For those of you that don't know Kyoko Sone (So-nay), she is ranked 3rd or 4th in Japan and has come over to our regional tour to earn a berth on the WPBA (just as Hsin Huang did). The top NWPA player wins a guaranteed spot to every WPBA Classic Tour stop next year.
Kyoko travels with her boyfriend and they are staying in Vancouver, B.C. with Paul Potier and his wife and baby daughter; (whom I also got to meet yesterday.
) and then they all travel down to WA for the regional tour. She has won every stop she has played in here. Duh.
She plays world class, and I play low class, lol. I did play once on the big tables the weekend before in a men's tournament where I went out in 2.
My trip to the Finals was a shaky one. I lost my first match on Sunday to Kim Gates Hole. She loves to be called Kim A. Hole.
Kim won the Masters BCA Nationals a couple years ago. She has had my number for a few years now, beating me 3 times since I last beat her. She is a big aggressive girl and a straight shooter.
On the B side, I played Kim Jones. She has been invited to the WPBA US Open and did well in one of the pro stops. She has never beaten me yet. (Knock on formica!) She is the best female black player I have ever seen. She is aggressive and plays careless patterns, but her stroke saves her many times. She is a runout machine. But I am older and wiser and kept safing her when I could. She had me 6-2 and when she had an opportunity to put me away on a fairly easy 9 straight in, she stroked the ball forcefully and it rattled. The pockets there at Uncle Jack's reject balls hit at that speed unless it is in the heart. I wasn't playing all that well, but somehow I kept creeping up. At hill-hill, I played a long table billiard on the 9 (both balls were on the end rail somewhere in the middle and whitey was up at the other end rail. She was totally sick.
Then I played Julie Valdez. Julie is one of the most improved ladies on our tour. She has been going with Todd Marsh and I can see a lot of what he has taught her. He has taught her about a fierce demeanor at the table (Mike has tried teaching me that, but I am just too nice.
), he has taught her how to rack the balls in a particular order (amazing how many people don't understand the importance of racking), and he has really taught her to think. Her pattern play has improved 1000% and so has her safeties. She also led. She had me 3-0. I just kept trying to be patient and wait for opportunities. With alternating breaks, she broke for the last game when it was hill-hill, came up dry, and I ran out for the win.
Then it was back to Kim A. Hole for revenge. I still never felt like I was in stroke, but a little better than when I had met her cold in the morning. She won the lag and broke, came up dry and I ran out the rack. She got ahead 2-1, but then I got 2 quick early 9 balls which put me ahead and I never looked back. I won 7-5 and moved into the finals which was one race to 9.
Well, all I can say about that is Kyoko plays awesome!!! It is what separates the dabblers with jobs from the pros. She does everything well. I didn't play stellar, but kept up until it was 4-3 her. Then I made a bad judgment call. She played safe and left me a tough side pocket cut, which I am ordinarily pretty good at. There was definitely 2 safeties there, if I hit the front tit with the 7, it would go up to the end rail, or I could just punt it and hide behind the 8 at the same side pocket. Or I could pocket the ball and get perfect shape for the runout, which I elected to do, but I know I shot too quickly before I thought it out and subconsciously hit the tit at the pocketing speed so it did not hit the end rail, and I sold out. From then on, it was kicking for me.
I did play a nice 3 rail kick safe and a tough one rail kick safe, but sold out on another 1 rail kick safe by not getting the ball to the rail. Uh-oh! One time she actually missed but accidentally hooked me, so anyway, the score was 9-3 and I felt joyful just to be there. Dan Louie said not to worry, Kyoko has beaten him and Rafael Martinez in tournaments too.
Video of the Finals will be up on the Uncle Jack's website and I will let you all watch how the Queen plays. Jumping up and all. I'll let you know when it gets posted.
Kyoko travels with her boyfriend and they are staying in Vancouver, B.C. with Paul Potier and his wife and baby daughter; (whom I also got to meet yesterday.
) and then they all travel down to WA for the regional tour. She has won every stop she has played in here. Duh.She plays world class, and I play low class, lol. I did play once on the big tables the weekend before in a men's tournament where I went out in 2.
My trip to the Finals was a shaky one. I lost my first match on Sunday to Kim Gates Hole. She loves to be called Kim A. Hole.
Kim won the Masters BCA Nationals a couple years ago. She has had my number for a few years now, beating me 3 times since I last beat her. She is a big aggressive girl and a straight shooter.On the B side, I played Kim Jones. She has been invited to the WPBA US Open and did well in one of the pro stops. She has never beaten me yet. (Knock on formica!) She is the best female black player I have ever seen. She is aggressive and plays careless patterns, but her stroke saves her many times. She is a runout machine. But I am older and wiser and kept safing her when I could. She had me 6-2 and when she had an opportunity to put me away on a fairly easy 9 straight in, she stroked the ball forcefully and it rattled. The pockets there at Uncle Jack's reject balls hit at that speed unless it is in the heart. I wasn't playing all that well, but somehow I kept creeping up. At hill-hill, I played a long table billiard on the 9 (both balls were on the end rail somewhere in the middle and whitey was up at the other end rail. She was totally sick.
Then I played Julie Valdez. Julie is one of the most improved ladies on our tour. She has been going with Todd Marsh and I can see a lot of what he has taught her. He has taught her about a fierce demeanor at the table (Mike has tried teaching me that, but I am just too nice.
), he has taught her how to rack the balls in a particular order (amazing how many people don't understand the importance of racking), and he has really taught her to think. Her pattern play has improved 1000% and so has her safeties. She also led. She had me 3-0. I just kept trying to be patient and wait for opportunities. With alternating breaks, she broke for the last game when it was hill-hill, came up dry, and I ran out for the win. Then it was back to Kim A. Hole for revenge. I still never felt like I was in stroke, but a little better than when I had met her cold in the morning. She won the lag and broke, came up dry and I ran out the rack. She got ahead 2-1, but then I got 2 quick early 9 balls which put me ahead and I never looked back. I won 7-5 and moved into the finals which was one race to 9.
Well, all I can say about that is Kyoko plays awesome!!! It is what separates the dabblers with jobs from the pros. She does everything well. I didn't play stellar, but kept up until it was 4-3 her. Then I made a bad judgment call. She played safe and left me a tough side pocket cut, which I am ordinarily pretty good at. There was definitely 2 safeties there, if I hit the front tit with the 7, it would go up to the end rail, or I could just punt it and hide behind the 8 at the same side pocket. Or I could pocket the ball and get perfect shape for the runout, which I elected to do, but I know I shot too quickly before I thought it out and subconsciously hit the tit at the pocketing speed so it did not hit the end rail, and I sold out. From then on, it was kicking for me.
I did play a nice 3 rail kick safe and a tough one rail kick safe, but sold out on another 1 rail kick safe by not getting the ball to the rail. Uh-oh! One time she actually missed but accidentally hooked me, so anyway, the score was 9-3 and I felt joyful just to be there. Dan Louie said not to worry, Kyoko has beaten him and Rafael Martinez in tournaments too.
Video of the Finals will be up on the Uncle Jack's website and I will let you all watch how the Queen plays. Jumping up and all.
I'll let you know when it gets posted.
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