Pool Night @ Barzeski Billiards
Posted March 9th, 2006 @ 08:02pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Last night was the fifth (or sixth, or fourth, or who knows?) weekly pool night at the recently opened "Barzeski Billiards." Brandon and Ben came over at around 6. Brandon left early, but Ben and I hung around and played until 3am or so.
The pool table has settled just a bit - or wasn't 100% level to begin with - as the pockets on the north side of the table exhibit a little roll-off. In other words, a slow-rolled ball (very slow) will move about 1/2" over the length of the table. It probably needs lifted just the tiniest bit.
I've yet to find a great three-player game outside of "the pill game," and the hunt continues there. I posted on a forum and asked for advice, and a few of the responses seemed like interesting games.
I have some decorations for the room, but I'm still waiting on a few things. First, the curtains and some pillows. My mom's doing those. Second, some pillows from my mother-in-law. She bought some huge ones as a birthday present. But mainly, I'm waiting on myself: I still have yet to coat the bench with even a first coat of polyurethane, let alone a second or third coat. My schedule is typically: work all day, spend time with the family, then relax with Carey after that until we go to bed. Little time in that schedule for extra work! Perhaps I can steal some time this weekend.
My pool game is coming along nicely. The other day I broke a rack and sunk two balls. I then had a very thin cut on the first ball and made it. I couldn't try to get a good position on the next ball due to the speed necessary to make the first, so I had yet another thin cut. I made four or five of these in a row and was down to the 8 and the 9 ball, both in very easy spots. The thought occurred to me "you've never broke and ran a rack before!" Needless to say, I "duffed" the 8. I won in my next inning, but that goal still eludes me.
Last night was also the first time we got to use the Sardo "Tight Rack" (M-5000). The Tight Rack "guarantees" a good rack every time. There's a lot of banter on the 'net about how it damages tables (the cloth, anyway), but suffice to say there's no way this rack damages tables any more so than simply racking and breaking balls.
I had a little more to say, but I think I'm done for now.
Donate Life
Posted 10 Mar 2006 at 4:56pm #
Not sure what the "pill" game is, but we always play cutthroat.
Three players, split the balls into 1-5, 6-10, and 11-15. Object is to get the other players balls in.
For instance, say you break and sink the 6 ball. You get your choice of what you want to play, and the object is to have one of your balls the last one left on the table - so being smart you choose 1-5, or "low". You then go on and sink the 7 and 8.
Your buddy is next. He misses, so he doesn't get to choose. Third guy goes and sinks the 3 ball. At this point he get his choice, and likely will choose 11-15, or "high".
At this point the second guy is likely screwed since he only has the 9 and 10 left. In fact, the third guy puts him out of his misery by sinking them.
Now it's down to you and the third guy. The second guy, out of balls, doesn't shoot anymore.
I may have made it sound more complicated than it really is. Truth is, play one game and you'll pick it up real quick. It's an interesting twist on things, since you WANT to choose to play the group of balls that are hardest to put in!
Posted 10 Mar 2006 at 5:07pm #
That's what the pill game is, except there are 16 pills and you get five. If you happen to get the 16, you start the game with only 4 balls and the other two people start with five. The only thing you didn't mention was this rule: if you scratch, any balls made are spotted and all remaining players get to draw another pill and spot that ball, too.
In other words, it's like "Silent Cutthroat" in that you don't necessarily know what balls your opponents have, so you can't team up to knock someone out of the game. You find out what balls they have when there's an easy, obvious shot and they either don't take it or they intentionally miss (to knock their ball away from the pocket).
Posted 22 May 2007 at 1:15am #
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/pool/
If you are really interested in pool check out this web site. enough information , educational and technical, to blow your mind. I have been playing for many years. Not as consistent as I should be. When I am in a zone I can break and run a few racks in a 2 hour practice session.
Cograts on the golf. I have never been able to get lower than a 14 handicap. Now play to about a 20 due to lack of rounds played in the past few years.