Player: Danny Smith
Event: Make It Happen — One-Pocket Division
Location: Edison, New Jersey
Date: June 5, 2016



ACCU-STATS string of Make It Happen events may not carry the prestige of a U.S. Open, but it’s pool for the diehard pool fan. For the past decade or so, Pat Fleming has brought a half-dozen of a particular discipline’s best players to match up in a round-robin event. For anyone who dismisses short races or single-elimination tournaments, this format lets you see the best players spend plenty of time at the table.

At the 2016 iteration, this one dedicated to one-pocket, Tony Chohan and Danny Smith met on the event’s final day. Both sporting records of one win versus three losses lets you know the quality of competition.

Smith took the first two games in the race-to-4, before Chohan scratched on the break, leaving Smith in the position shown in the diagram. Without a direct shot on his pocket, in the lower right corner, Smith took a look at the two-way shot that would clear a ball from Chohan’s pocket with a slight chance he could pocket it for the first of the game.

With ball in hand behind the string, Smith lined the cue ball up with the 3, leaving only a slight angle. He then punched the object ball off the long rail, missing the bottom left corner pocket by a diamond, on its way of going four rails toward his pocket.

The cue ball stumbled forward up against the long rail, while the 3 ball traveled the length of the table twice before gently dropping in Smith’s pocket.

Smith took this rack for a 3-0 lead, only to see Chohan force a case game by winning three straight. Smith, however, took the match in that decider, 4-3.


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

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