how are ya'll doing in league ?

Had a good night last night in VNEA. I've been playing well recently overall. I'm just frustrated because even though I'm having good nights and making good shots I'm not getting the 50 point nights and break and runs that I should be getting. I'm less concerned about the latter because I'm still winning my share of games and style points don't matter to me, but it's very frustrating that I can't get it together enough to win all 5 games in a night. Last night I shot a 47, but if not for a tough but makeable 8 ball in the first game it should have been a 50. Been this way all year. Oh well.
 
Complete disaster last night, personally and team wise. We got smoked, 11-1, all five of us losing, only one getting to the hill. And we'd been kicking butt all session long...sigh.

Myself, I lost 4-1 to a guy I usually beat. He shot well, and I didn't. Very frustrating, especially given how well I had been playing recently. Of course, consistency (or the lack thereof) is the key...
 
Monday night APA - (SL5) Shot a really good SL4. First 2 games took a total of 2 innings with her winning both. 3rd game she broke and it was questionable if it was a legal break (no one saw for sure if enough balls hit the rail, but it was close.) She gave me the option as to whether we called it a good break or not, so I said let's play it. That was apparently the change of pace I needed. We struggled through 7 innings that game, with me winning. Game 4 went 8-9 innings with her playing a lot of defense once I was on the 8-ball (I missed a tough shot that I should have made to win the game, which gave her the chance to play defense.) I managed to win that, but it was tough. She's now on the hill and I need 2. The last game was shorter, but came down to her having 2 balls and me on the 8. She played a few defenses and I got too aggressive going for 2 really tough cut shots. The last one finally left her in a position where she could run out and win the match. I played really well, but got too aggressive, so I was aggravated but not upset.

Last night at in-house I was in an even match against an SL4. We both played pretty well. I should have BnR the 2nd game but missed a give me on the 8-ball. He came back strong but I got it. 3rd game was close again, but I won 3-0 comfortably.

On an even brighter side, my wife has won something like 4 of her last 5 and made an great kick on the 8-ball to win her match 2-0. We will both go up in rank in the in-house league very soon.
 
Moved me up to a SL5 in 8 ball and played against a SL6 last night, I needed 4, he need 5 to win. I got off to a good start, he broke dry, I ran them out. Then the adrenaline started flowing and I couldn't get my PSR down. 2-3 endings per game, with almost 2 more runouts. In the end I won the match 4 to 3. It will be nice when they get my SL rating where it should be. Then I know I will be winning on my game playing ability rather than a handicap.
 
Last week in 8 ball I ran out after my opponent's dry break and followed that up with a Break and Run.

This week I broke and ran 10 balls in a 9 ball match! :o
 
Okay...it's getting scary. I'm playing pretty decent pool right now and I can't figure out how I'm doing it. I am having trouble with craning my neck high enough to see over the frame of my glasses, I'm getting a bit nervous during matches, and I'm definitely showing signs of advanced age, but...

Last night, APA 8-ball. I play another SL6. It's a race to five. I scratch on the 8-ball in the first game on a really nice back cut (made the 8), the proceed to win 5 of the next 6 games for a 5-2 victory.

7 games, 18 innings, five defensive shots (4 by me). I'm now 6-1 on the session and something like 14-1 since I became a SL6. I hope I don't become a SL7 because I am certainly not worthy of it. I must admit that I have won several matches this session by pure good-fortune/luck awarded to me by my opponent.

It is what it is...and I'm enjoying the competition. I cannot remember if I mentioned this in a previous post or not, but having played each and every team in our division now, I haven't seen any cockiness/arrogance/attitude or sandbagging/cheating of any kind. In fact, just the opposite has been true. It's like playing in a league with a whole lot of good friends making up the membership. Exactly the kind of league I've been seeking all my league-playing days.
 
Had an interesting scenario pop up last night. The team we were playing showed up with four players. Rule is they can play someone twice, but we can pick from their roster who plays twice, or they can forfeit and we get two points.

I only had 5 their last night, and the five that showed up had a combined ranking of 24...one over the limit. We dominated the first 3 matches and put the match away early. When time for the fifth match came up, they noted that we would be over the limit. I replied that we should just play it, and that THEY could choose the matchup for the 5th match. They initially stated that they should get the match via forfeit, since we couldn't legally play over the limit. I responded that my fifth player suddenly got a mysterious toothache and was about to leave, so we would just play with four as well....stalemate.

They finally agreed to my initial suggestion and they put up against me, I proceeded to go rackless and we won the match 11-3. All the negotiations were light hearted and joking, but it illustrates some of the scenarios that can pop up from week to week.
 
jokrswylde said:
Had an interesting scenario pop up last night. The team we were playing showed up with four players. Rule is they can play someone twice, but we can pick from their roster who plays twice, or they can forfeit and we get two points.

I only had 5 their last night, and the five that showed up had a combined ranking of 24...one over the limit. We dominated the first 3 matches and put the match away early. When time for the fifth match came up, they noted that we would be over the limit. I replied that we should just play it, and that THEY could choose the matchup for the 5th match. They initially stated that they should get the match via forfeit, since we couldn't legally play over the limit. I responded that my fifth player suddenly got a mysterious toothache and was about to leave, so we would just play with four as well....stalemate.

They finally agreed to my initial suggestion and they put up against me, I proceeded to go rackless and we won the match 11-3. All the negotiations were light hearted and joking, but it illustrates some of the scenarios that can pop up from week to week.
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I like how the USAPL does it, a bit. If you are over your team limit, instead of not being able to play, you take a penalty to the final score. Ends up in some funny things if you are a strong team, one league night my son and I played in they do a combination of 8 and 10 ball. In 10 ball we won every match, not just that, the other team never won more than a rack in each set. But at the end of the night, due to handicaps and a penalty for us being too high ranked, THEY WON the 10 ball, even though we beat them something like 4-1, 5-1 in each set LOL.
 
I didn't play league this last session. We got busy going to tournaments & I live 30 miles from Magoos, so all those nights I stayed home were used to be ready to do something else. I did miss the comraderie.
 
Only 2 nights left of this VNEA session including tonight. I feel like the length of this session has been appropriate. It always starts early Fall of the previous year (September), but the end of the season has varied over the last several years between mid/late February and early April. Running non-stop until April was just too long of a slog for me last year and it showed in my performance. I'm having a much better session this year. I'm trying to finish strong, but I think these last two weeks will have some stiff competition.

I haven't decided if I will be playing the summer session yet. Typically I take summers off from playing league pool, but this year feels different. I'm really enjoying pool right now, and I feel like I'm improving and I don't want to potentially take time off and lose the drive or desire. Any of you have any opinions on playing over the summer?
 
I didn't play in APA last night. It was a rough night for our team as we lost 7-5, I think. My wife had an interesting match though. She had to go to another location before this match to play a make-up from last week (we were nice and let them play a make up instead of playing a player they had available last week). She won that one, and then came over for this week's match. She (SL3) was playing an SL2. After making quick work of the first 2 games to be on the hill, things got interesting. The 3rd game ended up being a mess. The 8-ball got hit over near the corner, and then got nudged RIGHT onto the edge. Of course my wife had the fortune to have 3 balls nearby. She tried several times to break some of them out, but it just kept getting worse. Finally she got BiH and without any other good options, did this (see attachment).

She hit the 14 into place to lock things up and cause a stalemate. Thankfully the plan worked and although her opponent won the next game, my wife was able to win the match 3-1.

Only 2 players on our team had ever seen a stalemate in league play and my wife was pumped about it.
 

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stevenw00d said:
I didn't play in APA last night. It was a rough night for our team as we lost 7-5, I think. My wife had an interesting match though. She had to go to another location before this match to play a make-up from last week (we were nice and let them play a make up instead of playing a player they had available last week). She won that one, and then came over for this week's match. She (SL3) was playing an SL2. After making quick work of the first 2 games to be on the hill, things got interesting. The 3rd game ended up being a mess. The 8-ball got hit over near the corner, and then got nudged RIGHT onto the edge. Of course my wife had the fortune to have 3 balls nearby. She tried several times to break some of them out, but it just kept getting worse. Finally she got BiH and without any other good options, did this (see attachment).

She hit the 14 into place to lock things up and cause a stalemate. Thankfully the plan worked and although her opponent won the next game, my wife was able to win the match 3-1.

Only 2 players on our team had ever seen a stalemate in league play and my wife was pumped about it.
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Good thinking on your wife's part.

I was in an 8-ball tournament a few years ago when me and my opponent got into a stalemate situation similar to the one in your picture, but with him being on the 8-ball and me having about five balls covering up his ball. I offered to him to call it a stalemate and he wouldn't have any of it. So, he tried to shoot his way out of it which eventually cost him the game.

Maniac
 
I have 3 nights of league to post about.

Last Thursday apa 9 ball. I had a bad night again a good shooting 4. He breaks dry the first rack and the only shot I had at the one was a 2 rail kick....missed making contact by a couple inches. He takes bih and runs 7 balls. I run the last 2 and break dry the 2nd rack. He has a good shot at the one and runs 6 balls this time. I managed to tie it up at 25-25 after 5 racks but he got to 31 before I could get to 38. Score was 31-33.

Sunday night apa double jeapordy. I faced a 6 in 8 ball and won 4-0. Truth be told he was not shooting up to his level that match. I faced him again in 9 ball where he is a 7. He shot better than he did in 8 ball bit I really picked it up in this match and won 38-32

Last night I had usapl. I faced another apa 5 who is only rated at 441...i was lowered down to a 500 from a 511 last week. I won 8 ball pretty handily. I lost 9 ball to the same guy . We went to paperless scoring and I have no idea what the actual results are because I never get a chance to look at the score before they are already typing in the next match when we get through. Oh yea......the last time I faced this guy was pretty near the same result. I have no problem beating him 8 ball but still have a problem facing guys close to my speed that resort to slop and constantly try to ride the 9. I have been working on my mental state in these situations but still need improvement.
 
I shot well this week. Played the opponents teams best two players. Won 9 ball reckless 5-0, won eight ball 4-2 on maybe the best safety I have played in a long while. This totally makes up for the horrible week I had last week...

I then got tonplay with a pro level player ( literally my favorite player in all of DFW) and was able to maintain a 3-2 pace for 2 full hours...me being the 2 in that equation. I don't think a single game took more than 3 minutes but it was quite fun.
 
Good to hear you guys are doing well.

We played the in-house league last night. Our team won 5-0 against the last place team. Although we won most of the matches easily, every game was very tight.

My wife (SL2) beat a SL4, 2-1. She made another great bank shot at a critical moment, and was really on her game.

I (SL4) played a good SL6. Neither of us shot well, and I was particularly terrible. He missed an easy 8-ball the first game and I was able to get out. The second game he scratched on the 8. The 3rd game I missed a table length shot by about 8", made his last ball, and the cue happened to suck right up to my 7-ball. He missed the 8 to give me BiH and I put together my only run of the night to get out and win 3-0. It was ugly, but I'll take it anyway I can get it (other than cheating).
 
I didn't play last night, our team did well, winning 8-4.

I did handle the time outs for the SL 3 that played. I usually have our SL7 handle the time outs for the SL4's and higher, it just seems easier and more effective if I coach the 3.
 
Mkindsv said:
I then got tonplay with a pro level player ( literally my favorite player in all of DFW) and was able to maintain a 3-2 pace for 2 full hours...me being the 2 in that equation. I don't think a single game took more than 3 minutes but it was quite fun.
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Does this guy have a name? ;)

Maniac
 
Been doing pretty good this session and have continued to play well when in my actual matches. I'm learning some things about the mental aspects too.

Went to another team's location for the last match, and usually arrive early with my team captain to get a couple games in before the match. He was out front smoking and BSing, so I played an equal ranked player from the other team as a warm-up. I beat him pretty good twice. Team match starts, and after a couple other matches, I end up playing this same guy for the team match. I won the first game easily and then just lost my focus. I think I assumed that I'd just walk through the next games and once it was clear that wasn't going to happen, I couldn't find my way back. I lost the hill-hill game with him making a couple nice shots to run out.
So I think that I'll avoid playing someone in the team match if I played them beforehand. It altered my thought process, and while it was a good lesson, I don't want to learn it twice.
 
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