March 29, 2010 by admin.

This weekend we kicked off the 2010 Season with the opener at Mr. Cues II in Atlanta, Kelly and I drove up early on Friday to get settled in and check things out. Even though they touted that it was close to a full field they only ended up with 38 players, they said 20 or so players canceled at the last minute.

It was great to be there for Kelly’s first event and we had a great time talking to everyone as I tried to introduce him to all of the cool/top players in the event that he wanted to meet. He played very decently while keeping composure and even though he didn’t win any matches his motivation and focus is high, it was awesome to watch him handle the pressure well.

My tournament went a little better but not much, lost my first match to a kid who was playing in the biggest tournament of his life. Actually, twice during this trip my opponents told me that it was their 1st big tournament so they were very nervous and I’m starting to think it was to shark me. After that loss I played Jason Ritchko on the streaming table and got out to big lead since he was playing like poop, then I started missing and he picked up the pieces to make the race close. In the end I lucked out after hooking myself and kicking in the 10-ball out of turn, I felt bad but those are the rolls you have to take the good and the bad.

For some reason Wade Crane didn’t show up for our match so I won by forfeit which was a first for me, it’s an interesting feeling because while I am happy to win I wanted to play and possibly beat Mr. Crane since he is/was a great player. Well after such an easy match I got matched up with a very difficult one to even things out………had to play Corey Deuel. Lucky for me we played just after he lost a nail biter to Johnny Archer just minutes before so he wasn’t in the best mood, I took advantage of that and won 7-5 after being down 2-5. This match was great to win since it advanced me to the next day and into the money rounds, so of course we celebrated by getting hammered and going singing with friends till the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday we got up in time to pack up and head to the pool hall for the first match of the day where I normally don’t play very well, this time was different though and I actually won the match. My opponent said he got sharked by the tournament director since he was asked to remove his hat while playing, the TD didn’t say anything about his jeans and sneakers though so my opponent should be happy just having the hat mentioned. Before we began the match he said to me “You ever get the feeling like you don’t belong someplace?” and mentioned how nervous he was, judging by the Budweiser he was drinking I believed him to be very nervous being surrounded by top players in a pro event.

After that match was over it was back to the streaming table to face off with Tommy Kennedy once again, it seems that we meet in EVERY tournament we are both playing in. Our record is somewhat even but I think he might be up a set or two, we compete hard against each other but always have fun, respect each other’s game and the matches are always close. This match he played rather well and he won 4-8 missing only one ball I believe, two miscues and two scratches on the break didn’t help either.

Ended up finishing in 9th place which isn’t bad but not great, overall I played okay with flashes of brilliance and decent safety play.  Actually I was happy to finish kind of early since we still had 6.5 hours of driving ahead of us and Kelly has to drive another hour after dropping me off. Not to mention we were still a little fuzzy from the previous night’s festivities where we stayed out till 3am after munching on some Waffle House pork chops.

A decent weekend with old friends, some new friends and a little pool tournament thrown in the mix, if only they were all this much fun!!!

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March 19, 2010 by admin.

Simply awesome!!

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

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March 15, 2010 by admin.

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March 9, 2010 by admin.

Well, lot’s of things ha ha. In follow up to the post on February 12th I will now be bringing the mini-lathe in to Bankshots every Sunday or whenever there is a decent sized tournament. Jeff asked me to do so and it went really well yesterday, did a good amount of work to make a little money and did clean-ups and tip reshaping for free in the hopes of future business.

It caused me to lose my first match I believe though since my mind was all over the place when I tried to play and I subsequently lost 6-7 to William who is a solid player, he played well and deserved the win. That started the long road on the “B” side on which I traveled from coast to coast ending with a break and run out with the score at 8-8 in the finals against David Grossman.  This is only the 3rd time I can remember winning this tournament after losing my 1st match, it’s pretty hard considering there were 51 or so players this week which makes for a long day.

Jeff announced that they are also going to be hosting a Saturday tournament to mirror the Sunday tournament, which bring in players from further away since they can play two added money events staying only overnight. It will bring down the numbers on Sunday but I think the new tournament will do well, I hope they get 40 players in each instead of the 50 like it is now. Lately it seems the room owners are trying to host more weekly events but nobody is adding the money like Jeff is adding money, it’s amazing that room owners can’t see past the “I’ll add money if we get a full field” mentality so it’s no surprise that people don’t show up to their events.

Had another lesson with Neil Rashba of Rashba Photography (www.rashba.com) today which went well and also have 3 other students this week. Two of them are new students and over the weekend I spent time talking to even more potential students which is GREAT, I never would have thought that lessons would be going so well and that this many people would want to be taught by me. It’s really the most rewarding thing ever   and it’s helping my game incredibly, I also just finished reading “The Mental Edge” by Kenneth Baum which came recommended by some great players. Since I’ve finished reading it I have won basically every tournament entered so I guess it works, if anything I feel very good about the process and confident in my pre-shot routine.

Can’t wait to hit the Seminole Tour in Atlanta later this month and kick off what hopes to be my best year yet, going with Kelly is going to be a great experience for both of us and I hope it brings his game to the next level!!

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