One Pocket Ghost
Verified Member
My first 4-1/2 days at the DCC were great.…but after waiting 51 weeks for this week to finally arrive, my final 3-1/2 days were really a bummer...
Days 1. & 2. Got in some practice on the always unfamiliar Diamond tables/cloth/rails (there are no Diamond tables at all in Chicago, so I never play on Diamonds)….....Enjoyed seeing again, and hanging out with all of my fellow One Pocket degenerates again - Don, 3 different Steve’s, Tim, George, Bernie, Doc, John, Ace, Deeman, Lou, Billy, Bob, Al, Rob, Carla, David, Tom…and also the guys I met for the first time - Keith, Simon, Greg, Gerry, and Lenny - all good guys - sorry, if I forgot anybody…....Bernie and I got in some good practice playing some One Pocket games together, and discussed our partners strategy....…I won a little bit gambling with a guy I gambled with last year…...John, Bernie and I are waiting to see when we'll be able to get in our partners match...
Day 3. My annual bad draw begins I draw Ike Runnels for my first match - sucks because he plays great One Pocket, and, he’s confident going into the match, knowing he’s the favorite to win against me - but, I‘m feeling good, hitting the balls good, and I‘m ready to play….He wins the lag, and wins the first game - this causes me to lose a couple of sweaters lol, including Greg (Cali-Red) - but, some of my other sweaters (Deeman, Ace, Steve, Rob & Carla) stick with me…
…I’m focused, determined and playing good - I win the next three games in a row, and the match....2 of the games aren’t close, I win them 8-1, 8-2....I am very much enjoying the DCC at this point......
Day 4. The DCC schedule finally aligns so that Bernie, John and myself can start our partners game in the afternoon - we have about 5 hours to play before we have to play our various-time-scheduled evening matches…
Our partners game is a very close and competitive match…we’re all playing hard, but at the same time we’re having a lot of fun, complimenting each other, and joking with all the one pocket.org railbirds….as you all already know, John jumped out ahead 3-1, but team Ghost/Bernie shrugged off their deficit won the next two, and tied it up 3-3.…we had to stop at this point for our upcoming evening matches…
PS, Deeman sharked me a little bit halfway through this partners match (just kidding Deeman) by telling me that the next rounds matches were just posted, and my next tournament match was against Filipino world 10 ball champion Dennis Orcullo…I guess the Billiard Gods figured that since I fronted them by beating Ike, they’d now pound on me a little more severely…...
I lose my match with Orcullo….when a good mover plays against a world class shooter/champion like Orcullo, what you have to do is try to steer the games into moving games, not shooting games…depending on how the racks unfold in the beginning, sometimes you can do this, and sometimes you can’t - in my match against Orcullo, the racks didn’t open up the way I needed them to, and he ran a lot of balls.
Day 5. I wake up with a sore throat and not feeling so good…I slog through the day, mostly sitting in the stands sweating One Pocket matches, waiting for my next match to be called…..I’m called to play at 9:00 against a name I don't know - hey whaddaya know - maybe I got an easy match for a change..aah, NO....he's a young pro tour southern player…I don’t know him, but I look in the Jan. Inside Pool mag. and there he is, finishing in 2nd place last month in a big 9ball tournament - finishing ahead of Archer, Nevel, Daulton, Putnam, etc. lol…...9:00 comes and I’m feeling sicker now, but I somehow manage to focus and play well anyway - he shoots super-straight, but I can outmove him...couple of hours go by and we’re hill-hill and 6-6 in balls in the final game…several innings later I miss a 3-railer and leave him a tough thin slice - he makes it, then makes a straight back bank and wins the match…I try to sweat an 11:00 match with a couple of the guys, but feeling worse, I have to pull up and head to my room.
Days 6 & 7. I wake up sick and with a fever - spend all of Wednesday & Thursday sick in bed, paying $140 a night to be stuck in the room watching bad cable tv - when I’m not comatose.....don't get to finish the partners game - don't get to gamble with about 4 other guys that I'm supposed to gamble with - and don't get to hang out with the guys, watching the good matchups in the final 2 days of the One Pocket tournament, including the finals...
Day 8. Friday morning - still sick, but had to check out of the hotel and drive home anyway - 5 hours - was not a fun drive.
- Ghosty
PS, Hey Papie…since you decided not to go to the DCC, and be sick there - I did it for you.
PPS, Since I'm still sick, you'll notice I blearingly wrote the wrong DCC year in the thread title.
Days 1. & 2. Got in some practice on the always unfamiliar Diamond tables/cloth/rails (there are no Diamond tables at all in Chicago, so I never play on Diamonds)….....Enjoyed seeing again, and hanging out with all of my fellow One Pocket degenerates again - Don, 3 different Steve’s, Tim, George, Bernie, Doc, John, Ace, Deeman, Lou, Billy, Bob, Al, Rob, Carla, David, Tom…and also the guys I met for the first time - Keith, Simon, Greg, Gerry, and Lenny - all good guys - sorry, if I forgot anybody…....Bernie and I got in some good practice playing some One Pocket games together, and discussed our partners strategy....…I won a little bit gambling with a guy I gambled with last year…...John, Bernie and I are waiting to see when we'll be able to get in our partners match...
Day 3. My annual bad draw begins I draw Ike Runnels for my first match - sucks because he plays great One Pocket, and, he’s confident going into the match, knowing he’s the favorite to win against me - but, I‘m feeling good, hitting the balls good, and I‘m ready to play….He wins the lag, and wins the first game - this causes me to lose a couple of sweaters lol, including Greg (Cali-Red) - but, some of my other sweaters (Deeman, Ace, Steve, Rob & Carla) stick with me…
…I’m focused, determined and playing good - I win the next three games in a row, and the match....2 of the games aren’t close, I win them 8-1, 8-2....I am very much enjoying the DCC at this point......
Day 4. The DCC schedule finally aligns so that Bernie, John and myself can start our partners game in the afternoon - we have about 5 hours to play before we have to play our various-time-scheduled evening matches…
Our partners game is a very close and competitive match…we’re all playing hard, but at the same time we’re having a lot of fun, complimenting each other, and joking with all the one pocket.org railbirds….as you all already know, John jumped out ahead 3-1, but team Ghost/Bernie shrugged off their deficit won the next two, and tied it up 3-3.…we had to stop at this point for our upcoming evening matches…
PS, Deeman sharked me a little bit halfway through this partners match (just kidding Deeman) by telling me that the next rounds matches were just posted, and my next tournament match was against Filipino world 10 ball champion Dennis Orcullo…I guess the Billiard Gods figured that since I fronted them by beating Ike, they’d now pound on me a little more severely…...
I lose my match with Orcullo….when a good mover plays against a world class shooter/champion like Orcullo, what you have to do is try to steer the games into moving games, not shooting games…depending on how the racks unfold in the beginning, sometimes you can do this, and sometimes you can’t - in my match against Orcullo, the racks didn’t open up the way I needed them to, and he ran a lot of balls.
Day 5. I wake up with a sore throat and not feeling so good…I slog through the day, mostly sitting in the stands sweating One Pocket matches, waiting for my next match to be called…..I’m called to play at 9:00 against a name I don't know - hey whaddaya know - maybe I got an easy match for a change..aah, NO....he's a young pro tour southern player…I don’t know him, but I look in the Jan. Inside Pool mag. and there he is, finishing in 2nd place last month in a big 9ball tournament - finishing ahead of Archer, Nevel, Daulton, Putnam, etc. lol…...9:00 comes and I’m feeling sicker now, but I somehow manage to focus and play well anyway - he shoots super-straight, but I can outmove him...couple of hours go by and we’re hill-hill and 6-6 in balls in the final game…several innings later I miss a 3-railer and leave him a tough thin slice - he makes it, then makes a straight back bank and wins the match…I try to sweat an 11:00 match with a couple of the guys, but feeling worse, I have to pull up and head to my room.
Days 6 & 7. I wake up sick and with a fever - spend all of Wednesday & Thursday sick in bed, paying $140 a night to be stuck in the room watching bad cable tv - when I’m not comatose.....don't get to finish the partners game - don't get to gamble with about 4 other guys that I'm supposed to gamble with - and don't get to hang out with the guys, watching the good matchups in the final 2 days of the One Pocket tournament, including the finals...
Day 8. Friday morning - still sick, but had to check out of the hotel and drive home anyway - 5 hours - was not a fun drive.
- Ghosty
PS, Hey Papie…since you decided not to go to the DCC, and be sick there - I did it for you.
PPS, Since I'm still sick, you'll notice I blearingly wrote the wrong DCC year in the thread title.
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