The outcome of the LTC.
So here's the skinny on what happened.
I have now learned what a "modified single-elimination" tournament is. Day one is essentially double-elimination. There are three rounds of which you must win two to advance to the second day. Or, if you are lucky enough to get a first-round bye, you must win one of the two remaining rounds.
Since the APA pool leagues have skill level handicaps, there are neat rules like "the sum of the skill levels of the five players you play in a match can not exceed 23. The rounds are best of 5. For our first match on Saturday we faced a team and went up 2-1 and I was ready and warmed up to play the fourth game to close it out. Suddenly, I realized the scorers had left and the other team had forfeited the rest of the match. They did not have a way to play their remaining players (that showed up) that they could play all 5 matches. So that was it, our "big first day" was a bye and 2 wins.
Day two started at 8am. The night before was one of those "I HAVE to wake up with the alarm" nights. So, even though I get up every day for work well before 7, I kept waking up every hour throughout the night worried I was going to sleep through my alarm. This does NOT yield a restful night sleep. :)
In the first round of day two, the team we played immediately got up 2-0. At that point, we were expecting the other team to save their remaining high skill level player for an easier high-low matchup. However, we got lucky and they threw him into a match with Mike, our highest skill level player. It was a 5-5 race and our guy quickly got up 4-1. I got myself prepared to shoot the 4th match. Then I waited... it not only went down to 4-4, but the last game had enough edge-of-the-pocket moments to yield multiple heart attacks.
Thankfully, Mike pulled it out. But, rather than being in my zen place, I was now full of nervous energy. On top of that, each round has a time limit. Go over that, and the subsequent player matches are sudden death. Even though I was shooting in game 4, I felt like we had a better shot to close it out if game 5 did not go to sudden death. Since Mike's match ran long, I stupidly got it in my head that I need to hurry up and win. I came out and shot quickly. Although, I felt if I slowed down I'd be shaking.
My first inning threw me for a loop, I was actually pretty dead on, but I played a long slow shot down the table for my third shot. It was going straight for the pocket, then some interdimensional gravitational force decided to curve the trajectory of the cue ball. Well, that, or the table wasn't perfectly flat. This knocked me out of my zone a little bit.
In the end, I lost 3-1 in a 3-3 race. I didn't play bad, although I missed a few key shots (including two straight-in shots on the 8-ball in the game that I eventually won). Post-game analysis by other players was mostly positive. I had mostly good shot selection. The losses were often due to either not paying attention to the problem spots on the table or paying too much attention to them and failing to execute because I was working too hard to resolve them. I definitely don't feel bad about how I played. And while it sucks to be the "last loss", it took three losses to lose the match. I think the team played reasonably solid.
If there's anything I'd change about the weekend it would be my previous blog entry. Sometimes I'm a little too open and honest and I felt like there was a good possibility that my teammates could read my previous blog. And, that if they read it, it could come across as negative or belittling of our accomplishments. It was honest, I didn't feel like we had a great chance to take the win going into the weekend. But I quickly saw our potential once we were there in the thick of it. Realistically, any team that makes it to LTC's has a shot. It all comes down to strategy and, ultimately, execution.
On a positive note, we rocked the house and won 5-0 during regular league last Wednesday keeping us in the hunt for the division. It's still a long season (that was week 3 of 12), but we all feel good about our prospects. Then again, the week we went 5-0 is the one week I didn't play. :)
I have now learned what a "modified single-elimination" tournament is. Day one is essentially double-elimination. There are three rounds of which you must win two to advance to the second day. Or, if you are lucky enough to get a first-round bye, you must win one of the two remaining rounds.
Since the APA pool leagues have skill level handicaps, there are neat rules like "the sum of the skill levels of the five players you play in a match can not exceed 23. The rounds are best of 5. For our first match on Saturday we faced a team and went up 2-1 and I was ready and warmed up to play the fourth game to close it out. Suddenly, I realized the scorers had left and the other team had forfeited the rest of the match. They did not have a way to play their remaining players (that showed up) that they could play all 5 matches. So that was it, our "big first day" was a bye and 2 wins.
Day two started at 8am. The night before was one of those "I HAVE to wake up with the alarm" nights. So, even though I get up every day for work well before 7, I kept waking up every hour throughout the night worried I was going to sleep through my alarm. This does NOT yield a restful night sleep. :)
In the first round of day two, the team we played immediately got up 2-0. At that point, we were expecting the other team to save their remaining high skill level player for an easier high-low matchup. However, we got lucky and they threw him into a match with Mike, our highest skill level player. It was a 5-5 race and our guy quickly got up 4-1. I got myself prepared to shoot the 4th match. Then I waited... it not only went down to 4-4, but the last game had enough edge-of-the-pocket moments to yield multiple heart attacks.
Thankfully, Mike pulled it out. But, rather than being in my zen place, I was now full of nervous energy. On top of that, each round has a time limit. Go over that, and the subsequent player matches are sudden death. Even though I was shooting in game 4, I felt like we had a better shot to close it out if game 5 did not go to sudden death. Since Mike's match ran long, I stupidly got it in my head that I need to hurry up and win. I came out and shot quickly. Although, I felt if I slowed down I'd be shaking.
My first inning threw me for a loop, I was actually pretty dead on, but I played a long slow shot down the table for my third shot. It was going straight for the pocket, then some interdimensional gravitational force decided to curve the trajectory of the cue ball. Well, that, or the table wasn't perfectly flat. This knocked me out of my zone a little bit.
In the end, I lost 3-1 in a 3-3 race. I didn't play bad, although I missed a few key shots (including two straight-in shots on the 8-ball in the game that I eventually won). Post-game analysis by other players was mostly positive. I had mostly good shot selection. The losses were often due to either not paying attention to the problem spots on the table or paying too much attention to them and failing to execute because I was working too hard to resolve them. I definitely don't feel bad about how I played. And while it sucks to be the "last loss", it took three losses to lose the match. I think the team played reasonably solid.
If there's anything I'd change about the weekend it would be my previous blog entry. Sometimes I'm a little too open and honest and I felt like there was a good possibility that my teammates could read my previous blog. And, that if they read it, it could come across as negative or belittling of our accomplishments. It was honest, I didn't feel like we had a great chance to take the win going into the weekend. But I quickly saw our potential once we were there in the thick of it. Realistically, any team that makes it to LTC's has a shot. It all comes down to strategy and, ultimately, execution.
On a positive note, we rocked the house and won 5-0 during regular league last Wednesday keeping us in the hunt for the division. It's still a long season (that was week 3 of 12), but we all feel good about our prospects. Then again, the week we went 5-0 is the one week I didn't play. :)