Who doesn’t enjoy a trip report? I know I enjoy hearing about all these top notch events that are reported on every year. Events like the Derby City Classic, the Super Billiards Expo, the U.S. Open, and even the Mosconi Cup. The stories are great and I always appreciate reading about them. What is often times overlooked in the pool world is all the great things that are happening within the amateur ranks. There are a lot of great events where a lot of fun is had by all and this was definitely the case at the ACS’s (American Cue Sports) 2014 Indiana State Pocket Billiards Championships.
The festivities kicked off on Wednesday with a Nine-Ball tournament and continued throughout the week with something for everyone. There were multiple 8 Ball divisions, there was some scotch doubles play, they even had a Senior’s Eight ball division. When you had a second to catch your breath you could kick back and watch Nick Varner play some or if you where lucky you could catch one of his exhibition shows.
Anyway, the thing that stood out to me the most was how much fun everybody was having – at least when they weren’t firing balls directly into the rails. It appeared from a distance that many people do not enjoy this for some reason. Except of course, the bank pool players and there were a few of them hanging around looking for a game. But seriously, people were having a blast. There’s been a lot of talk about the death of pool and certainly there has been a lot of bad news in the professional world and with all the pool hall closings things can really look glim. But make no mistake about it – a lot of people love to play pool and most of them are found playing in the leagues.
Back to the report…
I managed to show up on Thursday for the Singles Eight Ball tournament and being the crafty and straight stroking shooter that I am I somehow managed to lose my first match. Sometimes I think I picked an appropriate username on here because quite frankly -- I often times play like I should never be allowed to leave the confines of my basement. I was so disgusted with my play I felt like throwing my cues in the trash and heading for home, which is pretty close to what I did years ago, before walking into the Air Force recruiter’s office. But this year was different – I was on a team so I couldn’t just call it quits. I had to regroup.
So I had a little talk with myself and I said “You know what buddy – you suck. Get over it.” So that’s what I tried to do. I managed to make it through the loser’s bracket a ways and I made a respectable showing out of it. But really, the whole week there’s this feeling that there’s a storm coming. Although everyone is having a good time, you just get this feeling that everybody is waiting for Friday night, because that’s when the team event starts.
The team event is killer! This is when everybody that didn’t play in any of the singles matches shows up. The place is just packed and it gets pretty electric in there. To me, anyone that really loves pool is a member of a secret fraternity that only us pool players understand. There is no better way to really appreciate this fraternity than by going into battle with your buddies. For a sport that is really thought of as an individual endeavor, the team aspect brings a whole new level of pressure and excitement, especially in this format. You play with a 5 man team and you only play one rack against each member of the opposing team. Each rack you feel like you are playing for your life – or at least I always did. This leads to a crazy roller coaster experience where one rack you play perfectly. You break the balls well. You study the table and discover the perfect pattern. You then execute your plan to perfection and pocket ball after ball and finally you smack that eight ball into the pocket only to be congratulated by your teammates. Life is good.
Your very next rack you go to table and your opponent breaks dry. You study the table and you see another possible out. All you have to do is shoot in this very easy combination first to open everything up. Of course there are much easier shots to pick from but you need to run out so you elect to shoot the EASY combination. You fire the first ball into the next and watch it smash into the rail. The only thing left to do is sit down and watch your opponent run out. Life if now horrible and you don’t even want to be there because you have just let your entire team down.
This is the roller coaster ride that is team pool.
But sometimes the ride is worth it. For my team - “Where’s Bruce?” it all worked out in the end. We lost the hot seat match on the winner’s side so we had to win one match on the loser’s side in order to get another crack at a real good team from the Chicago area. We managed to squeak out a victory on the loser’s side to give us a shot at avenging our earlier defeat. The problem was we had to beat them twice. We came out swinging the first match and won that one going away. But much to the Chicago boy’s credit they weren’t going out without a fight. The last match went right down to the final rack. How would you like to step to the table in that situation? Out loud we all say that this is when we would play our best pool, but secretly do you wonder how you would hold up?
Well luckily for us, our guy came through and took us over the finish line.
State Champs! That sounds kind of cool.
If you have never experienced team pool, you really should give it a try. It can be a lot of fun and ultimately isn’t that what we are playing for? Not for pride, not for money, but just for fun.
The festivities kicked off on Wednesday with a Nine-Ball tournament and continued throughout the week with something for everyone. There were multiple 8 Ball divisions, there was some scotch doubles play, they even had a Senior’s Eight ball division. When you had a second to catch your breath you could kick back and watch Nick Varner play some or if you where lucky you could catch one of his exhibition shows.
Anyway, the thing that stood out to me the most was how much fun everybody was having – at least when they weren’t firing balls directly into the rails. It appeared from a distance that many people do not enjoy this for some reason. Except of course, the bank pool players and there were a few of them hanging around looking for a game. But seriously, people were having a blast. There’s been a lot of talk about the death of pool and certainly there has been a lot of bad news in the professional world and with all the pool hall closings things can really look glim. But make no mistake about it – a lot of people love to play pool and most of them are found playing in the leagues.
Back to the report…
I managed to show up on Thursday for the Singles Eight Ball tournament and being the crafty and straight stroking shooter that I am I somehow managed to lose my first match. Sometimes I think I picked an appropriate username on here because quite frankly -- I often times play like I should never be allowed to leave the confines of my basement. I was so disgusted with my play I felt like throwing my cues in the trash and heading for home, which is pretty close to what I did years ago, before walking into the Air Force recruiter’s office. But this year was different – I was on a team so I couldn’t just call it quits. I had to regroup.
So I had a little talk with myself and I said “You know what buddy – you suck. Get over it.” So that’s what I tried to do. I managed to make it through the loser’s bracket a ways and I made a respectable showing out of it. But really, the whole week there’s this feeling that there’s a storm coming. Although everyone is having a good time, you just get this feeling that everybody is waiting for Friday night, because that’s when the team event starts.
The team event is killer! This is when everybody that didn’t play in any of the singles matches shows up. The place is just packed and it gets pretty electric in there. To me, anyone that really loves pool is a member of a secret fraternity that only us pool players understand. There is no better way to really appreciate this fraternity than by going into battle with your buddies. For a sport that is really thought of as an individual endeavor, the team aspect brings a whole new level of pressure and excitement, especially in this format. You play with a 5 man team and you only play one rack against each member of the opposing team. Each rack you feel like you are playing for your life – or at least I always did. This leads to a crazy roller coaster experience where one rack you play perfectly. You break the balls well. You study the table and discover the perfect pattern. You then execute your plan to perfection and pocket ball after ball and finally you smack that eight ball into the pocket only to be congratulated by your teammates. Life is good.
Your very next rack you go to table and your opponent breaks dry. You study the table and you see another possible out. All you have to do is shoot in this very easy combination first to open everything up. Of course there are much easier shots to pick from but you need to run out so you elect to shoot the EASY combination. You fire the first ball into the next and watch it smash into the rail. The only thing left to do is sit down and watch your opponent run out. Life if now horrible and you don’t even want to be there because you have just let your entire team down.
This is the roller coaster ride that is team pool.
But sometimes the ride is worth it. For my team - “Where’s Bruce?” it all worked out in the end. We lost the hot seat match on the winner’s side so we had to win one match on the loser’s side in order to get another crack at a real good team from the Chicago area. We managed to squeak out a victory on the loser’s side to give us a shot at avenging our earlier defeat. The problem was we had to beat them twice. We came out swinging the first match and won that one going away. But much to the Chicago boy’s credit they weren’t going out without a fight. The last match went right down to the final rack. How would you like to step to the table in that situation? Out loud we all say that this is when we would play our best pool, but secretly do you wonder how you would hold up?
Well luckily for us, our guy came through and took us over the finish line.
State Champs! That sounds kind of cool.
If you have never experienced team pool, you really should give it a try. It can be a lot of fun and ultimately isn’t that what we are playing for? Not for pride, not for money, but just for fun.
Last edited:
