I had a pretty good day, pool-wise. Got a new tip on my shooting cue, then went over to this new (for me anyway) Louisville Billiard Club.

It's a pretty nice place. Their draft selection sucks, but they have Newcastle in bottles, so I can live with that I guess.

Not that I drank any beer. It was, after all, the middle of the afternoon.

Played a guy who's a lot better than I am, but I managed to win most of the games. This was mostly because I don't play for money and I think that's all the other guy ever does.

I'd like to say that I'll be going back, but with me it's hard to tell what I'm going to do. I had fun though. I guess that's what's most imporant.

Wow, two entries in three days! Cold snap hits Hell!

Accu-Stats has finally got the 2006 Derby City Classic DVDs up for sale. I, of course, bought the Banks offerings.

Gives me something to look forward to.

It really pisses me off that I don't ever post anything here.

I still play almost every day. I shoot banks, of course, and I'm showing a lot of progress.

At least until I fire up the camcorder, then I suck donkey balls.

I've let a month go by without a single post.

If anyone bothers to read this anymore, they probably figure that I've given up playing or something. And I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking that.

But it's not the case.

I'm actually playing a lot.

I guess, if forced to make an update here, I'd say that I've sort of abandoned the idea of sticking with a particular shooting style. I'm sort of shooting with my regular (if you want to call it that) semi-random style except for certain shots.

I don't have anything else to say at this time.

I'm waiting for the AccuStats tapes from the recent DCC Banks to come out so I can buy them and see what I missed.

People are going to believe whatever they want to believe, but I know what the truth is.

Yesterday at about noon, I realized that I didn't want to be at the tournament. My excitement and interest levels were both at zero.

My first match started at around 5:00, and other than the first game, I couldn't make a ball.

And I didn't care.

Once that match was over, I came home. I didn't buy back in. I doubt that I'm going back to watch. Maybe Monday to see the Banks final matches, but maybe not.

I was expecting this tournament to do too much for me I suppose.

Like I said, people are going to believe whatever they want, but this is the truth.

Losing that match was not the problem, it was only a symptom. Losing that match did not cause me to leave and come home, it allowed me to do so.

I expand on this a bit in my regular 'blog.

For the past couple of weeks, I've at least been practicing.

When, that is, I'm not busy looking for chocolate stout to drink.

I guess I'm looking forward to the thing. Not nearly as much as I have in past years though.

Every year at about this time I usually remark how I'm "banking better than I ever have before."

Well, this year there's a twist.

I'm banking extremely well, but I'm not sure that it even matters.

Compared to previous years, I've hardly practiced at all this year. I wasted a year in my personal life, and some of that wastage has transferred to my pool game.

I'll be lucky to win a match at the Derby City Classic, which starts in just a couple of weeks.

Yay!

I just, with a broken toe and all, I just banked twelve balls in a row.

I'm pretty happy about it. I'd be quite a bit happier if I'd had the fucking camera rolling.

I've been, as usual, experimenting with my physical shooting style lately. I've been moving my right hand way to the back of the wrap.

If you've ever seen Tony Fargo shoot - that's the style I'm sort of copying right now. I'm banking pretty fucking well, if I say so myself. And I say so.

Of course, if this lasts until January and the tournament I'll be shocked. Nothing ever lasts with me.

Consider the following.

You're the captain or coach of an 8-ball league. Your low-level player is shooting solids.

Now, I'm convinced that 99% of the beginning players out there (I'm thinking APA two's and three's) are going to shoot the five ball now, because it's an easier shot.

But that's why they're called beginners. The thing to me that's sad is that at least 80% of their coaches will let them shoot the five.

Don't let them do it! If you have any timeouts left, take one now.

Have them shoot the two first. It's a tougher shot, but if they make it the game is essentially over. The odds against getting snookered from the five are pretty slim.

So they pocket the two, then either slow-roll the five or shoot a stop-shot at it, then they put the eight in the other corner.

This is almost never what happens though.

What happens is this:

1. Player makes the five in the corner.

2. Player makes the two in the side.

3. Player is completely fucked on the eight and uses their timeout to get help with a shot that they'll never make in a million years.

4. Player loses the game.

Too many times, coaches are coaching the wrong thing. Beginning players can't be told how to make a shot in the middle of a game. Shotmaking is something they have to work on when they're practicing. Beginning players can, however, be shown a little bit of common sense and strategy.

It's up to their coaches to show them, but too often I've seen coaches sitting on their asses during situations like this.

So I seem to have this curse. I call it The Camera Curse.

I really don't feel any differently when the camera is running. Maybe a little hot because of the extra lights, but I certainly don't get nervous or anything.

Having said that, I shot all day yesterday and the best I managed was another lousy eight in a row.

It's on my movies page. I called it Argh!