Last Sunday afternoon, I went to the pool hall for a few hours of practice. I took along with me the excellent book "Break Shot Patterns" by Phil Capelle. I was planning to run through several of the patterns in the book and see what I could learn from them.
Well, it took me over an hour to get through THREE of the patterns. By "get through", I mean that I practiced the pattern until I could get it right ONCE. They were much harder than I expected - it is amazing how easy the pros make it look.
The practice paid off immediately, though. After going through three of the patterns, I decided to practice some straight pool of my own. Within another hour, I had raised my all-time high run in straight pool from 17 to 25! This is a huge advance, and I am really happy with it.
The next night was the next 8-ball tournament. This time there were seven players, with these handicaps:
Roger (1)
Harold (3)
Jocelyn (3)
Jeremy (8)
Me (10)
David (12)
Scott (16)
I beat Jeremy in a tough match in the first round, and then beat Jocelyn in the second round. My third match was against Roger, the top player in the tournament, and our match came down to the final game, which I managed to barely win. This put me into the Finals, and I waited while Jeremy worked his way back through the loser's bracket (taking out Roger in the semifinals) to face me again.
In the final, I just needed to win one match out of two, and in the first match I won the first two games, which meant that all I needed to do was to sink two balls in the third game for the win. Jeremy broke, and nothing went in. I sunk two balls, and had my FOURTH tournament victory in a row!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Friday, July 20, 2012
One-on-One "Tournament"
Two Mondays ago, I was the only one to show up for the tournament, so it was called off and I got free practice time instead. (Pretty cool of Buster's to do that - I was expecting that they would charge me for the practice time when there was no tournament).
Two days after that, I went to New York, and one of the things I did there was to get two pool lessons from a pro whose books I have been reading. (Long story there, which I will likely share in a separate post). The pro, Phil Capelle, is a really nice guy and a great teacher. The lessons were fantastic.
The day after getting back from New York, there was another tournament scheduled, so I went in there with high hopes. As it turned out, there were just two of us in the tournament, so Buster's threw in an extra $5 (again, very cool of them - they made no money on this, and frequently all of the entry fee money goes to the prize fund) and made it a winner-take-all best of three matches for $25.
My handicap is still a 10, and the man I was playing against had a handicap of 3. This gave me a pretty good edge, as I was playing pretty well and I think I would have done okay if we were even. The first match was amazing - I beat him 10-5 and 10-1 and we did not even need the third game.
The second match did not go so well, and I missed a couple of chances. He won that match, which set us up for a rubber match. He won one game, and I won the second one (neither of us playing all that well), and because of the handicaps all I needed was to sink four balls in the third game to win the match. I had stripes, and he knocked in one stripe on the break, so when he missed I just needed to run three balls to win. And I did.
The lessons came in handy, but I am hoping to get in some practice this weekend to incorporate them even more.
Two days after that, I went to New York, and one of the things I did there was to get two pool lessons from a pro whose books I have been reading. (Long story there, which I will likely share in a separate post). The pro, Phil Capelle, is a really nice guy and a great teacher. The lessons were fantastic.
The day after getting back from New York, there was another tournament scheduled, so I went in there with high hopes. As it turned out, there were just two of us in the tournament, so Buster's threw in an extra $5 (again, very cool of them - they made no money on this, and frequently all of the entry fee money goes to the prize fund) and made it a winner-take-all best of three matches for $25.
My handicap is still a 10, and the man I was playing against had a handicap of 3. This gave me a pretty good edge, as I was playing pretty well and I think I would have done okay if we were even. The first match was amazing - I beat him 10-5 and 10-1 and we did not even need the third game.
The second match did not go so well, and I missed a couple of chances. He won that match, which set us up for a rubber match. He won one game, and I won the second one (neither of us playing all that well), and because of the handicaps all I needed was to sink four balls in the third game to win the match. I had stripes, and he knocked in one stripe on the break, so when he missed I just needed to run three balls to win. And I did.
The lessons came in handy, but I am hoping to get in some practice this weekend to incorporate them even more.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Somehow, it happened again...
After my first tournament victory (see last post), I did not play any pool for a week. I decided to try to defend my "title" anyway, though, so I went out last Monday and entered the 8-ball tournament again, giving myself plenty of time to warm up. My warmup went well, and only two more people entered the tournament (Ah, the dog days of summer...), so we had a three-person, winner-take-all tournament for the $30 in total entry fees. Once again, for $10 I was guaranteed an hour of warmup plus at least two matches, so I was fine with whatever happened.
For the third straight week, I ended up with a first-round bye. I asked Frank (the guy who runs Buster's, and the tournaments there) if the person with the highest handicap always gets a bye in the first round, and he said that it is all luck of the draw. Well, I lucked out again, and as a result I got to warm up some more while the two others (Chris - handicap of 3, and Matt - handicap of 5) battled it out in the first round.
Chris won a good match, so I needed to play him in the next round while Matt watched. My handicap had been lowered from 11 to 10 after last week's triumph, so I had a seven-point edge out of the gate. I needed it too, as I broke the balls only to have Chris run them out for a 10-0 whitewash in the first round. I managed to win the second game 10-7, though, which tied us up going into the third game. I won that one too! For the second straight week, I was in the finals, though this time placing second was not worth anything.
Once again Chris and Matt played each other, with the loser heading home and the winner having to beat me twice to win the tournament. Chris won again, which meant that I never got to play Matt at all, even though there were only three of us. Chris and I played once more to determine the winner of the $30. If he won the first match, we would play a second one.
The first game I won 10-6, and the second game he won 10-5. This made the score 25-19 in my favor, which meant that all I needed was to sink five balls in the third game (a 10-5 loss still would give me a 30-29 win on points). When he missed the first time, I sank four balls and then badly missed the fifth one. I had only one ball left that I needed, but none of the balls were in a good spot.
I had a long shot along the rail to win, but I made it! Two tournament victories in a row...even though they were small tournaments, it still feels really good! I feel like I have a decent chance against anyone now.
For the third straight week, I ended up with a first-round bye. I asked Frank (the guy who runs Buster's, and the tournaments there) if the person with the highest handicap always gets a bye in the first round, and he said that it is all luck of the draw. Well, I lucked out again, and as a result I got to warm up some more while the two others (Chris - handicap of 3, and Matt - handicap of 5) battled it out in the first round.
Chris won a good match, so I needed to play him in the next round while Matt watched. My handicap had been lowered from 11 to 10 after last week's triumph, so I had a seven-point edge out of the gate. I needed it too, as I broke the balls only to have Chris run them out for a 10-0 whitewash in the first round. I managed to win the second game 10-7, though, which tied us up going into the third game. I won that one too! For the second straight week, I was in the finals, though this time placing second was not worth anything.
Once again Chris and Matt played each other, with the loser heading home and the winner having to beat me twice to win the tournament. Chris won again, which meant that I never got to play Matt at all, even though there were only three of us. Chris and I played once more to determine the winner of the $30. If he won the first match, we would play a second one.
The first game I won 10-6, and the second game he won 10-5. This made the score 25-19 in my favor, which meant that all I needed was to sink five balls in the third game (a 10-5 loss still would give me a 30-29 win on points). When he missed the first time, I sank four balls and then badly missed the fifth one. I had only one ball left that I needed, but none of the balls were in a good spot.
I had a long shot along the rail to win, but I made it! Two tournament victories in a row...even though they were small tournaments, it still feels really good! I feel like I have a decent chance against anyone now.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Breakthrough, and Victory!
Last Monday night, I decided to play in the handicapped 8-ball tournament at Buster's. I wanted to break my streak of two full tournaments without winning a game, and I thought under the right circumstances I *might* win a match.
My hour of practice went okay, and my handicap was set at 11 (the same as it was for my last tournament). There were six players, and so two players got a bye in the first round. For the second straight tournament, I was one of those players, so I practiced some more.
My first match was against Jeremy, whom I had beaten in one of these tournaments a few months ago. His handicap is an 8, and he was amazed that mine was higher. It would be a recurring theme throughout the night - players commenting that my handicap was too high. My response was the same to everyone - in practice I play well, but I have not been able to put it together in a match or tournament yet.
I lost the first game to Jeremy 10-5 (see my earlier post about the scoring method for these tournaments), but then I WON the second game 10-5! This was not only my first win of a game in three tournaments, but because of the handicap, I could stay alive even if I lost the third game 10-7 (in which case one tiebreaking rack would be played). Instead, I won another game 10-5! My first match win in months!
What this meant was that I got to play Geoff in the second round. Geoff has a handicap of -1, easily the lowest I have seen. I did not even think they went below 0! In my last tournament, I had lost to Geoff narrowly after missing a couple of shots on the 8-ball. This match started off the same way, as I played well in the first game but missed my first chance at the 8. Luckily, I ended up with another shot on the 8 and made that one. The 10-5 win meant that I had a 21-4 lead going into the second game. All I needed was to make four balls in the second game, and my total of 25 would be one that he could not reach. I managed to do that, and suddenly I was in the finals!
Jeremy played Geoff to see who would face me in the final while I practiced some more. No matter what, the final would be a rematch of an earlier victory. The other three players had already been eliminated.
Geoff beat Jeremy, which meant that Geoff would have to beat me twice to win the tournament. If I beat him in the first match OR a second match (if needed), I won the tournament and the $50 first prize. I won the first game 10-6 and lost the second one 10-4, which made the score 25-15 going into the last game. All I needed was to make one ball...and when Geoff did not run out, I did just that.
My first tournament victory EVER in 8-ball at Buster's...and my first tournament victory there of any kind in several years (I won a 9-ball tournament there back before they stopped allowing smoking in pool halls). It was a good night. I made $40 and got to shoot pool for about 4 hours.
Tomorrow night is the defense of my title...I am sure my handicap will no longer be 11, though, which will make it a bit more difficult.
My hour of practice went okay, and my handicap was set at 11 (the same as it was for my last tournament). There were six players, and so two players got a bye in the first round. For the second straight tournament, I was one of those players, so I practiced some more.
My first match was against Jeremy, whom I had beaten in one of these tournaments a few months ago. His handicap is an 8, and he was amazed that mine was higher. It would be a recurring theme throughout the night - players commenting that my handicap was too high. My response was the same to everyone - in practice I play well, but I have not been able to put it together in a match or tournament yet.
I lost the first game to Jeremy 10-5 (see my earlier post about the scoring method for these tournaments), but then I WON the second game 10-5! This was not only my first win of a game in three tournaments, but because of the handicap, I could stay alive even if I lost the third game 10-7 (in which case one tiebreaking rack would be played). Instead, I won another game 10-5! My first match win in months!
What this meant was that I got to play Geoff in the second round. Geoff has a handicap of -1, easily the lowest I have seen. I did not even think they went below 0! In my last tournament, I had lost to Geoff narrowly after missing a couple of shots on the 8-ball. This match started off the same way, as I played well in the first game but missed my first chance at the 8. Luckily, I ended up with another shot on the 8 and made that one. The 10-5 win meant that I had a 21-4 lead going into the second game. All I needed was to make four balls in the second game, and my total of 25 would be one that he could not reach. I managed to do that, and suddenly I was in the finals!
Jeremy played Geoff to see who would face me in the final while I practiced some more. No matter what, the final would be a rematch of an earlier victory. The other three players had already been eliminated.
Geoff beat Jeremy, which meant that Geoff would have to beat me twice to win the tournament. If I beat him in the first match OR a second match (if needed), I won the tournament and the $50 first prize. I won the first game 10-6 and lost the second one 10-4, which made the score 25-15 going into the last game. All I needed was to make one ball...and when Geoff did not run out, I did just that.
My first tournament victory EVER in 8-ball at Buster's...and my first tournament victory there of any kind in several years (I won a 9-ball tournament there back before they stopped allowing smoking in pool halls). It was a good night. I made $40 and got to shoot pool for about 4 hours.
Tomorrow night is the defense of my title...I am sure my handicap will no longer be 11, though, which will make it a bit more difficult.
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