I've joined a league!

So, long story short, a guy approached me over the weekend asking if I'd be interested in joining his league team. They need a 7th and he's noticed me playing over the last few months and thought he should ask.  After a bunch of internal debating, I've decided to go ahead and do it - but not without making a list of pros/cons:

Pros:

1. Meeting new people.
2. Playing new people.
3. Learning how to deal with pressure.
4. Learning different patterns.
5. I'm playing with 3 other 5s, a 6 and 2 7's. I'll start as an "unrated 4" and be adjusted from there.
6. Nearly all the tournaments in this town are on bar-boxes, so getting used to this should mean I could make some progress towards getting into the money zone.

Cons:

1. It's 8-ball.
2. It's on bar-boxes
3. It's on Tuesday nights
4. It's a single-game per person format, no "sets" in between players. A break'n'run might be the only thing I see during my game.
5. It might mess with my 9-ball game on the 9 footers I'm trying to get into on Monday nights.

All of the pros I mention fall under the goals I listed a few weeks ago, so... while it might not be an idea solution, it is the best currently on the table.  So... for the next 14 weeks (starting tonight) I'll be an 8-ball bar-box player on tuesdays.

I went to the hall last night to try the game. and a) twice as many balls on b) a table that's considerably smaller makes for a really cramped looking layout after the break.

They don't seem to keep score or track info like they do in the APA, but I will be tracking my own progress, for sure.  I finally printed off a nice new stat-track sheet, made a bunch of copies and put them in a binder for easy carrying. 

If anyone is interested, this is Missouri 8-Ball I'm talking about.  This is not part of the APA.

Bar Box Rant

I posted the other day about entering a tournament over the holiday break. I also said I'd post my rant about bar tables... well, here it is.

Now, as a precursor, it's entirely possible that my experiences are not the normal experiences. I realize that there are levels of quality in all things and I recognize that my particular location isn't exactly high-up on the scale.  However, some things are unforgettable/unforgivable.

I have never seen balls as nicked up, filthy, dented as the balls that were on these tables.  The tables were the standard 7ft coin-operated tables; but they clearly were assembled as quickly as possible as there is no way they were tested for accuracy or balance.  The foot rail make a clink/thud sound when you tried to bank off it; something both my opponent and myself commented on.  The rail was dead.  It wasn't the only one, but it was the worst. 

A little background - I play on 9fts with relatively fast cloth on a regular basis, so making the switch to these 7 foot tables gave me a number of problems - but couple that with what I discovered about this particular table and it cost me at least one game.

 

Like I said, I had been having speed control issues and this was no exception.  I'm not very confident with this shot, so I hit it perhaps a bit too hard, but I also know that I don't scratch, even hitting the 3rd rail, it's close, but it's not a scratch.  The line I drew here is close, but not 100% accurate, it started curving just beyond the 1st diamond heading towards the long rail and it just barely toppled into the pocket.  The insult to injury of this shot was that I had just completed my longest run out of the day; and needed that rack to get back into the match.  So, instead of being down 4-3, this scratch put me at 5-2.

I played on a number of a tables that day and all of them were similar in levels of filth and damage. Maybe it's just how bar tables are - especially considering they're coin operated and that location is notorious of loads of teenagers.  But, when the 9ft tables are kept clean, well clothed and the balls are kept behind the counter and in good condition, it's that much harder to accept such poor conditions.  I mean, I couldn't get a tight rack to save my life, no amount of ball spinning or tapping was holding these things in place; which is why I suppose so many people smash the rack like the Hulk - which damages the balls - downward spiral much?

Anyway, I've made it clear that I do not like those tables anyway - and I've made it especially clear that I will not for almost any reason, play in another tournament held on those tables.  If that hall wants to have another tournament, have it on the 8 9ft tables you have, not the 16 bar tables, and I'll be happy to play in that.

It's precisely things like this which keep me from entering a league - I refuse to play on such low quality equipment.  This is a hobby and I won't force myself to play on anything I don't want to play on. And no. I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

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.