Boy! It’s been like Christmas around here lately!
When I arrived home from running some errands yesterday, there was a long package on my doorstep and I knew exactly what it was! It was my custom Instroke case from Frank’s Center! It’s been about three years since the original idea of the case was initially entertained.
The first line of business was to add a little customizing of my own … a new Julius sticker.
With all my traveling, I really needed a much lighter case. My current hard Instroke with all my cues and accessories weighed nearly 10 pounds. UGH! (not to mention the extra weight in my luggage) The new case weighs about 3 pounds less. Can’t wait to break it in during Vegas!
Vegas’s reaction to the new case (well, at least his tail is wagging):
Actually, I broke it in last night at the Friday night Rack ‘Em tourney. There was supposed to be a money-added women’s tournament there today so I wanted to play in the tournament last night to get comfortable with the tables, and well, let’s face it, I usually have pretty good success there.
For a $5 tournament, they actually get about 20 players each week and the bar matches the pot. First is usually around 90 bucks! Yeah, pretty good return on a small investment. I signed up, hit some balls with my friend Shawn on a 9 foot Diamond, and showed off my new rack. I watched the players roll in. It was most of the usuals and many new faces, including a couple of the top players in the state. It was looking to be a tough field but I was up for the challenge.
It’s so great these days. There’s so many new faces on the pool scene, most everyone (including myself) has either forgotten or just has no idea that what’s-his-face and I were ever even together. In fact, while I played him last night, Sarah (a sweet girl that approached me about lessons earlier in the evening) said, “He plays really good. He wins this tournament all the time.” I couldn’t resist but to respond with, “Not when I’ve been here.” Well? It’s true. I’ve never seen him win, nor even cash for that matter, in all four tournaments I’ve played there this year. HA!
So, even more gratifying. The tournament is only a race to 2. I lost the first game and after I didn’t get out in the second game, he ran out but scratched on the 8. At hill-hill, I scratched on the break. When he missed the opening shot, I ran out. It was a pretty nice out too because I had to play short side shape for the ball before the 8 and get pretty good on everything. I was happy because I didn’t have to shoot one single recovery shot in that rack. I ran it exactly as I had planned. It was such poetic justice…
I ended up losing my next match to Ronnie Chavez (he’s one of those top players in the state I was referring to). That was pretty anti-climatic. He was up one and I made a really dumb decision to lose that game. Oh well.
Next, I played Peter, whom I’ve lost to every single time I play in this danged tournament. Well, not this time! He was up 1-0, didn’t get out the second rack, and then I broke and ran to finish off the set. SWEET!
Sadly, I had to play Shawn next on the loser’s side. Jafaar won the winner’s side and asked all of us if we’d be willing to split. I assume everyone said yes because he took off. Shawn and I agreed to chop our winnings too before the match since we were playing for 3rd/4th. It was a good match. We both played well. I missed a shot at hill-hill and he ran out. Strange. It’s been about five months now, I had to use low-inside and subconsciously adjusted for the deflection and hit it too full. 
That’s okay. Shawn beat Ronnie and we split 4th and the total of the split 1st/2nd. Hence, how I came up with my 2nd 3/4 place finish. We each ended up with about $45. Not too shabby for a day’s work. I came home and plugged it into the 2008 Tournament P&L spreadsheet.
