Well we made it to regionals with our Monday night team.  Unfortunatly that is as far as we got.  We where lucky enough to have a first round by so we had to play at 2:30pm on the 12th of June at the Claddagh Pub in Lawrence.  It is a nice place to play as they turn the upstairs function hall into a mini pool hall and place 8 pool tables on the dance floor.

Our 5 played first and he played well.  He was seeing the shots and making them.  I think this is a good thing and can see him only improving more in these tournament/playoff style matches.  Only experience in shooting in these can make you better and help with your confidence.

I played next and played a 6 which turned into a 5 to 5 race.  I won the first game.  I was not shooting badly but I was not getting my leaves all the time as I missed a break and run all because I could not get the cue ball to draw back enough.  Unfortunately that first game was the only one I won against a good 6.  We have played each other before and know that if either of us misses a shot the other one can run out.

Next we played a 4 against a 3 they had.  He shot well and took the match.  Made a nice bank shot on the 8 in one of the games.

Now we are up 2 to 1 going into the 4th match.  We play a 3 and they play a 4.  I look at inexperience on our 3's part in some of the shots that he missed and also not fully understanding what the cue ball is going to do.  In the 3rd game he hit too hard on a shot and then left himself tough on the 8.  Thinking he had to try to make the shot and win the game there he shot to hard and scratched giving the oppononent the match.

Now its a 2 to 2 match.  So we put up our 5 and they play their 6.  I guess it was just our night as the only game that he won was the second game.  In the last game they played he had perfect position to hit the 8 ball into the corner pocket.  Nice and easy yet he decided to hit way to hard and then the cue ball went into the corner pocket.  In pool we say speed kills and this was the case.

Why hit the a shot with more power when you don't have to worry about the leave. Shoot the ball and sink the shot and not even chance the possibility of scratching.  Yea its nice when you can make the cue ball dance and do what you want but when you are playing in a tournament environment you want to win the game and continue.

So in final words I say, only shoot as hard as the shot calls for.  It can sometimes get you into trouble.