This time coming from someone who had no chance to finish high or cash in.
I came to town with a weak team from a friendly little bar. My teammates, realizing we're pretty soft, originally wanted to play in the Trophy division. I told them my old pool buddies from days gone by would never believe me playing for he-haw. Besides, I like playing better players. I suggested that if they wanted to play in the Trophy teams, they could find a sub for me and I'll just join up with another Open team from our league. They wouldn't hear of it. Everyone agreed to do the Open, even if we're the worst team in the event. Settled.
I get to Vegas, staying at the Rio. I've been here before and I'm OK with the rooms. I wander into the tournament rooms and am pretty much impressed. Plenty of room for all the tables, vendors, players and spectators. I was just going to do a quick lap of the area to get "the lay of the land" and then head back to my room - I was pretty tired from the drive through the desert. Well, I run into old friends from all over the place. My quick tour ended up lasting a few hours but it was well worth it.
I get back to my room and I decide to check out the pro event streaming on the television. Whoever thought of arranging this should get a medal. Great idea.
My first playing activity is the AZB tournament. I figured this would be the time I get unmasked since I can talk a good game on this forum. Sure enough, I pull off only 2 wins and 2 losses. The participants were all nice folks and Okie did a great job getting this together. I hope we do it again next year ... with more AZers.
Later that evening my teammates and I head to Downtown for a show. Get this - the Golden Nugget had 2 tickets for a Gordie Brown show and 2 dinner buffet passes for $50. Four of end up going and I figured we're in this for only 100 bucks. Well, after fees, taxes and whatnot, we end up coughing up $124. Still, this is the best value I've seen in Vegas. The buffet is one of the better ones I've gone to and the show was absolutely hilarious. Gordie is a hell of an impressionist. Don't miss him if you're in town!!!
My team opened the event getting smoked, 13-2. I expected us to have a hard time but this was nearly demoralizing. We have the rest of the day off and we use it to visit Pool Sharks on Decatur. We got in a little practice on one of their Diamond tables, and put down a few suds.
The next day we get a plesant surprise and pull off a convincing 13-2 win. A few hours later we're playing again and barely squeak out a 13-12 victory. Shortly afterward, we're at it again but this time took a 9-13 loss. Our opponents were pretty good but I was happy it wasn't a blowout. Fact is, we did a lot better than I expected. My teammates are pumped. We will definitely be back for another try next year.
We continued our pool room tour, stopping into Mickey's Cues and Brews. Nice room. We played for a couple of hours and sucked on some of those brewskies. Before we headed back to the Rio, we stopped in to the Cue Club on Sahara. The first thing I noticed was that the room is smaller now. The whole left side is walled off with a night club on the other side. We just looked around and didn't stay long.
I got to watch plenty of the pro events. Those foreign guys can really play! I also enjoyed watching the Jr Nationals. The new Cyclop balls were just fine with me. Overall, I had a great time. This is just what I needed. The whole time I was there I put aside all the pressures from work and had some fun.
Old friends I ran into - Joe Salazar, Mike Massey, Frank "the Barber", dr2112, Bobby "Cotton", Fach Garcia, the room owner from Alamosa CO (can't remember his name), Bill Stock, Mark Arnold, Mark Griffin, Isaac Wooten, Larry Davis, Joe Alvarez, Calvin Coker, Joe Manaole, Michael Brown and tons of others. I guess that's why I like coming to this - it like a reunion.
I came to town with a weak team from a friendly little bar. My teammates, realizing we're pretty soft, originally wanted to play in the Trophy division. I told them my old pool buddies from days gone by would never believe me playing for he-haw. Besides, I like playing better players. I suggested that if they wanted to play in the Trophy teams, they could find a sub for me and I'll just join up with another Open team from our league. They wouldn't hear of it. Everyone agreed to do the Open, even if we're the worst team in the event. Settled.
I get to Vegas, staying at the Rio. I've been here before and I'm OK with the rooms. I wander into the tournament rooms and am pretty much impressed. Plenty of room for all the tables, vendors, players and spectators. I was just going to do a quick lap of the area to get "the lay of the land" and then head back to my room - I was pretty tired from the drive through the desert. Well, I run into old friends from all over the place. My quick tour ended up lasting a few hours but it was well worth it.
I get back to my room and I decide to check out the pro event streaming on the television. Whoever thought of arranging this should get a medal. Great idea.
My first playing activity is the AZB tournament. I figured this would be the time I get unmasked since I can talk a good game on this forum. Sure enough, I pull off only 2 wins and 2 losses. The participants were all nice folks and Okie did a great job getting this together. I hope we do it again next year ... with more AZers.
Later that evening my teammates and I head to Downtown for a show. Get this - the Golden Nugget had 2 tickets for a Gordie Brown show and 2 dinner buffet passes for $50. Four of end up going and I figured we're in this for only 100 bucks. Well, after fees, taxes and whatnot, we end up coughing up $124. Still, this is the best value I've seen in Vegas. The buffet is one of the better ones I've gone to and the show was absolutely hilarious. Gordie is a hell of an impressionist. Don't miss him if you're in town!!!
My team opened the event getting smoked, 13-2. I expected us to have a hard time but this was nearly demoralizing. We have the rest of the day off and we use it to visit Pool Sharks on Decatur. We got in a little practice on one of their Diamond tables, and put down a few suds.
The next day we get a plesant surprise and pull off a convincing 13-2 win. A few hours later we're playing again and barely squeak out a 13-12 victory. Shortly afterward, we're at it again but this time took a 9-13 loss. Our opponents were pretty good but I was happy it wasn't a blowout. Fact is, we did a lot better than I expected. My teammates are pumped. We will definitely be back for another try next year.
We continued our pool room tour, stopping into Mickey's Cues and Brews. Nice room. We played for a couple of hours and sucked on some of those brewskies. Before we headed back to the Rio, we stopped in to the Cue Club on Sahara. The first thing I noticed was that the room is smaller now. The whole left side is walled off with a night club on the other side. We just looked around and didn't stay long.
I got to watch plenty of the pro events. Those foreign guys can really play! I also enjoyed watching the Jr Nationals. The new Cyclop balls were just fine with me. Overall, I had a great time. This is just what I needed. The whole time I was there I put aside all the pressures from work and had some fun.
Old friends I ran into - Joe Salazar, Mike Massey, Frank "the Barber", dr2112, Bobby "Cotton", Fach Garcia, the room owner from Alamosa CO (can't remember his name), Bill Stock, Mark Arnold, Mark Griffin, Isaac Wooten, Larry Davis, Joe Alvarez, Calvin Coker, Joe Manaole, Michael Brown and tons of others. I guess that's why I like coming to this - it like a reunion.
