Back on the Horse

It feels good to get back on that competition tournament horse again.

So far, I’ve been fulfilling my training commitment to myself. This past week, I worked out five days, hit balls for at least two hours every day, and in lieu of the two tournaments, I played in the Straight Pool League Monday night, matched up with a tough player on Friday night, and hit up a bar table 8-ball tourney last night.

Monday

Straight Pool last Monday was grueling. I haven’t played in this league in about two years. I can tell I’m a much better 14.1 player than I was two years ago, but I drew the toughest player in the league and let outside variables distract me (something I’ve been working particularly hard on lately). The final score was 100-65 and it wasn’t until the 8th inning before I had an offensive shot. I did string together some nice runs and made some beautiful break shots, but couldn’t keep my focus together to put up any high runs. It was bitter sweet.

Tuesday & Wednesday

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Thursday

Thursday night’s 6 Pocket Open House at the Skylark was a huge success. We got several players sign up and excited about the game. I’m looking forward to the three upcoming Open Houses in MN & CO (more details to come).

Friday

Friday night was originally designated for a bar table tourney, but after getting a late start, I found myself still at Rack ‘Em. They were having a tournament there also, but with only eight players, $5 entry. So, I decided it would be more productive for me to play some cheap sets with Geno on the big table. He’s a very strong player that comes in pretty regularly. I’ve known him for years and I know that he’s a respectful opponent so I welcomed the challenge.

The game was 10-ball, race to 5 for $20. I won one out of four sets and every single set went to the hill. I feel great for keeping up with him and givin’ it a go. I also feel pretty happy about my overall performance.

Saturday

Last night, I made it to BC’s for their Saturday night bar table 8-ball tourney. This was the place I was planning to go on Friday night. Of course when I arrived, everyone said, “You should’ve come last night! We had 30 people!” Great… I think there were only 10 people last night but I won my first three matches and just split in the finals with my friend Shawn H.

I beat him to get to the driver seat and I was VERY proud of that match. I won, 3-1.

Highlights:

In Game 1, I broke and scratched. Shawn missed his 2nd or 3rd shot and I ran down to my final two balls. Well, I thought they were the only two balls left. As I did my last look around, I realized I had completely overlooked the 5 ball that was still on the other end of the table. This was not the first time I’ve done this but it was the first time I had recovered from it. I had just rolled a ball into the side pocket and was very happy with the shape to get to the 8. I had a slight angle to slide over but instead, I jacked up slightly and stun-drew the cue ball back to the short rail for the 5 ball. Yikes!

And, when I thought I was in the clear, I got too straight on the 5 ball so I had to draw to the rail and out for a shot at the 8. Whew! That was an exciting one. Dave W. came up afterward to say, “Nice out, considering you didn’t see the 5 ball.” Yeah, yeah, I know.

In Game 2, Shawn had a tricky three balls left but I thought he was going to run out anyway. He’s a master player and I totally respect his game. Instead, he decided to stick me behind his 2 ball. It was weird. I can’t say I did all the calculations correctly, but it just felt right, so I got down and firmly kicked it in. I was left with a pretty tough shot on the 8 ball in the side but I just rolled it in with pocket speed. I don’t know how, but I managed to escape that one. He ran the next rack and I won the final game.

I’m off to another tourney tonight, big table 9-ball. Hope I can keep it going.

p.s. A quick shout out to Jeff from Michigan who was nice enough to come find me and introduce himself. His kind words made my night!

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