Stevie Moore, AKA "The Blade," defending NYC 9-Ball Champion, is no stranger to adversity. Moore also holds titles as the 2009 US Bar Table 8-ball champion, the 2008 Steve Mizerak champion, and the 2007 Derby City bank pool champion, just to name a few. It's tough to believe that such an accomplished player with so many tournament successes grew up facing such traumatic physical struggles. Moore opens up about his tremor, his impaired hearing, and his battle for better vision.

As you enter the front page of his website it reads, "An incredibly talented pool player, and a heck of a guy." Most players will probably agree with that statement. Through all his ailments, Moore's positive outlook and concentration at the table have kept him in the winners' circle.

The Beginning

Q: How did you get started playing pool?

A: The first experience I had with pool was when I was about eight years old. My mom took me to this dance hall called The Clover Leaf. She'd go there on weekends to meet her friends and dance. They had a few pool tables there and that's where I really started to like pool. I was eight so I just played with He-Man figurines and trucks and all that stuff around that time also.

I guess when I really got into it the most was when I moved to Arcadia, a suburb of Spartanburg, and there was a game room right beside my house with two bar tables and it pretty much consumed every minute that I had that I wasn't sleeping or in school. There were a couple guys around there that played really well so I kind of picked the game up really quick because I was watching them play position and stuff and how they would move the cue ball around. I wanted to be able to do that. From then on, like I said, it consumed every minute that I wasn't sleeping or in school.

When I was 15 I had already won a tournament or two around the bars and stuff. I was beating everybody around the town and I couldn't get a game so I was having to travel outside of town so I figured, "Why should I stay in school?" when I was making $100 to $300 a night. I'd go out playing pool and make more money than my mom or anybody in my family.

I would play in tournaments in the Southeast but that's about it, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, but I wouldn't let anyone take my picture if I won. I'm doing this for a living. You can't do that.

Q: You did end up getting your GED, but did you regret dropping out of school when you did?

A: Uh, yeah. Yeah, I did. I had to grow up too quick. I wasn't ready for it mentally or even physically. I was a twerp. I still am!

Q: Where are some of the places that you've lived?

A: I've lived in Myrtle Beach, Florida, Georgia, I lived on the road for about 15 years.

Q: Where's your favorite place?

A: I have to say home. It's comfortable for me right now. I bought a house. I think that really helped me mentally because in the five years I lived in Atlanta, I moved 11 times. I was driving myself crazy. I've been doing that a lot my whole life. Being back home has been good for me, just because I didn't have much of a relationship with my family with all the traveling. And now that I'm home I can get to know them because I didn't really hang out with them when I was young. I was playing pool and then I left town. I would travel all the time and whenever I was home I wanted to go out and party. The only thing that mattered to me was having some money and getting drunk and trying to find me a girl.

Q: How did you get the name, "The Blade"?

A: Darren Appleton gave me the name in Reno. He said it was because I dressed so sharp and I liked it so I stuck with it.

After 15 years as a road warrior, Moore reawakened as a tournament player.

The Shake

Benign Essential Tremor (as defined by Wikipedia.org) is "a slowly progressive neurological disorder whose most recognizable feature is a tremor of the arms that is apparent during voluntary movements."

Q: You have a benign tremor in your backstroke. Did something cause that?

A: When I was seven years old, I stuck my hand in this fence where there was a Saint Bernard. We used to torment the dog, throw stuff at it, but it always stayed in the fence. One day, my buddy wasn't home, I had this bright idea to be nice to the dog. I stuck my hand in the fence. He came right up and smelled my hand and just commenced to chomp on it and I started screaming and the owner of the dog, he was in the house. He heard me and came running out. He had to grab a two by four and hit the dog in the head.

Moore was fortunate that there were no broken bones, only a few puncture wounds and very little bleeding. Most of the damage was internal.

Q: When was the first indication that your right hand had a tremor?

A: When I played pool. I never really noticed it. I've always had a slight shake like when I hold my hand out and that was just from a lot of nervous energy. My mom shakes, my sister shakes, I don't know what's going on there. The other thing too is when I was growing up, playing, I would always grip the cue really tight, constricting my muscles because I wanted to stay in place. I guess I was flexing to make it stay steady.

In his mid-twenties, Moore consulted his physician about his condition and first learned about the benign tremor.

I don't think about it as much if I'm exercising. I just feel stronger, mentally and physically. I've been playing with it for so long that it doesn't really come to my attention until I get a little nervous.

Q: Is it just when you're nervous? Or do you feel it when you've been playing for long periods of time and you're feeling fatigued?

A: Actually, the longer I play, the less I notice it. I don't know if it's less noticeable, but I know that when I play for a long period of time that I get over it. It may still be there but it hardly ever affects me then.

Q: Can you recall a specific shot from a specific tournament where it caused you to miss a shot and it cost you the match?

A: Well, it's happened so many times to me, I can't remember specifically [he said as he laughed.]

Q: What's your fitness schedule/routine these days?

A: Well, this morning, I did 50 push-ups, 60 sit-ups, and I ran a mile and a half. That's not typical but I'm working on trying to get more exercise in everyday.

Q: And are you pretty health conscious too about what you eat?

A: I just stopped eating red meat about three weeks ago.

Q: When did you start loosening up your pool grip?

A: When I went to Stan Shuffett. I started discovering different grips and different grip pressures, holding the cue differently on certain shots.

Q: Do you ever feel discouraged by your tremor?

A: [He chuckles,] Uh, yeah, I do, sometimes. It's not the only thing. I've got trouble with my eyes.

Q: You have pretty thick skin, has anyone ever given you a hard time about it?

A: Not really a hard time, but people have played me longer and just played me whenever I was on the road, and... well, yeah, people made fun of me sometimes. They'd make jokes about it but when I was on the road it made me a lot of money because people thought I was nervous. They'd see my arm shake real bad and say, "Man, we're gonna rob this guy. He's nervous."

Q: And your friends would play into it?

A: Oh yeah, back then they'd say, "Yeah, he's real nervous," or something like that.

From Nick Varner

Hall-of-famer, Nick Varner, shared some congruent thoughts on the matter.

Q: Do you know the specific name of the tremor you have?

A: No, I don't. I really don't know much about it because most of the time I can't feel it. I did mention it to my doctor once but I never really could figure it out. It's just something that happens I guess.

Q: Have you had it all your life?

A: Yeah, most of the time. Seems like it varies so much.

Q: Has it gotten worse?

A: No, I don't think so.

Q: You say you don't notice it, but has it ever caused you to miss a shot at all?

A: Well, there has been a few times when it shook a whole bunch and it really makes it hard to pocket the ball if it gets going too much.

Q: Is there anything that you've done to help control it?

A: If I get to play a lot, it seems like the more I play, the less it does it and also, a lot of times, when I lighten up my grip that seems to help. Sometimes under pressure, you have a tendency to grab it a little harder and one thing I've learned over the years is to lighten up my grip and that seems to help a lot. And, it seems like once I get that hitch at the end of my back stroke, that really helps a lot, it seems like it goes away a little bit.

Q: Are you referring to pausing in the back stroke?

A: Well, there's a little hitch where my elbow goes up just a little bit and it seems like that really makes it more of a free stroke and I don't know if it relaxes it or something but it's something I've always just done naturally and that's really helped.

Q: So, you've never talked to your doctor in depth about it?

A: Yeah, it just seemed like it was something I had to live with and he didn't seem to know what caused it or anything, so... And, I talked to Dick Lane too and his is way worse than mine but I know Dick Lane talked to lots of doctors and did lots of tests but I don't think they ever did find out what it was and I know that Dick really researched it pretty heavily and I think that's what discouraged me from looking.

I'm sure my game would've been a little stronger if I never had it, but...

The Hearing

Q: How did you become deaf in your left ear?

A: I had a surgery when I was about seven years old, a lot of stuff happened to me when I was seven, good lord! I should just go back to them days and hide in the house for about two years, [as he laughed at his own misfortune.]

I had a hearing problem. When I was in school I wasn't paying attention. I was sitting in the back of the class and I made bad grades so they took me to have a hearing test and sure enough I couldn't hear very well in my left ear so they sent me to the ear doctor and we found out there was a bone that had fallen, the one that holds your ear drum up, and they went in and put in a plastic bone and I was supposed to go back when I was twelve and have another surgery. I guess from growing, they would need to put in a larger bone and I didn't go back, and my mother didn't make me go because I was a big baby and I cried and whined and pleaded my way out of it and that was a big mistake there. But, I guess it helps sometimes, I don't have to hear stuff.

Q: So, do you feel like Shane Van Boening has an advantage?

A: Oh, no doubt. No doubt in my mind.

The Vision

Q: What made you decide to get Lasik?

A: Tiger Woods. For real.

I had Lasik surgery back in '98 and I've been struggling with my eyes for the last seven years. Right now, I'm seeing the best that I've seen in seven years. I've been to a few doctors in the last seven years to try to help this out. Since then, I've had to wear one contact in my left eye. I had Lasik in '98, I've had an enhancement done in my left eye in 2001. In the first three years of surgery, I could see nice and clear but after three years, I started seeing fog again. It just wasn't as clear as it was. I started struggling, missing balls, and then my confidence level started going down, and then I started getting even more frustrated and that's pretty much why I quit, to tell you the truth, between that and hustling. I couldn't see. I knew I could still compete but I knew I couldn't compete to the level that I need to, to win. To be in the hall of fame, you can't have bad eye sight.

It was a young, impulsive decision. I didn't really think it through. I didn't do any research. My ophthalmologist at the time, he was a 60 year old man, he said, "If I were you, I wouldn't have it done," and I just thought he wanted to keep me as a patient. But he was a smart man and I regret not listening to him.

Q: So, you regret getting Lasik?

A: Oh, of course.

Q: Are you seeing as well now with the Lasik and one contact as you were before you got Lasik?

A: No, I don't see nearly as well.

Moore's struggle with his chronic dry eyes made wearing contacts extremely uncomfortable. At the time, he believed Lasik to be the solution. Since the time of this interview, Moore has undergone one more Lasik enhancement in his left eye to improve his vision.

Before, my eyes were really dry. I couldn't really focus because of the glare. Even now, the lights throw off such a hard glare from the Lasik. The Lasik damaged my eyes so now bright lights really hurt my eyes. They strain them, because they get tired a lot quicker. And then the dryness makes it worse.

The Break

Q: When did you quit pool?

A: Around August 2003 I got a job. I was working for about three years.

Moore took some time off and worked with Steve Lomax and Mr. Cues II in Atlanta.

That's when IPT came along and that's when Moore came back. I was back for Moore. I couldn't get enough. After 15 years on the road I wanted more, on a higher level.

After 15 years as a road warrior, Moore reawakened as a tournament player.

The Future

Q: You seem to have a good blend of light-heartedness with focus and intensity while competing. Is that something you learned?

A: I think from being on the road and hustling so much, that's definitely one thing that's helped me focus because I was doing it for my livelihood. I was working. I had to stay focused, so I just made myself do it. And another thing, when I was hustling, if you looked like you didn't care, they thought you were stalling so I wanted people to look at me and think that I was trying as hard as I could. I would bear down so hard I wouldn't even take practice strokes. I would just get down and stare at my shot and I would go real slow. I think that's probably something that part of my mentality now. I mean, it does take that much focus to play pool.

When he's not on the road, you can find Moore relaxing on the lake in his 17-foot bass boat. The angler reels in a different kind of fish these days.

Players can sign up for a two-day Just Cue It Foundation Course with Moore, or take an individual one-hour lesson. His work with his coach Stan Shuffett has made him a better player and instructor.

Moore continues to represent his sponsors: Layer 3 Communications, JustCueIt.com, Hamrick's Clothing, Mr. Cues II, and Justis Cases.

Visit StevieMoore.com for all the latest news and blog postings.