Lessons in 9 Ball with Mike B.

Saturday was a 9-ball match with Mike B.
who is a skill level 8 in APA,
one level higher than me.
That's the way I like it:
playing people who are better than me,
so I can stretch my limits
and learn more about this great game!

I got off to a slow start in the first match.
I was a little nervous and by the time
I started to settle down, I had already
given him a couple of games because
of stupid mistakes on my part.
He had me down 4 or 5 to zip
and won some games but still lost
the match with a score of 9-5.

The second match went a lot better,
and I actually was on the hill at 8-6,
but I didn't keep my Mind In The Game,
and let him get to hill-hill,
and then blew an easy runout and
handed him that match too.

A few months ago,
I won a 9 ball APA match against him,
and after the match he had only two words
to say to me: "Lucky Bastard!"

So maybe I should say the same to him now!
;o)
I'm looking forward to a rematch!

An interesting, and unanticipated lesson:
How to Rack 9 Ball.
Seems that I had been doing it wrong all along.
After learning how Mike B. does it,
and having a big discussion about it,
I got curious what other players think
on this subject...
Check this link at AZ Billiards forum:


After the 9-ball matches,
Tony Sorto got us into some 3-player "Bollita"
(little ball in Espanol).
This is a fast-paced pill game
where you have to shoot the closest ball first
while you try to sink your pill.

We played for about 11 hours,
with only a short break for pizza (delivered).
Toward the end of the night,
it seemed that nobody wanted to be the
first to throw in the towel and quit,
so we just got more and more tired.
Except Tony, of course, who seems not
to have human failings when it comes to pool.