More Tournaments

I'm always be looking for ways to improve my game and one of those ways is to put myself in pressure situations.  Lately, when I've been feeling good, I've had the idea to play people for some small amount of money just to add a little bit of pressure - but that, strangely enough, hasn't really panned out too well.  Meaning, I can't find opponents that are comparable to my level.  They're either far above me or considerably below.  As such, I'm looking for tournaments, small local events primarily.  There are a few weekly events available, but I'm leery of them.  Mainly because they're all on barboxes, and I don't play as well on them as I do on the 9fts. 

Well, I've decided that I must put those equipment limitations away otherwise I'll never get any training.  There's only the hope of a random 9ft open tournament twice a year and I want to do more than that, so I must adapt my playing appropriately.  If I'm to be a good all-around player as I want to become, I must be able to adapt to the table - both in size, speed and reflections. 

I'm not sure that I'll make the weekly tournament for this week since I'm currently pretty sick right now, but next week there is a very big tournament.  A Midwest 9-ball Tour stop happening at The Break, over in Cahokia, IL.  I'll be attending probably as a spectator since I'm not sure I feel prepared to take on some of the big names that will show up.  I'd like to go tonight, if only to watch, but I know that I'll end up staying there all night and I just don't feel good enough, physically, to do that.  I would love to get out of the house though. heh

In the meantime, I'm going back to watching the Diamond 10-Ball Championships happening at the Super Billiards Expo down in Valley Forge right now!

First 10-Ball Break'n'Run!!!

I'm pretty busy this afternoon with post-processing photos, but I just wanted to post about something that happened at the pool hall last night.

First off, let me remind you that I recently changed everything about my pool playing.  On Friday, I played and was seriously contemplating going back because it was just murderous.  I realized now that I was too focused on my body and didn't really focus on the shot.  And that's fine - I expected to get worse before I got better, but it's tough to accept that sometimes.  Friday night, we went to the pool hall and I played a little better.

Last night we went back to the pool hall and had a little bit of time to warm up before our game partners arrived.  Apparently, it was just what I needed.  After everyone was warmed up, we racked up a 10-ball rack and I broke.  Got a good spread, made a ball on the break but the 1 was nearly married to the 3.  Good for me it was wired to the corner pocket.  After some consideration, I took the shot and sank the 3, leaving a longer than I wanted shot on the 1.  The 2 was sitting good after that.  I took a lot of time lining up for the 1, but I made it and stopped the cue ball.  After that, things get a little hazy in my memory as to where each ball was because we played for the next 7 hours. heh.

The major point of this entry though is that first rack... I ran the entire rack!  I got a few rolls and had to make a few difficult shots, but I used my stroke when I needed to, and I played smarter position than I have in a while.  I'm learning (strangely enough) just how useful center-ball is.  I'm seeing the tangent lines easier and I getting better at controlling my speed.  Although I came up short on the 10 and left myself with a pretty thin cut, I still rattled it in.  I could not believe it.  I still can't believe it!  I WISH I had the video camera with me.  I meant to bring it, but in a rush decision to get there on time I just forgot to grab it.

The rest of the night we played teams and/or ring games, which, in my opinion, are a sure-fire way NOT to get in-stroke, so no other game was as impressive.  Although I played pretty well all night, winning more games than losing, I also missed a lot of shots I shouldn't have. 

Still, I had a great time, and again, thanks to Gene and Gary for showing me even more tricks and sharing their knowledge with me.

This is one of my goals for this year - I want run a rack at least once a week.

Weekend Adventure

Saturday night XY and I headed out to the pool hall around 8pm.  We played a few hours then the locals came over and we played doubles - then we played Ring 10-Ball.  Personally, I found that to be incredibly annoying.  Yes, lots of people can play, but it takes for-freaking-ever; meaning I can never get in-stroke. I sit for 12 minutes between each shot/rack, then when I get to the table, I'm left with some ridiculous safe to fight my way out, so I only get one, maybe 2 shots at most. I actually got a 2nd rack of balls and shot by myself on the next table to try and get myself 'warmed up' for the next shot.  Also, call me crazy, but if I'm paying to play, I want to play - nonstop; not with a bunch of other people. They all pay to play as well, which I don't understand why they deal with it.  Of course, at least one of them works there so I'd imagine they play for free.

Aside from that, we had a good time.  The hours flew by, literally, and before we knew it - it was 4am.  So, we headed home, exhausted, hungry and a little slaphappy.