Carom Billiards Professional Episodes

Part 4 brings our remarkable conversation with George Ashby to a thoughtful and deeply satisfying close. In this final episode, George reflects on the later chapters of his billiard life: returning to the game, staying connected to three-cushion, remembering the great players and rooms of the past, and considering what it all meant.There is something especially moving in hearing a master look back. George speaks with humility, humor, and honesty about still playing, still thinking about the ga...

In Part 3, George Ashby takes us deeper into the realities of life at the top of three-cushion billiards — and the very human struggles that can come with it. This chapter of his story spans world championships, national titles, international travel, equipment changes, and the demands of balancing billiards with the responsibilities of owning and operating a family business.George recalls the shock of his first world championship appearances, where the conditions, equipment, lighting, pace of ...

Part 2 of our conversation with George Ashby moves from the room to the arena, as George takes us inside the thought process, discipline, and competitive fire required to become a world-class three-cushion player. This is the episode where the game opens up. George explains the importance of scoring average, position play, shot selection, and concentration, giving listeners a rare window into what elite three-cushion really looks like from the player’s chair.Along the way, he reflects on high ...

In Part 1 of our conversation with three-cushion billiard great George Ashby, we begin where all great cue sport stories begin: in the room. For George, that room was Drexel Billiards in Jacksonville, Illinois, the family business his father purchased after leaving the grocery trade. What followed was an upbringing unlike any other — washing glasses in the restaurant as a child, dragging an orange crate around the tables so he could stand high enough to play, and absorbing the culture of pool an...