I’ve been a little disenchanted with pool the last couple of months. Being out of work kinda takes the fun out of anything you’re required to spend money on. But, the last week of July, I got a job and started August 1st. And since then, I’ve won 5 of my last 7 matches across the leagues. As it happens, I went out with a bang in all of my leagues.
The last match of my Cue and Cushion against Jean went uncharacteristically well. You can watch that match here. That win tied me for 2nd/3rd but the person with whom I tied won the match when we played, so he gets 2nd and I finish 3rd for the session. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how things turned out. I’m right on that border between an A and B player, in league terms. And A player giving me 2 games in a race to 9 is a little too much; similarly if I had to give some of the B players I beat even 2 games, I don’t think I could handle the weight. But, since this is the 2nd session where I’ve felt that way, I do kind of expect to go up; but won’t complain if I do. I bet the other players would though. heh.
In APA 9-ball, I finished with a record of 5-2; and as of this week, I’m 2nd place in the Top Gun list. This is the last week of the session but the problem is that this week my team has a Bye; so I won’t get a chance to score any a TG points. The person behind me (by only 3 points) is likely to move up. Actually anyone within 7 points is a threat to take over 2nd place. Although, I don’t think there are any prizes for anything other than TG, so it doesn’t really matter. I’m finishing as a 7 in 9-ball. I’ve been playing pretty well lately, including one match where I played a 4; meaning I had to get to 55 before they got to 31. I never expected to win that, but I played extra conservative, played some good safeties and got some luck with the opponent missing some shots leaving me an open table. The other 2 matches I’ve won (the last 3 weeks actually) were against 7’s and each time the opponent got out to a headstart, one by as much as nearly 20 points, but somehow, I managed to come back and steal the win. Last week, I won against a 7 by a mere 3 points; where he was sitting on 52 and I was back in the low 40’s. Run out where I could, and safety otherwise, kept me in the game and allowed me to take the score. I never got a 9 on the snap, nor did I ever get a break’n’run … how messed up is that? There’s no patch for running out from the opponent’s dry break, but I did do that a couple of times. I don’t recall which match it was, but it had to be early on (probably my first or second 9-ball match) where I got all the rolls and scored so well that I earned the Skunk patch, giving my team 20 match points to his 0 points.
In APA 8-ball, I suck. Seriously. I did finish the session with a win, the same way I started the session actually. I won my first and last 8-ball match; and nothing in between. With a record of 2 wins and 6 losses, I’m haunted by bartable 8-ball, still. My first match I played pretty flawlessly; getting the Rackless patch (meaning I won the lag and never lost a rack and never had to rack). In retrospect, I was doing a lot of things outside of the pool table that started getting in the way; too many social activities, I never practiced, and often I was too tired to play well. But, whatever excuse I come up with, the final verdict is that I try too hard to run out in 8-ball, which means I never run out in 8-ball. Sadly, my bartable game hasn’t really changed that much since I was in MO8; which is a bit upsetting to me. I thought I had come a long way since then… but apparently not. I never got a break’n’run, nor an 8 on the snap (though I never try for it either).
In APA Masters, I’m finally getting a feel for those tables. I’ve won my last 2 matches there, as such they were my only 2 wins in that league; finishing with a record of 2 wins and 7 losses. I do enjoy the format of the Masters a lot more than the standard APA; no handicaps, race to 7, both 8 and 9 ball available. It feels more like the level of pool I’m used to playing… just not the equipment.
I’ll write another entry outlining my future with the leagues later this week.