Last night, I went to back to the pool hall the first time in a week. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, I was tired all day long, and I had to play on the barbox to prepare for league tonight. I tossed some balls out and started hitting around. Making balls nicely, overall. Then the captain comes in and we start playing; which is not at all what I had planned for the night. Oh well. He racked, I broke… and RAN OUT! what – what? Yep. Break and run. Unfortunately, that’d be the last game I’d win for an hour. I kept blowing position on the 8. Run out to the 8 ball, or key ball, and blow it. *sigh* Each time, I was really worried about position, and those were the times I’d blow it. It’s like, I let my brain do all the work the entire rack, then when I try and give it something a bit more specific, it says “oooh, NOOW you wanna cooperate. okay, have fun with this: *POW*”. I totally needed to draw that CB 7 feet back to the other end of the table. Absolutely. *facepalm* anyway, that one more game I’d win, it was another hour before I’d get a win. When he left, I racked, broke and ran out. *headdesk*. Now, my break really has been working well – I’m making balls, and not leaving clusters. Whereas, when he’d break, there’d be clusters all over the place. *shrug*
I got home and was not really happy about my performance. I missed way too many “easy” shots, or blew too many “easy” position routes. Then later, it occurred to me, I broke and ran-out… twice… in barbox 8-ball. I’m not sure I’ve done that before. I’ve ran out from the break multiple times in a night before, but not break’n’run-out. So… actually, even though I lost most of the night, I did pretty well when the table was open. It really just shows me that I don’t see/know how to deal with multiple clusters; which in my opinion, is what makes a bar-box player. Clusters are so rare on a 9 foot table – providing a good break – that I’ve never really had to deal with them, so I haven’t learned the tricks for them yet.
After taking a week off, I’m happy with that. I’m also happy to learn that I did not get raised to a 5, even though my win percentage was well into the 50% range. It’s because we’re moving to a tougher division they kept me a 4. Which I’m sure everyone is quite happy with – me especially. I can be a 5, but I wouldn’t be as strong of a 5 as the other 5’s. See the above paragraph. If I get to a point where I start seeing the solutions to the clusters, then I’ll feel like a strong 5. Until then – I’m content to remain a 4.