2009-07-20 - League Night turned out OK
Posted 07-26-2009 at 05:41 AM by mamono
Wasn't in the right frame of mind since I was thinking about something else. As a direct result, my mental game just wasn't there during my first two matches.
1st Match, opponent broke dry and left me a nice table layout with one problem ball due to clustering around the 8-ball. No big deal. Choose stripes and ran 6 balls with decent position on my last object ball with a tough cut shot with inside english to stall the cueball off the side rail for position on the 8-ball. Missed the shot, but got the position I wanted that unfortunately left a wide open table. Dropped my last object ball later, but couldn't get a clean shot on the 8-ball. Lost 7:9.
2nd Match, my opponent broke and ran 5 balls. Thought I was going to watch a run out, but he missed a slow roll along a side rail into a corner pocket. I ran 6 balls and left my last hanging in the pocket. He ran out the rest. Lost 6:9.
I knew I could have won my first two matches. It was my mentality. I needed to score points for my team. My next opponent was their best player. He had just mopped the floor with one of my teammates on a break and run for a 10:1 score opponent win.
3rd Match, he broke dry. I thought I lucked out and was left with a tough choice. Table layout was horrible. Stripes were the best choice, but I did not have a clean shot on any stripes. Easiest shot was a thin cut shot into corner with natural angle down table. I didn't want to take the one easy shot on solids because the rest of the 6 solids were clustered along the same side rail. I decided to try the cut shot and use a little english to help throw more angle into the shot. Added too much, missed and left the table wide open.
That was my first mistake, should have played safe and left him shots on solids only. He proceeded to run the stripes, but stopped after a 5 ball run and left me a straight shot on that one easy solid that I passed up at the beginning of the match. Looking at the layout, I choose to slow roll forward to get position on the one solid closest to the rail to play a shot that was both offensive and defensive at the same time by using the cluster to block the line of sight to the stripes. Well, I missed the shot, but left him completely snookered.
Turns out that he is weak on rail system/2 rail kicks. He scratched. Our league has scratches after break as ball in hand, so I used that to clear the cluster. Ran 5 balls, but left that one I missed earlier that was shot down the side rails toward corner. I had a decent shot on it, but missed. Because it was down table and 8-ball was toward head rail, I drew the cueball back down table focusing too much on position rather than the shot. Left my opponent a tough shot on an object ball because the other was blocked by the 8-ball.
He turned to me and asked whether I like banks. I tilted me head in the inquisitive manner that I sometimes do when I don't know how I should answer, then I said "I'm ok with them." He knew he couldn't make the shot because my last ball was in the way, so he played safe by combination. He shot his object ball into mine repositioning it on opposite side rail and leaving the cueball next to his object ball. It was a tough bank because his 2nd object ball was only 2" away from mine. I decided to take the bank, but missed. It repositioned my object ball not far from where it was originally after traveling three rails. He was left with a decent shot and easily pocketed the object from opposite rail, but in his effort to get position on his last object ball he got frozen to it just shy of center table toward head rail. Jacked up high, he tried to bank the ball with some english throw. Didn't work and left it frozen to the side rail. I was left with a long table corner pocket shot. Took it, but used enough speed and top spin to position the cueball center table for the 8-ball. Position was spot on, but didn't make my last object ball. The position was perfect because it left my opponent a cross bank into side pocket. He missed by a ball length and left me an easy shot on my last object ball. Pocketed it with clean position on the 8-ball to close out the match. Win 9:6.
4th Match, against the lovely daughter of our opponents team captain. She broke dry and left me position on center table. Ran 3 balls and missed a simple shot. She took a straight in side pocket shot, but put too much top spin and hit the object ball too full scratching into the same pocket. Took ball in hand and ran out the rest of the table. Win 9:1.
The last three games were played back-to-back. No breaks. We ended up winning that night 123:109. Spent the rest of the night playing 9-ball with my teammates. Now that I think back on it, there were many opportunities that I could have played defensive which would have yielded a better outcome.
1st Match, opponent broke dry and left me a nice table layout with one problem ball due to clustering around the 8-ball. No big deal. Choose stripes and ran 6 balls with decent position on my last object ball with a tough cut shot with inside english to stall the cueball off the side rail for position on the 8-ball. Missed the shot, but got the position I wanted that unfortunately left a wide open table. Dropped my last object ball later, but couldn't get a clean shot on the 8-ball. Lost 7:9.
2nd Match, my opponent broke and ran 5 balls. Thought I was going to watch a run out, but he missed a slow roll along a side rail into a corner pocket. I ran 6 balls and left my last hanging in the pocket. He ran out the rest. Lost 6:9.
I knew I could have won my first two matches. It was my mentality. I needed to score points for my team. My next opponent was their best player. He had just mopped the floor with one of my teammates on a break and run for a 10:1 score opponent win.
3rd Match, he broke dry. I thought I lucked out and was left with a tough choice. Table layout was horrible. Stripes were the best choice, but I did not have a clean shot on any stripes. Easiest shot was a thin cut shot into corner with natural angle down table. I didn't want to take the one easy shot on solids because the rest of the 6 solids were clustered along the same side rail. I decided to try the cut shot and use a little english to help throw more angle into the shot. Added too much, missed and left the table wide open.
That was my first mistake, should have played safe and left him shots on solids only. He proceeded to run the stripes, but stopped after a 5 ball run and left me a straight shot on that one easy solid that I passed up at the beginning of the match. Looking at the layout, I choose to slow roll forward to get position on the one solid closest to the rail to play a shot that was both offensive and defensive at the same time by using the cluster to block the line of sight to the stripes. Well, I missed the shot, but left him completely snookered.
Turns out that he is weak on rail system/2 rail kicks. He scratched. Our league has scratches after break as ball in hand, so I used that to clear the cluster. Ran 5 balls, but left that one I missed earlier that was shot down the side rails toward corner. I had a decent shot on it, but missed. Because it was down table and 8-ball was toward head rail, I drew the cueball back down table focusing too much on position rather than the shot. Left my opponent a tough shot on an object ball because the other was blocked by the 8-ball.
He turned to me and asked whether I like banks. I tilted me head in the inquisitive manner that I sometimes do when I don't know how I should answer, then I said "I'm ok with them." He knew he couldn't make the shot because my last ball was in the way, so he played safe by combination. He shot his object ball into mine repositioning it on opposite side rail and leaving the cueball next to his object ball. It was a tough bank because his 2nd object ball was only 2" away from mine. I decided to take the bank, but missed. It repositioned my object ball not far from where it was originally after traveling three rails. He was left with a decent shot and easily pocketed the object from opposite rail, but in his effort to get position on his last object ball he got frozen to it just shy of center table toward head rail. Jacked up high, he tried to bank the ball with some english throw. Didn't work and left it frozen to the side rail. I was left with a long table corner pocket shot. Took it, but used enough speed and top spin to position the cueball center table for the 8-ball. Position was spot on, but didn't make my last object ball. The position was perfect because it left my opponent a cross bank into side pocket. He missed by a ball length and left me an easy shot on my last object ball. Pocketed it with clean position on the 8-ball to close out the match. Win 9:6.
4th Match, against the lovely daughter of our opponents team captain. She broke dry and left me position on center table. Ran 3 balls and missed a simple shot. She took a straight in side pocket shot, but put too much top spin and hit the object ball too full scratching into the same pocket. Took ball in hand and ran out the rest of the table. Win 9:1.
The last three games were played back-to-back. No breaks. We ended up winning that night 123:109. Spent the rest of the night playing 9-ball with my teammates. Now that I think back on it, there were many opportunities that I could have played defensive which would have yielded a better outcome.
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