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.

Signs of Improvement

Most days when I go out to shoot pool I am practicing on my own, which is why I have put so much effort into finding fun and instructive drills.  However, it has been difficult to see if I have really improved, as a lapse in concentration (easy to do when practicing alone) can make it seem like I am not shooting well, even if I have lifted my game quite a bit.

Recently, though, I twice happened to find someone willing to play some pool with me at the pool hall.  The first time was a short 8-ball match against someone at Buster's in Somersworth, and I won all three games (though luck played a part in one of them).  The second time was a much longer match, and (to me at least) was more of an indicator of how far I have come.

I went to Legends in Portsmouth a couple of weeks ago, as I often do on Monday nights.  As soon as I got to my table at around 5:45 (usually I practice from 7 to 9, but I was early that evening), I got into a conversation with the man at the table next to mine, and we agreed to play some 9-ball.  We played for the next three hours, until I had to go, and it was a lot of fun.  He was a pretty good player, but I was able to use a lot of what I have been practicing and I won the match 22-13.  It reminded me a lot of the marathon 9-ball sessions I had with my friend Christopher in Chicago about 15 years ago.

I recently signed up for the Straight Pool League at Buster's, which starts in a week or so.  I have not played Straight Pool in a league since I lived in Chicago, but it has remained one of my favorite games.  It is a handicapped league, meaning that each player needs to sink a different number of balls based on their ability as judged by the man running the league (in this case, Frank at Buster's).  Frank has seen me rebuilding my game for a while now, but I don't think he knows that I used to shoot Straight Pool quite a bit.  He has said that he will start me out "in the lower division", whatever that means.  At the very least, I should have a once-a-week barometer of how I am doing.

In anticipation of the start of the league, I have been practicing Straight-Pool related drills (which the Q rating drill in my previous post is, sort of) and also practicing lags and the Straight Pool break, which is not like an 8-ball or 9-ball break at all.  In Straight Pool, you basically do not want the break, as on the break you try to drive two balls to a rail while not leaving your opponent a shot.  It is a tough break to master.

One way in which I know I am improving is my ability to run at least 10 balls in a row, whether in the Q drill or in a Straight Pool setup.  It used to be quite an accomplishment to do this once in an evening of practice.  Last night I ran at least 11 balls three times in a row in the Q drill, and also ran at least 10 in Straight Pool practice (high run of 13, done twice) four times in the space of about 6 racks.  What made me happiest was that the Straight Pool runs went from one rack to the next, involving a break shot on the rack in the middle of the run.  This is one of the hardest things to be able to do consistently.

I am really looking forward to my first Straight Pool match in the league.  I have no idea of what my handicap will be, or who I will be playing against, but I will be posting results and reactions here.