Andy Segal (born April 14, 1968), nicknamed "the Magic Man", is a trick-shot

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

champion from

Huntington, New York The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. ...

. He began as a professional

nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of e ...

player in the 1990s, and was a regular on the Camel Pro Billiard Tour before switching to trick-shot competition in 2002. A full-time pro player since 2007, Segal holds three world records (and is tied for a fourth) in

artistic billiards Artistic billiards, sometimes called fantasy billiards or fantaisie classique, is a carom billiards discipline in which players compete at performing 76 preset shots of varying difficulty. Each set shot has a maximum point value assigned for perfec ...

. He is known for his television competition appearances on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and has won many such events, including Trick Shot Magic (2009, 2010 & 2014), the World Cup of Trick Shots (2006, 2008 & 2009), the WPA World Artistic Pool Championship (2007, 2011, 2012 & 2013), and the Masters Artistic Pool Championship (2005, 2007 & 2009). Segal also performs trick shot exhibitions all over the world, and in films and television.

Early life

Andy Segal was born and raised in

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long I ...

. He attended

Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...

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. He was an active member of the debating team, and towards the end of his high school years, became interested in pool. After high school, he attended

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, where he studied math and computer science. While there, he spent some time teaching at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

Billiards Club, where he met his girlfriend and future wife Kimberly Segal. On September 2, 1995, the two were married and less than four years later had their daughter Jessica. They moved to Huntington, where they currently reside. Segal is also a

sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...

magician, and trains weekly at

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

Career

Computer programmer

In 1991, Segal graduated from university and went on to work in Wall Street in the IT department of

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

. After about a year and a half, he started working for

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, but then moved back into the financial world only one year later. Eventually he found himself back in Wall Street, working for

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...

. Segal was currently working there when the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

occurred. In 2005, Segal switched to a company closer to his home in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, and started working for

Adecco The Adecco Group, is a Swiss- French company based in Zurich, Switzerland, and is the world's second largest Human Resources provider and temporary staffing firm, and a Fortune Global 500 company. They directly employ 700,000 people a day, a ...

. He spent about two years there before he decided to go into pool full-time.

Professional pool player

While working full-time in the computer field, Segal spend his evenings and weekends playing pool at Amsterdam Billiards in

. A few of the top players were from that area, and he worked with and learned from two of them,

Tony Robles Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

and George "Ginky" San Souci. He was an active player on the Camel Pro Billiard Tour, playing

eight-ball Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of pool played on a billiard table with six pockets, cue sticks, and sixteen billiard balls (a ...

, nine-ball, and

ten-ball Ten-ball is a rotation pool game similar to nine-ball, but using ten balls instead of nine, and with the 10 ball instead of the 9 as the "" Although the game has existed for since the early 1960s, its popularity has risen since the early 2000s ...

. He was also a regular on the Tri-State Tour and the

Joss Tour Joss may refer to: * Joss (name), including a list of people with the name * JOSS, a time-sharing programming language * Joss (Chinese statue), a religious object * Joss JP1, an Australian-built supercar * Joss paper, a type of burnt offering * Jo ...

. During these tournaments, he would often perform for players and spectators, doing trick-shot exhibitions and

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

. Segal also performed at private parties around the New York City area, and while working with Blatt Billiards, performed a public exhibition at

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

. He met the great trick shot artist

Mike Massey Michael Massey (born April 9, 1947), professionally known as Mike Massey, is an American professional pool player From 1989 to 1991 he served as a contributing editor of '' The Snap Magazine''. Massey was born in Loudon, Tennessee, and for severa ...

, and by the early 2000s, Segal was concentrating more on trick shots than nine-ball. In 2002, Segal began playing in formal trick-shot competition, after being invited to complete in the titular 2003 North American Artistic Pool Championship was held (in October 2002 due to scheduling issues) at Hippo's Billiards in Utica, New York; Segal finished 4th, but stayed in that

cue sports Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions of ...

discipline. That final-four finish earned him an invitation to the 2003 WPA World Artistic Pool Championships in

Kiev, Ukraine Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

. At that competition, Segal finished 5th overall, and won the gold medal in the / discipline, and tied with

for the gold in the discipline. In September 2003, Polish trick-shot artist Bogdan Wołkowski injured his arm and had to drop out of the ESPN Trick Shot Magic tournament in

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. Six days before the event,

Matt Braun Matt Braun is an author specializing in novels of the American West. He has written fifty-six books, most of which are in the Western genre and has over 40 million copies in print.

, promoter and producer of that event, called Segal and asked if he could fill the open spot. Segal agreed, and spent those 6 days coming up with trick shots to use against the veterans like the then two-time world champion

. Segal won his first-round match against Stefano Pelinga of Italy. He moved on to 2001 world champion Charles Darling from Missouri. That match ended in a tie breaker; this requires both players to shoot the cue ball in an eight- and land on or near a $100 bill; the closest player to the bill wins. Segal won, landing the cue ball about an inch away. In the finals, he ran up against

, who handed him his only defeat and a second-place finish, in Segal's first televised event. Andy Segal's first major win came in 2004 at the Northeast Championship, held a
Shooter's Billiards
in Southington, Connecticut. Later that year, he won another 2004

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Artistic Pool Championship (hosted in conjunction with the

American Poolplayers Association The American Poolplayers Association (APA) is a governing body for amateur pool (pocket billiards) competition in the United States. The APA conducts pool leagues and tournaments in the disciplines of eight-ball and nine-ball with a unified rules ...

's National Team Championship). He also won the 2005, 2007, and 2009 Masters Artistic Pool Championship, held at the

Super Billiards Expo Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butto ...

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; and four

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World Trick Shot Champion titles (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013). His first World Title in 2007 was in

St. Petersburg, Russia Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

at the Lider Club. He beat Poland national champion Luke Szywala in the semi-finals and Argentina champion Sebastian Giumelli in the finals. In 2011, the World Championship was held in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he beat Romanian Gabi Visoiu in the semi-finals and fellow American Jamey Gray in the finals. He successfully defended his title in 2012 when he beat Canadian Nick Nikolaidis for his third world title. Throughout his trick shot career, the one title that eluded him was Trick Shot Magic. In 2009, at the ESPN Zone at New York New York Casino in Las Vegas, Andy Segal captured that one as well, defeating Sebastian Giumelli from Argentina, a repeat of the 2007 World Championships. He then went on to defend his title in 2010 at the Green Valley Ranch Casino in Henderson, Nevada, against former world champion Jamey Gray. In 2006, he was invited to play in the first World Cup of Trick Shots, which matched up the best from the United States with the best from Europe. This event films every year in October at

Mohegan Sun Casino Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space. It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...

in Connecticut. Segal has been the captain of Team USA for several years. Segal is also the operator of New Jersey's

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

Pool League, a local franchise of the amateur

Television and film

Throughout his pool/billiard career, Andy Segal has worked in the television and film industry. He has done trick shots for various commercials, including

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

, All detergent, and a 12-week teaser series with Krysta Ayne on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was o ...

called "Bikini Pool Shark". In 2007, he booked a spot performing trick shots on ''Good Morning America'' with Chris Cuomo, He also worked as the pool-related technical advisor on the 2009 film ''

Sweet and Lowdown ''Sweet and Lowdown'' is a 1999 American comedy-drama mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen. Loosely based on Federico Fellini's film ''La Strada'', the film tells the fictional story, set in the 1930s, of self-confident jazz guit ...

'', starring

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008). Penn began his acting career in televisi ...

, and

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

. Segal was featured in

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

's ''Amazing'', and a documentary titled ''Spin Doctors: The Wondrous World of Artistic Pool'' filmed in 3D by

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

at the 2011 WPA World Championship. In 2011, Segal joined the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, and has appeared in one film,

Sascha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

's ''The Dictator'', and several television shows: ''Pan Am'', ''Person of Interest'', ''Damages'', and ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...

''. He has also appeared on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' to perform artistic pool tricks, in December 2007. He has filmed over 60 pool and trick-shot instructional videos for HowCast.com, and more than 30 more for MonkeySee.com.

Titles and achievements

* Holds four world records Notes: This records list, as of November 2017, has not been updated since 2015. In artistic pool, shots are categorized into different disciplines (, , etc). Points are awarded based on shot success, and the player with the highest score in each discipline will win the gold medal for that discipline. * Most trick shot discipline medals won (50) * 2013 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship * 2012 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship * 2011 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship * 2011 Duel of Champions * 2011 Las Vegas Ultimate Trick Shot Tour * 2010 Southeast Classic Championship * 2010 Trick Shot Magic Championship * 2009 World Cup of Trick Shots Championship * 2009 Trick Shot Magic Championship * 2009 Las Vegas Ultimate Trick Shot Tour Championship * 2009 Masters Trick Shot Championship * 2008 World Cup of Trick Shots Championship * 2008 Dr. Cue Artistic Cup Championship * 2007 WPA World Artistic Pool Championship * 2007 Masters Trick Shot Champion * 2006 World Cup of Trick Shots Championship * 2005 Comet Classic Championship * 2005 Masters Trick Shot Championship * 2004 Las Vegas Open Championship * 2004 Northeastern Open Championship

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Segal, Andy 1968 births Living people American pool players