Deal or No Deal?

After my straight pool loss on Friday night, I wondered I how I would do in the big Scotch Doubles tourney in the Dallas area the very next day.  I missed a ton of balls in my straight pool match, and afterwards reflected hard about what's been going on lately with my game.  I just accepted the fact I guess I'm in a rut.  Gotta fight through it some how.  :(  Ugh.

And for Saturday during the scotch tourney, I told myself to try and take my time on my shots.

I also informed my b/f (my scotch doubles partner) to not get on to me like the last debacle, and to just play pool and stop trying to play the game for both of us (we did well ALL the other times but that one tourney).  He replies, "okay" as we walk into the Billiard Den this past Saturday morning for our tourney.

VERY long story short - play starts at noon and out of 31 total teams, we win several matches and then the hotseat match later that evening!

But, we have to wait around FOR-EVER to play in the finals.  I mean, literally, hours.  We finished the hotseat match at 10:30pm.  We started the finals at 1:30am.  Count with me, peeps - yep, that's 3 hours later.

WOW!

Of just sitting around.  Waiting.  After a long day already....

Just sitting around for 3 hours to play another match was tough to fade, I admit.  But, I wanted to win the tourney and I felt we had a good chance (my b/f on the other hand had told me 12 hours earlier (on the drive to the pool room) that we were going to win it, lol).

We watched about 3 matches complete and then in the semi finals, one team is very tipsy and the other team played deliberate and slow.  No reflection of their ability, because they all played very good - each person on each team!  And, it went hill-hill.  But, we had to wait for many matches to even SEE this semi-final, long match.

The slower team won and I walk up to the table to flip the coin.  I'm ready to get this show on the road!  It's 1:30am and I'm ready to play.  First place is $430.  Second place is $300.  :)  They would have to double dip us.  Let's go!

But the male of the team wants to make a deal.  Huh?  Deal.  What?  He explains to me it's late and he wants to make a deal.

I told him, "Uh, I don't want to split."

He says, "I'm not asking to split, I'm just asking for a little deal so we don't have to play because it's so late."

I stand firm, "I really don't want to split."

"No, not split," he tries to reaffirm me, "just an agreement so we can go home."

"I don't want to.  I want to play it out." I say uncomfortably.

He says, "okay then, we'll play."

My b/f comes out of the bathroom and I told him about the convo and what my stance was.  He said the guy had already mentioned something to him about that during the semi-final match.  He never said he would do a deal, but he was aware the guy was already thinking it.

But, my b/f told me he also wanted to play it out so he was good with my response.

Then the Tourney Director says she is going to use a shot clock because the matches were taking long and the play was slow.  The guy tells her mater-of-factly, "That's why I wanted to make a deal."  She responds with, "Well, it's their choice, they won the hotseat."

"I know, okay, let's play."

But, the discussion about the deal affected me.  Thoughts kept running through my head during the final match:

"What if we lose and didn't make this deal?"
"What if we lose the first set, do we then ask for a deal?"
"I really want to play.  I want to see if we can win."
"I would love another win under my belt."
"This is good experience for me.  Doesn't his partner want to finish it out, also?"
"Should I have just made the deal?"
"Is it okay to want the money?"
"Is it bad karma I didn't make a deal?"
"What if we lose the match?"
"But I want to play.  I'm ready to play."

All of these crazy thoughts are going through my head.  During the match.  The finals!

I realize people make deals all the time, and while I don't care how much money I make, I evidently really DID care after all.  I didn't even want to give up $30.  I wanted the $430 for some reason.

I also wanted to see if we could win, even though that conversation made me very nervous and uncomfortable, I still wanted to play.

Maybe chopping is a normal thing people do, but I would rather play it out.  I had nowhere to be Sunday morning.  I came this far and won the hosteat and I haven't won many tournaments in my life.  Deal?  NO DEAL.

Of course the shot clock affected us more than them (lol) because of some key decisions we had to take our time on, but we won 3-1!  Undefeated!  WOW!  31 teams and we won.  :)  $430 richer, too.

 Thick envelope!

Even though my brain was "worried" about the ramifications of deal/no deal, I still played well and so did my b/f.

He and I played SO SO good together this tourney!  It was awesome!

Also, I felt relieved that I played well, because of my recent bad play the last two weekends.

Maybe I'm not in a rut after all?  Hmmm...