First off I would like to congratulate the Winner of this years 2013 APA 9 Ball Shootout National Singles Championship Green Tier, Tom Williamson who is a great player for his skill level. He was able to come out on top of a field of 44 players. Congratulations Tom and I look forward to our possible rematches through out the sessions.

So this past weekend, April 27-28, 2013, two of my teams got to play in the Tri-City Cup tournament out at the Claddagh Pub in Lawrence, MA. Saturday was for my 8 ball team and Sunday was for my 9 ball team. The Tri-City Cup is a tournament that is held after every session to see who advances on to the Local Team Championship (LTC) Tournament.

On Saturday it was an early start with a 10AM starting time for my Web Night 8 Ball Team. In the first to games of the match we did pretty well. Our captain was able to pull out a win in the first game. Then a 4 of ours shot very well against a 7 to take us to another victory. The next 3 games however where not so good. We proceeded to fall apart and gave them too many opportunities to get back into the game.

The next day was my Thursday night 9 ball team's turn. In the first round at 10AM on Sunday we jumped out to a decent lead and by the end of the fourth match we where up 46 to 24. Meaning when I got put up in the 5th match I would of needed to loose 17 to 3 for us to be out of the tournament. It is always interesting when you only need to get up to 4 points where if you where to loose the match right there we would still win. So in the end I normally need to get 45 points I only needed to score 19 points before they got to their 25 points. So first round is over with us advancing. Next round we play against one of the teams we play in the normal session. This team happens to be one of the better teams in the league and not to be taken lightly. After the first three games of the match we are up to a 44 to 16 lead in points. So going into the 4th match we only need to get 6 points to win. They throw up their 9 who is one of the best shooters in the league, to give him credit and a link he is Tom McGonagle, author of the pool story, Right On Cue. Knowing how he shoots we decided to put up a 3 seeing as if she was able to get some points towards the 6 that we needed would be excellent. For her to win she needed to get to 19 of her 25 points needed for us to take the match. She was able to get to 18 points which means she lost 15 to 5 against a phenomenal shooter. So going into the final match the score was 49 to 31. We needed to get 1 point to advance so the captain decided to put me up. The opposing team was only able to put up the skill level 2 that they had. This meant in order for me to ensure 1 point I needed to get to 13 points before she got to her 19 points. I won the lag so I got the break and got three in on the break. Then made a few more and gave her a shot. She missed then I was able to run them out so I got all 10 points for the first rack. On my next break I get 2 on the break with a leave on the 1 ball for the win. With 13 unanswered points I was able to allow us to advance to the LTC in June for a chance to go to Vegas.