Any Pool players here?

Playing in the APA Cities, World Qualifer today (and hopefully tomorrow!)
Won our match this morning, playing the next round in an hour.
If we win tonight, team wins a little money and we play tomorrow.

Win tomorrow and they send us to play in Vegas in August!!
I was super nervous in my match this morning but the balls rolled in my favor, and I was able to skunk my opponent which got us all 3 of the points available for that match.

Looking forward to seeing what I can contribute to the team tonight.

 

Right on! Good luck!

 

Wow, takes me back - about 45 yrs!! Used to play 4-6 hrs a day. Won a few tournaments myself,
haven't touched a stick in 25 yrs now.
Best of luck! J

 

Go get em Bruce!

 

Novice player. Usually play when going out. Lots of fun. One day I'll get a table for my house.

 

Whoooooo hoooooo, we won again!! We play again tomorrow morning, and if we make it through two round tomorrow... Vegas Baby!!

They put a time cap on matches, so my match tonight was under sudden death rules. Instead of it being a race to win 4 games, the first rack is worth 2 points, and if that doesn't decide it the second rack is worth 1 point. Kinda' makes for a whole different type of pressure.

He broke dry and I had a pretty good pattern laid out so I ran 5 balls. He missed and hit one of mine in, but all I had was a difficult bank shot which I left hanging in the pocket.
Next turn, easy out... 10 in the corner gave me natural shape for the 8 in the side, BAM! One game wins the match.

This the farthest we've ever made it since I started playing league in 2017.

 

While I enjoy game or Sat tourneys at the Legion. I am no where near any level to play with the folks at these type events.\

You folks "play" an on entirely different level.

Good luck in the event sir! Hope you win in the AM!

 

Rock on!! Best of Luck!

 

One of the fun things about APA league play is that (even though some of us take it pretty seriously) it's geared very much for "fun" play.
There's a handicap system in place to sorta' even things up.

In 8-ball the skill levels go from 2 to 7 (7's are scary good) so a lower skill level doesn't need to win as many games to win a match.

I'm a skill level 5 for example, so I need to win 4 games.

If I play a 6 he needs to win 5, if I play a 3 they only need to win 2 games to my 4. In a way those are actually scarier, 'cuz one funky rack or early 8-ball and they're on the hill.

Off to the pool hall I go!! My body isn't quite used to shooting pool in the A.M.

 

Well we ain't goin' to Vegas... Won our morning match and made it to the money round, but ran into an absolute buzz saw!

More teams don't have a skill level 7 (highest it goes in 8-ball) This team has two. One of them went 13 for 14 last season, and the other was undefeated 14/14.

This team has been to Vegas multiple times as a team, and their two 7's go often in singles play.

Our 7 beat the 13/14 guy, they've played before on different teams but our guy has never beaten him.

Our lower skill level got some point in their matched and kept it close until Steve (skill level 5) had to play the undefeated 7. Steve had been out of town and missed most of the tournament, showed up straight from the airport.

I wanted him to be involved in the excitement so I asked if he wanted to play instead of me. Realistically the best any of us could hope for against this dude is to win a game so he only gets 2 points instead of all 3 points for a skunk, and Steve is just as capable of winning a game as me.

I've beaten a 7 before (and got a nifty little patch for it) but you basically have to shoot out of your mind, and you need them to help you little too.

This guy was NOT helpful.

When I'm looking at a shot, and visualizing where I want to leave the cue ball for my next shot, I'm usually hoping to stop it in an "area"... if I can get it in an area the size of my hand with fingers spread out, I'm pretty happy.
At one point I saw this guy touch the tip of his stick to the table where he needed to leave the cue ball to be so he could get through a little window on the next shot.
He pocketed his ball with right hand spin on the cue ball to change the trajectory when it hit the rail, cue ball went off two rails and came to rest EXACTLY where he had touched the tip of his stick... freaking ridiculous.

Very enjoyable to watch the level of control these guys have... unless you're watching it as their opponent.

All in all, pretty dang happy and proud of my team, everybody played their hearts out, played smart, and didn't crumble under what was at times, some pretty heavy pressure.

 

In all honesty, Las Vegas is way overrated anyway. Better to relax and just enjoy playing the game locally with friends. Leave the stresses for the young folks. You know, less is more kinda logic.

 

Ha!! The stressful part about it was that if we had made it to Vegas I was gonna' have to tell my wife that the vacation to Monterey in August that we've had to cancel and reschedule 2 or 3 times already was gonna' have to be rescheduled again.

I hadn't mentioned that part yet, no need to start THAT conversation before seeing if we even advanced.

Bless her heart, it came up yesterday while she was there watching.

Someone mentioned Vegas and she said "When is that?"

Me: "Ummm, August 8th"

Her: "Isn't our vacation like August 2nd to 10th?"

Me: "Ummm, yeah."

Her: We can make it work... this is important. Awwwww!!

 

I've played some pocket pool in my youth.

 

There it is.

 

"In my youth"...

Yeah, 'cuz we totally believe you grew out of it.

 

I can't tell if you are getting ready to play pocket pool, just finished, or daring somebody to play against you...

 

Usually a mixture of all three.


With just a hint of Jim Beam.

 

I have been lucky enough to make it to Vegas 2 different times on 2 different teams. I was a 5 the first time and a 7 the second time. Vegas is a blast and a sight to see however the competition is rough there are teams that are amazing at sand bagging.i lost to a 3 the year I was a 7 I only got to the table 2 times. She opened with a break and run what she was found was not luck but pure skill she was a fantastic shot and kudos to her but she was in no way a 3 and there was a lot of that going on. We made it to the money rounds both times but never really had a shot at placing. Congrats on a great season good luck getting back to the tournament next year.

 

Cool, are you still playing?

I've heard some tales about the amount of sandbagging that goes on at that level... I don't get it, it's not like we're playing for get rich money.

I have one goal when I'm playing, and that is to win, or at the very least get on the hill and get points for my team... not miss shots on purpose to keep my skill level down.

I joined this team in 2017 after not really playing in 20-ish years, and when I did play back in the day it was bar pool. My best friend had been playing on the team for a year or two and they needed someone, he said "Hey you any good at pool?" Me: I used to be okay, why?"

I started as a three, my eye was still okay and could makes some shots, but had no strategy or cue ball control to speak of, only thinking one ball ahead if that. We won our division my first session, I got some money and a cheesy little trophy and I thought "Hey, this is pretty cool!"

Each time when I've gotten bumped up I didn't quite feel like I was there yet, but you grow into it. Went on a crazy tear last year as a 5 and my teammates started calling me "six-killer", got bumped up to 6 halfway through the session.

I went 9 out of 10 that session playing with the big boys, very next session I was 1 for 9! I wasn't playing THAT much better when I moved up to 6, and I wasn't playing THAT much worse the next session.

The captain of one of the teams we play regularly just won the singles championship last month.

Purple tier... He went undefeated I think in a pool of like 208 6&7's



I've played him a couple of times. I actually shot really well, I think because knowing that realistically there's not really much chance of winning, so you're able to let go of those expectations and you just go "Oh well, I'll just try my best!" and it frees you up to just shoot pool.

I felt pretty good about just taking a couple of games off him and being right there in some others. I remember hooking him in some beautiful 2 way safeties and he goes 3 rails to hit out of them

 

Jim Beam, the magical elixir?

 

I just realized what I was doing and apologize for any thread hijacking. I, myself, am a terrible pool player (even pocket ) and I'm always amazed at what other people can do. Just not in my wheelhouse. I'm leaving you a gift - I'll tag you so I don't derail this any more.

 

WANTED For Thread Jacking:



Ha, no worries. I've done my fair share of threadjacking with goofy memes and comments, so I have no right to be bugged if it happens in my thread.

Quite the contrary, I expect and appreciate a bit of jocularity around here.

Do you have a brother?

 

Well that was a fun read. We moved into a house with a pool table in it and I’ve been playing fairly regularly… turns out I still suck and no amount of practice is going to change that. On that note I’m super impressed with how far you got. Nice work.

 

Yeah, he's a little more serious than I am. Not only will he steal your burrito, but the bastard will cut you too!

 

Do you have any hookup for used tables?

 

No, we just bought one off Craigslist or Marketplace or something, from an estate sale.

Table was pretty cheap, but then we paid to have it professionally moved and set up, then later we had it redone new rails and cloth.

 

I moved one table two weeks ago, for my sister.
I'm picking one up this weekend for myself.

 

Nice! Now that I've gotten better I find it more enjoyable, but it's also more frustrating on the "off" days. "Stupid fuckin' little ball!"