2nd Place in Best of the Best Tournament

Last Sunday I decided to do something for my birthday. I decided to go to the "Best of the Best" 8 Ball "Big Guns" Tournament.

It was by invitation only, for those APA skill 5,6,7s who were among the top performers in their division. (You have to win at least 50% and also be among the top 30 performers on the list. The list contains skills 2,3,4,5,6,7 and performance is simply the ratio of matches won to matches played.) Our area has about 15 to 20 divisions. There are 3 of these 8 ball tournaments per year (and 3 for 9 ball) in the Northeast Massachusetts region. The spring session is usually the busiest and 50 or 60 players might enter the Big Guns tournament. The fall session is nearly as big. The summer session is the least busiest. The tournaments take place a few months after the session completes.

This last Sunday, only 15 people showed up for the Summer session tournament. As usual, the entry fee was only $10 and our league operator added $300. He always gives a 100% payout. So, $150 from the players plus $300 added implies $450 gets payed out to the winners. What a good investment! Only 15 players, $10 entry, $450 payout. That's like $30 average per person.

My first match was against a player named Emmitt. He knew his stuff! It was very tough, but I won against him. Good defense helped.

My 2nd match was against Rich Minichello. EVERYBODY knows this guy. He has won over a dozen Best of the Best tournaments (probably over 90% of the ones he enters) over the past few years. He is awesome to watch. He plays in the New England 9 ball Tour. He can play with the pros.

But I won! He was unsuccessful in completing some of his break and runs, so I was able to play defensive, get a couple ball in hands, and run out the table. That was a good feeling... winning a race to 5 heads up match against the person known to be the best in our region!

My 3rd match was against Ken Jr. (His dad was there, and in fact they had to play each other later on.) I won that match, again with the help of good defense.

My 4th match was against Russ. This guy is trained to be an official referee for the VNEA. He is also a very good player. Again, I could not have won without doing some good defense.

At this point, I was UNDEFEATED and in the finals!

I have just beaten some of the best players in our region. Emmitt and Russ both play competitively with Rich Minichello. They are all friends. I was soooo lucky.

I watch some of the loser's bracket action. Ken wins a match or two more, but gets knocked out to take 5th place (I think). Russ gets 4th place (I think). Emmitt gets 3rd. I noticed that each of these players I sent into the loser's bracket went home with prize money. (I will confirm the payoffs and update this blog.)

The person making it through the loser's bracket was Rich Minichello. It was him versus me.

Long story short, Rich played much better than me in the finals. I sometimes boggled the 8 or failed to complete an easy run out. Rich won the first match. Now we each have 1 loss. Then I lose the 2nd match. Rich gets $280 and 1st place trophy and I get $100 and 2nd place trophy.

Maybe... just maybe... if I had realized the difference in payoffs, I would have put more energy in. I was just so happy though to have a big trophy for this prestigious event.

But Rich is just so tough. He sinks balls in on the break easier than I do. He is better at running out the table, with hours on end of continuous skill.

Rich is also a gentleman. When he came back from a bathroom break, he told me I didn't need to wait for him -- he trusted me to play through while he was gone. One time his cue tip apparently nudged the cue ball an eighth of an inch, or something... I was not paying attention and didn't see it. He got my attention and gave me ball in hand.

I don't think I will be making a living with pool, but I will get better and enjoy it more and more.