Playing pool has been in our family for as long as I can remember. Either we were visiting relatives or friends, a majestic pool table was in the portrait, illuminated, surrounded by neon signs clouded with smoke. In my early teen, I could stay perched on my stool for hours watching the evening competition unfold.

Everyone played to win, the competition was fierce, tempers were flaring on occasion but always in a friendly and respectable manner. When old enough to hold a cue without taking someone's eye out, I started practicing and learning the mechanics of the game. My understanding of the true complexity and physics at play resulted in a life long addiction and fascination for the game. I bought every good books available and practice for hours every day. This is when my game truly took off.

When hunting houses in Ontario, there had to be room for a 9 footer. My father had an 8' Brunswick in the basement, and 3 feet cues were required 25% of the time for lack of space. Jackpot... big country house with 20 x 24 open room. A nine foot Canada-Billiard BlackCrown tournament table quickly found its nest.

I was always on the look-out for a friendly competitions and meeting other fans. I played many leagues, and always kept an eye open for tournaments within driving distance. Unfortunately they were few and scarce, simply because the time-consuming work involved in organizing such event was overwhelming. Being a career programmer-analyst, I got to work in designing a pool tournament manager application. My goal was to assist in making such sought-after events occur more often, turning out tons of exciting competitions at the local pool halls. In the long run, I truly hope that IngenPool will have played a small role in promoting this fascinating game.

A big thank you to all the tournament directors for your suggestions and feedbacks, and to my daughter Emilie for her brilliant work on all of IngenPool's web functions and the great supporting website.

Dan Lavigne, developer and billiard fan for life!