2010 Us Open Journey

Well i broke down today and played pool! i havent played in 8 years well i take that back, i played about 2 hours just knocking balls around about 3 years ago and i played about 1 hour 6 months ago, but it was social pool and i could tell that i didnt have a stroke or the concentration considering i was about half a pint in the wind!
So today im 39 and its my last day of that tomorrow im 40. (this is not a midlife crisis)I was determined to play in the US open in 1998 but my plans were canceled, Ex-wife divorce drama in life....after playing seriously for 9 years i quit i gave up my mind and heart wasnt in it anymore. For the next 2 years i half heartedly played in tournaments won a few but there was no passion in it for me, I quit.

I have, every since i started playing in tournaments, and gambling at pool kept up on paper everyone i played and every tournament i played in. I have won well over a hundred tournaments, because i played in at least one a week. NOt pro tournaments but ones where you can at least make 500-1000 for first place.I Have played pro's in tournaments & Gambling and beat on a few severely when they had no clue who this kid was that was firing down on them. "Suprise" your down 6-0 and this kid is breaking again....lol. I used another name in tournaments so when the road warriors came to town i always had action because they were playing the wrong guy thinking that another guy in town was me, I have a screwed up name for a redneck "White Boy"...lol also I ducked alot of bigger tournaments to keep the action up for me for gambling which only deminished my desire. I wanted to play in all tournaments and wanted to be the best!i didnt know what to do and i didnt have guidance...

I have sit here since july farting around on this site talking about this crazy game of pool until ive noticed that im noticably agitated, smart mouthed and generally in a bad mood, and negative. I have come to realize that i am like a smoker one week after i have quit and severly having withdrawl symtoms. I am having seperation anxiety from a pool table? This is insaine!

So today i have decided that if im going to play then im going to play and be serious about this and my goal is to play in the 2010 US Open. I dont expect to win, but im going to give it my best and will not regret doing it and will always remember that at least i tried and didnt just quit and lie down.
So back to my playing today. I was excited (Really strange) like a kid in a toy store to play today. I scheduled 3 hours today to play, when i got to the table a 4 1/2x9 Diamond pro. i felt like i did in my first tournament a little light feeling inside my belly. I didnt just start shooting, i know i have to work on my stroke before i can do anything. I didnt want to destroy my Hindsight 20-20 rememberance of what i did years ago. I knew what to do i just had to get my muscle memory back.
I tossed a few balls out for my first shot, I thought about this the whole drive there, anticipatating how it was going to feel and hearing the ball hit the back of the pocket....I got down over the cue and noticed that my stroke was veering from some funky place i dont remember. i got up and back down again. Still my stroke was crooked as a clothes hanger. I couldnt believe it! This stroke was comming from me? i knew then i had my work cut out for myself....i got back up and tried to unconciously approach the shot and got down and stroked the shot...now its straight.

Having to remind myself not to over analyze what im doing and just let it come natural. I set up a spot shot and i one railed it in the side almost trying to cut it in the corner.....it aint funny! well if you had a camera at about 45 minutes in you would have rolled all over the floor laughing at my little come-apart fit i threw for miscueing 4 times in a row trying to draw the ball 4 feet! It took me 5 minutes of self "Time Out" to get over that tantrum. So i practiced alot of cuts from different angles a few banks for about 30 minutes. My speed control and soft touch is still hung up in 1998 im making calls though to find it.
at about the 2 hour mark i found a glimmer of focus and i held it there for about 30 minutes.I was totally aware of what i was doing but i was in the "zone" i kept tossing balls out and running out, not watching my stroke, stance, just focusing on what i had to do. Not thinking about if i was or wasnt going to get the cueball over here or there. I had done it a million times before and just put it on cruise control. You see i thought it was 30 minuted but in reality it was a hour and 1/2. Suddenly i was snapped out of my zone by my wife calling me, thinking i was on the was home wanting me to get something from the store. Christ! can i have 2 more hours please??????????????????
I missed that feeling, i was totally lost on the table focusing on what i was doing and not knowing who was around me or anything...Time stood still! I have a goal and im going to reach it. On the way home i feel calm not negative, no anxiety, relaxed. That was therapy! I have one year to put this together and make myself buckle down and get my game in gear
$600.00 Entry Fee for a Lifetime memory........Im at home now and im already there
Also im gonna give more updates on this later this week and see if im feeling the same or gonna strangle myself for attempting this journey!

Today i have woke up and im 40, and i feel like it. I never knew that i used so many freggin muscles to play pool! The back of my legs hurt, my knees, my neck and upper shoulders are sore too. If i didnt know what happened i would have thought my wife beat me in her sleep...lol
Im not regretting it im savoring the moment, living the memory of why im having the pain
Tonight i have about 2 hours. I will practice repetitive drills until my arm falls off

The past few hours has NOt Been Therapy! grrrrrr For all you green peas (New To Pool) listen to this stop playing and go play a video game....lol j/k. This has been very frustrating though. Knowing what to do and it isnt happening. The speed, little spin, i cant focus, tense, tired, crapppppppp. i am telling you once again this game is 90% mental. Im physically capable, i know what to do. This is like reading everything you need to know about pool and knowing, but never picked up a stick, except i have picked up a stick. WHen im capable of focusing, everything goes smooth, i can go 6 rails with 12 balls on the table and get perfect position(example) but when im not focusing i can hook myself with one ball on the table(side pocket point) it isnt funny when your playing but its funny when you look back and realize how much you have to bring your mental sound mind to the table when you play.
I didnt play much 9 ball (about 10 games) i practiced 14.1 had a couple mid 40's runs a couple of 30's and after 3 hours of that i could have bit my new cue in half (expressed shipped this morning) i had to change games after getting frustrated.
I tried a game guage that i seen on here by allen hopkins where you use all 15 balls shoot any in order till you get to the last 5 then shoot them in rotation....50 games of this i didnt realize how long this would take.....i was motivated until about game 15 when i shot a 4 then the next game a 3.....after a bathroom break saying a few choice words to myself, washed my hands and face i pulled it back together,(mental focus) i thought this was going to be easy. Having to stay close at all times because my stroke is a little crooked still, Long shots on this 4 1/2 x 9 diamond are tough! freggin 4 1/2 inch pockets in the openings and they taper about to 3 1/2 at the rail line and pretty deep shelf it seems... anyways i would shoot ten racks then add up what i had then 10 more and so on until i got to 50 racks. During one 10 rack series i had ran 4 consecutive racks then shot a 12 the another run out i was feeling good about 5 out of 10 run outs with 15 balls....i thought i was going to do better than i did until i played this mental devistating game of 50 racks...Total score 653 i have a long way to go and i have one year to get there........but like every game some games are easier to others thatn some so this might be a biased ability measurer since i play rotation better than 14.1 (hard to keep that focus up on 14.1) anyways here is what his rating system says
Here is the Rating System:
0-150 - Recreational Player
151-300 - Intermediate Player
301-450 - Advanced Player
451-600- Developing Pro
601-800 - Semi-Pro
801-900 - Pro
901-1000 - Touring Pro
Give it a try if you have a few hours to do it just take your time and if you explode like i did take a little break...lol

Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus, Mental Focus,
So now im over my punishment for having to white that 30 times! Did i stress that if you know what to do and have the ability that you need Mental Focus?
I got about 2 hours in last night and it would come and go im focused and get in gear, then all of the sudden i have a easy simple shot and make the ball but dont shoot hard enough or too hard on my position. Then i snap out of the zone and start questioning in my mind every shot for the next 5-10 minutes grrrrrrrr......i loose the rythm then get it back then loose it then get it back. This is the frustrating part of every session that im having now, but its the most important part too. Being able to recognize what i have to overcome in my ability to keep focused is the start to gaining back my full potential..
I find my mind wondering off to things sometimes and they are useless thoughts that mean nothing to what im doing, then bam...mistake made!
There are no excuses for any mistake! They are caused by me not focusing, not the table, balls, flexibility or non flexibility of the shaft, tip thickness,hardness,shape, taper of the shaft, cloth type, cloth speed, pocket size, pocket cut, humidity, temperature. These are conditions that i must overcome and they are not excuses! I am having to look within or look in the mirror if i want to blame anyone. I have to be Mentally Tough, Diciplined, and in control of my emotions!
Less than a year to go

I forgot to mention that I have a job, and work about 60 hours a week, i am married,we have 3 children, and im finding time to practice somewhere in there too

i will post a pic of cue tonight, standard shafts though. you can play with any cue really though just takes a bit to get used to how it plays a cue really doesnt matter to me just as long as it doesnt rattle. takes a few hours to harden up a new tip though to get it like i like it

When i first started playing my girlfriend had a ebony meucci similar to this and i always liked it. I took these with my cell phone,my freggin digital camera is 10 megapixels and made the pics 4+ mb each and wouldnt upload on this site but maybe you can see well enough on these

Better picture this one isnt so blurry..........

Well the humidity pissed me off again last night,,,,,,grrrrrrrr every time i shot a ball even slightly firm the pocket said REJECTION! Well not every time, just the times where normally at 18-20 mph the would wobble out without the humidity and with it you couldnt shoot 6mph then the cloth would be slow and would pick up speed when you hit a rail...whats up with that......I always hated it when a table plays like that in the humidity. its brutal to put anything together and it punishes your confidence....
Turned the de-humidifier let it run all night and today before i went over to play aftr work for a couple hours. SWEET! i could tell when i walked in and touched the cloth and slid a ball across it....NO HUMIDITY! YAYYYY

Enough about the weather, i have been drill practicing my freggin eyeballs out, shooting every tough angle thin cuts, banks, and 30-45 minutes a day goes to nothing but playing safety's. Tonight i played 10 ball and was happy with my progress. I only had about 1hr45minutes of 10 ball before i had to leave but was satisfied with the several runs and consistency of my concentration. I had to slow myself down and take my time or i would have looked like i was in a race to run out every 3 minutes...lol
I know that in a few weeks, after i keep this level of play up im going to have to get in some sort of practice with someone besides myself and driling my arm off.
Also thinking about going back to video taping myself to watch and critique myself to see what i need to work on more. Did i tell you how much i hate the 80% and above humidity? Back to practice 11 1/2 months to go!

I came home today and my birthday present i had goten for myself was in im excited! went over to my buddy's house to practice for a couple hours. The balls that he has are wore out in my opinion, cueball fractions smaller than the rest and other balls are like that too. You can never get a completely tight rack with them, also i forgot to mention that the cueball he has came from a coin op return table and has the off color circles on both sides.....it will roll off on you every once in a while and acts a little strange comming off balls at different angles....
So i bring my present over to his house . A brand new set of Aramith tournament balls the new ones that they have been producing with the Duramith technology....these balls are SWEET! been a long time since i played with good balls and they make his set i been playing with look like and play like crapolaaaaaaaaa.

I didnt play as long as i wanted to because im distracted. I decided to play some 14.1 for a bit. I ditn even try to warm up i just racked all the balls except the break ball, i put it out to break them not anticipating nothing special, but expecting something different than what i been playing with. Of course with some consistency! well i ran out the first rack. We dont have counters so i used 2 coins and put them on the head end center diamond. After the first rack i moved it over one diamond to keep up with how many i ran(i always used counters or chis on a string before) well after i ran through the sixth rack with alot of stickler shots in between. I wasnt think about how many i had ran (my previous was high was 89 on a 4x8), then it snapped to me that i had ran 84 balls and was fixing to break again. I went outside for a smoke break, washed my hands and came back in. I had not been leaving myself good break shots the whole time, most too thin for my preference, and this one was no exception. I knew i was going to break my high run and probably 100 if i made that next shot.........I fired it right in! then methodically and slowly went through the mess i had made, picking off a shot here and there because of the clusters from hitting them too hard in my opinion also! After 10 more balls went in i put myself in a pretty rough position. I couldnt help it i couldnt focus on that rack, i couldnt see a pattern, and i was running out of break ball options. One shot away, one shot from getting through another rack.
I missed! It wasnt a easy shot but i put myself there, i should have held my composure 94 freggin balls Im happy and sad! I ran 18 more then missed again, then 18 more and missed again. I lost my focus! Well there is always tomorrow 11 1/2 more months

Happy with the straight pool run because it is definately not my game. But i might work on it a bit more, i was just not interested in it really i played rotational games more.

I am supposed to be off work tomorrow but NO i have to be in at 8 again have to meet with some clients on a freegin I.T. compatibility prob. I was gonna practice all day and do some video if i can get my camera mounted, but now it might be another week now not practicing is making me ill...this is a evil drug this game is! "The Devil is a Liar"

I have been getting back in stroke more and more each time i play. I played a marathon one pocket match for 12 hours 2 weeks ago, Then finally played someone some 9 ball. I won 2 sets he quit :banghead: then another guy got up and i got ahead 4 games of one hole and he quit:banghead:. Then i played a guy that i have known for 20 years that stilll thinks that still play the same even though i quit for so long. Well my ego is large so i tried him on. THe weight given~~~~> 5,6,7,8 & break (short rack 8 ball) rotation. "Jesus" after 4 hours of fading that break i was freggin mentally drained. He is a ok player can run 4-5 balls consistantly. But let me tell you that break is strong as death in that game and i felt like houdini not to loose at that game. He didnt want to play me unless he had a solid lock in his mind and i was just wanting to play anything. Desire can outrun sometimes. Heck he had me 7 games down in the first 30-40 minutes. Finally i got the balls to freeze up solidly and just prayed alot :grin-square:. Also i just got a buffalo leather 2x4 case for christmas yayyyyy. I love the smell of new leather. ok enough for now its early and i dont have a entertaining brain while im at work......L8TR

1. Rack fifteen balls on the Foot Spot, in any order, and place the cue ball ON the Head Spot. Break the balls. If you miscue or miss the cue ball completely, it is a foul. Re-Rack, break again and subtract one from your score. If you miscue and contact the rack, you may choose to continue shooting, leaving the balls where they lie and not take a foul.

2. If you scratch on the break, it is a minus 1, unless the cue ball goes off the table, then it is a minus 2. After a scratch on the break, you may place the cue ball on either the Head Spot of Foot Spot and shoot any ball on the table, or place the cue ball anywhere behind the Head String and shoot any ball above the Head String. On the break, if you scratch or the cue ball goes off the table, all balls made on the break stay down but do not count as points. If you do not scratch on the break, then all balls made on the break count as one point each.

3. After the break, if you do not have a shot or do not like the shot you have, you may choose one of three options. (a) Place the cue ball anywhere behind the Head String and shoot any ball above the Head String. (b) Place the cue ball on either the Head Spot or the Foot Spot and shoot any ball.
(c) Place the rack over the cue ball (where it lies) and move the cue ball anywhere inside the rack and shoot any ball. All of the options noted above are a penalty and incur a minus 1.

4. After the break, whether you made a ball or not, proceed to shoot, calling each shot. Try to run the table, shoting the ball in any order UNTIL THERE ARE FIVE BALLS REMAINING. If you do pocket ten balls, then the last five balls must be shot IN ROTATION (in numerical order starting with the lowest number ball). If you MISS A SHOT, the rack is OVER. There are no second chances or mulligans! The first ten balls score 1 point each, and the last five balls score 2 points each. On each rack you can score a MAXIMUM of 20 points.

5. When there are six balls on the table and you pocket two or more balls in one shot, they all stay down and are each worth 1 point. Shoot the remaining balls in rotation, in which each ball is worth 2 points each.

6. Ten racks comprise a session. In one session you can score a maximum of 200 points. The score from FIVE SESSIONS (50 racks) determines your Official Rating. The highest possible Official Rating is a perfect score of 1000 points.

Here is the Rating System:

0-150 - Recreational Player
151-300 - Intermediate Player
301-450 - Advanced Player
451-600- Developing Pro
601-800 - Semi-Pro
801-900 - Pro
901-1000 - Touring Pro