Stroke Drill

My end drill for the day. Shoot through the gates without touching the other balls. Slow, medium and hard speeds.

Strange how my cam phone shortens the apparent length of the table. The cue ball is on the foot spot and the 2 balls up top are on surrounding the headspot.  This is a 9ft table. heh.  The table immediately behind this one is a 7ft bar box, the table behind that is another 9ft though.

Last Minute Tournament

So, yesterday was a big 9-ball tournament out at Ride The Rail on Telegraph.  Initially only XY was going to enter as she played for free (being a girl and also a C player). It was $10 for me, with a chance to win $500.  Yeah, that didn't so much happen.  It was on bar-tables, not my favorite.  I'll save that complaint for the end of the entry:

It was scheduled to start at 5pm with a max number of 64 players. I'm not sure how many they had, but I dont think it was 64.  Anyway, the previous day's tournament was running late in the 2nd half ($1K 1st prize) so we didn't get started until almost 6.  In the first round draw I ended up drawing this kid Justin who we knew from Sportcenter.  I won the round 7-4.  I'm glad to have started off with that win - and for some reason even moreso that I played someone I sorta knew.  It took the nerves down a bit - although he claimed to be a C player, and he was not.  C players don't get position like he was getting 50% of the time. *shrug* 

The 2nd round guy was this guy Keith, and he was a pretty decent player.  I would definitely like to play him again.  I got some rolls, but he got more of them unfortunately.  I really lost it when in the 6th game I ran the last 6 balls playing pretty decent position - but also having to deal with some pretty thin cuts that I would've missed on a large table - finally getting to the 9, making another thin cut, then not being used to the table-size/speed the cue ball went two rails towards the side pocket, then the table took it and it curved 4 inches on a slow-roll straight into the jaws.  If I had won that, like I was supposed to, I believe I would've gotten all my confidence back; as it was, I got scared of the weird rolls, dead-rails and unpredictable speed of the chewed up cue ball.  He won his hill match with, get this, a carom off the 6 to bank the 9 - to combo the 8 and have the 9 follow.  Then he tells me he meant to do that.  Sure.  Okay - you might have seen that - but if you could've done that at any time, you wouldn't have hung the 9 2 rounds ago, nor would you have scratched those three times.  Anyway - I go down 3-7 (I gotta check my log to be sure, but I'm pretty sure).

So, now I'm on the loser's side of the bracket and I draw this guy Bobby.  What he's doing on the loser's side, I have no idea - he was good. Real good. Better than me.  He made some mistakes, and for the most part, I capitalized on all of them, but he was more consistent and had an excellent feel for the table, speed-wise.  He was also part of the top 16 of the previous day's tournament; which I didn't think they let those guys play in this one.  oh well.  It was a pretty good match - considering the skill differences. I made some good shots, a great carom off the 5 to the 9, if I don't say so myself. But, in the end, he took the last two racks in a row to win 7-4.

XY (my stepdaughter) had a rough time, her first round was against a pretty good player - who was also being kinda rude to her (they played on the table next to us).  She lost 7-0.  Then on her next match, she drew a guy, a little younger, and started off down 0-3; but then game back to tie it up 5-5.  Unfortunately, she scratched on the 9 the next rack, given 6-5 and he wins the next rack, so she went out with 2 sets.  But, she was happy to  have played - but equally as frustrated with the bar tables. heh.

I'll post my bar table rant in a separate entry, I want to spread this around actually.

Guess im gonna enter the tournament today. Bar tables, race to 9 on the winners. 7 on the losers. Top four win cash. Here goes nothing. :)

Late Night Pool and Bar Boxes

Friday night, XY went to the hall with some friends while I played my new Assassin's Creed 2 game for a while.  Her friends left early, so I went on up there to play a while and give her a ride home.  I don't recall doing anything spectacular that night - aside from being pretty consistent and winning games.  No fantastic shots or run-outs unfortunately.  I've discovered something though... I'm being quite a bit more consistent with the number of balls I can run; which isn't enough, but it's a start. 

A number of times I'd get to the table on the 6 and run out with few problems.  If I get there on the 7, it's almost a locked in win.  However, when I break, I rarely run more than 5 balls.  So, it seems that something is preventing me from going any further.  Either I start thinking about how I could be out if I'm careful (thereby distracting my head from the current shot) or I get more and more out of line, forcing harder and harder shots.  I think it's a bit of both.  I know the latter holds true, I know that for sure - and I used to catch myself focusing on the rest of the rack while on the 3 or 4 ball and have mostly corrected myself of that habit.  One ball at a time - with eyes on the next 2. 

That's how I'm playing right now.  And for the most part, that's fine - but it's also shown me that I don't have as clear of an idea where the CB will be traveling as I had previously thought; causing me to get out of the line.  I have a decent shot making ability, so for the most part it doesn't kill me - but it does make me frustrated; which does affect my shot making.  So... some more things I need to work on, obviously.

Last night, XY suggested we hit up the bar-boxes so she can practice for her tournament next weekend.  I still haven't decided if I'm playing in it - but I'm thinking not.  It's interesting playing on those tables, like it's almost difficult to take them seriously - to really get down and shoot a serious shot on them.  At first I was shooting wildly because, lets face it, everywhere is close to the next ball on that thing.  I never did get a break'n'run - but I did run 1-9 on a practice rack while XY was at the jukebox.  Thank the makers for those giant pockets though - cuz a few of those shots would have never gone on a 9ft table. haha  I was a bit disappointed in myself though because I didn't break'n'run out on that thing - as easy as it is to sink balls, I still managed to hide myself playing position - which is a bit more forgivable, imo, because I'm used to sending the CB 15 feet, not 8 for 2-rails position.  *shrug*  Next Saturday we'll be back there playing a good long time, as the tournament is Sunday.

Back in the Saddle

So, last night XY and I went back to the pool hall.  It was the first time I've played since Monday. Okay, 3.5 whole days, but still.... it felt like a long time.  We did some warmup racks and then she wanted to do some drills, so... we did.  Nothing too serious, mostly rail drills and draw/stroke drills.  It was nice playing again - and surprisingly, I played pretty well.

Today's adventure was nice as well.  My usual hall, C&C, was dead empty, so I went to the double-shim'd table (tight pockets) and shot some position drills for a while.  A little while later this other regular, Todd, came in and we played a few racks.  He's a very good player and regularly beats Morris so I was curious to see how this would turn out.  We didn't have a lot of time to play and he was experimenting with some different stroke techniques, so we ended up with a 3-3 score before I had to go.  It should've been 5-1 or 4-2 though - as he jawed the 9 once and then the 8 another rack. 

Afterwards, we talked about strokes and whatnot - he gets awesome CB action, i mean, awesome - but his stroke is non-existent.  He stabs the ball; which just befuddles me how he's able to get such good action.  However, he definitely inflated my brain a bit with comments about my stroke and mentioning watching me play from time to time.  I missed easy balls, but I think it was because I was overconfident on them.  In general, I'm feeling pretty confident about a lot more shots than I used to - but there are still some that I need to make sure to check more than once.  I really believe that in not too long a time, I will be able to run some racks, provided the break is decent.  As it is now, I can't seem to run more than 6 consistently - each one gets just a tiny bit more out of line and by the 7th ball, I've completely gotten out of line and either hit it way too hard or way too soft - if I make it at all, the 8th ball is near impossible.

I hope to get some quality pool time over the thanksgiving break, but we'll see how that goes.  I'm also an avid gamer and will be picking up Assassin's Creed 2 on the way home today (I preordered it) and I expect that is going to occupy some hours. heh.

Thank you Samm!

Just a quick shout-out to my first and only follower; Samm Diep.  Be sure to check out her many sites, including The Tip Jar where gives advice and updates on her own pro-am progress and writes for Pool Synergy which I posted about yesterday. :)

My 3-Rail Bank Shot

Last night, XY surprised me by taking me to the pool hall on her dime; which was definitely a nice surprise.  Overall, the night was less than stellar, but at one point, myself and Josh, another local, were playing and when got down to the 9-ball he tried a 3-rail bank that just missed.  So, we kept trying to either kick or bank the 9 at least 3 rails.  After one of his attempts, he left me nearly straight in the corner along the bottom short rail.  I thought about it for a bit then shot this:



I was ecstatic!  I wonder if I could do it again if I had to? haha... not on the first try i'm sure. On the other hand, i don't have to make it again - i just did.  I'll be keeping that shot in mind if/when I ever play a Banks game.

Articles, Help and Advice

Some things have come up which are going to prevent me from playing pool this week - at all it seems.  This is quite annoying after last week's seemingly unending hours of play.  However, I think/hope this will be a good thing.

I bought 2 books last week: Byrne's Complete Book of Pool Shots and Zen Pool.  I'm hoping/expecting that between these two titles, I can gain both information and confidence in both the physical and mental aspect of the game.

Byrne's book appears to be a nice collection of how-to and what-if shots for nearly all types of situations/positions.  The next time I go to practice seriously, I'll be taking this book along with me. I hope to work through all the situations/position/chapters eventually - but for now I'm just starting small and choosing a few that caught my eye as I flipped through it.

Zen Pool is more of a 'what to do, how to prepare *mentally*' kind of book.  I expect to read these throughout this week and am looking forward to putting my new skills into action.  This will take considerably more time and effort, I expect.  But I'm looking forward to bringing my game to the next level.  This means I'm going to have to spend more time doing drills to hammer out the mechanics, further train my body and allow my subconscious to handle those high-pressure shots.

Lastly, I just added a new link on my sidebar to www.poolstudent.com (AKA Pool Synergy).  I just found this site, and already I am favoriting the URL.  Here are a few articles I particularly enjoyed reading today:
Play Pool Without Fear, How to Practice, How to Practice Part 2 and finally one that I find drives me up the wall more than just about any other topic: Learn to Win Under Pressure (why we choke and how to avoid it).

That's all I have for today - but it's plenty of information for you to browse through.

Lots of Pool Yesterday (jumps and tricks)

So, first up, the WBPA Tour Championships are being streamed live; and I watched some of that. Then I went to the pool hall where I played a lot of pool (too long actually).  Then later in the evening, XY suggested we go play since she was wanting to go, so we did.  Instead just being there the 3 hours I had originally said, we were there 5 hours.  I played reasonably well and hit balls with confidence, I'm learning to control my speed better when I have to put a lot of english on the ball.  Especially when I need to use low-right/left and draw back across the table 2 rails.  I'm gaining a lot of confidence in that shot specifically actually. Which is very nice.  The same with a lot of the cut shots I had so many problems with before.  I'm getting pretty happy with my playing.  Still don't run more than 5 balls consistently though.  Have to work on that.

I finally made a pretty good jump-shot yesterday too.  Here the curved line represents the jumping action:


I did learn a trickshot last night though.  I found an archive of layouts on cuetable.com and this was the only the one I could remember enough of to figure it out.  It's fun, for sure, and I make it every time. :)



Today is more live streaming. :)

Happy Friday the 13th!!

The 'Color of Money' and Other Trick Shots

In a previous post, I talked about making the "Color of Money" shots.  Well, here they are in diagram mode (plus a few others I like and have made)

The first one is the traditional shot, named as such during artistic pool competitions.  The 2nd page is just something that caught my eye during the movie.

The 3rd is one that I just learned last weekend; although I'm not 100% sure on the placement. This seems a bit too simple and I'm betting the "real" shot is a smaller angle.

The 4th and 5th shots are ones that I've been shooting for a couple of years on and off.  The 4th shot is a higher success rate for me than the 5th - but regardless, I've shot the both, made them both.  They are fun and pretty easy to do with some practice.

Eye of the Tiger - Stop It

Why is damn near every trick-shot video on youtube accompanied by Eye of the Tiger? Seriously - you aren't fighting some incredible david v goliath battle with your own pool table.

do.not.want.

Doing "fun" drills with Xy. in other news, we watched the color of money and Ive made both trick shots tonight. :)

Trickshot from Poolhall Junkies

Amongst our fooling around, AJ set up this shot... which is one, thankfully, I have practiced a lot over the years:



I made it my 2nd attempt after readjusting his position.  The OB must be on the diamond in order to get enough 'umph' on it from the CB's angle into the opposite rail so that it lines up on the pocket when the CB comes back.

Speed Pool

Last night XY got me to go the pool hall after I had intentionally left my stick at home so I wouldn't go during lunch. I felt I just needed a break.  But, I went ahead and gave it a try anyway.  Although I was feeling quite exhausted for some reason most of the day, I still played decently.  It a pretty low-key night, nothing was too serious and I even got a chance to run a drill, so to speak.  She was taking a break and suggested I run the 9-ball position drill, but i really hate that one, so I did this one instead:


Which, i can't say i've ever done start to finish before.  I even got out of line a few times and was able to go 3 rails to get back in position for the next shot.  That's a definite improvement over my last attempt from just a few weeks ago.  So... that made me feel good.

After another few games, it was getting late and things were getting silly.  Then XY said she wanted to see how fast she could clear the table.  So, we broke out the stopwatch on my phone heh. The initial goal was 2 minutes.  She got close a few times, but never made the 2 minute mark.  AJ made it in 1:57.  Then I made it in 1:21.  he tried again and got 1:32, then I tried again and got 0:57.  It's all about the break. :) If you get a good break, it's all gravy from there.  No one beat that time last night.

As silly as it seemed at the time - I really think that little game was pretty helpful.  I didn't have time to mull over each shot and plan everything out to the letter. I had just enough time to get down, shoot and hope the CB goes to that area for the next ball.  It really took a lot of the mental anguish over shots out of the game and just let me body take over.  It's almost like a reset.  I'm planning on what to do as I'm walking around the table then I get down and pull the trigger.

It's by no means a way to play - but it is, I think, something I will keep in mind for those days when nothing is working.  I should run a few racks like that to shut off the brain and let my muscle memory free.

Tournament: Fail

So, the tournament was yesterday and I have to say that entire day couldn't have gone much worse. First off, I slept poorly and not nearly long enough. I had to get up 2 hours earlier than usual, but that was only a problem because I slept so bad. I got to work nice and early though, did some internet stuff then left for lunch. I stopped by to hang out with MX for lunch then went to the pool hall around 2pm - the tournament was at 7:30. I know my cycles enough to know that I going to start hot, get really cold - then really angry - then finally nice and calm. How long this takes is entirely variant, but I wanted to make sure I gave myself plenty of time to work through these.  The afternoon started with me playing Morris as soon as I got there; which was fine I suppose.  But man, I was off. Really off, nearly from the get go.  I only ran more than 2 balls a few times, which is just ridiculous - most of the time I was still getting position, but I just couldn't ever seem to make the first shot.  oh well.  At 6, he left and I had a protein bar and sat and waited.  I thought about continuing to shoot, but I also knew that I was getting tired, so I decided to wait it out.  I'm still sure that was the good choice. 

Anyway, the tournament begins and I draw player number 13.  At first I thought it was going to be a good omen (given my affinity for friday 13ths).  My first round was against Juliana - a 6.  I was a 4.  We flipped a coin (instead of lagging, my choice) for the first break and I won.  I broke, made a ball, but left myself a long back-cut bank on the 1B - a shot I make probably 85% of the time - but not this time.  She ran to the 6 and rattled it in the jaws.  I ran the last of the balls - which included making a tight bank on the 9B.  I broke again and didn't get anything.  She made the 1B and then played safe on the 2B.  We had a bit a safety battle for about 2 or 3 shots till I left her a window and she ran to the 7, then played safe again. It wasn't the greatest safe because the 7 was right in front of the side pocket, but the CB was hidden behind the 9B downtable. My options were to jump or kick.  Since I hadn't made a successful jump all day, I decided to kick.  I missed the ball entirely.  It doesn't matter that I was really close, the fact is I fouled.  She ran the rest.  The 3rd rack she broke and didn't make anything, but I, again, didn't have anything but a long rail bank.  I thought, surely I'll make it this time... nope.  She ran 5 balls and left me safe, a good safe. I kicked, scratched.  She ran out.  The 4th rack was pretty similar, she broke made the 1 and 2, but missed the 3 leaving it a half-diamond on the long rail, however, again, leaving me hooked behind the 5B (position on the 4 though) near the opposite side pocket.  Here I actually made a great masse shot and got around the 5 and the CB caught at just the right time and curved right into the 3 nudging it just enough to pocket it in the corner.  I thought THIS was the shot that was going to bring me back into the game. I make the 4, but the 5 hangs in the jaws.  She runs out. The next rack, somewhere along the lines I missed a kick entirely again and in my frustration I tapped the CB with my stick while it was still rollling (though in no danger of hitting another ball - it was still a really bad move).  She somewhat condescendingly reminded me that that was entirely not allowed - which I knew, but was just too damn frustrated to care.  It was embarrassing though, and it was just one more thing.  Oh, the rack before then, when she won her 3rd game, we noticed that there were 2 chips on my wire - there should've only been 1 though.  She asked me about it and I said I only moved one, then she asked how I thought that could've happened. I said I have no idea, I'm pretty sure I cleared off the wire and I'm pretty sure I only moved one.  She said she didn't remember me winning a 2nd game, and I agreed and said that I have not.  So we fixed that without any issue.  That was embarrassing as well.  All of that coupled with my poor playing really threw me off.  Anyway, during the 6th game, she somehow missed the 9 and left me damn near straight in.  I jumped up to the table and looked at it.  I got down and then realized I was too excited, so I stood up, took a deep breath and looked at it again.  I got down, shot it and because the CB ever touched the 9B, I felt my arm swing and I knew I had missed it.  Jesus f'n christ how did I do that?  2 racks later, I think, she again missed a tough cut on the 9 but left the CB and 9B frozen in a weird angle near the first diamond, pointing into the 1/2diamong area on the long rail.  I thought it would maybe cross-corner, so I hit it pretty good, the 9B moved to the 1st diamond on the short rail and the cue went zipping into the upper corner pocket.  It's now 5-1 and she's breaking again.  She runs to the 4 and misses, but it doesn't matter cuz I miss it, and she gets out.  That's all she wrote. 

Overall, it was terrible.  All I wanted to do was play well, but I barely got any time on the table.  I HATE winner-breaks tournaments for that reason.  Whenever I did get there, I'm basically coming in cold and totally out of stroke - and I'm almost always left with a really difficult shot.  Alternating breaks would at least give each player a fair chance at staying at the table. 

I played like a 2 and today I'm feeling beaten down about it.  I feel like Kevin Costner in Tin Cup after she shoots an 83 on the first day of the Open tournament.  Don Johnson asks him how he shot an 83 and he Kevin says "i missed an 3 foot putt for an 82." I missed a near straight in shot on the 9 for at least a 6-2 score.

On the table next to us was this older man, who was a 4, playing this real hoosier of a guy, ranked 2.  He barely knew any of the rules of 9-ball, and at one time asked if jumping was legal, and as we said yes he got down and scooped the CB into the air before we could even stop him.  Afterwards we said that was an illegal shot, you have to hit down on the CB to jump it.  He didn't quite understand how that works; which is fine - it's a weird concept at first.  He ended winning 2 games and the older gentle was noticeably annoyed.  I know that Julianna was set to play him (Melvin) next.  Btw, Melvin had his wife (who's name I didn't get) and his son, Bubba, (seriously) with him.

Back to my game - I could come with up a number of excuses - lack of sleep, lack of practice, we played on the old one-pocket table, which I never play on... ever, was too nervous, nervous about playing a girl, nervous about playing a 6, nervous about playing someone that remembered me from 2003/4 when I used to go to chesterfield billiards, just plain nerves.  But the bottom line is, I played horribly - and no matter what the excuse, there's no excuse for missing some of the shots I missed.  There just isn't.  I should be able to make some of those while so drunk I'm seeing triple.

I didn't even bring my stick today.  I'm going to take today off - it'll be tough because I really want to get back on the table, but I'm feeling pretty down still.  Even though I got a good night's sleep (finally it seems) last night, I'm just not up for shooting poorly again.

There's another tournament at the end of the month, it's much larger than this one - but it's on bar boxes - and it's quarters.  XY is determined to play in it - she gets in free.  I would have to pay $10.  I might do it. Not sure yet.  There's also a Banks tournament at C&C coming up, $20 fee/$5 greens and it's double-elimination.  I might do that one, we'll see.  I do love banking balls.  It's not handicapped though - race to 3 on the winner's and 2 on the loser's sides.

Today's the Big Day!

So. last night I ended up going to the hall with XY.  We stayed a little longer than I had hoped, but everyone wanted their turn to try one of the drills I was practicing.  We got home around 11:30, but then I sat on the couch to relax a minute ... then fell asleep.  I woke up at 3am to some retarded infomercial.  I staggered on up to bed, only to be awakened 3 short hours later. *sigh* this is not the good night's rest I had hoped for.  I'm taking off work this afternoon so I can get some practice in - but I think I'll go home and freshen up a bit before coming back out to the hall.

I've already drew up my tournament notebook which looks something like this:

R	R+	!	/`	~	x	w/l

• R is rack number
• R+ is longest run in rack
• ! is balls made
• /` is balls missed
• ~ is safeties
• x is scratches
• w/l is obviously win loss
  

I also have little superscript notes for shots that indicate banks, kicks, combos, caroms, jumps and safety escapes. I think I've covered all the data I want, so... as long as I'm diligent about recording the info, it should be fine.  I've been doing this by hand the last two really big matchups I've had and it's not too difficult if I do it after each shot.  I only use hash marks, so I don't have to keep track of the exact balls I made.

I'm also in the process of writing a little app that will allow me to enter this information into a database so I can start doing trend analysis on my game.  The idea is that I will send a txt msg to a specific email account after each game with this info and the app will read that email and store that in the database.  Then I can just run reports at my leisure. Of course, i'm still working on the reading email from code thing - I have to convert someone's C# to VB to have it integrated with the rest of my website (secured and hidden from public view, of course).

Oh well.  I'm actually glad I started doing this today because it's kept my brain from worrying too much about the match later this evening.  I wish I had started the coding earlier this morning though, I would've like to at least have the email reading thing done before the tournament.

Longer Match (24-16)

Today's lunch started just about as soon as I entered the place. Morris was there and said he'd be ready in a few games.  While I had planned on practicing on the new one-pocket table, practicing in a game is probably better for me right now.  So, off we went.  I can't possibly try and recap all the action, but I know that I was first to 4 games; which means if this had been in the tournament, I would've won.  Overall, I'm very pleased with my playing today - save a few shots of course.  I totally miscued the only jump attempt, which really pissed me off since I specifically practiced that shot/distance sunday night.  I made some good kicks/escapes from safe - but I never really shot a good safety; got lucky a few times, but oh well. I combo'd the 9 a few times as well.  I dont think i'll play tonight - just relax and make sure to get a good night's sleep.  Tomorrow will be a long day.  I'm excited, but also nervous. *eee*

Venom Trickshots - WTF?!

This is just... wow.  I mean okay, it's a video production, with I'm sure lots and lots of hours of outtakes - but just that some of these shots were ever made... I really wonder what the future of artistic pool holds. :)

Bring on the Tournament!

It's official.  I'm playing in the tournament on Wednesday.  The organizer said I was a 4, and it'll be adjusted as I play.  I expected him to assign me a 5, but I'm guessing that lately they've caught glimpses of my bad hours.  Which is fine for me.  I have some more confidence that I'll make it past the first round. :)

Today started off poorly. My brain was all over the place and I wasn't feeling my stroke.  During a cool-off period Morris came over so we started playing.  I actually did pretty well today.  We played a lot of games and I'd have to check my notebook to see the final score, but based on memory, I think it was something like 13-10 him.  I had some good runs and made some good shots - got some bad rolls and scratched a bit more often then I wanted. I also got lucky a few times with 2 kick shots, but I'll take it.  There were at least three games where he scratched making the 7 and he gave me the game because the 8 laid perfectly for the 9.  I appreciated his confidence. :)  I was making those cut shots that was been the bane of my existence lately; although I still dogged a few too many shots - and once I missed my BIH shot to get position - and didn't get that either.  That's just embarrassing.  I suppose that's why I'm only a 4 though.  *sigh*  Wednesday is going to be a tough day. Gonna need to figure out a way to eat something around 5 - something that's not gonna weigh me down.  I'm thinking protein shake, but we'll see.

The Up and Down Skill Level Pattern?

Friday, I again, was playing fairly decently, then got a match with this guy who I'm not sure I'd ever seen before.  He asked if I played for time or anything, I said nope, just fun.  Good thing too.  I won the first two racks, but then the hour of shit-horse play struck me in the face. and I lost the next 8 matches.  Then I won one and proceeded to miss, yet again, another relatively simple shot in the next rack.  I'm not sure I won another game.  He went to go play one-pocket with some other guys eventually, but the finally tally was something like 13-3.  It was mostly light-hearted and at one point he did mention that he knows I can shoot, i'm just off.  Which is true - it comes in waves.  Good for 2 hours, suck for 2 hours, good for 2 hours, suck for 2 hours.  I just hate it that it always seems to happen when I get a match.  It's my biggest reason for not signing up for the tournament in 2 days yet.  I suppose I should just to get the experience and maybe get some sort of ranking, but... I don't feel confident that I'd make it past the first round; and all that's all I want to do.  Not get eliminated the first game.

Anyway, friday night, xy and I went to the hall again and nearly closed it down.  The same pattern of start good, suck then end decent appeared.  I'm more able to identify what's happening now, but making the adjustment - and keeping it there is still quite difficult.  oh well.  it's all practice, right?  My accuracy is going up though.  on a decently spread table i'm averaging 4-6 balls now i think.  I have to get to my practice log to make sure.