what a day !

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
being new to league play iwas excited to be going to the singles regional today. looked up the directions on mapquest couple weeks ago , said its 3 hour 15 min from my house. registration was from 9:00 to 9:30 so i left my house at 5:00 am giving me 4 and a half hours to get there. the trip took 4 and a half hours , driving thru a monsoon every minute of the way.

i went 2 and out. hung around for most of the day talking to people and making new friends. headed home and its still raining but not as hard as this morning. got 25 miles from home and the engine thru a rod. called my gf to come pick me up. would i do it again ? in a heart beat .

i had a great time and learned a couple important lessons. number 1 is to get there a day early and practice on the tables if you have never played on them before. those diamond smart tables feel like they got springs on them compared to the mushy rails of the valleys i am used to.

number 2 . dont have a new tip put on your stick 2 days before a tournament that you have never played with before.
 
Where was your regionals at? There was an apa regionals event here in Midwest city, Oklahoma too.
 
lorider,

imagine how wonderful the world would be if everyone could have your attitude! :thumbup:

even if i enjoyed myself while there, the rest would have had me mad enough to cut somebody!
 
rrich1 said:
its never a bad day if you enjoyed yourself. :D
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Second that!!

"imagine how wonderful the world would be if everyone could have your attitude! "

Couldn't have said it better myself....glad you had fun and are sharing with us...that post was like a breath of fresh air.
 
lorider said:
being new to league play iwas excited to be going to the singles regional today. looked up the directions on mapquest couple weeks ago , said its 3 hour 15 min from my house. registration was from 9:00 to 9:30 so i left my house at 5:00 am giving me 4 and a half hours to get there. the trip took 4 and a half hours , driving thru a monsoon every minute of the way.

i went 2 and out. hung around for most of the day talking to people and making new friends. headed home and its still raining but not as hard as this morning. got 25 miles from home and the engine thru a rod. called my gf to come pick me up. would i do it again ? in a heart beat .

i had a great time and learned a couple important lessons. number 1 is to get there a day early and practice on the tables if you have never played on them before. those diamond smart tables feel like they got springs on them compared to the mushy rails of the valleys i am used to.

number 2 . dont have a new tip put on your stick 2 days before a tournament that you have never played with before.
Click to expand...

Lorider, sometimes it cost a little more for your enjoyment! Good post. I am glad you made out OK.
Regards,
Lock N Load.
 
lorider said:
being new to league play iwas excited to be going to the singles regional today. looked up the directions on mapquest couple weeks ago , said its 3 hour 15 min from my house. registration was from 9:00 to 9:30 so i left my house at 5:00 am giving me 4 and a half hours to get there. the trip took 4 and a half hours , driving thru a monsoon every minute of the way.

i went 2 and out. hung around for most of the day talking to people and making new friends. headed home and its still raining but not as hard as this morning. got 25 miles from home and the engine thru a rod. called my gf to come pick me up. would i do it again ? in a heart beat .

i had a great time and learned a couple important lessons. number 1 is to get there a day early and practice on the tables if you have never played on them before. those diamond smart tables feel like they got springs on them compared to the mushy rails of the valleys i am used to.

number 2 . dont have a new tip put on your stick 2 days before a tournament that you have never played with before.
Click to expand...

Plus, you have a great story to tell and an experience to remember. Beats sitting in front of the computer watching someone else play on a stream. I once drove 900 miles to Weenie Beanie's place. Played my first match and lost on the hill. Played my second match later that evening got knocked out. Next morning drove home and was back at work on Monday. 1800 miles, 2 matches, three days. My boss said, "I thought you were going to a tournament".
You got to do this stuff when you are young or life will pass you by. I don't regret even the worst of times.
 
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jdxprs said:
lorider,

imagine how wonderful the world would be if everyone could have your attitude! :thumbup:

even if i enjoyed myself while there, the rest would have had me mad enough to cut somebody!
Click to expand...

thank you and all my fellow az ers for the kind words about my attitude. as a couple of you posted , every day is a good day when you play pool.

i woukd like to share wiyh you why i have such an upbeat attitude , that wasnt always the case before. i will try to make it short and please ont think im complaining or looking for sympathy. i feel fortunate to be where im at today .
i quit playing pool 10 years ago to devote to family and start a bussiness. 4 years ago i lost my bussiness, my house,every thing i had, including my wife and son that live in another state now. i moved in with my son and for the next 2 years i got bt doing a job here and there, couldnt find gainful employement anywhere. got back into shooting pool when i had a few bucks on me. pool was kinda like a crutch to help deal with my life.
2 years ago i got a job with a guy i met playin pool. 6 months later i had an injury at work leaving me today with no feeling in half my right hand and cannnot move my fingers properly. by the way the job paid less than i paid my employees 10 years ago but i was glad to have it.
quit shooting pool for a year due to my injury. started back playing 8 months ago even tho im not as good as i used to be because of the injury. now live with my gf that i met playing pool . just started back working last month with the same guy , he cuts me a lil slack knowing im not as good as i was before. thanks to people i met i got a job and a gf so im good with that. and as for the car ? the workers comp insurance giving me a check at the end of the month that will cover getting a nice 3 or 4 year old truck.

to sum it up , every has situations that comes up or meets some real jerks in your lifetime. only you have control how you respond to those situations. your responce will dictate whether you are a good person or an a**hole. learned a lot about myself the last 4 years, i learned to take life in stride. yesterday was a walk in the park. just remember whats important in life . food for thought.
sorry for the long winded post
 
TX Poolnut said:
The fact that you had fun there just made my day.
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glad to hear it. just read my 2nd posts. sorry i made a couple typos. must still be groggy from the long day. hope the grammer police dont flame me . lol please take the time and read my longwinded 2nd post. hope it makes your dat also.
 
lorider said:
being new to league play iwas excited to be going to the singles regional today. looked up the directions on mapquest couple weeks ago , said its 3 hour 15 min from my house. registration was from 9:00 to 9:30 so i left my house at 5:00 am giving me 4 and a half hours to get there. the trip took 4 and a half hours , driving thru a monsoon every minute of the way.

i went 2 and out. hung around for most of the day talking to people and making new friends. headed home and its still raining but not as hard as this morning. got 25 miles from home and the engine thru a rod. called my gf to come pick me up. would i do it again ? in a heart beat .

i had a great time and learned a couple important lessons. number 1 is to get there a day early and practice on the tables if you have never played on them before. those diamond smart tables feel like they got springs on them compared to the mushy rails of the valleys i am used to.

number 2 . dont have a new tip put on your stick 2 days before a tournament that you have never played with before.
Click to expand...


Sounds like you enjoy pool, even after all the ups and downs, you look for something postive out of it, thanks to you for your # two lesson, think I will wait until after my next tournament to put a tip on my cue, it does take awhile to get used to one after retipping.


David Harcrow
 
At least the car waited until your return trip to throw a rod.

May a wrecked-em yard near you have a suitable replacement engine..
 
catpool9 said:
Sounds like you enjoy pool, even after all the ups and downs, you look for something postive out of it, thanks to you for your # two lesson, think I will wait until after my next tournament to put a tip on my cue, it does take awhile to get used to one after retipping.


David Harcrow
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let me share my experience. im not making excuses for losing, just stating facts. having been a bar banger most of my life and always shot with house cues, i never had my own stick. i bought a few over the last few years but still dont have much knowledge about different types of tips. any time i needed a tip i would tell him to put something cheap on , didnt care what is was as long as it had a good chunk of leather on it and would hold chalk. well after reading on here about all the different tips and the " supposed " benefits over lesser or cheaper tips i thought i would try one. i asked for a kamui soft and he was out, so i asked what he liked. he said a tiger emerald was a pretty good tip so i said put it on.
like i said ,didnt get a chance with it before the tournament. i will save the rail experience for a later post. any wat my 1st match we at hill - hill . my shot and im on my last ball, its in the kitchen with the cue ball pretty much lined up for a straiht in . the 8 is close to the side pocket but on the lower side of the table. if i hit a stop shot i probly scratch in side playing the 8 in corner pocket. to me my only 2 options are to force follow my last ball with the cue ball hitting the rail and coming back down table to pocket the 8 in the side. 2nd option is to draw the cue back past the 8 and pocket it in side. only needed to draw back about 8 inches to have a decent cut, anymore is even better for a easy straight in. well i line up my shot and give it a lil extra oomph tomake sure i draw it back far enough. i pot my last ball and sure enough the cue ball is coming back pretty as you please. here it comes, gets to the 8 , looking good, gets past the 8, looking even better. whoa ! it keeps going. whoa ! whoa ! its still going!
it keeps going and fall in the oppoisite corner pocket.
my opponent comes over and gets bih saying that was an awesome draw then proceeds to run his last 3 balls pocketing the 8 and winning the match. i have never drawed the cue ball 2/3 s of a table before in my life !
 
lorider said:
thank you and all my fellow az ers for the kind words about my attitude. as a couple of you posted , every day is a good day when you play pool.

i woukd like to share wiyh you why i have such an upbeat attitude , that wasnt always the case before. i will try to make it short and please ont think im complaining or looking for sympathy. i feel fortunate to be where im at today .
i quit playing pool 10 years ago to devote to family and start a bussiness. 4 years ago i lost my bussiness, my house,every thing i had, including my wife and son that live in another state now. i moved in with my son and for the next 2 years i got bt doing a job here and there, couldnt find gainful employement anywhere. got back into shooting pool when i had a few bucks on me. pool was kinda like a crutch to help deal with my life.
2 years ago i got a job with a guy i met playin pool. 6 months later i had an injury at work leaving me today with no feeling in half my right hand and cannnot move my fingers properly. by the way the job paid less than i paid my employees 10 years ago but i was glad to have it.
quit shooting pool for a year due to my injury. started back playing 8 months ago even tho im not as good as i used to be because of the injury. now live with my gf that i met playing pool . just started back working last month with the same guy , he cuts me a lil slack knowing im not as good as i was before. thanks to people i met i got a job and a gf so im good with that. and as for the car ? the workers comp insurance giving me a check at the end of the month that will cover getting a nice 3 or 4 year old truck.

to sum it up , every has situations that comes up or meets some real jerks in your lifetime. only you have control how you respond to those situations. your responce will dictate whether you are a good person or an a**hole. learned a lot about myself the last 4 years, i learned to take life in stride. yesterday was a walk in the park. just remember whats important in life . food for thought.
sorry for the long winded post
Click to expand...

Nice post. Glad to hear you are taking things in stride. It can be tough, but you have the right attitude!!!
 
JDB said:
Nice post. Glad to hear you are taking things in stride. It can be tough, but you have the right attitude!!!
Click to expand...

thanks for the kind words. just got in from league play. think i witnessed the longest 9 ball match in history that was only a race to 18 points. our new session started recently and they added 2 new teams.

we play on bar boxes but with the added teams we dont have enough tables for the added teams. instead of 2 teams having a bye every week our lo decided all the teams would rotate playing on a 9 footer. well tonite was our turn. my gf is a 2 and matched up with another 2. neither have ever played on a 9 footer. the match went 35 innings ! my gf finally won. both teams laughed all night about the number of missed shots. unbelievable !
 
I love your attitude man! I would have a hard time staying so upbeat about the whole thing, heh. Nevermind the match result, but the car breakdown issue would totally kill whatever buzz I got from playing the tournament, hehe.

Anyways, I may have skimmed over it, but not only the different rails and the different tip you are now using ... but I'm wondering about the cloth? Going from bar box "felt" that plays like mud to a tournament table with 860 ... well, you get a TON more action.

It really is a shame you didn't get a chance to gauge your speed on the tourney tables before you played. I usually (at a minimum), shoot a few banks, a few lags, and a few multi rail running english position shots ... just to get a feel for a new table. That is a bare minimum before I'll settle in to play, otherwise I might as well be giving weight to a total stranger. Playing blind stinks, you should always get a chance to have AT LEAST 5-10 minutes at the tables before a tournament. Even so, you have my vote for Mr. Positive. :)
 
PaulieB said:
I love your attitude man! I would have a hard time staying so upbeat about the whole thing, heh. Nevermind the match result, but the car breakdown issue would totally kill whatever buzz I got from playing the tournament, hehe.

Anyways, I may have skimmed over it, but not only the different rails and the different tip you are now using ... but I'm wondering about the cloth? Going from bar box "felt" that plays like mud to a tournament table with 860 ... well, you get a TON more action.

It really is a shame you didn't get a chance to gauge your speed on the tourney tables before you played. I usually (at a minimum), shoot a few banks, a few lags, and a few multi rail running english position shots ... just to get a feel for a new table. That is a bare minimum before I'll settle in to play, otherwise I might as well be giving weight to a total stranger. Playing blind stinks, you should always get a chance to have AT LEAST 5-10 minutes at the tables before a tournament. Even so, you have my vote for Mr. Positive. :)
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thanks for the compliment. i try to stay positive all the time. i played league tonite,stayed positive in my 1st match and failed in my 2nd one. i play double jeapordy,both 8 and 9 ball. my 1 st match my opponent had me 3 to 0 with him on the hill. start of the 4th game i told myself if he can win 3 in a row i can win 4 in a row. i came back and won 4 winning the match. im in the middle of shooting the 1st game of my 2nd match and one of my teamates stops me and asks if he can borrow one of my sticks to play in his match thats starting on the other table. being the nice guy i say yea. start back to shoot and i hear a noise. i turn around and look to see he had dropped my stick. i go take it from him and tell him to use a house stick. im all upset when i started back shooting. never regained my composure the rest of the match. lost my 9 ball match by 1 point. it was the same guy i beat in my 1st match.

blame myself for never regaining my focus. wont be loaning a stick out again, aint no way.
 
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