Comebacks: It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over. Let's Hear them!

i4pool

i4pool

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So last night I'm playing in this local 9B tourny and get matched up with a guy who I have to give 1 on the wire - race to 7. I find myself struggling to get a into a groove and my opponent is shooting pretty solid. Well, it gets to 3-1 him, then 4-2 him, then 6-2 him. Now he's on the hill.

He misses a shot and I decide to settle myself down by taking a restroom break (I probably should have taken it sooner). I washed my hands and my face then stared myself down in the mirror telling myself "it's not over!". I came back to win the set! It wasn't the prettiest comeback but it felt good nonetheless.

Let's hear your comeback stories and what factor(s) were key in shifting the momentum your way.
 
I am a 6 in APA 9ball and a couple weeks ago i was playing a 7 and couldnt buy a ball in the first couple racks. i was down 32-7 and it looked as if it was going to be a bad night. i took a couple deep breaths and told myself that i wasnt out of it yet b/c i had been shooting good warming up. i played some good safes and ended up getting all 10 points in the next rack to make it 32-17. then i had a break and run to get it to 32-27. i ended up coming back and winning the match 12-8. it was probably the most focused i had been in a while i just kept telling myself to take it one shot at a time and try to make as many balls as possible. it was cool to take a potential 18-2 loss and turn it into a 12-8 win. i felt better about that match then when i had skunked a guy a couple weeks before. victory is so much sweeter when you have to work hard for it.
 
i4pool said:
So last night I'm playing in this local 9B tourny and get matched up with a guy who I have to give 1 on the wire - race to 7. I find myself struggling to get a into a groove and my opponent is shooting pretty solid. Well, it gets to 3-1 him, then 4-2 him, then 6-2 him. Now he's on the hill.

He misses a shot and I decide to settle myself down by taking a restroom break (I probably should have taken it sooner). I washed my hands and my face then stared myself down in the mirror telling myself "it's not over!". I came back to win the set! It wasn't the prettiest comeback but it felt good nonetheless.

Let's hear your comeback stories and what factor(s) were key in shifting the momentum your way.
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Earlier this year, I was playing this guy named Abe at the Swanee at Hollywood Billiards. This guy shoots super strong and I was way off my game. I didn't even feel like playing anymore. He gets way up on me and I'm even more depressed.....:frown:

Well, I decide to mount a comeback win. I buckled down, tried to get back on my game. I won a couple of games, started on my way to a nice come from behind victory.

Then.......... I fizzled out and lost.

:rolleyes:
 
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One of my better comebacks that I remember did not turn out as a winner but I still played well and almost got there.

A year or so ago I was playing in a Viking tournament, first round I draw Arlo Walsman (not sure if I spelled it right). Race to 7, he started off strong and had me down 6-0 quick.. I clawed my way back with several break and runs and some good safety play to 6-6 and breaking very well..

Hill game I break and run to the six ball, make it and end up on top of the 7 ball, no chance to make it but I was feeling good so I tried to kick it in, hung it in the corner and of course he gets out. I soon found out how strong of a player he was but I had never seen or heard of him prior to my match. He ended up winning the tourney undefeated, I placed just out of the money but felt the best about that match.

I never go nervous, upset or worried about the match. I shot well once I got to the table and guarantee I made him sweat. If I had rolled the CB two inches further on the case game, I win. That's pool and that's why I love to play.
 
poolhustler said:
Earlier this year, I was playing this guy named Abe at the Swanee at Hollywood Billiards. This guy shoots super strong and was way off my game. I didn't even feel like playing anymore. He gets way up on me and I'm even more depressed.....:frown:

Well, I decide to mount a comeback win. I buckled down, tried to get back on my game. I won a couple of games, started on my way to a nice come from behind victory.

Then.......... I fizzled out and lost.

:rolleyes:
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:thumbup:


Hey Russ! That was a good comeback on you part. Didn't that end up hill-hill (6/6) from like 5-1? I don't recall. We've got to meet up again soon!

-Abe
 
My 2 most memorable comeback stories are:

1) 1st time at APA Singles Regionals. At the time I was a skl 5 and my opponent was a skl 5 so it is a 4-4 race. She wins the lag and makes the 8 on the break. She breaks again and makes the 8 again. She breaks the 3rd rack and the 8 comes out of the pack and almost goes in the corner up by the head of the table! fortunately nothing falls. I win that rack and come back to win 4-3! :smile:

2) Playing at our session ending APA 9-Ball Money Cup Tournament. We are in the 5th match and I (skl 6 at the time) need to win against another 6 in order to advance. Well the guy comes out hot and gets a big lead on me. Two of my teammates leave to go to work I am so far out of it. At one point he needs 3 balls and I need 28! I play some good safeties and get out, run a rack more safety play, etc...finally it comes down to I need 4 he needs 2. I break make a ball and play a safe on the one nudging the cue behind the 9 and breaking the 2 out. He jumps the 9 with a full cue! makes the one but can't see the 2, misses, I get ball in hand and run the 2, 3 , and 4 to win! (My team unbeknown to me was calling the two that left telling them "come back, come back, we need you for the next round!" I love it! :smile:
 
I was playing a large money tournament against a guy who is a favorite to beat me, and who i had actually bought in the calcutta with another friend. Anyhow he has me 4-1 and its alternate break 8 ball race to 5.

As i sit watching him rack for me i am thinking im not gonna lay this game off just cause i own him in the calcutta.

He sits down i get up and break and run. I rack he breaks dry and i run out. He racks and i break and make 4 and run out again. I rack for him thinking noway this can happen. He breaks and scratches and i runout again.

By far the best match i have ever played.
 
RunEmOut08 said:
... victory is so much sweeter when you have to work hard for it.
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Tap, tap, tap. I agree.


Really good stories guys! Five years ago I would have been down on myself and taken myself mentally out of the game. I've matured a little as a player since then and I have taken a whole new approach mentally. The book "A Mind For Pool" really helped my mental game! :thumbup:
 
My all time best was against a hustler named Billy Ray. He came to my poolroom in the early 70's and got me down playing a Race To Eleven for $200. I was down 9-2 and he was strutting around like a peacock. I started running out rack after rack and caught him at 10. In the last rack I had a difficult run out and had to shoot a long cut shot on the nine. I KNEW I was going to make that ball! I beat him 11-10 and he snapped his cue in frustration and stormed out of there.

Billy Ray disappeared from the pool scene for many years and re-emerged a couple of years ago. Kind of pulled a Rafael Martinez disappearing act on us.
 
jay helfert said:
...I started running out rack after rack and caught him at 10. ...
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Great CB Jay. I know that must have felt really good! Btw, is that one of the stories in your book? I can't wait to get my copy! :smile:

Was there any one thing in particular that shifted the momentum for you guys? Like for me it was the timeout I took.
 
On APA league night...ever KNOW who you will be matched up with just by reading the team roster? Any why not? This guy has owned me for years, and is the better player. Playoffs, reg. league nights, whatever, why not match him up with me since it's win no matter what the race?

But, NOT this time! Just a few weeks ago, race was 5 to 4 games (he is SL6, me a SL5), he needed at one point one game to my four to close out the match.

I won a game, then the second, then a third, and got it hill/hill and won that. Not without some luck, but I won the handicapped race, four to four. The same guy I can't buy a game from, I won four in a row!

This gives me great confidence and something to fall back on.
 
i4pool said:
Great CB Jay. I know that must have felt really good! Btw, is that one of the stories in your book? I can't wait to get my copy! :smile:

Was there any one thing in particular that shifted the momentum for you guys? Like for me it was the timeout I took.
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This story is not in my book. What shifted the momentum was I quit missing and started running out. He got a little weak after I ran a few racks. When I got the score to 9-5 or 9-6, he could feel me breathing down his neck. And I could see him laboring. :cool:
 
Nothing that's anything big really. Just being down 3-0 in APA vs a skill level 5 ( i'm a 4 ) and coming back to win the rest. He thought it was all over, I had 6 balls and he was on the 8. Nothing like seeing a persons face when they are in utter disbelief.

In 9 ball I was once down by 14 points and she needed just one. Broke made 3 on the break and ran it out. Broke again, ran it down to my game winning ball that was sitting right on the pocket, but at a 60ish degree cut for my cue ball, about 2 feet away at most... b*tch rattled in and out and I lose.

All that effort for nothing.
 
paksat said:
Nothing that's anything big really. Just being down 3-0 in APA vs a skill level 5 ( i'm a 4 ) and coming back to win the rest. He thought it was all over, I had 6 balls and he was on the 8. Nothing like seeing a persons face when they are in utter disbelief.

In 9 ball I was once down by 14 points and she needed just one. Broke made 3 on the break and ran it out. Broke again, ran it down to my game winning ball that was sitting right on the pocket, but at a 60ish degree cut for my cue ball, about 2 feet away at most... b*tch rattled in and out and I lose.

All that effort for nothing.
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Ah, contraire my friend! all that effort to get 8 points for your team instead of just what 3 or 4? Sometimes a 12-8 loss can be what your team needs in the end. I remember one time I show up to our 9-ball Money Cup and my team is running late. I put myself up first and the other team sticks a 6 on me (46-46 race in 9-ball). Well I battle it out and lose 12-8. I am discouraged but my team picks me up and we win. I find out later my loss totally shocked and deflated the other team because their 6 was expected to destroy me! when he didn't they were done! LOL
 
I have two good ones that come to mind. The first was an Open class tournament I played in several years ago, I was only a B- player at best playing aginst an A+ player with no spots in this tournament (race to 9) He was playing beautifully and was up 7-1 at one point. He scratched on the break and I ran two racks. Then a few safeties and I won another two, now it's 7-5. He then runs the next rack. (8-6). He breaks, makes a ball but can't see the one ball and does something very stupid for such a skilled player: He pushes out to a long hard shot on the one, tempting me to go for it. I drilled it in without even thinking about it and ran out. I'm shooting way over my usual high gear at this point. I make the 9 on the next break and it's hill-hill. I sense I can't lose and I can tell he senses it too. I don't make a ball on the next break and he shoots and misses a medium-hard shot by a mile, he had lost all confidence. I easily ran out for the win.

The other story was when I was gambling with a local player. We used to play alot for $25 a game of straight pool. I was alot better than him and used to give him 150-75. It was a good close game usually. Finally some says "you play better under a lot of pressure" give him more weight for more money and see what happens". So I play him 200 to 75 for $50. He thinks I'm crazy and gladly takes it. He starts shooting and is playing as good as I've ever seen him play and getting every roll, he never leaves a viable shot when he misses. He's up 58-35!! He's free-shooting at this point and brimming with confidence. I knew I was really going to have to grind this one out and that's what I did. I mostly ran one rack at a time and played safe because I knew I could out safe him all night long. I don't think I had a run over 30 balls the whole match but I wasn't really missing either. I pull it out 200-61. He looked like the wind had been knocked out of him. Afterwards someone came up to me and said "do you realize that after the tables turned you made 165 balls to his 3?!!"

Sorry this post was so long.
 
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My best comeback was a couple years ago playing APA 9ball. My team had won our divisionals 3 sessions in a row and in the finals for the 4th consecutive time. I was the final match with all on the line playing a 5 going to 38 & myself a 9 going to 75. He needed 1 ball & me 43. I held him to 0 taking the next 43 points with a few break & runs & good safety play. Felt great when it was over.
 
kamila khodjaeva.

Finals of the European 9ball championship girls. She: her first apearance, 13y old, her opponent: triple european championship in 8, 9 and 14-1 from germany, 18y old.

First time she played on the tv table. She was trailing 0-4 in a race to 6. She took the remaining racks and won 6-4.
 
Nothing to write home about but years ago I was playing a friend some cheap set $20 or so just to make the practice better . After playing for hours we were dead even so he say's last set race to 9 for $20
He wins the flip and comes out of the gate 100 miles / hour :eek:
Gets me stuck 8-0 on a race to 9 :frown: Well you know how the story goes
I came back and won the set 9-8 . To this day when I bring it up to Todd he says ah we don't wanna talk about it :grin-square:

Just a week ago I was playing a friend named Dan at Miller Time Billiards in Davenport . Last set of the night race to 9 . I win the first 7 games and he comes back 9 games in a row to win the set :eek:

Gotta love 9 ball :thumbup:

Larry
 
i4pool said:
:thumbup:


Hey Russ! That was a good comeback on you part. Didn't that end up hill-hill (6/6) from like 5-1? I don't recall. We've got to meet up again soon!

-Abe
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Yep, it was fun! It may have got to hill-hill, if not it was pretty close.

Ring game at my house anytime you're available!!

Best,

Russ....
 
I mentioned this over in the 14.1 forum, but I was playing 14.1 last night in the league I established. I was struggling and my young opponent had me down 147-109 in a race to 200. He missed a ball and I knew I had to pull it together and put down a solid run or my night would end unfavorably. Man did I put it together in a big way, I ran out the set from there...91 balls.

At 178-147, I told him he might not shoot again as he racked the balls. His eyes were like saucers. In my eyes, I just had to run 22...not too tough. It felt good to do it.
 
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