Pleasant afternoon in a Canadian pool hall

A week ago, I was in New Brunswick, Canada, and I had a few hours to kill, so I went to the Dooly's pool hall.  The day rate there is about $8/hour, which is high for pool halls around here (New Hampshire), but not bad at all for Canada.

When I got to the pool hall, there were three guys playing on a table in the back, and I set up on a table near them.  Immediately one of them came over and asked if I wanted to play a game.  I told him that I wanted to warm up first, but that I might be interested in a game later.

Several times in the next 20 minutes he came back over to ask if I was ready, and finally I said that we could play some.  I asked what game he wanted to play, and his answer was "The real game".  By this, I assumed he meant 8-ball, which turned out to be the case.  Apparently he did not recognize any other valid form of pool.  As he was also 15 years old, I decided I could forgive him for that.

He was a decent shot, but he did not know much at all about playing position - setting up for the next shot.  As long as he had a shot, he would make it most of the time, but he would usually place himself in a position where he had no valid shot and would have to try something very difficult.  I would then take over an run out (often, not always).  We played about 12-15 games in two hours, and he won one of them.  It was a lot more fun than practicing by myself the whole time, and while he was very much a kid ("I'm a pretty good shot for my age, huh?"), we had a good time.

It was also really good practice for the next 8-ball tournament at Buster's, as it turns out.

Still a long way to go...

After my recent success in the Straight Pool League, I decided to enter the Eight-ball tournament at Buster's on Monday nights every once in a while.  The tournament is handicapped, and the scoring is a bit strange.  You play three games, and you get 10 points for a win.  You also get one point for each ball pocketed if you lose.  So, if all of the balls are off the table when the game is over, the winner gets 10 and the loser gets 7.  The score for each game is added together and then your handicap is added in to give you the score for the match.

I played an eight-ball tournament several weeks ago, and my handicap was 12.  This was one of the worst handicaps among the players that night, but I still could not win a single game, much less a match.  This past week I tried again - my handicap was reduced to 11 due (presumably) to my straight pool play, but even so, I did not even win a single game.  Admittedly, I was playing against very good players (the first player had a handicap of -1, the best I have seen, while the second player's handicap was 3), but I had my chances to win and I could not come through.

It is possible that I just need more chances to play in competitions to develop my confidence.  Right now winning a single game of eight-ball in the tournament would be a step up, and I am not used to being in that position.