I decided to play in the straight pool league this past session for the first time again in nearly two years. Though I’ve been practicing quite a bit of straight pool this past year, I had forgotten how much fun (and frustrating) this league can be. 
Thanks to a few make up matches and my slightly calmer travel schedule, I was able to play 8 out of 10 weeks of league. The scoresheets we use for league are quite thorough. At the end of each session, Pete, the league director, prints out a comprehensive spreadsheet with everyone’s stats and results from the session. (below are a summary of my stats)
I finished the league, entering the playoffs with the third highest handicap (83). The playoffs are modified single-elimination format. Everyone is guaranteed to play at least two matches. In traditional modified single-elim formats, the final 8 or 16 players enter a single-elim bracket where the winners and losers are seeded to play each there. That way, anyone has a chance of winning. In this tournament, whatever side of the chart you’re on determines how you can finish. The final two on the A-side are playing for 1st or 2nd and the final two on the B-side are playing for 3rd or 4th. Unfortunately for me, I lost my first match, barely won my second one and then the next two to finish third.
This season, I ran a 25, got 110 bucks, and played some pretty sweet pool. I’m looking forward to next season’s league (starting late January).
My favorite break shot from playoffs:
If you or anyone you know is in the Denver metro area and would be interested in playing next session, contact me and I’ll pass along your info to Pete.
Week #1 LOST vs. Robbie P
Score: 100-53
Innings: 28
High run: 13
BPI: 1.89
Week #2, LOST vs Peter H
Score: 100-65
Innings 35
High run: 13
BPI: 1.86
Week #3, WON vs Matt F
Score: 100-91
Innings: 38
High run: 11
BPI: 2.63
Week #4, WON vs Dave K
Score: 100-66
Innings: 28
High run: 22
BPI: 3.57
Week #6, WON vs Pete W
Score: 100-53
Innings: 42
High run: 12
BPI: 2.38
Week #8, LOST vs Tony R
Score: 100-59
Innings: 18
High run: 15
BPI: 3.28
Week #9, WON vs David S
Score: 100-47
Innings: 33
High run: 19
BPI: 3.03
Week #10, WON vs Kenny R
Score: 100-73
Innings: 39
High run: 25
BPI: 2.56
Playoffs Match #1, LOST vs Buddy F
Race: 83-72
Score: 72-71
Innings: 29
Playoffs Match #2, WON vs David S
Race: 83-40
Score: 83-36
Innings: 23
Playoffs Match #3, WON vs Matt F
Race: 83-57
Score: 83-35
Innings: 37
Playoffs Match #4, WON vs Kenny R
Race: 83-64
Score: 83-47
Innings: 18
Straight Pool is the best.
Keep working on that High Run, Samm!
Thanks, FM! I didn’t have many high runs to report during playoffs. I played smarter than aggressive because I REALLY wanted to win, even though the best I could do was third.