Lunch

I had the opportunity to check out Don McCoy's Bar on the west side today. Enjoyed a good Reuben sandwich and was only really looking to practice a little on a big table.

Don - the proprietor and only professional player in the big city -- came over and we ended up playing some for a better part of a couple hours.

What an experience. I couldn't believe his speed control. Almost every shot was exactly dead on and when the angles weren't perfect -- the speed was. It was amazing to watch him float the cue ball effortlessly around the table. I am hoping to end up there again for lunch. What an excellent day!

We talked about new tips (he liked the Wizard tip on my new Olney) and some of the recent news in the pool world. An enjoyable place, staff and of course, my thanks to Don for the lessons.

Upper Plains treasure

This year I was attending a regional conference in Nebraska and made a suprising discovery.

Upon walking into this small establishment, my eyes were drawn to the pool area, as usual. Two bar tables and underneath a cover was a huge six legged table -- and what to my prying eyes should appear, but a 10' snooker table! Holy Cow!

I have always heard about small towns in the upper plains having snooker tables tucked away in little bars, almost like the saloon's of old, but I didn't think I would ever see one. The table played exceptionally well and true. No odd rolls or errant bumps. I played a corner to corner shot that was as true as it could be, played at pocket speed on a 10' table. Poetry in motion. The physics of a game I truly enjoy.

So, I took the opportunity to play several games, and started to regain the ease on a snooker table that I had learned while playing in my grandparents basement. My log in and title of this thread all revolve around the perfect run in snooker of 147. A Perfect Game.

No local games were available, so I had to impose upon my colleagues to play and they were wonderfully good sports as the table is unforgiving to even those who are well versed.

What a neat find. I feel a bit heartened, like Americana hasn't let this game escape from it's grasp completely, yet.

Olney Christened and other tragedies

Well, I finally got my New Olney cue out and gave it a good initiation into the world of billiards. The Friday night 10-ball at Big Dogs. I eventually went 3-2, but was 2-0 to start with two quality sets against opponents that I would have to play top-notch to beat. I am still having trouble with the shaft. (I went from a Z2, to the olney shaft and the angle shots w/ english and draw still are less than 60%. I just haven't had the time to get comfortable with the cue and shaft yet. It hits like a dream in every facet and i probably can't even blame the occasional miss on the cue. I just haven't figured out how to work it yet. Probably a lot like not having the handle on a stock car.... ain't the cars fault, just the driver.

I will paste a entry off of azbilliards that more accurately describes last night. I played better than expected and the cue again performed very admirably.

So last night Brad / Brian / Tom / Matt showed up to play league at Big Dogs to
find out they had a bye. Brad was trying to match up with someone/anyone
including Jon Brown. I said lets play a 4on4 team match. And i said we would
take Frost as our handicap. Me / Justin / Jon / Frost.

After some discussion we decided (brad did) that they needed spotted 6 games in a race to 25. Anyhow they beat us 25-13, lol

We agreed to trade Frost for Mikey H and play them race to 15
giving them 3. Went hill/hill and Matt playing me. Matt missed a run out and i
didnt. We break even, except for Mike H who actually made money, lol

Frost had
made a side bet, his $80 to win his $50 back. We really had alot of fun, all of
us had a good time making a game and playing it out.

Yes -- I was the goat in this latest escapade and couldn't finish a run out to win the whole set on the hill. Needless to say, I spent the better part of this morning working on that particular pattern. I won't blame the cue, but it was my uncertainty with it that was probably my undoing.

que sera sera.

Looks as if the summer is going to shape up into a fairly good pool summer - lots of action coming and TAR will be in the house in July! Can't wait.

Later

The post tournament, spring doldrums have set in. I need to play ... soon. Practicing has no appeal lately and I need to get out and back 'in the mix'.

During my formative educational years, my favorite shirt had "Summer Wrestling makes Winter Champions"... I am hoping it works in pool too.

Here's to a summer spent in pursuit of personal development and achievement of far-off goals.

New Olney Excursion

With any luck, I may be able to take my new Olney on it's first excursion into the felt jungle tonight. a local non-handicapped 8-ball tournament with the best players in town should be a pretty good look.

I have fairly realistic expectations for performance in this usually pretty stacked tournament and it should prove to be the ideal location to break out the new cue for a few games. Maybe even a few more than that. :-)

Team finished 5/6th in the recent ISPA tournament in the Quad Cities. It was a good showing, only marred by the fact that we didn't play to our best level in the two matches we lost. Overall it was a good trip, one of my teammates was 3rd (at worst, LOL if you know how it went down) in the Open Singles 8-ball, which is a super good showing, given the over 500 players in the brackets.

I placed well enough to get paid in the 9-ball and poorly (0-2) in the 8-ball. I did play reasonably well in the team, but no where near as consistently as I could have.

My serendipitous win will aid the completion of my new Olney cue and with any luck it will be as fine as any I have ever seen. I hope that I will be able to pick out some nice stuff wood in the near future for it.

Later,

The best time of year

State Pool tournament time, of course. Now just a slim 48 hours away. 9-ball, 8-ball and teams.

In review of the past state tournaments, I hope to increase my showing, as I feel after the VNEA two weeks ago, I think that I am hitting them as good as I ever have. I just want to bring that level to the table starting Wednesday.

If I can get all my real-world concerns taken care of this week, I hope to leave with a sense of focus and see if this couldn't be a breakthough year.

Not that I am thinking of quitting, but without some type of success, it may be harder to justify this type of excursion in the future.

maybe that's just life....