This trip was to the famous Mr. Cues II annual Richard Sweet Memorial Tournament and what a tournament it is.
They have four events over four days. I went for the last two events; the ten ball and nine ball event.
A friend invited me to stay at his penthouse condo which is very close to the event location, maybe 15 minutes away by car. The condo was also 1/2 block from one of the MARTA stations. I flew in on Saturday morning, getting up at 5:00 am, eating a healthy breakfast before I left New Orleans. I knew it was going to be a "brutal" but satisfying trip so I charged my batteries quite well, prior to the event by getting an extra hours sleep each night prior to the weekend.
I could have driven but it would have taken more time and energy than it was worth to me. I know myself and I would have to nap all the way back to NOLA if I was driving and don't like driving tired. I bought one of those Internet fares for less than $200 for the roundtrip and was glad I did.
The Ten Ball started rather late as they had a large Calcutta with approximately 116 players. The Calcutta took quite a while and Mike Janis took great delight in using hyperbole about "JoeyA flying in on on his private jet" etc. Some knuckle heads believed what Mike's exaggerations and they bid me up far higher than I should have gone especially with the players that were showing up. Players like Tommy Kennedy, Johnny Archer, Landon Shuffett, Phil Burford, Cliff Joyner, Claude Merrier, Shawn Putnam, Stevie Moore, Larry Nevel, Josh Roberts, James Roberts, Richie Richeson and a slew of other TOP RATED players as well as a bunch of us bangers.
I'm telling you, if you like pool and you're close enough to make the trip, you have to be crazy not to play in this event. Here's the bottom line:
$10 entry fee in the ten ball. $10 entry fee in the nine ball event. NO QUARTERS, NO GREEN FEE, NO TOUR FEE, NO FEES AT ALL. .
Mr. Cues II serves excellent food and I ate there the majority of the time although Matt90 stopped by and picked up JoeyA and he and I and another friend of his went to this Mediterranean restaurant and ate some chicken kabobs plate dinners for about $8 a piece about a quarter mile from the tournament site. A little Baclava snack on the way out of the restaurant and we were ready to take a nap. The tournament called, so back we went. It took about three hours for me to start feeling a little better as I ate so much; I was stuffed.
In spite of the pool room having about 40 tables, the event moved what seemed like a snail's pace. The heat was brutal, over a hundred degrees in Atlanta over the weekend. It wasn't nice. When you walked outside it felt like you were walking into a sauna. IT WAS HOT. Even inside of Mr. Cue's many of us were feeling the heat, especially close to the front of the building where I had to play at least four matches. (They probably wanted the bangers as far away from the main crowd as they could get us. :grin
I heard one of the A/C's broke and that is why it was so hot at the event. I came prepared for heat wearing my Under Armour clothing designed for just such a day. I can't say it kept me cool but I wasn't complaining like some people. :wink:
At the beginning of the tournament, I was chatting with my young pal, Phil Burford from England who studied with Stan Shuffett of CTE/Pro One fame and am always amazed at Phil's demeanor. So laid back, you wouldn't think he had a competitive bone in his body. Funny kid too. Always joking and having a good time. When the matches were announced I sauntered over to the board to see who I would be playing my first match and yeah, you guessed it; Phil. Oh well, that's why I come to these tournaments.
Phil threw up two balls to the lag for the break and I cried, "You want me to lag?" He just laughed and said we could flip for the break. I win the flip and break dry. Phil runs out. Phil breaks dry and I run out like a champion, get to the ten ball; easy shot, the ten ball skids; I almost croaked right then and there. I was done. I lost my composure after that. Phil never lost his, beats me 7-1. I could have played lots better if not for the early skid and the fact that in the third game I break and make the ten ball, the one and the two ball. The rule was spot the ten immediately if made on the break. Unlucky for me the ten ball was inpeding an easy shot on the three ball and I played a safety which last a few innings but with Phil finally getting the better of me. Later after the match I asked Mike Janis about the ten ball impeding the lowest numbered ball on the table and he said you should have moved the ten ball backward until it did not impede the object ball. PFFFFFFT. Now he tells me. I should have known better. Pfffft. More done.... Anyway Phil plays well and spanks me.
I fight through a few matches on the one loss side. I almost got spanked by Lane Simon who lives in Atlanta and builds cues. He had me 6-4 and by some miracle I managed to win 7-6 in the ten ball. Some other matches I won handily and others I seemed to struggle but that is the name of the game and I'm learning to accept that you just have to keep struggling unless you're Phil Burford or Johnny Archer.
I'll try to finish up the post another time. I took a nap this evening after returning home and can't wait to get to the table to try some things I saw at the event.
I have some additional "reports" to share about how I beat Larry Nevel in the nine ball event but will save that for later. :wink:
They have four events over four days. I went for the last two events; the ten ball and nine ball event.
A friend invited me to stay at his penthouse condo which is very close to the event location, maybe 15 minutes away by car. The condo was also 1/2 block from one of the MARTA stations. I flew in on Saturday morning, getting up at 5:00 am, eating a healthy breakfast before I left New Orleans. I knew it was going to be a "brutal" but satisfying trip so I charged my batteries quite well, prior to the event by getting an extra hours sleep each night prior to the weekend.
I could have driven but it would have taken more time and energy than it was worth to me. I know myself and I would have to nap all the way back to NOLA if I was driving and don't like driving tired. I bought one of those Internet fares for less than $200 for the roundtrip and was glad I did.
The Ten Ball started rather late as they had a large Calcutta with approximately 116 players. The Calcutta took quite a while and Mike Janis took great delight in using hyperbole about "JoeyA flying in on on his private jet" etc. Some knuckle heads believed what Mike's exaggerations and they bid me up far higher than I should have gone especially with the players that were showing up. Players like Tommy Kennedy, Johnny Archer, Landon Shuffett, Phil Burford, Cliff Joyner, Claude Merrier, Shawn Putnam, Stevie Moore, Larry Nevel, Josh Roberts, James Roberts, Richie Richeson and a slew of other TOP RATED players as well as a bunch of us bangers.
I'm telling you, if you like pool and you're close enough to make the trip, you have to be crazy not to play in this event. Here's the bottom line:
$10 entry fee in the ten ball. $10 entry fee in the nine ball event. NO QUARTERS, NO GREEN FEE, NO TOUR FEE, NO FEES AT ALL. .
Mr. Cues II serves excellent food and I ate there the majority of the time although Matt90 stopped by and picked up JoeyA and he and I and another friend of his went to this Mediterranean restaurant and ate some chicken kabobs plate dinners for about $8 a piece about a quarter mile from the tournament site. A little Baclava snack on the way out of the restaurant and we were ready to take a nap. The tournament called, so back we went. It took about three hours for me to start feeling a little better as I ate so much; I was stuffed.
In spite of the pool room having about 40 tables, the event moved what seemed like a snail's pace. The heat was brutal, over a hundred degrees in Atlanta over the weekend. It wasn't nice. When you walked outside it felt like you were walking into a sauna. IT WAS HOT. Even inside of Mr. Cue's many of us were feeling the heat, especially close to the front of the building where I had to play at least four matches. (They probably wanted the bangers as far away from the main crowd as they could get us. :grin
I heard one of the A/C's broke and that is why it was so hot at the event. I came prepared for heat wearing my Under Armour clothing designed for just such a day. I can't say it kept me cool but I wasn't complaining like some people. :wink:At the beginning of the tournament, I was chatting with my young pal, Phil Burford from England who studied with Stan Shuffett of CTE/Pro One fame and am always amazed at Phil's demeanor. So laid back, you wouldn't think he had a competitive bone in his body. Funny kid too. Always joking and having a good time. When the matches were announced I sauntered over to the board to see who I would be playing my first match and yeah, you guessed it; Phil. Oh well, that's why I come to these tournaments.
Phil threw up two balls to the lag for the break and I cried, "You want me to lag?" He just laughed and said we could flip for the break. I win the flip and break dry. Phil runs out. Phil breaks dry and I run out like a champion, get to the ten ball; easy shot, the ten ball skids; I almost croaked right then and there. I was done. I lost my composure after that. Phil never lost his, beats me 7-1. I could have played lots better if not for the early skid and the fact that in the third game I break and make the ten ball, the one and the two ball. The rule was spot the ten immediately if made on the break. Unlucky for me the ten ball was inpeding an easy shot on the three ball and I played a safety which last a few innings but with Phil finally getting the better of me. Later after the match I asked Mike Janis about the ten ball impeding the lowest numbered ball on the table and he said you should have moved the ten ball backward until it did not impede the object ball. PFFFFFFT. Now he tells me. I should have known better. Pfffft. More done.... Anyway Phil plays well and spanks me.
I fight through a few matches on the one loss side. I almost got spanked by Lane Simon who lives in Atlanta and builds cues. He had me 6-4 and by some miracle I managed to win 7-6 in the ten ball. Some other matches I won handily and others I seemed to struggle but that is the name of the game and I'm learning to accept that you just have to keep struggling unless you're Phil Burford or Johnny Archer.
I'll try to finish up the post another time. I took a nap this evening after returning home and can't wait to get to the table to try some things I saw at the event.
I have some additional "reports" to share about how I beat Larry Nevel in the nine ball event but will save that for later. :wink:
:grin-square:
