Dr. Cue Classic Artistic Cup VI

From November 29 to December 2, 2012, I played in the Artistic Cup 6 event held at the Marriott East in Indianapolis, IN. The event was held in conjunction with the Indiana APA state invitation tournament, so there were lots of pool players around. I got grouped up with Dave Nangle and Gordon Hedges for the first 3 rounds. I guess we were a little speedy as we tended to finish 30-45 minutes ahead of the other groups we were shooting with. After the trick/fancy and special arts disciplines, I was barely gripping on to a top 10 spot, even though I scored enough points to take the special arts medal. I was able to make a move in the draw and follow disciplines up to 6th place though. The jump may sound small, but with a program of easier shots, you can't take anything for granted. After bank/kick and stroke, I was in fourth place, actually tied for 3rd but Tom Kinzel beat me on the tiebreaker. I was actually surprised at that considering that I missed a shot in each of those disciplines. For the final day, the groups were shuffled up based on position, so I was matched with Florian 'Venom' Kohler, Curtis Robertson, and Kinzel as the top four players. In the jump discipline, I made the first three shots on my second attempt and the last two shots on my first attempt. However, the other guys scored zero on the second jump shot, while Robertson and Kinzel faltered on at least one more each, leaving me in 2nd place heading in to the masse discipline, down by 3 points to Kohler. Oddly, we took a 'halftime' break between the jump and masse disciplines which threw things off a little bit. We cruised through the first masse shot and I made the second masse shot on my first attempt. Kohler missed his first two attempts, finally making it on his third attempt but his lead had shrunk to one point. We kept pace with each other for the next two shots. On the final masse shot, I went first, missing my first attempt by not putting enough spin on the ball. I made my second attempt though, but left Kohler with some breathing room. He needed it too as he clipped the wall of balls on his first attempt, gathered himself, and nailed it on his second attempt to preserve his one point victory! It was exciting all the way down to the last shot.

So second place, special arts medal, and a nice weekend hanging out with the guys again. It was a fun time and I'm certainly looking forward to the next one.