Miracle of Miracles

On Sunday, February, 21st, at the 2nd stop of the Mezz Tour at Atlantic City Billiards in Egg Harbor NJ, I finally did it.

Miracle of Miracles, I finally did it.

I won a match.

I. Actually. Won. A. Match.

I am now 1 and 5!!!

I'm a little surprised because I've had a really bad week of pool.

It started on Wednesday leagues at Skyline where I jumped out to a 6-0 lead only to lose the match 7-6.

It continued on Thursday leagues at Amsterdam where I needed to win two games to mathematically clinch it for the team win and I only managed to get one game as I continually shot the balls into the rail.

The one game I did win was only because my opponent scratched in the side pocket going from the 8 to the 9 ball.

I lost 7 to 1.

(Luckily I didn't cost the team the win because the Monkey ended up beating her opponent. We won 3 matches to 1.)

Obviously I went to Atlantic City Billiards not feeling very confident and was hoping to draw someone who was equal to me in skill level so I'd get a chance to work out my "competition" issues - closing out matches and staying focused and ON ROUTINE under pressure.

So of course my first opponent is my Thursday league teammate Rob who's ranked, oh, just 5 levels above me.

And, this being an open tournament, I have to play him an even race to 7 rather than getting the 6 games on 11 that I would be getting if this was a league match.

Not that it would've mattered...

I got crushed 7-1. I played a couple of good safeties and I had a couple of chances to get out with only 3 or 4 balls left but I was still shooting balls into the rail as I never really got comfortable or going.

So off to the 1-loss side for me and a long wait before my next match.

A 3 hour long wait.

Which is fine - I got a little bit of practice in, I got to talk to the awesome staff at Atlantic City Billiards (hi Kelli!), I got to eat a little bit (the pretzels are good) and I got a little rest (I hope my snoring didn't shark anyone).

I also got to scout my next opponent, Tim G. (I think. Ugh. My mind is a sieve.) He just played, and lost to, another one of my Thursday league teammates Caroline.

(I could've driven two hours to play two people I can play any time I want and who I don't have a chance against. I'm so glad she won.)

She played a lot of safes on him and his kicking didn't seem very strong. His strong suit was that he was a good shot maker but he seemed to be having difficulty controlling the cue ball. Run outs where he'd have to move the cue ball around the table were a little bit suspect as he continually got out of line.

So I basically played the same strategy as Caroline.

(Or as close to it as a Hack can to a WPBA professional.)

I was also lucky because he seemed a little shell shocked from losing to Caroline. He really started off poorly missing the simplest of shots. It allowed me extra chances at the table and I started to find my groove. I got up 6-1 quickly.

He made a little bit of a come back but he missed an easy 9-ball and hung it for me for the win.

Final score was 7-3.

Woohoo!

My next match was against...ugh. Forget it. I can't remember. "Opponent #3" it is.

The table we were assigned was newly re clothed and it was playing so fast. We both had trouble adjusting and we kept trading racks. I sat nervously on my hands with the score at 4-3 him and Opponent #3 running out. He somehow misses the 7 ball and I have an opportunity to tie the score up.

I got to the table, went to bridge my cue, and my bridge hand felt a little funny.

My thumb feel asleep.

I was literally sitting on my hands and my thumb feel asleep on me.

Being a dumb-ass I tried to shoot through it rather than take a break and get feeling back into my thumb.

I made the 7, made the 8 and had a fairly easy cut on the 9, which of course I dogged.

Instead of 4-4 it's not 5-3. Ugh.

Well it just went downhill from there.

I ended up losing 7-3.

Overall I didn't feel like I was doing too badly. I just have to remember certain things, like following my pre-shot routine, and take my time. My rhythm seems to be off recently and I seem to be playing too fast and it's making me make careless mistakes.

Hmmm...not sure what event I'm going to do next. There's the Predator ABCD event, the Amateur Empire State Championship, at Raxx's. There's also a Mezz Tour stop at Main Line Billiards in Frazier, PA.

I'll be at one of them and hopefully I can win 2 matches!