I've seen a bunch of threads that basically revolve around people being very frusterated with their game. I did one too, but mine was more of a joke. Anyways I played an awful game of 14.1 tonight and I thought I would relay it, just so some people don't feel so alone in their woes. I apologize for the length of the post.
I was playing a buddy of mine tonight who is an ok player, I would rate him as a C player. He rarely plays straight pool because I am the only one of his friends who doesn't think its "too easy".
We agree on a 50 point game, because we only had an hour before I had to leave, and he offers to take the break. He breaks the balls wide open and leaves me with in awkward spot with only a two long shots available.
I take the long one in to the corner pocket, it goes in cleanly leaving me in perfect position to start my run. 1-0. 10 in the corner, 2-0. 4 in the side, 3-0. 14 in the corner, 3-0. 2 in the corner, 4-0. 5 in corner, 5-0. 9 in the side, miss.
I thought that was rather strange that I only ran 5 balls on an open table. But I put that behind me. My friend runs 3 and then misses. 5-3. I mangage 6 more and leave myself on a good break ball. 11-3 Cameron to break.
I miss my break shot but not the rack. The ball jaws out, but the racks spreads beautifully. He runs 4 then misses leaving me open, which allows me to get on a run of 10 and on a break ball. 21-7 Cameron to break.
I miss my break shot again and break the balls up beautifully. This rack was the most painful. He misses, I run 5. 26-7. He runs 2, then I run another 2 and miss. 28-9. He runs 1 and then I run another 3. 31-10. He misses, then I miss, then he misses, then I miss, then he misses, then I finally make the ball leaving an ok break shot. 32-10 Cameron to break.
I make a break ball finally but miss the rack, lol. I play safe and he responds by breaking the balls up a bit. "7 in the corner", 33-10. The cue ball is set up perfectly on a secondary break shot. I break up the balls but miss 10 ball. He then runs 5. 33-15. I run 7 and don't have much of a break ball. 40-15 Cameron to break.
I make the "break shot", but don't come even close to hitting the rack. 41-15. I play a safety by burying him the back of the rack. Foul shot 40-15. He trys a weird safety (after he explained it to me I still couldn't figure out what he was trying) which breaks up the rack. I run 3 and miss on an open table. 43-15. He runs 2 and then scratches. Foul, 43-16. I respond with 7 and out. Game to Cameron 50-16.
Well that was my sad game of 14.1. I obviously couldn't remember every run, so I took a few liberties but it is still true to the spirit of my match. No one was calling the score like in the story but it would have been cool if there was.
The point of this post is that every one has bad games and sometimes you just get can't perform. So next time you feel worthless, or that you can't play at all after a bad game, remember that it happens to everyone. Try and examine what you did poorly learn from it, and then forget about the game entirely. Me, I didn't take my time at all, and I was over confident.
Perhaps if it was a 100 point game I might have gotten it together, but you never know. But I'm going to go back to the pool hall on friday full of confidence and I know that the next 14.1 match I play I will have a run of 20 or more. Maybe I'll run 150 and out
. Or something a little more likely.
I was playing a buddy of mine tonight who is an ok player, I would rate him as a C player. He rarely plays straight pool because I am the only one of his friends who doesn't think its "too easy".
We agree on a 50 point game, because we only had an hour before I had to leave, and he offers to take the break. He breaks the balls wide open and leaves me with in awkward spot with only a two long shots available.
I take the long one in to the corner pocket, it goes in cleanly leaving me in perfect position to start my run. 1-0. 10 in the corner, 2-0. 4 in the side, 3-0. 14 in the corner, 3-0. 2 in the corner, 4-0. 5 in corner, 5-0. 9 in the side, miss.
I thought that was rather strange that I only ran 5 balls on an open table. But I put that behind me. My friend runs 3 and then misses. 5-3. I mangage 6 more and leave myself on a good break ball. 11-3 Cameron to break.
I miss my break shot but not the rack. The ball jaws out, but the racks spreads beautifully. He runs 4 then misses leaving me open, which allows me to get on a run of 10 and on a break ball. 21-7 Cameron to break.
I miss my break shot again and break the balls up beautifully. This rack was the most painful. He misses, I run 5. 26-7. He runs 2, then I run another 2 and miss. 28-9. He runs 1 and then I run another 3. 31-10. He misses, then I miss, then he misses, then I miss, then he misses, then I finally make the ball leaving an ok break shot. 32-10 Cameron to break.
I make a break ball finally but miss the rack, lol. I play safe and he responds by breaking the balls up a bit. "7 in the corner", 33-10. The cue ball is set up perfectly on a secondary break shot. I break up the balls but miss 10 ball. He then runs 5. 33-15. I run 7 and don't have much of a break ball. 40-15 Cameron to break.
I make the "break shot", but don't come even close to hitting the rack. 41-15. I play a safety by burying him the back of the rack. Foul shot 40-15. He trys a weird safety (after he explained it to me I still couldn't figure out what he was trying) which breaks up the rack. I run 3 and miss on an open table. 43-15. He runs 2 and then scratches. Foul, 43-16. I respond with 7 and out. Game to Cameron 50-16.
Well that was my sad game of 14.1. I obviously couldn't remember every run, so I took a few liberties but it is still true to the spirit of my match. No one was calling the score like in the story but it would have been cool if there was.
The point of this post is that every one has bad games and sometimes you just get can't perform. So next time you feel worthless, or that you can't play at all after a bad game, remember that it happens to everyone. Try and examine what you did poorly learn from it, and then forget about the game entirely. Me, I didn't take my time at all, and I was over confident.
Perhaps if it was a 100 point game I might have gotten it together, but you never know. But I'm going to go back to the pool hall on friday full of confidence and I know that the next 14.1 match I play I will have a run of 20 or more. Maybe I'll run 150 and out
. Or something a little more likely.
