I don’t care what anybody says – high stakes bar table eight ball is no joke! I got my first taste of playing in a bar table eight ball team event, and it was really intense. This past week I played in the 16th Annual Indiana State Pocket Billiards Championships. This was an American Cue Sports (ACS) sanctioned event, and although I have my complaints, overall it was a good experience.
This thing ran from Wednesday through Sunday. This was one of the first chances I’ve had to venture out of the confines of my basement, so I played in all the events and stayed up way too late every night. Even when I did finally get to bed at night I had really bad insomnia. By the time Saturday rolled around I was a complete zombie. From Wednesday to Saturday I only got about 10 total hours of sleep. It was horrible! I’m planning on going down to Indianapolis in a couple of weeks for the VNEA state tournament and my first priority is going to be figuring out how to get some sleep.
In the team event, we had a tough first round opponent and we ended up losing. This was on Friday night, so this meant we had to come back Saturday morning and start our long trek through the loser’s side. Our journey started at 9 in the morning, and our first match was a bit rough but we managed to eek out a victory. Then we got rolling a bit and started sending some teams packing. Somewhere along the way, I’m making a quick run to the men’s room and I run into Nick Varner, who was there all weekend doing his thing – selling cues and cases and doing challenge matches. He turns to me and says, “Are you still in the tournament #$#$#” Wow, he remembered my name I thought. How he learned it, I’ll tell you in a bit.
But back to the tourney…We didn’t have a single ten minute break the whole day and at some point the day turned into night. When this happened? I have no clue since I hadn’t seen the sun in days anyway. We had now reached the money rounds. The room was filled with 40 tables and it was now standing room only. The pressure was really beginning to mount, although, personally I was feeling the pressure from the first ball. I was really outside of my comfort zone. At times, I was close to cracking but I pulled it together for the most part.
In one of our last matches, we were trailing the entire time. The format is you play 1 rack against each player, for 5 total racks per player. We were losing the entire match and it came down to the final rack with us still trailing and needing 7 balls for the victory. Our final player stepped to the table and broke, making a ball. He then proceeded to pocket one difficult shot. Then he studied the table for what seemed like 10 minutes. He got down and aimed for a long shot on the 5 ball. I know many of you are saying there’s no such thing as a long shot on a bar table. I used to think that too. That just means you haven’t played under enough pressure, because once that pressure builds up enough, it will make you reconsider what you previously thought was a simple shot. Anyway, our horse gets down and then gets back up several times before talking himself in to shooting. He ends up deciding on shooting a safety that really put his opponent in a tough spot that he wasn’t able to get out of.
So, after his opponent misses an impossible bank shot, he steps back to the table needing 7 balls for the victory. And just like a stone cold killer he methodically drills each ball in. Once he put down that 7th ball we all went crazy. Here we were, a bunch of grown men acting like we just won the Mosconi Cup or something. It was an awesome experience!
We made it all the way to the last match of the night on Saturday. This match concluded at 2:30 and we lost, finishing in 5/6 place. I think we won 7 or 8 matches on Saturday. It was crazy. We played from 9:00 to 2:30 A.M. without as much as a 10 minute break.
So, this team stuff can be really exciting and if you haven’t experienced it yourself – I ask why not? If it’s good enough for Jeff Sergeant, Kenny Brisbon, Kelly Espinoza, and a lot of other great players, why wouldn’t you want to experience this? I have a whole new level of appreciation for what it must be like playing in the Mosconi Cup. That must be so crazy.
So back to Nick Varner and the highlight of my weekend…
Nick was there all weekend and he was playing challenge matches. On Friday he was playing 8 ball, races to 4 with alternating breaks. How it worked was you paid 20 bucks to play him. If you won you got the twenty back and if you lost he signed a cue ball for you and sent you on your way. The thing is - Nick doesn’t fool around. If he can beat you 4-0, that’s what he does. No mercy. I was sitting for a while watching guys take their swing at this Hall of Famer. It wasn’t pretty. Admittedly, it wasn’t as if too many great players were really interested in playing in this challenge. I’m sure most of them have played pros somewhere along the way, so it wasn’t all that interesting to them. So, I was sitting there and talking to the guy taking the cash (his name escapes me at the moment) and asked him if anybody had beaten him this weekend and he said no, but a couple guys did manage to get to the hill. This sort of shocked me, the fact that nobody had beaten him. I also started talking a little trash. I said you don’t have to be that great to beat him in a race to 4. Really all you have to do is keep you nerve and break well and you have a chance. He laughed and said – “Right”. I told him to put my name down.
So, my name comes up and I get the first break. I break the balls and make one but the table is really tough so I end up playing an early safe. Nick returns the favor but leaves me a shot. I make the ball and work my way through the rack and finish it off. I’m up 1-0. The next break Nick smashes them pretty good but nothing drops. The table is wide open, but I still have to put them all in. I stay calm and run them out without much excitement. It’s now 2-0 with me breaking. I’m starting to think how even though this is just a challenge match I sure would love to 4-0 him. I’m starting to get nervous and the room is pretty full and everyone is starting to pay attention. It’s my break and I hit that 2nd ball break real good and the rack opens right up. There are a couple of clusters that I have to gently nudge apart, but I stay almost perfectly in line and get out again. It’s now 3-0 and it’s Nick’s break.
I’m thinking if he breaks dry again I’m going to have a chance. HE BREAKS DRY! Here we go. I step to the table and start working. I get down to my last 2 balls and I have a real thin shot on one of my balls and I have to hit the cue ball pretty hard. My remaining ball only has 1 open pocket and the only way I can get position is if I slam the cue ball into one of Nick’s object balls to stop it. If I don’t hit it perfectly my cue ball is lost and I would lose the rack. I get down, slice in the ball and the cue ball comes flying back, it hit’s Nick ball full in the face, killing it right in position. I pocket my last ball and then put the 8 in the side for the 4-0 win.
Maybe for many on this site that wouldn’t be that big of deal. But for me, it was a thrill of a lifetime. I had already experienced the highs and lows that come from playing in a team event and for the first time in my pool playing life I felt like I could actually perform up to my abilities. I then went and played Nick Varner and proved it to myself. There were no trophies on the line, and not much money at stake but I did it.
Nick came over to me and said “Great shooting” and handed me back my twenty. I said “Thanks but you’re not getting off that easy. Would you mind signing this twenty?” He was so gracious and he signed it without any hesitation. He's really a true professional.
Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to put it.
This thing ran from Wednesday through Sunday. This was one of the first chances I’ve had to venture out of the confines of my basement, so I played in all the events and stayed up way too late every night. Even when I did finally get to bed at night I had really bad insomnia. By the time Saturday rolled around I was a complete zombie. From Wednesday to Saturday I only got about 10 total hours of sleep. It was horrible! I’m planning on going down to Indianapolis in a couple of weeks for the VNEA state tournament and my first priority is going to be figuring out how to get some sleep.
In the team event, we had a tough first round opponent and we ended up losing. This was on Friday night, so this meant we had to come back Saturday morning and start our long trek through the loser’s side. Our journey started at 9 in the morning, and our first match was a bit rough but we managed to eek out a victory. Then we got rolling a bit and started sending some teams packing. Somewhere along the way, I’m making a quick run to the men’s room and I run into Nick Varner, who was there all weekend doing his thing – selling cues and cases and doing challenge matches. He turns to me and says, “Are you still in the tournament #$#$#” Wow, he remembered my name I thought. How he learned it, I’ll tell you in a bit.
But back to the tourney…We didn’t have a single ten minute break the whole day and at some point the day turned into night. When this happened? I have no clue since I hadn’t seen the sun in days anyway. We had now reached the money rounds. The room was filled with 40 tables and it was now standing room only. The pressure was really beginning to mount, although, personally I was feeling the pressure from the first ball. I was really outside of my comfort zone. At times, I was close to cracking but I pulled it together for the most part.
In one of our last matches, we were trailing the entire time. The format is you play 1 rack against each player, for 5 total racks per player. We were losing the entire match and it came down to the final rack with us still trailing and needing 7 balls for the victory. Our final player stepped to the table and broke, making a ball. He then proceeded to pocket one difficult shot. Then he studied the table for what seemed like 10 minutes. He got down and aimed for a long shot on the 5 ball. I know many of you are saying there’s no such thing as a long shot on a bar table. I used to think that too. That just means you haven’t played under enough pressure, because once that pressure builds up enough, it will make you reconsider what you previously thought was a simple shot. Anyway, our horse gets down and then gets back up several times before talking himself in to shooting. He ends up deciding on shooting a safety that really put his opponent in a tough spot that he wasn’t able to get out of.
So, after his opponent misses an impossible bank shot, he steps back to the table needing 7 balls for the victory. And just like a stone cold killer he methodically drills each ball in. Once he put down that 7th ball we all went crazy. Here we were, a bunch of grown men acting like we just won the Mosconi Cup or something. It was an awesome experience!
We made it all the way to the last match of the night on Saturday. This match concluded at 2:30 and we lost, finishing in 5/6 place. I think we won 7 or 8 matches on Saturday. It was crazy. We played from 9:00 to 2:30 A.M. without as much as a 10 minute break.
So, this team stuff can be really exciting and if you haven’t experienced it yourself – I ask why not? If it’s good enough for Jeff Sergeant, Kenny Brisbon, Kelly Espinoza, and a lot of other great players, why wouldn’t you want to experience this? I have a whole new level of appreciation for what it must be like playing in the Mosconi Cup. That must be so crazy.
So back to Nick Varner and the highlight of my weekend…
Nick was there all weekend and he was playing challenge matches. On Friday he was playing 8 ball, races to 4 with alternating breaks. How it worked was you paid 20 bucks to play him. If you won you got the twenty back and if you lost he signed a cue ball for you and sent you on your way. The thing is - Nick doesn’t fool around. If he can beat you 4-0, that’s what he does. No mercy. I was sitting for a while watching guys take their swing at this Hall of Famer. It wasn’t pretty. Admittedly, it wasn’t as if too many great players were really interested in playing in this challenge. I’m sure most of them have played pros somewhere along the way, so it wasn’t all that interesting to them. So, I was sitting there and talking to the guy taking the cash (his name escapes me at the moment) and asked him if anybody had beaten him this weekend and he said no, but a couple guys did manage to get to the hill. This sort of shocked me, the fact that nobody had beaten him. I also started talking a little trash. I said you don’t have to be that great to beat him in a race to 4. Really all you have to do is keep you nerve and break well and you have a chance. He laughed and said – “Right”. I told him to put my name down.
So, my name comes up and I get the first break. I break the balls and make one but the table is really tough so I end up playing an early safe. Nick returns the favor but leaves me a shot. I make the ball and work my way through the rack and finish it off. I’m up 1-0. The next break Nick smashes them pretty good but nothing drops. The table is wide open, but I still have to put them all in. I stay calm and run them out without much excitement. It’s now 2-0 with me breaking. I’m starting to think how even though this is just a challenge match I sure would love to 4-0 him. I’m starting to get nervous and the room is pretty full and everyone is starting to pay attention. It’s my break and I hit that 2nd ball break real good and the rack opens right up. There are a couple of clusters that I have to gently nudge apart, but I stay almost perfectly in line and get out again. It’s now 3-0 and it’s Nick’s break.
I’m thinking if he breaks dry again I’m going to have a chance. HE BREAKS DRY! Here we go. I step to the table and start working. I get down to my last 2 balls and I have a real thin shot on one of my balls and I have to hit the cue ball pretty hard. My remaining ball only has 1 open pocket and the only way I can get position is if I slam the cue ball into one of Nick’s object balls to stop it. If I don’t hit it perfectly my cue ball is lost and I would lose the rack. I get down, slice in the ball and the cue ball comes flying back, it hit’s Nick ball full in the face, killing it right in position. I pocket my last ball and then put the 8 in the side for the 4-0 win.
Maybe for many on this site that wouldn’t be that big of deal. But for me, it was a thrill of a lifetime. I had already experienced the highs and lows that come from playing in a team event and for the first time in my pool playing life I felt like I could actually perform up to my abilities. I then went and played Nick Varner and proved it to myself. There were no trophies on the line, and not much money at stake but I did it.
Nick came over to me and said “Great shooting” and handed me back my twenty. I said “Thanks but you’re not getting off that easy. Would you mind signing this twenty?” He was so gracious and he signed it without any hesitation. He's really a true professional.
Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to put it.
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