I have been bitten by the bug and I am totally infected.
I wanted to tell my very short story of my “Life In the world of Pool” I just turned 42 years old and have been playing the game for less than a year. Oh of course ive picked up a house stick here and there during my lifetime, but never even remotely any kind of regularity at all.
I have a very good friend who is a natural at just about everything he tries. Play’s golf, Dart league, Pool league, and Poker just to name a few and is better than average at all. We all congregate regularly at a hole in the wall watering hole “where everybody knows your name” that has a couple of tables and he plays his dart and pool leagues out of. As is the norm in APA, he sensed last summer that his APA team may have to blow up due to being too top heavy so he began asking me (and my girlfriend) if we had any interest in joining a new team and the bar owner were forming. He gave me my first cue, probably a cheap 21oz wallmart cue (I still use to break with), and we began meeting up once a week or so to play. My friend is a SL6.
Jumping forward a bit the end of the 2nd APA session was coming and the forming of the team for the 3rd and final session of 2011 was rapidly approaching. The regular practice seemed to be paying off a little and they seemed to be happy to have a decent lower rated player on the team. I pick up my first store bought cues for my girlfriend and I. Two McDermott Lucky’s for 50 or 60 bucks and a 2X2 case for me and my walmart breaking cue…..So……
The season starts. I have a good bit of confidence going in and am very eager to play every week. I started out ok with a couple of wins in the first month or so. Then the loosing began….I lost, and lost, and lost, and lost……. Of course this drops me from the entry level SL4 to a SL3……Frustration set in for sure. I’m a pretty competitive guy and hated to loose. About this time I am really bitten by the bug big time. I picked up a new cue, a McDermott MWE with an I shaft second hand. I am convinced I have to win. I am so many years behind all of these other players who have been playing for 10-20 or more years. I must get my hands on anything I can find to learn more about the game and equipment to try and speed up the learning process. I find and sign up for the AZ forum. . I buy a second hand Pool table. I get a handful of DVD’s. Most second hand. I’m watching countless YouTubes and reading AZ threads all day, and playing at home almost daily. I buy a Jerry Olivier with a Pred 314>2 off AZ. Buy a new 4X8 Sterling Wave case. I take a full day private lesson from Randy G during the Christmas break, highly recommended from some good people I met here on AZ. I buy the VEPP’s 5 DVD set, and have a package of odd’s and ends coming in from various billiard web sites coming in almost weekly.
I wrap up the last couple of weeks of the APA session with a couple of wins, at least one against a SL5, finishing with a dismal 5 and 11 session @ 31% and a SL3….
I’m thrilled to find out that the down time between the end of the session and the first session of 2012 is merely a couple of weeks. At this point I literally am spending at least some time at the table 5-7 days a week I am completely bitten by the “Cue Bug” and buy a Predator Sport S with 314>2, (still mainly shooting with the Jerry Olivier) and have a J/B and a pure Sneaky on my want list now I am shopping for. We are 5 weeks into this session and I am 4-0 still at a SL3 (although the results from the 4th win wont be posted till Sunday. may move up????). Last week I had my first Rackless against a SL4. This druken guy proceeds to educate me all night on how I need to watch my innings and start missing shots intentionally or I’m gonna go up. (I’ve learned this is the kind of person who gives APA a bad name. The “Sandbagger”)
Tonight I have another SL6 coming over to my house to play. I have been playing a BCA open tournament at our local bar Sunday nights that usually will only have 7-15 entrants. Placed 3 this past Sunday out of 7. Mainly just for the experience and to get used to competition and to play as many different people as I can find to play. I still get very nervous during APA matches for some reason. Something I’m still working on……
So as you can see, I am completely eaten up with "the bug" here in my fist year. It’s all I think about. I think I’ve come a LONG way in whats just been about 8 months. I wake up thinking about pool. I go to bed thinking about pool. I dream about pool. I cant wait to get home from work every day to get to the table for a few 8 ball games against myself.
I read about pool on AZ every day. I watched the episode of SHARKS on Youtube on the way to work this morning in the truck. I cant get enough!!!! What am I to do!!!!!!!!!!
If you made it this far thanks for reading and thanks for all your post here on AZ.
I wanted to tell my very short story of my “Life In the world of Pool” I just turned 42 years old and have been playing the game for less than a year. Oh of course ive picked up a house stick here and there during my lifetime, but never even remotely any kind of regularity at all.
I have a very good friend who is a natural at just about everything he tries. Play’s golf, Dart league, Pool league, and Poker just to name a few and is better than average at all. We all congregate regularly at a hole in the wall watering hole “where everybody knows your name” that has a couple of tables and he plays his dart and pool leagues out of. As is the norm in APA, he sensed last summer that his APA team may have to blow up due to being too top heavy so he began asking me (and my girlfriend) if we had any interest in joining a new team and the bar owner were forming. He gave me my first cue, probably a cheap 21oz wallmart cue (I still use to break with), and we began meeting up once a week or so to play. My friend is a SL6.
Jumping forward a bit the end of the 2nd APA session was coming and the forming of the team for the 3rd and final session of 2011 was rapidly approaching. The regular practice seemed to be paying off a little and they seemed to be happy to have a decent lower rated player on the team. I pick up my first store bought cues for my girlfriend and I. Two McDermott Lucky’s for 50 or 60 bucks and a 2X2 case for me and my walmart breaking cue…..So……
The season starts. I have a good bit of confidence going in and am very eager to play every week. I started out ok with a couple of wins in the first month or so. Then the loosing began….I lost, and lost, and lost, and lost……. Of course this drops me from the entry level SL4 to a SL3……Frustration set in for sure. I’m a pretty competitive guy and hated to loose. About this time I am really bitten by the bug big time. I picked up a new cue, a McDermott MWE with an I shaft second hand. I am convinced I have to win. I am so many years behind all of these other players who have been playing for 10-20 or more years. I must get my hands on anything I can find to learn more about the game and equipment to try and speed up the learning process. I find and sign up for the AZ forum. . I buy a second hand Pool table. I get a handful of DVD’s. Most second hand. I’m watching countless YouTubes and reading AZ threads all day, and playing at home almost daily. I buy a Jerry Olivier with a Pred 314>2 off AZ. Buy a new 4X8 Sterling Wave case. I take a full day private lesson from Randy G during the Christmas break, highly recommended from some good people I met here on AZ. I buy the VEPP’s 5 DVD set, and have a package of odd’s and ends coming in from various billiard web sites coming in almost weekly.
I wrap up the last couple of weeks of the APA session with a couple of wins, at least one against a SL5, finishing with a dismal 5 and 11 session @ 31% and a SL3….
I’m thrilled to find out that the down time between the end of the session and the first session of 2012 is merely a couple of weeks. At this point I literally am spending at least some time at the table 5-7 days a week I am completely bitten by the “Cue Bug” and buy a Predator Sport S with 314>2, (still mainly shooting with the Jerry Olivier) and have a J/B and a pure Sneaky on my want list now I am shopping for. We are 5 weeks into this session and I am 4-0 still at a SL3 (although the results from the 4th win wont be posted till Sunday. may move up????). Last week I had my first Rackless against a SL4. This druken guy proceeds to educate me all night on how I need to watch my innings and start missing shots intentionally or I’m gonna go up. (I’ve learned this is the kind of person who gives APA a bad name. The “Sandbagger”)
Tonight I have another SL6 coming over to my house to play. I have been playing a BCA open tournament at our local bar Sunday nights that usually will only have 7-15 entrants. Placed 3 this past Sunday out of 7. Mainly just for the experience and to get used to competition and to play as many different people as I can find to play. I still get very nervous during APA matches for some reason. Something I’m still working on……
So as you can see, I am completely eaten up with "the bug" here in my fist year. It’s all I think about. I think I’ve come a LONG way in whats just been about 8 months. I wake up thinking about pool. I go to bed thinking about pool. I dream about pool. I cant wait to get home from work every day to get to the table for a few 8 ball games against myself.
I read about pool on AZ every day. I watched the episode of SHARKS on Youtube on the way to work this morning in the truck. I cant get enough!!!! What am I to do!!!!!!!!!!
If you made it this far thanks for reading and thanks for all your post here on AZ.
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