Ladies Weekend

Last weekend was chalk full of pool for me.  And not just pool, but FEMALE pool.

SATURDAY

I play on an all-women's league and they have two big tourneys each season - 'Queen of the Hill' in the middle of the season and 'Queen of the Hill' at the end of the season.  Saturday was the mid season tourney.

I had never played in one of these tourneys before (as this is a new league for me), but I have seen the payouts for the calcutta once and was VERY impressed.

There were only 15 girls in the tourney this time, tho.  I don't *think* that's normal at all, but it was still a fun and competitive crowd of women.

I went for Pick of the Litter and must say I was quite surprised by the bidding and how many were trying to "buy" me.  I went quickly for $120.

My b/f told me to buy half myself and so I paid my $60 and was in the mix for once (I normally don't buy half myself).  The second highest amount was $100, and that went to the great player (Nina) who has won the last two Queen of the Hill tourneys.  Everyone was in contention and no one went for less than $15, most went for over $35.

I don't know why more ladies didn't come to the tourney.  I heard they normally have a second calcutta, but since there was not a larger field, they did not do that this time.

I won my first match, even though I was extremely emotional.  I had a rough start to the day, but still tried to hold it together.

In my next match, I play one of the top shooters, Teri.  She wins the first game and someone then shouts to me, "You have a target on your back!"

I was kind of confused, but then figured maybe they said that since I had gone high in the calcutta.  Since Teri had won the first game in a race to 3, she was on her way to being the hero who knocked me down.

I ran the next rack out and Teri says something like, "see what you did by saying that?" to the girl who made the first comment.

LOL.  All the girls are so much fun and nice!

Teri is a VERY tough player and she played extremely well against me.  She won the next game as well and had me down 2-1.  I somehow won the 4th game to tie it 2-2.  One game left to see who would march on.

After some great safeties by Teri and I, I finally had a chance at the table and ran out 3-4 balls to win.  Teri was a true sport, and she's a very gifted player who knows the game well.

I win my next match against the formidable player, Cindy.  Cindy has a great heart and a wonderful game.  We had fun and she joked she wanted to "grow up to be like me."  Which is funny, because Cindy's heart is so big, we all want to be like HER.

While I'm waiting for the hotseat, my friend Angelina has just secured her spot in the hotseat with me.  I went up to her and hugged her, as she was crying.  She had so much emotion because that win sealed her highest finish yet in a tourney!  I was SO SO proud of her!  And she did it by beating the previous Queen of the Hill.  That's strong!

We play our hotseat match and we have a good time and play well, and I come out on top 3-1. I was still so very excited for her because she was having a fantastic tournament!

Her Dad is very sick and is only given a few weeks to live.  I wanted to express to her I thought she was playing for him.  Further, he was helping her today, just as my Mom helped me all year.  They help us by giving us us strength, confidence, and the will to prevail.

Angelina plays her next match and WINS!  She now has a spot in the finals!

We again have a good time in that final match and both play well.

I win the match and therefore the tourney, and I am now the Queen of the Hill!  I won $170 for First Place and half of the first place calutta prize ($282 / 2).  :)

I am very excited I won the tourney, but I honestly was MORE excited for Angelina.  She placed her highest finish yet and I was SO happy for her!

Angelina and I

The Thursday all-women's league is run VERY well and I have admired the way they run the tourneys and league with such professionalism.  I am proud to be a part of the league.

SUNDAY

On Sunday, I played in the Rusty's Billiards quarterly bar box tourney.  54 players entered the event!  And for the first time, we had more than 2 women enter and so they paid out a "Last Lady" spot.  I believe there were 4 ladies total, and we each paid $30 entry.  The Last Lady paid out $50!  More than the entry and that was very generous.

I got a bye then played one of the regulars.  He got unfortunate against me.  He hooked himself on an 8ball and I got out.  Then made an 8ball out of turn another.  I ran out the last game to win 4-1.  

My next two matches were against two very tough players and I lost 4-0 and 3-1.  I was honestly way too tired to play my best and missed many shots in my last match because of exhaustion.  But, because I had a bye then won my second match, that sealed my Last Lady position and I won that $50!

I admit if I had a tougher draw at first, it could have easily gone to one of the other girls.  I got lucky; I admit it.