It's an inhouse league using Fargo races and handicaps. I don't play APA, just TAP and used to play USAPL for a bunch of years. I actually quit the TAP league due to several of my friends leaving and the league getting a few new players that I really did not like but I ended up going back in a few weeks due to the captain and a few team mates asking me to come back so they have a higher level player for matches and some coaching/time out. If that match was done with APA points instead of game wins I would have crushed the guy, he would have scored maybe 6-7 points in the set including the two 9 balls.
I should clarify that it was a rare loss in this case not because he was worse, but also because I played so well and he was worse, even though he only needed 2 games to win. Usually when I play well I can outrun the handicaps but this time just 3 shots sunk me out of 6 games. But I did learn to focus a bit more on safety play and play it a bit, well, safer hehe. I knew the 2 ball was heading towards the area of the 9, but I still picked that shot since it gave me a lock up safe with hiding both the cueball and the object ball, but overshot it by a few feet so both balls went in the incorrect spots and lined up the combo. Next time I am in that situation I am going to maybe try for a less locked up safety but a safer speed and route for the ball.
This was the bad safe, the green was the 2, blue was original cueball position and the yellow is the 9.
I wanted to bank the two up to the top rail behind the balls in the area and send the cueball two rails across to where the blue star was, the pink line. So he would not just have to kick by the balls around the object ball but also need to go around the balls I wanted to hide the cueball behind.
What ended up happening I hit it too thin and too hard, the cueball ended up in the area of the red star, and the two went past the top rail another few feet to rest right behind the 9. He made the combo, which was not easy, and instead of winning 5-0 it's now 4-1 and hill hill, off one shot by him LOL The next game he scratched on break, I had the 8 against the rail just under the side pocket, it drifted out on me a few millimeters, rattled the two corner pocket points and went cross table to sit in front of the opposite corner, he made that and the 9. 3 shots and I went from 4-0 and about to win to a 4-2 loss.
My mistake was going for a bit too good of a shot on the safe, I knew that even if I separated the two across the table I had a huge advantage, but I played that shot like I would have against Immonen or Archer and tried to really hook him LOL
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