Won my first tournament tonight

Way to go !

Yes , I remember my first win . It was almost as good as when I lost my virginity. I did say ALMOST ! That win will stay with you for ever,but the problem is that it is like crack ! You will want to win more and more ,and that will make you get better and better .So CONGRATULATIONS on your win and may you have many more !!!!
 
the zone

justadub said:
I think some of that was going on with me, both at and around the table. I mean, it is my "home" room and all, and I'm friends or at least familiar with all the participants, so perhaps I need to account for that. My focus did seem to be better, even from when I started practicing a little before the matches started. Now how do I repeat that focus, THAT is the question!

As for distractions, there were the usual two tables playing Texas Hold'em nearby, and all the TV's set to the LeBron James drama... but nothing that bothered me. Again, that isn't unusual for our club, but I certainly wasn't sensitive to it.

I kinda hope that wasn't "The Zone", because I expected it to be more dramatic than what I experienced. Maybe that's the point, huh? :o
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There is a zone above narrow focus. It is pretty cool. You can hear a mouse fart forty feet away across a crowded pool hall in the higher zone. Your senses are super heightened to the point some things happen that don't seem possible. The great thing is that with all of this extra information coming in you are distracted by none of it. It all flows in and only what you need is kept, the rest flows right on by.

In the zone I heard a technical question and answer ten feet behind me while shooting a pistol 3-4 times a second. After shooting a perfect score for the stage I went and told the guy the best solution to his issue. Another time I told a friend that he had been behind me leaning forward with his hands half out urging me on to the first perfect score ever shot in the competition. How did I know that? I don't know but I knew it beyond any doubt.

I have found the zone easiest to find in something very repetitive with slight variations like dicing through traffic circle track racing. You have a pattern you are running but then you alter it to slide by other cars seemingly without effort because you are running a different pattern than they are at the spot you pass them.

Pool has the constant interruption of reracking but it is still possible to find the zone sometimes. The great thing is that the more often you find the zone in anything the easier it becomes. In the zone I held a challenge table from a little after sundown one night until after sun up the next morning. I was surprised to step out into sunlight, I thought it might be one or two AM.

Hu
 
I won my first tournament at Town Line Ten Pin in Malden mass. I beat Nick Vlahlos twice in the finals. My whole body was shaking as I pocketed the final ball. That's the good news.

The bad new is:"It took me three years to win my next tournament."
 
Congrats!!! :thumbup:

that first one is special, hang onto that pure, fun, touch down feeling.

Pool IS a fun, intricate, beautiful game. WE turn it into a headache - grind.

Congrats, keep us posted on the next one!
 
Congrats on the win!

My first pool tournament win came around last year. It was an ACUI regional tournament (region 8) that got me my first trip to the ACUI National tournament. The turnout was only about 10 or 12 people if I remember correctly, but the races were relatively short, so I did get knocked into the loser's bracket. But I worked through and double-dipped the guy who put me there, winning 5-0, 5-1. At the time, there was nothing more I wanted to do in the pool world than get to ACUI Nationals, so it was quite a thrill to win this tournament as my first!
 
dirtypool40 said:
Congrats!!! :thumbup:

Congrats, keep us posted on the next one!
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Here we are one week later, and guess what? I won again this week. :eek: :o

I am stunned beyond belief. It is crazy. I beat a couple of guys tonight who are WAY out of my ability level, and a couple others who are also pretty good for our little room. One of the wins was certainly a case of good luck, as an SL6 scratched on his 8-ball shot, which he also made. But I did beat him in the finals, as he came back thru the losers bracket. The other REALLY good player that I had beaten earlier was joking with me and said if I didn't want to worry about him beating me, just put the eight in on the break. Well, I didn't do that. Instead, I broke, and ran the rack, so he didn't even have a chance to shoot. Another first for me, running a rack. :happydance:

I'm quite sure you real experienced players find this exuberance rather amusing, small little bar tournament and all. And I agree, it probably is. But I'm completely overwhelmed about doing this two weeks in a row. I'm sure gonna get razzed pretty hard next week when I go to play! :grin:
 
justadub said:
Here we are one week later, and guess what? I won again this week. :eek: :o



I'm quite sure you real experienced players find this exuberance rather amusing, small little bar tournament and all. And I agree, it probably is.
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Congrats once again!!! It sounds like you are learning the game a bit faster than some of us do/did. I've always thought that in pool, somewhere along the line everything just "clicks" into place and you just seem to get a grasp on it. I think your time may have come.

And......speaking for the real experienced players.....I don't think there's a darn one out there that would belittle this accomplishment. Two tourney wins in a row is no easy feat regardless of ones level of play. To make it even better, you are beating people that are ranked higher than you.

Great job!!!

Maniac
 
First Tournament Win!

justadub said:
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?
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Congrats on your tournament victory! , it really gets the blood to flowing , I know you will be LQQKing forward to your next tourney.

I won my first tournament 33 yrs. ago, 8-ball. they gave a 1st and 2nd place trophy, I display it with my others, but this one was my sweetest!


David Harcrow
 
Congratulations, twice! You're not likely to forget your first, though if you keep winning every week you might.

As far as your fellow AZBers being amused at your exuberance, I doubt it. More likely they're reliving a memory or two of their own and getting a smile out of your success. The people here are great, the community spirit is very high, and you can rest assured that you're among friends.
 
zy112 said:
Congrats on the win. I've never won a tourny but finished high. Cant wait...
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your on ur way and don't stop now, u may run into Dippy..or the Frost n' Warm wheather...go Dippy you pool player
 
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It sounds like your starting to build up that defensive wall around yourself that I like to call ," The Fear Factor." Those players who you beat and those who are aware of your success will never be able to play against you again with the confidence they once had. Now it's up to you to work on your game to stay ahead of them.:happydance:
 
Thanks again for the kind words folks. I still am not quite sure what to make of this, a day later. I will have fun getting harassed by the folks at the club, and perhaps giving a little back once in a while. They really are a great bunch of people, they make it fun to come and play most any night of the week. They've taught me a whole lot in what I believe is a short period of time. Still have HUGE amounts to learn and develop, but if you would've told me even 2 months ago that I would win a tournament two weeks in a row and beat the players that I have beaten, I would have had you drug tested! :p

And I want to thank everyone here. You folks here are a big part of my developing as a player as well, from the instructional things learned on the forum, to the posts that inspire and motivate. And the "head game", the one within myself, boy have I adopted a great many things from discussions here. That's probably as big a challenge as anything.

Now to take this stuff forward into next weeks League match and the house tournament!
 
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