Match Strategy

Yesterday was a match
(with MR)
which gave me an opportunity
to experiment with strategy.

El Maestro has warned many times
that a match against a lesser-skilled opponent
is very dangerous.
Do not be over confident.
Stay in your game, fully.

He gave me choice of game,
so I chose straight pool (14.1 continuous)
knowing that he had less experience.
I expected to win easily,
and then, when his spirit would be down,
we would play a game of choice.

Straight pool went according to plan (50-18).
Then we went to 9-ball.
Anything can happen in 9-ball,
and it can happen FAST. (no pun)
The other guy can get lucky,
I can get a bad roll.
Very short game,
no time to recover
if he can run a couple of balls,
he gets the point.
For this segment I played very tight.
Choosing safety when it was possible,
until I had an easy out.

The strategy worked.
The score was 4-0
until he announced "last game"
because his time was up.
My focus failed on that last game,
as I realized I had achieved my goal,
so the final score was 4-1.

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