[note: rereading this post before I send it, I find it sounds a lot like a pool version of a penthouse letter ;-)]
Shooters in Minneapolis might be my favorite pool room in the country. Or at least it's in the mix for that distinction. I'm a B (maybe a strong B) player, and I get there perhaps once every three months (I live 240 miles away).
So this week it was Monday night at midnight, and I figured I'd stop in for an hour or two, maybe play a cheap set with somebody. It always seems so easy to get in a game--even just a cheap fun game--there, that I decided from the parking lot I'd see just how easy it was--how long it took before somebody offered me a game. So as I opened the door, I hit the timer on my watch.
After a brief greeting from Craig the owner, bingo...
"looking for some cheap action?"
I smiled at the familiar face as I hit the button on my watch. Then I laughed and made a comment that I probably couldn't keep up with anybody in the building, let alone him!
The GOOD news is my watch said THIRTY SEVEN SECONDS!
The BAD news is I was talking to SVB.
I then played a little 9-ball ('cause I really don't know how to play 1-P) with Dan V., a knowledgeable local one pocket player who I recall was Shane's coach a couple years ago when Shane played Tony C. So then I got an idea. Shane was just hanging out waiting for his early morning flight to CT, so I said, "Hey Shane, let's play some $10 one pocket even, only I get DV to help me analyze the table and coach me at EVERY SHOT."
I haven't learned so much in an hour and a half (3 games) in a long time. On many shots Dan would begin by saying "what's the score?" He talked a lot about the importance of playing the score. Usually I would begin by proposing a shot.
"OK, I think this is the right shot for the following reasons..."
Dan would respond with, "Yeah... You could do that, but ..."
Or he'd just ignore my suggestion and say,
"Here's a shot I really like here!"
In three games, I ALMOST NEVER had the right shot. Once a better shot was explained to me, it made perfect sense. Sometimes, he'd say, "I like banking the four in this direction, making sure you get this far, and leaving the cueball somewhere over here (indicating a region that seemed to me to violate the laws of physics). Then he'd tell me how to hit it, and sure enough it would work. We discussed various options as well as what Shane's response would likely be.
Even when I had a sense it might be a good idea to try to freeze up on a ball, I'd find that there was a big difference between freezing up on the top part of the ball versus the bottom part.
I generally have no idea what to do once the balls are up table, and we talked a lot about that.
And Shane joined in plenty, discussing how to hit something, or whether a certain ball in the pack went, or coaching me when Dan took a break...
And talk about getting punished when you leave an opening..... Sheesh...
OK OK, so I may have forgotten a lot of what I learned already. But I didn't forget all of it. Dan and Shane are great guys, and I want to thank both of them publicly.
Shooters in Minneapolis might be my favorite pool room in the country. Or at least it's in the mix for that distinction. I'm a B (maybe a strong B) player, and I get there perhaps once every three months (I live 240 miles away).
So this week it was Monday night at midnight, and I figured I'd stop in for an hour or two, maybe play a cheap set with somebody. It always seems so easy to get in a game--even just a cheap fun game--there, that I decided from the parking lot I'd see just how easy it was--how long it took before somebody offered me a game. So as I opened the door, I hit the timer on my watch.
After a brief greeting from Craig the owner, bingo...
"looking for some cheap action?"
I smiled at the familiar face as I hit the button on my watch. Then I laughed and made a comment that I probably couldn't keep up with anybody in the building, let alone him!
The GOOD news is my watch said THIRTY SEVEN SECONDS!
The BAD news is I was talking to SVB.
I then played a little 9-ball ('cause I really don't know how to play 1-P) with Dan V., a knowledgeable local one pocket player who I recall was Shane's coach a couple years ago when Shane played Tony C. So then I got an idea. Shane was just hanging out waiting for his early morning flight to CT, so I said, "Hey Shane, let's play some $10 one pocket even, only I get DV to help me analyze the table and coach me at EVERY SHOT."
I haven't learned so much in an hour and a half (3 games) in a long time. On many shots Dan would begin by saying "what's the score?" He talked a lot about the importance of playing the score. Usually I would begin by proposing a shot.
"OK, I think this is the right shot for the following reasons..."
Dan would respond with, "Yeah... You could do that, but ..."
Or he'd just ignore my suggestion and say,
"Here's a shot I really like here!"
In three games, I ALMOST NEVER had the right shot. Once a better shot was explained to me, it made perfect sense. Sometimes, he'd say, "I like banking the four in this direction, making sure you get this far, and leaving the cueball somewhere over here (indicating a region that seemed to me to violate the laws of physics). Then he'd tell me how to hit it, and sure enough it would work. We discussed various options as well as what Shane's response would likely be.
Even when I had a sense it might be a good idea to try to freeze up on a ball, I'd find that there was a big difference between freezing up on the top part of the ball versus the bottom part.
I generally have no idea what to do once the balls are up table, and we talked a lot about that.
And Shane joined in plenty, discussing how to hit something, or whether a certain ball in the pack went, or coaching me when Dan took a break...
And talk about getting punished when you leave an opening..... Sheesh...
OK OK, so I may have forgotten a lot of what I learned already. But I didn't forget all of it. Dan and Shane are great guys, and I want to thank both of them publicly.
