Several months ago, I lamented the fact that I'd had a string of 2nd place finishes for several of the significant tournaments that I've been playing.
Two years ago, I shamelessly crowed about my 2nd place finish at the NH State8-ball Championship. In fact it was this finish that had me pretty much quit my normal pool activities because I felt that it was quite an accomplishment and without a lot of further hours of practice, I didn't have any other goals that I thought was worth the extra effort. Let's face it, sometimes we fall out of love with this game.
Well... as of 1:00 AM this morning, you're (figuratively) looking at the 2007 NH State 8-ball Champion!!!!
The sponsored charity tournament was again held at the beautiful McCue's in Keene, NH ( http://www.mccues.com/ ). The very worthy event charity foundation is Crotched Mountain . And often today, these charity and memorial events are the ones I'd rather spend my time.
The event is not open to the professionals, semi-professionals, and other A players. So, it's not an open State Championship, but... LOL... it's as much a State Championship as the local APA State Cup (even moreso, IMO). It's also comparable to, say, the BC World Open being counted as a "World Championship" !!
The tables at McCues are 9' Connellys (furniture tables), with tight pockets, worsted cloth, and explosive cushions. As usual, half or more of the combatents were complaining about the conditions, ball sets, pocket tightness. Funny... the last several players weren't complaining.
So, if I haven't been playing a lot, how did I prepare for this event?
Well... I started by getting a Caesar Salad on Thursday with seven anchovies. Not 6, 5, or 8. Seven is a magic number, after all.
On Friday, I got a haircut. Samson be damned.
On Saturday, I reread a lot of Harry Potter. Again... magic.
On Saturday night, I went out and sang Karaoke. And I drank a lot. Again... magic.
But, make no mistake, I couldn't make a ball to save my life when I first got to the pool hall. I survived my first match, and got in stroke afterwards, rolling over some top competition for the area.
So, there you have the secrets of success. Actually, the bigger secret was that I had no delusions of doing well, and no pressure. The last match was into this morning, so it had some sloppiness to it, but it was still relatively high level of 8-ball.
And to add to the recent discussion... my game had a lot of stick aiming (thank you, Hal Houle) and SPF (than you, RandyG).
Okay, turning the brag meter off....
Regards,
Fred Agnir
2007 NH State 8-ball Champion <~~~ and they can't take that away
Two years ago, I shamelessly crowed about my 2nd place finish at the NH State8-ball Championship. In fact it was this finish that had me pretty much quit my normal pool activities because I felt that it was quite an accomplishment and without a lot of further hours of practice, I didn't have any other goals that I thought was worth the extra effort. Let's face it, sometimes we fall out of love with this game.
Well... as of 1:00 AM this morning, you're (figuratively) looking at the 2007 NH State 8-ball Champion!!!!
The sponsored charity tournament was again held at the beautiful McCue's in Keene, NH ( http://www.mccues.com/ ). The very worthy event charity foundation is Crotched Mountain . And often today, these charity and memorial events are the ones I'd rather spend my time.
The event is not open to the professionals, semi-professionals, and other A players. So, it's not an open State Championship, but... LOL... it's as much a State Championship as the local APA State Cup (even moreso, IMO). It's also comparable to, say, the BC World Open being counted as a "World Championship" !!
The tables at McCues are 9' Connellys (furniture tables), with tight pockets, worsted cloth, and explosive cushions. As usual, half or more of the combatents were complaining about the conditions, ball sets, pocket tightness. Funny... the last several players weren't complaining.
So, if I haven't been playing a lot, how did I prepare for this event?
Well... I started by getting a Caesar Salad on Thursday with seven anchovies. Not 6, 5, or 8. Seven is a magic number, after all.
On Friday, I got a haircut. Samson be damned.
On Saturday, I reread a lot of Harry Potter. Again... magic.
On Saturday night, I went out and sang Karaoke. And I drank a lot. Again... magic.
But, make no mistake, I couldn't make a ball to save my life when I first got to the pool hall. I survived my first match, and got in stroke afterwards, rolling over some top competition for the area.
So, there you have the secrets of success. Actually, the bigger secret was that I had no delusions of doing well, and no pressure. The last match was into this morning, so it had some sloppiness to it, but it was still relatively high level of 8-ball.
And to add to the recent discussion... my game had a lot of stick aiming (thank you, Hal Houle) and SPF (than you, RandyG).
Okay, turning the brag meter off....
Regards,
Fred Agnir
2007 NH State 8-ball Champion <~~~ and they can't take that away
