[POOL] Last Week's Results!

[John Valdes]

Good night; we quickly dispatched with Retarded Monkeys, Mike
McKiernan's team.  The "proposed" handicap table was in effect, btw.

Martino played 1st against Mike in a 1:6.  Unfortunately for Martino,
Mike was shooting well, making most shots he tried and not giving
Martino much time at the table.  However, Martino was shooting well
too whenever he got the chance, sinking all but 1 or 2 of his balls in
a few of the games.  In one game, Martino had 1 remaining object ball
on the rail less than an inch from a corner pocket with the 8 not much
further from the opposite corner pocket (ie, perfectly positioned for
an easy shot after sinking the object ball).  Unforunately, the cue
ball was at almost a 90° angle to the object ball, requiring either a
super-thin cut or a long, cross-table bank in order to sink the object
ball.  Martino opted for the super-thin cut (too much risk of missing
on the bank and giving up ball-in-hand); unfortunately not enough
momentum was transferred and his ball only moved a few millimeters,
leaving Mike with an easy shot on the 8.  The match eventually went to
the hill game, in which Mike wasted no time sinking all his balls w/o
giving Martino a turn at the table.  Fortunately for Martino, Mike
didn't have a clear pocket in which to sink the 8, so he opted for a
safety instead.  Apparently that required putting some draw on the
cueball which Mike failed to do, and instead he sent the cueball
rolling into the side pocket, scratching on the 8 and thus giving the
game and match to Martino, 1:6.  Martino didn't have to pickup his cue
once in the last game to win!

Roger played the 2nd match against David (of the Wiedmeyer clan) in a
2:3 while Martino was playing his match.  They played on the opposite
end of the pool hall, so I wasn't able to follow the play very
closely.  The first game was very close and could have gone either
way, but David sank the 8 first.  Unfortunately for Roger, the
principles of Rocket Pool™ weren't working for him in this match, and
he was unable to secure a win.  Roger went down 0:3.

I played next against Scott Wiedmeyer in a 3:4.  I was shooting well
and won the first game by making a nice bank on the 8--strictly by
luck as one of Scott's balls was blocking the straight-on shot but
served as the prefect guide for me to aim for the bank.  Scott
struggled a bit in the second game which I won too, but then he
rallied in the third to get to the 8 first.  The 8 was close to the
side pocket and presented an obvious scratch if one tried to cut it
down to the nearest corner pocket, but inexplicably, that's the shot
Scott called and took.  And scratched, giving me the game and a match
win, 3:0.

Tami played the 4th match of the night against Tim.  With Tim's -64
handicap and the new handicap tables in effect, that meant a 2:1 match
(rather than a 3:2 under the previous table).  It was of no
consequence, as Tami was shooting well, making some nice cuts, and
Tim was shooting like, well, a -64 handicapped player.  Tami took him
down, 2:0, for much overdue match win; woo!

Paul played the final match of the night against Stan, the last of the
Wiedmeyer clan, in a 2:2.  Paul struggled a little to find his aim, but
it came to him when he needed it, and he won the first game.  After
Stan won the second, the final game came down to the 8, with Paul and
Stan having both sunk all their balls.  Paul had first crack, but
unfortunately he didn't have a shot and instead opted for a safety,
which he played perfectly, leaving the 8 a ¼ inch from the rail with
the cueball on the other side of the 8 opposite the rail and at a
slight angle, also just a ¼ inch away from the 8.  With Dean watching,
Stan then tried a direct shot on the 8, but after hitting the cueball,
it rebounded off the 8 and back into his cue, causing a double hit,
which Dean declared a foul, giving Paul ball-in-hand on the 8, which
he of course sank for the win, 2:1 over Stan.

So we won 4 and lost 1 to start the winter session; awesome!  All the
other teams went 3:2 or worse, so we are currently in sole possesion
of 1st for the current session.  Let's keep it that way for the next
13 weeks! :)

Tomorrow we play Bob Daun's team, the team we played in the last week
of the fall session and beat 3:2.  Bob will likely not have forgotten
his match against Roger...

John