The 4-6-3

Sounds like a baseball double play, but those have been my handicaps each week now. So this last week I played against a 7, which made it a 6-2 race where I had to win 2. Yeah, I like my odds against anybody with that matchup. I ended up winning 2-1. My opponent missed a couple 8 balls, so maybe it shouldn't have been over so quick. We also played on bar boxes, which made it a little more interesting. Wonder what my handicap will be next week?

Boston's a wrap

As my one or two loyal readers may know, I have made the move from Boston, MA to San Jose, CA. My 8 ball league in Boston wrapped up just before I left though, so I didn't strand my team in the middle of the season. They had just bumped up my handicap though and I finished 1-2 at that level.

As of last night, I just joined an 8-ball APA league with a friend of mine. It's mostly out of Shoreline Billiards, but there are teams from a couple of other local pool halls. I started out as a SL4 since I had never played APA before. Of course, that's a bit low for me, so I managed to win my match pretty easily over a SL6 3-1 and she wasn't really too happy about that. I'm sure she'll get me next time.

Poor Man's Power Draw

The new 8-ball league season is a few weeks old and I'm sporting a 3-1 record right now. My latest match was a doozy going hill-hill in a race to 5. It even included a cue throwing incident (my opponent, not me) which made it all the more entertaining for the spectators. It was a good match all the way through though, but the winning out went something like this:

The first shot was reminiscent of the Power Draw shot, but just moved back a little. I knew it was going to come off the other long rail then and the spin would kill it. I came up a bit higher than I wanted, but it got the job done. The rest of the run was mostly academic, just as long as I didn't over power the 10 ball.

Like Butter....

on a roll. Won my league match last night 5-1 in a straight up race. No real extravagant or audacious pool shots to diagram. It was nice and easy most of the way with some smart safes laid out by both of us and a couple of pattern mistakes here and there. I guess the match started rather ominously for my opponent when I broke dry and he ended up using the one ball as the cue ball. I took off fast with a 3-0 lead before he won his first match. Then I took the next two to seal the win. We also won as a team 4-1 for our first team victory this season as well.

All I Do Is Win Win Win

OK, it was just one match, but it was good to get another win in my 8 ball league last night, finally. It was a grueling match lasting over 2 hours. I was actually going to have one of my other teammates play instead, but she was showing up late and couldn't stay too long. I was giving up a ball per game in a 5-4 race, but quickly found myself down 2-0. I pulled one back luckily after finding myself in the horrible position on the 8 ball below. My opponent had a couple other stripes strewn across the table, but this was the gist of it. The 8 and 10 weren't quite frozen and I honestly didn't think it was lined up well into the side, but when you're on the 8 ball, you have nothing to lose by calling a pocket. So I made the call and the kick and was surprised as anyone that it actually went, especially from such an acute angle (see page 2).


He took the next game putting him on the hill at 3-1 while I needed to reel off 4 in a row. So I kind of turned to strategy over shotmaking for a while. One of the games presented me with this situation while I was on stripes. The 10 ball didn't really have a pocket so I needed to get it off the end rail. Both of his solids presented tough cuts from distance, so I caromed the cue ball off the 10 and brought it back down table for a pretty good safe, even if the 10 wouldn't have gotten partially in the way of his 5 on the next shot (page 2).


The match ended up dragging on for a bit, and later I was left with the following layout after he tried a safe. Again, there were a couple safety options but I opted for shotmaking this time. I couldn't cut the 10 ball straight, so I played the cue ball off the rail and spun it in to the 10 ball to make it in the corner, knowing the 7 ball would block the scratch (page 2). I didn't really have a plan for the following shot, but it left a decent cross side bank which I drilled for the win.

Season Wrap Up

Our team lost in the playoffs this week, finishing our season. I lost my match after scratching on the 8 ball. My opponent played well for his handicap level. We were tied 2-2 after the matches so we went to a tiebreaker match. They put up the guy I played and I decided to match him up against one of my other teammates. Perhaps the highlight was when she was using the mechanical bridge to help with a shot on the 8 ball and, after making the shot, tried to remove the bridge from the table and flung it straight up into to one of the lights shattering the bulb and spraying glass all over the table. Oh, well, guess there's always next session.

Victory!

After returning from the Super Billiards Expo late Sunday night, I had to return to league play on Monday. We had locked up last place already for the season (thankfully, the playoffs are a random draw), so we were just playing the role of spoilers trying to knock the other team out of the money spots. I played a lower handicap, so it was a 5-4 race and I was also giving up a ball each game. The guy wasn't great, but I made a few mistakes which kept him in the match. I think it was the fourth rack where I tried to jump a ball, but didn't clear it and ended up pocketing the 8 instead. I did have a few flashes of brilliance making some bank shots. I actually banked the 8 ball in on two different occasions and might have actually ended up making more banks than I missed. In another game, the 8 was dead set on a kiss from one of his object balls and I was able to make that. Eventually though, the match got to hill-hill. I missed a long bank, but my opponent failed to get good position on the 8. He played as good of a safety as you could (see diagram), leaving me with one option shown on page 2. He failed to make the long shot off the rail and the balls fortuitously left me straight in on the 8 for the win. Hopefully this momentum gets carried over in to the playoffs!

Oh and n

Still not doing any better in league play. Lost a match where I was giving up a ball and a game, 4-2. But one of the games I won I finished out nicely. I had the layout below. I snuck the 15 in and drew back to play the carom off the 1 ball. I got a lucky bump from the 7, but it set me up just well enough. I had to throw the 12 with a lot of left which also helped for position on the 8. Other than that, the guy made a great bank on the 8 at 2-2 and then finished it with a long back cut. I should have just kept the table closed a little more as he was a good shot maker.

Like Butter ...

... on a roll. Lost a hill-hill heartbreaker in league last night. I got a little hesitant with a long draw shot and came up too short for position on the 8 ball that would have clinched it. My opponent came up with a great cut shot though to seal the match.

One of my memorable shots was in the second rack where he pinned me behind a couple of his balls. He had all seven of his balls scattered about, but I'm only showing the two pertinent ones. The cue ball - 8 ball had the slightest of angles to it, but I managed to nail the jump shot for the win.

Five and counting

My loss streak in league has hit five games now. This one was a little better with some flashed of brilliance. I fell behind early, but at some point, ran out after my opponent scratched on the break and then broke and ran to the 8 ball in the next game. I couldn't avoid the traffic and ended up getting in a bad spot for the 8, but my opponent let me back to the table. I had a nice straight back bank which rattled out of the pocket. Inexplicably, my opponent ended up missing the 8 too, leaving me a hanger. It was a bit downhill after that though, but it got to hill-hill before he won.

Four on the floor

Well, my losing streak in league has hit four games, but I'm getting closer. At least the last match went hill-hill. The last two matches have been against higher ranked opponents, but I still felt like I matched up well. Mentally, it doesn't feel like I'm there though and I end up dogging it and giving away games.

New league season

A new league season kicked off on Monday. Somehow, I was nominated to be team captain. Well, it was a slow start to the season as we lost all of the individual matches, but managed to win the ball count. I lost my match 5-3, giving away a couple games by not finishing off the 8 ball. My shot making wasn't bad though, but cue ball control was atrocious. I did win the ball count, something like 7-3 though. My opponent was really temperamental, slamming his cue stick into the table after missing shots, yelling at himself, and fist-pumping after easy outs. He's the kind of guy I love to beat, but didn't pull it off. Maybe next time....

League party

So we had our league party last night to wrap up the session. Next season starts January 4. It was nice to get out and see the guys again. I haven't played pool in a few weeks, as you can probably tell by my lack of posts. But we did collect our winnings which came out to $55 a piece, so that recouped about half the season's entry fees. Not too shabby.

Not Safe Enough

My team ended up getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs this season. I had to play a lower ranked opponent who beat me 4-4 since I had to spot a game (and a ball). She took the first three games pretty quick before I ground out the next three. In the seventh game, we both missed the 8 ball a couple times, then she tried a thin cut with the bridge, made the 8, but scratched, sending it to hill-hill. She had the break in the case game and spread the balls pretty well. I probably should have just tried to tie up the 8 ball right away with an intentional foul because there were few safety options and my balls didn't look runnable. Well, I tried to safe, but it didn't quite work out and she took the last game. One of my better safes in one of the earlier games is below as I was on solids. I didn't get the right shape to get on the one ball and wasn't going to go for the combo, or back up and down the table for the other balls, so I played safe, she missed the kick, and then I ran out from the ball-in-hand.

Rocking the caroms

I was playing a lower-ranked player in league last night, giving up a ball and a game (so a 5-4 race). I had forgotten about the ball spot the first game, so I might have played it slightly differently if I had remembered and my opponent took an early lead. He could've gone up 2-0, except he scratched on the 8 ball in the second game. Then I started turning it on and took the next three games with some long runs, stranding 5 or 6 of his balls on the table in each of those games. The last game was a little closer, but I pulled it out after he fouled trying to jump one of my balls leaving me an easy three ball run.

In one of the middle games though, I was left with the layout below. He had a lot of balls strewn across the table, but it still looks like a tough position even if there weren't any! I caromed the 4 off the 1 into the corner which set me up perfectly for the rest of the run.

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Lost my league match this week (back on Monday) going hill-hill in a straight 5 race. I missed a couple 8 balls and positioning for the last couple balls. It was a tight match, but I certainly know what I need to work on (like getting position off a ball hanging in the corner). Anyway, one of the more memorable sequences was the end of this game when I was on the 8 ball. He safetied me behind his 4 and 5 ball, so I hit a 3 rail kick. He tried to combo the 4 in the side (2nd page) and missed, leaving the cue ball in about the only spot I would've had a chance. It was still a difficult shot, but I was able to cut the 8 all the way up the long rail for the win.


In another game, I had the following shot on the 1 ball hanging in the corner. The 8 ball blocked the natural kick and one of his balls blocked the lower end kick, so I had to go above the 8 ball and stuck a bunch of left english on the cue ball in order to get it over to the corner pocket. Good thing I have an idea of the clock system.

League night

I won my league match against a higher ranked opponent 5-4 tonight (it was a 6-5 race). Nothing too exciting, dropped the first game, took the next four, gave up the next three, and finally pulled off the last one. It was a good match all around, but my opponent got a couple bad rolls freezing the cue ball to object balls a few times.

On another highlight, Caitlin, our waitress, turned me on to a barbecue bacon burger. In and of itself, I'm sure it was really good, but she told me the trick was to put the onion rings inside the burger! It adds a nice extra crispy crunch to go along with the bacon and was outstanding! Try it next time you get the chance. Thanks Caitlin!

Alive and Kicking

Finally back into league action after about a month off. We don't play during Red Sox home games since the pool hall is close proximity (as in across the street) from Fenway and it's too big of an issue to find parking for most people and overall busy. Then we also had a bye week thrown in and maybe a forfeit as well at one point. Anyway, I was spotting my opponent a game and a ball. I took the hill at 4-1, but he took the next two games, moving it to hill-hill. I got down to my last stripe ball and couldn't do much with it, eventually leaving me locked behind the 8. Then I made a miraculous kick (I mean, I had to call something), but that still left a bad angle on the 8. I tried banking the 8 but ran into his 2 ball. Anyway, he ran two more of his balls then scratched trying to bank the 7 cross side leaving me ball in hand for the 8 ball. I wasn't going to miss that. The team did well too, with everyone winning their matches and the ball count battle. That puts us near the top of the table.

League night

I ended up having to play two matches in league last night, against different opponents, both races to 5. I got smashed in the first game 5-1, but rebounded to win the second one 5-2.

My first opponent played really well. At 1-1, I broke dry and he ran out, then proceeded to break and run the following rack. I had a chance to win a couple more games, but I slow rolled a thin cut on the 8 and hung it in the center of the pocket. I still left my opponent with a tough bank on the 6 ball, which he made, and then took the rack. Then, I missed a long shot on the 8 after having run my seven balls giving him the hill.

I fared better in the second match, but my opponent appeared hurried, having just arrived and left immediately after the match was over. I definitely need to work on some of my kick shots as I missed a few giving him ball-in-hand which led to the games he won.

Role Reversal

Had a rough night at league. Giving up a game and a ball, I lost 4-3. I gave my opponent the hill at 3-1 after some inconsistent play, but clawed back the next two games with some ridiculous defense and purposely missing shots. In the last game, my opponent broke, sinking a ball, then made another before missing. The balls were wide open so I decided to go for the run, which was going well. I got down to my last two solids with the position below. Unfortunately, I over-hit the 7 ball leaving me a funny angle for the 2. I feared a scratch if I tried to cut it in the side, so I went for the corner and managed to swing the cue ball between his balls going three rails and a little long. I totally dogged trying to bank the 8 and he ran out for the win. Luckily, my teammates all won their matches though, so we should still be near the top of the table. We were in 3rd place coming into the week.