how are ya'll doing in league ?

Man its unbelievable how I can go from playing like a 3 one night and 2 days later play like a 7

I entered a usapl 8 ball tournament Saturday. I guess my head forgot to follow my body to the pool hall that day. I played lousy. I mean real lousy. Couldn't seem to see the tangent lines and scratched several times. Rattled pockets several times. Couldn't figure patterns or play safe worth a crap. Went 2 and out. Lost my first match 5-2 and the 2nd one 4-1.

So I go to usapl league tonight and played about the best I ever have. Played 8 ball first and won 4-0.

Played the guy who put me out of the tournament 9 ball and won 6-1. The only rack he won was when i had a dry break and he made a 1-9 combo.

We were shorthanded and my captain throws me 9 ball again and I face the guy who won the tournament Saturday and I won 5-3.

Played a total of 19 racks in 3 matches and won 15 of them. I oughta hit a Fargo rate of 500 next week. Depends on how far I drop after Saturdays data is entered lol. I am a 494 now. They started me as a 460 this session. I thought that was kinda low myself.

This is probly gonna be a long post but I want you to know what I has to gi through to get in a team 8 ball money tournament.

I had been waiting for any one to ask me to play on their team . Well this past Wednesday night after getting no calls I decided to put a team in it myself.

Now mind you this is Wednesday and the tournament starts Friday.....2 days away. Well I get 2 guys minutes after I started texting people. A 6 and a 5. Thursday night I get a 5 and a 2. Alright we got a team....6-5-5-5-2 . Mets the handicap limit and all are pretty good for their handicap. Well hold on a minute. ...one 5 says he can't make Saturday...

Friday at work I am still texting people during my free time and still no luck getting a 4th guy that can play Saturday. I text the td and tel him I guess I am gonna have to drop out. He tells me there is another team having the same issue and maybe we can join forces. Well I happen to know that captain pretty god and text and ask who she has. She tells mw their names and I know one of them and he is a 4. Dont know the 5 so I ask.. Is he a good 5....a pretty good 5 or a damn good 5 like me lol. She texts back and says he is better than me. Told her she did nor disappoint me . We are always givjng each other shit lol.

So we he there and its almost starting time and I am walking around shooting the breeze with most everyone. I find out through the grapevine that a darn good 6 was wanting in it but like me...no one had asked him. I text and ask him if he wants to olay for me and he says yes. Mind you the td is almost through with every ones roster and about to start making the bracket up. I run up and ask him to add that 6 and that he is on the way.

We go for 3rd lowest in the Calcutta lol. 50.00 lol. Highest was 300.00.

I did not pls Friday night...did not have to as we cruised to a win in 4 matches. Oh yea....the 5 I did not know aint as good as me sadly. Only loss Friday night..

This mornin I played a 7 and won 3-2. The 5 I did not know comes up to congratulate me and says. ..my captain had told me earlier that you was dang good but she did not say you was that dang good . Lol. We won pretty handily.

This evening we played the team that went highest in the Calcutta. We won the first 2 matches. I beat another 5 by 4-2. Third match they threw a 3 I did not know. This dude aint no 3. He won 2-0 in 4 innings. We throw a 6 and they counter with a 7. That 7 was on a tear. He started out with 2 break and runs and then shot amazin and went on to win 5-1. We threw our 2...to meet handicap. Their 3 won 3-1. We lost 7-6..

Playing for third place in the morning and hope to get another shot in the finals against the team we lost to tonight..

Regardless win or lose in the mornin I think we have done darn good with a team that was throwed together in 2 days....final player added only minutes till starting time.

Let you know how we do tomorrow. Oh yea...i did have a few that were interested in joining but balked at the 340.00 team entry fee.

Mkindsv said:

Had an ok week this week, still dealing with some confidence and alignment issues as well as some fatigue. Won my nine ball match 5-3 (went down to a 5 last week after winning a match that was so bad even the 2's weren't interested in watching) this win put me back to a six. Eight ball the wheels are still off the rails, lost again making me 8-5, but accomplished coming down from a 6 back to a 5 in that side of things. I'll be honest, I am sandbagging a little bit, but only because it is almost impossible to compete as an honest 6 with some of the guys in my league. I hate doing that but it is what it is.

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Oh dude.....i know its frustrating and sometimes downright depressing to be where you are at right now. I know because I am in the same boat. You really need to get your head and your heart back into the game.

When I was first raised to a 5 in 9 ball I went winless an entire session. I lost 16 matches in a row. I went back down to a 4 the next session and slowly became better over the next 2 years to where I consider myself one of the best 5's around.

Now I have reached another plateau that I am struggling to over come. I have been raised and lowered between a 5 and a 6 at least 10 times over the last year and a half.

I play good enough to win against most any 6 and above on any given night. I lose to those same guys as a 6 because I cant seem to overcome the extra 8 points to win the match.

So it seems like I am a damn yo yo. I win as a 5 and go up. I lose to the same guys as a 6 and go down. I will eventually cross that plateau where I can overcome those extra points and I know you can also.

I have never sandbagged but it seems like I am called one every 2-3 weeks lol

Keep your head up and keep strokin dude .

Up and down week for me.

Sunday apa I only played 9 ball ..won 16-4 vs a 4

Monday usapl. I moved up to a 505 after some good wins last week.
I played a 498 in 9 ball and won 5-3
Played the same guy 8 ball and lost 4-2.
Replayed 8 ball again the same guy due to us being shorthanded and lost 4-2.
I could not believe after winning 8 ball for 3 weeks in a row by shutouts ...one was against a 513 that I wound up losing this bad ...twice in a row. Looked at my rating tonight and dropped down to a 481. Depressing I tell you.

Tonight apa 9 ball we had to pls the same team twice due to a makeup.

I won 15-5 vs an 8 and won 14-6 vs a 4. hopefully I am on my way up to a 6 again after winning 3 in a row this week.

Oh yea...if you have been keeping up with my ramblings you will remember that I quit being captain of my Thursday 9 ball team a few weeks back. Well tonight we only wound up with 3 players there. Back when I was captain a night lime this would have made me pretty irate and probly affected my matches. It did not phase me at all since it was not my headache anymore and I think it showed by how well I played ....especially vs their 8. I just show up and play who and when I am asked to. Such a relief lol.

I had usapl last night. For some unfathomable reason I have resorted back to my old style of trying to run out every rack. It did not go well last week and it did not last night either. I lost 4-2. When you play higher level players in that type of match you either run out or sell out. I think It may be due to the open break and possibly my ego after winning 3 by shutouts 3 weeks in a row with a couple break and runs in those matches. I think its best I go back to leaving clusters instead of trying to break them out lol. I dont think any rack went more than 1 inning.

Played the same guy 9 ball and won 5-3 with 1 break and run. He won 2 racks due to me scratching on the break and he ran the table both times.

Both matches went real quick...either he ran the table or I did. Came down to who missed first lol.