[POOL] Results!

[John Valdes]

Sorry I haven't been sending out the play-by-plays this session; too
much work email means less non-work email... :(  I'll resume the
play-by-plays in the Winter session.

In our final week, we won 3 matches against Bob's team.  Roger had the
unfortunate task of playing against Bob, in an 1-8.  Bob pretty
quickly won the first 7 games without letting Roger shoot much.  Roger
put some defensive moves on however in the final game which stymied
Bob enough for Roger to sink many of his balls (Bob sank 1 of Roger's
balls too since it was blocking a pocket).  Bob still got to the 8
first, but with no good shot on it, he gave Roger another turn at the
table with only 2 of his balls remaining, the 7 and 1 near a corner
pocket with the cueball on the opposite end.  The 1 was the easier
shot, but the 7 was the smarter one to take first, as sinking it would
leave the cue better positioned for the 1.  After a coach where all
agreed that the 7 was the shot to take, Roger lined up behind the cue
and shot.  Hard--with a ton of backspin--at the 1.  And missed the
corner pocket completely.  Sending the 1 into the rail instead and all
the way across the length of the table to the opposite corner where it
sank!  All that backspin left the cue perfectly setup on the 7 which
Roger sank into the far side corner, leaving him facing the 8 across
the length of the table, which he then cut, at a good 45° angle, into
the pocket where he had sunk the 1, for the best under pressure,
comeback match win I've ever seen.  It was awesome!

Other winners were Craig winning 2:1 in a 2:3 against Jeff, and myself
winning 2:0 in a 2:5 against Frank.  Not a bad result against a team
where every member except 2 has a handicap over 60.  Alas, we needed 4
wins to tie them for 1st, so we weren't able to gain any ground in the
standings on them.  The other 1st place team (Dean's) also went 2 for
3, so they remained tied with Bob's team.  The 3rd place team had won
at least 3 games, so they likewise remained ahead of us in the
standings.  The final results haven't been announced yet, but likely
we kept our 4th place spot; a respectable finish.

No pool for the next 2 weeks.  Hope you can all return in the next
session starting on Jan 6.

John