[POOL] We're short players!

[Paul Hovland]

John gives me more credit than I deserve.  In the final game, Mike and I chased the 8 around for a while.  In my final shot, I was left with a choice between a makable cut and a makable bank.  The cut had the downside of risking the cue ball coming off the rail and returning to the side pocket for a scratch, while I felt my chances of missing the bank and leaving him with an easy shot were higher.  I went with the cut, avoided the scratch, but rattled the pocket, leaving Mike set up nicely with the 8 sitting next to a corner and the cue ball near the opposite side.  Fortunately for me, Mike shot a little too hard, and the cue ball came all the way back and straight into the side pocket that I had been worried about.  So I won, but more through luck than skill....

Paul

On Apr 16, 2014, at 3:58 AM, John Valdes <valdes at anl.gov> wrote:

>> Roger's currently playing Jim in a 1:4.
> 
> Roger took down Jim, 1:1.  Roger was Mr Banks in the first game,
> sinking three balls with the help of the cushion.  He got to the 8, and
> banked it in too, but unfortunately to the wrong pocket.  Taking note
> of Roger's skills, Jim took a more aggressive approach in the second
> game.  Unfortunately for him, that resulted in caroming the cueball
> into the 8 on a shot, sending the 8 into a pocket, for game and match
> for Roger.
> 
> I played Frank in the 4th game, a 2:5.  I was shooting OK, but not
> well enough to defeat Frank.  I went down, 0:5.  That's all I have to
> say about that.
> 
> Paul flew in for the last match against Mike, a 3:2.  Armed with my
> cue, Paul had the upper hand, but Mike kept the pressure on.  After
> trading wins, Paul won the 3rd game to take the match to the hill.
> Paul got to the 8 first, but didn't have a good shot at it and
> missed.  Mike caught up, and it looked like all was lost after Paul
> left the 8 close to a corner pocket for him, but Mike missed his shot
> on the 8, and Paul was able to finally sink it for the match win, 3:1.
> 
> For the makeup, Roger played Ron in a 1:8.  Roger made a respectable
> match out of it, even managing to get Ron into a spot where he needed
> a coach in 2 games, but alas, Ron didn't make any mistakes, so Roger
> couldn't take him down.  Roger was shut out 0:8.
> 
> So we won 3, lost 3.  We started the night tied for 6th with Nice Rack
> (Melanie's team) and 1 game behind Retarded Monkeys for 5th.  I think
> Nice Rack also won 3 games, and Retarded Monkeys had lost 3 when I
> last checked.  So we have ended up in a 3-way tie for 5th, but we
> won't know for sure 'til all the wins are tallied.
> 
> Next week: playoffs!
> 
> John