cincy_kid
Verified Member
Wow! I don't even know where to begin... 
I wanted to give a recap of my experience in chitown but first off let me thank some folks.
Thanks to Ghost, Mike and the other local chicagoans who helped set this up and make us all feel at home for the entire event. Thank you to the owners of Chris's and staff for hosting the event and being so accommodating, I hope to visit the room again soon, it's a great old style pool room with a lot of history hanging all over the walls.
Next, thank you to Matt and the Lizzinator for doing such a great job running the tourney and getting our cool new shirts together! Everything ran smoothly and in a timely manner, my kudos to Lizz at the helm with Matt backing her up. Also thank you crabbcat for helping with the auction and Steve for helping with the tourney as well, I love it when a good plan comes together!
Thanks to Kentucky / Goldy for the stream. Didn't think you were going to make it Bill with the health issues, I am glad you were able to come! It was good to see you again and Goldy too! I think Goldy may have a couple of videos for me to post on the website once I get back in the swing of things here.
Also, thanks again to Chuck for designing the poster, everyone at the event thought they were top class!
I am sure there are others I am missing to thank but everyone who participated in helping organize and run this event, thanks for a great time!
Ok, here was my personal recap:
After spending the day before with my wife, I arrived at the pool room Friday around 2-ish and ended up playing some winner stay in one pocket with darmoose and col. bille and then youngstownkid hopped in and shortly after the calcutta began. I had played with bille before but both darmoose and YTK could both shoot well. It was nice to meet both of you and hope to see you again at the next 1p tourney!
After the calcutta and group photo we started round 1. I will break this up into 2 sections (tourney and action)
Tourney
Round 1 - cincy_kid vs NH Steve
Last year, Steve and I met in New Orleans in the loser's bracket in the 1st annual member's tournament and it went hill/hill and down to the last ball. Steve beat me to the shot and knocked me out of the tournament. This time was not so different. It came down to hill/hill, last ball but this time I get the win. We were both amazed at how close both of our matches ended up being (last year and this year) - great games Steve, I look forward to our grudge match
Round 2 - cincy_kid vs Nick B
I had heard from a few others when talking about my upcoming match that Nick could pocket the balls well. I was just hoping that i could out move him and have the classic mover vs shooter battle and hope to win. I win the first game, it's 1-0. The second game he has me 7 to -1 and I come back and win the game, I am on the hill 2-0. I dont remember exactly where it went wrong, but it was downhill from there. Nick made some great shots, he started getting his confidence back and ended up coming back and beating me 3-2. Although I beat myself up for losing when I was on the hill, I have give Nick mad props for being able to bear down and pull the come back off and win 3 straight, great job man!
Round 3 - cincy_kid vs johnnytronic
I knew that Johnny was a Ghost student / protege and that he could shoot the balls well. Like my last match I was hoping to out move him and get the first shot. However, what I didn't know about Johnny is that the guy rides his bike to the pool room (like 6 miles or so away) every time he comes to play! In fact, when we played Saturday at Noon, I was there practicing, he shows up and not much later we are playing. If I had to ride a bike there and then try to play top notch one pocket, I couldn't do it! Nice stamina man and you do shoot the balls well! You keep playing with Ghost and you are going to be a force in the near future! I did get the better of Johnny this time which moved me on to the next round.
Round 4 - cincy_kid vs mhilton777
This was going to be a fun match, win or lose. We were both happy we had won 2 matches already and this was a good chance to loosen up and let our strokes out. I guess if I had to describe the match I would say, we both had some moments of brilliance and we both had some moments of not much brilliance at all - I wish I would have taken a video or picture of a before and after in our match. Matt put down a pretty good break on me and I forget what I did but it was hit almost like a slam to re-arrange the furniture and boy did I ever! I moved the entire stack to my side and left him in a touch situation. It looked like I had put down a killer break. We stared and laughed for a bit before proceeding...good stuff (and sorry for the luck!) - I moved past Matt and was onto the next round!
Round 5 - cincy_kid vs oneholenut
Well, I knew I was in some trouble when i saw I was up against Jason. Without knocking his action, I think most already know that the boy can play. The bad part for me in this match, is not that I lost 3-0, but that I had chances every game and did not capitalize on them! Don't get me wrong, Jason shot well and when you give him an opening, he plows on through. In fact, before the tourney, I would not have been surprised if he would have went for the most in the calcutta. Great ball running sir and well played, thanks for the games! I was knocked out of the tournament here but what a great time overall!
Action
Besides the few games I play Friday night in the winner stay in table, I matched up with the following people.
mkbtank (Mitch) - Always have a blast playing Mitch! He is so tough and all business. I was able to play a race with him Friday and Saturday and he made some great shots indeed. Also, when i watched him play some other people over the weekend, he made some real incredible shots! I think if there was 1 thing I could take away from Mitch's game and use in my own would be his patience in aiming. Once he gets down on the shot, he aims it up real good, takes a lot of slower short strokes, you can just see him zeroing in on the target with every stroke, very methodical. I wish I could do that more, sometimes I feel I am rushing the shot once I am down on the ball. I look forward to our next battle buddy and good to see you again!
darmoose (Darrel) - Had played him some in the winner stay in match and also being the beat in the east, I knew he could play. I think I got lucky a couple of times and escaped his wrath (this time...) - nice to meet you again sir and hope to see you again soon!
Warren - He is a friend of Robert Newkirk's and they rode down together. He is not a member (yet) but he plans on signing up and contributing so he can play in next year's event and get to know some of the members better. Super nice guy, very laid back and a complete gentleman. The one thing I will say about his game is that I have never played anyone that shot as quickly with as much accuracy as he does. He pockets balls as well as I do if not better but I don't think he takes more than 2 or 3 seconds on every shot. It's like he sees the shot standing up, gets down, 1 or 2 pumps and shoots. I could do this too, but the thing is, he MAKES them! I love it though because I shoot fairly fast and hate slow play so this was a great change fo pace for me! Very fluid stroke, pretty to watch. In talking with Robert afterwards, apparently Warren is a good golfer and his stroke has carried over. Hope to see you at the next one Warren!
oneholenut (Jason) - Why you ask? Well, we both knew I needed weight so we matched up and had some fun! As I mentioned above in the tourney section, he can play so I am always afraid to leave him an open shot. If you have not played Jason before, one thing I found out is he is very helpful! After I would make a shot, I may say something about it if it was a bad shot and he would tell me a better way to shoot it or a way out of a trap for next time, so I was very appreciative of all the advice Jason, thanks bro!
Mitch (revisited) - I could not leave without fulfilling my promise to Mitch about playing him some ping pong. I used to play a lot but haven't played in years other than the night before in some ping pong bar with my wife and some friends from Chicago but that was pitter patter. I could tell instantly that Mitch could play some table tennis. We had some real good rallies and played one game to 21 and he beat me 21 to 18. You owe me a rematch next time yo!
12squared (Dave) - Well not really one hole action, but the very last thing I did before leaving the pool room Sunday was played a game of 3 cushion. I walked over to a 3 cushion table where Mitch was playing Tom Wirth and Dave was sitting watching. He asked to play partners but Mitch and Tom's game was in the early stage so we ended up getting our own table and playing a game to 25 points. It was nice to play on a heated table (my first time). I really like the game but only play it once or twice per year at most. I did get 4 points in before Dave beat me though which avoiding the shutout was a victory in itself, thanks for the lesson Dave and great job in the tourney, you have a strong one pocket game, despite what you say.
So yea, overall some real good matches, some real good times with some real good people.
Big congrats to the top 4 finishers!
1 - Newkirk
2 - Jim
3 - Nick
4 - Ghost
Congrats to everyone who placed and everyone else for participating!
Thanks again to all who helped put this together, I look forward to the next one!
I wanted to give a recap of my experience in chitown but first off let me thank some folks.
Thanks to Ghost, Mike and the other local chicagoans who helped set this up and make us all feel at home for the entire event. Thank you to the owners of Chris's and staff for hosting the event and being so accommodating, I hope to visit the room again soon, it's a great old style pool room with a lot of history hanging all over the walls.
Next, thank you to Matt and the Lizzinator for doing such a great job running the tourney and getting our cool new shirts together! Everything ran smoothly and in a timely manner, my kudos to Lizz at the helm with Matt backing her up. Also thank you crabbcat for helping with the auction and Steve for helping with the tourney as well, I love it when a good plan comes together!
Thanks to Kentucky / Goldy for the stream. Didn't think you were going to make it Bill with the health issues, I am glad you were able to come! It was good to see you again and Goldy too! I think Goldy may have a couple of videos for me to post on the website once I get back in the swing of things here.
Also, thanks again to Chuck for designing the poster, everyone at the event thought they were top class!
I am sure there are others I am missing to thank but everyone who participated in helping organize and run this event, thanks for a great time!
Ok, here was my personal recap:
After spending the day before with my wife, I arrived at the pool room Friday around 2-ish and ended up playing some winner stay in one pocket with darmoose and col. bille and then youngstownkid hopped in and shortly after the calcutta began. I had played with bille before but both darmoose and YTK could both shoot well. It was nice to meet both of you and hope to see you again at the next 1p tourney!
After the calcutta and group photo we started round 1. I will break this up into 2 sections (tourney and action)
Tourney
Round 1 - cincy_kid vs NH Steve
Last year, Steve and I met in New Orleans in the loser's bracket in the 1st annual member's tournament and it went hill/hill and down to the last ball. Steve beat me to the shot and knocked me out of the tournament. This time was not so different. It came down to hill/hill, last ball but this time I get the win. We were both amazed at how close both of our matches ended up being (last year and this year) - great games Steve, I look forward to our grudge match
Round 2 - cincy_kid vs Nick B
I had heard from a few others when talking about my upcoming match that Nick could pocket the balls well. I was just hoping that i could out move him and have the classic mover vs shooter battle and hope to win. I win the first game, it's 1-0. The second game he has me 7 to -1 and I come back and win the game, I am on the hill 2-0. I dont remember exactly where it went wrong, but it was downhill from there. Nick made some great shots, he started getting his confidence back and ended up coming back and beating me 3-2. Although I beat myself up for losing when I was on the hill, I have give Nick mad props for being able to bear down and pull the come back off and win 3 straight, great job man!
Round 3 - cincy_kid vs johnnytronic
I knew that Johnny was a Ghost student / protege and that he could shoot the balls well. Like my last match I was hoping to out move him and get the first shot. However, what I didn't know about Johnny is that the guy rides his bike to the pool room (like 6 miles or so away) every time he comes to play! In fact, when we played Saturday at Noon, I was there practicing, he shows up and not much later we are playing. If I had to ride a bike there and then try to play top notch one pocket, I couldn't do it! Nice stamina man and you do shoot the balls well! You keep playing with Ghost and you are going to be a force in the near future! I did get the better of Johnny this time which moved me on to the next round.
Round 4 - cincy_kid vs mhilton777
This was going to be a fun match, win or lose. We were both happy we had won 2 matches already and this was a good chance to loosen up and let our strokes out. I guess if I had to describe the match I would say, we both had some moments of brilliance and we both had some moments of not much brilliance at all
- I wish I would have taken a video or picture of a before and after in our match. Matt put down a pretty good break on me and I forget what I did but it was hit almost like a slam to re-arrange the furniture and boy did I ever! I moved the entire stack to my side and left him in a touch situation. It looked like I had put down a killer break. We stared and laughed for a bit before proceeding...good stuff (and sorry for the luck!) - I moved past Matt and was onto the next round!Round 5 - cincy_kid vs oneholenut
Well, I knew I was in some trouble when i saw I was up against Jason. Without knocking his action, I think most already know that the boy can play. The bad part for me in this match, is not that I lost 3-0, but that I had chances every game and did not capitalize on them! Don't get me wrong, Jason shot well and when you give him an opening, he plows on through. In fact, before the tourney, I would not have been surprised if he would have went for the most in the calcutta. Great ball running sir and well played, thanks for the games! I was knocked out of the tournament here but what a great time overall!
Action
Besides the few games I play Friday night in the winner stay in table, I matched up with the following people.
mkbtank (Mitch) - Always have a blast playing Mitch! He is so tough and all business. I was able to play a race with him Friday and Saturday and he made some great shots indeed. Also, when i watched him play some other people over the weekend, he made some real incredible shots! I think if there was 1 thing I could take away from Mitch's game and use in my own would be his patience in aiming. Once he gets down on the shot, he aims it up real good, takes a lot of slower short strokes, you can just see him zeroing in on the target with every stroke, very methodical. I wish I could do that more, sometimes I feel I am rushing the shot once I am down on the ball. I look forward to our next battle buddy and good to see you again!
darmoose (Darrel) - Had played him some in the winner stay in match and also being the beat in the east, I knew he could play. I think I got lucky a couple of times and escaped his wrath (this time...) - nice to meet you again sir and hope to see you again soon!
Warren - He is a friend of Robert Newkirk's and they rode down together. He is not a member (yet) but he plans on signing up and contributing so he can play in next year's event and get to know some of the members better. Super nice guy, very laid back and a complete gentleman. The one thing I will say about his game is that I have never played anyone that shot as quickly with as much accuracy as he does. He pockets balls as well as I do if not better but I don't think he takes more than 2 or 3 seconds on every shot. It's like he sees the shot standing up, gets down, 1 or 2 pumps and shoots. I could do this too, but the thing is, he MAKES them!
I love it though because I shoot fairly fast and hate slow play so this was a great change fo pace for me! Very fluid stroke, pretty to watch. In talking with Robert afterwards, apparently Warren is a good golfer and his stroke has carried over. Hope to see you at the next one Warren!oneholenut (Jason) - Why you ask? Well, we both knew I needed weight so we matched up and had some fun! As I mentioned above in the tourney section, he can play so I am always afraid to leave him an open shot. If you have not played Jason before, one thing I found out is he is very helpful! After I would make a shot, I may say something about it if it was a bad shot and he would tell me a better way to shoot it or a way out of a trap for next time, so I was very appreciative of all the advice Jason, thanks bro!
Mitch (revisited) - I could not leave without fulfilling my promise to Mitch about playing him some ping pong. I used to play a lot but haven't played in years other than the night before in some ping pong bar with my wife and some friends from Chicago but that was pitter patter. I could tell instantly that Mitch could play some table tennis. We had some real good rallies and played one game to 21 and he beat me 21 to 18. You owe me a rematch next time yo!
12squared (Dave) - Well not really one hole action, but the very last thing I did before leaving the pool room Sunday was played a game of 3 cushion. I walked over to a 3 cushion table where Mitch was playing Tom Wirth and Dave was sitting watching. He asked to play partners but Mitch and Tom's game was in the early stage so we ended up getting our own table and playing a game to 25 points. It was nice to play on a heated table (my first time). I really like the game but only play it once or twice per year at most. I did get 4 points in before Dave beat me though which avoiding the shutout was a victory in itself, thanks for the lesson Dave and great job in the tourney, you have a strong one pocket game, despite what you say.
So yea, overall some real good matches, some real good times with some real good people.
Big congrats to the top 4 finishers!
1 - Newkirk
2 - Jim
3 - Nick
4 - Ghost
Congrats to everyone who placed and everyone else for participating!
Thanks again to all who helped put this together, I look forward to the next one!
