8 Shot

Went to St Peters on last Thursday as a couple of the Billiards team were going in for a game.

I had not met them before so I went and introduced myself to them and had my first game with Stuart. The game was a little bit strange with the ball never really running well for either of us. I kept getting 10 and 15 breaks with a high of 21 but nothing to shout home about. Stuart was hopeless getting only single figures. Somehow I always left him very awkward.

I ran away 150-31.

I had to wait for my next game and the standard for a league is rather poor the next two lads were also hopeless. Eventually Mike ran in a 26 mostly from Pot reds and won 150-48.

I was then up to play Mike. He went for a thin cut after I made a really poor breakoff and missed and went straight in the bottom pocket. I spotted the balls and played the long loser from the middle spot. The table is slightly wider so I moved my ball over 1inch from my normal spot and it flew in the bottom came round the angles and left me on with an in off in the middle. Nice!!

I got 21 and missed a simply red pot in the bottom. I had got my arm going and scored 10+ on every visit. I then ran in 27 to finish the game. No really good breaks but again I thrashed him 150-25.

I am afraid the standard of the league is going to be so poor that I am not going to learn anything from the other players. I know the handicap will level things out but I am not even an average Billiards player yet. I am still working on and learning about the game. I suppose all I can do it try to play the best game I can and ignore the other player completely, treat the table as the opposition.

I did acheive a notable shot in my next game with an eight shot. I went for a long cannon off the red with the red in mid table and the white on the near the bottom left pocket. I hit the red got the cannon and the red bounced off two cushions and into the middle my yellow glanced off the white and went in off in the bottom. If my maths is correct that's 2 for the cannon, 3 for the pot red and 3 for the in-off the red (even though it actually went in off the white I think its the first ball that it hits which counts).

Final score 150-52 to me. I understand my handicap will be -50 to start off with so even that should not be a problem although it goes up or down 5 points with every win or loss.

One of the lads said to me that I was the best Billiards player he had ever seen. I was a little surprised at this as I have only just taken up the game but I realised that they have not had anyone to show them how to play properly. The game is all about the shots and angles and where you leave the balls for the next shot. I read in one of the online book and John Roberts that a player can play for 30 years and never be any good but if they had some coaching regarding the shots and positions to play for they would be able to beat any average player in a club.

So even with my basic knowledge of the game I can beat most average club players. Which also explained how I always lose to more experienced players. They hit the ball the same as me but know the best way to play from a given position. They may still break down but just score a few more than me from the same position.