did something unorthodox last night.

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I had double jeopardy travel league last night. It was my first time at a new teams venue.

I walked in and saw every pool players worst nightmare. I saw a couple of unkempt valleys with balls that were chipped and looked like they had never been cleaned since the day they were made. Upon lagging my though that the rails were dead as heck were confirmed. What really got to me on top of terrible equipment was when i found out it was a dollar a game. I thought ....not only am.i playing on the worse equipment I have encountered in my 6 years of playing apa. They are also the highest priced tables.

Most of my apa teams play at pool halls ....either well kept valleys or diamonds and the all are 75 cents.

Needless to say....i was not very enthused about playing on these tables and consequently my level of play suffered. I missed easy shots.....rattled pockets and played terrible cue ball control and was not very focused at all I was quickly down 3-0 in a 5-3 race with me going to 3.

While racking the 4 th rack my thought process was.....i have 2 choices to make

1. Keep griping and muttering to myself about the crappy conditions whereas I will probably keep playing bad and get shutout

2. Try to stay focused and play my best.

Now comes the unorthodox part... I grabbed my breaking cue to play with.

Logic tells you that it's a lot harder to shoot with a plastic tip than a leather tip and ita a whole lot easier to miscue with.

Knowing the above forced me to focus and concentrate on exactly where I was aiming and where I was hitting the cue ball.

As a result I won the next 3 racks in a row to win the match. The look on the s/l 7's face I was playing was priceless when he saw what I started playing with and heard the pinging sound every time I shot lol. His mouth stayed open for quite a while after I won the match lol.

Highly unorthodox but it worked .
 

Bca8ball

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Most of all you proved that focus was what you needed. Obviously shooting with your break cue isn't the solution, it just forced you to do what you should have been doing in the first place.
Of course this doesn't fair well for the SL7 that was up 3/0 verses a SL5 shooting with his phenolic tipped break cue.
Now that you are well aware of what you need, maybe you can obtain the required focus while playing with the cue you normally shoot well with...
The SL7 should have been forcing you to use English off a rail (or two) just to get a hit out of his safeties. Instead, it appears that you broke his focus...win/win.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Most of all you proved that focus was what you needed. Obviously shooting with your break cue isn't the solution, it just forced you to do what you should have been doing in the first place.
Of course this doesn't fair well for the SL7 that was up 3/0 verses a SL5 shooting with his phenolic tipped break cue.
Now that you are well aware of what you need, maybe you can obtain the required focus while playing with the cue you normally shoot well with...
The SL7 should have been forcing you to use English off a rail (or two) just to get a hit out of his safeties. Instead, it appears that you broke his focus...win/win.

You are correct....i did realize I was not very focused due to the playing conditions and needed to get my head out of my rear...so to speak.

I figured the break cue would make me focus. It's not a phenolic tip...at less I dont think it is. I have never seen a tip like this before. The tip and ferule are all onw piece and its clear. I picked this cue up at a pawn shop for 40.00 and it looks quite old....or maybe just beat up lol.

There is a picture of it in my photo gallery and I dont know how ....or even know I my phone will link it and dont have a computer.

Maybe some one will be kind enough to post the pic in this thread or van tell mw qhat kind of tip it is.

And yea....i am sure a s/l 5 playing better with that cue than a cue with a regular tip blew my opponents mind.
 

Skippy27

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
.... i found out it was a dollar a game. I thought ....not only am.i playing on the worse equipment I have encountered in my 6 years of playing apa. They are also the highest priced tables.

Most of my apa teams play at pool halls ....either well kept valleys or diamonds and the all are 75 cents.

Lucky you. Pretty much every table around here is a dollar regardless of conditions.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lucky you. Pretty much every table around here is a dollar regardless of conditions.

I am not well off at all.but .25 cent a rack more is not going to bankrupt me. I just thought if was pathetic that the worst tables I played on was also the highest priced ones.
 

rw843

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
something unorthodox last night

Another example of focus; you get chance to hit with your buddy's new cue,it feels completely different than your player,and you run 15 balls,you focused.
 

gregnice37

Bar Banger, Cue Collector
Silver Member
I can't believe you guys are paying for the games. Our tables get opened 2 hours before league starts & stay open till the bar closes at 2am. When I used to play APA & traveled around during, the bar would always provide the fees for each game no matter where we played.
 

ejasons

Registered
I can't believe you guys are paying for the games. Our tables get opened 2 hours before league starts & stay open till the bar closes at 2am. When I used to play APA & traveled around during, the bar would always provide the fees for each game no matter where we played.

Ours (in the Portland, OR area) are open as well (for regular season play; we pay for TriCups). Most of the bars are thrilled to have us bring our 16 or so people in for most of a Wednesday night, as they would be pretty much dead otherwise...
 

michael4

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was quickly down 3-0 in a 5-3 race with me going to 3.


I grabbed my breaking cue to play with.
I won the next 3 racks in a row to win the match.

thats like playing right handed for three games, and then switching to left handed for the win.........I wouldn't be surprised if he complains about you sandbagging :scratchhead:
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
thats like playing right handed for three games, and then switching to left handed for the win.........I wouldn't be surprised if he complains about you sandbagging :scratchhead:

It would not be the first time some one complained. I am just streaky like that.

Take 9 ball tri cups 2 weeks ago for example.

Lost my first match to a 4 by a score of 31-32 in a 38-31 race

Won my second match vs a 7 by a score of 38-23 in a 38-55 race

Lost my third match to a 7 by a score of 55-14

My 17-3 win in the second match definitely raised some eyebrows and created a buzz around the pool hall that weekend and yea the word sandbagger was thrown around some.

However no one batted an eye she I lost the next match to another 7 ny a score of 18-2. People just dont stop and think ...if I was truly capable of playing at the level I did in my 17-3 win why in the heck would I lose my next march vs a 7 by 18-2 resulting in my team getting knocked out of tri cups ?

I have had lop sided wins and lop sided losses. ... Chit happens .
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I can't believe you guys are paying for the games. Our tables get opened 2 hours before league starts & stay open till the bar closes at 2am. When I used to play APA & traveled around during, the bar would always provide the fees for each game no matter where we played.

Cant multi quote on my phone so this is for you and ejason both.

I get the room owner incentive thing to get league players in the door..heck every body likes stuff for free.

I just feel when a room owner feels obligated to provide free pool in order to hopefully garner enough revenue off drinks and food the equipment suffers in the long run. In that situation the tables are there solely to provide revenue from drinks and food. The tables are not making any money per se and hw is not going to pit much money back in them.

An average league night will roughly generate 25.00 table fees. That is roughly 100.00 a month which added with whatever he may make a week from regular customers could pay to have the tables recovered ever 3 months. That's the average span between tables being recovered in my area in most places.I highly doubt our tables would be we recovered that often if we did not pay for table time..

That 2.00-3.00.per match I usually pay is well worth it to me to play on decent tables. I read numerous posts on here from.league players complaining about shoddy tables on the area but most also say they play for free also....coincidence ?
 

KRJ

Support UKRAINE
Silver Member
Cant multi quote on my phone so this is for you and ejason both.

I get the room owner incentive thing to get league players in the door..heck every body likes stuff for free.

I just feel when a room owner feels obligated to provide free pool in order to hopefully garner enough revenue off drinks and food the equipment suffers in the long run. In that situation the tables are there solely to provide revenue from drinks and food. The tables are not making any money per se and hw is not going to pit much money back in them.

An average league night will roughly generate 25.00 table fees. That is roughly 100.00 a month which added with whatever he may make a week from regular customers could pay to have the tables recovered ever 3 months. That's the average span between tables being recovered in my area in most places.I highly doubt our tables would be we recovered that often if we did not pay for table time..

We play in an ACS league with well maintained Diamonds. $1 per game. They even put pool covers on the tables every night.

That 2.00-3.00.per match I usually pay is well worth it to me to play on decent tables. I read numerous posts on here from.league players complaining about shoddy tables on the area but most also say they play for free also....coincidence ?

I agree. APA can't be the only one making a profit. APA does not pay for the equipment, rent or even upkeep on the tables. Nobody has a problem paying $8 to APA, but nobody wants to support the place that makes the tables available ??

I don't eat or drink when I play, so I'm not making much money for the bar. I will buy one beer after I play, but I don't need that many late night calories, so I certainly don't eat.
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I agree. APA can't be the only one making a profit. APA does not pay for the equipment, rent or even upkeep on the tables. Nobody has a problem paying $8 to APA, but nobody wants to support the place that makes the tables available ??

I don't eat or drink when I play, so I'm not making much money for the bar. I will buy one beer after I play, but I don't need that many late night calories, so I certainly don't eat.

Exactly.....the way I look at it is drinks and food can keep the place open....pay the staff and hopefully put a little change in the owners pocket so he will want to stay in business. Table fees can at least offset the cost of properly maintaining them. Simple logic will tell you if he cannot at least make enough money of the tables to maintain them the will wind up neglected
 

Chopdoc

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I love what you did. Forced yourself to concentrate on the basics. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


I have done it myself except that my break cue has a hard leather tip. My break cue is a hammer, my playing cue is a tuned violin.

Playing with the break cue forces focus on the basics because it narrows down the variables in what you can do with it. Stroke, speed, make the shot...nothing else...nothing fancy.


Winning under adverse conditions makes the victory sweeter.


I tell my medical students that have trouble that their achievements will be highly regarded. The one's that have little or no trouble and do well didn't have to work as hard to make it.





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