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MUSCATINE, Iowa — Blake Mattson said he doesn’t hustle pool players.

However, the 13-year-old admits he takes more experienced or older players by surprise when he runs the table on them.

“Most people around here and in the Quad Cities know me already,” Mattson said of the players at the pool hangouts he visits.

It’s not as if Mattson tries to trick people into thinking he’s young and unskilled. Many want to play him just to see if they can win.

And when they do, he often takes their money.

Mattson, a soon-to-be eighth grader at Central Middle School, lives part-time in Muscatine with his father, Brian Mattson. He also lives with his mother, Laura, in DeWitt, Iowa.

As an up-and-coming billiards player, Mattson hopes to eventually participate in a pro tour qualifying event and eventually become a professional player.

In the meantime, he’s having fun playing in local, state and national tournaments where he’s winning money and meeting pros that he looks up to.

“I am still trying to get better right now,” said Mattson, who has pool tables at both of his parents’ houses.

During his five-year career, Mattson owns a second-place win at the 2009 Valley International Championships in the junior division at Lincoln, Neb.

At the same event, he also played on a three-person juniors team, which took first place, to make them world champions. His teammates were young billiards players he’s met at other competitions — Crist “Spike” Airdo, 16, of Moline, Ill., and Nate Atkinson, 14, of Wellman.

“It was people from all over — Australia, New Zealand,” Mattson said. “There were more than 500 people playing.”

Mattson won $900 at the Valley International tournament, but he’s also been winning more cash recently at much smaller venues.

One of his favorite accomplishments was taking a $1,230 pot at a 64-man tournament during a birthday party at a pool hall in Fort Madison. Mattson was the youngest player, and the adults he beat had mixed emotions about his win.

“Some were like, ‘Way to go,’ but some were disappointed,” Mattson said.

Mattson has won many tournaments in his age group across the Quad Cities area and beyond, and he also has placed well in adult tournaments.

Another highlight for Mattson was playing world champion Shane Van Boening in the 2008 Iowa State Tournament.

“It was down to the eight ball. He beat me,” Mattson said of the loss, which he blames on his father.

“It was an easy shot, and my dad yelled for me to three rail it. I missed. So we both kept trying to bank it and he made,” Mattson said.

He also lost to world champion trick shot artist, Mike Massey, when he was 9 at a state tournament in Waterloo.

“Massey left me an impossible shot,” Mattson said.