Win without making the 8

The new league session started up again today. I didn't quite play brilliantly but it was good enough to win. Oddly though, I'm not sure if I really ever made the 8 ball. I'd get down to the 8, choke, and then my opponent would end up scratching which would give me ball-in-hand, but he would just concede at that point. Anyway, I took the first two games. I should have taken the third except I slow rolled the 8 and it stopped on the shelf and nothing hit a rail. That foul ended up costing me the game. We swapped the next couple of games too, then I took the next two for a 5-2 victory. The teams ended up splitting the four matches, but we ended up winning the match on ball count. Nothing memorable to diagram. Next league match is in two weeks though. Hopefully I'll find something for another entry before then though.

League party

Had the end-of-the-session league party tonight. Good thing the season's over too because I played like crap. Maybe it was because it was all just friendly matches and no competition. Maybe it was because I was distracted by all the free food (pizza, pasta, wings, and chips). Anyway, the payout for our 2nd place finish in the playoffs came out to $172 per person, so we covered our league costs for the season. We have a shorter summer session starting next week though, so I guess I better get some practice in before then.

Table time

I got in some practice last night. It's been a while since I've just been able to play around. I've been working on a couple new shots that I hope to video tape soon. Keep checking back because I'll post them here first. There's a couple prop/novelty shots and some setup shots. Creating new setup shots is difficult, but very rewarding. Anyone can invent a shot with a random prop they picked out of there basement because no one else has access to it. But inventing a shot within the confines of the table and keeping it simple? Anyone could have done it at any time, but you're the first!

Oh, and I delaminated a Talisman tip that I had stuck on one of my masse shafts. I think I'll put on a Sniper. It was also my first session with the Ginger Wizard Easy Jumper jump cue endorsed by Dave Pearson. It's pretty good value. I'll post more detailed thoughts on it later.

Boston Herald

Got a mention in the Boston Herald Inside Track blog for my Boldfacers/Barbershop Lounge show. Also check out my picture with the gorgeous Lisa Pierpont!

Barbershop Lounge show

I did a show at the Barbershop Lounge tonight for the one year anniversary party. I had a great time. The first hour or so was mostly challenge matches. Then I started shooting some trick shots and letting some of the guests shoot as well. I had people shooting the basic coin wrapper shot, Just Showing Off, and The Blooming Flower, among others. Everybody loved it, especially the ladies who wanted to show up their dates!

People also loved the Railroad Shot, the Slinky shot (similar to the Chain Reaction Jump, except using a kick shot instead), and Where'd Glenn Go.

The highlight of the night was when I was trying to get Lenny to shoot a shot and he kept missing the coin wrapper shot. One of the ladies I had shown it to earlier then made it. So then I set up Just Showing Off for him and he nailed it on his first try putting some swagger back in his step. He happened to be the car dealer that was showing off the Ferrari and Maserati and handed me one of the keys saying "just for that, I'm giving you the Maserati!" OK, so I really didn't get it, but since I had been at the table all night, I didn't get a chance to see the cars so he took me out and let me start the Maserati up. Yeah, I could see myself driving one of those.....

Easy Street Billiards in Monterey, CA

I went on vacation this weekend and made it down to Monterey, CA for a friend's wedding. I looked up Easy Street Billiards as a great place to play and boy was it. I went on Thu night and they run a handicapped 9-ball tournament, a single elimination 32 bracket field with buy backs if there's still spots open. Everyone there was really friendly and the atmosphere was fantastic. The table's were fast and the balls were clean and the house cue I used was just fine.

In my first match, I played Butch who was giving me a 6-3 spot. I was actually watching him warm up beforehand (not knowing I was going to play him) and thought he was pretty good. He took the first game with a solid run out. I was doing well in the second game before undercutting the 9 ball in the side pocket. But he re-gifted it to me and I took that one evening the score. In the next game, I made a great kick and kiss 1-9 for the win after he scratched (see below), and also took the following game for the 3-1 win.


My next opponent was Franci and I was spotting her in a 5-3 race. I quickly won the first two and then we traded games getting to hill-hill. I was able to keep it together for the victory though. I guess my best shot in that match would have been the following sequence. I got a funny angle for the 7 ball and decided to bank it, which then set me up for the rest of the way.


So Butch had bought back in and I faced him again in my third match. The tournament director decided to bump my handicap though so the race was only 5-3. It got to 2-2 when I had the chance for the win with the shot below, but I blew it. He managed to take the next two games after that for the win.


But my finish was good enough to earn my entry fee back and I had a great time shooting down there. I'll definitely go back if I'm in town again!

New shots

I put some new shots up on my website. One is a moving jump shot which I based on a shot that Chris Woodrum and I came up with at the Masters this year. The other one is an extended version of a classic follow shot. Check them out:

http://www.trickshottim.com/trick-shot-index.php

Boldfacers

Check out the story and video on me at Boldfacers!

The Finals

We played the semifinal and final matches to finish out our league season. In our first match, I played against a lower ranked player who I had lost 4-0 to around a month ago. I was spotting him a ball and a game, so I had to get to 5. He took a 3-1 lead to get on the hill and it was looking dire for me. Then I snapped off two games where he only got one shot. I continued to fight and was able to get the next two games to take the match, but only after he hung an easy 8 ball. That ended up being the clincher as two of the matches had already finished, so we won 3-0.

In the finals, I matched up against someone my speed. I took a 3-1 lead, then dropped two after some mis-strategized shots. At 3-3 though, I was able to grab the next two games for the win. We were already down 2-0 at that point, so that put pressure on the last player. Unfortunately, he ended up losing so we ended up in 2nd place. Overall, it's not a bad finish considering the way the season went. Hopefully we can improve on that finish in the next session.

The Closer

Whew! Playoffs started for our league last night, win or go home. Luckily, our team managed to pull out two victories to stay alive for next week and we're in the final four. Our two matches had some eerie similarities though. Player A, our highest ranked player, lost his match quickly. Player B would let his opponent get on the hill, before reeling off three straight games to take the match. And Player C won her matches quite handily. So that left me to close things out. Win my game and our team wins 3-1, lose my game and it's headed to a tiebreaker. I ended up winning both of my matches. The first one was 5-1 and I felt in control most of the match.

In my second match, I fell behind 2-0 early after pocketing the 8 ball early and a nice run by my opponent. But I came back with 5 straight to take it. The table was horrible though, with a slight roll affecting any slow shots. In one of the first racks, I tried a table length cut shot and the cue ball veered off missing my object ball altogether. My opponent had a table length shot on the 8 ball a few games later and did the same thing. Eventually, I got to a point where I just stopped aiming those shots and just tried to get a hit. It dragged the game on for a bit and we didn't finish up until just before 2 am.

Anyway, here was the clinching run for my first match. I was on stripes with ball in hand. I was quite proud of how I handled it because I have been working on controlling my draw stroke, especially for these shorter shots.