Due to the withdrawal from the league of the player who was supposed to be my last opponent of the season, I was left in an interesting position. Because of the incredible comeback in my last match, I had 5 match points in the second half of the season with one match to go. Winning a match gives you a point. Winning by more than 10 balls gives you another 1/2 point. Playing above your average (number of balls sunk per inning) gives you ANOTHER 1/2 point. So, each match there is a potential for 2 points.
The way the playoffs work, the top three players from the first half play against the top three players from the second half for the six money spots. The two first place finishers compete for 1st-2nd, the two second place finishers compete for 3rd-4th, and the two third place finishers get 5th/6th (both 5th and 6th get the same money, so there is no playoff). In our division, the two first-place finishers will play off for 1st-2nd, but the same player took 2nd in both halves, so he gets third place. The same player took 3rd in both halves, too, so that player gets 4th place. As a result, if I were to take 4th place in the second half, I would get 5th/6th money.
To do this, I needed to beat Jim, who beat me at the end of March. He was the 'replacement player' designated by the league manager to take the place of the player who had dropped out. Unlike last time, when Jim spotted me 20 balls, this time the difference was only 11. I needed to get to 64, while Jim needed 75.
He took an early lead in the match, and had a pretty consistent 5-10 ball lead as we went into the homestretch. Coming into the last rack, he needed 11 balls to win while I needed 6. After we each sunk a couple of shots, I ran off 12 balls in a row to win the game! The final score (you keep shooting at the end until you miss) was a 73-66 win! I just missed winning by 10 (If he had scored 65 or lower I would have gotten that half-point), but the 1 1/2 points that I DID get were enough to put me into the 5th/6th spot. PLUS, I got an extra prize for being the "Most Improved" player in the division!
Not bad, for such a rough start. I won four out of my five matches in the second half, for 6.5 points, and as a result my outlay for about 20-25 hours of pool (for the ten matches in the league) was about $1/hour after the prize money is factored in. :-)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The match of the season so far
On Sunday afternoon I had my rematch against Wayne, the guy who I lost to in my first match in the Straight Pool League. Due to the closeness in handicap, he was spotting me four balls - he had to get to 75 while I needed 71 to win.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been reading a lot about how to restructure one's fundamentals at the pool table - stance, stroke, warm-up strokes, etc. Because I do not do much practicing between matches, I made the (kind of silly) decision to try to work on my fundamentals while playing the match.
As a result, I started missing shots from the very beginning. Wayne was shooting well, and even though my safeties were okay, and I would get advantageous positions on the table (my turn to shoot, several balls spread out and makeable), I would only make two or three balls before handing the table back to him. It reminded me of a chess player who can often get an advantage in the middlegame, but since he does not know how to convert it to a winning edge, he loses the game anyway. It is very frustrating. But, I kept my sense of humour about it all, and tried to keep things in perspective. Wayne is a nice guy, and there are worse ways to spend a couple hours than to shoot pool.
One interesting note is that Wayne never commented on the pace of my play - partly because he tended to take about as much time as I did on shots.
At one point in the match, I looked up at the score and saw that I was down by about 30 balls. He had 60 and I had around 29 or so. It was going pretty badly. At that moment, I decided to stop concentrating on the stuff I had read and just shoot pool the way I had been doing it before that day. Suddenly I found myself able to make shots with a bit more confidence. After I ran a few balls and then played a good safety (leaving Wayne no shot), I looked at him and said, "I come from the 'too little too late' school of Straight Pool". I figured all I was doing was making the final score a bit closer.
However, at one point I ran 15 balls in a row, easily my high for this league, and I began to think that if I kept playing carefully, I might work my way back into the match. When I had a very tough break shot lined up, I decided to play safe (all Wayne needed at that point was 4 balls, while I needed about 20). Even so, he had his chances to make the last few balls, but I think that my keeping him away from the table and out of his rhythm affected him a bit. He missed a couple of easy-ish shots that could have ended it.
Going into the last rack, he had 73 balls and I had 60. If I could make 11 balls before he made 2, I would complete an incredible comeback. I played as carefully as I could, making balls while trying not to leave him anything if I missed. (I even played a safety where no ball hit the rail, which cost me a point. Now I needed 12 balls in the rack to win.) At one point in the rack, he had a shot lined up on the rail. If he made that shot, his last shot would have been straight into the side for the game. He rattled the pocket, though, and I was able to make the two balls instead. Not only did I make those two, I ran out the rest of the rack!
When I looked up after making the last ball of the rack, Wayne congratulated me on an amazing comeback. I had not even processed that I had won the game, but the score at that point was 73-73 (The rule is that even if you make your winning ball, you keep going until you finish the run. I actually should have kept going into the next rack, but neither one of us thought about that at the time). Because of the handicap difference, this meant that I had come all the way back to win!
So, now the missing match against the guy who did not want to play looms large. Frank had said that he would pair me up against someone else if I had a chance at the playoffs (which I think I do). It seems strange that I would not get to play the person that had played everyone else, but whatever happens, happens. I will have fun with it regardless, and a playoff berth (if it happens) will be that much more enjoyable.
As I mentioned in my last post, I have been reading a lot about how to restructure one's fundamentals at the pool table - stance, stroke, warm-up strokes, etc. Because I do not do much practicing between matches, I made the (kind of silly) decision to try to work on my fundamentals while playing the match.
As a result, I started missing shots from the very beginning. Wayne was shooting well, and even though my safeties were okay, and I would get advantageous positions on the table (my turn to shoot, several balls spread out and makeable), I would only make two or three balls before handing the table back to him. It reminded me of a chess player who can often get an advantage in the middlegame, but since he does not know how to convert it to a winning edge, he loses the game anyway. It is very frustrating. But, I kept my sense of humour about it all, and tried to keep things in perspective. Wayne is a nice guy, and there are worse ways to spend a couple hours than to shoot pool.
One interesting note is that Wayne never commented on the pace of my play - partly because he tended to take about as much time as I did on shots.
At one point in the match, I looked up at the score and saw that I was down by about 30 balls. He had 60 and I had around 29 or so. It was going pretty badly. At that moment, I decided to stop concentrating on the stuff I had read and just shoot pool the way I had been doing it before that day. Suddenly I found myself able to make shots with a bit more confidence. After I ran a few balls and then played a good safety (leaving Wayne no shot), I looked at him and said, "I come from the 'too little too late' school of Straight Pool". I figured all I was doing was making the final score a bit closer.
However, at one point I ran 15 balls in a row, easily my high for this league, and I began to think that if I kept playing carefully, I might work my way back into the match. When I had a very tough break shot lined up, I decided to play safe (all Wayne needed at that point was 4 balls, while I needed about 20). Even so, he had his chances to make the last few balls, but I think that my keeping him away from the table and out of his rhythm affected him a bit. He missed a couple of easy-ish shots that could have ended it.
Going into the last rack, he had 73 balls and I had 60. If I could make 11 balls before he made 2, I would complete an incredible comeback. I played as carefully as I could, making balls while trying not to leave him anything if I missed. (I even played a safety where no ball hit the rail, which cost me a point. Now I needed 12 balls in the rack to win.) At one point in the rack, he had a shot lined up on the rail. If he made that shot, his last shot would have been straight into the side for the game. He rattled the pocket, though, and I was able to make the two balls instead. Not only did I make those two, I ran out the rest of the rack!
When I looked up after making the last ball of the rack, Wayne congratulated me on an amazing comeback. I had not even processed that I had won the game, but the score at that point was 73-73 (The rule is that even if you make your winning ball, you keep going until you finish the run. I actually should have kept going into the next rack, but neither one of us thought about that at the time). Because of the handicap difference, this meant that I had come all the way back to win!
So, now the missing match against the guy who did not want to play looms large. Frank had said that he would pair me up against someone else if I had a chance at the playoffs (which I think I do). It seems strange that I would not get to play the person that had played everyone else, but whatever happens, happens. I will have fun with it regardless, and a playoff berth (if it happens) will be that much more enjoyable.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Catching up on the league
First, a bit of background to cover the last couple of weeks:
The match I played after my last post was a bit of a downer. I never really got going, and my opponent thrashed me pretty badly. He was nice about it, though he was listening to music on his iPod for the length of the entire match. I suppose that is allowed, though it seemed a bit anti-social to me.
My next scheduled match after that was against a player who has one of the highest per-inning averages in the division (and therefore the highest handicap), but has yet to win a match in the second half of the league schedule.
Side note: I only recently learned how the standings and playoffs and such work. For each half of the schedule, the top three players make the playoffs and play each other to determine the top six places, which all pay out. I was well out of the running for the first half, but I have an outside chance of placing in the top three for the second half. More on that later.
To my surprise, this next opponent called me and offered to forfeit the match. Apparently he was very frustrated with his results in the league, and just did not want to play any more. I discussed the issue with Frank, the man running the league, and he decided that if I needed my final match in order to decide if I would make the playoffs or not, he would pair me with someone else. The player that wanted to forfeit would not play again in the league. This was okay with me - it would feel weird to be playing someone with something on the line (for me at least) while knowing that my opponent really did not want to play.
Which leads us to yesterday. The final match (maybe not for me, if I need to make up last week's match) is played against the player who is closest in handicap to you. In my case, this meant that I was getting a rematch against the player I lost to in the first week of the league. It would be a good test of whether I had improved. It would also be a test of whether I could incorporate all of the theory I have been reading about the fundamentals of my game and how to improve them.
The match I played after my last post was a bit of a downer. I never really got going, and my opponent thrashed me pretty badly. He was nice about it, though he was listening to music on his iPod for the length of the entire match. I suppose that is allowed, though it seemed a bit anti-social to me.
My next scheduled match after that was against a player who has one of the highest per-inning averages in the division (and therefore the highest handicap), but has yet to win a match in the second half of the league schedule.
Side note: I only recently learned how the standings and playoffs and such work. For each half of the schedule, the top three players make the playoffs and play each other to determine the top six places, which all pay out. I was well out of the running for the first half, but I have an outside chance of placing in the top three for the second half. More on that later.
To my surprise, this next opponent called me and offered to forfeit the match. Apparently he was very frustrated with his results in the league, and just did not want to play any more. I discussed the issue with Frank, the man running the league, and he decided that if I needed my final match in order to decide if I would make the playoffs or not, he would pair me with someone else. The player that wanted to forfeit would not play again in the league. This was okay with me - it would feel weird to be playing someone with something on the line (for me at least) while knowing that my opponent really did not want to play.
Which leads us to yesterday. The final match (maybe not for me, if I need to make up last week's match) is played against the player who is closest in handicap to you. In my case, this meant that I was getting a rematch against the player I lost to in the first week of the league. It would be a good test of whether I had improved. It would also be a test of whether I could incorporate all of the theory I have been reading about the fundamentals of my game and how to improve them.
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