Tournament This Weekend

Rotation games are my achilles heel, but maybe I’ll get lucky this weekend?

Rodney’s Classy Move

I pulled a quick two and out at the West Coast 10 Ball Challenge this April and had the opportunity to watch a Rodney Morris match that I’ll never forget.  Rodney was playing against a pretty decent shooter (I didn’t catch his name) on table 12.  The match was a race to 8 and Rodney was up 7-3.  Rodney made the one ball on the break but left an open shot on the 2 ball for his opponent.  It was a pretty tough layout, so his opponent looked the table over for what seemed like three or four minutes, then began pocketing balls.  2, 3, 4…he was methodically dropping balls and it soon became apparent that he had a chance to run the rack out.  Near the end of his very difficult run, he played the 7 ball and got perfect position on the 9.  He was hyper focused and started stroking for the next shot, not realizing the 8 ball was still on the table. I was sitting directly in his line of sight and noticed the error, but I was torn…do I say anything before he shoots…or not?  I decided not to say anything because it wouldn’t be fair to Rodney.  The rules are the rules and a foul would give Rodney ball in hand and almost certainly the game and match.  A few seconds later the player fired the 9 into the corner pocket and got perfect (and pretty difficult) position on the 8 ball.  I glanced over at Rodney waiting for the foul to be called, but Rodney just raised his eyebrows, leaned forward a bit in his chair, looked the table over, then sat back to watch the next shot.  The shooter had been so focused on making the 9 ball and getting proper position on the 8 that he never realized he was shooting out of order.  He subsequently made the 8, got perfect on the 10, then drilled the 10 home for the game.  When he walked to the back of the table to set up the next rack, Rodney leaned forward and told him that he had pocketed the balls out of sequence.  The guy looked a little shocked and unsure of Rodney’s intent, but Rodney waved off his concerns and gave him the game to the amusement of the spectators.  I nodded to Rodney and said, “You have to admit though, it was one HELL of a run!”  He laughed and said, “Yes, it sure was!”

Tough Tournament This Week!

How’s this for an all-star lineup?  I’ll be playing against one of these guys in the West Coast Challenge 10 Ball Tournament.  I’m getting my game face on for some SERIOUS pool!!!

This week at California Billiards:  John Schmidt, Alex Pagulayan, Francisco Bustamante, John Henderson, Scott Frost, Stevie Moore, Amar Kang, Rodney Morris, Santos Sambajon, Raj Hundal, Dan Louie, Billy Palmer, John Morra, Jerry Matchin, Jose Parica, Rafael Martinez, Manny Chau, Brandon Shuff, Louie Ulrich, “Preacher” Ron, Oscar Dominquez, Marc Vidal…

WorldPPA Tournament Results

103 players showed up last weekend at the California Billiard Club to play in the semiannual WorldPPA 9 ball tournament. Mary Rakin showed no fear as she blasted her way through a tough field to reach the hot seat undefeated. In the finals, she lost the first set to Michael Stansbury. In the second set the match went hill-hill (7-7), but Mary was able to take advantage of a missed shot to run the last three balls out for the victory. For additional details on the tournament, you can read a writeup on AZBilliards.

Here’s a picture of Mary Rakin and Michael Stanbury taken after the tournament ended around 2:00am Monday morning:

Hey, wait a minute. Who’s that guy on the right side of the picture? Yep, that’s me! I had a blast helping Chris run the tournament. It was fun meeting all the players and finally being able to put names with faces. If you ever have the opportunity to help run a tournament, I highly recommend it. It gives you an appreciation for all the hard work that goes into planning and executing a successful event. Lots of FUN!

Seminole Pro Tour Stop at California Billiards

On April 29, 2011, several of the top pool players in the world will come together in Mountain View, California for the $12,000 added first stop of the Seminole Pro Tour.  Yours truly will be competing in…oh, wait, let’s correct that…will be playing in the 10 ball event.  Did I earn my way into the tournament?  Heck no.  I just paid the entry fee.  For a paltry $115, I have the opportunity to step up to the table and play with the best of the best in a three day double elimination race to nine 10 ball event.  There will be two tables live streaming during the tournament…a tournament table and an action table.  But wait, there’s more!  Starting April 27, there’s a three day one pocket tournament that will be drawing the top one pocket players in the world!!!  Of course, I’ll be taking the week off from work to sit at the CBC and absorb the ambiance.

“So, you say it’s going to be a big tournament, huh?   Who’s coming?”  Good question!  I spoke to some of the folks over at California Billiards to find out which players have called in to register.  As of today, here’s a partial list of players who have confirmed they will play:
1. Earl Strickland
2. Efren Reyes
3. Francisco Bustamante
4. Corey Deuel
5. Scott Frost
6. Jeanette Lee
7. Alex Pagulayan
8. Bernard “Pots and Pans” Rogoff
9. Gabe Owen

A Blessing in Disguise

As you know from my last post, my neck issues have prevented me from playing much over the last week. I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten about 90% of my range of motion back, but now my back is so sore I can’t bend over to shoot. Getting old I guess! I got to the CBC around 7 PM with a heating pad around my midsection and popped several Motrin with the intent of warming up so I could play in the Saturday night tournament. Didn’t work.

So here I am, my butt glued to a wooden chair while the Saturday night 9ball tournament rages around me. On the bright side, this is a great opportunity for me to watch other players and analyze their games.  How do they form a bridge, how loosely do they hold the cue, how do they address the cue ball, what routes do they select to get from ball A to ball B, how low do they get over the cue, what is their prestroke routine, how smooth is their stroke. A great learning experience.

I’ve also come to a realization. There are some players who, a year ago, would routinely beat the living snot out of me. Now we play even. Additionally, there is one particular Filipino player whom I used to believe shot like a God. Now I can see chinks in his armor.  He gets a little sloppy against inferior players, but tends to pick his game up against stronger opponents. I’m pretty sure if I had been able to play tonight, I could have taken him. Arrogance you say? No, I just know that I’ve been shooting really good lately, and tonight his game is off…. he’s committed several errors already that normally would cost a player the match.

Well, as I was typing this, he ended up winning the match, then shot lights out to plaster his next two opponents and clinch the tournament. Oh well, so much for my theory.

The Best Practice Session Ever!

I only had one and a half hours today to squeeze in a short practice session and I wanted to make the most of it, so prior to arriving at the California Billiard Club (CBC) I made a short list of things I wanted to work on.  This was my list:
 1. The corner pocket drill (Classic 1) – to work on my short game
 2. Kicks to the corner pocket – a lot of my kicks have been off recently
 3. One-rail kicks – ditto above
 4. 9 Ball break shots – I’ve been scratching a lot lately (~40%)

The first lesson I learned today was the power of making a list and sticking to the plan.  Today’s practice session was probably my most valuable practice session ever.  Ever!  I learned so much that I started typing notes into my iPhone to make sure I captured it all.   I think I have enough new information to fill a week’s worth of blog posts, but I’m going to cover just one item today:  The 9 Ball break shot.

Traditionally I’ve always broken 9 Ball racks from a location about six inches to the right of the head spot.  Why?  I don’t know.  That’s the same location from which I normally shoot 8 Ball break shots, so I guess I just adopted the same location for 9 Ball.  Over the last several months I’ve been very disappointed with the number of times I’ve scratched on the break (~40%), and also the number of dry breaks that I’ve gotten.  I decided to move my break location today after remembering my experiences playing against Jeff Gregory a couple months ago.  Jeff has one of the best 9 Ball break shots I’ve ever seen, and today I started experimenting with variations of his technique.  I’ll shorten the story now and just get right to the point:  I made drastic changes to my technique, and here’s the data on my new 9 Ball break shot (data from 30 breaks after I honed my new technique):
 1.  P(sink some ball somewhere on the break) = ~ 86.6%
 2.  P(sink the 5 ball into pocket 6 on the break) = ~ 73.3%
 3.  P(sink the 1 ball into pocket 3 on the break) = ~ 36.7%
 4.  P(sink the 2 ball into pocket 4 on the break) = ~ 20.0%
 5.  P(sink the 8 ball into pocket 2 on the break) = ~ 10.0%
 6.  P(sink the 4 ball into pocket 1 on the break) = ~ 10.0%
 7.  P(sink the cue ball somewhere on the break) = ~ 3.3% 

Here’s how I was racking the balls to make it easier to track them:

Cue Ball Location, Pocket Designation, & Rack Configuration

 Here’s my technique (I’m right handed):
 1. I leave 3 3/8” between the cue ball and the left side rail on the head string (i.e. the left edge of the cue ball is 1.5 ball spaces from the left side rail)
 2. I hit the cue ball about ½ tip below center (no spin)
 3. I aim directly at the center of the head ball (actually, just a very slight hair to the left of center)
 4. When I stroke, I don’t use ANY body motion AT ALL.  I just stroke the shot from the elbow down!  Yes, I know it sounds strange…I’ll explain later.
 5. I make sure I’ve chalked the tip, and bridge off the side rail.
 6. I make sure I think about fundamentals…technique here is much more important than speed.

That’s it!

The stroke that I learned today (not moving any part of my body) is probably unique.  It is significantly different from what all other players do, at least that I’m aware of.  Why did I adopt this approach?  I made the decision to give up a lot of speed to make sure that I hit my stroke with the least amount of variation possible.  (My breaking speed decreased from ~23.5mph to ~19.5 mph)  The biggest shocker was the unbelievable consistency in the ball pocketing results.  On every break, the same balls were taking almost EXACTLY the same path every single time!  Even when I didn’t pocket a ball as I explained above, the balls were still very close.  It was a little spooky!

I hope this information helps you with your break shots.  My plan is to work on this breaking technique, change some of the variables slightly, and see if I can improve upon the results.  With a little practice you should be able to replicate this and improve upon it also.  Good luck!

Can I beat Efren Reyes?

I will be playing in the Seminole Pro Tour 10 Ball Event at California Billiards on April 29.  Since I don’t play very much 10 Ball, I figured it would be a good idea to practice the game.  Last night at the CBC I practiced my 10 Ball break to see if I could run a rack.  Well, I’m happy to report that miracles do happen.  On my very first break, I pocketed two balls, ran three balls, and then was able to make a fairly routine 5-10 combination shot for a run out.  On my second break, I got lucky again, made one ball, and was able to run the whole table out.  From that point on, it was all downhill.  I stopped the exercise after 12 racks, so my final tally was 2 break and runs in 12 attempts.  Not too bad for me.

I was feeling pretty good about my run out percentage, so I began wondering…suppose I get lucky and draw Efren Reyes in the first round of the tournament.  What are the chances that I could beat him?  On any given day, it’s possible that one player can get really hot and run some tables.  If the other player is really cold, it could be a rout.  Ok, let’s be honest – anyone who thinks they can actually beat Efren in a race to 9 format is either insane or at best delusional, but the mental exercise can still be fun.  What would it take for me to be able to beat Efren?  I decided to do a little analysis to figure out the answer.  Here are my assumptions:

1. Efren is a better shot maker than me. (No, really?!)
2. Efren is the better safety player than me.  (Duh!!)
3. Efren’s lag shot and break are better than mine.
4. Every component of Efren’s game is much better than mine.
5. I completed 2 break and runs in a row last night (incidentally, my first in 10 Ball!)
6. I have occasionally hit a perfect lag shot.
7. I’m in trouble!

Well, so far, it’s not looking very good…but let’s not give up hope yet.  As Jim Carrey’s character Lloyd said in the movie, Dumb and Dumber, “…there’s a chance!”  If you’re one of the five people on this planet who are not familiar with this quote, you must see the video below:

Efren is a very tough opponent because he’s not going to miss very many shots, and if he can’t make a shot, he’s going to play a hellacious safe and get ball in hand.  The way I figure it, the only way I can beat Efren is to never allow him to get to the table.  How could I do that?  First of all, I would have to win the lag.  Secondly, I could never let him get to the table.  What are the chances I can do that?  Let’s look at this situation from a probabilistic standpoint.  If I could maintain an average run out rate of 16.66% (very unlikely), and could somehow win the lag (I figure maybe a 15% chance since I have home field advantage), here’s the chance of me running 9 straight racks and defeating Efren:

P(Michael>Efren) = (0.15)(.16666)^9 = 1.4884E-8

In layman’s terms, the chance of me beating Efren is about 0.00000149%.  That’s a REALLY small number.  To help you understand just how small that number is, let’s compare it to the probability of some real world phenomena. 

1. P(Struck by lightning this year) = 1.736E-7 = 0.00001736%
2. P(Dating a Supermodel) = 1.136E-5 = 0.00114%
3. P(Spotting a UFO today) = 3.333E-7  = .0000333%

Turns out, it’s more likely that I’ll date a Supermodel, spot a UFO, and get struck by lightning before I beat Efren.  Hummm…the odds are not that good, but hey, I’ve still got a chance!!!!