Schriever pool champ sheds light on the sport

What kind of man spends a weekend in Las Vegas and never leaves his hotel?

A winner.

Schriever native Jason LaFleur defeated 800 other amateur billiard players to win the Valley National Eight Ball Association International Championships in May. It was the second national tournament for the 36-year-old Robichaux Ford sales consultant.

Amazingly, he hardly ever practices since he and his wife of five years, Kay, had their son Jackson, who turns four July 28. Kay is pregnant with the couple’s second son, to be named Carson, who is due next month.

SportsNet caught up with the 1991 H.L. Bourgeois graduate at Frames Sports Bar in Houma to discuss the art of pool, the best pool movie and whether pool is actually a sport.

SportsNet: When and how did you learn to shoot pool?

Jason LaFleur: My dad (Tillman Jr.) introduced me to the game when I was little. Probably around age eight or nine, my grandfather (Tillman Sr.) had a pool table and the family would play every other weekend because my dad and my grandfather worked offshore 7-and-7. We would go there and play as a family.

SN: Do you only shoot eight ball?

JL: I shoot nine-ball as well.

SN: Did pool stick with you after that?

JL: Actually, as a teenager I didn’t play pool. You know, girls, clubs and other stuff filled my time. I started playing again at about 19. I entered a local tournament and got the fever to play again.

SN: When did you start entering amateur tournaments?

JL: I started learning to play the world standard rules like the Ball in Hand rule, when I was 20 years old. I began entering tournaments around 21.

SN: How many tournaments do you enter in a year?

JL: State tournament is once a year. National tournament is once a year. Local tournaments in the area, if it’s a big one, I’ll go. It all depends.

SN: How many national tournaments have you won?

JL: Just two. I won an APA (American Pool Association) national tournament in Colorado in 1997, but it wasn’t as big as the Vegas tournament.

SN: Tell me about the Valley National Eight Ball Association International Championships?

JL: The Valley National tournament is more of a world-sanctioned eight ball league. There were eight countries and 49 states represented. It’s a big tournament held once a year at the Riviera [Hotel & Casino] in Las Vegas.

SN: How many matches did you have to win to take the championship?

JL: Each match was the first person to win five games, and I ended up winning 13 matches to win it.

SN: Before you won in May, what was your best finish at the Valley National?

JL: Thirty-third. I had won state eight ball and nine-ball tournaments before, but in nationals, it was 33rd.

SN: What state tournaments did you win?

JL: I won state teams events and scotch doubles, which is a guy and a girl (both are eight-ball events). I’ve won state singles nine-ball tournaments. There is an eight ball tournament in March and a nine-ball tournament held in September or October.

SN: Any plans to do this professionally?

JL: No. When I was younger, I thought about it but I always worked, so I never really tried.

SN: Besides winning the tournament, did you do anything else in Vegas?

JL: I watched a few matches and gambled a little bit. To be honest with you, I never left the Riviera. I’ve been going to the Riviera once a year since ’93, so I pretty much know what there is to see. I stayed low-key and concentrated on doing as well as I could.

SN: How many Elvises did you spot while you were in Vegas?

JL: I think I saw two or three different ones.

SN: What is your favorite trick shot?

JL: It’s not even a trick shot; it’s a draw stroke shot. You draw three rails to make the other ball go in. It’s pretty challenging to do. I can’t do it. I’ve seen a professional do it. Whenever the cue ball hits the object ball, the cue ball draws back just like a yo-yo. The shot that [the professional] does, both balls are on the back rail, and he draws off the back rail and goes all the way around the table. [It hits] three rails and comes back and makes the ball go in. It’s pretty impressive.

SN: Ever play pool with your co-workers?

JL: Once or twice I did.

SN: Do any of them bet money they can beat you?

JL: (Laughs) No. They all pretty much know I play pretty good. We just have fun with it, just mess around with it.

SN: Ever hustle anybody in a pool game?

JL: Hustled, no. I have gambled several times, but never really hustled anybody.

SN: Who do think is the greatest pool player ever?

JL: In my era, it would be Efren Reyes. He’s Filipino. In nine-ball, Johnny Walker was the player of the decade.

SN: Do you think you could beat either?

JL: (Laughs) Not in the long race. In a short race, maybe one out of 10.

SN: What’s the difference between long and short race?

JL: If it’s the first person to win five games or 11 games. Obviously, the better player has the better chance of winning the longer the match goes.

SN: Who is your all-time favorite athlete?

JL: Michael Jordan. If we were having a girl, I probably would have named her Jordan.

SN: Better pool movie: “The Hustler” or “The Color of Money”?

JL: I really like “The Hustler” and “The Color of Money” was good too. I’m going to go with “The Hustler.”

SN: Is billiards a sport or a skill?

JL: It can’t be both? It’s definitely a sport and it’s definitely a skill. Without a doubt, there is eye-hand coordination.

SN: Are pool players considered athletes?

JL: That’s a big debate. It does take physical talent and ability. I would think so. There are other sports out there like bowling; they’re considered athletes. If you think about it, there is so much endurance walking around a table for so many matches and then there’s the mental stress.

You do have to be kind of fit to play in a huge tournament.

Jason LaFleur, pictured at Frames Sports Bar in east Houma, usually doesn’t shoot pool until a month prior to entering a tournament. * Photo by KEYON JEFF