Congrats to everyone on their playoff wins and good showings.
9-ball (SL6) - We just played our first 9-ball match of the session. This is my first time every playing in a 9-ball league. Since I'm an SL8 (which is bogus) in 8-ball they started me as a SL6 (they agreed I'm not really an SL8). My first match was against a SL3 after our captain made a stupid matchup and got her butt kicked (she's an SL3 and played a strong SL5.) In this league your rank determines how many balls you have to make before you're on the 9 and it is a race to 5 for everyone. This was a bit of a struggle for me because I was constantly wondering when he was going to be able to shoot the 9 and how I needed to plan in order to make it harder for him.
I shot pretty good, but not great, and managed to win. 9-ball on 9-footers definitely results in a lot more long shots than 8-ball does. I'm going to have to work hard on that. I played some good defense and made the shots I needed to. I think I won 5-3.
8-ball (SL8) - We've played 2 weeks of 8-ball since my last post.
Week 1
I got matched up against a guy I didn't know. He is an SL6. We played really tight matches, and I think I made it to the 8-ball in every game. We had a few defensive battles where we each played 2-3 safeties in a row and the other got a good hit. He scratched a few times, but I don't think either of us missed a ball to give the other BIH. The innings were a little high, if I had to guess (we don't keep track), but I was impressed with how I played. All that being said, I lost 4-1 and the one I won he made the 8 and scratched, 3-rails in the side. I was okay with losing because I think I played as well as I can expect. While talking to people afterwards I found out the man I played is definitely better than a SL6, but hasn't played in this league for awhile. Everyone says he will be an SL8 very soon. This made me feel even better about my playing.
Week 2
In week 1 our captain had signed up too many players for our team. We have 5 teams in the league. One of our better players decided she was going to try to get a 6th team together. Hate to see her go, but it is great that she was able to get a 6th team because we now don't have any byes and the cash pot will be bigger at the end of the year. Not only did she leave (SL5), but she took a new kid from the team (good friend of hers and an SL6) who is better than me and would have been our strongest player. This kind of hurt. I show up for week 2 and my wife is sick as hell, another lady can't afford to play that night, and our captain can't play that week. That leaves just 5 of us.
My wife dominated her opponent to win in a great showing from her. Two of our new players squeaked out victories. We then decided to throw me on an SL4 and let our SL2 play their SL8. I got destroyed. This guys break was terrible (for me) and I never had a shot to get started. He was about 50/50 on making a ball, but if he didn't I was screwed. By the 2nd/3rd ball of every game I was already playing defense with at least one cluster on the table and his balls spread beautifully. Most games I had to try 3-4 defenses in a row because I never had a good offensive shot. I'd make 2-3 okay defenses and then miss one, giving him an out. I was not shooting very well and my speed control was terrible. The one time I had a good chance to get out I blew it. He beat me 3-0 in a 3-7 race. I don't know if it was the rushing around before the matches, not getting much practice because there was only one practice table, or what. I was way off and paid for it. I'm not 0-2 for this session, but our team has gotten 5 out of 10 points, so I won't complain.