[POOL] Results!

[John Valdes]

Yesterday we played Get More with Les.  I was a bit mentally and
auditorily distracted last night--there was a DJ at Q and the music
was almost painfully loud--so apologies for any details (or lack
thereof) I misremember.

Martino went first against Glenn in a 2:4.  Neither Martino nor Glenn
were fully warmed up at the start of the match, with both missing
shots they normally make, but that made for close games.  Unfortunately,
Martino came out on the losing side of the first 3 games before
securing a win in the fourth to take the match to the hill (I had
started our 2nd match at this point, so I missed the details of his
win).  The hill game was likewise close, but Glenn had warmed up by
this point too and took the game and match, defeating Martino 1:4.

While Martino was playing the first match, I started the second
against Fred in another 2:4.  Fred's aim was dead-on, and he easily
won the first 2 games without much offense on my part.  His aim
started to waver in the third game while mine improved, so I took
advantage to win that game.  I got to the 8 first in the next game,
but missed my shot, allowing Fred to sink it to take our match to the
hill too.  We both shot well in the final game, but Fred continued
missing shots he had been making earlier, allowing me to get to the 8
first, which I just barely sank--I was worried about the cueball
scratching on my cut on the 8 and hit it way too softly, but
fortunately just enough for the 8 to trickle into the pocket.  I took
the match, 2:3.

Tami played next against Chuck in a 1:3.  Tami lost the lag by
millimeters (leaving her ball just millimeters off the rail too) but
was shooting well in the first game, making some difficult shots, and
got to the 8 well ahead of Chuck.  She had a not-as-difficult but
still deceptively-not-easy shot on the 8, but she cut it too shallowly
and missed.  Fortunately, Chuck still had a lot of work to do before
he could get to the 8, giving Tami a couple more attempts on it, which
she sank on the last one with a nice, cross-table cut to a corner,
winning the game and match 1:0.

Roger played the fourth match against Les, a 2:6.  Roger and Les
lagged within millimeters of each other too, with Roger having the
winning lag, but unfortunately for Roger, Les was shooting well during
gameplay as he usually does.  Les got to the 8 first in the first game
but had to bank it if he wanted to sink it; he lined it up using his
midpoint-parallel line method
(http://billiards.colostate.edu/normal_videos/NV6-3.htm) and sure
enough, made the bank easily.  However, when lining up the shot, he
forgot to check to see where the cueball would go, and as luck would
have it, it banked off a rail and rolled all the way into the opposite
corner pocket; win for Roger!  Alas, Roger needed two, and Les didn't
make that mistake again; despite some good pressure by Roger, Les shut
him out for the rest of the match, taking him down 1:6.

Paul flew in from Salt Lake City for the fifth match against
relatively new (and good) player Will, a 2:4.  Apparently the salty,
rarified air is good for one's pool game, 'cause Paul went on a tear
in the first game, running his last 6 balls and the 8 for a decisive
win.  He continued shooting well in the second game, up to the point
where he missed his shot and sent another ball across the table into
the 8, kicking it into a corner pocket for a loss.  Will won the next
game without Paul's help, but then he returned the favor by scratching
on the 8 (or giving Paul ball in hand on the 8, I forget exactly as I
was trying to block out the volume from the DJ), giving the 4th game
and the match to Paul, 2:2.

Az played the makeup match from last week against Jenny from team
Holdin' Our Own; it would have been a 2:3 matchup, but with the
penalty against Jenny's team for not having a player last week, it
became a 2:4.  It was of no consequence, however; while Jenny shot
well and won the first 2 games, Az shot well too and rallied to win
the next 2 games, taking the match 2:2.

So we had 3 wins and 2 losses, plus a 4th win in the makeup match; a
good night.  We were in a 4-way tie for 3rd entering the night (iirc);
with our 4 wins, we may have pulled ahead into 2nd.  There are only 3
more weeks of regular season play left.  Next week, we play X-Cue-Ses.

John