I noticed that there were quite a few billiards players in our park Billard/Game room. In the past there were usually a few but now there were quite a few regulars. As Activities Coordinator I thought perhaps an Eight Ball Tournament would be fun and so I put out a signup sheet to see if anyone was interested.
With a little prodding there were eight people signed up, the cost was five dollars, and so we picked a date, February 21st, at nine am. I had watched the others play and since they were quite a bit better than I am I still added my name to the list. After all the tournament was about meeting other people, winning any money was furthest from my mind.
As the date neared, I decide to buy a pool cue and luckily found a Chinese made one that was on sale before the imposition of any tariff. It cost me about seventy-five dollars, which was a lot, but it was first pool cue I had ever bought.
It arrived five days before the tournament and I practiced for four days meeting the others and discussing the rules and brackets to be used, (most of the people beat me but I did remember how to play from my college days, fifty years ago).
The morning of the tournament arrived and only seven of the players showed up, (the eighth showed up after we were in the second round past the place where his name had been changed to a bye). We agreed on the rules and drew cards for the order of play. Everyone started out equal in the winning bracket and if you lost you then moved to the consolation bracket.
To determine your first opponent I shuffled cards, number one through eight, and we each drew a card whose number corresponded to one of the eight starting bracket slots. I got lucky on the draw, (I was not the first, we drew in order of signing up), and ended up with the bye).
The games started and I could see that there were some good players. My goal was to win one match and not be the first one out. It was a double elimination, with best of three games for each match.
My first match opponent was a happy hour friend, and I could see he was good with his stick. I had already decided that my best strategy was to slow down, hit softly, and try to leave my opponent with a bad shot.
Winning the first game, The second game started and I was behind. However, Kenny, my opponent, tried a difficult bank shot, on the eight ball, and scratched, so I won my first match! Because I had a first round bye I didn’t play another match until the final. Here I was pitted against another friend Bob.
The day before we had played seven racks and he had beat me five of the seven games. Second place would be good and so I hit soft and played position ball. Bob won the first game, and I didn’t have a lot of hope but my strategy worked and I won the second game!
Bob and I started the last game, (rack), and he pulled ahead. Then he broke up a cluster of balls and the eight ball went in by mistake. I couldn’t believe it, just like that I had won the tournament!
In other matches Don and Frank played for the winner of the consolation bracket. It was another close match and this time Don took the match and third place! The important thing was that we had made new friends, and that’s what the tournament was all about. Clear skies
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