Since the heated tables post, there has been a lot of pool played. The day after that league, I played the C&C league and played pretty damn well, winning handily 9-6 I think it was. Skip forward to Wednesday – bar table APA league. I had jumped to a 7 in 9-ball and played another 7 who when I first started hanging out up there kinda laid down an unspoken challenge; so it was exciting to get to play him. It took me a while to get going – and he was ahead in the race to 55 up to the late 20’s point. Then I caught up in the mid-30’s and into the 40’s. We traded the lead back and forth a while until he was a head at 51 and I was at 47. He stopped at 51 because he hooked himself on a ball and had to kick at it and missed. I ran out from that rack to take the win! It was a close match all the way through and could have went either way. It was really a matter of him making 3 more mistakes than I did. That’s the biggest reason I got out when I did. He’d get a bad bump and scratch halfway through the rack, or get hooked. If he hadn’t gotten unlucky; he would’ve won the match pretty heavily. But, as it turned out, I took the win. Which is great, as it puts me in 4th place for Top Gun in 9-ball; but it also moved me up to an 8!!! Oof.
Thursday was back at Saratoga, and I got there early to try and get some table-time before league started. This time, I brought my measle ball and used that to start with. I played much better with it, wasn’t overrunning position nearly as much. Just for comparison, I put the standard cueball back on the table, and there went any position chance I had. A bit before league started, I was practicing with another teammate, and just getting stomped. I’d run to the 7 and by that time be out of line enough that I had to go for a bank or a difficult shot to get out and miss. It really destroyed my confidence. He won probably 10 out of 13 games. The match started and we began with 8-ball. It was a tough match because there just wasn’t too many open layouts. And when there were, I blew position, or missed breakouts. I did shoot this amazing half-pocket+break out shot that I really wanna share, but that damn CueTable site is still down. 🙁 But, overall, the match went how they normally go…I run out to the last couple of balls and screw it up. At least I won 2 games this time. *headdesk* I lost 2-7.
The next night, I had a double-header at the C&C league. First up, Edik “The Strong” as we call him. I was getting 2 games on the wire and I won the flip, rack break and the 9 gets kicked into the pocket. So, one swing of the cue and I’m up 3-0. The next rack he breaks dry and as I try a tricky shot on the 2 ball (which I actually miss) the cue ball caroms off another ball and slices the 9 down the rail 2 diamonds! He was sick about it; I was in utter amazement. So, now it’s 4-0 and he’s already coming apart. I get the next game after some bad position route he tried. Then he took a smoke break and I stayed at the table so as not to take myself out of the game. He played better, but not good enough. I ended up winning the match 9-4. Then I played my second match with another A player. He had just won his earlier match pretty handily as well, so this was going to be tough. I jumped out to an early lead, something like 4-0 again, then I started relaxing a little bit (in retrospect, I think that’s what it was) and he came back to tie it up at 6. I was getting tired (as I hadn’t slept much the night before) and my position was getting out of control. But, I had gotten to the hill at 8-6… but I just couldn’t close it. He came back and it went hill-hill. He missed the 4 ball or something, and I ran the rest of the table. It wasn’t an easy out and when I finally got to the 9, I was on the rail and down on the shot. Just then the guy on the table next to us walked around the corner and a glare of his keys on his belt caught my attention. I recognized it as a distraction, but didn’t stand up and reset myself. I just said “get this over with” and I pulled the trigger. The 9-ball bobbled in the jaws and hung there. I was in shock. I just stood there in disbelief. So, he wins the match 8-9.
Tonight is the APA barleague and I don’t think I’m going to get to play 9ball. Which I’m confliced about. If I play – and win, it’ll be awesome because it’s more Top Gun points, but then I’ll still be an 8; which is really tough to fade. But, if I played a lower skill level, like a 5 or something, I’d have to nearly double their score (going to 65 as an 8 now) and they’d only have to go to 38. If I lost, I might drop to a 7 again, but there’s no guarantee for that either. Even if I won, if I only average 6 or 7 points per inning, I should go down. I’m only concerned about it because being an 8 means that if I play, some other people can’t. Or I don’t get to play as often. Either way, it’s problematic. But, we’ll see how it goes. I’m fine with whatever decision is made by the captain. This is why I like individual leagues, I don’t have to worry about what happens to the team if I play well. *shrug*
I’m going to challenge myself tonight anyway. I have a practice match with the captain, she’s a 7 in 9ball, so we’re gonna try and play a full match as our skill levels. 65-55. This out to be interesting. 🙂