sausage
Banned
the last two pool tournaments i entered were "bar table rules" and i vowed to never enter them again. but this tournament tonight was on nice 8'+ tables and i ASSUMED it was a BCA rule game. so i warmed up and another guy came in who was not a total hack and he and i batted balls around. i won four in a row then let him off the hook and he won two games. i then won the last. it was the last because i went to pay the tourny fee and learned that they were playing bar-table "rules". NO WAY i am ever making that mistake again. i declined to play, finished my warm-up game (which i won) and left. here's what happened the last two times i played bar-table "rules";
i entered a "tournament" a few months ago under such an agreement and hoped for the best. i played terrible but good enough to beat the cigar munching rednecks. however, when one of them sent the cue on an epic journey around the table and into a pocket, i found myself with ball-in-hand behind the head-string. well, i KNEW this would happen because my last object ball ( 8-ball game) was in the jaws behind the head-string. so i did the old, shoot the ball into the side-rail with lots of english and sunk the jawed ball only to be left with a character-builder, full table shot with the 8-ball at the foot rail. i missed it and the cigar chomper had a gimmie victory. that really pissed me off because i knew better than to play by "bar table rules". but i decided to get back into tournament stroke just yesterday and searched the net for the closest game. it was about 45 miles away....90 miles round trip. i finally got there and i'll be damned if it wasn't the same bar table rules crap AGAIN. i drove so far that i figured i'd stay and hope for the best.
they had only three bar tables and the place was a real dive, full of cig sucking rednecks and the "urinal" was a tub filled with ice. but i drove a long way to get there so i stayed and played. in my first match i easily beat the lady who organized the event , running the table after she broke and missed. my next opponent had a reeel fancy pool cue but he didn't understand the game. i won the flip and broke. there were some clusters that i couldn't break so i made a nice little safety combo rail shot hitting my ball first, and sinking his, leaving my ball blocking that pocket. i now had two foot-rail pockets blocked and he took over. he did a fair job of dealing with the situation but blew an easy long shot and i took over. by luck he left me with a tough back-angle bank. i chose to play safe, hitting my ball to the rail and leaving him behind the 8 ball with no shot. he starts whining! i tell him that "it was a safety". he doesn't get it.... so he gets up and dribbles the ball to the rail without hitting his ball which is a SCRATCH! oh, but not in this tourny... i told the organizer that he scratched but she didn't get it either. i said if you allow someone to intentionally scratch the game could go on forever with each of us tapping the ball on infinitum. she didn't get that either. in fact, nobody there got it. i packed up my cue and left, vowing NEVER to play at a dive with IDIOTS ever again. it's only real pool halls and BCA rules for me.[/QUOTE]
i emailed robert byrne about my experience and he was nice enough to respond. i don't think that he'd mind me posting this amusing story;
i entered a "tournament" a few months ago under such an agreement and hoped for the best. i played terrible but good enough to beat the cigar munching rednecks. however, when one of them sent the cue on an epic journey around the table and into a pocket, i found myself with ball-in-hand behind the head-string. well, i KNEW this would happen because my last object ball ( 8-ball game) was in the jaws behind the head-string. so i did the old, shoot the ball into the side-rail with lots of english and sunk the jawed ball only to be left with a character-builder, full table shot with the 8-ball at the foot rail. i missed it and the cigar chomper had a gimmie victory. that really pissed me off because i knew better than to play by "bar table rules". but i decided to get back into tournament stroke just yesterday and searched the net for the closest game. it was about 45 miles away....90 miles round trip. i finally got there and i'll be damned if it wasn't the same bar table rules crap AGAIN. i drove so far that i figured i'd stay and hope for the best.
they had only three bar tables and the place was a real dive, full of cig sucking rednecks and the "urinal" was a tub filled with ice. but i drove a long way to get there so i stayed and played. in my first match i easily beat the lady who organized the event , running the table after she broke and missed. my next opponent had a reeel fancy pool cue but he didn't understand the game. i won the flip and broke. there were some clusters that i couldn't break so i made a nice little safety combo rail shot hitting my ball first, and sinking his, leaving my ball blocking that pocket. i now had two foot-rail pockets blocked and he took over. he did a fair job of dealing with the situation but blew an easy long shot and i took over. by luck he left me with a tough back-angle bank. i chose to play safe, hitting my ball to the rail and leaving him behind the 8 ball with no shot. he starts whining! i tell him that "it was a safety". he doesn't get it.... so he gets up and dribbles the ball to the rail without hitting his ball which is a SCRATCH! oh, but not in this tourny... i told the organizer that he scratched but she didn't get it either. i said if you allow someone to intentionally scratch the game could go on forever with each of us tapping the ball on infinitum. she didn't get that either. in fact, nobody there got it. i packed up my cue and left, vowing NEVER to play at a dive with IDIOTS ever again. it's only real pool halls and BCA rules for me.[/QUOTE]
i emailed robert byrne about my experience and he was nice enough to respond. i don't think that he'd mind me posting this amusing story;
....but they LOVE LOVE LOVE to go for it....
:thumbup: 
