Shane Van Boening Takes Two U.S. Open Bar Table Titles

The April issue of Inside POOL Magazine features Shane Van Boening as he grabs two title at the U.S. Open Bar Table Championships has been made available for free download at InsidePOOLmag.com. This month the download features new instruction writer Freddy “The Beard” Bentivenga along with tons of great new technology in online billiards magazine viewing such as enhanced clarity, Bonus Content, full-screen full length videos, links to favorite web sites, flipping pages, zooming, emailing, sharing, and printing.

Van Boening graces our cover after snapping off two titles at the U.S. Open Bar Table Championships.

The April 2010 issue of Inside POOL Magazine features Shane Van Boening as he hits the cover with style taking down two titles at the U.S Bar Table Championships. Gerda Hofstatter snares a victory on the WPBA Tour in San Diego. The pool and billiard community raises money for cancer. Get a trick shot lesson from Jason Lynch. Get a bank lesson from new instruction staff writer Freddy “The Beard” Bentivegna get a lesson on Rolling Balls from Tom Simpson. Get the low-down on how pros grip the Pool Cue. Know your basic tickies? Brush up on the rules of pocket billiards with Ken Shuman. Of course, get the latest regional tour news from around the US and internationally.

View the April 2010 issue of Inside POOL Magazine for Free

View in Hi-Res viewer for free

Inside POOL Magazine publishes both print and online versions of each issue. The online version is usually made available for FREE (without a membership) viewing and downloading around the middle of each month. If you would like to receive the print version of this wonderful magazine, please visit InsidePOOLmag.com to subscribe.

About Inside POOL Magazine
Inside POOL Magazine launched in 2001 and, with pool player-based content and high impact photography, quickly became the largest magazine in the world for the sport of billiards. The official web site, InsidePOOLmag.com, followed shortly after and became one of the largest web sites in billiards. The web site features videos, image galleries, pool lessons, custom Pool Cue makers, online games, player profiles, tournament brackets, live streaming video, rules, product reviews, and the latest billiard news from around the world.

Mika Immonen and Mezz Cues are proud to announce the Mezz Pro-Am Tour. The Mezz Tour is a 1-day Open Tournament with staggered entry fees and additional cash prizes for the top 2 finishers in the A/B and C/D division. Events will take place in the North East region.

“We are happy to work with Jose Burgos, who runs the best 1-day tournaments in this region. We hope to offer a highly competitive tournament and great prizes for pros and amateurs alike. We will also give each player a free raffle ticket for a Mezz Cue and Mezz Case at the Grand Finale Tournament along with prizes for the Top 10 point leaders of the year,” says Mika.
Jose describes, “I am honored to join forces with Mika Immonen and Mezz Cues. I believe having the best player in the world along with one of the leading cue companies in the industry as sponsors will make the Mezz Pro-Am Tour one of the premier tours in the region.”

Along with the Mezz Open Tour, we are also proud to announce a Mezz Women’s Tour overseen by WPBA Pro and Mezz USA President, Caroline Pao.

“With so many great female players in the Northeast region, this is a great opportunity to provide a competitive tour for them to participate in. We will feature great prizes at each stop as well as hold a Grand Finale tournament with added monies. Prizes will also be awarded for the Top 3 female players of the year with the Top Female receiving paid entry to the prestigious Turning Stone Tournament in Syracuse, NY. I am very excited be able to provide an opportunity for our local female players to sharpen their competitive edge. Once we complete the 8 event schedule, it will be on our official Mezz Tour website, www.mezztour.com,” explains Caroline.

Immonen and Mezz Cues are proud to announce the Mezz Pro-Am Tour.

As a prelude to our official launch of the Mezz Pro-Am Tour, we had a great event at Drexeline Billiards in Drexel Hill, PA on January 31st with an attendance of 53 players. Joey Testa and Ignacio Chavez were co-champions of this event with Victor Nau in 3rd and Josh Brothers in 4th place.

The next stop will be at on February 21st at :
Atlantic City Billiards
6701 Blackhorse Pike
Egg Habor, NJ 08234
(609) 645-7576

Visit the official Mezz Pro-Am Tour website, www.mezztour.com, for more information.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact info@mezztour.com.

The Carolina Billiard Tour has secured it’s first new title sponsor since hosting its inaugural event in August 2009. KwikFire Inc., owned/operated by Kelly Fisher and Val Finnie, have teamed up with CBT Promotions, LLC, owned/operated by Kristi Carter and Kim Shaw, to form a viable partnership that will promote WPBA regional tour events in the NC, SC, and GA regions.

The new tour will be titled the KwikFire Tour. Kelly Fisher and Val Finnie are excited to showcase their custom cue line alongside, arguably, the toughest of the WPBA regional tours and the timing couldn’t be better with the recent launch of their website www.kwikfireinc.com.

Kim Shaw agrees, “It makes perfect sense to join forces with Kwikfire – Not only do they supply a great custom-made cue, but both players represent the highest quality in women’s billiards, and KwikFire already sponsors six players on the WPBA tour and two juniors, known as the ‘Kwikfire Kidz’.”

The Carolina Billiard Tour has secured it's first new title sponsor since hosting its inaugural event in August 2009.

The next KwikFire Tour event will be $2,400 added 9-Ball tournament held at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Rock Hill, SC on October 24 – 25th, 2009.

Email Kristi M. Carter for event details.
CBT Promotions, LLC
Kristi M. Carter & Kim Shaw, Co-Owners
PO Box 77202, Charlotte NC 28271
Bus: (704) 780-1536 / kcarter@carolinabilliardtour.com

KwikFire, Inc.
Kelly Fisher & Val Finnie, Co-Owners
www.kwikfireinc.com

Additionally, CSI is connecting the new U.S Open 10-Ball Championship with the National Championship Series (NCS). The top 2 finishers at the NCS 9-Ball National Championship and the NCS 10-Ball National Championship will receive paid entry to the 2010 U.S Open 10-Ball event. The two NCS national tournaments are scheduled September 3-7, 2009 at The Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV.

CueSports International (CSI) announces the launch of the U.S Open 10-Ball Championship.

The NCS is open to men, women, amateur and professional players who are either a U.S Citizen or legal permanent resident. To participate in the NCS on the national level a player must play in a sanctioned area qualifier in a host pool room. For the current list of NCS qualifiers visit the NCS calendar under the events tab at the CSI website: www.playcsipool.com.
For more information about CueSports International, the NCS or the BCAPL visit the www.playcsipool.com or www.playbca.com

CueSports International is dedicated to broadening opportunity to players of all ability. CSI is the parent company of the BCA Pool League, the National Championship Series, the USA Pool League and produces independent events such as the U.S Bar Table Championships, the Jay Swanson Memorial, the Shootout at the Sands and starting May 2010 the U.S Open 10-Ball Championship.

AMI and Merit have created a new advertising medium with the launch of AMI MegaNet Interactive Digtial Out-of-Home Advertising Network.

AMI Entertainment, leading provider of music to digital downloading jukeboxes, and Merit Entertainment, market leader in coin-operated touchscreen video games announced today the launch of AMI MegaNet – the largest multi-media interactive out-of-home advertising network in the US.

AMI MegaNet, a joint venture between sister companies AMI and Merit and Chicago’s TAP.tv, provides place-based advertising capabilities across multiple broadband-connected digital screens in bars and restaurants across the country. “We’ve taken the best features of online marketing – interactivity and rich content – and combined them with the best feature of digital out-of-home – immediacy – to create an ad medium that we think works harder, dollar for dollar, than any other medium available,” said Mike Nickerson, VP of Advertising for AMI MegaNet.

Nickerson, who has spent nearly twenty years in advertising and marketing for brands like Absolut Vodka, Coors Light, Sony, and Motorola also stated, “There were a lot of start-ups in this space who rushed to market with really limited advertising platforms in a dozen or so locations and limited risk. With nearly 15,000 locations nationwide we decided to take our time and get the mix right so that consumers would embrace our ads instead of avoid them.”
Integrated “Advertainment”

AMI MegaNet seeks to go beyond the traditional model of place-based digital OOH of forcing ad messages onto a captive audience. By integrating brand messages into entertainment favorites in bars like video games, jukeboxes, and big screen high-def TV’s, AMI MegaNet is creating an “advertainment” experience that marketing-savvy consumers embrace. “We know why people go to bars and it isn’t to watch commercials. It was important to us that 21-44 year old adults seeking entertainment got what they were looking for,” said Nickerson. That’s why in addition to running full video ads on all screens, AMI MegaNet integrates brands directly into video game play and music selection and has the ability to create custom content TV channels for high-def TV’s. AMI MegaNet’s touchscreens also use their “Touch Through” technology to allow consumers to click through video ads to interact directly with advertiser microsites.

Networking the Most Popular Entertainment in Bars
In addition, AMI MegaNet decided it wasn’t enough to own the most broadband-connected screens (estimated at 38,000 in 2009). These screens needed to coordinate and “talk” to each other to make the delivery of brand messages even more effective. “In developing a real bar network, the key for us was the ability to coordinate different game, TV, and jukebox screens and cross promote,” said Tim Dorgan, President of TAP.tv. “Not only are our ads real “TV ads,” they are also coordinated across different screens to optimize reach. The machines can even cross-promote content so if a bar patron loses interest in one of our entertainment media, we can drive them to another with our rich content offerings.”

Three Content Platforms, One Network
• AMI (Grand Rapids, MI) – the high quality video jukebox content provider found in over 10,000 locations nationwide
• MEGATOUCH (owned by Merit, Bristol, PA) – the world’s leading brand name in casual touchscreen games with over 250,000 countertop units on-premise in bars and taverns globally with over 150 game titles
• TAP.tv (Burr Ridge, IL) – an advanced, IP-based narrowcasting TV technology
“We’re really excited about having TAP.tv as a key element of our network,” said Mike Maas, CEO of Merit and AMI. “TAP.tv isn’t just amazing high-def TV content, it’s an invention that helps bars manage all their in-house media while measuring every moment of screen time not only for TAP.tv, but for every other TV network a bar chooses to air on their system.”

TAP’s technology allows commercial establishments to completely customize television within their venues, effectively building their own independent TV network. TAP.tv goes well beyond digital signage. Instead of displaying pure ad content on a dedicated screen, TAP.tv’s technology works with any existing screen, fully integrating ads into compelling programming and content channels. Interactive applications, games, and event marketing – all are possible.

Building New Media for a New Era
“It’s no secret that advertising and marketing agencies are being increasingly held accountable for effectiveness (i.e. sales),” said Nickerson. “It’s our belief that by delivering a truly unique advertising medium that is both sticky and immediate, we will be a valuable asset to our advertising partners.”
About AMI Entertainment Inc. – AMI Entertainment Inc. is a leading provider of on-premise digital entertainment and promotions to taverns, restaurants and other public venues in the United States. The company maintains the AMI Entertainment Network, which powers more than 10,000 Internet enabled touchscreen jukeboxes that can operate over a variety of broadband connection devices. AMI is supported by the largest number of jukebox manufacturers, including world-renowned Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp. and Rowe International Corp., as well as Merit Entertainment and View. AMI’s digital music is licensed by the major record labels, numerous independent labels, more than 1,500 music publishers, and the performing rights organizations ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. AMI’s music catalog consists of 500,000+ songs that can be easily searched and accessed remotely. Music is tailored for all listening demographics, including the coveted group of 21 to 35 year-olds. For more information, visit amientertainment.com.

About Merit Entertainment
For over 30 years, Merit has ensured long-term return on investment for operators by providing continually high-earning equipment along with regular updates and upgrades for its products. With an installed base of over 250,000 touchscreen games garnering nearly 4.6 billion plays per year, Merit Entertainment products appear globally in a wide array of venues and appeal to an almost limitless demographic. Merit continues to expand its position in the industry with ever-increasing entertainment, music, content, and new games. The company maintains a website with all the latest information at www.meritgames.com.

About TAP.tv
Chicago-based privately-held TAP.tv builds custom television networks for commercial establishments using a hybrid TV/Internet technology. TAP.tv combines patent-applied-for technology, licensed program content, and web-based tools to facilitate businesses easily managing their video resources and placing their own professional quality advertising on their own TV screens

Jim Murnak has announced the launch of two new web sites.

PoolontheNet.com would like to announce a brand new web design for Jim Murnak Cue Cases, JimMurnakcuecases.com.  Jim Murnak is by far the leader when it comes to custom cue cases. Jim has designed custom cases for Jennifer Berretta , George “Ginky” San Souci, Earl Strickland, and Tony Robles, to name a few. Jim’s work is second to none. Don’t settle for what someone else wants you have when you can have exactly what you want in a custom designed cue case made by Jim Murnak.
Jim Murnak would also like to announce the launching of www.Go4Pool.com (http://www.Go4Pool.com), a website developed by osCommerce, that shows videos of pool matches of all quality levels. Too often player’s images are used to promote pool, but the player is left standing with nothing. Well Jim Murnak has decided to give back to the player. A variety of pool related videos, large or small format, can be viewed for a charge of $1-$2. “For the price of a bottle of water, you can learn something from a pro that will help your game.” says Jim Murnak. The best part of all this is that a large percentage of the money received from these videos will go back to the players and that is how it should be. Future videos will include lessons and interviews from some of the world’s top professionals so stay tuned!
Any pool rooms, pool halls or pool players interested in a brand new web design, PoolontheNet.com is the only place to “Get it Done!” Recent websites designed by PoolontheNet.com include Tony Robles’s Predator 9-Ball Tour, Predator9BallTour.com as well as a brand new website for the J. Pechauer Northeast Women’s 9-Ball Tour, JPNewt.com. If you’re interested in Pool on the Net designing your new website please contact Rob Staskowski at rob@poolonthenet.com (mailto:rob@poolonthenet.com) for a free quote.