User:MaxnBeau/sandbox

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Eric Durbin

Eric Scott Durbin (born August 12, 1975 in Irvine, Kentucky) is an American professional pool player. Eric is known for being a free spirit and for his intensity while playing pool.

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Early Career

Eric started playing pool at the age of 9 in Middletown, Ohio at Jacks Recreation Center instead of going to school. He continued playing and gained the respect of older players quickly. As a young player with an incredible gift for pool in the Cinncinati area, he played at Micheal's Billiards with some of the greatest road and tournament players. Durbin learned about pool subculture and playing competitively from One-pocket hall of fame inductee Gary Spaeth, Donnie Anderson and other players in Cinncinati. Durbin was rumored to win large sums of money as a road pool player gambling throughout the country n,.

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Recognition

Eric Durbin has been ranked in the top 100 pool players since he began playing. Due to the nature of pool subculture and the shear number of bar table and professional events, it is difficult to list all his winnings. Some of the events he has won include The Glass City Open, The Big Muddy Freeroll Missouri State 9 Ball Champion 2015, Music City Classic Midnight Madness (3 consecutive wins in 2013) , The VNEA 2003 Open 8-Ball Champion and The High Desert Shootout. Durbin's intense playing made such an impact on the Derby City Classic that some spectators and fans starting calling the event "The Durbin City Classic".

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Personal Struggles

In the book Running the Table: The Legend of Kid Delicious the Last Great American Pool Hustler, Durbin is introduced as "an intense, slightly haunted-looking pool sorcerer who claimed he was a few weeks removed from a ten-month drug-related sentence in an Ohio prison." . Online Billiards forums have discussions about Eric playing under the influence of drugs, and debate if drugs helped or hindered his play. While his contemporaries went to school, Durbin was playing pool. He obtained a GED instead of a high school diploma. Although he began his pool career in Ohio, Durbin continues to live as a true road pool player and has called cities across the country home; cities on his list include Salt Lake City, Cape Girardeau, Tampa, and Los Angeles.