Area pool teams headed to Las Vegas for competition

Pool might not be known as the sport of love, but it made a nice aphrodisiac for at least two Valley couples.

Ericka and Kirk Flaherty have been dating for five years after meeting 10 years ago while playing for opposite pool teams, and Tami and Jack Harned have been married for more than 10 years after meeting while playing pool in 1990.

“I saw her [at] a pool table and said to myself, ‘I’m going to fall in love with that girl,’” said Jack Harned, of Vienna.

And now both couples, along with many other Valley pool players, are heading to the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas for the biggest amateur pool competition in North America. The Flahertys are competing in the 2010 APA 9-Ball National Team Championship, which runs through Monday, and the Harneds are competing in the 2010 APA 8-Ball National Team Championships, which is Sunday through Aug. 28.

Read the story in Friday’s Vindicator.