Had a great tkme on a gold crown last night.

Being an apa player my pool playing is always on 7 footers now a days. Almost always on valleys and occasionally on diamonds.

Years ago i played in an in house money league on gold crowns and for a year our apa division rotated from 3 weeks on valleys to one week on a gold crown but that stopped about 4 years ago.

So last night when asked if i woukd play an 8 ball make up match on a gold crown since all the 7 footers were taken up i quickly agreed . i figured it would be a loss since i knew my opponent played on gold crowns at least once a week and i had not played on one in years.

Before we lagged i told him to take it easy on me since i had not played on a gold crown in years and he just smiled.

After i won the first rack in 2 innings i was helping him retrieve the balls out of the pockets and he said...i thought you had not played on these in years. I told him i had not and its all about making adjustments . he asked ...what kind of adjustments ?

I said number 1... I always aim center pocket and number 2 . i hit no harder than i have to ...usually pocket speed and never try to force a shot.

He said you forgot number 3. I said whats that ? He said...hope it falls. I started laughing.

Another light hearted moment wss when i left myself a hard to reach shot on the 8 and was looking for a bridge...only time i needed a bridge the entire match. He cupped his hands together and bent over like he was going to give me a lift...i am a short guy and we both laughed.

I went on to win 4-2 in a 4-4 race. Very happy with how i played on the 9's. A while back our league operator mentioned he wanted to start a division playing on the 9' s only and i told him i was interested. Seem like not too many are interested.. Only drawback on this is it takes forever for a couple of 2's or 3's to complete their match.

Jimmorrison said:

Congrats, and yeah, GC is a great table. Any jump shots? Did you notice how the blue circle gets up easy.

Click to expand...

A jump situation never came up. Yea the cue ball reacts differently but like i said i shoot softer on a 9 footer than a 7 footer for the obvious reason that a gold crown has tighter pockets than valleys and therefore is more likely to spit out balls..particularly if hit hard.

Two other reason is ...in my opinion cue ball control is less critical on a 9 footer mainly due to less congestion. Another reason is a tip that i read that came from dennjs orcullo. He had rather be left long than short and i agree so i dont try to get perfect position. I look at it like this...the same shot can be made 6 foot away that can be made 2 foot away..