Shaw Breaks His Own Straight Pool Record, Sets A New One, And Starts Again In Quest For 1,000

Jayson Shaw

As we are posting this, Jayson Shaw is attempting to set a new world, straight pool record by reaching 1,000 pocketed balls. He began this attempt on Sunday (Jan. 5) and on Monday, reached his own, previous world record of 714 (breaking John Schmidt’s previous record of 626). He continued to play and got as far as 832 to set a new record. He left the table to get some rest and came back this morning to renew his quest for what would almost certainly be a difficult-to-reach-or-surpass record of 1,000.

He is trying to establish a 14:1 Straight Pool record that began with a game called Continuous Pool, originally invented in 1889. That game shared the ‘continuity’ aspect of 14:1 Straight Pool, but entailed competitors breaking and shooting at a rack until all 15 balls were cleared and then, re-racked to continue a ‘run.’ It was Jerome Keogh, in 1910, who introduced the rule that the balls be re-racked after 14 had been pocketed, leaving the 15^th ball on the table to continue a ‘run’ into the next rack. 

Shaw was seeking the new world record under the auspices of The Legends of Pocket Billiards, which organized the 14.1 High Run Challenge at the ‘members only’ BAK Room Billiards Studio in Lorton, VA, which streamed his attempt(s) live on Facebook. Sometime around noon today (Tuesday, Jan. 7), Shaw abandoned his attempt to break his own ‘832’ record. According to representatives of The Legends of Pocket Billiards, “Jayson and his family are now on their way back home and then on to the Turning Stone Classic in NY.”

“Jayson will be back again as soon as his schedule has an opening,” they continued in a Facebook post, “to take another shot at his quest to break the 1,000 mark.”

They wished the Shaw family safe travels and noted that they were “looking forward to having them back real soon.”

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