Man, there was a lot of activity this weekend! You know it’s a pretty cool weekend when you and so many of your friends are all playing in the finals simultaneously.
Nicole Keeney was a Meanie in Texas
Nicole & Ming from 2009 RTC Championships
Denver is not the same without her around here but she’s off havin’ fun, rompin’ around Texas.
Fortunately for her, the OB Cues Tour made this past weekend’s stop the WPBA Texas State Championship so she was able to play. Of the 30-something player field she met up with Ming Ng in the finals in a race to 7. Nicole was down 6-1. Ming 3-fouled her to get on the hill. Apparently, Nicole didn’t like that. She won the next 6 games and came back to win 7-6.
She is seriously hitting the ball so great right now! Looking forward to seeing how she’ll do this weekend in Texas.
Aimee Peterson Pummels the Field at the APA Allstars
Aimee Peterson, Ladies Top Gun & Allstars Top Gun champion
I was also very happy to hear that one of my very own students and just all-around sweetest people in pool (we’re working on breaking her of that at the table), Aimee Peterson plowed through the coed field of 40 players, undefeated, to take the Allstars Top Gun tournament this weekend.
I first met Aimee and her perfect mechanics in 2007 at the preliminary round for the US Amateur Championships. I’d never seen her before and initially took her lightly before I realized she could get out. I also played her in the finals this year for the same event.
In1998, she was the only lady to qualify in Denver for the Camel Pro Tour. She was on the raise when life and its other priorities stepped and has since delayed her progress. “I feel like I was asleep from 1998 until now,” she says. “You were, but now we’ve awakened the sleeping bear,” I told her.
Aimee and her husband have been huge supporters of mine and one of my favorite couples in pool. She also qualified for singles in Vegas next month so we’re doing everything we can this week to get her ready. I’m so excited for her!!
My Husband is still my Hero
Marc, my cowboy
Marc finished runner-up this weekend at the Golden Fleece in Seattle for the CSI U.S. Open One Pocket qualifier. That’s two back to back qualifiers now. It was a 40-player field, race to 3, with approx 10 tables. Yeah, you know where this is going.
Marc was up by 8a.m. on Sunday morning to hit balls before his 1 o’clock match that was delayed by two hours where he finally won hill-hill four hours later. Then, he played a beautiful set for the hot seat ending in an unfortunate scratch on his final ball at hill-hill resulting in another four hour hill-hill match against the same previous player to make it to the finals at 5 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING! I’m so glad I don’t play one pocket. There’s no way I have the patience for all that.
By 5 in the morning, the poor guy was completely exhausted and had given it all he had just to get there. Everyone else left, the tournament director, the streaming crew, and the spectators. They really should’ve rescheduled the finals match, and probably the one before that. Needless to say, he didn’t win the final match but I still love him for not giving up. Summer and I stayed up until 5 watching his semi-finals match.
Though he didn’t win the tournament, he won $600 which covers his entry fee that we already paid plus some of our expenses. For that, he deserves a chicken dinner with the rest of us.
Live Streaming was provided by Rail2Rail on uStream.tv.
Tom Ross Shines
Dr. Dave and me
Chris Byrne, my favorite cue maker
Todd and Anne
Being silly with Summer
There was a billiard show and benefit for Tom Ross at Greenfields on Sunday. The man of the hour made an appearance and is looking better and better each time I see him. Even Dr. Dave was there! He was selling his Video Encyclopedia of Pool and donating the proceeds to Tom. For all the work that Tom has done for our sport, he too deserves a chicken dinner.
Here’s the complete album:
Greenfields Bar
April 17, 2011
40 Photos
My Adventures in Bar Table Land
I had the most fun time on Saturday, hangin’ with more of my favorite girls in pool: Summer, Chris, & Kathy.
I used to play on a team with Chris and Kathy and don’t get to see much of them these days. Summer is my silliness outlet. When she’s around I just become a goofy middle schooler. It’s completely involuntary.
Oh, right. I was there for a pool tournament. We don’t get many non-handicapped, non-league-player-only ladies-only pool tournaments around these parts. So, when I heard about this one and happened to be in town and not doing anything else, I figured, “What the heck?” I know, I know, I’m hiatusing, but it’s a bar table, you’re never supposed to miss on a bar table, right?
It was only $10 entry. I donated a $20 gift certificate to my online store and supported the room with a couple meals.
Anyway, there were 27 ladies (which is sadly impressive for a ladies tournament out here) and it was a pretty fair race to 4/3. I was pretty pleased with how I was playing, considering I had pretty much hung up my cues for a while outside of lessons and clinics. I won four matches on the winner-side before losing the driver’s seat match to a strong player, Angela Jackson.
In the match before Angela’s, I had this pretty sporty shot in the first rack. I broke and ran down to my last ball before the 8 and got a little funny here. I remembered I was playing on a bar table with bucket pockets so I just played it off the 6 ball with speed for the 8. It hit between the first and second diamond and trickled in. That was fun!
14 ball off the 6 with position for the 8
After I lost to Angela, I had to play Summer. I was mad that I didn’t beat Angela so Summer and I could have a chance to chop first and second but now we had to play for 2nd/3rd instead. I ended up beating Summer and double-dipping Angela for all the marbles. That was pretty gratifying.
I was most proud of myself for overcoming all the excuses in my head for not playing well:
- Marc is back in Seattle
- I hadn’t been playing / practicing
- I don’t play on bar tables
- I have no idea where the heavy cue ball is going
- I was having way too much fun socializing out with all my friends to focus on pool
- I got a really bad cut right on my bridge knuckle the night before the tourney
- I really miss my husband…
Things I learned from Saturday:
- When you’re not in stroke, it really helps to just focus on the your mechanics. Back to basics!
- It’s inexcusable to miss a shot on a Valley bar table, no cut is too thin.
- Not practicing really forces me to focus on my mechanics on every shot.
- Follow is much easier to control than draw with a heavier cue ball.
- When you have nothing to lose and no expectations, you’re free of any pressures to win.
I want to give a big shout out to Love’s Shack (owned by Debbie Love) for adding money to our event and hosting us for the day. Love’s Shack used to be a strip joint and for a long time, had some of the poles up still. If you look closely, you can see it.
I also met Rich Montoya (super guy!) who ran the tournament all day for us for peanuts. He’s planning on having another one next month too.
