Social Distancing in the Future

My friend Janet was helping run the Midwest ACS Championship tournament in Davenport, Iowa last week. She shared some photos and said they were all wearing masks and social distancing, including the tables, and shared a photo to prove it:

I immediately thought, "hey, every tournament in the future should do social distancing between tables even after the pandemic! "

There have been many times in bar table tournaments where our butts get in the way of the table next to us, or we have to wait for someone to shoot on the next table because the tables are so close together.

How cool would it be to not have to worry about the matches around us in bat table tournaments?!

Passion Can Come Across as Upset

One of the things on my "to-write-about" list is something I noticed I did back in November.  I didn't get around to writing about it yet, though. Dang it.

And then what do you know, I found myself doing it again just last week. Now I'm even more determined to write about this, as it is something I am not proud of at all.

What did I do that was so horrible?

I got on to a friend for something I am passionate about.

I know, doesn't sound horrible per say.

But, when I am passionate about something that I learned that helped me deeply and strongly about my pool journey, I tend to speak up more about it.

It's difficult to describe.

However, let me share something real quick:  I recall distinctly a friend in the late 90s telling me that my personal goal to win Most Improved Player was ludicrous.  It took me awhile to realize her point, but she was saying basically my goal was dependent on others. I had no control over that - someone else decided that "title" (and no, I did not win it, even though I came close).

So, fast forward 20 years and I kinda got on to my friend who shared with me back in November ironically that was her goal for the upcoming year. I should have listened more to her and also been kinder in my response. Instead, my passion for what I learned took over and I didn't really acknowledged her goal, just more so told her it wasn't a good idea.  I didn't want her to go through the same thing I learned the hard way. But, I could have stated it all better, as I told myself as I drove away from our outing.

Fast forward 9 months later and I recognized on my drive home from visiting with a different friend, that I kinda got on to her for a comment she made about big tables versus bar tables.

I admit when I am passionate about something or feel strongly about something that exponentially helped my game, I will speak up. But I don't need to be rude about it.  Ugh.  I pretty much told my friend she was wrong, and I kept stating all these reasons I learned why it's best to only practice on a 9 foot table, and that that will in turn actually help you when you get to smaller tables.

I even quipped, "don't you read my blog?" lol.

She laughed at the moment, but I am betting she felt badly I was so vocal about the topic.  (here is just one blog entry I wrote about why it's crucial to practice on 9 foot tables and how helpful it is to your game on all table sizes.)  (see, I can't stop!)

I really need to be better at giving advice at times.  Just because I learned something that deeply helped my game, doesn't mean I need to be a bully about it. I can be kind and still make points.

I am trying to figure out why I was so vocal these two times, when usually I'm pretty calm and reserved, and actually carefully think about how I'm saying my advice. I want my learning experiences and advice it to be received well, so I normally am very careful with my word choices so they don't come across harsh.  Not sure what was going on these two times.  My apologies.

 

Protect Your Table During the Holidays

Please don't let this happen with any relatives this season.

Oh, and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Pool at the Pool

I was asked to help at ACS Nationals this year.  Before the long, full days started at the admin desk registering all the excited players, I was able to sit by the pool one day to catch some rays, soak in some sun, decompress from things back home, and get a good Vegas tan.

As I get up to affix my towel better on my lawn chair, I notice a cool thing from the corner of my eye - a pool table!

So, of course I took pics for you all, to capture the blue-felted table sitting among the beautiful Tropicana swimming pool.

Cowboys Love Pool Too

My friends a Pro Billiard Service in the Dallas-area (but travel out of state, too, a lot) helped refelt and level a pool table this week.

They did this at the star practice facility, called the "Cowboy Club" for the Dallas Cowboys!  Pretty coolio, huh?

Photos or it didn't happen, right?  Here ya go:

Top Golf and Pool

I went to Top Golf a couple of weeks ago for the first time.  It was a lot of fun!  I highly recommend going with fun friends if you ever get the chance.

Here I am trying to earn points for my team:

I also went downstairs snooping around and look what I found:  Other ways to make money!  (j/k, I didn't hustle anyone).

Really cool colors and looked like great shape! 

I just love it when random places have pool tables.  All helps our sport, right?

Diamonds are a Pool Player's Best Friend

If you don't think pool players love Diamond bar tables, then think again!

Diamond bar tables are few and far between in the Dallas Fort Worth area.  Only a few pool rooms have a couple of them.  And they are played on ALL the time.

So, when a pool room (JR Pockets in Denton, TX) installed two new Diamond bar tables last week, Facebook was all lit up!

Here are a few examples:

Diamonds really are a pool player's best friend  :)

Advice and the Ramifications

When I hear any player ever say, "I can only play well on a bar table," I shake my head at their unfortunate words and then feel so very thankful for some advice in my very early days of playing pool.

Back in the mid 90s when I was breathing and dreaming pool, my professional pool playing boyfriend at the time gave me some amazing advice that has helped me in every tournament I have ever played in since then:  He told me to always practice on a 9-foot table.

I took that advice WAY to heart.

If I was to walk into the pool room to practice and all the 9-foot tables were taken, I'd promptly walk back out and return earlier the next day.

I noticed RIGHT AWAY that I had much more of an advantage in the tournaments I played in - because most were on 8-foot tables.  Playing on a 9-foot all the time, made the 8-foots look pretty "easy."  And I felt comfy on them.

When I would play on bar tables, holy cow!  The table was so much smaller and again I had the advantage from spending all my practice time on 9-foot tables.

In the past 20 years, I only ever practiced on a 9-foot table.  And of course the tables I had in my living rooms over the years were always 9-foot tables.

I found that throughout the years, always practicing solely on a 9-foot table helped me in every single tournament I played in.  Some tournaments are solely on 9-foot tables.  I was ready!  Most tourneys in Texas are on 8-foot tables; still ready!  And the league events and larger tourneys on bar boxes - omg, SO ready!

I am saying all this today to share that some times in your pool journey you may hear a bit of advice that if you incorporate, will help you throughout ALL the years of you competing in pool.  I have a few others of course that helped me, but this is one of the bigger ones.

If you feel super comfy on a bar table, I implore you to step out of your comfort zone to the 9-foot table to practice.  Don't even think about taking the jump to the 8-foot will suffice - instead LEAP right to the 9-foot table to help your game.  Why wait?  I promise in just a few practice sessions that you will feel comfy on the 9-foot table.

Your game will love you for it; your opponents, eh, not so much :)

Pool Table in a Casino?

Can you imagine your surprise and delight if you are walking through the floor of a casino and run across a pool table?

Well, welcome to the Encore in Vegas!

I'd be snapchatting pics of this to the world if I ran across this myself!  Maybe when I go to Vegas next I make a special trip to that casino to see this for my own eyes.

In the meantime, check out the article about how they are trying to make the casino a mixture of casino, game room, and lounge (which includes shuffle board, as well).

Pool Table Like a Hot Tub

Someone mentioned something funny the other day.

We were talking about home pool tables, and how people usually practice on them at first, and then they pretty soon become a spot to put your laundry. 

One of the players said, "It's kind of like getting a hot tub.  You are all excited at first and use it in the beginning, then you never get in it again until friends come over."

LOL.

But, spot on! 

The few people I have heard that actually practice on their home table regularly are really not in the norm at all.  And they should pat themselves on the back for using it as was intended, instead of an expensive laundry basket like most.  :)

Inside a Coin Pool Table (video)

Pretty cool!

Cool Pool Table with Glass Edges, Yet...

I received an email from Ralph Lauren about this cool table:

I thought this was pretty cool and unique for sure!  Calma and Gesso put a lot of thought into this table.  You can read the specs and such HERE.

Then I admit, I got disappointed.  While looking through the cool website about the table, I found this disturbing promo video:





Yep - you saw correctly.  Rack is not tight (that's a sin in pool!), their bridge hands are not stable (esp the female), and it's just an overall bad video for the serious pool players. 

If the tables are expensive, then the promo video exudes priceyness and who cares how the actors play pool, right?  I do agree the chick stays down on her shots, but that has to be so they could capture the moment on camera, not because she is aware she needs to have good fundamentals to play good pool, even on this table.

Looking through the website more, I see they did have a "mentor" on hand to show the actors how to shoot.  But, still didn't come through.

I don't mean to bash the video - as it does capture the beauty and splendor of the unique table!  Cool-ass table none-the-less.

Furniture in Your Home

I have been doing something a little different on Facebook. 

Every once in awhile, instead of just posting my random thoughts about my lovely dog Lily or "checking in" at the latest restaurant or location, I'm trying to get to know my friends better.

So I have this thing that I do called, "A Question of the Day."

And then my friends get to share part of their history (if they feel comfy).

Sometimes I might ask what is your favorite childhood memory or what is your biggest accomplishment.  It's been actually really cool to read all these important moments of my friends' lives.

The other day, for the Question of the Day, I asked "what is your favorite piece of furniture in your house?"  I then showed a picture of this fireplace mantel that was converted into shelves by my parents that now hold lots of memories on those shelves.

And I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was:  it hadn't crossed my mind at all that many people would pick their home pool tables as their favorite piece of furniture, lol. 

And it was cool because a couple of friends added little tidbits to their photos like, "this used to be Bob Vanover's table" or another shared, "mine was made by Art Ball." 

Pretty awesome.

Table Presentation (photos)

This is how one of the pool rooms in our area sets up their tables for their patrons.

Notice even the cueball is put on a pedestal, I mean chalk. 

smh

Sold My Pool Table - What Does That Mean?

I sold my pool table on Tuesday to a fellow player, and her and her husband are VERY excited about getting a table in their new house!

I posted on Facebook that the table was for sale back in October.  I posted about it again in January and then again in early March.

This week I got the sale.  (yay!)

But, I have been VERY surprised at the responses and questions from people.

So, I thought I would explain why I sold my table.

First of all, I had a 9-foot table for about a year in 2012/2013 but had to sell it in August 2013 due to a break up.

I was able to get my hands on a good deal for this oversize 8-foot Brunswick Century pool table just a few months later in December 2013.  So, I nabbed it:

I will be very honest and say that I never get tables for myself.  I know from experience I don't hit balls or practice on my home tables (I had one in 1999 and barely used it that year).

Bottom line why I sold it:  I don't play pool on my home table, so why keep it?

So......

• I am not changing interests.
• I'm not selling my house.
• I'm not low on money.
• I just want my living room back.
• And, it was WASTED space.

I'm still perplexed why so many people were asking all these questions about why it was such a big deal I was trying to sell my table.  It doesn't really mean anything except I don't use it, so why keep it?

I'll let someone else enjoy that beautiful table!

Party Pool

I went to my cousin's annual Christmas party Christmas Eve Eve (Tuesday night).  I didn't get to go last year and was very disappointed, so I made a point to go this year even thought I went alone.

My cousin's house is VERY cool.  They have a media room, rec room, TWO fire pits, gravity pool, trampoline, ya know, the works.

And they make all these amazing treats and food to serve at these small gatherings.  I was glad I went - needed to get out of the house.

Of course their rec room had a pool table in it.  I dare say it was an 8 foot! 

But alas, as at most parties, the true pool players don't play pool.  We just walk by the table, admire they have one, check out their cues, and keep going.  We might stop to see who is playing (if they aren't kids), and see how they measure up, but let's face it, us "regular/real" pool players hardly ever play pool at parties.  It's just wouldn't be proper to show off or hog the pool table all night, right?

Here are some pics from the party: (dessert area, fire pit, and the pool table)

Towards about 10pm, I was about to leave and one of the husband's (who I didn't know) says he was prolly the best player in the house and was going to shoot some pool upstairs.  I roll my eyes thinking to myself, "whatever, dude." 

My cousin's wife says, "You probably are.  Mike and the boys like to play but aren't too good.  I wonder if there is anyone here who would play you, though."

He was super cocky and I couldn't believe he was bragging how well he could play.  

He then leaves the room to go upstairs to the pool table and my cousin's wife is motioning at me to go play against this guy, lol. 

I was stunned!  I had no idea she knew I played pool or was good at it, and here she was trying to pimp me out to play pool!  If it wasn't at a party, I would have put him in his place, but it was close to 10pm and I needed to get home so I could rest for work the next day.

Pretty funny, though!

I'm still amazed she knew I played pool well.  Wow. 

And here I am with my Aunt Faye "&" my Uncle Mike:

New Table

I was in the position back in Nov/Dec to acquire this lovely 8 foot table for my living room:

I used to have a 9 foot table, but I had to sell it back in September.  Yep, I cried!  And I wish I still had it today and never had to sell it!!! 

Anyway, this new one has new felt and shimmed up pockets (not super tight but not buckets), but I hadn't played on it but MAYBE 2 times.

Well, last weekend I cleaned the entire house and organized and decided to even clean off the pool table and stop using it as a shelf and storage area, lol. 

So, there it sits... all clean.  lol.

I don't normally practice at all.  Maybe I should have left it as a table....  hehe.

Different Felt

I might get distracted thinking of my next drink, playing on a pool table like this:

Courtesy of my friend Gary Frerking.

I Can See!

I mentioned last month that I got very irritated and most importantly disengaged when practicing at the house with my b/f because I couldn't see the table.

We didn't have one stool or chair high enough in the house that I could sit above the table and watch him shoot or see the layouts.  I therefore, wasn't focused and ready to shoot like I am during tournaments.

In order for me to remained focused and engaged and learn, and be ready for my turn, I have to "see" the table and layout.  Being level with the table was NOT helpful.  And, it hurt my practice sessions.

Well, stopped by Walmart the other day for some new socks and milk, and walked out with a new stool!

I had looked for stools at another Walmart but didn't see this one.  I REALLY liked this one -

(1) because it looks good/matches the decor (lol)
(2) sturdy,
(3) Tall,
(4) less than $30.  :)  (cheapest sturdy one I have run across yet).

I can see!!!!

Check it out:

Let Me See

I have noticed I get agitated when I practice with my boyfriend at the house.

We have a nine foot table in what-was the living room.  :) 

There isn't much space left in the room, but we do have a tv in one corner, a recliner to the side, and a small rocking chair in the other corner.

But, I can't see the layout of the table when I'm not shooting.  :(

I am the type of player that needs to sit down when I am not shooting.  I can actually get very irritated during matches, for instance, if someone takes my chair or I have no where to sit. 

I'm a sitter; plain and simple.

But, I also need to be able to SEE the table when I'm sitting.

Mostly, I have a bad back and cannot be on my feet for long periods of time.  Also, I like to rest - my whole body, not just my legs and feet, in between my turn at the table.  I also think it's because I feel uncomfortable if I have to stand and hold my cue in my palms as the other person is at the table.  I feel like the cue gets dirtier when I just have to hold onto it.  And, since I'm a player that doesn't like to set their cue down, I prefer to have it leaned against my body, IF I can sit.

But mostly, I'm just uncomfortable standing.  And if the player plays slow, or runs out, you could be standing a long time.

So, the issue at the house is irritating.  Because I don't own a stool or a tall chair, I can either sit in the low recliner, sit in the rocking chair (that is also low), or I can stand.  Since I don't like to stand, I sit in these chairs.

BUT I can't see the whole top of the pool table! 

I like to be able to fully see the layouts of the table.  I cant just sit there and not be engaged in the match; I like to watch what my opponent is doing, or be able to see what is going on on the felt.  If I'm too low sitting, I can't see angles, I can't learn, I can't be fully into the match... and that makes me irritated and not engaged to play my best.

It's very frustrating even more, because my b/f is running out more, which means even more time sitting low.  And since I can't see, that means less time learning or watching patterns/shots, or being prepared to play my best if I do get to shoot, which means agitation.

:(

I am on the lookout for a cheap stool with a back, when I get some extra money.