how are ya'll doing in league ?

[Texas Carom Club]

Monday I get to play first time this new season
I run over a supposed 6, who went from a 3 to a 6 after his first apa match
Run out after he scratches on the break to set the tone all but one of the 5 games less than a handful of innings.
I'm a 6 now, 5-5 race I win 5-1
At the place I lamented playing due to the heavy duty magnetic cue ball, well they swapped em out for standard aramith cueballs so now I can work it better.

Wednesday bca I get 45 of 50 points 4 of 5 wins, a regular who drinks alot and always at the center of any drama that goes down tried to accuse me of shooting the wrong balls after I finish our game. Like no, sorry my team mate was watching, seen it all to confirm, plus why not stop me after the first ball I shoot if there's a dispute, pure bs from someone that gets there late always and drinks the entire time they're up there.

Feeling likey old self
Feeling good shooting good.

Tonight, ran into the first true good straight pool player, he averages 8, runs 14 ish each time I miss, no chance to win. Totally enjoyed watching him work simply levels above my head. No way to get discouraged or upset because it was awesome to witness. Shook his hand thanked him for letting me leave early since he got his 150 in just about an hr. Which normally the matches have run 2.5 hrs each.

He's a 600 Fargo with about 1700 games in the system

 

[lorider]

Welp....still on a roll in 8 ball. Won 4-1 in a 4-3 race. Shoulda,coulda, woulda been 4-0 but i missed a thin cut on the 8 in one rack after rolling a little shorter than i wanted and my opponent ran the table.

Didnt play 9 ball . speaking of 9 ball. We lost 57-43 and i am happy we scored 43 after 2 of my players were skunked 20-0 !!

Their 9 beat our 8 20-0 and a new guy who started as a 3 last night beat one of my 3's 20-0. Man this is a new tram thats top heavy as heck. They have two 7/7s and a 7/9. One of their 7/7 oughta be a 7/9 after skunking a 5 last week.

On the bright side we won 8 ball 9-4.

 

[The_JV]

Think pool rooms can have ~10 people indoor now, so maybe league can start back up in the fall....?....lol.

One of the local rooms is shutting down so I imagine those players will migrate to one of the others when they're able.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

god bless texas

 

[The_JV]

god bless texas

Ya the covid restrictions for my province have been very ridiculous for a while now. It will be a major miracle if any small business comes out on the other side of what our government is doing to them. Pool rooms will be a very small precentage of the fatalities.

I think this past Friday was the first time in a month or so, people could finally buy a pair of socks.

 

[Z-Nole]

god bless texas

Buddy of mine came down to Clearwater this weekend. He’s a Wall Street guy living in Manhattan and hasn’t left his apartment in freaking months and months. We had dinner outside in downtown dunedin (an awesome place with a dozen craft beer places within walking distance if you like shit beer) and he couldn’t believe the amount of people outside. It was actually funny to watch. So you gotta love Florida too.

 

[justadub]

I actually played a fairly decent match last night, beat a guy that I'd struggled with for many years. Admittedly, he made a few more mistakes than I recall him making previously, but I'll take it. Managed to close the deal...blind squirrel syndrome, I suppose

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Girl was very late with my corndogs last night. i dont wanna make no scuses, but i lost every game till i got my dogs, at the last game, which i won.
sooooo. come on dawg.

 

[CGM]

god bless texas

God Bless Texas indeed. Freedom's last stand.

 

[BlueRaider]

After playing on tight(ish) 8' tables in an in-house 9-ball league for a few years, I recently joined a double jeopardy (8-ball and 9-ball) APA league that plays on 7' Diamonds.

At first I was okay with the smaller tables because they're Diamonds, but that was because I hadn't actually played on them. The room I play out of has 2 9' Diamonds, and I only played on those until my first league night. Turns out the 7'ers have much bigger pockets than any other 7' Diamonds I've played on (league cut pockets, I assume).

Honestly, the tables play even easier than 7' Valleys. While the corners aren't quite as generous, balls still drop easily on them, and the side pockets are gaping maws. I'm seeing SL 2s who are drunk off their asses with god awful mechanics run 4-5 balls in an inning. 4s and 5s are liable to break and run if they get a decent spread after the break.

I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet. On the one hand, the generousness of the pockets and small table size goes both ways--it makes it just as easy for me to pocket balls as my opponents. But it takes away two big advantages of mine: decent shotmaking (particularly on big tables with tight pockets), and a decently powerful stroke.

On these small tables, people are just slow rolling wobblers in. It's a bit discouraging to have a tough layout, barely mess up a breakout, turn the table over, and watch an SL 2 with wobbly bridge and chicken wing arm position run out on me.

 

[SSDiver2112]

Had a great week and hope it will continue. Both myself and the teams won all three days. One day TAP and two days of Gold Coast. Both just starting new sessions.

Three days of good times only to be marred by an unexpected disaster in the last match of the third night. We were at a new location we had never played before. Last match, five games to play and we only needed to win two of them to take the night. First game was against their best player and ended in a loss. Then the second game appeared to be a cinch, because the opponent had obviously exceeded his limit of alcohol. I was off to the side watching with the captain when the guy steps up to the table, then steps back. All we could do was watch in horror as he continued moving backwards with an obvious lack of control and fell directly into our rack of cues, table, drinks, phones, etc. The idiot just got back up and went back to playing, while we scrambled to get our stuff off the floor and out of the broken glass and spilled drinks. The fact that no one was sitting at the table at that moment may have saved some of the cues from being snapped since it allowed the table to freely move back. Two of us, myself included ended up with dented shafts from hitting the table legs and the captain's shaft was warped.

The other team was friendly, and up to that point we were having a good time. The bar made the guy buy us all new drinks, but I was surprised that neither the guy, nor anyone from the other team ever came over to apologize, explain, or anything. I don't think their team captain should have let him play at all in that condition. We won that game, so we just needed one more. Now we had to finish playing through this huge buzz kill. I ended up winning the needed game, but it sucked that the dents were exactly at the bridge point and I had to feel it every time I shot.

I, like most people are pretty conscious of where we put our cues so they are out of harms way. The table and cues were a good eight feet away from the pool table. Next time we are moving the table over in the corner.

After a few hours of work, I managed to get most of the dents out of mine and my team mates cues. I can feel it if I try, but I didn't notice anything when I used it last night while actually playing.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Finally able to get back on 9 ball team and next week is a by lol.

Will be good for me I don't like 9ball cause I suck at it, and playing on big tables will be a challenge,
Currently a 7

 

[lorider]

different night same usual result. Won 8 ball and lost 9 ball.

won 8 ball 4-0 in a 4-3 race. Record is 7-1 . 7 wins in a row after losing the first match of the session.

lost 9 ball 46-41 in a 46-46 race. We were tied 41-41 goimg into the last rack and i broke dry and he ran his needed 5 balls for the win.

Silver lining in this loss is it wasnt a beatdown like 5 weeks ago when i played this guy and lost 17-3 which was probably only aroumd 15-20 points or so for me.

I have stated on here many times lately how slop by my opponenta has affected my game. Not so much witg lower level players as its kind of expected from them but i really hate it when guys as good ...or better than me start smashing balls when they get in a tight and hope something falls somewhere.

thats what happened the last time i faced this guy and got my head so messed up i couldnt make a shot when i had the opportunity. This time i really didnt let it get to me and as a result i kept it a close game despite several slop shots from him. Just hate it when a 5 or 6 slops one in and smiles and sets uo for the next shot with mo sign of embarrasment at all. Well it seems. my ability to keep my composure is getting better when it happens.

 

[boogieman]

I subbed last league night (8 ball) and won 5 out of 5 games! The most I've won before was 2.

I've been in a horrible slump, every time playing (we play outside of league too) just kept getting worse than the last. Every time I subbed at league I'd play good but every shot was harder than the last.

I figured it out and boy do I feel dumb. Before taking 10 years off of pool I used follow a lot. Getting back I stopped using follow to get shape and was using mostly stun or draw shots. When I got back into pool I played a lot of straight pool and read the books. I just kept getting in positions that needed draw or stun. I knew in the past that follow produced better results, but somehow it just never clicked when I got back into pool. I could just never figure out 2 and 3 rail shape as the ball never went. Shape involving rails was a mystery and it's so clear now I don't know how I ever forgot. I got damn good at draw/stun but just could never get stuff to go my way at the table consistently. Playing 8 and 9 ball with only hold up shape or 1 rail shape is TOUGH! I just figured I was rusty and practiced like hell, but was missing a key concept. Yeah, I'm an idiot.

I was watching a game between buddies and one asked the other what spin to use on the tangent line and watching it somehow it just clicked. I tried a little CTE from the book and it also helped the idea of tangent lines and follow with english for shape. I've spent the last few weeks playing 9 ball exclusively and it helped cement the idea.

Anyway, last night instead of each shot becoming progressively harder and harder until I won or sold out, each shot pretty much just fell into place. It felt really good and I've been in a great mood all day. I almost lost one match, one of my balls and the 8 on the table, my shot. I missed my ball as it was a really tough shot, but I played a 2 way. I left a long back cut with a scratch trap on the 8 (loss in this league), but she decided to bank, sunk an incredible bank, but the cue ball went dead center pocket. I played great on that game, but I got damn lucky there. I won two games pretty handily, and the other two were real safety battles and cluster fests. I just played smart, tried to make a ball and break a cluster if I could and left no real opportunity for the opponent. They all played good but I was finally on. This follow and tangent line stuff is the bees knees. I really have no idea how I got this far in pool without remembering draw for show follow for dough.

 

[lorider]

Nice goimg boogie. I had a 7 on an opposing team work with me after league last week showing me exactly the things you mentioned. I believe it will help my 9 ball game a lot.

Well probly 8 ball too but i am doing great in 8 ball with 7 wins in a row after losing the first match of the session. Its not that i shoot better in 8 than i do in 9 ....its just the nature of the game. 8 ball to me is like chess. Plus there is a lot more balls to hide behind if you get out of position.

Like i told my league operator one time when he said i must have shot great when i beat a real tough 6 by 4-0. I daid no i didnt shoot that great ....jist kept him off the 8 ball until i had a chance to pocket it.

 

[Texas Carom Club]

9 ball is going to be fun, never played it competivley on a big fast table,

 

[Chili Palmer]

9 ball is going to be fun, never played it competivley on a big fast table,

LOL, your life is about to change

 

[Chili Palmer]

I subbed last league night (8 ball) and won 5 out of 5 games! The most I've won before was 2.

I've been in a horrible slump, every time playing (we play outside of league too) just kept getting worse than the last. Every time I subbed at league I'd play good but every shot was harder than the last.

I figured it out and boy do I feel dumb. Before taking 10 years off of pool I used follow a lot. Getting back I stopped using follow to get shape and was using mostly stun or draw shots. When I got back into pool I played a lot of straight pool and read the books. I just kept getting in positions that needed draw or stun. I knew in the past that follow produced better results, but somehow it just never clicked when I got back into pool. I could just never figure out 2 and 3 rail shape as the ball never went. Shape involving rails was a mystery and it's so clear now I don't know how I ever forgot. I got damn good at draw/stun but just could never get stuff to go my way at the table consistently. Playing 8 and 9 ball with only hold up shape or 1 rail shape is TOUGH! I just figured I was rusty and practiced like hell, but was missing a key concept. Yeah, I'm an idiot.

I was watching a game between buddies and one asked the other what spin to use on the tangent line and watching it somehow it just clicked. I tried a little CTE from the book and it also helped the idea of tangent lines and follow with english for shape. I've spent the last few weeks playing 9 ball exclusively and it helped cement the idea.

Anyway, last night instead of each shot becoming progressively harder and harder until I won or sold out, each shot pretty much just fell into place. It felt really good and I've been in a great mood all day. I almost lost one match, one of my balls and the 8 on the table, my shot. I missed my ball as it was a really tough shot, but I played a 2 way. I left a long back cut with a scratch trap on the 8 (loss in this league), but she decided to bank, sunk an incredible bank, but the cue ball went dead center pocket. I played great on that game, but I got damn lucky there. I won two games pretty handily, and the other two were real safety battles and cluster fests. I just played smart, tried to make a ball and break a cluster if I could and left no real opportunity for the opponent. They all played good but I was finally on. This follow and tangent line stuff is the bees knees. I really have no idea how I got this far in pool without remembering draw for show follow for dough.

I have a post somewhere on AZB that talks about that exact thing.

Go play 5 games using nothing but draw and then play 5 games using nothing but follow and see how you end up, I have not had one person tell me they won more games using draw than follow.

Yes, going with nothing but draw or follow is an extreme example as some shots are clearly not going to be shot that way in a match. The point is to show the overall affect.

And one little thing I say in my mind when deciding between a tough draw or tough follow - draw the crowd but follow the money.

Drawing is fancy, following wins games

 

[chefjeff]

We won both the 8 and 9 ball divisions in the IPPL league. Each of us got like $350 or so.

Iowa Pool Players League is what I think it stands for.

My captain subbed on another team after the league was over for the inner city tournament. They won a trip to Vegas ($7,000 for the team, I think) so that team asked my captain and his wife to go with them. They played poorly out there but had fun for their first trip to sin city.

Not a bad take for one league season. My captain is happy and wants to play it again...imagine that.


Jeff Livingston

 

[Texas Carom Club]

Revenge
Won all my matches the start of the apa sesh. 5-1 5-2 5-1 against 5 and 6s
One was a guy who beat me one time in 5 matches who I didn't take well losing to las time lol, the other was a guy I haven't beat before, he got very flustered and conceded the last few with an open table and 5 balls left.

Last week was my worst bca, won just one. Small errors they made me pay for, this week, 5-0
First 2 games set the tone 10-1 games
The previous 2 weeks bca 4-1 nights for me.

I'm hitting them better a little better each week, since I'm now playing 3 straight nights on the same tables a week in competition

Hitting the long ball alot more accurate now, pocket speed, fuller hits with a tip of follow is making alot more shots for me rn.
My break makes atleast one ball each time, in 5 attempts I'm probably making balls in 4 out of the 5 times.

pre shot routine that's not labored or anything fancy so barley notice is another little add on that's helping me shoot better I believe