Project: New Shaft (Day 13) Great start to a new year!
HAPPY 2008!!!
Less than a full day into it and already 2008 is proving to be a better year than 2007. Out with the bad and in with the good! I’m on a Scotch Doubles hot streak! My last three scotch doubles tournament results: 3 for 3.
For New Year’s, Mike surprised me by signing us up for the 12th Annual New Year’s Eve Scotch Doubles Tournament (Jack-n-Jill) held at Biff’s. I had no idea, but apparently this tournament is a huge deal. There’s really nothing else going on for pool players on New Year’s eve. We drove 3 1/2 hours from Iowa, and flew in from Houston (our friends Scott & Holly) and Denver (me) to compete in this event. It was a blast!
The tournament was $50 entry and they said they would add $1,000 if we had a full 32 player field. Well, we were close. There were 27 players but they still added the $1,000 and our entry also included table time all night. Nice! It was bar table 8 ball on my good friend, the Diamond Smart Table. Man, I love those tables! Race to 4 on the winner’s side and race to 3 on the loser’s side, alternate break.
Without a bye, we won our first match and lost our second to friends Scott and Holly. (Scott is originally from MN but moved to Colorado for girlfriend Holly. He’s long time friends with Mike which is how I met Mike years ago. They now live in Houston but home visiting Scott’s family for new years.) S & H played well against us and we made a couple errors that cost us.
In our first match on the loser’s side, we played our friend Ryan “The Pool Master” and his parter. They broke and ran the first rack and quite honestly, I was a little worried. As it turned out, that would be the only game they’d win and we won a total of 7 matches on the loser’s side, giving up only 2 games in the last 4 matches. All night, we made every shot we were supposed to and only missed one money ball. We were both on fire!
By 5a.m., we had completed our journey all the way through the loser’s side to meet up with Jimmy Wetch and his partner, who looked at us and said, “It’s 5 o’clock in the morning and $100 difference. Do you want to just split it?” I had no clue it was that late. I knew it was after 2a.m. because they had kicked everyone else out and shut off the table lights around us, but we had collectively caught a gear and were firin’ on all cylinders. There’s no doubt in my mind that we would’ve given them a good run for their money. Anyway, $600 to split for a 10-hour day of fun and exceptional pool was well worth it.
Neither Mike nor I drink, so as the night went on, the drunk were getting drunker and the tired were getting even more tired. I had found a second wind and Mike was playing consistently great all night! I’m really excited for scotch in Vegas this year. I think we should do pretty decent.
There’s such a strange phenomenon that occurs with scotch doubles. It causes couples to fight, friends to bond, and in many cases, it’s such an incredible learning tool for the weaker player. The obvious, beautiful thing about scotch is that it reinforces the “one shot at a time” mentality. But, for some reason, when you’re playing with someone you care about, it’s so easy to feel you can lash out at them.
Often times, players put added pressure on themselves to perform well for their partner. They don’t want to let them down. Some feel comfortable enough to transfer that pressure and expectation to their partner. A not-so-understanding (or patient) partner might get frustrated if you’re struggling.
Another common thing that occurs and it’s even happened to me, is the better player may feel a responsibility to get the weaker player “perfect” shape and in turn miss the shot, or even worse, not give their partner the confidence to do their job. Dang it! Just leave me what you would leave yourself! That’s one thing I really appreciate about playing scotch with Mike. He has enough confidence to play the shots he would for himself, even if it’s a bank shot.
Whatever the case may be, I’ve seen it all, from fights, tears, cues slammed, and yelling. It takes a special “couple” to be able to play with each other and not end up divorced or dead. I love to play scotch doubles…
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Samm -
I just saw your post on MN Billiards and saw that you referenced more on this site. Is this your web site? If it is I just want to let you know that I will try to make myself a more frequent reader. I love reading your “smatterings” as you call them. Don’t usually spend much time on other web sites while working but I would make some time to read a random smattering or two from time to time. Thanks for giving us (pool players & the pool community) more to read.
Take care and nice to see you again on NYE.
Happy New Year!
Daxs