BCA 8ball 2006!

The picture you see on your left is from one of the tournament rooms at the Riviera Hotel. Crazy, huh? There's another room just like this.

As you can see, I played in the BCA 8ball tournament again this year. I competed in the scotch doubles and the singles event, not teams.

Scotch Doubles:

My partner and I played in the masters division. I have to say we had bad luck with our first draw...I mean they were champions! The woman was a grandmaster champion from last year, and her partner is also a well-known bar table player who won the national bar table championship a couple of years ago. My partner told me that this team would be tough to beat, but I didn't really get it till after the match was over...it helps to be ignorant at times, I guess. We lost because of my careless mistake. The worst part of it was that they didn't see me commit the foul, but I told them anyway... I guess nice girls finish last, too :( We lost the next match and was done with the doubles tournament pretty quickly. What I learned from this tournament: I should not second-guess myself. I was worried about what my partner wanted me to do or how he wanted to run out the rack rather than thinking for myself. At a certain point, I should just go for what I think was the right shot. I worried too much.

Singles:

I was particularly curious about how I'd do in the singles event because I felt like it'll be a true test of my ability. I played so many matches that I can't even remember what my first opponent looked like. I barely remember this match, but I remember clearly how much of a struggle it was to win when it wasn't supposed to be so tough. I was missing crucial shots and could not get out on a simple run-out table. My second match was the same, except the woman played like she didn't give a crap about the tournament.

I didn't go into my 3rd match feeling good about my game. Sure enough, I was down 3-1. Even though my "coach" told me that I was still in the game, it felt like it was impossible. The woman did not shoot well, but I kept making it easy for her to win. He told me she was scared, but I was scared, too. I wasn't scared of her. I just didn't know what I was doing! I was playing well, but was not really in the game mentally. I scratched in the hill-hill game when anything but a scratch would have worked just fine. I didn't see a simple safety and it cost me the match. Looking back I realized that I was feeling lazy and did not care to play safeties to make sure I win. I just wanted to run out! It's only recently that I'm able to break and run out on a rack of 8-ball and once I've tasted the joy it was hard go back to the safety game.

My partner gave me a lesson that night by practicing last pocket 8ball with me. I don't know how I was able to remember considering how tired I was, but it seemed like it put me in the right mindset. I think I played smart and was able to win my first losers side match fairly easily.

At this point, I checked the chart to see how many matches I had to win to win the whole tournament. I had to win whopping 12 matches!!! OMG!!

The last match of the night lasted till about 12:30 AM. I couldn't believe it when I found myself losing to this woman who actually swung and missed the cue ball on her first 8ball (didn't touch the cueball at all!!). She made all kinds of shots, no matter how difficult they were. What ticked me off the most (not because she's Canadian) is when the tournament director announced the last Survivor in the middle of the tournament. She had the nerve to say to her friend,

"I missed Survivor for this match!?"

That's right. Get over it and rack, woman.

Anyhoo, I made it to hill-hill. She still made shots like god, but got weird shape on the 8ball. Suddenly she wasn't so confident and kept checking her shot. The pool gods finally came on my side and gave me another chance on the table. The woman missed Survivor AND the 8ball. Ha!

The next morning, I had to play my former teammate. One of us was going to be eliminated. I think we were both exhausted. I only got 4 hours of sleep and she played some insane number of matches for scotch doubles the day before. It never feels good to play someone I know and like, but gave me a good perspective on where my game is at right now.

Even on the losers side, each match got tougher. My next match ended up being fairly easy, but it could have been tough. She just missed her run-outs. She might have been feeling the pressure of having her friends all watching her play. I also played great and did not give her many chances.

The next one was closer. It was annoying having her friends cheering her on and talking to and amongs each other constantly during the match. I utilized precious bathroom breaks to stay focused. Perhaps her friends sharked her into making a few mistakes and I managed to win the match. 8 more to go??

I introduced myself to my next opponent and she greeted me with a big smile saying she knows me. ????? I totally didn't remember, but apparently I met her last year. I've heard a lot about her since we're both from southern Cali. I was determined to win. She's from the Valley and I'm from LA. I must win. I did not want to lose to someone from the same area. I was proud of myself for staying tough and winning 4-1 :)

I started to run out of energy. My next opponent was pretty tough but I just tried to keep going. Many thoughts were running through my head. If I won this match, I would play someone who just beat another one of my teammate from last year. From what I've heard, this woman was a pro. If I won this match, I would probably be in the master division next year. but if I won this match, I had to play another match, and still had 3-4 more to go that day (dang!). I was exhausted. I wasn't confident that I could keep going. I was down 2 games and made it hill-hill, but the last game, I gave up mentally. I was so disappointed I couldn't even cry.

Definitely a good learning experience. I discovered that I can actually figure out the whole pattern and run out fairly consistently. I learned some useful safeties as they came up. Banks and kicks were pretty good, and so were my breaks. I need to sleep more and make sure I go to the restroom (!). Eat small amounts whenever I can. Need to be focused the entire time and resist the urge to watch others. Important to know what I can/can't do and what my opponents can/can't do. Most important lesson was to never give up.

Thanks to all of you who helped me and sweated my matches. I will come back stronger next year :)