Still waiting?
Still waiting?
My match, which I thought would have for sure been tonight, has been scheduled for 10 am. So, I figured I would take this open time to write up a bit about my match with Bernie and give some impressions of this, the second day of the tournament.
Bernie and Tara Pettipiece are just about as friendly of people as you would ever care to meet. I had briefly spoken to them both last year in Vegas, and have been very pleased to become aquainted with the both of them, again, over the last couple of days. When I saw that I was matched up against him, I felt very enthused by the opportunity to compete against such a specialist. Bernie lived up to his reputation as a mover and a squeezer, and put me in spot after spot after spot.
What really impressed me most was Bernie's unwillingness to give up any kind of a bank. I must say, that last year, when I played SVB and Kiamco at the Open, they both left a lot more openings at some kind of a bank. While Bernie did miss a few balls to his hole, and gave up some straight ins, his knowledge of blocking profitable banks was quite evident and frustrating. In this way, Bernie took from me what I consider one of my strengths. It seemed that if he left one, it was like "You wanna shoot that? Go ahead!" So, he really forced me into his game, the moving battle.
I was pleased how I moved, and did beat him to the shot a couple games. In one instance I dogged an easy jacked up, short, nearly straight in, that sold out control of the game. In another instance, I ran into the low ball trying to spin around what was left of the stack, the whole world was sitting right in front of me, and that positional error was very frustrating. Bernie moved that game to victory.
In the fourth and ultimately final game, I took a (6) to (-1) lead. I felt very confident about waiting out that victory, and not giving it up. Unfortunately, I sold out a couple tight banks out of the wedge on his side of the table. I think he only made one of them, but definitely started getting balls out towards his hole. The turning point came when Bernie left me a cut from the top of my side. It layed such that if I cut it thin, with inside, I could spin whitey under his balls, two long rails. However, when the object ball missed, it kissed the cue, and I sold out 3 balls. Then, on an ensuing shot, I scratched playing safe. I scratched again trying to dig out Bernie's 8th ball, and the final score was 8-4.
The match was quite a grinder, considering the lopsided score, and took every bit of 3 hours. To my surprise, Bernie had an immediate table assignment to play Jeff Jimenez. I headed over to the brackets to see what my future held, surprised to see I was waiting on two matches before I would have a b-side opponent. The first of which wasn't even scheduled yet. So, what that meant was that Bernie was playing a second round winners side match, before a first round winners side match had gone off. That felt a bit peculiar so I went to the tournament desk to inquire as to their strategy.
I was told, last night, that the U.S. Open One Pocket was basically being run around the Bar Table Championship. So, the players who had not gone off in the first round had some conflict with the 10 ball. That was my first inclination that this event has just kind of been crammed into a non-ideal venue. Last year, as a part of the 10 and 8 ball open events, the One Pocket had a very strong, full field. This years field of 35, seems a bit small, and I believe it has to do with the fact that not very many of the bar box players would cross over to the one pocket.
So, one would think, that first round match wold have gone first thing in the morning. They did not play until about 12:30, and it was a fairly quick set, lasted a bit over an hour, that featured Alaska beating Buffalo. I could see that now, I had one match to wait out, then I would have an opponent. I figured again, that it would go off pretty quick, as there were lots of other matches starting, but still tables available. I checked the brackets again to see what time they were to play, only to find out that this second round match had no scheduled start time, while third round matches were going off already. So, I headed back to the tournament desk, where they were surprised to see this match, unscheduled, lagging behind the rest of the tournament. They called the match immediately.
At 4:30, Brian Butler and Sean Morgan started their match, I would get the loser, but there was no scheduled time for that ensuing match either. I figured for sure, I would be playing tonight. So, all day long, I have been jumping on tables as they open, stroking balls, working on pocket speed, shooting spot shots, then jumping on the next table as it opened. I felt pretty good, was making a lot of balls, and was definitely ready to play. But, upon the conclusion of their match, I realized that Sean and I were scheduled to play at 10am, and it was the winners side match, between Brian and Shane, that was scheduled for 10pm tonight.
If you look at the bracket, you will see both winners and losers side matches running in the round, so it was basically the choice of the TD's to determine what match was going to play. Now, I ask you, does it not seem unfair, after a 5 hour grinder, that the loser goes to bed and the winner has to play again? It is almost as if Brian is punished for winning. I was a bit put out that I did not get to take 'advantage" of what must have been a fatigued Sean Morgan, but really just felt indignant for Brian. I spoke with him, and he didn't really understand it either, showing a bit of frustration about the schedule, "I mean, aren't we here all week?" he queried.
Last year in Vegas, it felt like a prestigious gathering of top notch one pocket players. We were all held to a high standard of punctuality, appearance, and demeanor. This year, it feels more like an afterthought to the Bar Table Championship. The balls have not been cleaned, there is no dress code (?), and the overhead lights cast the shadow of the table light box, over about 1/3 of most tables, and there was no player's meeting. In addition, spectators have no options but short chairs, which they are stacking on top of each other, for a better view.
All that said, it is a great experience, and there are great players and people all over the room. I have met very many people, including Greg Sullivan, who filled me in on his plans for major events, and that he is scouting this venue for one of them. And Michael Reddick, a player and the proprietor of California Cue Sports, which runs a One pocket league in CA. I am always spreading the word about the generosity of the Onepocket.org community, and how I ended up with the sponsorship.
Now, I'm gonna turn in and try to get rested up for my morning match.
Thanks again, guys.
