A rough night at the tourney.. I still had fun!

We've all been there, been beaten in a match or tourney by someone that can barely hold a cue.. It's frustrating, but it's life.  Things don't always go as planned.

Last night I was playing in a local tourney, Barbox 8-ball, race to two.  80% of the time, I finish in the top 3 winning it pretty often but last night was definitely not one of those nights so I'll just laugh about it and share with you all briefly.

First match, I won 2-0.  He broke first game, I played well and won.  I broke and ran the second game, no big deal, it was a typical match, things just went my way... That was all that I would get going my way as the next two matches went drastically different.

Second match, I play a very nice guy named Ray, I have beaten him most of the times that we play but he does win once in a while.  I win the first game, my safety play then a strong finish did the trick.  Last two games, I ran too many balls early and did not finish, leaving myself with one or two balls to all of his is a bad deal if you don't run out.  Sometimes I play to aggressively and it costs me.. This was one of those matches.  Ray won, congrats to him, I played well, just not up to my normal level.

Third match I played a 15 year old kid in a cookie monster shirt.. This match was embarrassing to say the least.  I won the first game easily and kind of took it for granted that I'd win the match..  The next two games I could not buy a roll in a bakery..  He had a bag full and it was kind of funny.  He missed at least 6 shots during the next two games and the balls rolled up perfectly to leave me nothing every time.

I did miss position and one shot that I should have made but other than that, I could not have gotten out of a wet paper bag.. It was too funny and my buddies gave me a lot of crap over that one.  Hats off to the cookie monster, I'm pretty sure it made his night winning that match..

Lesson to learn here, take no one for granted.  Don't take it too seriously and have fun no matter what the outcome.  I have won more than my share of the cash in this particular tournament and if it brings joy to someone else to beat me once in a while, that's cool too.  I'll never lose on purpose but it does not always go our way either.

I do need to really focus on my game.  My mental state as of late has been weak but I plan to get better, lots better.  That's it for today.  I have league tonight if they need me to play, if not I'll stay home and practice.

Peace for now!!

This Blog thing is a bit tougher than I thought it would be.

Today's blog is going to be little more than my rambling about my inconsistencies with the game..

First of all, our AA league team had a horrible night last night, as did I.  First two rounds went great, I played very strong as did most of our players.  This is VNEA by the way to those who care.

We were tied for first place going into last night but now we must be a bit behind but that does not bother me too much.

The last two rounds could not have gone worse, rolls were bad, I missed two shots that I should have made and my concentration was crap..  We ended up losing the last two and the overall by a smidget too.

I am getting really tired of league play to say the least.  Tired of the smokers, which should not be smoking in Ohio bars but that is not enforced at all!  The smoke kills me.  Tired of the hassle of league play and feel that I am just spinning my wheels playing in leagues that just are not very challenging any more.  That makes me a lazy player which takes away the fun of the game to me as well.

I seem to go through the "tired of league" mode every couple of years or so, but am really feeling it bad right now.  Not even looking forward to state competition this year but I will go and try my hardest since I committed to the team.  That's how I roll.

For the next year, I play to focus on my concentration.  Really focus on developing sound fundamentals, hopefully with the help of Stan Shuffett instruction.  My attitude is good, I just need to really focus on every shot, I tend to get lazy and that's when my game falls apart.

I know this was just some random rambling but that's what a blog is about, I am pretty sure?  I do believe I will not play league next year, at least not every week.  I would not mind being a sub or playing enough to qualify for BCA state, etc.  But I do not want to be committed to playing every week.

I'm not sure if anyone at all looks at this Blog, probably not.  But if you do, any comments would be appreciated..

CPPA needs to grow

I am working or reworking the design of the Christian Pool Players logo for future shirts, patches, hats etc..  I did this in Adobe illustrator as vector based graphics work much better than a typical jpg or gif image but I won't bore you with the technical stuff..

The CPPA was started by Jim Mazulla and it is going to hopefully start to grow soon.  If you have any interest, let me know or visit the site at http://christianpoolplayers.com/

I love the game and am passionate about my faith as well so this seems to be a good fit for me.  I hope to be the example that Christ has called me to be.  If you ever see me at a tourney please just drop me a hello!

Peace, Joey

Stuck in the snow

Left work early to try and avoid this mess. Guess I should have done it sooner.



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The magician

This was from the DCC 2010 where Efren Reyes, the best player in the world punished me 3-0 in the banks division.

It was quite a thrill to play him though.



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It's a start..

A little bit about me to start off..

I am a 40 year old married man of 17 years, we have a son of 13 years that is our pride and joy..  Won't get too detailed as that is not what this blog is about, it's all about the sport of pocket billiards..

Having played the game off and on for around 25 years but only recently taking it seriously and trying to get to the highest level that I can attain with my current resources.. 

I get a lot of information from fellow players, pool forums such as AZbilliards.com as well as friend, magazines etc.. You get the picture.

Also, I have been blessed to have some folks that are very knowledgeable about the game such as Jack Madden, Joe Villalpando, Scott Lee and Tom Simpson.  I had lessons with a couple of those gentleman and have been lucky enough to call upon others such as Jack or Joe whenever I have a question about the game. 

Recently I have really started to focus on the game and try to work out the fundamentals so that I can give myself the strongest chance to improve at a rapid rate.  That sounds good but where do I start??  I have been video taping my practice sessions to see where I may have flaws in my stroke, stance etc.. Problem is, I am not sure I know what to look for, it's a battle that I may fight the rest of my life, time will tell.

I realize that this is just a rambling blog at this point but it will become better, I have a ton to say but don't want to throw it all into my first post..

Coming next, I'll tell a little bit about my DCC 2010 experience where I got to play both Efren Reyes and Rodney Morris.  I won one of those matches, details to come in the next blog..