Half of my losses this sesh are from one bar, it's the tables, I can't get any luck on bar tables this whole yr, bad rolls all over the place, when I'm so used to our home room tables, that are fast and standard equipment
, Only lost 4, the two from the bar are just horseshit dumb luck,
Only lost to 2 other guys , one playing much better than me, the other was my first time back in competitive pool and he dug down and came back,
Tonight I'm asking to play another player that's not much better than me, not by a mile but will be a very good tester of a match
Kind of league related: we started a league here in Boise about a month ago and we're trying to help the lower skill level players get better. The funny thing is, all the good players here in town are stuck on the Diamond tables thinking they're the best (which I won't get into here) so they get grumpy when they have to go play somewhere else. Well, isn't it best to play on as many different pieces of equipment you can to get better? Continually play the fast, straight, tables that bank consistently and what do you learn? You learn how to play on THAT table. I'm not saying that's you, I'm just saying if the bar boxes are kicking your butt then go play on them more
My league experience last night ties right into that and SSDiver2112's post below.
Much better week! Hope I'm out of my resent slump. Monday I did ok, but Tuesday really went well. Played at a new location because the other team lost their bar sponsor. Don't know the real story of why, but it appears the bar had to close. The new location was a polar opposite of their original bar. It was nice and roomy with two decent bar boxes, good food and drinks and fewer meth heads (just joking, not really). Best of all for me is it is non smoking, because wow their old place was small and very cloudy. I'm glad the team found a good home. They are a great bunch and always fun and challenging to play.
I managed to pull off a hat trick for the cherry on top, with the last game being against their captain. I did not have high hopes going into that last game against him because he is definitely more experienced than I. I must admit he seemed a bit off his game, and I was really on, so I managed to pull off the win. Very satisfying evening.
Wednesday our bar's other team (that I am not on) had a buy so since it was St. Patty's day they held a mock tournament with them against anyone else in the bar. We made up a team and had a most excellent night. Lots of pool, friends and laughs.
The team we played last night is at a new bar because the owners of the their previous bar up and closed, retired after 42 years. Didn't say shit to anyone, it was the only bar in Boise that allowed kids (they were also a restaurant), and they had 3 APA teams and I believe 1 BCA team playing out of there - poof - gone. Owners were pricks so nobody was surprised but it put a dent in our juniors stuff for sure.
Anyways, so they had to find a new bar and they pick this random place I've never heard of and we show up early to this absolute dive and decided to go get food and just wait until closer to 7 to go in (it was 6'sh). We go in, meet up with the other team (good guys, known them for a few years) and my team starts showing up and in the end it was good night. Owner of the bar is a good guy, the regulars were all having a good time. Point being - don't judge a book by it's cover.
I usually play late because it's usually a mad-house trying to find scorers, etc. in the beginning so I like to just score and watch pool and play my matches later when I'm in "pool mode". Their captain is a 6 and is the only one on their team that has a chance to beat me and in the second match he through himself up so I grabbed my stick and went to the table. Everyone was talking about how slow the tables were and when I went to break I realized I had my shooting cue in hand and didn't even have a break stick. So I grabbed the first stick on the wall with the flattest tip I could find (I prefer a flat tip for my break cue) and pulled it off the wall, turned around and broke without even chalking or looking at the stick, it took about 10 seconds to grab that stick and bam - 9 on the snap
He pulled up the 10 and re-racked and then I broke and ran. Once in a while I find a table that I love to play on - this was one of those nights. I had the 9OS and 2 B&R's but should've had 4 B&R's (rattled a 3B but made the 5, 6, and 7 on the break and should've been out, and then I missed a 7 with the 8 and 9 sitting in front of pockets). I ran over him like the last guy I played ran over me, it felt good.
The funny part is they only had 3 players so had to sub 2 and we choose. Early on the lady on their team (current 4, was a 5 before covid) said something about she'll probably have to double play and I said probably. Turns out she was on fire as much as I was and ran over our guy in the first match. Their third player is a lower level player (2 or 3) and played one of our 3's and we lost but it was close. Clearly, I played the two people that sucked that night so their female player had to sit
We put my son up against the guy I played and he beat him but it was close. On the way home my son, out of the blue, goes "Man, we gave that guy a family sandwich" LMAO.
We squeaked out a 52-48 win (our first guy got demolished so my match pretty much zeroed that out and we won 2 of the other 3 matches).
Good times.