u/oldmajorbeats

Share your stories!

I am wondering if this disparity in rating is normal or if perhaps I am over/under rated in one. I'm not entirely sure how the ratings translate. Just wanted some insight from some more seasoned players.

Lengthy but stick around until the end for a happy ending.

Backstory: I (30M) started playing pool seriously a few months ago after being a casual enjoyer of the game for a few years. Joined an APA 9ball league and fell in love with trying to get as good as I can. There is a regular (50M) at the pool hall I play at who I have played a few matches with before. He is a 7 and I am a 4. He will usually give me a handicap and we will go back and forth winning $50-200 off each other in races to 5 or 7. Yesterday we decided to play for big money and see who comes out on top in a marathon.

He spotted me 6 racks, I need 14 and he needs 20 to win. At the end of an 11 hour long day we got to a hill hill game, which I ended up losing after leaving myself a bad shot on the 8. We recorded the whole thing, and after watching it back here are the main things I learned:

-Don't be myopic. Keep your eyes and mind open to the big picture of the rack. The problems balls, when to go for the run out and when to play safe. I was proud of myself for my defensive play throughout the match, there was one rack in particular with a 30 minute long safety battle where I had a solid glued to the 8 on the rail, and I had another solid to keep intentionally missing forcing him to eventually break out the 8 for me to runout and win. But at the same time, I lost a few racks attempting to go for the run out and failing to break out my problem ball, being forced to open things up for him.

-Pattern play. This is an area of my game that I think is generally one of my strengths, especially for my level of a 4. But clearly so much room for learning and finding routes that are easier and have less risk. I failed to run out 3 balls and an 8 with ball in hand because of a miscalculated plan. Do more drills, pay attention to stronger players and the paths they take when given multiple choices, or when they have one single plan and have to execute it with precision.

-Endurance. I have traveled around the country and played in chess tournaments for years, so I am not stranger to 8+ hour long days of intense and exhausting completion. But 11+ hours of 8 ball, 30+ games, against a much more seasoned player, boy oh boy did I underestimate how big of a factor this would be. I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked, I always lose sleep before tournaments overthinking about the next day. Find ways to fix this and get sleep. I did well eating meals and snacks and drinking water. I brought my skateboard with me to fuck around and blow off steam on the lunch break, arguably helped by clearing the head and having fun, but potentially hurt getting my heart rate and blood pressure jacked up before going back in to play the second half of the match.

-Never underestimate your opponent. Before yesterday I was actually up $200+ against him overall in our matches. He said that this was because he played short races. He offered to put up bigger money and have a long set to prove the better player will come out on top. If I can beat him 7-2 how could I lose in a race to 20 with a 6 rack spot? Here is how: he is experienced, older but capable of playing that long at a high ability because he has done it for decades. At one point in the match I was up 15-10, I thought there's no way he will have it in him to win 10 before I can win 5. He wasn't eating, he wasn't drinking water, he was drinking whiskey and sitting waiting for his chances. He was able to keep his head in the game and beat me from the back foot.

-Take the loss with grace. If I get properly outplayed it is easy to shake their hand and say good game, but when I feel as though I lost to myself not my opponent, I have been know to be extremely hard on myself afterwards. However, last night by the end of our match their was a big crowd watching the last few games, and when I missed the 8 at hill hill and lost, I didn't freak out and explode with thoughts of "how can you be so stupid and blow so much money over a bad leave? have you not practiced that same shot before? what an amateur, etc etc."

I shook his hand, gave him a big hug and said thank you for playing, and that I wouldn't be getting better if it wasn't for playing stronger players like him. And many people came up to me to compliment my play and say don't be discouraged.

At the end of it all, he only asked for $400. I was in shock, insisted he took the full amount, but he told me I played damn good pool and we will have a rematch. I respect the hell out of him and I'm sure he will take more of my money one day. Not only that, but my 9ball teammate staked $250 on me and told me not to pay him back because I played well and he was proud of how close I came. I am going to keep practicing and trying to get as good as I can. Losing will never do ANYTHING other than make me obsessed with getting better. I fucking love pool.

edit: made a correction due to accidentally saying my level was 4 and 5, I am a 4 in 9ball.