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John “Mr.400” Schmidt

John Schmidt became “Mr. 400” by running 400 balls at Straight Pool, a feat that ranks him among the best ever at the game. Only a handful of champions have ever run more than 200 balls without a miss.

John grew up in California and began playing pool at the age of 18.Mentored by hall of fame cue craftsman Bobby Hunter. One of John’s mentors saw his liking and aptitude for Straight Pool and told him to have a goal to run 100 balls at least once a day without a miss as “After that, the game is yours.” His current hi-runs include more than 40 sessions of Straight Pool with 200 to 285 shots taken without a single miss. His best effort was 400 in a row, which kept him on his feet for over three hours.

When we decided to sponsor John Schmidt after he played in our exhibition with Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustemonte, and Danny Barouty, it wasn’t because of his professional moniker, Mr. 400, though it is impressive that he is the only person on the planet to have two verified runs of 400+ in straight pool.  It wasn’t because he won the most prestigious 9-Ball tournament… the US Open, or the Player’s Championship, or the many other 10-ball and one-pocket tournaments and high-stakes matches.

We sponsored John, aka “Schmidty”, for his wonderful personality and attitude that falls in line with our own values taken from our mission statement “to be… admirable…, [and provide] positive leadership [to our] community.”

So if you see John at Easy Street, and he’s not attempting to break the 14.1 world record on table 1 or in deep concentration on table 2 practicing for an upcoming world class match, say ‘hi’ and I guarantee you’ll walk away with either an uplifted spirit or a couple new pool shots added to your repertoire.m

You can follow John “Mr. 400” Schmidt on his facebook page.

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