Legends of the Cue

Part three gets inside John Schmidt’s head, and it may be the most revealing episode of the series. John talks candidly about self-doubt, aging, criticism, pride, and the internal switch he flips when it is time to chase a giant number. He explains that for him, straight pool is no longer about trying harder or focusing harder. It is about seeing the game so clearly that entire racks begin to unfo...

What does it really take to run 820 balls? In part two, John Schmidt and Bob Keller pull back the curtain on the conditions, equipment, routines, and tiny details that made this historic straight pool run possible. This is the laboratory episode. John walks us through the Gold Crown table, legal five-inch pockets, Simonis cloth, Predator Arcos balls, modern chalk, donut rings, polished balls, fati...

On this special five-part series of Legends of the Cue , we welcome straight pool great John Schmidt back to the show after his stunning 820-ball run, with Bob Keller joining us as the man behind the camera, the rack, and the support system that helped make it happen. In this opening episode, John explains why this run almost never happened at all. After the emotional weight of his 626, the backla...

In the final installment of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story turns deeply personal, powerfully honest, and wonderfully reflective. This is the chapter where victories, setbacks, self-doubt, and resilience all come into sharper focus as Shaun looks back on what it meant to validate that unforgettable first world title — and what it has cost, and taught, him to k...

In Part 4 of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story reaches one of its most dramatic and defining chapters: the 2005 World Championship. Shaun takes us inside the moment his career—and his life—changed forever, from the brink of walking away from the game to lifting the sport’s biggest trophy just weeks later. It is an extraordinary account of doubt, resilience, timi...

In Part 3 of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story moves into the years when talent had to become a profession and ambition had to survive reality. Shaun reflects on the early certainty that snooker was never simply a dream, but the only plan. There was no fallback, no second option, and no diluted ambition. From the time he made his first century as a boy, he belie...

In Part 2 of our five-part conversation with snooker great Shaun Murphy, the story moves from raw ability to the disciplined framework that helped shape one of the game’s true champions. This episode offers a revealing look at the system behind Shaun’s early development, as he reflects on the rigorous, highly structured approach created by his father — a man with no background in cue sports, but a...

In this first installment of our five-part conversation with Shaun Murphy, the snooker great takes us back to the beginning and opens up about the difficult early years that shaped both the man and the champion. Long before becoming a World Champion and one of snooker’s elite Triple Crown winners, Shaun was a young boy whose family life changed dramatically after financial collapse turned comfort...

In the final chapter of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the story comes full circle. Mary reflects on the closing years of her competitive career, the health battle that changed everything, and the determination that carried her back to the table playing better, in some ways, than ever before. With candor, wit, and hard-earned perspective, Mary shares how she re...

In Episode 6 of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston , the story moves from championship pool to one of the most beloved rooms in the game’s history—and then to a life-altering challenge that few champions ever face. Mary reflects on the late 1980s, when she stepped away from the tour at the height of her powers to open Cue-Topia in Las Vegas. What began simply as a p...

In Part 5 of the Legends of the Cue conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the road stories, rivalries, and tournament triumphs keep coming. Mary takes listeners back to the mid-1980s pool scene in Los Angeles, where action, personalities, and opportunity collided in smoky poolrooms and late-night gambling sessions. From becoming the house pro at a bustling barroom to matching up wit...

In Part 4 of our seven-part conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the road keeps rolling and the stories keep getting better. Mary takes us deep into the action-heavy pool world of the early 1980s, from Houston to Fayetteville, Rocky Mount, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. With her trademark honesty and sharp wit, she recalls the thrill of finding games, protecting her cover, and lear...

In Part 3 of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston, the stories get even richer as she takes us deeper into pool’s road era—when instinct, nerve, and a well-kept spot book could mean the difference between surviving and going broke. Mary shares her unforgettable friendship with the late Grady Mathews, from first meeting him in New Jersey to their daily phone calls during his fina...

In Part 2 of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston , the road opens up and the stories get even better. Mary takes us back to the years just after college, when shorthand, typing, bookkeeping, and supermarket checkout speed hardly seemed like preparation for life in pool — yet all of it formed the determined, sharp-witted competitor she would become. From the earliest days of the...

In this first installment of our conversation with WPBA Hall of Famer Mary Kenniston , we begin at the beginning—Long Island roots, a fiercely competitive childhood, and the natural athletic gifts that made her a standout long before she ever picked up a cue. Mary takes us back to growing up in Suffolk County, where sports came as naturally as breathing. A tall, fearless tomboy with a sharp mind a...

In the final installment of this four-part conversation on Legends of the Cue , Austrian Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson reflects on the closing chapters of her competitive career and the deeply personal choices that shaped the life that followed. Joined by Allison Fisher, Mark Wilson, and Mike Gonzalez , Gerda looks back on more European and Austrian titles, her 2009 straight pool succes...

In Part 3 of our four-part conversation with Austrian Pool Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson , the stories are as rich as the accomplishments. Gerda joins Allison Fisher, Mark Wilson, and Mike Gonzalez for a candid and often hilarious look back at one of the most memorable stretches of her career—when world-class pool, relentless practice, international travel, and lifelong friendships all...

In Part 2 of our four-part conversation with Austrian Pool Hall of Famer Gerda Hofstatter-Gregerson , Gerda’s story takes a bold turn—across an ocean, into the spotlight, and straight onto the American tour. Gerda recounts how a perfectly-timed connection through Jan and the legendary Ewa Mataya Laurance opened the door to her first U.S. events in early 1993. The original plan was simple: come ove...

In Part 1 of our four-part conversation, we welcome the unstoppable “G-Force” —Austrian legend Gerda Hofstätter-Gregerson —for a deep dive into the roots of a world-class competitor. Before she became a trailblazer in women’s professional pool and a WPBA & BCA Hall of Famer , Gerda was a fierce, fast-rising athlete from a small Austrian town, growing up in a bustling household with three siste...

In this moving final chapter of our six-part Legends of the Cue conversation, Mitch Laurance brings his remarkable journey full circle—through gratitude, reflection, and the relationships that have shaped a life squeezed for every ounce of meaning. Before we leave the world of pool, Mitch turns his attention to the people beside him—Allison Fisher and Mark Wilson—offering heartfelt thanks for what...

In Episode 5 of our six-part life-story series with Mitch Laurance, we pick up where his improbable second act really takes flight—behind the microphone, on the biggest stage pool had at the time: ESPN. Mitch takes us back to that first broadcast, when pool commentary was still being figured out in real time… and he was, too. With the opening and closing done live and much of the commentary record...

In Episode 4 of our six-part conversation with actor, producer, and longtime billiards broadcaster Mitch Laurance, the story turns on a single moment in Winston-Salem that changed everything. Mitch takes us back to 1990—sent to “go play pool” at a charity night during a golf event—only to find two tables… and two legends. On one side: Nick Varner. On the other: a Swedish star with “green laser eye...

In Part 3 of our multi-part life-story conversation with American film and television actor—and longtime sports broadcaster— Mitch Laurance , we detour through the worlds that shaped him long before pool took center stage. Mitch takes us back to Los Angeles in the 1980s, when a persistent friend talked him into an early-morning tee time at Balboa. What happened next surprised him: not instant love...

In Part 2 of our conversation with actor and sports broadcaster Mitch Laurance , Mitch takes us deeper into the improbable zigzags that turned a behind-the-scenes job at Saturday Night Live into a front-row seat to entertainment history—and ultimately, into a life on camera. Mitch starts where most origin stories don’t: as a production “gopher” in the early days of SNL , absorbing the chaos, the p...

In this opening chapter of our multi-part conversation, Mitch Laurance takes us all the way back—before the bright lights of television, before the broadcast booth, before the roles that made his career a near-constant highlight reel—back to a simpler time on the south shore of Long Island. Born in Queens and raised in Hewlett, Mitch shares what it really felt like growing up as an identical twin:...