I took the day off from pool yesterday so I didn't see this thread until this morning.
Glad everyone had a good time. It's becoming something of an annual thing and I know I look forward to it. I wish to thank everyone for coming, it was a pleasure for me to have you guys. Special thanks to poolhustler for providing the TAR stream and thereby keeping everyone occupied so I could rig the draw. Funny how that worked out; I got byes into the semi-final. Thanks again, Russ.
Entered at this year's event were:
rick9005, metsownyou, AuntyDan, Marty, i4pool, 8ballEinstein, poolhustler, dr2112, TATE, and myself.
I must say the tournament wasn't without controversy as some of the participants were upset that I allowed Chris, the eventual winner, to compete even though he missed the mandatory players meeting and then, upon his arrival, immediately started whining about the use of the measles ball. In actuality the only reason I didn't DQ him was that I had previously printed out the ten player bracket sheet and was too lazy to print out another. Besides, I had already placed 10 peas in the draw bottle and removing one would have meant a lot of extra work.
Nonetheless, he played well and deserved the win. The hot seat match was a repeat of last year's final between 8balleinstein and Tate, so now both these players have taken the championship each of the last two years. This has resulted in a rule change to be instituted commencing with the 2013 event whereby both these players will be spotting the field the 8 and breaks. Should either of them fail to lose in the first round it will go to the 7 out and breaks for the next round and keep adjusting until they get knocked out sometime before the money.
I must say that "The Tater" was a gracious winner. For a monster murderer of the felt, he was giddy as a school girl to have that trophy. He said he didn't even care about either the first place money or the Mosconi Cup points - so naturally, I air barreled him.
My own play was spotty but I did manage to hand Ernie his first defeat in two years in the semi-final. I apologize in public for putting a move on him that took him out of his game by dogging an easy straight in 9 ball in the first rack. It worked. He was so shocked I missed that he was never able to fully recover. In the final against Chris I dumped because I didn't want to pull a poolhustler and win my own event lest I be accused of gaffing the table. The alternate explanation is I ran into a buzz saw and after Chris broke and ran the first rack of the final match I was shivering like a scared chihuahua.
I was fortunate enough to come away with 2nd place and the "Finalist" trophy against this strong field. As for the winners of the "Dead Money" trophies, honoring the two players who go 2 and out - they shall remain anonymous. But they have the hardware as a parting gift even though they didn't make it to the lightning rounds.
Thanks again to everyone. I really appreciate your participation and even more importantly, your friendship. Sorry that atthecat and Jay Helfert couldn't make it this year. We missed you guys.
:groucho:
