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:

Billiard Show and Tom Ross Benefit

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.

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Rack’em Billiards in Aurora is now officially under new ownership.

Meet Derek and Ben…

Derek Smith and Ben Hancock, new owners of Rack'em Billiards

Derek and Ben have together been servicing and selling pool tables in the Denver metro area for over five years (including the tables at Rack’em) as Big Break Billiards. I look forward to having a couple table mechanics in charge and making sure the equipment is kept up with.

We had a great meeting today about ways to help resuscitate Rack’em and pool/billiard in general. They are both realistic but still keeping their minds open to improvements and suggestions. I’m looking forward to working with them and bringing more activity to Rack’em.

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Jealous rage nearly costs man his life

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Since last I wrote…

PoolSynergy

a collection of the best writing in pool

This month’s PoolSynergy was a huge success with a record-breaking 20 contributors. Be sure to tune in on Oct 15 as PCN Dude asks us about “The Future of Pool.” I will be posting a video interview from a special guest in the industry.

US Amateur Championships – Tampa Bound!

Mike & Nicole Helmer, owners of Match-ups in Fort Collins, CO

Sept 18-19, I was in Fort Collins, CO for my annual prelim round for the US Amateur Championships. One thing I’ve been doing differently since Tucson, is instead of practicing whatever I want (which usually ends up being 14.1), I’ve been forcing myself to play only the discipline and format I’m preparing for the entire week before. So, I spent every day that week playing nothing but race-to-5 sets of 8-ball and 9-ball. Truthfully, though I had put in a good 30 hours that week, I still didn’t feel entirely ready.

When I arrived at Match-Ups, I learned that the eight 9-foot Gold Crowns were all newly recovered and that we’d be using the measle cue balls, both circumstances which I love but have very little experience playing with. The tables at Rack’em are Diamonds with pretty slow rails and cloth. I knew it would be an adjustment for me.

Fort Collins is about an hour and a half from my house so I packed an overnight bag and was fully prepared for a sleepover should I have a late match on Saturday and an early one on Sunday. My good friend Eddie was kind enough to drive with me and for the company. Thankfully, I managed to stay on the winners’ side and finished up at a reasonable hour on Saturday. I even had time to have dinner with good friend, Dr. Dave before heading back down. In fact, I didn’t have to play until 1 o’clock on Sunday so I had time for a quick bike ride in the morning. Everything was working out nicely.

When I arrived on Sunday for the driver seat match, I learned that I would be playing my friend and student, Aimee. This was a very tough match for me and turned out to be a huge learning experience. Aimee played outstanding! I think she only missed one shot and I couldn’t seem to get out. I was rattling balls and even making pretty bad decisions. I lost pretty bad, 5-1.

I realized after the match that I was totally caught up with how proud I was of her and how far she had come. She’d always had nearly perfect mechanics but she played so beautifully against me, I was so torn between how proud I felt that she was playing so well versus remembering that I was there to win too. In the end, I really learned a huge lesson: Don’t forget that you’re both fighting for the same thing. I want it just as bad as she does.

Though I didn’t really play much better in my next match, I knew I just needed to make it through one more match for a chance at a race-to-9 with Aimee. I really struggled but just forced myself to pocket the balls and make sure I pocketed the balls.

Before my finals match started with Aimee, I brushed the table and washed the balls (personally). I didn’t want to have ANY excuses! I jumped to a 4-0 lead before I made a mistake. The toughest part about back-posting is having to relive the experience again, especially since I’m usually unconscious when I’m playing that well. J

This is what Dave G from Fort Collins wrote about my match: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=202293

The final score was 9-4. When you start letting your opponent back into the match and they pick up some momentum, it’s really easy for them to win several back to back games. This started to happen in the middle of my match when I missed a two-rail bank on the 8-ball to go up 5-0. I had to make a conscious effort to be VERY careful and not make any careful mistakes to let her back into the match.

This weekend’s strategy: I chose to break first. When I get to Tampa I may choose 8-ball first. I knew here that most of the girls would choose to start with 8-ball.

After everything was over on Sunday night, I couldn’t wait to grab a table to play some 14.1. Three of the eight tables had very forgiving pockets and I don’t really get the opportunity to play on fast gold crowns with forgiving pockets. I washed a new set of balls and went at it. High run: only 36. I was pretty pooped and it also took me a while to get into 14.1 mode. I quit after a couple hours. I figured I’d played enough pool all weekend. J

The best of Match-ups:

• They have my favorite foamy soap in the bathroom
• They even keep air freshener in there
• Eight 9-footers, nine 7-footers
• They recovered all the 9-footers for the tourney
• Mike & Nicole Helmer are the hosts with the absolute most! Being pool players themselves, they definitely know how to meet our needs and exceed our expectations! And, don’t forget about the Match-ups mascot, Joker!
• The buffalo sausage
• The steak sandwich
• The amazing organic grilled chicken salad (made from veggies that Nicole’s customers brought in for her)
• The homemade breakfast burritos Nicole made and brought in
• The wonderful staff and warm, cozy atmosphere

Truthfully, I was a little nervous about the tournament being held some place new this year, but I’m so happy it was at Match-ups. I hope it will be there again next year and I hope we get at least double the field!

Highlight of the evening (aside from winning, of course): A special thanks to Rebecca who asked for my autograph while I practicing after the tournament. She’s a frequent reader of my Cue Times column and she totally made my night!

I’ll be in Tampa, Florida for the US Amateur Championships November 4-7. Let me know if you’ll be there!

US Open

US Open 9-Ball Championships

On Friday, just before the weekend’s tournament, I learned that I am officially going to the US Open 9-Ball Championships. I am SOOOO excited about this! More details on this to come in a later post.

I will say that receiving this piece of news definitely took a huge weight off my shoulders and quite possible helped free my mind to do other things…. Like winning! J

AWBT Stop – It wasn’t a fluke!

AWBT Stop #5 at Bullshooters in Phoenix, AZ

Well, I’m happy to report that I won another AWBT event. I had to prove to myself that Tucson wasn’t a complete fluke.

I attribute this weekend’s success to:

• Spending much needed Q.T. with one of my favorite couples in pool, Mike & Susan
• Multiple visits to Yogurtland for frozen yogurt
• Getting my karaoke fix on Friday night at Club Meatballz
• Red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory with Sunny on Saturday night
• All the hard work I put in the weeks prior to the tournament

My road to victory was a bumpy one. I actually lost my first match on Saturday to Susan Mello. As a result, I played all three Susan’s in alphabetical order on Saturday. I narrowly escaped my Wilbur and Williams matches 7-6. It’s always SO tough having to play Susan Williams; not only because she’s my hostess or because she plays jam up, but because I love her so much and I really have to shut my inner-demons up to come through. I was very happy that in both hill-hill matches, I came to come with a steady run to win the match. I just focused on pocketing the balls and not skipping any steps in my routine.

On Sunday, I played a couple matches before meeting up with Sunny G (who also stays at Mike & Susan’s with me). Prior to that match, Susan Mello had lost the hot seat match to Sara Miller so she went ahead and took third so she could leave for work. When I was playing Sunny, I was very aware of this fact and how big the payout swing would be. It’s weird. I normally never think about that stuff but I really did NOT want to work so hard to finish fourth. This was probably my best match. I won 7-1 and ran 3 out of my 4 breaks.

Fortunately, I was able to keep the flow in my race-to-9 finals match against Sara. My break was working and I was feeling super confident. Sara was not playing her best and I had to be very conscious not to start feeling bad for her about it. That’s easy for me to do.

Here’s the complete write up on AzBilliards (courtesy of Roger Long): http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?storynum=7994

This win would put me in second from third but since I’ll be at the US Open during the October stop, I will most likely get bumped out of second by Sara or Ashea. I’m just hoping to qualify for the Regional Tour Championships.

The best of Bullshooters:

• It’s family owned business by an amazing family that really cares about its customers
• Gold crowns that are in pretty great shape
• The gyros
• The grilled chicken salad
• The homemade beef jerky
• The outstanding service!
• They bring you little pitchers of water
• The cheeseburger sliders

On the Spot with Samm Diep

Suzanne Smith contacted me way back in July with an “On the Spot” question for her new blog. After months of deliberation and procrastination, I finally sent her an answer. You can read it HERE.

Her questions:

As your involvement in the sport has expanded, how have your expectations as a player evolved?

I’m hoping she’ll join our PoolSynergy. Thanks for including me, Suzanne!

Misc…

I am SERIOUSLY about to make a huge breakthrough in 14.1. Last night’s practice was just the tip of the iceberg.

My next event will be the OB Cues tour stop in Austin, October 9-10. I’m SUPER excited to see my Texan friends again. In fact, I just picked up some goodies from PoolDawg to give out. And you’ll know I’ll have to bring Frank, too!

And the final piece of good news is that I broke down and bought a new digital camera with my winnings from this weekend (not ALL of them, of course). I dear friend of mine used to always tell me to buy one nice or even one little thing with my winnings from each tournament so that when I used it or saw it, it would remind me of that win.   Well, it wasn’t a complete splurge. I felt I deserved it.

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Well, I can’t believe the domain was available but it was.

I created this site as an online supplement to the Cue Times Tournament Trail.

It’s one, central place where Colorado pool players can go to at-a-glance see where all the tournaments and events are for the entire month (and more).

CHECK IT OUT & help spread the word!

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