With Stick in Hand, This Pool Player Has World in Her Pocket : Games people play: Costa Mesa woman, who is gaining recognition, helps organize nine-ball tour.

Nine months ago, Darlene Stinson got her big pocket billiards break.

Presented with an unexpected invitation to a nine-ball tournament in Huntsville, Ala., Stinson finished in a tie with defending world champion Robin Bell for fifth place.

It was Stinson’s best performance in a professional event and it included a victory over Bell, a Cypress resident who won her second world championship this month in Las Vegas. More importantly, it helped Stinson more fully realize her potential.

“I always knew that someday I wanted to turn pro,” said Stinson, who lives in Costa Mesa. “When I did well in Huntsville, I was playing good consistent pool. When that happened, it changed my attitude and made me realize how close I was.”

Stinson, 34, is the third-ranked amateur nine-ball player in the country, but she is more accurately classified as a semipro. She plays in about three professional events a year and hopes that a strong showing at the U.S. Open in Norfolk, Va., in September will earn her a professional ranking.

Beyond that?

“I definitely want to be No. 1,” she said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me, but it’s got to happen soon because I’m a little impatient.”

Stinson has channeled her competitive fires to help organize the Southern California Amateur Ladies Nine-Ball Tour, which makes its first stop Saturday and Sunday at The Shark Club in Costa Mesa.

Although she continues to practice as much as she can and will compete in the four-event amateur tour, Stinson has had to reduce her table time to fulfill her duties as the president of the organizing committee.

She helped line up the billiard clubs--the others are Hardtimes II in San Diego (July), Yankee Doodles in Long Beach (August) and the Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles (September)--and arranged the $1,000 donations from each that make up half of the $8,000 purse.

The distinction between amateurs and pros in nine-ball is fuzzy. For instance, amateurs usually play for prize money.

Stinson also is handling the media relations for the tour, sending out press releases to local news organizations.

“I’m amazed it’s going so well because I’m not a promoter; I’m a player,” she said. “But this sport really needs this ground-level activity.

“I’m so excited about the tournament. There are women playing who have never played in tournaments before. They just love to play pool.”

Women who enjoy playing pool in this area don’t have many opportunities to compete in tournaments, and Stinson hopes the tour will help change that.

Nationally, opportunities are better for women to compete in pool, but the payoffs don’t compare to the men’s earnings. Bell won $10,000 for her world championship victory; the men’s world champion earned $30,000.

The professional associations for men and women are in the process of merging to form the Professional Billiards Tour Assn. ESPN is planning to televise part of the women’s U.S. Open in the fall.

“You could actually make a decent living doing this,” Stinson said. “It’s not at the level of golf or tennis yet, but the players are there. All we need is the corporate sponsorship.”

Stinson stumbled upon pockets billiards at 15. She and some friends were driving around town and needing to make a pit stop, stopped by chance at a pool hall.

From there, she started playing regularly until she met her future husband, Ed, when she was 20.

After giving up the game for about seven years, Stinson, who has two children--Stephanie, 10, and Steven, 4--rediscovered pool six years ago and has since honed her game. She says her strength is being able to position the cue ball after shots.

Calvin Coker, the house pro at The Shark Club, agrees.

“There’s no question that she has better position play than most of the top professionals, but she has a ways to catch up in some other areas, such as shotmaking,” Coker said.

Stinson is working on it. When she isn’t promoting the amateur tour, she practices 15 to 25 hours a week. She spends five to 10 hours on her table at home and the rest at The Shark Club.

Her home table, which is shorter and narrower than a regulation table, is in a room adjoining her kitchen. That location surprises some of her friends.

“But to me it’s the perfect spot to have it,” she said. “I spend most of my time in the kitchen and when I’m done cleaning, I just jump right to the pool table.”

The table was the first thing she and her husband bought when they moved into the house in 1985. At first, Ed was winning enough games to start getting cocky. He would say that he should be the one to turn professional.

But now Darlene’s play is more consistent and she beats him handily.

“Now I can’t get him to play anymore because I just barbecue him,” he said.

“He likes to play socially, but he likes to play more at his level. You know the male ego, they like to win sometimes.”