League night – another win against a higher ranked opponent
Skill ranking is weird but appears to be a necessary evil in league play. There is a handicapping system based on a player’s average skill. I’ve dealt with something similar in bowling leagues or golf games I have been in before, so I was familiar with the process of handicapping.
I’m currently ranked a four in APA eight ball and APA nine ball. That ranking was somewhat arbitrary and set by the league operator when I joined the league. Normally people start at a three rank, but she started me at a rank four due to my previous play. It’s really hard to determine what skill a starting level player is at until they get several games under their belt. I would assume that this handicapping of players is a difficult task. Especially because there are so few rankings. Eight ball ranking goes from skill number two to skill seven and nine ball goes from skill one to skill nine. There aren’t a lot of options in between. I’m not sure where I truly lie, and I think it may be several games before I settle into a permanent skill ranking. Well, not permanent, I want to keep raising my skill.
My eight-ball captain also wanted to know where I lied in the spectrum, so he put me up against a higher skill level. He played me against a player with an established skill level of five, and more importantly a player that he was well aware of his skill level. It was a race where I had to win three games to my opponent’s four games. We ended up only playing four games, because I won my race to three before my opponent won a second game. It was a lopsided victory and I’m wondering if my skill level may go up as I handily beat someone of a higher skill than myself.
I was playing pretty solid pool in the first game, and while I missed a few shots, for the most part the game went by fairly quickly. The second game came down to the eight ball and defensive endgame strategy. The reason it got to that was because I got out of line, and then missed a difficult kick shot on the eight ball. I lost the defensive game by hitting the ball too hard and leaving my opponent a shot on the eight ball. I followed that up by winning the next two games. My opponent had a few chances at the table and on one of the games his balls were quite open, but he was unable to run the racks out. Once again, my failures tended to be my shot making. It is clearly the weakest part of my game, and it just reminded me that it was something I needed to work on until it wasn’t the weakest part of my game anymore.
I had a blast playing though. Over the last week something has clicked, and I have really become happy with my game. I’m not making every shot that I should be making, and I’m not picking the right patterns every time. I’m also not being perfect on my position, but I’m improving, and the process of getting better is a lot of fun. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but I’m starting to really enjoy practice and drills, and when those shots come up in actual play, I get giddy. This game is wonderful and I’m glad I’m playing it.
Takeaways: I should probably have played a defensive shot instead of a bank on the eight “hero” shot in my one loss. It’s hard to know when the best time is to make that switch, and the end game strategy is still something I need to learn more. My shot making is still weak, and I need to get better at simply pocketing the balls I want to make. Also, pool is much more enjoyable when I’m having fun. It may sound stupid and silly, but I need to remember why I’m doing all of this practice. It’s because I love this game, and that I’m having fun doing it.
I’m currently ranked a four in APA eight ball and APA nine ball. That ranking was somewhat arbitrary and set by the league operator when I joined the league. Normally people start at a three rank, but she started me at a rank four due to my previous play. It’s really hard to determine what skill a starting level player is at until they get several games under their belt. I would assume that this handicapping of players is a difficult task. Especially because there are so few rankings. Eight ball ranking goes from skill number two to skill seven and nine ball goes from skill one to skill nine. There aren’t a lot of options in between. I’m not sure where I truly lie, and I think it may be several games before I settle into a permanent skill ranking. Well, not permanent, I want to keep raising my skill.
My eight-ball captain also wanted to know where I lied in the spectrum, so he put me up against a higher skill level. He played me against a player with an established skill level of five, and more importantly a player that he was well aware of his skill level. It was a race where I had to win three games to my opponent’s four games. We ended up only playing four games, because I won my race to three before my opponent won a second game. It was a lopsided victory and I’m wondering if my skill level may go up as I handily beat someone of a higher skill than myself.
I was playing pretty solid pool in the first game, and while I missed a few shots, for the most part the game went by fairly quickly. The second game came down to the eight ball and defensive endgame strategy. The reason it got to that was because I got out of line, and then missed a difficult kick shot on the eight ball. I lost the defensive game by hitting the ball too hard and leaving my opponent a shot on the eight ball. I followed that up by winning the next two games. My opponent had a few chances at the table and on one of the games his balls were quite open, but he was unable to run the racks out. Once again, my failures tended to be my shot making. It is clearly the weakest part of my game, and it just reminded me that it was something I needed to work on until it wasn’t the weakest part of my game anymore.
I had a blast playing though. Over the last week something has clicked, and I have really become happy with my game. I’m not making every shot that I should be making, and I’m not picking the right patterns every time. I’m also not being perfect on my position, but I’m improving, and the process of getting better is a lot of fun. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but I’m starting to really enjoy practice and drills, and when those shots come up in actual play, I get giddy. This game is wonderful and I’m glad I’m playing it.
Takeaways: I should probably have played a defensive shot instead of a bank on the eight “hero” shot in my one loss. It’s hard to know when the best time is to make that switch, and the end game strategy is still something I need to learn more. My shot making is still weak, and I need to get better at simply pocketing the balls I want to make. Also, pool is much more enjoyable when I’m having fun. It may sound stupid and silly, but I need to remember why I’m doing all of this practice. It’s because I love this game, and that I’m having fun doing it.
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