9 Ball Tourney Yesterday

I decided last week that I wanted to play in the 9 Ball Tournament yesterday at Table Steaks South. This is arguably the toughest weekly tournament in town. I’m not sure how many people showed up, but it was all the strongest players around for sure.

I had practiced nearly everyday last week and was ready to put my progress to the test.

Round 1:

I drew my friend Nicole and was ahead 2-0 in a race to 5. She was struggling in the beginning and I really felt great. I was stroking the ball well and the cool thing is that since I don’t play in that tournament every week, I could distinctly recall the specific types of shots that I’m prone to missing.

If I measured my success yesterday just purely based on that, I would consider myself a winner.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the winner in our match. At 2-1, I made the most brilliant run. It wasn’t that there were a bunch of tough shots and I really had to stroke the cue ball. It was just one of those simple, text book runs but I was happiest about getting exactly where I wanted on every single shot. That is, until I under-stroked the 7 ball and had a little longer shot on the 8 than I would’ve liked.

Now, this is a shot that an amateur would undercut because they’re subconsciously trying to hold up the cue ball. Nuh-uh. I told myself I wouldn’t do that. So, what did I do instead? I overcut it. Yeah. That sucked. That would’ve put me up 3-1, but instead now it’s 2-2 and she had the Big Mo’.

I still was hitting the ball well. Don’t know that I really played great, I didn’t make any dumb decisions (I don’t think). I missed a couple shots that cost me and I couldn’t keep the cue ball out of the pocket to save my life, even when I made a good shot. That was frustrating! She ended up coming out ahead in that match.

Round 2:

Now, I have smelled some stinky pool players in my time, but this guy could give ANY of them the orange crush AND the breaks!! P-U!!! He smelled like a nightclub’s dumpster after a busy Friday night topped with vomit from six of the drunkest homeless guys, sprinkled with 3 dozen freshly chopped onions. The worst part of it all, I have a pretty super-snooper so I’m very sensitive to smells. I hope that didn’t cause any permanent damage to my Olfactory System. YEESH!

Danny was his name and I later found out that he’s a long time alcoholic which explained not only his breath but the fumes wreaking from his pores. I had to cover my nose and walk around the opposite side of the table after he shot. His smell was so offensive, it was flat out RUDE!

Fortunately………. I beat him.

It’s not bad enough he’s stinking up the room, then he skunk racked me so badly, there were four balls left in a cluster in game 2. Whether it was intentional or not, it was so obvious that it was a bad rack. I even got the affirmative head-nod from all the rail birds. He got all indignant with me and told me to rack my own rack when I made him re-rack my next rack because the 1 ball wasn’t touching on one side. Fine by me.

When I was up 4-3, he missed the 7 ball trying to get on the 8 ball. The 8 didn’t go by the 9 and he left me a long tough shot on the 7.

I debated on going forward because I’m a lot better at those shots but that would put me on the wrong side of the 8 ball. I could’ve tried a safety or the cross bank, but for some reason, I felt good about the shot so I jacked up, honed in on the spot, and nailed it! It was quite possibly the shot of my life. The crowd went crazy and so did my opponent.

It was so exciting! I don’t know how I did it, but someone I managed to over-draw the cue ball and almost scratched but it just peaked out enough by the 9 ball to leave me the perfect shot on the 8. I really had to calm down and collect myself before shooting the 8 ball. WHEW! That was so rewarding. On the downside, I then had to hold my breath to shake the guy’s hand.

Take that, stinky drunk guy!

Round 3:

I lost double-hill to my friend Juan. He’s a good player, but I did the exact same thing that I did against Nicole. Up 2-1, I missed an 8 ball in the side pocket to go up 3-1. UGH!!! And this one was completely inexcusable! I didn’t take my eye off the ball. I didn’t get distracted. I didn’t jump up. I just simply had a small lapse of concentration.

At hill-hill, the table was tough and after a couple safeties, I was left jumping at the 6 ball. I made a good hit and left him long. He made it and the rest is history. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s tough not to think how that one mistake cost me the match because I know it wasn’t the only mistake I made, but it was definitely the most significant.

In the end, I only won one match, but I still feel that I played well overall and believe it or not, I could notice a huge improvement. I played some really fine safeties and got myself out of some tough jams.

My thoughts:

I’m currently hitting the ball the best of my entire life. What separates me right now from the top players in the state is not necessarily my ability to execute but my ability to execute consistently. My knowledge of the game has really come a long way and I’m just now beginning to replace those memories and experiences of missed shots with making them.

I never felt nervous about my opponent nor about losing one time yesterday. The mistakes I made were mostly lapses in my focus and concentration. Weird.

The biggest thing I’m struggling with right now is that I’m almost uncomfortable with this new level I’ve entered. Even though I’m able to shoot the shots, I’m still the same girl on the inside. I can feel less and less of the old me with each day I practice, but it’s surely not easy.

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