This Sunday I turned in one of the worst performances in league history and got absolutely slaughtered in an APA 9 Ball match. It’s no secret 9 Ball is my weakest game, so I decided to join an APA 9 ball team this session for the first time to get some experience playing in the APA format in preparation for the upcoming US Amateur Qualifiers.
I’m rated ‘9’ in the APA format and I was playing a guy who is rated ‘8’, so our race would be 65 to 75. To win, I would need to score 75 points before my opponent scored 65. For the most part, APA 9 Ball rules are similar to standard 9 ball rules except for the fact that the match is actually a point race instead of a game race. Each ball pocketed is worth one point, and the 9 Ball counts as two points. (Also, there is no ‘push out’ on the break.) Each player plays up to a certain number of points based upon his or her player rating.
The first rack we played set the tone for the entire match. In the first rack alone, I scratched three times and also played a perfect safe on myself during an easy run out. Four ball in hands for my opponent in just the first rack! It was all downhill from there. I could do absolutely nothing right. I didn’t actually keep count, but over the course of the match I’m pretty sure I scratched at least eight times and shot myself into perfect safes at least 6 times. That’s more than fourteen ball in hands for my opponent. Wow.
It quickly turned into a slaughter. I don’t even know what the final score was, but it was probably something like 25-65. Nasty! Oh well, experiences like this keep us modest. I sulked for a couple days, but now it’s time to get back to practicing on a regular basis, work on my fundamentals, and start rebuilding my game.
Angle of Reflection 
Did you scratch because you didn’t get the right speed or scratched off of other balls? The later would be acceptable you know.
Hi Ashwin, I appreciate that fact that you are pointing out a potential ‘not so bad’ cause here, but unfortunately, I was scratching because of incorrect speeds, not unplanned caroms. Yes, I really stunk Sunday! 🙂
LOL glad I could help….
It must have been the 6 straight days of 105+ heat in Kentucky and Tennessee that did it! 🙂
*scratching head* … I don’t think I’ve given ball-in-hand to a 7+ player four times in a rack evAR. Generally he would have / should have run out after the first or second one…? Sounds like he was getting off to a slow start as well. Oh well, like you said, a good beat down now and then helps keep things in perspective. 🙂
Yep, I’m still scratching my head on this one. Epic fail!