This one turned out better than I expected, Dennis took the first three racks smoothly
and when Rodney had a chance, he looked a little shaky.
At one point He dogged a 9 ball at the end of an out that should have been a done deal.
Dennis got up to a 9-2 lead seemingly instantly and it looked like he just was outclassing Rodney.
It felt like some of those "Writing on the wall" finals where you just know who's gonna win
and are just waiting for it to finish. But after some safety battles Rodney got control of the table,
and has not let go of it. He's run racks and he's got the break working great,
cue ball just squatting there. When forced to safe he hasn't left dennis anything useful
and has gotten back to the table with something workable.
He actually has pulled ahead 10-9 now, and has made several nice outs, making some brave
pocket-cheating shots when he fell too flat, as well as an intelligent carom to solve a cluster.
Finally got unluckily straight on a 3 ball and was forced to shoot the 4 from off the rail,
rattled it and now dennis is out.
10-10, we have a ball game. Race to 13, win by 2.
Edit - Rodney takes it 13-10! Momentum and pool gods were on his side.
Rodney broke, got a nice helping kiss to get easy on the 1, ran the rack out smoothly...
then let up on his stroke a little going from the 9 to the 10. You can feel the pressure right through the monitor.
Rodney dogged the game ball, and nearly scratched too... it was brutal.
I can't imagine how much it would sting to lose from there.
But the nice thing about almost scratching is you usually leave the other guy jacked over the pocket
and shooting a tough shot. In this case the 10 got awkward as hell, like 3 diamonds from the corner and not
near the rail. Dennis took his time, bore down, did his tiny 'cinch stroke' that he likes on tough shots,
but still missed by a foot. It rolled up near the side and dennis stuck out his hand.
Rodney's saying Dennis has beaten him like 15 times in a row whenever they've collided,
and it feels good to finally get him.
and when Rodney had a chance, he looked a little shaky.
At one point He dogged a 9 ball at the end of an out that should have been a done deal.
Dennis got up to a 9-2 lead seemingly instantly and it looked like he just was outclassing Rodney.
It felt like some of those "Writing on the wall" finals where you just know who's gonna win
and are just waiting for it to finish. But after some safety battles Rodney got control of the table,
and has not let go of it. He's run racks and he's got the break working great,
cue ball just squatting there. When forced to safe he hasn't left dennis anything useful
and has gotten back to the table with something workable.
He actually has pulled ahead 10-9 now, and has made several nice outs, making some brave
pocket-cheating shots when he fell too flat, as well as an intelligent carom to solve a cluster.
Finally got unluckily straight on a 3 ball and was forced to shoot the 4 from off the rail,
rattled it and now dennis is out.
10-10, we have a ball game. Race to 13, win by 2.
Edit - Rodney takes it 13-10! Momentum and pool gods were on his side.
Rodney broke, got a nice helping kiss to get easy on the 1, ran the rack out smoothly...
then let up on his stroke a little going from the 9 to the 10. You can feel the pressure right through the monitor.
Rodney dogged the game ball, and nearly scratched too... it was brutal.
I can't imagine how much it would sting to lose from there.
But the nice thing about almost scratching is you usually leave the other guy jacked over the pocket
and shooting a tough shot. In this case the 10 got awkward as hell, like 3 diamonds from the corner and not
near the rail. Dennis took his time, bore down, did his tiny 'cinch stroke' that he likes on tough shots,
but still missed by a foot. It rolled up near the side and dennis stuck out his hand.
Rodney's saying Dennis has beaten him like 15 times in a row whenever they've collided,
and it feels good to finally get him.
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