I don’t have a lot of good things to say about my weekend in Olathe, KS for the Midwest 9Ball Tour, other than to say (and proud that I can say it) I literally did not miss a ball in my first round (not counting breaking dry or the one mis-cue). If I shot at it, I made it. Now, having said that. I did lose 5-9. I had a good break and run, and was about to do it again, but I babied the 6 ball and hooked myself on the 7. There was a small score debacle where I would’ve bet my truck that it was tied at 5, but apparently I was wrong and it was 5-6 to him, so when he marked up game #7 on the wire I was totally confused and thought he was trying to steal a game; which took me completely out of the match, mentally. He broke and scratched and left a mess of a table, but I found a brilliant way to win. I had to shoot a 1-7 combo which would leave a 1-9 combo, but I overran position on the combo and hooked myself again! I kicked, missed the ball and left him the 1-9 I had just manufactured for myself. He’s on the hill, breaks, makes a ball and what’s there? The 9 hanging in the corner, and a clean shot for another 1-9. That was that.
Saturday afternoon .. I won’t even waste virtual space with it. I lost 1-9. My head was totally missing. I felt like I was sleepwalking, though I had “slept” for a good 7.5 hours. It must not have been good rest, I felt dog-tired all day.
Afterwards, I hung out with some friends and finally got around to playing a bit more. I matched up with a guy from my home area and we did some one pocket to see how we’d play. We played even for about 6 racks, of which I won only 1, then he gave me 9-7 for another 3 racks of which I won zero, then he offered 10-6 and I said No, lets stick with this 9-7. We played another 5 racks and I won only 1 of those. I don’t feel like we played great one pocket, neither of us were overly aggresive or overly defensive, but I just dogged safes or shots too many times. I knew he was a better 1p player than me, but I still think 9-7 is the game I should get and be close to even.
I played some 9-ball with another friend and played better, including another break and run (this is big table still); so that’s nice. I finally went back to the hotel around 4am.
Sunday I drove home and was on FB looking for a game at my local room where they had just put on new blue Simonis cloth on the barboxes. I found a sparring partner and we did a couple of sets in the midwest 9 style (race to 9, alt break, RYO). We used the magic rack though, since the balls were a little off-sized. I played … less than great the first set, and lost 4-9. Just couldn’t close it out. Then the 2nd set, I played much better, put another package together. With alternate breaks… I broke and ran, he broke dry, I ran out, then I broke and ran out again… so it’s *sorta* like a 3-pack! haha It went hill-hill, but his safety game is just better than mine, and when he froze me between the 7 and the pocket, I had zero shot at the 3 ball, and he ran out from there.
It was great practice and he’s a good opponent, so I’m sure I’ll match up again (and hopefully come away with more than I walked in with next time).
I’ll get to try my hand at the tournament again in 2 weeks when the tour comes to my hometown. 🙂