Back on the table!

After about two months away from the pool table (due to work and vacation), I went back to Legends last Monday for a couple of hours.  I did not have much in the way of expectations, since I figured I would be rusty, but things actually went pretty well.  I met a nice guy named Larry, and we played several games of eight-ball and nine-ball.  I won most of the games, but I was very streaky - one game I would run the table, and the next I could not make an easy shot.

At the end of my evening at Legends, I received a tip from a really good player who had been watching me shoot for the previous few minutes.  He told me that even though I had my back (right) hand on the cue extension, I did not have it far enough back, so my cue was still coming up at the end of my stroke.  This is not a tip one would normally get in a pool hall, since usually you do not have a really good player watching your stroke, but I was lucky.  

Saturday, I went back to Buster's for the first time in a long time.  I incorporated the latest tip into my play, and immediately things started to fall into place.  I practiced a bit, then challenged my friend Will to some games of eight-ball.  Will is someone that I played in the Straight Pool League, and he beat me then and in a casual straight-pool match that we played a bit later.  I had never played him in eight-ball or nine-ball, but I knew he was a good shot.  He continually ends up in the money in the straight-pool leagues.

Well, after losing the first game to Will, I came back and won the second one.  Then I broke and ran out for the first time in ages...and that set the tone for the match.  I went on to win 5-1 before Will had to leave, and even he remarked that my play was more consistent than he had seen in the past.  It felt really good to play well against such a good player.

Tonight I will be heading back to Legends, and hopefully I can continue to improve and to remember to move my right hand further back on the cue.  I will be using the extension for a longer time than I was originally planning, because the person who is making my custom cue has recently had a work-related accident, and it may be weeks or months before he can come back to work on the cues that he has in his queue.