I concluded APA league earlier in the week and last night went to try to get in a BCA league which was just starting a new session. The teams are pretty full up but I signed on to be a sub. Sad to leave the old team but with the cap my captain and I could not play together and we ended up playing each on one style each 8 or 9 double jeopardy. He was very gracious to do this in the first place but in the end it ended up hurting the team in my opinion. Last night I saw people I have not seen in years. It was great. By the looks of it I will have to step up my game. APA has made me sloppy due to the race format which is fun but generally gives you a chance to get in stroke during the match.
how are ya'll doing in league ?
- Thread starter lorider
- Start date
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
We finally got to play again after 3 weeks of no league. I won all 3 of my 8 ball sets.
First match I'm playing a guy who is a good player, he won the first game and I thought I was in big trouble. He scratched on the 8 in the second game and I won the third (2-1). Second match I won 2-0. Third match I won 2-0. On the third game I went on a little tear and pulled off a side pocket bank, a kick into the side, then banking the 8 into the side. Not the way I wanted to play it but it was do or die time. I was careful to keep some balls on the table as she had missed on the last ball before the 8. There was no real way to play safe on the layout so I had to just get on with it. I hate to try to get out with trick shots but the table layout made anything else pretty much impossible.
I subbed for an 8 ball team last night, the opposing team was very strong. First game I broke dry and he ran out, even through the cluster fest. I ended up wining 2 games and losing 3. Single games are pretty brutal. Truthfully there was only one shot that I should have made that I missed that night, 12 by the side pocket that required a good aim, and gave dead easy shape on the 8 in the corner. Nothing tricky for shape. I watched that damn 12 ball miss the side. I tried to slow roll it and I have no idea what happened. Was the table off? Did I hit it bad? No idea but the table really was out of level, they had asked me to bring my level and they used it after the match and leveled the table, it was pretty damn bad, took about a dozen beer coasters out from under the table and started at square one.
I'm not too concerned with that 12 ball fiasco. It lost me the game, but in all honesty I don't think I hit it bad. I would have gave it a little smoke into the pocket if I had known the table may roll off. No excuses though, I missed that one.
First match I'm playing a guy who is a good player, he won the first game and I thought I was in big trouble. He scratched on the 8 in the second game and I won the third (2-1). Second match I won 2-0. Third match I won 2-0. On the third game I went on a little tear and pulled off a side pocket bank, a kick into the side, then banking the 8 into the side. Not the way I wanted to play it but it was do or die time. I was careful to keep some balls on the table as she had missed on the last ball before the 8. There was no real way to play safe on the layout so I had to just get on with it. I hate to try to get out with trick shots but the table layout made anything else pretty much impossible.
I subbed for an 8 ball team last night, the opposing team was very strong. First game I broke dry and he ran out, even through the cluster fest. I ended up wining 2 games and losing 3. Single games are pretty brutal. Truthfully there was only one shot that I should have made that I missed that night, 12 by the side pocket that required a good aim, and gave dead easy shape on the 8 in the corner. Nothing tricky for shape. I watched that damn 12 ball miss the side. I tried to slow roll it and I have no idea what happened. Was the table off? Did I hit it bad? No idea but the table really was out of level, they had asked me to bring my level and they used it after the match and leveled the table, it was pretty damn bad, took about a dozen beer coasters out from under the table and started at square one.
I'm not too concerned with that 12 ball fiasco. It lost me the game, but in all honesty I don't think I hit it bad. I would have gave it a little smoke into the pocket if I had known the table may roll off. No excuses though, I missed that one.
dquarasr
Registered
Channeled my 6-ball ghost failure this afternoon (see my post in the Ghost Ball Challenge thread) where I performed miserably, and focused during league tonight. Felt great during warm-up 6:30pm - 7:00pm. Didn't get to play my match until after 11:00pm, and that's only because our 9-ball team was short and only played four matches, so our 8-ball team played matches four and five concurrently. Otherwise, I wouldn't have started my 8-ball match until nearly midnight. Yes, tonight was painful to watch and score for; SO MANY innings.
I'm a SL4 and I played a SL7, someone from whom I've taken a couple of lessons recently. The race was 2-5.
This didn't seem fair, but that's the race per APA. I won 2 racks to 0, in six innings total, scoring 3-0 in APA points. I shot pretty well (2 innings rack 1, 4 innings rack 2 with a couple of safeties). So I'm happy. I might be a SL5; on nights I'm "on", I shoot like a 6. But there are nights I shoot like a weak 4, or even a 3, so I suppose they balance out, but I'm surprised I haven't been moved up to a 5 in 8-ball. (I'm a 5 in 9-ball.)
A few weeks ago I beat this same SL7 in 9-ball 18-2. For some reason, I peak when I play against him. Bad timing on his part, good timing for me.
I'm a SL4 and I played a SL7, someone from whom I've taken a couple of lessons recently. The race was 2-5.
This didn't seem fair, but that's the race per APA. I won 2 racks to 0, in six innings total, scoring 3-0 in APA points. I shot pretty well (2 innings rack 1, 4 innings rack 2 with a couple of safeties). So I'm happy. I might be a SL5; on nights I'm "on", I shoot like a 6. But there are nights I shoot like a weak 4, or even a 3, so I suppose they balance out, but I'm surprised I haven't been moved up to a 5 in 8-ball. (I'm a 5 in 9-ball.)
A few weeks ago I beat this same SL7 in 9-ball 18-2. For some reason, I peak when I play against him. Bad timing on his part, good timing for me.
My son started a cash inhouse league, 9 ball using Fargo handicaps, in 3 months of play the payout to the teams is close to $500 more than the TAP league offers for the session because it almost all goes to the players minus a few dollars for the greens fee to the room.
So far my team is in second place, we went 6-2 this week with a make-up match due to SBE last week, 4-0 for normal week and 2-2 for the make-up games with another team. One of our weaker players on the team ended up with a higher Fargo rating than most others due to her playing in some event that recorded scores badly but she still outran the handicap and had a win. A player that is a bit better than her ended up a 221 Fargo due to losing, and she was at a 450 rating which is nearly 100 points too high for her actual skill level.
So far my team is in second place, we went 6-2 this week with a make-up match due to SBE last week, 4-0 for normal week and 2-2 for the make-up games with another team. One of our weaker players on the team ended up with a higher Fargo rating than most others due to her playing in some event that recorded scores badly but she still outran the handicap and had a win. A player that is a bit better than her ended up a 221 Fargo due to losing, and she was at a 450 rating which is nearly 100 points too high for her actual skill level.
BlueRaider
Registered
Won 8 ball 5-1 against another SL 6 last night. Despite winning handily, I feel terrible about how I played. I botched shape on the 8 ball three times. Twice I got away with it by making a tough shot but once it cost me a game.
I don't know what it is in league, but when I can see two options for a shot, I always either pick the lower-percentage option shape-wise, or I don't fully commit to either option and end up bad. Or sometimes I just choose an option that shouldn't even be an option.
In one game, the 8 ball was in the middle of the table and I was shooting my last ball that was on the short rail. I quickly decided that I could bounce off the rail just about anywhere and be okay, but no. I bounced way too far and ended up aligned with the 8 ball and the only blocked pocket on the table.
Another mistake was trying to draw to the long rail and back out to make the 8 ball, which was on the opposite long rail, in the same pocket where I was shooting my key ball. I could have played a stop shot and accepted a cut, or even cheated the pocket and stunned over to get really good on the 8, but I decided to be fancy and got myself in trouble by drawing on top of one of my opponent's balls. Thankfully, I still made the 8 despite being tree-topped over it, but I just felt like a dumbass.
At this point I get more frustrated over bad decisions than I do positional errors and misses.
I don't know what it is in league, but when I can see two options for a shot, I always either pick the lower-percentage option shape-wise, or I don't fully commit to either option and end up bad. Or sometimes I just choose an option that shouldn't even be an option.
In one game, the 8 ball was in the middle of the table and I was shooting my last ball that was on the short rail. I quickly decided that I could bounce off the rail just about anywhere and be okay, but no. I bounced way too far and ended up aligned with the 8 ball and the only blocked pocket on the table.
Another mistake was trying to draw to the long rail and back out to make the 8 ball, which was on the opposite long rail, in the same pocket where I was shooting my key ball. I could have played a stop shot and accepted a cut, or even cheated the pocket and stunned over to get really good on the 8, but I decided to be fancy and got myself in trouble by drawing on top of one of my opponent's balls. Thankfully, I still made the 8 despite being tree-topped over it, but I just felt like a dumbass.
At this point I get more frustrated over bad decisions than I do positional errors and misses.
... said every pool player ever LOL
I really like the line "Or sometimes I just choose an option that shouldn't even be an option."
Soon as make a shot there are many times I say "WTF did I just do that??".BlueRaider
Registered
It's crazy how often it happens in league or competitive play. I think I have some subconscious thing going on where I don't want to agonize over shots for too long because I want to look confident and like "oh, this game is so easy, there's nothing to ponder here."... said every pool player ever LOL
I really like the line "Or sometimes I just choose an option that shouldn't even be an option."
So I'll do some fast analysis of the shot in my head and decide that a risky-ish shot is acceptable and go for it, only to immediately realize I was actually playing for pinpoint shape and just missed it.
Actually, I think the pinpoint shape thing is my downfall more often than not in these situations. I always get a little tight/tense in league, and I want the easiest shots possible. So when I can see a path towards pinpoint but highly risky shape, I want to take it, even if position for a longer/slightly tougher shot is significantly easier to achieve.
I went a long time trying to play game balls into the side pockets when it was feasible instead of taking long-ish shots into the corner pockets. That often involved moving the cue ball around into tiny areas over something as simple as rolling forward a few inches. I had missed those long-ish corner pocket shots enough that I became scared of them in league and wanted to avoid them at all costs.
boogieman
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping.
I've been working hard on the wrong shot thing. It helped playing with a strong 9 ball player because it let me see the routes. Most times you can play shape to simply go one rail for the next shot. 1 rail with a rolling cue ball is much easier than the crazy draw/stun stuff I used to default to.
If you need to go 2 or more rails, it's much easier with follow too!
I play with a guy who is a good shot but he insists on using draw 95% of the time. Gives up alot of games because of it.I've been working hard on the wrong shot thing. It helped playing with a strong 9 ball player because it let me see the routes. Most times you can play shape to simply go one rail for the next shot. 1 rail with a rolling cue ball is much easier than the crazy draw/stun stuff I used to default to.
If you need to go 2 or more rails, it's much easier with follow too!
My wife likes to use draw all the time. I set her up with 4 balls one diamond from each corner on the rail and have her start on a long rail to run all 4. Forces a follow ball for the easiest run. Really helped her get out of that thought process.
I have not postee latwly due to entertaining out of town guests.
Lets see if i can recall everything that has transpired since my last post.
We went in to the last night of the session in first place in both 8 and 9 ball. The whole team stunk to hi heaven. No one won but me. I managed to eke out a hill -hill wim i i ball bs another 5. As a result we dropped down to second place in both and had to go to playoffs.
In playoffs we steam rolled out opponents in 9 ball 61-19 in 4 matches.
8 ball was a lot closer but we managed to win that also. After 3 rounds we were up 4-3 and i threw myself . their captain who is a 7/9 jumps up to face me. I win the lag and run 3 balls. He runs all 7 of his but leaves himslf hard on the 8 and misses. I run the table. On his way to rack he tells his co captain that there is no way i am a 5. As usual that stuff gets to me and i am thinking...wth is it with these guys that think a 5 is not capable of running 4 balls in a row on a wide open table ? Only rack i won lol.. The team managed to pull out the win on 8 ball also..
So last week is the first night of the new session. Who do we face.? The same team we had in playoffs.
We lost o ball 51/49. Notice i have not mentioned me playimg 9 ball. I have not played 9 ball in a while because of handicap limit.
In 8 ball its an exact repeat of the week before where we are ahead after 3 matches but this time i throw one of my 4's. Their captain jumps up and throws himself. Totally surprised me. I guess he forgot i was still available to play the last match. Sure enough he won 5-0 giving them a 2 point lead goimg into the last match.
I threw myself and he countered with a 4...until his co captain tild him they would be over 23. He started muttering to himself and wanted to throw a 3 but that person was in the middle of the lsst 9 ball match. That left him with a 2. I won 5-0 giving us the win in 8 ball..
Lets see if i can recall everything that has transpired since my last post.
We went in to the last night of the session in first place in both 8 and 9 ball. The whole team stunk to hi heaven. No one won but me. I managed to eke out a hill -hill wim i i ball bs another 5. As a result we dropped down to second place in both and had to go to playoffs.
In playoffs we steam rolled out opponents in 9 ball 61-19 in 4 matches.
8 ball was a lot closer but we managed to win that also. After 3 rounds we were up 4-3 and i threw myself . their captain who is a 7/9 jumps up to face me. I win the lag and run 3 balls. He runs all 7 of his but leaves himslf hard on the 8 and misses. I run the table. On his way to rack he tells his co captain that there is no way i am a 5. As usual that stuff gets to me and i am thinking...wth is it with these guys that think a 5 is not capable of running 4 balls in a row on a wide open table ? Only rack i won lol.. The team managed to pull out the win on 8 ball also..
So last week is the first night of the new session. Who do we face.? The same team we had in playoffs.
We lost o ball 51/49. Notice i have not mentioned me playimg 9 ball. I have not played 9 ball in a while because of handicap limit.
In 8 ball its an exact repeat of the week before where we are ahead after 3 matches but this time i throw one of my 4's. Their captain jumps up and throws himself. Totally surprised me. I guess he forgot i was still available to play the last match. Sure enough he won 5-0 giving them a 2 point lead goimg into the last match.
I threw myself and he countered with a 4...until his co captain tild him they would be over 23. He started muttering to himself and wanted to throw a 3 but that person was in the middle of the lsst 9 ball match. That left him with a 2. I won 5-0 giving us the win in 8 ball..
Coyote501
Member
The last 2 weeks I made 2.... 4 ball runs to win my match, against some really damn good players. The last 2 weeks we beat the #1 ranked team in our division, and lost to the #2 ranked team by a point. Tonight I found out my team made the playoffs via wildcard. We are in last place, but improved from last session by 28 points. Thats a huge improvement, proud of my team.
Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
I broke and ran a whole 9 ball rack with draw(s) the other day. It actually felt weird.I've been working hard on the wrong shot thing. It helped playing with a strong 9 ball player because it let me see the routes. Most times you can play shape to simply go one rail for the next shot. 1 rail with a rolling cue ball is much easier than the crazy draw/stun stuff I used to default to.
If you need to go 2 or more rails, it's much easier with follow too!
I used to draw a lot, but haven’t hit a whole table that way in a long time.
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Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
Nice!
I assume you lost tonight?
Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
9 ball-twice! That’s not why I quit though. I played ok. It’s a DJ league and my captain screwed me over.I assume you lost tonight?
You need 10 matches in for citywide and for any of the individual tournaments they run. In 8 I only have 7. I had mentioned it to him a few times. Starting over a month ago that I needed my 10. Plus I’m going on vacation the last week of session before qualifiers. He said don’t worry. So last week came-no 8. This week came. We played two matches-no 8 for me. I won’t get my 10 in even with qualifiers now. So I quit.
Then after the fact I hear they gave me a ghost match in 8. Well I quit and I guess both teams will be disqualified once I let the division rep know I didn’t play that match. Felt good to say f APA and feel the same about AZB.
I like metaphors. AZB is like my kids’ soccer league. There was a little bit of rain Thursday and their coach cancelled practice. Their team isn’t very good. So I send in the group text “did you see the last 2 games? I think the kids could use the practice and a little mud won’t kill them”. In response I get “do you want to be a coach?” I thought it was a serious question. So I say “I wouldn’t be opposed to that”. In return to that response I get called an asshole right on group text by the coach. All because I said I think they should practice in the drizzle which they should, and nobody who agreed spoke up.
I like a lot of the posters here, but really F everyone this week. It’s been a doozy!
"
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Willowbrook Wolfy
Going pro
Now that was funny as hell! I laughed cause that’s my sense of humor. But it also proves my point. the only Felicia here was the coach in the soccer league who couldn’t have his daughter practicing in the rain, and my captain that assured me he’d get me my 10. Yet I’m the one who gets turned into “Felicia”. Why deal with that crap? I’ll keep banking the 7 with shape at 95% by myself.
And thanks I needed that ipoppa
Well you did come on here and basically told a forum full of mostly helpful pool junkies to F off. It would have been very easy to just never log in, but you felt the need to come and make a "F U" post for some reason.
As a coach, there are many reasons not to practice in the rain. Tears the field up, chance for injury goes way up, maybe there was lightning in the area, maybe he realizes that kids soccer is supposed to be a fun game, and making them practice in the rain may not be very much fun. Either way, he is the coach. You questioned his decision making on a group chat. Most coaches would cut you from the chat and ban you from practices...
Keep banking the 7 with shape at 95%. I agree that pool at its most fundamental is not a team sport. Not everyone is wired for team competition. Good luck, sir.
BlueRaider
Registered
How soon after matches does your LOs update the results?
Ours usually update on Saturdays, but for some reason they haven't scored my Wed. night 8 ball match yet. They DID score the 9 ball match, which is odd since it's a double jeopardy league.
Ours usually update on Saturdays, but for some reason they haven't scored my Wed. night 8 ball match yet. They DID score the 9 ball match, which is odd since it's a double jeopardy league.