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GAMES — Court House Resident Steve Markle Entertains with Pool Table Tricks

By Joe Rossi

As a teenager, Steve Markle spent many hours in his neighbor’s Bensalem basement. The part-time Court House resident was becoming infatuated with the game of pool, specifically, trick shooting.
“I started in grammar school,” said Markle. “My friend had a pool table so when we weren’t spending summer days playing stick ball we were playing pool.”
The son of Bill and Carol Markle, Steve was a standout lefthander for the Archbishop Ryan High School baseball team where he was named to the All Catholic League squad in his senior season.
He attended Bucks County Community College before moving on to West Chester University where he will begin his junior year in September. The 20-year-old says he picked up the intricacies of the trick shooting by studying YouTube clips. These days he films himself performing the feats as a means of marketing his capabilities to get hired for parties, shows and events.
“I was always a pool player,” said the criminal justice major. “We started by shooting eight and nine ball but I really learned a lot watching videos. I started making videos of myself making 25 different trick shots.
As a Ryan sophomore, Markle began attending open pool events throughout the region. Many are sponsored by the sport’s governing body, the Artistic Pool and Trick Shot Association. Markle is on the APTSA board of directors. The organization is based in Pittsburgh.
“I researched them and started following them through the YouTube videos,” he said. “They set up and run events.”
Realizing that their son had picked up and soon dropped other hobbies in the past, Markle’s parents purchased a discount pool table about six years ago. But this wasn’t the fads of golf or skateboarding which Markle had briefly toyed with.
“I used to start and stop things,” he admitted. “My parents are very supportive. They never expected this pool trick shooting to blow up like it has.”
He remains determined in his pursuit of the sport and to excel against the very best in the country and around the globe. As a college student, trick shooting on the pool table has necessarily evolved as his primary source of income.
The self-described “K-Mart pool table” is long gone, replaced by a superior model called Imperial and complete with red cloth.
“Trick shots abuse the tables and you need to have high quality cloth,” he said.
The APTSA rates him as 17th in the United States based on point accumulations at sponsored events. Markle travels to China in mid-July for an international competition.
His business and videos of his shot-making can be found online at stevemarklepool.com.
“I get a lot of local business by word-of-mouth and publicity in newspapers and other publications,” he said. “Anywhere there’s a pool table I’ll go if invited.”
Markle said he’s traveled to Delaware, Pennsylvania and throughout the Garden State. “I need to keep costs down so I travel locally,” he said.
Tournaments which offer prize money are a different matter, including the event in China. He’s been to Las Vegas, Chicago, and California among various U.S. venues. Tournament points are awarded based on whether you make the trick shot on your first, second, third attempt or if you don’t make it at all. There are categories for various degrees of difficulty and the strategies which must accompany the attempts.
“The rankings are built up over a year,” he said. “Earning points helps with the prize money.”
Markle said the Association sponsors about five or six major events per year. There are also a handful of shows. He said his goal is to pick up sponsors to allow him to focus on his trick shooting. These days he must balance his income with his school work and the travel.
“The best part is the traveling,” he said. “The trick shooting gives me a good reason to travel.”
Markle said the toughest part of the sport is the strategy development necessary to build up points. He said the competitions can also include one-on-one events which are set up similar to a game of H-O-R-S-E in basketball.
He said traveling to tournaments also requires competitors to become accustomed to the tables being used.
“I can make 35 different shots within three tries each on my own table,” he said matter-of-factly. “But you have to adjust to the various tables when you travel.”
Markle can be reached at stevemarklepool@aol.com
Reach Rossi at joerossi61@comcast.net

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