Long Anticipated Match

It's Saturday, my practice/lesson day with El Maestro.
We decided to shoot at Buddy's room
(Family Billiards, Oceanside).
The tables are all Gold Crown IIIs with Simonis.

And so it was that
I ventured out among the the populace,
in search of fresh meat.

I found a match with Ken J. in a race to 5 in 9 ball.
I have been looking forward to this for a long time.

Ken is a strong "A" player
who gets lots of practice every day,
plays tournaments a couple of times a week.

He was playing one-pocket for time
on the next table.
After Ken won, Tony (El Maestro) invited him
to match up against me in some 9 ball,
which is really Ken J's game.

I won the first 3 games, he won the next 4.
Then I won the next to put me on the hill with him.
Now it's only one rack left to decide the winner...

How many times have you been faced with a shot
that was so daring (low percentage),
and so temptingly cunning and beautiful,
yet so ill-advised,
(especially in a hill-hill situation),
but it kept begging to be hit,
until finally you have to throw caution to the wind,
and blast away at it...
and miss?

And after the fact you readily agree that
you should never have done it,
especially since it lost you the game,
and the match.

But how else do we learn if not by trying stuff?
Rarely do shots like this come up in practice.

So now you know: Ken J beat me by a game.
I'm looking forward to a rematch soon!