Not any sort of big deal, mind you, just a small in-house tournament at the club where I belong. Just 10 people entered. So it's not any sort of big deal, in the greater scheme of things.
But it is kind of a big deal to me, being a beginner like I am. Played about as well as I ever have over the course of an evening, and got quite a few breaks as well. Using APA rankings for comparison sake, I beat two SL5's, one SL6 and an SL4 twice, since she came back for the finals out of the losers bracket. Since I'm just an SL4 myself, I'm quite pleased. (Of course next week I'll go back to playing 11 inning games or something, heh.)
It got me to thinking, do any of you remember your first tournament win? was it that big of a deal to you?
Good on you, feels good doesn't it.
I remember my first tournament. It was at the local college union and I was 15 at the time, $3 entry eight ball, and I won $25. I put my stick away and immediately went home and told my dad about it. He just smiled and said good job to me which made me feel pretty good. He didnt really know that I was playing pool and just thought I went there to play video games. I felt pretty good about winning that tournament, my confidence was pretty high after that and it really made me start playing a lot more and practicing because It gave me the drive to even get better.
For the next couple of months I really practiced because there wasn't anyone to actually play because it was summer time and the college students went home. Once the college kids came back they didn't have any tournaments so I found the other side of pool,,,gambling.
Well Dad found out about the gambling because I mouthed off about it one time to my older sister and she ratted me out. So he decided to teach me a lesson one day and said, "son, you and me have a match to play today" I thought he was talking about golf so I started joking around with him "I dont know who you think you are but I don't think you can handle this". As I'm grabbing the golf clubs, He says to me "we dont need them today, just get in the car". I didn't have a clue what was in store for me next, then I realized we were heading to the college union and I just started to smile a little bit because I knew what was happening next.
So we walk into the union and get a table and I am just smiling from ear to ear because I never new that my dad could even play pool.
My dad says to me, "so you like to gamble at this game do you" and I wasn't going to not tell the truth so I tell him "yes" as my smile leaves my face because I figured I was in deep trouble now. Then he just tells me to "rackem, lets see what you got".
Of course I'm nervous as hell and cant make a ball to save my life and my dad treats me like his personal racker for the first few games and really rubs it in with his smart allic remarks,,,,,"and you play for money", "glad to see your helping someone pay for there college tuition", "are you sure you just don't want to go home". Well the nervousness turned into a more "pissed off" feeling and I started to play the way I knew I could and he didn't win another game for the next hour. Half way through a game he says "listen son its time to go".
So we head back out to the car and he says "you play pretty well but you have a lot to learn" and then we sit there for about 15 minutes talking about gambling and gambling etiquette and I will never forget him looking dead into my eyes saying "you better never gamble if you don't have the money to pay, and I will never bail you out of a gambling debt".
One day after my dad past away our family and friends were sitting around telling stories about him and I told that one. My grandfather and a lot of friends chimed in and told me that my dad used to be one of the top players in the area that he grew up in and liked to gamble it up a little bit which I never, ever new or heard about until after his passing. Unfortunately I never had the chance to actually talked to him about his pool playing years, but that day is still one of the great memories I have and an important lesson that I will never forget.
Thanks for the read
Marie'shusband
. I had only been playing for about 2 years and at the time the regulars in the bar had me under the impression that the people that played in the bar were easily top 10 in the state.. The players in there were strong but nowhere near top in state by any means. 
So I understand people, and competetion, and pressure. But applying it to this game that is so new to me has been so much fun. I thank you folks for helping me out along the way. I learn something new to apply virtually every day, usually from the mental part of the game.
