The first match was a breeze. The second was an hour and a half nightmare. She was an extremely strong 3 who only needed two games to my four. She was decent at safeties, which combined with my inability to get over my nerves gave her the match.
My Handicap: 5
Matches:
My Place: n/a
My Winnings: n/a
My Handicap: 5
Matches:
My Place: n/a
My Winnings: n/a
Just goes to show… if you don’t play but once or twice a week, you can’t expect to play well.
My Handicap: King
Matches:
Place: n/a
Winnings: n/a
I played in my first Sunday afternoon tournament in weeks today. Since I no longer feel like I NEED the money from tournaments when I enter, I thought I would be able to play with a clearer head. Not so much. Well… sort of, but sort of not also.
Jesse, the manager listened to our local cuemaker, Chris Klindt about the current handicap system being… lacking somewhat. Used to be that whoever was running the tournament would just take the players and guess at their handicap. You can see how that could cause problems. The person in charge was never dishonest, but leaving something like that up to opinion, even well-meaning opinion is just asking for trouble. So they’ve adopted the something along the lines of the NPL handicap system. I’m not sure about the details, and I know it’s different than what’s behind that link, but after playing today, I like it.
I didn’t do too badly today. There were two notable matches (in the absolutely huge pot of 6 whole players). The first was against a guy named Brian, who I pretty much tromped 5-0. He’s one of those guys I’ve been afraid of for months, so beating him today was something of a milestone. I’d have been happy with a closer match, but after I got to 3, he just lost heart. The second was the last. It was against a guy named Tim. He’s not as good as I, but I just couldn’t get the rolls that time. He put me in the loser bracket early on (I had to win 5 while he only needed 3… he’s not as good, but he’s not THAT far behind me), which I think put my confidence on hold for our next encounter. The second match was a race 6-4, which is better, but I just couldn’t make it happen. No confidence, no focus. I didn’t deserve it and he did. Simple as that.
Still, it did feel good to play feeling I didn’t HAVE to win.
My Handicap: King
Matches:
My Place: 2nd
My Winnings: 30
I started out as a 5 and got sent to the losers bracket immediately, where handicaps are dropped by one. I just couldn’t pull things together today. Angry.
My Handicap: 5
Matches:
My Place: 4th
My Winnings: 10
My Handicap: 4
Matches:
My Place: 3rd
My Winnings: 20
My first match was a bye… meaning the number of people entered didn’t allow for everyone to play the first round. My second match was against Mike Robinson. I was happy to get 3 games on him, though I should have had at least one more. My third match was against Josh. I really should have beat him, but didn’t due to lack of concentration and practice. I really needed the cash too. This jobless shit is killing me.
My Handicap: 5
Matches:
My Place: n/a
My Winnings: n/a
Today’s tournament was… odd, in a way. It was odd b/c I really didn’t have my heart in it. Sure, I would have liked to have won, but I didn’t feel a burning desire in my chest telling me I *had* to win. That said, I did better today than in any of the previous tournaments, getting all the way to the final match for 1st and 2nd place.
My first match was against a new face belonging to a guy named Ted. He is an official APA 4, but honestly plays like a 2 or 3. I don’t get the APA handicaps. I really don’t. I, and the rest of the people on my team consider me a pretty solid 4, creeping slowly up to a 5. If this guy is a 4, then I’m more like a 6, and the rest of my team needs to adjust accordingly. It’s silly, I tell you. Silly.
The second match was also something of a rout with the final score at 4-0 my favor. The thing is, I was just getting lucky. I don’t think I shot well either of these first two matches… or all day for that matter. I just got a lot of lucky rolls. I’ve been trying, but I cannot for the life of me remember who this match was against. Whoever it was, I apologize for not remembering.
The third match was a bit more difficult. This guy is probably an accurate 4. I still beat him, but again, I chalk it up to the rolls b/c my heart just wasn’t in it today. Still, I did have to focus a bit more this time, and fortunately was able to do so to come up with a 4-1 win.
The fourth match was against Jeff Taylor. Jeff got in a real bad car accident a few months ago, in which he broke his neck and recieved a compound fracture of his femur. He’s been in traction until last week, when they took it off early due to complications with the skull screws. He still walks with the aid of crutches, and wears a nice solid neck brace, but he’s doing MUCH better now. We were wondering though, those of us watching him play, just what exactly one has to do to Jeff to hurt his game. He is an amazing shot. The last time I played him in a tournament, he won 6-0. This time I got two games on him for a 6-2 final score. He started at a handicap of 5, but moved up to 6 when he won his first two matches 5-0 and 5-1.
I waited around for about two hours for my last match, and it turned out to be against the same guy I played in my third match. By this time, I was tired, full from the pizza I just ate, and was thinking that my motivation earlier in the day was fierce compared to what I felt now. I still won, 4-2, but I let him get two games while I was on the hill. I just had a hard time keeping my head in the game. All I could think about was coming home, writing this up, taking a nice warm shower and going to bed.
The last match was against Jeff Taylor again. He climbed the whole way through the winners bracket, which meant he was the only obstacle in my way of 1st place. We agreed, however, that it was late, and time to go. We split the remaining $125 $65/$60 his favor, given how he beat me previously. Sounded fair to me, so we took our money, shook hands and now it’s time for that shower.
My Handicap: 4
Matches:
My Place: 2nd
My Winnings: 60
This was an interesting tournament. Given the recent tendency of some of us Lawrence folk to visit the tournaments at Terry’s in Topeka on Saturday nights, some of the Terry regulars have started showing up at our Sunday afternoon tournaments. They ain’t bad either. Additionally, my brother (Dennis) was in town this weekend from Portland, OR, and given his past interest in pool, I entered him. A new player, he came in at 3, while I continue to fluctuate between 3 and 5.
Dennis and I spent about 45 minutes warming up before the matches started, and I was feeling pretty good about my game. This played out as I beat my first opponent, handicapped at 4 soundly and solidly 4 games to zero. Dennis, on the other hand, had less luck. His very first tournament ever, his very first experience with any sort of official handicap system, he draws Mike. Mike, you may recall, is on my 9-ball team, and could go pro if he dedicated himself. Needless to say, Dennis didn’t win, though he did give Mike a bit of a run. That match ended at 8-2.
My second match didn’t go so well. I went up against a fellow named Jeff from Topeka. He started as a 6 and beat his first opponent, Tim, 6-0. The Powers that Be raised him to a 7 for our match. He beat me 7-1. The one game I did win, though, was at the very limits of my ability. None of my shots were hard, but getting to a couple of them was extremely difficult. I had one of those moments I live for though. With 4 balls left, not including the 8, one of them was tied up pretty badly. However, there was a window of about 2 inches where I could get shape on it… if I could play the other three right. Then it just clicked, and the pattern I’d have to play became as clear as day, and I knew I could do it. I proceeded, then, to to just that. After that though, I didn’t get much of a shot. The guy was just that good. I think he throttled back though, fearing his handicap would go up again, b/c he lost the next matches to someone who I can easily beat.
Meanwhile, Dennis went 2 and out. Not unexpected given that this was his first tournament. I was a little surprised though. I counseled him at one point to take a safety shot, and he looked at me blankly while asking “a what?” He’s probably played longer than I have overall, and didn’t know what a safety was. I explained it, but then he forgot about the whole ball-must-hit-a-rail-after-contact rule thinking it didn’t apply to safeties, and gave up ball-in-hand. He’s a good shot, but he has very little in the way of a defensive game, and doesn’t think about position play that much. I’d like to think, however, that he’ll continue playing when he gets back home. He could be very very good if he applied himself and studied the game.
My last game was against a guy named Brian. It was an extremely tight match, ending with both of us on the hill. We both played very conservatively, just b/c that’s how we play when we get together. All 6 games were very long, fully of safeties and very thoughtful shots. All in all, I’d say this match, even though I lost, was the best match of the day… both in terms of how I played, and how much fun it was. I would have won, but I left myself a couple inches short of a sure shot on the 8, and missed the pot by about half an inch, leaving Brian a relatively easy run-out.
My Handicap: 4
Matches:
My Place: n/a
My Winnings: n/a
My Handicap: 4
Matches:
My Place: n/a
My Winnings: n/a