Queen of the Table

As she stands at the table, Morris notices her partner standing in her peripheral so she makes sure to get her out of the way with a friendly nudge. As she raises her arm up high and looks her male opponent straight in the eyes, she carefully lofts the ball into the middle cup. The young guy across the table from her grumbles while he plucks her ball out of the cup. He then shoots and misses.

Morris cannot help but smile and laugh as she chases his missed ball across the bar. She knows he thought this would be an easy game and maybe even an easy score in the bedroom later because she is just another drunk girl playing beer pong in a bar. But little did he know she is one of the serious players.

Kerry gives Morris a high-five and reminds her to keep her head in the game as she approaches the table.

“Good job,” Kerry says. “Keep it up. Just two more games, and you’ll win that 150 dollars tonight.”

She smirks at her two male opponents as one of them pulls the second-to-last cup off the table. Her partner focuses as she shoots, but then she misses, causing her team to lose.

Morris and Kerry have won thousands of dollars, received free bar tabs at various bars, and have traveled to Oklahoma, Austin, San Antonio, Miami, and other places playing beer pong. The trips are generally inexpensive for Morris and Kerry because they usually win big money during the tournaments. They usually end up paying only for transportation. Not too shabby.

******

The House Bar is just a place to have fun, practice, and win some extra cash, Morris said. The real games are usually out of town, like the one this weekend in Austin, where Morris plans to meet up with Rob Dix, who placed 17th in the nation at last year’s World Series.

Morris wants to partner up with him in hopes of a better shot at winning the championship division in Austin. She said partners change often, and for women there is a better chance of winning if you have a guy partner. She said that guys are typically the ones who win the big events.

“I switch partners often,” she said. “If someone better comes along and asks me, then I’ll switch. It is no big deal. That’s how everyone does it.”

Morris and Dix have been friends for years. They met through Wayne Morris, her brother, when she first started playing professionally.

“She and her brother are great people and good players,” Dix said. “I enjoy playing with them.”

Morris said she loves that Dix has become a part of her beer pong family and that he is a great player with a completely new perspective on life and the game. She said she has learned a lot about the sport from him.

Dix, who used to play for a living, does not like the whole idea of people referring to him as a beer pong player because of the so-called misconception.

“As soon as you tell someone you are going to play beer pong, they think you are going to go get trashed in a basement, which is untrue,” he said. “It’s crazy that beer pong is not televised like pool and other sports. It amazes me how many people do not know about the World Series. There are no big tournaments in the DFW area. It’s one of the only metropolises without one.”

Dix has already won a few bids to Vegas for this year’s series but plans to compete for more because it is so profitable.

“I can sell the bids to other people or give them to my friends,” he said. “Both ways, it is a win. And I get to practice some more and have fun.”

Beer pong allows players the opportunity to travel, have fun, meet new people, make money, and find something they’re good at. Anything that involves drinking can lead to petty behavior and arguments. Some players tend to care only about winning. They can be disrespectful at times.

“I see this more when I travel to the East coast,” Dix said.

Beer pong players in the South, he continued, “are extremely different” and more chill.

The newfound sport of beer pong is attracting attention all around the globe. Along with the United States, Germany and Canada also have world series. Morris is just one of thousands of players on a journey to the American World Series and could not care less what others think about her for it.

“I am in it for the money, but I am also here to have fun and spend time with my friends and family, and that is all that matters to me,” she said. “I hope to win big in Austin this weekend so I can experience the World Series this summer. I really want to go, and I am going to keep playing in the North Texas Beer Pong Tour tournaments until I win.”