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| One week prior to the announcement from R.J. Reynolds that they would not be sponsoring the Camel Pro Billiards Series, we sat down for an interview with Jeremy Jones. There are a couple mentions of the Camel Pro Billiards Series in this interview, so please keep in mind that this interview happened prior to their announcement This is the first part of that interview, the second part is available here. | ||||
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Jeremy: I believe more than anything, it's probably the time at the table. I'm taking practice seriously, and putting more hours into practicing. Confidence, goes with that too. Once a good player establishes confidence, then it's just a matter of applying it to the table, Along with that, my girlfriend has really helped me mentally. I always try to stay positive at the table, even though it doesn't always work. For the vast majority of the time, I'm a lot better with that aspect of the game. So I think that it's been a good combination with the practice and the positive thinking that has really helped me. AZB: You have already accomplished things at the age of 28 that some professional players won't accomplish in their entire lives. Do you have any words of wisdom for any players making their way up in the ranks? Jeremy: Usually the younger guys still love the game and enjoy playing it, so the biggest thought is that if you are putting in the type of effort it takes to achieve the goals that you have, I think that it will come as long as you make sure you are enjoying yourself while you are playing. I think the biggest key is having fun. I know some really great players my age that look at pool more like it is a job, and it's more of a handicap in their life than something to enjoy. So I feel that if you put your time in at the table and do the right things to improve and become the kinda player you want to be, enjoying yourself along the way will contribute a lot to reaching your goals. AZB: You play all the different games well. What game are you best at? Jeremy: Probably still one pocket, but I'm trying to change. I wish we played ten or twelve one pocket events a year. I think that once spectators got the knowledge of the game, they would really appreciate it, but it's a little slow and I can understand why it is not played in the tournaments much. I'm trying to change it to nine ball. The reason I like to play all games well is that I can understand a lot of the games and the reasoning behind why you shoot a certain shot in one game and not another and that makes the different games fun. Most of the games make sense in why they are arranged the way they are, just like baseball or football. They are all pretty calculated games. Three cushion billiards is a fun game, straight pool is a fun game, all the games are fun, and they all make sense why they are played the way they are. Not only that, but you can tell when a game is being played well. Just like baseball or football, you can tell when an offense is clicking, and you can tell when the game is being played well. Some games, like bowling, I can't tell when it's being played well because it looks like they all do it the same way. A guy might hit the one and two pin in the same place as another guy, and one guy might end up with a strike and the other guy might end up with a seven ten split. I don't understand the calculation and the difference in play, but I can tell in just about any pool game who is playing the game better. It might not show in the outcome, but I can tell who's playing the game better.
Jeremy: I think it's a number of things. A lot of it was playing with him and him showing me a lot of things. In my younger days in Houston, there was a lot of action in the pool rooms, and four or five nights a week, I would get there at midnight and be there till nine or ten in the morning because those were the action hours. Red was a daytime person and would get up and come into the pool room and watch the end of the action at nine or ten in the morning. Whether you won or lost, Red would make you feel good about yourself. He was just a real pleasant person to be around. I don't know if it was his confidence around people or what but it was just pretty much the way he was. His demeanor was probably the best memory. You could have just lost all your money, and he would tell you story after story and you would forget about losing all of your money because Red was in the pool room and you wanted to speak with him or play a few games with him or whatever. AZB: Is there any one piece of advice he gave you that really sticks in your mind? Jeremy: Well, when we played, we concentrated on one pocket a lot, and that made my nine ball game a lot better. Red always said that you have to be able to play all facets of the game. You have to be able to be aggressive when you need to, and passive when you need to and be able to read your opponent. The great thing about one pocket is that a lot of guys know how to play aggressive and a lot of guys know how to play passive, but you have to know when you're supposed to do it. You have to feel out your opponent a lot more, In a race to 11 in nine ball, I can't break my opponent down because the race is too short. In one pocket we play a race to five, and even though it doesn't seem very long, if I wear on him, by the time it's three to one in my favor, I can do more things to him because I've broken him down more. It's kind of like a title bout, as the rounds go on and on, you keep delivering body blows and eventually he's gonna give out. So I think what sticks in my mind the most is the strategy and just being able to play all facets of the game. Red was an agressive player, but a lot of people didn't realize that he could play very conservative and safe at the same time when he needed to.
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