Joe Rogan Experience #1917 - Fedor Gorst

Narrator 0:00 (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

0:04 The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) What's up, man? Keep this like about, like a fist from your face.

Fedor Gorst 0:15 Oh, all right.

Joe Rogan 0:16 You are the first professional pool player to ever be on this podcast.

Fedor Gorst 0:19 Yeah. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 0:20 So congratulations.

Fedor Gorst 0:21 Thank you so much.

Joe Rogan 0:21 How old are you, man?

Fedor Gorst 0:22 I'm 22.

Joe Rogan 0:23 How long you been playing?

Fedor Gorst 0:25 Uh, I've actually started with a different game called Russian Pyramid.

Joe Rogan 0:29 Yeah, I've seen that before.

Fedor Gorst 0:30 Yeah, that's the game we play in Russia. Uh, you know, I've played since I was about six, that's when I had my first coach. But I've been around, uh, billiard balls since the very beginning.

Joe Rogan 0:42 You, what are you ranked in the world right now? You're like, in my opinion, you're like top three, top four in the world.

Fedor Gorst 0:49 Uh, there's currently like too many different rankings.

Joe Rogan 0:53 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 0:53 You can't, you can't really ... 'Cause I didn't play as many tournaments this year, like official ones, so I don't have any ranking points.

Joe Rogan 1:00 Because of the, 'cause you're from Russia, and-

Fedor Gorst 1:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03 ... um, you couldn't play in tournaments for a while, right? During the Ukraine crisis?

Fedor Gorst 1:08 Yeah, so uh, since the end of February when the, the whole thing started, uh, uh, they uh, they banned all the Russian athletes, and they only removed the ban in, I believe, in the end of July.

Joe Rogan 1:23 You know what's crazy is they didn't ban UFC fighters.

Fedor Gorst 1:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:28 We have a lot of Russian UFC fighters, and they don't even get treated badly. They don't, they don't get booed. I mean, they get booed a little bit by some assholes, but-

Fedor Gorst 1:36 It's, it's different in every sport, like hockey, you know-

Joe Rogan 1:39 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 1:39 ... Ovechkin is still playing. You know, there's uh, a lot of great players in hockey that still play from Russia.

Joe Rogan 1:43 But, so in pool they made a decision to not have Russian players for a little while, and then they relaxed it. How, why did they relax it? Did they-

Fedor Gorst 1:51 Uh-

Joe Rogan 1:51 ... realize it was ... It's not your f- your, it's not your business. Like it's not like ... You're 22. You're not, you're not involved in politics.

Fedor Gorst 1:59 Well, you can understand that from uh, I don't know, from like the business point of view, but uh-

Joe Rogan 2:05 I guess.

Fedor Gorst 2:06 But uh, you know, pool, in my opinion, is a, is a small sport, and uh, in the end of the day, I don't know how many pool players will you ban by banning the Russian athletes? I know, I mean, three players?

Joe Rogan 2:19 Yeah, there's only a few from Russia, right?

Fedor Gorst 2:21 Yeah, that play internationally.

Joe Rogan 2:22 And you're the best.

Fedor Gorst 2:23 Uh, from Russia, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:25 Yeah, for sure.

Fedor Gorst 2:25 For sure, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:26 No, like you've ... You're one of the best in the world, period. It's kinda crazy to be one of the best in the world at something at 22 years old, 'cause you have so much room to grow and get better.

Fedor Gorst 2:35 Oh, yeah. For sure.

Joe Rogan 2:36 I mean, that's gotta be very promising for you, 'cause uh, for, at 22 years old, you're just sort of like ... Your body's not even fully formed yet. Your brain's not fully formed. They say your cerebral cortex, your frontal lobe, fully forms when you're 25.

Fedor Gorst 2:51 Yeah, I mean, I still have a lot of, uh, potential and I definitely will be aiming to get up there.

Joe Rogan 2:57 So how did you make the trek from, uh, coming to R- from Russia, coming to the United States to play? How old were you?

Fedor Gorst 3:04 Uh, you mean the first time I came?

Joe Rogan 3:05 Yes.

Fedor Gorst 3:06 Uh, was 2016. Uh, my very good Russian friend and my sponsor, he brought me to Derby City Classic.

Joe Rogan 3:15 Mm.

Fedor Gorst 3:16 So that was my first experience, uh-

Joe Rogan 3:18 So you were like what, 16 or something?

Fedor Gorst 3:20 16, yeah.

Joe Rogan 3:21 Wow.

Fedor Gorst 3:22 And I-

Joe Rogan 3:22 Robbing people at 16. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 3:24 I did pretty good. Uh, in the nine-ball division I think I finished in round 12, which is-

Joe Rogan 3:30 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 3:30 ... like the last 12 players out of-

Joe Rogan 3:32 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 3:32 ... like 500-plus. So-

Joe Rogan 3:33 That's pretty good for 16.

Fedor Gorst 3:35 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh, and then uh, a lot of people kinda recognized that I can play and uh, I got an invite for uh, Derby City Classic Invitational Ten Ball Tournament they actually-

Joe Rogan 3:46 And the Derby City Classic, we should tell everybody, is this enormous, uh, eight-day tournament that takes place in Kentucky.

Fedor Gorst 3:53 Yeah, nonstop action, uh-

Joe Rogan 3:54 Every year it's like the hustler's convention. Like all the great players, all the, the gamblers, all the people that talk shit, all the people that sell cues, everybody goes down to the Derby City.

Fedor Gorst 4:05 Yeah, that's the biggest pool fest.

Joe Rogan 4:07 I still haven't been.

Fedor Gorst 4:08 You should, you should.

Joe Rogan 4:08 I know, I wanted to. Do you, do you know Justin Collet? He used to run the Action Report?

Fedor Gorst 4:13 Uh, I've heard, but I wasn't f-

Joe Rogan 4:15 He's a good friend of mine. And one point in time we had actually talked about doing like a documentary o- on the Derby City, 'cause I think it's so, it's such a crazy subculture of America that most people just have no idea.

Fedor Gorst 4:27 Oh yeah, that's the great ... You can, you can like f- for sure film a movie about it.

Joe Rogan 4:31 Oh yeah, there's so many characters, there's so many-

Fedor Gorst 4:34 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 4:34 ... oddball people. You know, I found pool when I was, uh, I guess I was about 23, somewhere around that, 23 or 24 I first started playing pool. And uh, I d- I injured my knee. I, I had a, um, a ACL tear in my knee so I couldn't work out for a while, and uh, a friend of mine who was a comedian, we started playing pool together. We both sucked and we were just playing pool. But just so lucky that the place that I picked to go to was a local action spot, and there was a lot of big gambling going on there. Like guys would come in and play $10,000 sets of one pocket. It was a big deal. And so I got to see these guys and I got to see this subculture that I wasn't aware of, and I got to see what it looks like when the game of pool is played really well, when someone's really good at it, how beautiful it is to watch and how exciting it is to watch.

Fedor Gorst 5:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:29 So I was, uh, you know, I was exposed to it at a very early age. Not an, not an early age for most people. Not, obviously not an early age for you, but for me it was like I, I had no idea that there was a world out there where people just wanted to play pool all day and gamble.

Fedor Gorst 5:46 Oh yeah, there's a lot of people that do play pool every day and uh ...

Joe Rogan 5:49 All day, eight hours a day.

Fedor Gorst 5:51 For sure.

Joe Rogan 5:51 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 5:51 For sure.

Joe Rogan 5:52 How many hours a day do you play?

Fedor Gorst 5:53 Uh, it depends on my tournament schedule, you know. I'm uh, I'm not an action player that play all, all day every day. But uh-

Joe Rogan 6:00 When you say action player, you mean gambling?

Fedor Gorst 6:02 Gambling, yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:03 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 6:03 It's um, I'm a, I'm a, I consider myself as a tournament professional player.

Joe Rogan 6:07 But you do gamble?

Fedor Gorst 6:09 I do, yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 6:10 You have gambled.

Fedor Gorst 6:11 I do.

Joe Rogan 6:11 I'm aware of some gambling that you take place in.

Fedor Gorst 6:13 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:14 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 6:14 I've played some matches, big ones and small ones, uh, but, uh-

Joe Rogan 6:17 What's the biggest one you've ever played? How much?

Fedor Gorst 6:20 Uh, the biggest amount that I ever won was, uh, $51,000 from one guy. It was this year.

Joe Rogan 6:28 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 6:28 But we... it was... We- we played by the rack, so we- we started off at playing like a thousand a rack.

Joe Rogan 6:36 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 6:36 And then we increased.

Joe Rogan 6:37 A thousand a rack?

Fedor Gorst 6:38 One pocket.

Joe Rogan 6:39 Oh, okay.

Fedor Gorst 6:40 Which is still a really good bet.

Joe Rogan 6:42 Yeah, that's a very good bet. Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 6:44 Yeah, and then we played, uh, all day, and, uh, I kept winning and winning. He was increasing and increasing, raising the bet.

Joe Rogan 6:53 Phew, $51,000 in a day.

Fedor Gorst 6:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:55 That's nice. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 6:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:57 He must have been sick. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 6:58 Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was.

Joe Rogan 7:00 Did you give him a spot?

Fedor Gorst 7:01 Yeah, I had to give him a spot from the beginning, and then by the end of the day, uh, the spot was even bigger.

Joe Rogan 7:06 So l- l- let's explain one pocket, 'cause there's a lot of people that are listening that don't know what that means. Um, one pocket is a game... On- on a pool table, there's six pockets, and in one pocket, you each have one of the corner pockets near where the balls are racked.

Fedor Gorst 7:20 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 7:21 And the goal of the game is just for other people, not for you, obviously.

Fedor Gorst 7:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:24 You know how to play. (laughs) The goal is, there's 15 balls in a rack. The goal is for you to get eight balls in your pocket. You only have one pocket that you could shoot the balls in. But now for a player like yourself, like if you were gonna play someone like me, you'd have to give me a big spot.

Fedor Gorst 7:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:39 It would have to be like, you know... I'd have to get like four balls-

Fedor Gorst 7:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:43 ... and you'd have to get 11.

Fedor Gorst 7:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:45 Something like that.

Fedor Gorst 7:45 Something like that.

Joe Rogan 7:46 Something like that. Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 7:47 Yeah, that's- that's basically what it was with that guy. We started off at, uh, I was giving him 12 to six, I think.

Joe Rogan 7:53 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 7:54 And, uh, we ended up giving... I ended up giving him 10 to five.

Joe Rogan 7:57 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 7:59 Which is a huge spot.

Joe Rogan 8:00 It's a huge spot.

Fedor Gorst 8:00 He was, uh, on that tilt and couldn't, uh, couldn't do anything.

Joe Rogan 8:03 That's the problem once you start losing-

Fedor Gorst 8:05 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:05 ... a thousand dollars a game. Oh, ho, ho, ho. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 8:09 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:11 Oh my God, the world of pool and gambling is such an interesting world to me because it's, uh, something that people get very, very, very addicted to.

Fedor Gorst 8:21 Oh, yeah, there's a lot of characters in, uh, in our sport.

Joe Rogan 8:24 Yes, there are. So, um, h-... When you're playing, uh, the Russian pyramid game, so you're over in Russia, and you're playing this game. Were you... How were you exposed to nine ball and 10 ball, the games they play here in America?

Fedor Gorst 8:37 So, uh, what happened was, uh, I was obviously a little short and, uh, I couldn't really reach the table 'cause the pyramid table is a little bit higher than the pool table. And, uh, I think I was about eight or nine year old, uh, and my coach told me that I probably have to switch to pool if I want to play professionally. And, uh, you know, I have more potential, I can travel the world, and, uh, we decided that we have to switch, and that's when I started playing pool around there.

Joe Rogan 9:07 So when you say your coach, is that common in Russia, that young players have coaches?

Fedor Gorst 9:12 Honestly, all over the world, uh, the- the game is treated differently. Yeah, only in the US it's more of a, you know, uh, some entertainment that you can just go to the bar and drink beer and have fun.

Joe Rogan 9:25 Really?

Fedor Gorst 9:26 Yeah, in Russia, uh, they treat the game as a sport, and, uh, we have practice facilities, coaches that work with kids.

Joe Rogan 9:34 Wow. I know it's the case in other places, like I know in Taiwan they do that.

Fedor Gorst 9:39 Yeah, China.

Joe Rogan 9:40 And China.

Fedor Gorst 9:41 Uh, Germany, I mean, Poland, uh, Netherlands.

Joe Rogan 9:44 Ko Ping Yee, um, I heard they have a day where all they do is jump. They just practice jump shots all day. The whole game is jump shots.

Fedor Gorst 9:53 I- I believe that.

Joe Rogan 9:55 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 9:55 I did that too. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:56 Oh, you do that too?

Fedor Gorst 9:57 I mean, uh, I've practiced a lot. I've- I've jumped a lot of balls before, uh, when I was, uh... I was a kid.

Joe Rogan 10:02 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 10:02 You know, I just had fun jumping balls around then.

Joe Rogan 10:05 I'm fascinated by Russian methods for sport because, um, so many elite combat sports athletes come out of Russia. So many great wrestlers, so many great mixed martial arts fighters, great kickboxers. And, um, I had Jon Bernthal on the podcast. You know, he's a very famous actor. He's in The Punisher and The Walking Dead and a- a bunch of movies and stuff. Really, really interesting guy. But he went over to Russia to study theater, and he said that it was so different than anything he'd ever done. And for the first year, you didn't even read anything. They just worked with you on rhythm and r- remembering things and concentration and- and acrobatics and ballet. It's like Russia is, uh, the- the way they treat sport is so disciplined.

Fedor Gorst 10:52 Well, back in USSR, I think they treated it even more strict than nowadays. You know, the coaches were, uh, really, really hard on the kids, and, uh, I think that's why they all raised with, uh, discipline.

Joe Rogan 11:04 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 11:05 I think that's- that's the main factor that, uh, really favors them.

Joe Rogan 11:09 So in Russia they have... The pyramid game, is that the primary game that people play?

Fedor Gorst 11:13 That's what everybody's playing. I mean, honestly, pool is so small in Russia that you can count the players on both hands.

Joe Rogan 11:20 So why did your coach think that you should play pool then if it- if the pyramid game was so big?

Fedor Gorst 11:25 Uh, really? That's uh, that's a good question because, uh, like I said, I was really, really short. Maybe he was feeling that, uh, I should-

Joe Rogan 11:33 That you weren't gonna grow? (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 11:34 No, but he was, he was thinking, I think at that time that, uh, it's better off starting with pool 'cause I can reach the table and then-

Joe Rogan 11:42 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 11:42 ... switch back to pyramid. But he was, uh... He wasn't expecting that I will be as good, that I started to progress really quick. I started to win amateur tournaments, uh, you know, winning junior tournaments and, uh, it's a-

Joe Rogan 11:56 Hmm. Let's see that game. Pull up a game of, uh, Russian... Wha- how do you call it? Russian pyramid billiards?

Fedor Gorst 12:00 Russian pyramid.

Joe Rogan 12:01 Russian pyramid. It, uh... it's a... Is it a larger table?

Fedor Gorst 12:06 It's a 12-foot table.

Joe Rogan 12:07 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 12:07 With tiny pockets, bigger balls.... so-

Joe Rogan 12:10 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 12:10 ... it's, it's tougher to make the ball. It's a completely different game. It's fun to play. It's not fun to play if you never played any billiards.

Joe Rogan 12:18 Are the corners rounded or are they flat and squared off?

Fedor Gorst 12:21 They're flat.

Joe Rogan 12:22 They're flat.

Fedor Gorst 12:22 They're flat.

Joe Rogan 12:22 So they're flat like a pool table, not like a snooker table. Oh, wow, look at the size of that table. That's wild. Look at the tiny pockets.

Fedor Gorst 12:29 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 12:30 So the t- the pocket is essentially the size of the ball?

Fedor Gorst 12:33 Uh, almost. Almost.

Joe Rogan 12:34 Wow. This is crazy. Why is it called Pyramid?

Fedor Gorst 12:39 Uh, because of the shape of the rack? I don't know.

Joe Rogan 12:43 Mm. So, eh, and in Russia, when you play this, you mostly play with, uh, an open bridge, right?

Fedor Gorst 12:50 Uh, yeah. Most, mostly they, they use open bridge, but, uh, for, like, hard shots, I believe when they have to draw the ball.

Joe Rogan 12:58 And so you can use any ball?

Fedor Gorst 13:01 Uh, it depends on the discipline you playing.

Joe Rogan 13:03 So this guy's shooting-

Fedor Gorst 13:04 This guy's some amateur. I don't know what he's doing.

Joe Rogan 13:05 Yeah, he's just whacking balls around-

Fedor Gorst 13:06 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:08 ... looks like. But at least we get a s- a chance to see what the table looks like. So there's one... Uh, is that a red ball? Looks like a m- maroon ball?

Fedor Gorst 13:14 So, a red ball is a cue ball. There is a discipline-

Joe Rogan 13:17 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 13:17 ... where you, where you have to play only with a red ball, kinda like pool, and there is discipline where you can shoot any ball. But it's the same thing. It's a race to eight balls.

Joe Rogan 13:27 Mm.

Fedor Gorst 13:28 And whoever makes eight balls first wins.

Joe Rogan 13:30 In any, in any pocket?

Fedor Gorst 13:32 Uh, any pocket, yeah.

Joe Rogan 13:33 'Cause the thing about snooker players and, um, I guess, probably this Russian Pyramid game, too, is that your fundamentals and your form have to be so perfect because the table is so big and the balls are so small, that any room for deviation on your shot, y- you have to really tighten everything up. Whereas opposed to a lot of American tables, those five-inch pockets, you know, there's a lot of room for fucking around and sloppy shots will still go in.

Fedor Gorst 14:02 Yeah, I mean, that's, uh, that's the difference between the games, I think. Uh, fundamentals has to be really, really good playing snooker and Pyramid.

Joe Rogan 14:10 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 14:10 That's, that's mostly what they work on, and pool, you can see all the players that have their own style, their own techniques.

Joe Rogan 14:17 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 14:18 And they can get away playing some weird styles.

Joe Rogan 14:22 Yeah. They can get away with bad fundamentals.

Fedor Gorst 14:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:25 If... Well, there's some great players that had bad fundamentals. Like, have you ever watched Keith McCready play?

Fedor Gorst 14:29 Yeah, yeah. Sidearm?

Joe Rogan 14:30 Yeah. Crazy, total sidearm, but amazing player.

Fedor Gorst 14:35 Oliver Ortmann from Germany is the same way.

Joe Rogan 14:37 Yes. Yes. Well, you know, that's because they started when they were young and they couldn't reach the table either-

Fedor Gorst 14:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:42 ... so they had to have their arm sideways 'cause they couldn't let it hang down normally.

Fedor Gorst 14:45 That's my problem nowadays, too, 'cause, uh, my stance, I grew up with the wrong stance.

Joe Rogan 14:50 What, like a straightforward stance as opposed to, like, a sideways pool stance?

Fedor Gorst 14:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:54 Like a snooker table stance.

Fedor Gorst 14:56 Uh, and Russian Pyramid, yeah.

Joe Rogan 14:58 Yeah, same, similar, right?

Fedor Gorst 14:59 Yeah, and I, uh, I have to slightly change it every year because I'm still growing and, uh, I'm taller than the average pool player.

Joe Rogan 15:07 You're still growing? You're 22? You haven't stopped growing?

Fedor Gorst 15:10 No.

Joe Rogan 15:11 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 15:12 No.

Joe Rogan 15:12 That's interesting.

Fedor Gorst 15:13 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:14 So, um, y- you also have to bend at the knees, too, right? Because you're, you're kinda tall, so, like, to lock the legs out?

Fedor Gorst 15:20 So that's, that's the thing that I always experiment with. I can play with one, uh, bent knee and with both, uh, bent knees.

Joe Rogan 15:28 Yeah, 'cause I was always taught to lock legs, that if you locked your legs, um, you have a more stable stance. But then I watch guys like Shane Van Boening, and he bends at the knees.

Fedor Gorst 15:39 Yeah. Well, every player is really different.

Joe Rogan 15:42 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 15:42 Uh, you can see, uh, for example, Carlo, or Carlo Biaello or-

Joe Rogan 15:47 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 15:47 ... Jason Shaw. They have their legs straight, both of them.

Joe Rogan 15:50 Mm. Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 15:51 Because they're not as tall as the other ones.

Joe Rogan 15:54 Right.

Fedor Gorst 15:54 You have both legs, uh, straight, right?

Joe Rogan 15:57 Yeah, I always do that. So-

Fedor Gorst 15:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 15:59 I was taught... I didn't used to do that, though. But then I got some pointers from someone. Max Eberl really actually helped me with that.

Fedor Gorst 16:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 16:04 Max Eberl coached me, uh, when I lived in LA. That was the first... I had some lessons when I first started out in New York from, like, there's a guy named Jimmy Abled that was, like, an old-school, uh, straight pool player, was a really good player. And, uh, a few other guys, like, gave me some pointers and tips. But Max gave me some, like, real lessons.

Fedor Gorst 16:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:22 And he changed a lot of my fundamentals and tightened everything up, 'cause I had a lot of, like, bad habits that I didn't even know I had. That's the difference, I guess, uh, what I'm talking about with Russia, is that if you have a coach and you have a program, you're, you're, it's probably... Like, explain how that works. Is it a, like, a very disciplined regiment that you guys would practice?

Fedor Gorst 16:43 I mean, not really. Uh, it may sound really professional, but, uh, f- what happened with me, I had four, five, five different coaches. And, uh, from the very beginning, I was... For example, a- as a seven-year-old, I had a coach, and I reached the limit, uh, that I could learn from one coach. And my parents used to always tell me, "Well, we have to switch, because that's, that's the only way to grow." And, uh, once I, uh, found a coach, the very last Russian coach that I had, at the 13, eh, when I was 13, uh, I felt like I couldn't grow more because we don't have many professional coaches in Russia because the game is really small. Russian Pyramid has many, many coaches. And, uh, I got really lucky because, uh, in 2015, Johan Reising, uh, he was, um, Mosconi Cup captain many, many, many times for Europe and US. He came to Russia as a national coach and practiced with the national team for two years. That's when things really changed and, uh, I think I'm really grateful that it happened.

Joe Rogan 17:55 Interesting. So, um, so you're playing pool over in Russia. Are there many pool tournaments?

Fedor Gorst 18:02 I mean, we have, uh, amateur tournaments every two weeks maybe, and, uh, one tournament a month which called Russian Cup, which is...... kind of like a professional tournament.

Joe Rogan 18:14 Just one a month. So you realized at some point in time that you were eventually gonna have to come to America to pursue it professionally, or Europe?

Fedor Gorst 18:21 Uh, Europe was my first, uh, step because we have, uh, Eurotour. That's the major tournament in Europe that I started with. And all the, uh, I mean, that's the path that all the players have to go through in Europe. You have to play the Eurotours, and if you do good in them, then you can start really traveling and playing international tournaments.

Joe Rogan 18:43 I watched a match with you against Oscar Dominguez, who I know from LA. Uh, I've played w- I played in a tournament once against his dad, and his dad actually did that table out there-

Fedor Gorst 18:54 Oh.

Joe Rogan 18:54 ... that, uh, really tight Brunswick, his dad, uh, cut those pockets.

Fedor Gorst 18:57 Oh, he's the best, yeah.

Joe Rogan 18:58 He's the best.

Fedor Gorst 18:59 100%.

Joe Rogan 18:59 He did my old diamond at my house too. Yeah, he's amazing. The best table mechanic in the business.

Fedor Gorst 19:04 Oh, 100%.

Joe Rogan 19:05 Yeah. And boy, they make c- like, he did all the Hard Times tables, and they were all brutal.

Fedor Gorst 19:10 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 19:10 (laughs) Really, really tight tables.

Fedor Gorst 19:12 Super tight.

Joe Rogan 19:12 Yeah. But, uh, I watched you play him. And what did you run, seven and out on him? There was, like, this one match...

Fedor Gorst 19:19 How long ago was it?

Joe Rogan 19:20 It wasn't that long ago.

Fedor Gorst 19:22 Uh, we played in, in his pool room in, uh, Sacramento?

Joe Rogan 19:26 I don't ... I think it might've been. Yeah. I think it might've been in Hard Times, in Hard Times in Sacramento.

Fedor Gorst 19:31 Uh...

Joe Rogan 19:31 But it was like, you played a perfect match.

Fedor Gorst 19:33 Perfect match.

Joe Rogan 19:34 It was, it was beautiful. I mean, you got perfect on every ball. Is this it right here? Yeah. This is the-

Narrator 19:38 A month ago.

Joe Rogan 19:39 Yeah. The name of the, the video is Absolute Perfection: Fedor Gorse Set Versus Oscar Dominguez.

Fedor Gorst 19:46 Oh, yeah. That was this year. That's, that's actually his pool room in Sacramento.

Joe Rogan 19:50 Which is Hard Times. Yeah, he bought Hard Times-

Fedor Gorst 19:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:53 ... which is amazing. It's an-

Fedor Gorst 19:54 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:54 ... amazing place. I, I played there once when I was, uh, doing standup comedy up there. So were you guys playing 10-ball?

Fedor Gorst 20:00 10-ball, yeah, with the magic rack.

Joe Rogan 20:03 Yeah. The magic rack, for f- people who don't know, there's a, there's a regular rack, where you put the balls in the rack, it's a wooden rack or a plastic rack, and it's shaped like a, a triangle. And then there's this plastic sheet that keeps the balls completely tight, and it's not a rack like a normal rack. It's something that you place the balls on, and it ensures that all the balls are completely tight. So, in a situation like that, obviously, you know this. It's just for people at home.

Fedor Gorst 20:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:31 The, the balls will spread very evenly, or very, um, uh, th- they're, they're, they have a similar reaction every time. So you c- you're playing for specific balls, right? So...

Fedor Gorst 20:44 Yeah, yeah. You have more control. You can actually control the ball that you can make on the break, where-

Joe Rogan 20:49 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 20:49 ... versus the regular wooden rack. It's not really like that. It's-

Joe Rogan 20:53 Yes, some people-

Fedor Gorst 20:54 ... more unpredictable.

Joe Rogan 20:54 ... get upset at the magic rack, because really good players, when they have a very good controlled break, they either make the one on the side or they make the corner ball, and then they play in position on the one with the cue ball, and then they just get out over and over-

Fedor Gorst 21:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:07 ... and over again. Um, but I, I appreciate perfection. I appreciate watching something like this where someone just gets dead on every ball.

Fedor Gorst 21:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:17 It was fun playing you out there too.

Fedor Gorst 21:19 Oh, yeah. Me too. It was fun.

Joe Rogan 21:20 It's fun, it's fun watching, you know?

Fedor Gorst 21:22 I honestly, uh, didn't think that you were that good. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:25 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 21:25 But you played real good.

Joe Rogan 21:26 Well, I was just happy, I ran out the first game on you. I'm like-

Fedor Gorst 21:29 Oh, yeah, you put some pressure on me.

Joe Rogan 21:30 ... at least I got one.

Fedor Gorst 21:30 Put some pressure on me.

Joe Rogan 21:31 At least I got one. I had to get, make some tough shots too.

Fedor Gorst 21:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:34 That's a tough table too, that four and a quarter inch-

Fedor Gorst 21:36 Yeah, Diamond.

Joe Rogan 21:37 ... Diamond. That's a, that's not an easy table.

Fedor Gorst 21:39 No, it's not.

Joe Rogan 21:39 Yeah. But I got excited. I was excited to play you. 'Cause I don't get a chance to p- I play my friend Shaun, but I don't get a chance to play like real-

Fedor Gorst 21:47 You beat him?

Joe Rogan 21:47 ... elite players. Uh, he wins some games. Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 21:51 All right.

Joe Rogan 21:51 Sometimes I fuck up. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 21:54 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:54 But he gets out. He gets out, he can win some games. But not like you. You know?

Fedor Gorst 21:58 Yeah. Well, I appreciate it too.

Joe Rogan 22:00 Oh, yeah. My pleasure. So, um, when you decided ... Like, pool as a profession is, uh, there's, there's a small handful of people that make a good living.

Fedor Gorst 22:13 Oh, very small, yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:14 Yeah, very small handful. And then everybody else is just basically doing it because they have a passion for it.

Fedor Gorst 22:19 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:21 Yeah. That's a strange thing to dedicate your life to. Like, 'cause a lot of people feel like there's n- it's one of those things where if you get really, really, really good at it, you go, "Damn, I could've got really good at something else and I'd be rich."

Fedor Gorst 22:34 Oh, for sure. For sure.

Joe Rogan 22:35 Like, if you got really good at tennis-

Fedor Gorst 22:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:36 ... you'd be rich.

Fedor Gorst 22:37 Yep.

Joe Rogan 22:38 If you were really good at golf, you'd be rich.

Fedor Gorst 22:40 But honestly, the, the, the way I see the game is growing nowadays, and, uh-

Joe Rogan 22:44 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 22:45 ... the prize money is getting bigger and bigger.

Joe Rogan 22:47 It is.

Fedor Gorst 22:48 Yeah. It's beautiful.

Joe Rogan 22:48 Well, Match Room Pool is doing a great job. They put on a lot of tournaments, and you can watch them on DAZN, that, the app-

Fedor Gorst 22:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 22:55 ... you know, the streaming app. But it's, uh, it's a, an underappreciated game that occasionally blows up in America. Like, during, when The Hustler came out, everybody wanted to play pool.

Fedor Gorst 23:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:06 And then there was, like, a lull, and then The Color of Money came out with Tom Cruise and Paul Newman, and everybody wanted to play pool. And pool rooms exploded all over the country, and it was on ESPN and ev- But then slowly but surely, it kind of fades.

Fedor Gorst 23:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:20 And it's, it's in a position now where I think the internet is, uh, really doing a good job of bringing it back, and I have some ideas of my own, what I wanna do. And one of the things that I wanna do is I wanna host matches here, and, uh, me and, uh, my friend Tommy from, uh, the East Coast who's a really good player do commentary, and put it up on YouTube.

Fedor Gorst 23:42 Sure, that's be great. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:42 That's kinda fun. I think, I think it'd be a fun thing to do.

Fedor Gorst 23:44 That'll be fun for sure.

Joe Rogan 23:45 And to get a guy like, you know, maybe you versus a guy like Mika Emenen or a guy like Shane Van Boening, and have you guys play-

Fedor Gorst 23:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:53 ... matches-

Fedor Gorst 23:54 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 23:54 ... ab- for prize money.

Fedor Gorst 23:55 That'd be fun, yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:56 Good, right?

Fedor Gorst 23:56 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:57 I think ... I'm try- I've been trying to figure out ideas to make pool more popular.

Fedor Gorst 24:03 For sure, yeah. I mean, uh, that helps, yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:05 I think that's the best one is me do commentary because, um, I can't play good enough to play in a tournament, but I can y- you know, I can play good enough that I understand what's going on.

Fedor Gorst 24:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:18 You know?

Fedor Gorst 24:19 Sure.

Joe Rogan 24:19 So-... there, there's a hope.

Fedor Gorst 24:22 Well, that sounds real good.

Joe Rogan 24:23 Yeah. So when you first started going to, uh, Europe and playing, how old were you then?

Fedor Gorst 24:30 Uh, I was, uh, 14 when I went t- or 13 when I went to my first Europe tour.

Joe Rogan 24:35 So this is like, uh, y- your parents fund this or someone else? Do you have a sponsor that takes-

Fedor Gorst 24:40 No, uh, what... So what happened was, uh, when I was, uh... The very first Europe tour I went to, uh, I was sponsoring myself. So I, uh, spent my own money out of my own pocket, and, uh, did really good. I finished in the last 32 my very first Europe tour. And then, uh, my father, uh, passed away when I was 13, and, uh, two years later, uh, after, like, uh, tough, tough times, uh, one guy... So I, I was always going to the pool room in Moscow trying to hustle people.

Joe Rogan 25:16 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 25:17 I was always-

Joe Rogan 25:17 At 13?

Fedor Gorst 25:18 At 13, yeah.

Joe Rogan 25:19 Wow.

Fedor Gorst 25:19 I mean, I was, uh, I was really passionate about the game and, uh, after school I was always going to the pool room trying to play with somebody. I mean, cheap, like, $10, $20 trying to make something. And also it's good practice for me because, uh... I mean, you... The more you play, the better you play.

Joe Rogan 25:37 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 25:38 And, uh, there was one guy, uh, his name is Mike Nikolaev, and, uh, I know he was playing worse than me, and, uh, we were playing for like $15 per set. So I was going, you know, thinking that, you know, it's free money, $45, win a couple of sets and, uh, go back home. I get there, and I only had like $20 with me. I had no money. And, uh, I ended up losing all of the sets, all three sets. Uh, I don't know, I don't know how it happened, but I, I lost everything. And, uh, uh, I told him that I'll pay, I'll pay him later. And then, uh, the same evening, he messaged me, "You know what? We have to meet again tomorrow." And, uh, when I came to the pool room, he offered me a sponsorship. He said, "I'll, I'll take care of you. You can pick whatever cue you want." And, uh, you know, "We have to plan your career and if you really want to make it, then I'll help you."

Joe Rogan 26:37 Really? Just one match? You played one set against each other?

Fedor Gorst 26:41 No, we played three sets.

Joe Rogan 26:41 Three sets.

Fedor Gorst 26:42 I lost all of them.

Joe Rogan 26:42 So three sets. Yeah, but even though you lost, he still saw so much potential in you that he wanted to sponsor you. That's interesting.

Fedor Gorst 26:49 Yeah, yeah, uh, there was, there was a lot of, uh, situations like this in my life, honestly, that I'm grateful and, uh, it's absolutely amazing how it happened. So, uh, yeah, after this, we started with some European tournaments. I went to Norway, Sweden, some, uh, Europe tours and I wasn't really winning, but I had a slightly progression and I was always practicing and trying to get better. And, uh, yeah, like I said, with Johan Reising coming to Russia as the national coach at the same time, that was perfect timing because, uh, Mike told me that we can possibly work with Johan individually later on, which happened and, uh, that's how it all started.

Joe Rogan 27:32 That's so fortunate.

Fedor Gorst 27:33 Yeah, it is.

Joe Rogan 27:34 Isn't that crazy how that works? How one encounter with someone can change your entire life?

Fedor Gorst 27:40 Oh, yeah, Mike and his brother Vladimir, they, uh, they helped me so much and it's crazy how it happened. And then we went to Derby City Classic, people saw how I play and then, uh-

Joe Rogan 27:51 How old were you then?

Fedor Gorst 27:52 16.

Joe Rogan 27:52 16 at the Derby City.

Fedor Gorst 27:54 So Mike, Mike-

Joe Rogan 27:55 They won't even let you in this year, right? I think you have to be...

Fedor Gorst 27:59 Last year they changed the rules because of the casino.

Joe Rogan 28:02 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 28:02 And I, I didn't play last, uh, the year before.

Joe Rogan 28:05 Well, it used to be on a boat, right?

Fedor Gorst 28:07 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:07 Which is like, there's a term riverboat gambler. I, I was good friends with this guy who's a really hilarious, uh, pool player, uh, who used to call everybody, "Oh, he's a riverboat gambler."

Fedor Gorst 28:19 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 28:19 Like, everybody who is like a wild, crazy gambler, he would call a riverboat gambler. So I thought it was so appropriate when they moved Derby City to an actual riverboat. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 28:29 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 28:32 But I would imagine, like, do they have to deal with waves? Does the, the boat move?

Fedor Gorst 28:37 I don't know. I really...

Joe Rogan 28:39 I mean, that sounds stupid for pool.

Fedor Gorst 28:40 It is, it is.

Joe Rogan 28:41 I mean, unless that sucker's anchored into the ground.

Fedor Gorst 28:44 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:44 Like it's gonna move around. Like the balls could shift.

Fedor Gorst 28:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:48 Like if somebody drives by and leaves a big wake.

Fedor Gorst 28:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:51 You know, the, the tables could move a little bit.

Fedor Gorst 28:55 So yeah, what happened was, uh, then the year after, I came to Derby and I did good in that invitational tournament and on the side, I used to always hustle and do something like bet on the matches and, uh, trying to win a little more. And then I, uh... Actually what it was, I was playing that invitational table tournament and me and my friend Maxim, who was also was a pool player with me on the trip, uh, we used to bet on me playing in that tournament on every match. And we didn't know the person that we were betting on. It was, uh, Alan and Jason, uh, the brother that came with me today.

Joe Rogan 29:33 Ah.

Fedor Gorst 29:34 So, uh, we were betting and betting and betting and then, uh, I think the final match, I got into the finals, I played Roberto Gomez. We asked him if, you know, if you wanna double or nothing or bet again and they said, "No, we're good." So I ended up losing and then, uh, they were staking, uh, Skyler Woodward at the time. They were putting them... Puting, putting Skyler in the tournament and, uh, I drew Skyler in, uh, round 10 of Derby City Classic and beat him nine to one.

Joe Rogan 30:02 Wow.

Fedor Gorst 30:03 (laughs) Yeah. That year-

Joe Rogan 30:04 He's very good.

Fedor Gorst 30:05 Oh yeah, he is. He is, uh, he's still a top player today.

Joe Rogan 30:07 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 30:09 And that's how I met the other two brothers, Alan and Jason, and that's, that's another-

Joe Rogan 30:13 Oh, that's crazy.

Fedor Gorst 30:14 (laughs) Yeah. And then...

Joe Rogan 30:15 Well, was Skyler on the Mosconi Cup this year? Was he on the US team?

Fedor Gorst 30:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:20 Um, the Mosconi Cup, for people who don't know, is a really amazing event that they put on where it's every year. It's in December?

Fedor Gorst 30:29 It's-

Joe Rogan 30:29 November, December?

Fedor Gorst 30:29 ... either end of November or beginning of December.

Joe Rogan 30:32 It's, uh, a team match between Europe and the United States. So you have all the top European players, and they play all sorts of different ways. They play individually, one-on-one. They play two versus two, which is very interesting. Like, if you and I were playing two versus two, and we were on the same team, you would make a shot and leave position for me, and then I would make a shot and leave position for you. Which is interesting because some of the guys are left-handed and some of the guys are right-handed, so you have to leave position for a left-handed shot-

Fedor Gorst 31:03 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:03 ... where you, you, you know, where it would be awkward for you to reach if you're right-handed, but it's perfect for left-handed. So there's a lot of, like, weird thinking. And then on top of that, there's the wildest crowd in all of pool.

Fedor Gorst 31:16 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:17 But they're great, because they're quiet when the player's down on the ball.

Fedor Gorst 31:21 Yeah, I mean, they know what's going on.

Joe Rogan 31:23 Yes.

Fedor Gorst 31:23 I mean, all of them are pool fans, and they, uh, they know when, when they can yell and when they can't yell.

Joe Rogan 31:26 I wanted to get out to Vegas to see it this year, but I was just too busy. I really wanted to go, because I... It's, it looks like so much fun to watch on TV, because there's so much screaming and cheering when someone makes a shot, and then everybody quiets down again.

Fedor Gorst 31:40 Yeah, this year there was, uh, as wild as it could be, I think.

Joe Rogan 31:43 Yes. It was very wild.

Fedor Gorst 31:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:45 And Europe won this year.

Fedor Gorst 31:46 Yep.

Joe Rogan 31:47 And unfortunately, you weren't allowed to play for the European team.

Fedor Gorst 31:51 I, I was allowed, but I wasn't, uh-

Joe Rogan 31:54 You weren't? They didn't pick you?

Fedor Gorst 31:54 I was just... I wasn't picked, yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:56 That's bullshit.

Fedor Gorst 31:57 Uh, I mean-

Joe Rogan 31:58 I think that's bullshit.

Fedor Gorst 32:00 I mean, yeah, I think so, too. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:02 I think it's bullshit. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 32:03 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:03 I think it's because you're Russian, 100%.

Fedor Gorst 32:06 I think it's... I mean-

Joe Rogan 32:06 It just seemed like they probably were like, "Look, maybe it's not this, the best time to put a Russian player in the Mosconi Cup." But you-

Fedor Gorst 32:14 And it probably isn't, but, uh-

Joe Rogan 32:16 Maybe, maybe politically. I don't think they have a problem with it in America.

Fedor Gorst 32:20 Oh, no.

Joe Rogan 32:20 'Cause like when Russian fighters fight in the UFC, no one has a problem with it. It's like when, when they're really good, you know, no one, no one cares.

Fedor Gorst 32:27 No. And honestly, uh, this year, being in the United States, I stayed here since February, and I had a lot of support from American fans. And, uh, everybody treated me so well that, uh, I don't think there will be any problem.

Joe Rogan 32:40 Not at all. Now, this is a country of immigrants.

Fedor Gorst 32:43 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 32:43 I mean, it's the whole country.

Fedor Gorst 32:46 Yes.

Joe Rogan 32:46 There's no one... I mean, unless you're Native American, this is a co-... And even them. They p-... Most likely, some of 'em came across the Bering Strait a long time ago, or, or some of 'em may have, might have been here originally.

Fedor Gorst 32:56 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:56 But this is a country primarily, the vast majority of the population, their grandparents or their parents or some, or them, they came from another country. So, the... I think we're more accepting of that here.

Fedor Gorst 33:09 Yeah. I mean, uh, I... It's tough, tough question for me, because, uh, I still don't really know the, the real reason why I wasn't picked, but...

Joe Rogan 33:17 It's 100% because you're Russian. I'll just tell you the real reason.

Fedor Gorst 33:20 All right. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:21 It has to be. You're, you're without doubt one of the best players in the world. Like I said, I think you're in the top five of the world, for sure. Like, you could win any tournament in the world, right? Don't you think?

Fedor Gorst 33:31 Yeah, I can.

Joe Rogan 33:31 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 33:32 100%.

Joe Rogan 33:32 Any tournament. You enter, you could win.

Fedor Gorst 33:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:34 You're in the finals against, who? Na- Jason Shaw, whoever it is, you have a very good chance of winning.

Fedor Gorst 33:40 I agree, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:40 But that elite level, when you get to that level, the Shane Van Boenings, you, uh, Dennis Rocolo, like, anybody can win.

Fedor Gorst 33:49 Oh, for sure, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:51 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 33:51 And every, everybody will have a different winner every tournament, too.

Joe Rogan 33:53 Mm-hmm. Yeah. But for the rare people that can win, like the U... Like, how many times has Shane won the US Open?

Fedor Gorst 33:59 Five.

Joe Rogan 34:00 Crazy, right?

Fedor Gorst 34:01 It is.

Joe Rogan 34:01 That's crazy. Or Earl. How many times did Earl win the US Open?

Fedor Gorst 34:05 The same, I think.

Joe Rogan 34:07 I invited Earl on the podcast and he didn't even get back to me.

Fedor Gorst 34:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:10 Earl was mad at me (laughs) 'cause I did an impression of him. Have you ever seen my impression of him?

Fedor Gorst 34:14 Yeah, yeah. That's, that was great. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:15 But I, I can only do an impression of him because I'm a fan.

Fedor Gorst 34:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:19 Like, if I can do that voice, the only reason... "The only reason you can do that voice is you've watched my game." I'm a giant fan of that guy. Like-

Fedor Gorst 34:28 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:28 ... when I was doing that, that was with Justin Collet from The Action Report, who was, uh... Play that, Jamie.

Fedor Gorst 34:35 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:35 Because for, for people who don't know, this is my best impression. Like out of all the impressions-

Fedor Gorst 34:41 Oh, this is-

Joe Rogan 34:41 ... that I do, I can do a bunch of... I can do, like, Mike Tyson. My voice is not good at impressions, but there's a few that I could do. Here, rewind-

Narrator 34:49 My name is Justin with theactionreport.com. We're joined here tonight live from Hollywood Billiards in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Earl Strickland, ladies and gentlemen. Earl, how are you doing tonight?

34:58 Pool is a beautiful game-

Joe Rogan 34:59 (laughs)

Narrator 34:59 ... played by ugly people.

Joe Rogan 35:02 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 35:02 (laughs)

Narrator 35:02 Okay. First of all, how are you gonna play pool if you're not properly equipped?

Joe Rogan 35:07 (laughs)

Narrator 35:07 Where's your beekeeper's outfit? You don't have no ass weights. I don't see you in waders. I don't see you doing-

Joe Rogan 35:12 For people who don't understand-

Narrator 35:13 What the hell are you doing?

Joe Rogan 35:13 ... Earl is very eccentric-

Narrator 35:14 You gotta duck that song too. No.

Joe Rogan 35:14 ... and he wears, like, weights on his arms and shit.

Narrator 35:17 Get the fuck on the table.

Fedor Gorst 35:18 Yeah. (laughs) You have to put Earl Strickland-

Narrator 35:19 How do you feel about jump cue, Earl?

Fedor Gorst 35:20 ... picture on their set.

Narrator 35:21 Jump cue? When I was a kid, you couldn't jump with a fucking jump cue.

Joe Rogan 35:24 (laughs)

Narrator 35:24 That ain't jumping. What the fuck is that? You got a tiny little cue and you're all pleased as punch. You got a big smile on your face like you just did something. Get the fuck out.

Joe Rogan 35:33 (laughs)

Narrator 35:33 I jump with a mutchie. I jump full table with a mutchie. How about that? How strong is that?

35:40 What's your plans for the rest of the year, Earl? I mean, you, you got a lot going on.

35:44 A lot of it involves marijuana.

35:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 35:47 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 35:48 (laughs)

Narrator 35:48 I'll get with Nick, Nick-

Joe Rogan 35:48 I think that's, I think that's what he got upset at.

Fedor Gorst 35:52 (laughs) Probably.

Narrator 35:52 How does he know?

Joe Rogan 35:54 If you... Now play a video of Earl Strickland actually talking. 'Cause there's a video of me and Earl when I met him. I don't even know if he remembers that I met him. I met him after that, and he's like, "Why are you picking on me?" I'm like, "I love you. I'm a big fan."

Narrator 36:08 ... on the film with me today. That's it.

36:09 ... I've watched he and I pull.

36:10 Oh, you watched-

Joe Rogan 36:10 (laughs)

Narrator 36:11 ... only the match when you guys are together? How can you watch pull? All the guy does is pick lint off the table with his finger, with his hand.

36:17 (laughs)

36:17 No, they, they won't even shoot. Johnny Archer, Ralph Suque, and Charlie Williams won't pull a pool all together.

Joe Rogan 36:23 (laughs) Okay, that's good enough. So, it's my best impression.

Fedor Gorst 36:26 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:26 It's the most obscure impression in all of the world of entertainment-

Fedor Gorst 36:31 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:31 ... and I picked Earl.

Fedor Gorst 36:32 It is, it's a perfect copy of him.

Joe Rogan 36:34 I'm ge- I want you on Earl. Come on. Come on, Earl. I'm your fan.

Fedor Gorst 36:38 That'd be fun, that'd be fun. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:38 I love the guy.

Fedor Gorst 36:39 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:40 I, I'm a giant fan of his, and he's absolutely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, nine-ball player of all time.

Fedor Gorst 36:46 Yeah, and, and the greatest character in the game, for sure.

Joe Rogan 36:48 Oh, my God. For sure. I mean, for people who don't know, he, he wears, like, tape all over the tips of his fingers so that they, it looks like he's got golf balls on the end of his fingers.

Fedor Gorst 36:58 Yep. Weights all over the body, too.

Joe Rogan 36:59 Yeah, he wears weights on his body so he stays still.

Fedor Gorst 37:02 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:02 He wears weights on his elbow sometimes. He sometimes he wears, uh, like, shooting glasses, like tactical glasses.

Fedor Gorst 37:09 (laughs) Headphones, yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:09 He wears giant (laughs) headphones-

Fedor Gorst 37:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 37:10 ... so he can't hear anybody.

Fedor Gorst 37:11 I mean, he's very athletic, too. He runs every day-

Joe Rogan 37:13 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 37:14 ... does like 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups every day, and...

Joe Rogan 37:17 And he's w- you know, super, super accomplished. And still to this day can play top-flight world, world-class pool, and he's in his 60s.

Fedor Gorst 37:25 Yeah, I mean, he was on Mosconi Cup.

Joe Rogan 37:27 Yes, he was on Moscona cup and played really well. He's playing with like a very large tip now. What is he doing? He's get-

Fedor Gorst 37:33 He has some-

Joe Rogan 37:33 This is his new thing. It's like a 14 millimeter tip, it looks like.

Fedor Gorst 37:36 He has some weird cue. It's, uh, it's like a break you shaft with a break you ferrule, but the blank tip, and yeah, I don't know. It's like thuperth- super thick, and, uh, he never lets anybody touches this, this cue.

Joe Rogan 37:49 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 37:49 So (laughs) I don't know.

Joe Rogan 37:51 Well, he has tennis wrap all over the handle.

Fedor Gorst 37:54 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:54 And he was the first guy, I think, to play with an extension completely like attached to his cue all the time.

Fedor Gorst 38:01 Yeah, and I think Shane van Boening is also playing with an extension because of-

Joe Rogan 38:04 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 38:04 ... because of Earl.

Joe Rogan 38:05 I think so, too. Yeah. I think he actually played Earl and he's like, "Let me try that." And-

Fedor Gorst 38:09 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 38:09 Oh, shit. There's something to it. I know you don't like the extension, but there is something to it. When you have that extension on, it seems like there's a little bit more momentum.

Fedor Gorst 38:17 I mean, it changes the balance-

Joe Rogan 38:18 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 38:19 ... and that's what players like about it, I think.

Joe Rogan 38:21 Yeah, like a lot of top players now-

Fedor Gorst 38:23 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:23 ... play with at least a four-inch extension.

Fedor Gorst 38:25 Yeah, and a tiny one, too.

Joe Rogan 38:26 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 38:27 The one, one-inch extension.

Joe Rogan 38:28 Oh, really?

Fedor Gorst 38:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 38:29 Just for just a little bit of weight out back.

Fedor Gorst 38:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 38:31 Just a little extra weight out back. Yeah, I'm, uh, like I said, uh, I wanted to get Earl on, but he didn't wanna do it, but I'm like I think it'd be interesting to talk to you because I just think your journey and just to be such a young guy and to make this trek from, come from Russia and come to the United States and now live here and play pool, I'm just fascinated to, like, what is that like? Is it, is, does it feel strange to you?

Fedor Gorst 38:54 I mean, it feels really, uh, strange, but it's been already eight months, so, uh, I got really used to that already.

Joe Rogan 39:02 Do you have a permanent residence in, in American? (coughs) Excuse me.

Fedor Gorst 39:05 So, uh, actually, uh... I actually should apply for a green card this week. My girlfriend, Christina, she already got a green card, uh, last weekend. So...

Joe Rogan 39:16 Your girlfriend plays, too?

Fedor Gorst 39:17 Yeah, and she's good.

Joe Rogan 39:18 Yeah. Well, that's the, the key to a relationship with a pool player. You can't be playing with non-pool players or-

Fedor Gorst 39:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 39:25 You can't be, like, have a relationship with non-pool players 'cause they're not gonna understand.

Fedor Gorst 39:29 No, it's tough. I mean, pool players, they're traveling a lot and playing pool all day. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 39:34 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 39:34 I mean, how can you, how can you like it if you're not-

Joe Rogan 39:36 No.

Fedor Gorst 39:36 ... pool related?

Joe Rogan 39:37 I think you have to be involved. So it, it narrows the dating pool for pool players 'cause, like, um, like, how many guys date pool players that are actual pool players? Like Josh Filler-

Fedor Gorst 39:49 Josh Filler.

Joe Rogan 39:49 ... his wife is a pool player.

Fedor Gorst 39:51 Tyler Steier.

Joe Rogan 39:52 His, his wife is a pool player.

Fedor Gorst 39:53 Yes.

Joe Rogan 39:54 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 39:54 Uh, I mean, who else? (exhales) There was someone else. Uh...

Joe Rogan 40:04 Whatever.

Fedor Gorst 40:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:05 Someone else. But there are pool groupies.

Fedor Gorst 40:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:08 And I r- I found that out with my friend Johnny, 'cause my friend Johnny was a really good player when I lived in New York, and, like, girls wanted to fuck him 'cause he was a pool player.

Fedor Gorst 40:15 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 40:15 I'm like, "This is crazy." (laughs) He was, he's a big, fat guy.

Fedor Gorst 40:19 (laughs) Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 40:20 But girls loved him because he was so good. He was such a good pool player. You know, um, I don't know if you ever read this book, um, is a book called, uh, McGurdy, uh, Life of a Billiard Hustler. Very interesting book about... Robert Byrne wrote it, and it's about a guy who... You know Robert Byrne? The guy who writes all those instructional books in pool?

Fedor Gorst 40:38 Yeah, I've heard of him, but I never read the book.

Joe Rogan 40:40 He wrote this book about this guy who was a famous pool hustler in the, the Depression and traveled around... It's, it's a, it's, it's an interesting, um, book for anybody to read, not just, uh, someone who's interested in pool, because it's about this person who's i- involved in, uh, just deep struggle, like riding around on railroad cars and begging for food, and, you know, it was, it wasn't an easy life by any stretch of the imagination. But, um, what was my point? Um... I forgot my point. Oh, that's, this is my point. So he, they were, they were in a pool hall once, and, uh, Nixon was on TV and he was the president. (smacks lips) And he was with this guy, and the guy goes, "Look at that guy. President of the United States and he can't make a ball." (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 41:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:29 That's how pool players think.

Fedor Gorst 41:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:31 They don't give a fuck about you if you can't play pool.

Fedor Gorst 41:34 I mean, some of them are like that, yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:36 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 41:36 100%.

Joe Rogan 41:36 No, a lot of them are like that, man. That's like one thing that I'm proud of, that's like I, I've played pool with some people and they're like, "Oh, you actually can play some pool."

Fedor Gorst 41:46 Well, that's how I was today. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:49 (laughs) I played Mike Segal once and I broke and ran... Well, I didn't break and ran out. He missed a ball and I ran out the first set on him, too.

Fedor Gorst 41:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:54 And he talked about it on a podcast, too.

Fedor Gorst 41:56 Wow.

Joe Rogan 41:57 So, I was, I was very proud 'cause he said, you know, that I'm a really good pool player. I'm like, "Oh, Mike Segal said that."... that's the-

Fedor Gorst 42:02 Well, I mean, that's an achievement-

Joe Rogan 42:04 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 42:04 ... for sure.

Joe Rogan 42:05 Yeah. He has a po- a podcast now. It's him and Kim Davenport, and, uh, David Pierce.

Fedor Gorst 42:11 I think I saw it, yeah, at the International Open this year. They were doing something.

Joe Rogan 42:14 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, uh ... It's cool. I'm, I'm glad that people are, you know, the, the ... Because of the internet, there's like a whole thing with live streaming.

Fedor Gorst 42:24 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 42:24 So, there's like live stream matches, and there's live stream matches that people do for pay-per-view.

Fedor Gorst 42:28 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:29 Which is really interesting.

Fedor Gorst 42:30 Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's ... It's also helping the game to grow, I think. I mean ...

Joe Rogan 42:34 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 42:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:36 There's still guys that don't travel and don't do anything, and they stay in their hometown, and they're like elite players too, like Justin Bergman.

Fedor Gorst 42:44 Yeah. I mean, Justin is a lead player. He's, uh, as elite as it could be, but he-

Joe Rogan 42:48 As elite as it gets.

Fedor Gorst 42:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:49 There's a video of him. Pull this up. Justin Bergman runs 18 racks.

Fedor Gorst 42:55 That's, that's been recently, but it was on the bar table.

Joe Rogan 42:57 It was on a bar table.

Fedor Gorst 42:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:58 Was it a seven-foot or a six-foot?

Fedor Gorst 43:00 Seven-foot. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:00 Seven-foot. So it's not as impressive, but it's fucking crazy. When you watch him do it, it does ... It's not as impressive because he's playing on, uh, a smaller table, but I mean, holy shit. I mean-

Fedor Gorst 43:14 But also, it's a, it's a nine-ball with the magic rack.

Joe Rogan 43:18 Yes.

Fedor Gorst 43:19 So it's-

Joe Rogan 43:19 Right.

Fedor Gorst 43:19 It's the easiest game you can ever imagine on a pool table.

Joe Rogan 43:22 Yes. Easiest game you can imagine on a pool table, but still.

Fedor Gorst 43:25 Yeah, of course. I mean, the 18-pack-

Joe Rogan 43:27 The guy ra-

Fedor Gorst 43:27 ... is an 18-pack.

Joe Rogan 43:28 Now he plays with one of these Kiel wood shafts.

Fedor Gorst 43:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:31 What do you think of those?

Fedor Gorst 43:33 I actually tried his shaft, and I'm, I'm the big fan, but I've tried a lot of Kiel wood shafts, and they're not, I mean, they're not as consistent as carbon fiber, I think.

Joe Rogan 43:43 Well, it's, it's, uh, uh ... It's a different thing because it's ... You have a different feel, right?

Fedor Gorst 43:49 Yeah, yeah, completely different feel.

Joe Rogan 43:50 Um, but r- you know Richard, uh, Hsu?

Fedor Gorst 43:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 43:53 He makes those Tsunami, uh, shafts. Those are really good.

Fedor Gorst 43:57 Yeah, I like them.

Joe Rogan 43:57 I've got one of those for my Southwest. I like it a lot, and I'm, I'm gonna have him make me some for other, other cues.

Fedor Gorst 44:03 See, it's very, very personal when it comes to cues, I mean-

Joe Rogan 44:06 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 44:07 You like extension Kiel wood shafts. I like non-extensions and carbon fiber, and we could be playing completely different styles. That's what great about pool, I think.

Joe Rogan 44:15 Well, I like carbon fiber too. I think it's a ... It used to be, back in the day, people would play with fiberglass-

Fedor Gorst 44:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 44:23 ... cues, and they were a lemon. Like you saw someone playing with like a, a, a black fiberglass shaft, you're like, "Oh, this guy sucks."

Fedor Gorst 44:29 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:30 (laughs) 'Cause, 'cause they, they kind of sucked back then.

Fedor Gorst 44:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:32 But then Cue Tech, which is your sponsor-

Fedor Gorst 44:35 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 44:35 ... started sponsoring Earl, and then they eventually sponsored Shane and a bunch of other elite players, and they started making like really good pool cues.

Fedor Gorst 44:42 Yeah. Yeah, they did, and I think they were the first ones that were making this fiberglass shafts that-

Joe Rogan 44:48 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 44:48 ... were really popular back in the day.

Joe Rogan 44:50 Well, remember they used to make a wooden shaft that's covered in like a thin sheet of clear plastic.

Fedor Gorst 44:56 I think that's what Shane used to play with.

Joe Rogan 44:58 Yes, back in the day. Earl, y- it looks like his was sanded down.

Fedor Gorst 45:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:02 'Cause i- it looked like he sanded the shit out of that clear stuff and got down to the wood.

Fedor Gorst 45:07 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:07 And he was playing with like a very small millimeter.

Fedor Gorst 45:09 Thinner one, yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:09 I think it was like a 12-millimeter shaft or something.

Fedor Gorst 45:11 Yeah, probably thinner.

Joe Rogan 45:12 Yeah. How do you, um ... How do you fall on like what weight to play with, what millimeter to play with? Do you ... Did you slowly evolve? Because you play with a fairly light cue. You pay- play with an 18-ounce cue. For a lot of people that don't know, that's on the lighter side.

Fedor Gorst 45:30 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 45:30 And your, your tip is, uh, 11.5?

Fedor Gorst 45:33 12.5.

Joe Rogan 45:34 12, oh, excuse me. 12.5. You used to play with a 11-

Fedor Gorst 45:37 I-

Joe Rogan 45:38 ... mm, yeah?

Fedor Gorst 45:38 ... used to play with 11.7, and I would ... Used to shape it down a little more, so it probably was 11.5, but-

Joe Rogan 45:44 And that w- ... Was that the Z shaft?

Fedor Gorst 45:45 No, that was actually the Jacobi Edge shaft-

Joe Rogan 45:48 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 45:48 ... that I used to play with. Actually, that's another good story. I, uh, came to Derby City Classic the very first time, and Mike was a Jacobi cue ambassador, or he was a dealer in Russia, and, uh, he said, "You have to pick a cue when we go to US," and I didn't want to change my cue on the tournament right before I start, uh, playing. And he said, "It's all right. You, uh, y- you can do it, you know?" And I picked the cue from the wall, and I started hitting, and I, uh, and I really, really liked the cue, and I ended up beating like everybody. I played so good. Uh, that's, that's, that's amazing for me 'cause it never happened to me after that.

Joe Rogan 46:24 Like right o- right off the rack.

Fedor Gorst 46:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 46:26 Like that is unusual 'cause usually-

Fedor Gorst 46:28 Yeah. Usually you have to experiment with cues and find what's, what's better for you-

Joe Rogan 46:32 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 46:33 ... and what suits you, and, uh, that's actually how I found that 12.5, uh, five is better for me, and, uh, I've experimented so much that it's, uh, it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 46:42 For me, it's so fascinating because what the game is, is you are rolling a ball s- purely with the force of your arm and the weight of the cue, and you're trying to calculate the exact, or very close to the exact amount of revolutions a ball is going to make over the course of like a nine-foot table.

Fedor Gorst 47:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:05 And for people that don't play it and don't know how nuts that is, like some of the shots that you made out there, I was like, "Damn."

Fedor Gorst 47:10 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:11 'Cause you were making these long shots, but you got within inches of y- where you wanted to be.

Fedor Gorst 47:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:17 And that's just like a roll ... One extra roll and you're fucked.

Fedor Gorst 47:20 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:21 You know? It's-

Fedor Gorst 47:22 It's-

Joe Rogan 47:22 It's such a game of just millimeters.

Fedor Gorst 47:25 It's a game of millimeters.

Joe Rogan 47:26 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 47:26 A game changer, for sure.

Joe Rogan 47:27 But that's why the feel of the cue is so important.

Fedor Gorst 47:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 47:31 That's why, you know, y- and getting accustomed to what happens with that lighter weight cue or that heavier weight cue. Like a lot of the older players, like, uh, Efren Reyes always played with a very heavy cue. I think his cue was more than 21 ounces.

Fedor Gorst 47:47 Yeah, and they liked high deflection shafts.

Joe Rogan 47:49 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 47:49 Same as, same as all the Asians. Uh, I, I, I don't, I don't really know the reason why, but they all liked the high deflection shafts.

Joe Rogan 47:57 Yeah, they liked those stiff Southwest-style shafts.

Fedor Gorst 47:59 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:59 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 48:00 ... yep.

Joe Rogan 48:00 Do you think it's just because that's what they started with and they're accustomed to what happens when you hit the ball?

Fedor Gorst 48:06 I think so, yeah. I think so.

Joe Rogan 48:08 For people who don't know what we're talking about when it comes to high deflection and low deflection, the way you hit a ball with English, say, so if I hit a ball and I hit a ball on the right side of the ball, it'll actually throw the ball off to the left. And so, everybody calculates that when you shoot a ball. Like, sometimes when you're aiming at a ball with, uh, a shaft that has high deflection, you're really aiming to miss. But you're aiming with deflection so that you know that when the ball actually leaves the cue, it's gonna kinda squirt off to the right and it'll make the ball perfectly.

Fedor Gorst 48:42 Yeah. Sometimes you'll have to aim to the right side of the ball to hit the left side.

Joe Rogan 48:45 Yeah. But all of that is only available in your head if you're playing all the time.

Fedor Gorst 48:52 Oh, yeah. It takes a lot of practice, of course, and-

Joe Rogan 48:54 You get a feel for pool... When I was playing, when I lived in New York and I was playing every day, the, the best feeling in the world was when you're in stroke. Like, you've been playing every day, eight hours a day, and you can get out there and you could just fire balls in.

Fedor Gorst 49:09 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:09 And you just have that, you just have that touch. And it just, it comes and it goes.

Fedor Gorst 49:14 It, it is.

Joe Rogan 49:15 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 49:15 You know? It's a, it's a crazy thing. It doesn't really m- matter how, how much you practice. You have these days when you just feel everything, like-

Joe Rogan 49:22 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 49:23 ... when everything just comes together and you just don't miss.

Joe Rogan 49:27 And the problem with me is I like to work out. And if you lift weights, your fucking, your feel's gone.

Fedor Gorst 49:33 I know. That's why I'm very slim. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:35 Well, do you know Willie Hoppy? He wouldn't even drive a car on the days that he had a match.

Fedor Gorst 49:41 Wow.

Joe Rogan 49:41 Wouldn't even drive a car. He's like, "I'm not touching shit. I'm just gonna leave my arms-"

Fedor Gorst 49:44 Well, I have my own things too. And every player has them, but, uh, that's, that's too crazy for me.

Joe Rogan 49:50 But his was like, he didn't wanna use his arms.

Fedor Gorst 49:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:52 He, he didn't want any strain at all on his arms. Even just turning... I bet back in the Willie Hoppy, they prob-... I don't even know if they had power steering back then.

Fedor Gorst 50:01 Oh, yeah?

Joe Rogan 50:02 I don't know. Did they?

Narrator 50:03 What does that mean?

Joe Rogan 50:04 What, what year was Willie Hoppy around?

Narrator 50:07 Oh.

Joe Rogan 50:08 So Willie Hoppy, by the way, wasn't even necessarily always playing pool. He was more of a billiards player.

Narrator 50:13 Died in 1959.

Fedor Gorst 50:15 Uh-huh.

Narrator 50:15 So...

Joe Rogan 50:15 Okay. So when did they invent power steering? Let's find that out. 'Cause like, that makes sense 'cause I have, uh, an old Porsche and it doesn't have power steering.

Fedor Gorst 50:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 50:26 And every time I turn the wheel, I gotta fucking ah.

Fedor Gorst 50:28 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:29 You know? It's like, it involves a lot of strain. So maybe if he was playing w- w- uh, was driving around in some old bullshit car.

Narrator 50:35 Hmm. Technically a 1926, but I can't imagine that it was fully in every car or everything by then.

Joe Rogan 50:40 Hmm. Yeah. It probably sucked.

Fedor Gorst 50:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:43 Even though they had it, it probably was terrible.

Fedor Gorst 50:45 Yeah, probably.

Joe Rogan 50:46 But, yeah. Lifting weights is the worst. Like, I'll come here from the gym, and then I'll try to play with, uh, Sean, and I can't make a ball.

Fedor Gorst 50:53 Yeah, you feel like it's like a toothpick to you, right?

Joe Rogan 50:56 Uh, no. Just your arm's not communicating with you right.

Fedor Gorst 50:59 But it's actually really good to play after your workout 'cause then your muscle memory kicks in. And after practice sessions like this, you will be playing better.

Joe Rogan 51:10 Maybe. I think the only thing... Psst. Your arms are exhausted though when you work out. So like, all the muscle fibers are torn and they have to sort of rebuild. And so the communication with your arm is like, it's like it's, your arm's drunk.

Fedor Gorst 51:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 51:27 It's not thinking well. I think it might not be a bad time to practice, just like set up some balls and just practice using the weight of the cue and stroke through it. But if I had to play like a serious game and I just-

Fedor Gorst 51:39 No, no.

Joe Rogan 51:39 ... worked out, I'd be fucked.

Fedor Gorst 51:40 Oh, of course.

Joe Rogan 51:40 'Cause I don't have any confidence.

Fedor Gorst 51:42 Of course. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:42 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 51:42 It's the worst thing.

Joe Rogan 51:43 Yeah. Do you do anything before you play, like get y- get a massage or anything like that? Does that ever help you?

Fedor Gorst 51:51 Uh, yeah, I stretch a lot.

Joe Rogan 51:53 Stretch?

Fedor Gorst 51:54 So I, uh, yeah, I have a lot of problems with my back.

Joe Rogan 51:56 Hmm.

Fedor Gorst 51:56 Because, because of the way that I grew up and, uh, the way I had my stance set up in, when I was a kid.

Joe Rogan 52:02 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 52:03 So I have to stretch every day a- after the practice and before every morning.

Joe Rogan 52:08 What part of your back? Your lower back?

Fedor Gorst 52:10 The lower back. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:11 Have you ever done anything to strengthen that?

Fedor Gorst 52:13 Uh, I'm doing some core exercises. Yeah. I mean, I'm doing some planking, but I'm not, uh, I'm not very into it.

Joe Rogan 52:22 You're not very into exercise?

Fedor Gorst 52:24 No. (laughs) No.

Joe Rogan 52:24 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 52:24 But I want to be.

Joe Rogan 52:26 You want to be?

Fedor Gorst 52:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 52:27 Yeah. Well, there's a bunch of things that you can do for lower back that can help you a lot. Um, I'll show you afterwards. We have a gym next door.

Fedor Gorst 52:35 Well, I, I bought a thing, the machine they called a hipper extension, I think.

Joe Rogan 52:39 Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 52:40 That's what, that's what I do. I mean, that's for the lower back, right?

Joe Rogan 52:42 Yes. Yeah. That'll help a lot. Yeah. There's another machine called the Reverse Hyper, which is amazing. But it's a very specialized machine. You have to go to like a real strength and conditioning gym-

Fedor Gorst 52:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 52:53 ... for them to have something like that. But that's really good because it actually decompresses your back as well as strengthens it.

Fedor Gorst 52:59 Yeah. Well, the thing with me, I have one side of my back, uh, which is really tight, and the other one which is really, really, uh, weak. So I have scoliosis, and it really makes difficult for me to strengthen both sides, and so-

Joe Rogan 53:14 Have you always had scoliosis or do you think this is pool-related?

Fedor Gorst 53:18 I think, uh, I think it's pool-related.

Joe Rogan 53:20 Yeah. You know, um, they've done these, uh, examinations of bodies of archers from like, you know, 2,000 years ago.

Fedor Gorst 53:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 53:29 Like guys who pulled a bow. And so you'll pull a bow with your right side. So one side is pulling and the other side is just holding. And so you have one side that's like very muscular, and the other side, it's totally imbalanced. Like my friend John Dudley, he's a professional archer.

Fedor Gorst 53:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 53:46 And he's a professional bow hunter and he's an archery coach. And his back is so fucked up because for decades he's just been pulling with his right arm. And so his right side is like, his whole body's, uh, back's all funky because of that.

Fedor Gorst 54:02 Yeah. Well, it's kinda the same for me. But since I started to stretch and really take care of it, it's been, uh, it's been better. I mean, I'm 22.... and my back is already, like, uh, 45. I don't know, 50.

Joe Rogan 54:12 Oh, no. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 54:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:14 Um, have you seen the documentary on Jeanette Lee?

Fedor Gorst 54:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:17 Well, she had really bad scoliosis-

Fedor Gorst 54:19 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 54:19 ... and I didn't know how bad it was. Which is so impressive that she was able to play so well, 'cause they put these giant rods in her back.

Fedor Gorst 54:27 Yeah, it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 54:28 It's... Oh, my God. The scar goes up her entire back, and there's all these screws and shit in there. They're trying to straighten her back out. Like-

Fedor Gorst 54:36 Yeah, I don't know. It's, it's crazy. They got to do something.

Joe Rogan 54:38 They don't have to do that for you?

Fedor Gorst 54:39 No. No, I didn't do any surgeries or anything.

Joe Rogan 54:42 But what... Do you... Have you... If you tightened up the other side, if you strengthened up the other side, there's got to be some exercises that you could do to balance your body out.

Fedor Gorst 54:49 For sure, for sure. For sure.

Joe Rogan 54:50 You're just eventually gonna do that?

Fedor Gorst 54:53 I eventually have to do that, yeah.

Joe Rogan 54:54 Yeah, this is Jeanette Lee's back. Look at the size of that scar.

Fedor Gorst 54:57 Oh, man.

Joe Rogan 54:57 I mean, that is like... That's crazy. That's like a two-and-a-half-foot scar.

Fedor Gorst 55:02 It is.

Joe Rogan 55:02 That's her, that's her entire back. It's wild.

Fedor Gorst 55:07 Yeah, I don't want none of that, so I have to... (laughs) I have to do something.

Joe Rogan 55:09 I don't think they do that anymore. I don't think they do it like that anymore. There's all sorts of things you can do. I mean, scoliosis is obviously a very complicated, uh, ailment. But, um, there's people that believe that spinal decompression and strengthening and yoga exercises... Like, I was following this lady on Instagram, and she had scoliosis, and she fixed it with yoga and stretching and...

Fedor Gorst 55:32 Well, I was going to some, uh, gym that called Functional Patterns or something like that-

Joe Rogan 55:39 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 55:39 ... in Russia, and they told me that I, uh... They found some program that I can, uh, work just on one side for my back, and they, uh... But, uh... Uh, unfortunately, I can't go back and do that, so I have to find something else here, and I don't really have time. This year was crazy. I was playing pool nonstop.

Joe Rogan 55:58 How many hours of pl- uh, pool do you play a day?

Fedor Gorst 56:01 Uh, like I said, it's, it's different. When I practice and I don't have any tournaments, I s- try to play more, like six, eight hours a day, and just straight practicing. But when I'm in the tournament season and just have a day in between the tournaments, I play for only two, three hours, just to stay in stroke.

Joe Rogan 56:17 So, when you say practicing, are you setting up drills?

Fedor Gorst 56:21 Both. Drills, uh, I work on specific part of the game that are weak and that I want to strengthen. And, uh, you know, the break, the jumps, kicking. There's a lot of different aspects in the game that you can practice.

Joe Rogan 56:34 Do you break with one of those Break Rack things, or do you just sort of keep racking the balls?

Fedor Gorst 56:38 No, I actually ordered Break Rack, uh, thing couple of month ago.

Joe Rogan 56:42 It's pretty sweet.

Fedor Gorst 56:42 It is, it is.

Joe Rogan 56:43 Yeah, it's a great thing. I mean, it leaves a big white spot in the middle of your pool table, 'cause the ball keeps bouncing.

Fedor Gorst 56:48 Well, I put the-

Joe Rogan 56:49 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 56:49 ... double tape-

Joe Rogan 56:50 Oh.

Fedor Gorst 56:50 ... underneath, so...

Joe Rogan 56:51 That's smart.

Fedor Gorst 56:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:52 Yeah. But that... There's a bunch of those interesting inventions-

Fedor Gorst 56:56 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:56 ... that people have come up with.

Fedor Gorst 56:57 Yeah, yeah. It's, uh, super sweet.

Joe Rogan 56:59 Yeah, when you have a great break, like a guy like Shane that has a killer break, like, it's such an advantage. I watched, uh, a match once. I forget who he was, but I think he was playing Kopechny, and he was playing ten ball, and he made six balls on the break.

Fedor Gorst 57:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 57:14 (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 57:14 Yeah, I mean, break became so big nowadays that it's, uh, it's probably 80% of the game, playing nine ball and ten ball.

Joe Rogan 57:21 Especially with that Magic Rack, right?

Fedor Gorst 57:24 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, with the, with the, uh, wood rack, it's a little bit different. It depends who will be racking the balls, what are the rules, and, uh... I actually like the rules that they do nowadays. They, uh, they have the referees at every table-

Joe Rogan 57:37 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 57:38 ... racking with a wood rack, and they don't touch any balls once they remove the rack, so it's completely random.

Joe Rogan 57:43 Hmm. That is probably better, as long as the referee's giving you a good rack.

Fedor Gorst 57:49 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:50 The worst is when you're playing someone, and they purposely leave a little space there, and you hear that slug sound. Crack!

Fedor Gorst 57:57 Yeah. That happened to me too.

Joe Rogan 57:59 Yeah. It's gonna happen.

Fedor Gorst 58:00 Yeah, especially on the big stage, big match. It's, uh... I mean, it hurts.

Joe Rogan 58:05 Yeah. Well, there's so much at stake.

Fedor Gorst 58:07 Oh, yes, of course.

Joe Rogan 58:08 There's room for shenanigans.

Fedor Gorst 58:10 Yeah, it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 58:11 Yeah, but the, the, the break shot in pool is also, like, from a spectator perspective, like, people don't like to see a soft break. They like to see someone smash the balls-

Fedor Gorst 58:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:20 ... and then scatter all over the place randomly.

Fedor Gorst 58:23 That's why I really like the break that they have now, 'cause everybody's just whacking them, and hit and hope and believe that something goes in.

Joe Rogan 58:30 Yeah. Well, the- there was a, a time where they were making people spot the nine ball on the spot, 'cause they thought that would help, but then people figured around that too.

Fedor Gorst 58:39 I mean, pool players are figuring out the breaks so easy and so quick that it's, uh-

Joe Rogan 58:44 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 58:44 ... it's, it's a joke. I mean, doesn't matter which format you create. With the Magic Rack, they will always figure it out.

Joe Rogan 58:50 Yeah. Well, they figure out... They'll just practice all day and figure out which ball should be in which positions and whether to use a cut break, where you hit it on the side, or hit it straight from the middle.

Fedor Gorst 59:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 59:02 What do you think about, like, breaking from the box? When they... They had rules like that for a while. You couldn't break from the corner, because you could make a better bridge off the side rails, and s- people were hitting it harder, and hitting it at that angle, you got more action on the balls.

Fedor Gorst 59:15 Uh, well, they use that, uh, breaking rule at major events nowadays. They-

Joe Rogan 59:19 Really?

Fedor Gorst 59:20 They have a nine ball on the spot and break box. Not, not a... Like, a tiny break box that you can-

Joe Rogan 59:26 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 59:26 ... break from, and it's in the center. So, uh, you really have to cut, cut, cut a lot, cut the one ball, and, uh, you still can make both wing ball and the one ball on the side, but it's way, way tougher.

Joe Rogan 59:38 That would be a, a place where I would think, like, physical fitness would come into play. Like, if you were stronger, you know, you could... I- if... In that motion. Like, maybe there's a, a thing that you could do with, like, bands or something like that, where you'd develop a stronger break.

Fedor Gorst 59:55 Uh, I mean, I saw a lot of different pool machines that develop special muscles.

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 Really?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:02 Yeah, in Asia, they, they have 'em. But I never went to-

Joe Rogan 1:00:04 What?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:05 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:06 They have, like, workout pool machines?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:08 Yeah, kinda. Kinda.

Joe Rogan 1:00:09 Can you find them online?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:11 Uh, I think so, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:13 What are they called?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:14 I don't know.... I don't know, there is a pool machine called Hibs, H-I-B-S, in Russia, that the... So it's like a round thing with a pool ball there, and it just goes up, goes around, so you just keep shooting the cue ball. And what the Asian machine has is you, your cue is always going straight in the same line.

Joe Rogan 1:00:38 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 1:00:38 So you're developing the right muscles, and your muscle memory remembers the straight cuing.

Joe Rogan 1:00:44 Are you cuing... Are you putting the shaft through a tube or something? Like, how is it always going in a straight line?

Fedor Gorst 1:00:50 Uh, yeah, it's kind of like a tube, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:00:52 'Cause Buddy Hall had a thing like that for a while, where he was selling... It was, like, a, a tube that sat on a table, a small tube.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:01 With, like, little legs. And you would make a bridge, and you would... The whole thing would be, like, sliding your cue through that tube.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:10 I think it's, it's really helpful. I don't see these things, and I think if I were using it when I was a kid, it would help me a lot.

Joe Rogan 1:01:17 A- because some people, they're cuing the ball, and they don't even realize they're kind of going through the ball sideways.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:23 Like there's a spin on it.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:23 And even myself, even myself, I noticed that it's not... It's crooked a little bit. Nobody's perfect, but, uh...

Joe Rogan 1:01:29 Do you film yourself?

Fedor Gorst 1:01:30 Yeah. That's, that's what I did a lot, uh, when I was 16, 17. You know, I'm like a pool geek. I'm always trying to figure out what's wrong and work on mistakes. And, uh, I used to analyze a lot of things, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:42 Well, when you were 16 and 17, one thing that's interesting is that you had access to the internet.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:47 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:01:47 You had access to pool matches.

Fedor Gorst 1:01:49 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I watched a lot of pool matches.

Joe Rogan 1:01:51 How much did that help you?

Fedor Gorst 1:01:53 A lot. And that's actually what people don't understand, that they can learn a lot just by watching, but... And not playing.

Joe Rogan 1:02:00 Hmm. You definitely can. You can l- you can learn a lot about where, um, pathways that people... Like, a pro takes.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:08 Yeah, how to run balls-

Joe Rogan 1:02:10 Like, you, you see... Yeah, you see an out.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:10 ... the strategy of the game.

Joe Rogan 1:02:11 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:12 And, uh, you can even, you can even work on your fundamentals.

Joe Rogan 1:02:15 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:15 Y- you know the player Nick Vandenberg?

Joe Rogan 1:02:17 Sure.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:18 He used to work on his fundamentals, from what I heard, through hypnosis. So he was closing his eyes-

Joe Rogan 1:02:27 Wow.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:28 ... and trying to repeat the stroke while he was, uh, asleep.

Joe Rogan 1:02:34 Wow.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:35 Yeah, that's crazy.

Joe Rogan 1:02:36 That's next level.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:37 Yeah, it is. (laughs) It is.

Joe Rogan 1:02:39 Do they drug test people-

Fedor Gorst 1:02:41 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:41 ... at these events? What do they test for?

Fedor Gorst 1:02:44 Uh, I don't know, but we have, uh, drug tests at all the Metrum events, I believe.

Joe Rogan 1:02:51 One thing I think you should definitely drug test for is beta blockers.

Fedor Gorst 1:02:55 What is it?

Joe Rogan 1:02:56 Beta blockers, uh, they cut your adrenaline so, uh, you don't get antsy.

Fedor Gorst 1:03:02 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:03:02 Like, you don't get nervous-

Fedor Gorst 1:03:03 Yeah, that's a-

Joe Rogan 1:03:04 ... when you're shooting.

Fedor Gorst 1:03:04 ... that's a big thing in pool sports.

Joe Rogan 1:03:05 It's a big thing in pool.

Fedor Gorst 1:03:06 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:07 Yeah. Yeah, I think, uh, they use beta blockers... Uh, people have been caught using beta blockers for a lot of games because, um, anxiety and stress, which is, uh... You know, look, if you can make a great shot under pressure, it's wonderful. It's a, it's a great feeling.

Fedor Gorst 1:03:23 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:24 But if you had zero pressure, you would play better. (laughs)

Fedor Gorst 1:03:28 Completely diff- completely different thing, of course, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:29 Yeah. So if you were in a big tournament but you were on beta blockers, you probably wouldn't feel any of those nerves and j-... Like, I've seen people, they're shooting a nine-ball for a lot of money, and you see their hands shaking.

Fedor Gorst 1:03:40 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:41 And you see they have to put the cue down and... (exhales)

Fedor Gorst 1:03:43 Yeah. Take a deep breath, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:45 (exhales) And if... Sometimes they forget to breathe, and you can see them. They're like (exhales) .

Fedor Gorst 1:03:50 (laughs) Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:03:51 You know?

Fedor Gorst 1:03:51 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course.

Joe Rogan 1:03:52 Well, pool's one of those things where when you are... It's, it's one moment. There's one moment, and you're playing. And maybe it's a race to 12, and it's 11 to 11. And you and I are playing, and I have one shot on the nine-ball. And this is for everything. And if I miss and if I hang that ball, you're gonna win. But if I make it, I'm gonna win. So it comes down to... All this playing comes down to this one brief moment, and the walls close in on you. It's like zroom.

Fedor Gorst 1:04:21 Zroom.

Joe Rogan 1:04:21 And it makes it very difficult for people if they don't have, like, a very specific mindset or pre-shot routine that they approach a shot with. They can get caught up in what's called, like, an open loop system, where you just kind of, like, let the cue go, "Ah!" And we've seen... You've seen that.

Fedor Gorst 1:04:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:39 Everyone's seen that.

Fedor Gorst 1:04:40 Yeah, 100%.

Joe Rogan 1:04:41 They just miss the ball by, like, a full diamond. They don't hit the ball.

Fedor Gorst 1:04:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:43 And you're like, "What the fuck happened?" "Well, you... He spazzed out." So do you have a pre-shot routine?

Fedor Gorst 1:04:50 Yeah, of course I do. Otherwise, uh, it's, it's impossible to play under pressure, like you said.

Joe Rogan 1:04:55 What is your pre-shot routine? How do you do it?

Fedor Gorst 1:04:57 Uh, it's secrets but, uh... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:04:59 Secrets? Come on, give up the secrets, bro.

Fedor Gorst 1:05:03 Uh, I mean, now it's so automatically that I don't really think about it. But, uh, before I was used t- I used to always stand up on the line of my shot and kind of visualize what I'm gonna do, decide what speed, what spin, and how I'm gonna shoot. Like, I already visualized the whole process, how I'm shooting the ball, and I even can imagine where the cue ball will land after the shot. And then once I figure it out and I'm ready to shoot, I go down, and then I, uh, do a couple of pre-strokes, do the pose on my lefts, uh, backswing, and then I shoot. Like, ex-

Joe Rogan 1:05:39 Always pause?

Fedor Gorst 1:05:40 I always pause, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:41 Yeah. I love that. I... That changed my game a lot when I started pausing.

Fedor Gorst 1:05:45 Oh, it's way better timing. And you can... I think you can analyze things better-

Joe Rogan 1:05:51 Yeah.

Fedor Gorst 1:05:51 ... that way.

Joe Rogan 1:05:51 Some guys pause with the tip in forward-

Fedor Gorst 1:05:54 On the cue ball, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:05:55 Yeah. And then they draw back and shoot. And some guys pause on the backswing.

Fedor Gorst 1:05:59 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:05:59 Where, where do you pause?

Fedor Gorst 1:06:00 I pause on my backswing.

Joe Rogan 1:06:01 That's the Buddy Hall way. He was the first guy that I ever saw do it. He had a long pause. It's why people called it the Buddy Hall pause.

Fedor Gorst 1:06:08 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:06:09 'Cause he would, like, hold back and shoot through.

Fedor Gorst 1:06:11 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 And when Buddy Hall was playing... There's a great book. Uh, it's not a great book, but it's, it's an interesting book, um, that, um, his, uh, w- road, uh, guy that he would travel with wrote a book about him.... and, um, back in his day, in Buddy Hall's day, they all took speed. They all took amphetamines. So they were all ... Like, he was real skinny at the time and like-

Narrator 1:06:37 Yeah, sure.

Joe Rogan 1:06:37 ... these guys ... 'Cause they would play for, like, 12 hours, 15 hours, 16 hours. They'd pro- play until somebody went bust. And sometimes they'd play for 24 hours, 48 hours. They would just keep fucking playing over and over and over again. So they'd be just whacked out on amphetamines-

Narrator 1:06:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:06:52 ... playing pool. But the way it's been explained to me, I've never taken amphetamines and I've never played pool on y- anything other than marijuana.

Narrator 1:07:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:01 But ... Which helps a lot. B- that's why I said that about Earl. Like-

Narrator 1:07:04 Oh, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:07:05 ... mari- marijuana helps a lot. I don't know if you ever ... Do you ever smoke marijuana?

Narrator 1:07:08 Yeah, I did.

Joe Rogan 1:07:09 One, once upon a time?

Narrator 1:07:11 Uh, yeah, once.

Joe Rogan 1:07:13 It enhances feel. Like, marijuana, like, makes you more sensitive to things. And I feel like it, it enhances my, my touch, like where everything's going. I, I can focus on things more.

Narrator 1:07:24 Well, it's also very individual, I think.

Joe Rogan 1:07:26 Yes.

Narrator 1:07:27 For, for me, it was, uh, was, uh, bizarre. It was a ... It was-

Joe Rogan 1:07:30 Paranoia?

Narrator 1:07:30 Yeah, yeah. It wasn't very good.

Joe Rogan 1:07:32 (laughs)

Narrator 1:07:32 Especially playing pool.

Joe Rogan 1:07:33 Yeah. Well, it ... That can happen too.

Narrator 1:07:36 Yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:07:37 Uh, it's, it's also something that you ... I think marijuana is something that you have to learn. You have to learn, like, what, what the effects are, what's the right dose, how much to do. Like, I s- I smoke it before I go on stage. I smoke it before I write. I s- I used to smoke it before jujitsu all the time. A lot of jujitsu players smoke pot.

Narrator 1:07:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:07:58 And they smoke pot and roll. And I always said that it made my jujitsu, like, quite a bit better. Like, when I, when I rolled and I was on jujitsu, I was m- quite a bit better than I was when I was sober.

Narrator 1:08:09 Well, for us, it's, it's, it's illegal to do it on, uh, professional sports.

Joe Rogan 1:08:13 Right. Right.

Narrator 1:08:13 For a reason.

Joe Rogan 1:08:14 Yeah.

Narrator 1:08:14 'Cause I think it isn't e- ... I mean, I've said this about jujitsu and I'll say it about pool, I think marijuana is a performance-enhancing drug with some things.

Joe Rogan 1:08:22 Possibly, yeah. That's-

Narrator 1:08:23 It definitely is for comedy writing. For comedy writing, marijuana is a performance-enhancing drug.

Joe Rogan 1:08:28 Mm-hmm.

Narrator 1:08:28 It, it, it 100% enhances your performance when you're writing, for that kind of writing. 'Cause like, I write silly shit.

Joe Rogan 1:08:36 (laughs)

Narrator 1:08:36 You know? And when I'm, I'm silly with pot, like silly ideas come to your head more often. But for those guys, when they were taking amphetamines, what they said was ... And I've talked to someone who, who's played on them. He said the balls ... Like, you could see edges on the balls differently. Like, it almost like, where there was a bunch of edges. Instead of a round surface, they would see, like, a different geometry to the balls.

Joe Rogan 1:09:05 I believe that.

Narrator 1:09:06 And they'd see lines more clearly. They were just, like, hyper-focused and, like, you know, just, like, laser beam locked in.

Joe Rogan 1:09:16 Well, that's the difference between pool players too. Like, somebody so talented and I, I believe that some players have a better vision, like, a better eye.

Narrator 1:09:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:09:25 Like Jason Shaw, I believe he has, like, the best eye in the pool world. They call him Eagle Eye.

Narrator 1:09:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:32 That's his nickname.

Narrator 1:09:32 For a reason.

Joe Rogan 1:09:33 Yeah, yeah. No, he's ridiculous.

Narrator 1:09:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:35 That guy can ... He shoots, like, long, hard shots.

Narrator 1:09:40 Yeah, he has like a very-

Joe Rogan 1:09:40 And just fires them in.

Narrator 1:09:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:09:42 Yeah. He's, uh, he's another one of those guys. It's like there's ... You know. There's this small ... Like we were talking about this small handful who could just beat anybody in the world.

Narrator 1:09:51 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:09:52 And he just won ... He just beat, rather, the world straight pool record where he had ... There was like ... He touched a ball and so they made it, like, 669 but he kept running.

Narrator 1:10:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:10:05 And got to, like, 700 and something. Where the previous record, like, Willie Mosconi had a record back in the day, it was, like, 500 and something ball.

Narrator 1:10:14 526, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:14 But that was on an eight-foot table, wasn't it?

Narrator 1:10:16 Yeah, and bigger pockets.

Joe Rogan 1:10:17 Five-inch pockets, eight-foot table. But he did it on a nine-foot. And then, um-

Narrator 1:10:23 John Schmitt.

Joe Rogan 1:10:23 John Schmitt beat that, right?

Narrator 1:10:25 Yeah. 620-something, I think.

Joe Rogan 1:10:28 Right. And then Jason Shaw beat that. And Jason Shaw's not even a straight pool player, which is crazy.

Narrator 1:10:34 No, and that's, that's the thing with the shooters.

Joe Rogan 1:10:36 Yeah.

Narrator 1:10:37 I mean, nine-ball players will take over.

Joe Rogan 1:10:39 Well, that was the same with Earl too. You know? When Earl Strickland started playing straight pool, he would just start running 100s.

Narrator 1:10:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:44 And everybody was like, "Jesus Christ-"

Narrator 1:10:45 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:45 "... he doesn't even play the game." Like, imagine if he understood the patterns, like those guys who play straight pool all the time.

Narrator 1:10:51 Oh, absolutely. It's, uh, it's completely different. They, they just never miss.

Joe Rogan 1:10:56 And for people who don't know what straight pool is, straight pool is the old school game that was in the movie The Hustler with Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman. And what straight pool was, was always the king of pool games. Because you would play whether it was to 125 points or a 150 points, and you rack all 15 balls. And the opening break is a soft break where you're trying to leave no shot for your opponent. So you're just kinda clipping the edge of the ball and you're trying to leave the cue ball as far away from the stack as possible, with everything as close as possible so there's no shot. And when you w- ... The pressure of a shot then becomes very high, because if you miss and you go into the rack and spread the balls out, a really elite player could run. Like, I saw Mike Segal do that with a guy. The guy, um, made a shot, missed, and Mike Segal ran 125 balls and out. The guy never got a chance to shoot again. And that's commonplace with, like, the really, really elite players.

Narrator 1:11:55 Yeah. I mean, I played the straight pool tournament in, uh, October. And there was a group stage where I had to play five matches, and two matches, I ran 125 and out. We played a race to 225 points. And two matches, I've lost. I didn't play as good. And the third match, I ran 107 and I didn't get out through my group. I just ... I finished fourth in my group.

Joe Rogan 1:12:20 Wow.

Narrator 1:12:20 So the level of players are increasing every year. And straight pool-

Joe Rogan 1:12:25 I, I think the level of players right now is as high as it's ever been.

Narrator 1:12:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:12:29 And I say this as, as someone who really respects, like, the old school players. Like, I love to watch, like, old school matches. But I watched an old school match, uh, recently between Jimmy Rempe and Mike Segal.... I was kind of amazed at the shots they missed.

Fedor Gorst 1:12:46 Yeah. I mean, if you watch the game, compared to what we play nowadays, it's, uh, it's completely different.

Joe Rogan 1:12:53 Yeah. The, the best players, I think, ever are around right now.

Fedor Gorst 1:12:57 Oh, 100%.

Joe Rogan 1:12:58 But I think if you had a guy like Earl Strickland, Earl Strickland's still elite today, so he maybe is not the best example 'cause he's continued to grow with the game. I think the best players back then, if you put them in the same pressure environment with the, the same level of play that guys have now, they would probably be at that level too. But back then, th- the players just... They weren't the same level.

Fedor Gorst 1:13:21 Yeah, but also the game was completely different. Their envi- environment was different, the equipment was different.

Joe Rogan 1:13:27 Mm-hmm.

Fedor Gorst 1:13:27 You know, they used to