random smatterings of pool thoughts & articles
In a few hours I’ll be leaving for the airport and taking off for Houston. This weekend is the fourth Hunter stop of the year. There’s actually no reason for me to be up this early except for the fact the I just woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep and figured it would help me get to bed earlier tonight so, “What the heck?!”
I won’t be taking my laptop with me but the Tournament Brackets will be available at AZBilliards.com.
Have a terrific weekend!
I met with my coach, Bob, at Table Steaks South this afternoon for a quick session before I leave on Friday for Houston for the next Hunter stop of the year. I’m really looking forward to getting away for the weekend.
There’s a big table 8 ball tournament every Wednesday night at South and the players started rolling in. Each person asked if I was staying for the tournament as they passed our table and I had decided to against it. I played some 9 ball with Bob and wasn’t feeling super hot. My nose has been a little runny and my throat a little tickly. I didn’t feel like I would be 100% there so I chose not to play.
I did, however, decide to hang out for a little while to watch and visit with Chris, who stopped by to see me. Later, my friend Jay came to ask me again to play. They didn’t have enough people for the added money and they really wanted me to play.
After some convincing, I went ahead and agreed to play. I was a bit reluctant because I had just ordered some food, but I ended up winning my first two matches and winning the 5th-6th playoff for 25 bucks. I’m glad I played.
I didn’t play super great but I did make some strong, memorable outs. I will reflect on those.
Saturday was a LOOOOOOOOOONG day of pool.
There was a $1,000 added Colorado Team 8 Ball Championship tournament at the Colorado Cue Club. Nine teams showed up for this event. Since players did not have to play league or qualify in anyway to compete in this tournament, you could imagine the caliber of the teams that were formed.
They decided to do a round-robin format. We arrived by noon but didn’t get started until about 1 o’clock. 15 hours and 8 matches later, around 4a.m. we left finishing just out of the money. They paid down to third place and I didn’t see the final game count to tell you exactly where we ended up, but if we would’ve won our last match, I think we would’ve had another one to play off for third.
It was definitely a long day but a great one for pool! I played with my vegas BCA women’s masters team of Bonnie Plowman and Julie Schultz (from last year’s team), Deb Winter (who I’m also playing with for VNEA), and Caela Henley (one of my favorite players and former teammate). This team just sort of formed at the last minute so we hadn’t been playing league together. This was a great opportunity for us to play together.
We were the only women in the tournament and we were all on one team, with one mission, to kick some stinkin’ boy booty.
If it weren’t such a long day, and if I were a little more organized, I could give you the play-by-play of matches in the order they happened, but I can’t remember all the details and I was enjoying the day with my teammates too much to log anything.
The bottom line was, Danny Medina showed up with a stacked team that included Colorado’s own “Black Rattlesnake,” Melvin Sharp and three other very strong players. We ended up losing to them but only by 13-12 and we finished further than them in the overall.
There were nine VERY strong teams and we gave them all a run for their money. We all collectively played great and I felt very proud to be a part of it all.
Check it out: Cued Up
The Spotlight section of the Rocky Mountain News.
A recent email from my friend Charles sparked my May column in Inside English, “So, you’re thinking about taking lessons…”
Check back soon to read the article.
This weekend, I played in a $250 added Women’s 9 ball tournament at the Colorado Cue Club. That’s the “this weekend” part. I also wanted to write about Thursday night. That’s the “& more” part. So, chronologically, I’ll be starting with the “& more” first.
So, Thursday night, I decided to stop by the Skylark to visit my friend Tom Ross. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he runs 
a free Thursday night pool clinic there every week. I knew it started around 7p.m. and by this time it was after 8p.m. so I figured he’d be wrapping up and I could hit some balls and hang out. On the contrary, he was in the midst of the clinic and there were about 20 people there! WOW! That’s really terrific!!!
I ended up staying to help out and doing a couple presentations myself. (That’s how I lost my voice… oops!) I worked with some of the students and then hung out and played with some of them afterwards. It was REALLY awesome! The thought of a room full of that many people that are THAT excited about pool just really made me excited. They were all like sponges, just soaking up every little thing I had to share with them. They were curious and excited and couldn’t wait to learn more and come back next week. It was truly inspiring.
This weekend – Well, yesterday, I played in a women’s tournament at the Cue Club. It was originally advertised as a 9 ball event and when we got there, we collectively decided to play 8 ball on the winner’s side and 9 ball on the loser’s side since this is all part of their “Springboard to the Nationals” series of events and we play both at nationals. 15 women showed up and they added $250. Of the 15, the six masters (including myself) raced to 6 and everyone else raced to 5.
I won my first match 6-4 against Nicole Keeney. She was actually one of the people I traveled to Valley Forge with. I played pretty well and could count the number of mistakes I made on one hand. You see, it’s bar table 8 ball. I couldn’t forget that this was my forte before I started working on my 9 ball game. Though I hadn’t been practicing much due to some matters in my personal life, I just reminded myself that there’s really no excuse for missing one single ball.
My next match would be a tough one. I managed to win 6-2 in an even race against my friend Caela Henley. She’s such a champion! She’s a bit of a mentor to me. She was the first strong female player that I met and watched. She sort of took me under her wing and asked me to join her masters team when I was just starting to get serious, long before I was master material. I admire her so much. I knew I would have to play hard and I did. I only missed two balls in that match and they cost me the two games she won. And, one of those balls skidded on me! I was very happy with my performance in this match.
Next, I played another (former) teammate, Bettina Nedel. I won 6-4. She has improved so much from the last time I played her or even watched her play. She played incredibly well against me, and I had to spot her a game. She broke and ran one rack and ran another rack off my break. I knew I would not be able to take her lightly. This win guaranteed me third and I would move on to play for the driver’s seat.
My next match was against another teammate, Bonnie Plowman. I ended up losing to Bonnie 6-5. I scratched on the hill and she made a great out. During that match, we both had our moments of greatness but it was one of those sort of goofy matches where things would go almost perfectly and then something would go wrong. I made a couple really nice outs and she made two incredible runs where she hooked herself on the 8 ball in one and then rolled right on top of the 8 ball in the other game. I missed and 8 ball and scratched a couple times on back door outs. Overall, my performance was not nearly as strong as my earlier ones. I wish I could’ve played better, especially against Bonnie.
Next, I met up with Julie Schultz. You guessed it. She’s another teammate and champion player. Since I had lost to Bonnie, I now had to switch gears and play 9 ball against Julie. she had a slight advantage because she lost an earlier match (I think it might’ve even been her first one) and had been playing mostly 9 ball. It started off back and forth but then I was down 5-2. I took a quick break and had a talk with myself and returned to win the next three games with a fire in my eye. She was playing just as great as she always does!
Unfortunately, I had another undesired turnaround on the hill. My normal side break had not been working for 9 ball. The balls weren’t spreading well and I wasn’t making a ball so I was breaking from an unfamiliar spot on the table. I made a couple new adjustments and unfortunately, hit the rack just a little off center. The cue ball spun itself into the side pocket and the 9 ball, like it was in slow motion, creeped toward the one ball and sat in front of the hole, leaving her a wired 1-9 combo with ball in hand. It was brutal! I didn’t even make her shoot it. I lost 6-5 and finished 3rd. I got 110 bucks.
It can be difficult playing our friends/teammates. We were also there celebrating Julie’s birthday yesterday, so along with a day of competition was a day of fun and celebration. It can be tough to take a match seriously against your good friends or people you care about. You (well, I do, anyway) want to root for them and see them succeed but I can’t forget that they are still my enemy when I get to the table.
Here’s a photos of the final four left in the tournament. From left to right, Deb Winter, Julie Schultz, Bonnie Plowman, & me! Our entire team finished in the finals. I thought that was pretty cool.
Finally! The March Madness is over for me. And boy was it truly madness. 4 stops in 1 month is way more than I thought I could handle.
Here’s the full tournament lowdown:
March 2-5, Hunter Stop in Lake Jackson, TX – Finished 7th/8th
March 10, VNEA Denver Singles event – Finished 9th-12th
March 14-19, Super Billiards Expo in PA – Finished 9th-16th
March 22-26, BCA Midwest Regional Championships in Minneapolis, MN – Finished 2nd
March 30 – April 2, Hunter Stop in Tulsa, OK - Finished 17th-24th
And, as promised, here are the photos from the 2007 Super Billiards Expo:
