Congratulations Ben

jtompilot

Verified Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
5,797
From
New Orleans
Congratulations Ben for great tournament play. You played great. I watched you play a very good player and he had no chance against you. Well done.
 

Mkbtank

Verified Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2013
Messages
5,901
From
Philly Pa
Congratulations Ben

I second that! Ben you are a very straight shooter and it was a real pleasure to sweat your matches and root you on!! Congrats on your fine finish!!
 

12squared

Verified Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
3,997
From
Fort Collins, CO
Congratulations Ben for great tournament play. You played great. I watched you play a very good player and he had no chance against you. Well done.

Yes, Congratulations! I wasn't there so saw none of it, but was following your progress closely. Great tournament!

Jim, how did you end up?

Dave
 

rnewkirk

Verified Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2005
Messages
960
From
Weatherford, TX
Yes Sir !!

Yes Sir !!

I had the privilege of watching most of Ben's matches along with his lovely wife, Kristin.

Ben's ball pocketing skills are among the best. As he learns and gets the experience of playing champions, his game will be top level. Shoot, who am I kidding, Ben's game is already there.


Results did not surprise me at all. CONGRATS, Ben !
 

Hardmix

Verified Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Messages
1,158
From
Cumming Ga
Thank you all so much for the kind words. It means a lot to me coming for you guys. As some of you know, I took a 16 yr break from pool returning a little over 3 years ago. When I came back I was ready to resume playing rotation only to find everyone playing one pocket. I knew nothing about the game, i still don’t know much, but I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the community here at 1P.org. On this site I have not only learned shots, moves, and strategies but I have also made some great friends as well.

Ok now on to a trip report. I booked the hotel Saturday-Thursday thinking I will get knocked out by Wednesday, if am lucky, and then head out Thursday morning to see accounts in Louisville, lexington, and Nashville on the way home. Obviously the best laid plans often go awry.

I won’t go through all of the match’s but one match that I enjoyed was against Al Markasky, sorry if I butchered the last name Al. I see Jerry or Bill mentioned his name in another tread. I can tell you Al is a very good player and even a nicer guy.

Unfortunately, my last match was my worse showing of the tournament. We were supposed to play at 2:00 so I fueled up at noon and was ready to go only to sit around til 5:15. I had checked out of the hotel in the morning so I could not go lounge around in the room.

So as we are getting ready to start the match I am taking inventory of how I feel. I was a bit frustrated with the delay and I knew I did not have enough in the tank for a prolonged match so I decided this is going to be shooters match. Which in all honesty is probably the best approach. I know I can’t out move these guys but I can run balls wth them.

Gomez wins the lag and the first game. I take the 2nd. The 3rd Gomez lays down a good break. I decided on a aggro response caroming the 3 of the bottom of the stack and clearing is pocket. I read the stack wrong and Gomez gets a free shot with open table, game to Gomez. The 4th game was interesting/frustrating. I don’t recall the score but it’s early in the game when Gomez left me a long rail bank below the stack. There were 2 balls slightly above the ball I wanted to shoot. It was a straight forward bank but if I twisted it and held the cb where it was I could then bank the ball next to it and get behind the stack where I could do some real damage. I went for the twist hitting it poorly and selling out. Gomez makes 4 and gets stuck plays a poor safe, leaving me a back cut that I make and try running Cb 2 rails out of his corner into the stack but barley miss it. This shot would have changed the game. We trade punches from there with Gomez ultimately prevailing. I had my chances but could not get it done.

I don’t know that I will ever go this deep again at the DCC. Although it won’t be for a lack of trying! That said, it was a great experience overall and it was pretty cool to see my name on the board with 23 other stone cold killers. In the end, I went out on my terms....guns blazing!

Thank you again for all of the support, you are a great group that I hope to continue to learn from.

Ben smith - Hardmix
 

Jeff sparks

Verified Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2015
Messages
3,317
From
Houston, Texas
Had to be fun Ben... Going that deep at DCC is quite the accomplishment. You should be very happy and proud... You will get better, I’m sure of it... Congratulations on an excellent showing...
 

jalapus logan

Verified Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
307
Congratulations Ben, this finish is a great accomplishment! Well played! I hope to have my table set back up in the coming months in the new home we are building. Hope to have you over for more sets.. but it appears that I'm gonna need to amp up my practice to have a glimmer of a shot! Well done my friend!
 

Nick B

Verified Member
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
1,025
From
Vancouver, Canada
Our boy killed it. You guys killed my week at work. Watching the stream and refreshing updates. Next year I won't bother pretending to work. I'm coming.
 

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Island Drive

Verified Member
Joined
May 1, 2011
Messages
5,192
From
florence, colorado
Thank you all so much for the kind words. It means a lot to me coming for you guys. As some of you know, I took a 16 yr break from pool returning a little over 3 years ago. When I came back I was ready to resume playing rotation only to find everyone playing one pocket. I knew nothing about the game, i still don’t know much, but I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the community here at 1P.org. On this site I have not only learned shots, moves, and strategies but I have also made some great friends as well.

Ok now on to a trip report. I booked the hotel Saturday-Thursday thinking I will get knocked out by Wednesday, if am lucky, and then head out Thursday morning to see accounts in Louisville, lexington, and Nashville on the way home. Obviously the best laid plans often go awry.

I won’t go through all of the match’s but one match that I enjoyed was against Al Markasky, sorry if I butchered the last name Al. I see Jerry or Bill mentioned his name in another tread. I can tell you Al is a very good player and even a nicer guy.

Unfortunately, my last match was my worse showing of the tournament. We were supposed to play at 2:00 so I fueled up at noon and was ready to go only to sit around til 5:15. I had checked out of the hotel in the morning so I could not go lounge around in the room.

So as we are getting ready to start the match I am taking inventory of how I feel. I was a bit frustrated with the delay and I knew I did not have enough in the tank for a prolonged match so I decided this is going to be shooters match. Which in all honesty is probably the best approach. I know I can’t out move these guys but I can run balls wth them.

Gomez wins the lag and the first game. I take the 2nd. The 3rd Gomez lays down a good break. I decided on a aggro response caroming the 3 of the bottom of the stack and clearing is pocket. I read the stack wrong and Gomez gets a free shot with open table, game to Gomez. The 4th game was interesting/frustrating. I don’t recall the score but it’s early in the game when Gomez left me a long rail bank below the stack. There were 2 balls slightly above the ball I wanted to shoot. It was a straight forward bank but if I twisted it and held the cb where it was I could then bank the ball next to it and get behind the stack where I could do some real damage. I went for the twist hitting it poorly and selling out. Gomez makes 4 and gets stuck plays a poor safe, leaving me a back cut that I make and try running Cb 2 rails out of his corner into the stack but barley miss it. This shot would have changed the game. We trade punches from there with Gomez ultimately prevailing. I had my chances but could not get it done.

I don’t know that I will ever go this deep again at the DCC. Although it won’t be for a lack of trying! That said, it was a great experience overall and it was pretty cool to see my name on the board with 23 other stone cold killers. In the end, I went out on my terms....guns blazing!

Thank you again for all of the support, you are a great group that I hope to continue to learn from.

Ben smith - Hardmix

Ben nice write and nice read. 16 yrs....kids, I had a 20 year gap.

I do like your plug for Al Markasky sp? :)

It's neat when you find another man, you enjoy competing against who shows another respect.
 

12squared

Verified Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
3,997
From
Fort Collins, CO
Jerry, Chris Cruz, and I all placed tied for 44. Over 400 entries in 1P.

Congrats to all 3 of you, nice showing. As for Ben, WOW! Nice write up and playing. And yes, you spelled Al's name correctly. :) ~ Al is also a very talented at making musical instuments (guitars mostly I think).

Dave
 

chicagomike

Verified Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
1,559
Great finish Ben! I really enjoyed sweating your last match...I was sending Mitch play by play updates as he can’t get enough of the updates. You definitely came in shooting that match and did great!
 
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