Jan 30, 2011

Challenge #22

Tough little ball in hand runout of solids...

Jan 28, 2011

Solution #21

With the 6 ball blocking the 11 ball in the corner, you really only have one (non-bank) pocket for the 11 ball.


The first shot is the most difficult and I would understanding taking the 13 ball instead of the 14 ball. You will nudge the 12 ball and will need a little luck for your 2nd shot shape.


Getting on the 11 ball is the key shot for sure.



The 8 ball is somewhat limited as well...


What are your thoughts or suggestions?

Jan 26, 2011

Week 16, League Recap

Well, last week we played great...and had a little luck!

Ryan and I both had an ERO with a bank on the 8 ball...my dad made a bank on the ball before the 8 ball (and almost missed a straight in 8 ball). We won 17 out of 25 games and were probably 7 out of 9 on bank shots for the night...our opponents were as shocked as we were.

We have again extended our lead to 7 rounds, gaining 1 on Broken English last week. Chas headed up to Steamboat to do a little skiing last weekend and Ryan's brother played and had a good night (he was high on our team with a 47)


This week we play at Heidelberg's and Chas will be joining us again assuming that he doesn't have a broken break arm!

Jan 25, 2011

Great Plains 8 Ball Results

2011 Great Plains 8-Ball Shootout Results

Via Valley Vending Facebook Page

Womens Regular 8-Ball Singles
1st - Kelli Finke
2nd - Chris Williams


Open Masters 8-Ball Singles
1st - Pat Wancewicz
2nd - Cole Foster


Womens Masters 8-Ball Singles
1st - Julie Guzman
2nd - Becky Minshall


Open Regular 8-Ball Singles
1st - Kim Elder
2nd - Mark Hunt



Open Team
1st - Gotta Have It
2nd - Skyline Bar And Casino


Womens Team
1st - BCuz We're Here
2nd - Charlie's Angels


Womens 9-Ball Singles
1st - Sara Stevens
2nd - Kelli Finke

Open 9-Ball Singles
1st - Cole Foster
2nd - Rex Yoder

2011 Great Plains 8-Ball Junior Shootout

Open Majors Singles
1st - Matthew Vlcek
2nd - Tanner Schmidt
3rd - Josh Burger

Open Minors Singles
1st - Cody Beltz
2nd - Ismael Zambrano
3rd - Lee Schenaman

Male Youth Singles
1st - Sean Rink
2nd - Taylor Cobb
3rd - Colton Rezabek

Female Youth Singles
1st - Trina Barmore
2nd - Monique Saunsoci
3rd - Eryn McConnell

Jan 24, 2011

Great Plains 8 Ball

My wife and I didn't fare well in singles, and my team had a rough go at it this last weekend. We had a tough draw in the first round of team and had our openings...we were down 11 with 2 games left against Rex, Jay, Chris and Sam and couldn't quite pull it out.

I should have opened with a runout, but messed it up...then had a 2nd chance against Sam when this happened. This mistake resulted in a 10 point difference in the end!


Dumb shot on my part...

I then had a nice run against Jay and decided to take a long 8 ball instead of try and weave my way through traffic. This one cost us another 10 balls!


Our team is now prepping up for a good finish at Midwest!

I guess it could have been worse...and I was the guy scratching his noggin on the cover of the Lincoln newspaper!

Jan 23, 2011

Challenge #21

Your opponent rattled the 6 ball here, take advantage of the situation and run out stripes!

Jan 21, 2011

Solution #20

This situation I think it is pretty tough to try for a breakout shot with the 8 ball in the middle of the action.

For solids, I think the best option is a safety to open your ball up and make your opponent give you ball in hand.


Here I like this safety because it will make it very difficult to hit the stripe with the 8 ball in the way of the 1 rail kick.


Now, turning the tables...if my opponent left me like this, I would probably try to tie up the 2 ball again to hope for a better option next time. This will give my opponent ball in hand again.


The breakout off the ball in front of the side pocket is still a possibility, but I still prefer to position my balls instead.


These kind of safety games can go on for a while...sometimes one gets frustrated and gives up. At the start of this, the one with ball-in hand had the "advantage" in winning this games. Probably 8 or 9 out of 10 games should be won.


What is your opinion?

Jan 20, 2011

"Like This" Worthy

Put a picture of this on facebook, thumbs way up!

Jan 16, 2011

Challenge #20

In this week's 8 ball challenge, you have ball in hand and you are solids.

Would you play aggressively or play it safe?


Drop a comment with your suggestions on strategy.

Jan 14, 2011

Solution #19

I would first look at my safety options since there isn't an easy shot...

You're window behind the 2 ball and 8 ball is pretty good in size, but the 5 ball isn't located in a prime spot to get the cueball snookered.


I think I'd probably be successful 6 out of 10 times at getting the cueball in the safety zone. I'll probably make the bank shot on the 5 ball 2 out of 10. By making the bank, it would improve my position in getting a good safety or a shot at the 2 ball. The safety behind the 8 ball doesn't appear too tough. If I do leave an opening to the 15 ball, the 8 ball is blocked in one of the corners...so it isn't a clear sell-out.


Another safety has a smaller window in that the 8 ball will be the prime ball to hide the cueball behind. This is definitely a speed shot and requires some practice to feel comfortable and become successful at this safety.


An aggressive approach would be to shoot the 2 ball in the corner and try to manuever the cueball around to get shape. You're shape is definitely still a variable and you may end up worse that you started.


What would you do? Drop a comment!

Jan 11, 2011

Week #14 League Stats

Our team had another awesome week, winning 6-0 at home against the now 10th place Sun Valley team. We started off hot winning 50-20 the first round, then we had 3 out of 4 games come down to the last game of the round...we got em all. Our team won 8 ball games 17-8 and further extended our lead in the league to 7 rounds.


I won all 5 last week, up to 9 in a row and had 1 ERO and messed up one in the last round. The team is doing well overall, going to have our first sub in a couple weeks for Chas...

4th through 11th in the stats are pretty tightly grouped. The top 3 teams this season finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th LAST SEASON... the 4th place team (us last season) stole a player from the last season 2nd place team. The

Jan 9, 2011

Challenge #19

My dad and I were playing a game of pool last week after leagues and my dad had this situation...


One master player yell "cut the 5 ball in the side"...then he took a closer look and didn't think it was possible.

So I decided to make it this weeks challenge..what would you do? It is your turn and you are solids.

Get Out Of Meetings Or Unwanted Conversations

Thanks Samsung for thinking about me...just 4 navigation key presses away from a conversation with an annoying neighbor!

Jan 7, 2011

Solution #18

Here is my solution for running stripes in Challenge #18


I like shooting the 9 ball here, there really is no safety...but if you happen to miss the 9 ball in the corner, it may block the corner for the 8 ball. I think my chances to run this is 60/40 on a bar box...may drop to 40/60 on a table with tighter corner pockets like mine at home.


Making the 1st shot will set you up nicely for the out, I really don't see much of a safety to play instead.


The rest of the shots can be made easily and will set up shape nicely with the right speed.


How would you do it? Drop a comment with your ideas/feedback

Jan 5, 2011

League Stats, Week 14

We had a good week back before our xmas break, and the 2nd place team had a bad one...




Extended our lead to 5 rounds after we were down 2 rounds on Broken English just 2 weeks ago..

Jan 4, 2011

Cross My Fingers...And Hope To Die?

This finger art makes sense of the whole finger crossing bit...


Why do we cross our fingers...according to WikiPedia

Crossed fingers behind the back can also be used when making a promise or a claim to indicate that you are lying. This has been used in television and movies to clue in the viewers while keeping other characters in the dark.

When a suspected witch crossed your path, you could make a cross shortcut by crossing your index and second finger or the index fingers of both hands. This would provide protection and ward off the evil influence. Just like in Dracula movies, it was believed the power of the cross or any religious talisman would combat the forces of darkness.

Edit: "Who's the naked guy on the left?"


FIXED

Black Eyed Peas Halftime Show...LOL

There was one empty seat at the Super Bowl!

Jan 2, 2011

Challenge #18

You are shooting stripes here and have gotten way out of shape...what do you do now?


Drop a comment with your suggestions...

Jan 1, 2011

Homeless Ted, Radio DJ

An anonymous listener of a radio morning talk show in Columbus offered $15,000 to have the show hire this man for the show





Doral Chenoweth, the photographer/videographer who shot this piece for The Columbus Dispatch informed us that Ted can usually be found at the Hudson ramp off of I-71 South (for those of you who live in Columbus). The radio jocks who featured the sound-byte from this video on their show 1/4/11. They are considering hiring Ted using the $15K donation one of the listeners said they would donate for his salary.


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