Summer Session

This session, with one week to go, has been a complete turnaround from the previous two. All seven players on the team are shooting around the 0.500 mark as far as winning. Still, we have a chance to make the session playoffs and qualify for the City Tournament next year.

One problem we are experiencing, besides a slight case of burnout, is the lack of players at the Skill Level extremes. Right now we have four S/L 4 players and three S/L 5 players. It looks like we'll have three open slots for next session, so we are looking for a good S/L 6 or 7 and a real good S/L 3.

One of the other teams in our Tuesday division has the players we are looking for, and that team might be splitting after this session. I've talked to the players, maybe we'll have some good news during the playoffs coming up in a few weeks.

Tuesday we took 3 out of 5 matches from one of the teams that qualified for Las Vegas this year, that was the high point of this session. The low point came when we got skunked 5-0 early in the session; the fact that the team which accomplished that feat has been in first place all season eases the pain - somewhat.

I'll try to post again next week after I get the final standings and the word on whether or not we qualified for the session playoffs!

No Post in 3.5 Months!!!!

Boy, have I been shirking my blogging duties! Time to catch up.

Spring session we finished 3rd or so, fortunately we were already qualified for the City Tournament (CT). The top two finishers at CT go on to the APA National Team Championships held August of each year in Las Vegas.

In the CT we ended up losing our first two matches and were out for the year. It was a great experience and each match went the full five players, so we were not skunked. Take aways from the tournament were: get plenty of sleep and try to relax.

I'll create another post for the summer session.

The Brass Rail

This Spring session our APA team switched host locations to the Brass Rail in Kansas City North and we are glad we did so! The Brass Rail has 25 Valley Bar Boxes and 6 9-foot Brunswick Gold Crown tables. The site is currently refelting the Valley tables and have completed about half of them.

When we are the home team we get an open table to practice on and everyone on both teams gets a house round during the evening. The tables are 75 cents per game and the beers are cheap and cold.

The Brass Rail actually opens all of the tables every day of the week from Open until 4 PM and then again from 11 PM until close. Really a sweet deal. If you are ever in the Kansas City North area and want to shoot a few racks Brass Rail is the place to go.

There are tournaments just about every night of the week, with 8-ball the game of choice on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Monday and Thursday are $5 entry, pot-matched 9-ball tournaments; Sunday is $10 entry, pot-matched 9-ball and Saturday is a free $100 pot tournament.

My first Tournament at the Brass Rail

On Tuesday I entered the first non-APA tournament I've ever been in. I was there physically, but not mentally and it showed. There must have been 26 players entered in the $5 entry fee, pot-matched plus $100 double-elimination tournament.

I played two matches and really only ever got in stroke in my 4th, and last, game. In my last game I was actually putting a good run together and managed to get the side pocket position I was going for with a nice draw shot to line up my last object ball - but missed my shot in the corner! Hit it a tad too hard and it rattled out. The other players were terrific and I enjoyed sipping my water and watching the other matches.

A couple of the shooters were from another team from the Tuesday night APA league I play in so I spent some time talking to them. I'll definitely try the tournament again when I get a chance, and recommend it to anyone looking to play against some of the best players in the KC area.

I have been going to Brass Rail during my lunch breaks to hit a few racks and have noticed some improvements in my stroke and my shot selections, two things I definitely need to improve.

Well, that's all for now. Good luck in all your pool shooting!

Preparing for the City Tournament

This week we had our last Spring session match and I am now trying to prepare for the City Tournament May 28th - May 31st. The top two teams from the tournament will represent the APA Northland League in the team championships in Las Vegas.

Two, non-pool related, preparations I know I need are to get plenty of sleep and to build my stamina. I have noticed that the later my match is and the more tired I am the worse I seem to do. I actually stroke the cue ball harder than I normally would. Also, during the double-elimination events such as the Top Gun tournament, I tend to sit for long periods of time and end up cooling off and am not able to play effectively.

So, I need plenty of sleep and I need to exercise to build up my stamina. I also need to play more pool! This week I managed to make it to Brass Rail for lunch-time practice every day. I noticed that towards the end of each practice session I am not as good as when I first start.

I also realized that I need to play against better players and in competitive environments so I have decided to try my hand at the Tuesday 8-ball tournaments at Brass Rail. These events are $5 entry fee and Brass Rail matches the pot plus throws in an extra $100. I'll let you know how I do with that.

Champions Tournament (Top Gun)

On May 9th the Northland (of Kansas City) APA League held their annual Top Gun tournament for the top players in all the divisions over the last three sessions. I was one of the 32 players honored with an invitation, my second such in the two years I've been playing APA, and felt it would be a great opportunity to play against the top players who we will most likely face in the upcoming City Tournament. (I was under no delusions of finishing in the money!)

My first match was pretty sad and I ended up being skunked 5-0 by an S/L 7. The next match, against an S/L 6, was better. After falling behind 3-0 I came back to win the next three games and the match.

Next I matched up against an S/L 5, the same one that gave me my first loss of the session. I played much better and was up 2-1 and needed just one more win to take the match and to keep playing. One game I was playing pretty well and I actually performed a sweet kick shot to pocket my last object ball. Unfortunately I left the cue sitting near the corner pocket and could not see the 8 ball through the 6 or so object balls my opponent had left on the table. Fearing a scratch I picked up the cue and handed it to my opponent. At the time I thought it was a smart move on my part only to realize later that I should have tried to cluster up some of his balls when faced with giving him ball in hand. I'll try to remember that lesson for years to come.

Spring Session Ends

Well, we finished the last three weeks of the Spring session on a down swing and will stand at either 2nd or 3rd when the points are totalled. The 15th and 16th week matches saw two of our better players, Scorpion and Too Tall, out of town on a business trip and we went 2-3 both weeks. When the smoke cleared we ended up in 3rd place - 3 points out of 1st and 2 out of second.

The last week of the session we won 3-2, but could have been 5-0 easily. Both Scorpion and Too Tall played, but with the two weeks off their play suffered. We had a good session, ending up with 67 points for the 17 weeks, now it is time to look forward and get ready for the City Tournament the end of the month.