and a 3 rail kick, in that order, in under 4 seconds, hoping to pocket a ball in each of three corners.  Each is worth 5, 4, and 3 points respectively, for a total possible of 12 if you make all three.  In last year's World Championship, Giumelli broke a tie with Nick Nickolaidis in the same manner, making all 12 points.  This year, however, the pressure got to him and he missed all three.  Segal had it made, only having to pocket one of the three.  Almost luckily, it would seem, he pocketed just one, the five-railer, for the win!  Again the room went into an uproar of cheer for the new 2007 World Artistic Pool Champion, Andy "The Magic Man" Segal.

    Eric "The Preacher" Yow! Esquire                                     Winner Andy Segal
        WPA Masse World Champion                          2007 WPA World Artistic Pool Champion
What an amazing week it was for the kings of Artistic Pool!  Seeing the sights of St. Petersburg, Russia, while touring the city; being catered to in the utmost at the Leader Club; and taking part in the best World Championship that pool has ever seen – it was certainly an event to be remembered.  As for Andy Segal, it seems that his career is continuing to take off.  With a win at the 2007 Masters back in March and now becoming the 2007 WPA World Artistic Pool Champion – is there anything this man cannot accomplish?  In life we are either kings or pawns.  In Russia, Andy Segal became KING!

1.    Andy Segal
2.    Sebastian Giumelli
3.    Mike Massey
4.    Lukasz Szywala
5.    Dave Nangle
6.    Eric Yow!
7.    Tom Rossman
8.    Bruce Barthelette
9.    Mark Dimick
10.    Alexander Kasyanov
11.    Gabi Visoiu
12.    Charles Darling
13.    Sergey Vashkovski
14.    Steve Geller
15.    Stefano Pelinga
16.    Michael Mossin
17.    Jim Sommer
18.    Javier Gomez
19.    Marcell Kaiser
20.    Nate Bryant
21.    Arkadiy Loshakov