Germany, DCC, and new tables!

Pogue

Well-Known-Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
55
From
Mainz, Germany
Dropping in to say "long time, no see", and give a few updates.

For those who don't know me, I am "ShortBus" Russ Chewning over at AZBilliards. Spent most of my time over the past 10-15 years as a military contractor, which really kept me from playing/competing as much as I like, even if I did have a private pool table.

My wife and I had the opportunity to move to Germany for a lucrative contract position when my son was in his senior year of high school. We had bought a house in Colorado that appreciated in value very quickly, so within a year of moving to Germany, we liquidated both houses in the states, and now have a nice little nest egg to do a little bit of travelling, locally within Europe.

I am playing in the German league system, and we won our Bezirksliga division last year and got promoted to Landesliga. I am legitimately a Verbandsliga level player, and likely Oberliga level when I actually start practicing. I often play with an Oberliga player and if I have been playing a lot, I sometimes manhandle him.

I went to DCC this past January, and with very little practice, I entered all three events. Didn't do well in the Banks, and had a small flash of inspiration in the One Pocket, and had Scott Frost down 5-0, 6-0, in back-to-back games! Let him slip away both times, though, as I managed to pull out the short stroke just in time to lose each game. What this trip to Derby DID show me is.. I have some level of talent, and at 43, I owe it to myself to put in more table time, to smooth out both my stroke and my nerves. One of the fellows I barely lost to in the One Pocket did end up going pretty far in the One Pocket division.

Came back to Germany after DCC, and a few months later, decided I hated our small little apartment, discussed it with the wife, and decided to move. Eventually found a place in Mainz, Germany, that had room for a 9 footer in the living room, but had an additional bedroom to be repurposed as the new living room. But.. ALSO have a decent-sized room in the basement!!

Looked into used pool tables here.. Found a place that sold both pool and snooker tables.. And thought, "Why not?" Decided to put a pool table ("Diamondized" Gold Crown III) upstairs, and a snooker table downstairs in the basement as far up against the wall as possible, then use the table for stroke practice, with pool balls.

So, there it is. Looking to really get my stroke grooved up for Derby this year and see if I can take a few pro scalps this year. I've come close a few times, but just hadn't put in the work to be able to compete with those level of players. This time, over the next few months, I am going to do my best to seriously overprepare. I suffer from a lot of self doubt, most owing to the fact that I don't have the greatest muscle memory, and have to be practicing very hard to get the best out of my game. Looking to change that this year. The goal is to get my fundamentals solid enough so that they operate whether I am doubting myself or not.

Tables go in this coming Sunday. Before that, my wife and I are driving up to Leende, Netherlands to spend Thursday/Friday cheering on the Mosconi Cup hopefuls that are going to be competing in the Eurotour event there. Maybe if I work enough on my game, I might be playing in a few myself in the coming year.

ShortBus Russ
 

NH Steve

Administrator
Joined
Apr 25, 2004
Messages
13,181
From
New Hampshire
Good for you, hoping to take a big leap with your game. That's a tough one, because there seems to me to be a lot more than practice that makes the best players! But if you think you have the latent talent there waiting to be tapped... great for you!
 

Mkbtank

Verified Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
5,946
From
Philly Pa
Germany, DCC, and new tables!

Hey Russ. Nice to see you on here. Sounds like you have a cool wife! Good luck with the preparation and hoping to meet up with you this year at the Derby and hit em a bit.

Mitch Brown
 

Eengat

Verified Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2014
Messages
192
Shortbus, i'm coming in on thursday at Eurotour, play doesnt start till thursday

it'll be my first one in 11 years but probably due to commitments elsewhere need to start in losers round

make yourself known please, would like to meet

on the sunday in the Hague, in poolclub 'Hague 5', we will play the masters of our one-pocket tour

16 players in action, in the events we had Germans, Belgians, French, Danish playing
people starting to come from allover
prizemoney not all that
but defo a good one to participate in, when they start the new cycle

check here
https://www.facebook.com/onepocketseries/?ref=br_rs
(if you dont have fsacebook get it, a ton of live action pops up every day

gr
Alex Lely
 

Pogue

Well-Known-Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
55
From
Mainz, Germany
Shortbus, i'm coming in on thursday at Eurotour, play doesnt start till thursday

it'll be my first one in 11 years but probably due to commitments elsewhere need to start in losers round

make yourself known please, would like to meet

on the sunday in the Hague, in poolclub 'Hague 5', we will play the masters of our one-pocket tour

16 players in action, in the events we had Germans, Belgians, French, Danish playing
people starting to come from allover
prizemoney not all that
but defo a good one to participate in, when they start the new cycle

check here
https://www.facebook.com/onepocketseries/?ref=br_rs
(if you dont have fsacebook get it, a ton of live action pops up every day

gr
Alex Lely

Alex,

I was actually aware of the One Pocket events in the Netherlands, and was planning on attending all the events when the next cycle starts up. I was playing with Thomas Kirsch there for a while. He's the only person in Germany that I know who plays One Pocket. Also, I actually thought about trying to get a lesson with you if you are going to be in Leende.

It'd be really nice if we could find a way to get some One Pocket tournaments going in Germany, but doesn't seem to be much interest.
 

Pogue

Well-Known-Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
Messages
55
From
Mainz, Germany
Huge thread in ZaneWorld

Short synopsis: Table turned out pretty well, all things considered, given that I had to get the pocket dimensions/ example pics from realkingcobra, to give to the German table mechanic... Pockets nice and snug, coming in a little under 4 1/2" for the corners, and around 4 3/4" for the sides.

Doesn't look like the mechanic changed the pocket angles from the Gold Crown III standard, but the pockets do play challenging, with new cloth, so I expect they'll be just fine to practice up for Derby on, once the table gets a little wear..

One rail kicks were right on track right after installation, though it was raining cats and dogs outside. A few days later, once weather dried up, one rail kicks running just a tad long, and three railers about 1/2 diamond long, which is expected with new cloth.

Only thing about the thread on AZ is that jackass trentfromtoledo, giving me a hard time about how "horrible" the table came out, and calling into question my playing ability if I thought the table was serviceable in any way.

For the record, the two pros I have played one pocket tournament matches against were John Morra, the year he won the Banks at DCC, Cliff Joyner, around two years ago, and Scott Frost, this year.

Had John Morra down 2-1 (with SVB sweating MY match because of the All-Around points!!) and couldn't close him out due to practicing only on a home Red Label Diamond that banked severely short, and I didn't adjust that well, couldn't make any cross corners, though I had plenty of chances.. Lost 3-2.

Lost 3-2 to Cliff Joyner for pretty much the same reason.

Was leading Scott Frost 5-0, 6-0 in back to back games this year, and short-stroked the position on both out balls and trapped myself. Lost this one due to pretty much no practice at all on the critical stuff.

All that to say.. I can play a little, but I am just a 2-3 tournament a year guy, due to work schedule. having a dude question my evaluation of my own freaking table is pretty irritating. I doubt the guy can hit the end rail.

So, anyways.. I am fairly happy all-around with both the Gold Crown III and snooker table... The cloth could have prolly been stretched a little tighter, but I expect I will get it recovered about 6 weeks before Derby anyways, by someone with good references, so no worries there..
 
Top