another tournament

[marek]

Hi people!
Another story from another tournament... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif
On Saturday there was a local tournament with 25 players here. The field wasnt big but the competition was quite strong as there were 8 out of 10 top players from my country (most of the best players live in Prague where the tournament took place). The game was 9-ball, race to 8, shortened double elimination format (last 8 single elim.). I had 1-st round bye so I could enjoy watching my opponents for a while. After a hour or so I was called to play my match. My opponent was quite strong player but I was quite confident as my game is much stronger then ever before in last month (due to the correction of one stupid mistake I had in my stroke for maybe 2 years!). I smashed him 8:3 while I took luxury of the "mid-match rest" when I was leading 6:0 and left him to come back to 6:3... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif then I took a closer look at the bracket and found out that I was going to play with our country national champion (17-th at WC in Cardiff 2001) "damn!" I told to myself but then I realized that I like the idea of playing quality match so I was looking forward to it. Well, what to say: I was playing great, he too..AND he was playing the role of rack inspector all the time and at one time he INTENTIONALLY left me sluggish rack which I realized AFTER the break..it was at 6:6...he run out-6:7... he breaks...9 from break.......6:8!!! MAN I was p....d off! But only for a while because I knew I was going to beat anyone in losers side with my game(race to 6 in losers side). Well...it was definitelly the shortest match in whole tournament as I won 6:1 with 4 straight runouts from 2:1... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif It was REALLY sweet to watch my opponent`s suffering game after game... (probably little evil in me...dark side... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif ). This victory meant that I advanced into quarterfinals. My next opponent was excelent 9-ball player with great safety play (5-th in nationals this year). He won the lag and started the match in great style. The only time I got to the table was into some great safety and to rack the balls. I was trailing 0:4 with little hope for any change.. fortunatelly he went dry on break so I was able to run 2 tables - 2:4. Then I scratched from the break while 3 balls went in....routine run out for my opponent 2:5. He broke the rack nicely so it seemed that I was destined to watch another runout...BUT he scratched while playing 3 rail position to 8... unlucky for him!!! 3:5...I broke and 9 went in!!! - 4:5...I broke and 3 balls went in - runout - 5:5...I broke and another ball went in...runout! - 6:5 - I broke and ball went in but no reasonable way to continue this runout feast..pushout..he tried to make long cut but with no success while my attempt to make long bank shot was MUCH better which leaded to score 7:5. I broke but nothing went in. My opponent took the risk again on long cut but maybe due to nervousity was unsuccessful again. And as there was no problem on the table and my stroke worked perfectly I won 8:5. Man I was really happy about this match because I managed to come from behind while my opponent was playing great and of course I was REALLY REALLY happy about my performance itself. In the semifinal I was going to play the champ who beated me 6:8 2 hours before. Actually I didnt managed to repeat my good perfomance from the last match as I was starting to feel fatigue. So I lost 3:8 and I was quite angry at myself but only for a while. 5 minutes later I was mainly happy with my overall performance that day.
Its awesome how small things sometimes make big difference. First of all: correction of my stroke problem leaded to metal-solid stroke. And buying Phil Capelle`s "Play your best 9-ball" 6 months ago leaded to proper knowledge of the game. And there is great potential of improvement ahead of me because my position play isnt QUITE exceptional but I am working on it! BEWARE WORLD!!! /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif
I just feel very happy that all the hard work finally starts to pay off! Even thanks to you people as you were (and still are) the great source of encouragement for me when I was in GREAT slump 9 months ago...
BIG BIG Thank You!

[MikeM]

Great job Marek. And nice post too. I'm always happy to see a post from you and to hear about your progress. Keep up the good work and keep us posted.

MM...also curious as to the big change in your stroke.

[Kato]

Marek, keep 'em coming. I love your descriptions of your matches. Keeps me on the edge of my seat.

By the way, you are from Prague? I have a cousin that spent 2 years in Prague and brought me back a bottle of Budweiser. Pretty neat.

Kato

[Rich R.]

It's good to hear from you again, Marek.
Keep the stories coming. I enjoy reading about your tournament experiences.
Rich R.~~~keep up the good work.

[Kato]

Whitewolf it is no joke. My cousin lived in the Czech Republic for 2 years and he brought me back a bottle of Budwieser fromm there. Much different than what we have here. The label is printed in Czech but right in the middle the word Budwieser is in bold print, plus they have way higher alcohol content.

I just think it's neat, sitting on my dresser, is a little piece of the Czech Republic, where Marek lives.

I also very honestly enjoy Marek's tournament posts. He's very candid, does a great job with recollection, and he translates to me with some humor to. Neat guy I think.

Kato

[Kato]

Whitewolf, it's ridiculous. Something like 12% alcohol. Egads!!!!!!!

Mike, my cousin, told me they play a very strange version of 8 ball in the bars there. You get 2 innings per turn. So you have to miss twice in order to lose your place at the table. I'm sure Marek doesn't play like that though./ccboard/images/icons/tongue.gif

Kato~~~fears no beer...........except that bottle 'o Bud

[Fred Agnir]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote: whitewolf:</font><hr> Kato, that explains it. Most Europeans don't like American beers because they are too light. I didn't know Budweiser had a more powerful version. <hr></blockquote>
There are plenty of light European beers (flavor, alcohol, etc.) It's the mass-produced, low-flavor, high-headache U.S. beers they don't like. I work with many many Europeans. The trend of microbrews in the U.S. has had favorable reviews from all those that I know.

FWIW, the original Budweiser is a good Czech Lager (it's a Pilsner, if anyone cares) with absolutely no relation to Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser. To my knowledge, the Czech Budweiser does not promote pool or billiards.

Fred &lt;~~~ will drink either, given the right circumstances

[marek]

Yeah you are right! 8-ball in bars here is quite strange. And much harder to say. You got 2 innings after foul but you have to put cue ball on the head string after the foul AND you can play only balls which are on the far half of the table!!! So if you have BIH and your last ball is on the close half of the table you have to play bank shot! Another rule is that you have to play 8-ball in the opposite pocket of the one you have played your last ball in! For casual players it usually takes 10 minutes to clean the table and another 5-10 minutes to bang 8-ball in the right pocket.... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif These rules were invented when the first pool tables got here in 1990 after "the velvet revolution" (communists were here before - they banned pool as "the sport of imperialists and capitalists"...). Those tables were coin-operated and people in our country didnt want to pay so much money so they made harder rules to play longer games.... /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif But I am happy to say that the proper rules (Europian poolbilliards federation sanctioned) are taking the edge over those old rules thanks to the fact that there are very few coin-op tables right now so you get an hour rate almost everywhere... and INDEED I really dont play by that rules! /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif

[marek]

Hi Rich!
Dont worry about stories! There ll be plenty of them in few weeks! /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif /ccboard/images/icons/smile.gif

[marek]

As I say: small change sometimes does great difference!
In this case it was little error due to which I had to exercise my stroke great deal of time. I used to have about 10 cm (or 3-4 inches) space between my chin and my cue while stroking. Then about 2 years ago I found out that I have better accuracy when I put my chin just on cue (snooker-like stroking). But I didnt realize one little thing: while moving my head down I changed the angle of my stroking arm. Few weeks ago I went to my straight shot drill routine and I was shooting just BAD! It was mainly due to fatigue but I didnt realize it (thanks GOD!). So I tried to find out whats wrong with my stoke. After 30 minutes of total frustration I just tried to move my grip little further to the end of cue. And it WORKED!
I found the mistake: my grip was too forward on the cue so I didnt have the right stability on the contact with the cue ball.
But it took me about 14 days to get rid of that mistake for good. Right now I enjoy my totally solid stroke which is the result of countless hours of stroke-drilling as it was a MUST for me due to that mistake!

[Kato]

Marek, the whole time I thought my cuz was joshing me, guess not./ccboard/images/icons/cool.gif

Kato