ABC Newmarket

Went to my first Billiards Competition the an ABC at the Newmarket Snooker & Bowl, 2-12 All Saints Road, Newmarket CB8 8NL. I only had rough details of what to expect from Paul Dunning but I had played in a few Snooker competitions over the years so it wasn't too bad.

It is 192 miles door to door, which seems a hell of a long way to go to play Billiards. However I set off at six in the morning and arrived at just gone 9. The weather was beautiful all the way and being a Sunday traffic was light.

The club was open and I managed to get settled in with a cup of Tea. Lots of tables with a Bowling alley attached to the side. All the tables looked nice, well looked after with decent nap.

The players all started arriving at 10.30 and I spotter Peter Cooper the referee from Pontins who came over and introduced me to Clive Scott the tournament director and a couple of other players. Clive was nice he knew who I was which surprised me and allowed me to use up my free entry I had got from passing the basic billiards exam.

The draw was done and I managed to get a bye in the first round but it gave me chance to watch how the games were played and how the format was managed. There were some good players around I saw a few 50's and 80's, a couple of players from Pontins were there.

An hour later it was my turn I played Paul Snowden a nice your lad from the North East. He was clearly a very good player getting several 30 and 40 breaks. I did get my hand on the table and managed a few 10's and 15 breaks. However I would describe this as a hammering. I lost 319 to 103. However I was quite pleased to have hit the 100 mark as I had very little table time.
I did however learn from the match I saw Paul play some very interesting shots which I can use in the future. He played very softly and had a nice touch around the ball.

My next match was an hour later I played chap called Hill. He played locally in one of the Cambridge leagues I explained I had only just started playing the game. The match went off well I got a 10 and then followed it with a 30. I managed to get about 50 infront before he had replied he scored a few quick losers in the middle to get 10 behind before I knocked in a nicely constructed 39. I was delighted to run away the winner 105 - 40 in the half hour. I had scored more in the second match of 30 minutes than the full hour. But I did cue well.

My next match was again was against Richard Barrett I started well but he was too strong taking 20 and 30 breaks to push into a lead which he held most of the game. I was still happy as when he did leave me a chance I did score a few.

Overall I was pleased with the day I learnt lot's from watching and met some lovely people. I introduced myself to Bob Pattterson who will be at the Police Competition in Norfolk and Stephen Crosland who gave me my EABA membership card for next year. I am looking forward to the next meeting in Birmingham and Stephen has entered me into the Jock McGregor in Derby.

I returned home tired but happy to have won a match. I emailed Paul and Martin with the happy news.