What A Week - Vegas+

Banks

Banned
Wow.

Won a little at the Riviera.

Got 3rd in the APA singles.. that 1st place guy was tough. Damn near lost to two guys in a row that, for the most part, only had one eye each. After those matches, I expected to play somebody that was blind and could shoot lights out.

Fool4pool took me over to the TAR studio on Saturday, just a few hours after I lost in the tournament, to watch an amazing 1-pocket match live with Efren and SVB. While I was there, I got to meet JCIN of course, Mark Griffin, Mars Man, MeezerGirl and Joe Tucker, along with a packed house of others. All good people and how could you not have a great time in that situation. Sorry if I forgot anybody, I'm running on about an hour or two of sleep.

Heck, I was so excited to tell my roomie about it, I met him down at the Pai Gow(sp?) table to tell him about it and give the Riv some of their money back. That's when I decided to just stay up until the shuttle bus came at 6:30 this morning.

To top it off, got some good news from the girlfriend while in Vegas that she's got some more income opportunities coming in. That's always a plus!

Tomorrow's our Monday night APA playoffs.. gotta hang in there for one more night.

I may be a bit biased, but I thought that I had the nicest cue at the tournament. :thumbup:
 
What handicap are you? 8 or 9 ball?

I was in it as a 7 in 8b. I had the 2nd highest bracket, losing to the big winner from the highest bracket. I was told that in the finals, he broke open, his opponent dogged the 8 and he ran out. Iirc, he safed the second rack and then ran out and proceeded to run out the last 3 racks. His shot-making and CB control were pretty good. I tried to do what I could, but after fighting two good racks to start 1-1 it wasn't enough to get another rack. :(

A few matches were pretty close, one which I got up 3-0 and then dropped 4. Got a bit lucky to get away with that one. Mostly I'd say that my safety play was what got me as far as I did.

Thanks for the congrats, guys.

The icing on the cake really was seeing the TAR 1p match live at the studio. Justin's got a great thing going there. Even better was that the place was filled, which is nice knowing that he's getting paid for all he and his crew are putting out for us.
 
Hey Banks,

GREAT job!!!! Really well done. I was in the bracket with Steve Knoll and Dave Rowell. Didn't go very well. Couldn't keep the cue ball on the table! Need to play more on Valleys and less on Diamonds. The Aramith cue ball drove me crazy (OK, its just a short putt :rolleyes:). Sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello.

Which bracket were you in? Mine was the second from the bottom on the last board. First time out to Vegas for the APA's. Not sure what my "seed" number was. Probably too high anyway :eek: .

Regardless I had a great time. Looking forward to next year already. I'll be out for the ACS and BCAPL events. Probably will man the AZ Billiards booth. Again congratulations!!!

Lyn
 
Thanks for coming out Saturday and congrats on a solid finish. You picked a good night to watch a match.
 
I thought the Riveria was torn into a pile of rubble, guess it is still there. Don't know if I will ever get to Sin City again, as Arizona has it own Casino if you want to gamble.

Even the Navajo's are in the Casion biz. Opening a New one Next Month up by Flagstaff.
 
I thought the Riveria was torn into a pile of rubble, guess it is still there. Don't know if I will ever get to Sin City again, as Arizona has it own Casino if you want to gamble.

Even the Navajo's are in the Casion biz. Opening a New one Next Month up by Flagstaff.

If I ever win the lottery I am going to pay Mike double whatever he asks to buy AZ Billiards.

Then I am going to ban you.
 
Hey Banks,

GREAT job!!!! Really well done. I was in the bracket with Steve Knoll and Dave Rowell. Didn't go very well. Couldn't keep the cue ball on the table! Need to play more on Valleys and less on Diamonds. The Aramith cue ball drove me crazy (OK, its just a short putt :rolleyes:). Sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello.

Which bracket were you in? Mine was the second from the bottom on the last board. First time out to Vegas for the APA's. Not sure what my "seed" number was. Probably too high anyway :eek: .

Regardless I had a great time. Looking forward to next year already. I'll be out for the ACS and BCAPL events. Probably will man the AZ Billiards booth. Again congratulations!!!

Lyn

Hey Lyn.

I tried to catch one of your matches.. I think it was the 11pm one on Thursday night maybe? By the time I was able to get down there, it was already over.

I was in the 2nd bracket from the bottom on the board before that. I guess you could say I was the best of the worst 7s that got the chance to play for big money. Was doing alright to start it off, but then made just a couple of slip-ups and that's all it took.

Now, who to pay first.. the car loan that's got a few points higher interest rate, or the (smaller)student loan that's been a thorn in my side for the last 15 years?

Thanks again, folks, for the congrats and I'm glad that I could bring home some cheese as a member here.
 
Ah, finally sent a pic of my part of the bracket to my computer so that I can see it properly. My opponents, in order:

Geoffrey Hickman - E. Peoria, IL (5-3)
Craig Nichols - East Syracuse, NY (5-2)
Ed Abellera - San Jose, CA (5-1)
Christopher Swayney - Rockford, TN (5-3?)
Jamie Bogan - Moodus, CT (5-3?)
Colin Kerr - Oshwa, ON (5-4)
Thomas Ford Jr. - South Bend, IN (5-0)
Dustin Gunia - Omaha, NE (1-5)

There were some good matches in there and a couple in which my opponents fell apart a bit. After running a quick AZB search on Dustin, I'm happy with how I played him, in a way. The ?s I can't remember if one was 5-4 or if the other was maybe 5-2. Out of all of those, I only had 3 whole b&r's, two in the match against Ford.

Tried using my break cue at the start, but it didn't make much of a difference. Just ended up breaking and playing with my bar cue for the rest of the tournament. Next time, I'll leave the 2x2 case at home. I'm not a big fan of needlessly lugging around weight.

I also took the time to try the 'break speed challenge' to see what my 'hard' break speed was. It was just a touch over 20mph. I was expecting a little bit more, but oh well. I still prefer 'medium', which is probably around 17mph or maybe a little less.
 
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Was nice meeting & chatting with you. Congrats again on your good showing at Singles and good luck to your girlfriend on her new prospects.

Great timing to be in Vegas for the Shane & Efren match :thumbup:
 
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