I gave up snooker career after facing teenage Ronnie O’Sullivan, turned to pool and can now achieve feat that has eluded The Rocket

talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein says he will live out his “childhood dream” at the US Open Pool Championship this summer.

The Drivetime host — and top pool player, in case you didn’t know — was stunned when Matchroom president Barry Hearn invited him to showcase his talent in Atlantic City in August.

However, this is not the first time that Goldstein has taken an interest in this in a professional setting.

After receiving a Steve Davis pool table for Christmas at the age of eight and watching snooker star Jimmy White on television in the 1980s, Goldstein became obsessed with both sports.

And by 15, he was the best snooker player at school and at his local club in Essex. Until a certain person appeared.

Speaking to talkSPORT.com after playing nine-ball against former Premier League striker Troy Deeney – who also competes in snooker – Goldstein recalled: “I was head and shoulders above above everyone (in snooker).

“Then this little idiot called Ronnie O’Sullivan comes along and says ‘I’m going to play you!’ and I was blown away by him. He was probably as good then as he is now. That’s no exaggeration.

“I played against Ronnie O’Sullivan” is something Goldstein has mentioned a few times on talkSPORT – so much so that he joked that it was the equivalent of Carl Froch telling people he had fought George Groves in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley.

But what listeners may not know is that his old school friend, O’Sullivan, partly helped Goldstein realize that he was destined to follow another path, away from snooker.

“I wanted to become a professional snooker player when I was a kid and it wasn’t until I saw what was required that I thought ‘I’m not far off’.”

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It was then that he discovered the pool tables upstairs at the club where he played. The rest, they say, is history.

Goldstein went on to play in the Nations League, Super League and also won his district. It even made it to #32 in the UK.

He now has the chance to win £75,000 if he is crowned champion in Atlantic City, the glitzy New Jersey town known for its boardwalk, casinos and, once, host to some of boxing’s biggest fights.

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When asked how he felt about being invited by Hearn, he replied: “It was amazing, it’s a childhood dream. Honestly, I love acting. I’m a little arrogant to the point to say that I can win.”

“But if you play the US Open in any field, it’s just, wow. So when he asked me, I was blown away. It’s my childhood dream.”

And while O’Sullivan may have named him the top dog in school snooker, Goldstein – now known as ‘Gailforce Goldstein’ in a nod to his hero Jimmy White ‘The Whirlwind’ – joked this summer offering him the chance to get a head start on his old friend.

He said: “I don’t think O’Sullivan has played the US Open and won the world championships many times, has he. But who cares ?

“He will win his eighth world title and I will bring my title back to the US Open!”

And he’ll do it while having the best hair on the Empire Boardwalk.