From Shettleston to becoming one of the world's top pool players

The journey from Glasgow’s east end to the east coast of the United States has been far from smooth for Jayson Shaw.

But it’s one that has seen him go from a kid who, by his own admission, was more than a little off the rails to one of the world’s best pool players with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as being lauded by the world’s biggest podcaster, Joe Rogan.

It’s quite a transformation for the 35-year-old Scot.

Shaw was, from his very earliest days, destined to be a pool player.

His father was a professional in the game and bought him a toy pool table at the age of only 4. And with a snooker table also in their house in Shettleston, Shaw had a cue in his hand almost as soon as he could walk.

However, at the age of nine, Shaw’s elder brother died in a tragic accident and from there, he recalls, he began to “go right off the rails”.

After a decline in his academic performance at school, he returned home one day to find the snooker table gone from his home, leaving him somewhat perplexed. Until he looked out into the back garden, that is.

“My dad had thrown the snooker table onto the bonfire and so there it was, burning away,” Shaw recalls.

“I was quite off the rails at that point. It was obviously tough when my brother died and at only ten years old, I was drinking and skipping school. I wasn’t in a good place so my dad said that when I started doing better at school, we could get a new snooker table.”

There was, ultimately, one thing that got him back on the straight and narrow; pool.

By his early teens, he’d thrown himself into the sport and was already one of the most promising young players in Britain.

And there was one event in particular, Shaw recalls, that was his breakthrough moment.

“My first pro event was in Jersey and I played my dad in the second round. I’d played him in tournaments before but because he’d always had a good shot at winning them, I’d let him go through,” he says.

“But this time, he said he thought we should play properly and I ended up beating him. It was a really big breakthrough for me because I ended up winning that tournament. 

“That was him passing the baton onto me and it all took off from there.”

While still in his teens, Shaw was singled-out by a number of benefactors and supporters who funded him to initially travel to London for tournaments, then to the USA, where he began to really take strides forward.

It was in 2010, as a 21-year-old, when he became World 8-ball champion, however, that he began to really make his mark on the game.

Regular trips from his home in Glasgow across the pond to the US in the subsequent years following that world title ultimately saw him relocate permanently to America, where he’s now married with two kids.

And he admits his current life in Connecticut feels like a different world from his humble beginnings.

“When I think back to growing up, my life is so different now. There’s people I knew growing up who are now dead or they’re junkies or they’re in and out of jail,” he says.

“When I was young, I’d get slagged-off for going to play pool rather than going to the pub but I really believe it’s pool that’s saved me from a life like that. If I hadn’t got into pool, I’d have been getting up to no good I think. And it’s a slippery slope so you never know where you’ll end up.”

Shaw has, over the past decade, established himself as one of the very best 9-ball players on the planet, and perhaps ever.

A raft of tournament victories, including his most recent, at the Hanoi Open in October, have been racked up but perhaps his most notable achievement in recent times was last year’s world high run record.

After literally days of failed attempts, Shaw finally set a new world record of potting 714 balls. It was, he admits, a severe test of his ability and is a record that, he believes, will remain in his possession for quite some time.

“Nobody else will beat that record. It took me five days, playing for 14 hours straight. I was only sleeping for about four hours,” he says.

“When I’m ready, I’ll go for it again. I believe I can get to 1000 because when you’re in that room doing it, it’s only you and one other guy keeping count so you can really get into the zone with no distractions.”

Shaw will, he says, attempt once again to extend his record further in due course but his immediate focus now lies on the Mosconi Cup, which begins today in London.

The tournament sees Europe take on the USA in a Ryder Cup-style format and it’s an event Shaw has become something of a regular in having already been part of Europe’s winning team five times.

And with the atmosphere more akin to a football match than anything else, it’s an environment that Shaw is well suited to as he attempts to add a sixth Mosconi Cup title to his record.

“It’s so rowdy, it’s nuts. There’s 3000 people in the crowd who’ve all been in the pub for quite a few hours before play starts so it’s a crazy environment,” he says. 

“But I love that. I grew up playing in pubs in Glasgow where there’d be a load of old guys behind you, steaming, shouting abuse so it was good preparation.

“I’m feeling good and I’m playing well at the moment. I’ve won a few tournaments this season and towards the end of the year, I always tend to come alive so I’m really looking forward to the Mosconi Cup because I’m always up for it.”