Monday, February 20, 2006
WILD night to open the MLP Season!
DIVISION I
#1 PoolFighters @ #6 Pool Fiction
Game 1 - Aldo scratches on a simple shot, Ross botches the run and gets into a short safety battle. Ross makes a tough shot on the 2ball but also scratches with the 2, Aldo wins easily after that, 1-0 PF.
Game 2 - Jason missed the 14 going cross-table to bottom left, Krunal runs a few balls then rattles the 2 out of the top middle. Jase goes for a combo that he would've had to shoot anyways, missed it, and Krunal takes his 2nd chance and finishes easily. 2-0 defending champs in front!
Game 3 - Gaz wins over Mark, I was watching college hoops so I didn't see much of this. However Gary did simply outplay Mark in this, from what little I did see. Outfoxed him a few times, deserved win. Fighters lead huge, 3-0!
Game 4 - Corey goes for a shot on the 2ball, that pesky ball again. Misses because the 8 got in the way, and derekgnr runs the table, simple as that. PFN on the board, but still down 3-1.
Game 5 - Tanja made things very hard on herself when she tried to break up a set of balls to free her 12. Safety battle with jada followed. Jada forced a ball in hand, took a stupid shot trying to spin off the right rail and gave Tanja the game. 4-1 PF.
Game 6 - TonyG143 beat god_tha_almighty, 4-2 PF.
Game 7 - drunk.penguin beat poolfiction_oldie, PF wins by the final of 5-2.
With the win PF of course goes to 1-0 and will hold onto their #1 spot. As for the 0-1 PFN, it simply depends what everyone else does but they may stay #6, worst case they probably fall to #7. The thing that most impressed me about PF's win is Corey played like ass and they still won. For PFN, they can't get discouraged. They lost this match beause PF did a great job of taking advantage of their mistakes. It is a very long season, and PFN will rebound. Expect the mext time these 2 meet to be a thriller!
STATS:
PoolFighters (1-0 [5-2])
mtvaldo - 1-0
chokshi_krunal - 1-0
NoLimitGary - 1-0
m_i_s_s.tanja - 1-0
drunk.penguin - 1-0
god_tha_almighty - 0-1
runbreak.kidd - 0-1
PoolFiction (0-1 [2-5])
TonyG143 - 1-0
derekgnr - 1-0
king.vaughan - 0-1
rack.wizard - 0-1
the_deathbat - 0-1
jadakiss_711 - 0-1
poolfiction_oldie - 0-1
#9 IndianPool @ #10 8Ball Runners - Battle at the bottom of the pre-ranks, but maybe you shouldn't put THAT much stock in those!
Game 1 - mjong_babe beat Navin 1-0 8BR. I didn't get there in time to see that but it made me laugh a little inside.
Game 2 - Garrett and jer in a tight safety battle, big clutter of balls near the upper part of the table just right of the middle pockets. After some intentional fouls, and other taps, jer gets an open look and finishes to give IND the tie, it's 1-1.
Game 3 - Sonofagun takes the chance and goes for the run, doesn't get it but plays a quite efficient safety. Siccnasty able to escape that, and they begin to go back and forth. Sicc later, almost downs the 8 early but it hits the left lip of the bottom middle, and he continues on to escape with the win, making his last 5 stripes. 2-1 IND.
Game 4 - Candi and justin in a long boring safety battle, but Candi is given an opening with a full table and decides to go for it. That opening quickly disappeared. After a few made balls and other safeties, Candi fouled and justin went for it all. Only had 4 solids to make and he made all 4, IND up big 3-1.
Game 5 - Another safety battle start for chris soccer and goober. Goober eventually nailed the 6ball off the top rail into the bottom middle, and then went in for the kill. Made the 3-4 combo top right, but missed the smart 2ball shot to the top left. Then chris soccer bashed in the 9 top right with what little he was left with. Then made the 10-15 combo bottom right. From there he made the 14 bottom right, freed the 13 from the 8 but left the 8 in a bad spot, with 2 stripes remaining. Soccer nailed the 13 top left while also dropping the 1 in the top middle. 8ball still stuck and all he has is the 10. Bad english on that shot and he had nothing other than a tough bank on the 8. Top rail, to bottom left, 8ball starting about an inch from the headstring and an inch from the top, JUST missed it off the bottom rail. Goober would knock down 2 solids before having to safety. Chris' attempt on the 8, starting at the top rail trying to bank off the top around the 7ball, missed it badly but a great effort. But then for some reason Goober, with the wide open table, tries to tap again, but gets glitched! Chris Soccer steals one as Goober quite simply choked. 3-2, 8BR still alive.
Game 6 - Molson and Elite Stealth Trooped get off to another slow start. Safeties galore of course *yawn*... But then, Elite is left wide open and goes to work. He leaves himself with a 3-5 combo in the top middle, easy money. But then he decides to safety because it was near impossible to get position on his final solid with the shot he left himself. Then, Elite plays a perfect cue-bank counter-safety to escape Molson's, and forces the ball in hand. Ensuing shot, he starts the cueball along the top rail and knocks the 1ball to the bottom middle, and then plows the cueball right through, and leaves himself a shot on the 3ball, going top left. Hits that shot, has a little cut to make on the 8 to get it to fall top right, took his time but he nailed it and IND secures the win it's 4-2... BUT godly.justin is DQ'd for being ineligible and now fire_wolf87 and ToddEms are playing for the match at 3-3, and the match is already in progress!
Game 7 - In that game, I got there midway which is apparently around the time the DQ was announced. Nick looks like he has it won, with 4 solids. He shoots for the bank on the 4, top rail to bottom middle instead of the safer shot just off the top rail, along to the top left. He misses as the 4 hit the cue on the way down, big chance for Todd to win it anyways. However after knocking the 9 in, he has absolutely no shot! Cuebank safety attempt, top rail, behind the 11 and 10 somehow, between those balls and the right rail. He's shooting from the bottom rail just about an inch right of the bottom mdidle pocket. Didn't go as I described his plan but it was somewhat efficient. Nick immediately played a counter-safety of his own. No ball in hand from Todd, but Nick hits down the 4. Then goes with the 3 into the bottom right, 1ball bottom left, 7ball bottom right, 8ball in the.. RATTLED in the top right! But Todd is stuck with an 11-10 combo to the bottom right and it's not as easy as it sounds. NAILED IT! Now a long shot on the 11, same pocket. Nick said "nice shot Mike" and then when asked, said "Mike knows" ... Anyways, 11 in the bottom riiiiiiiiiiiiii NO another rattle! And Nick ends up winning, 8BR steals it 4-3 as Nick taps in the 8!
Big win for 8BR but a very controversial one. Still, when it's all said and done they are 1-0 and easily out of the bottom of the power rankings while IND will fall to #10 and for their sake, hopefully for 1 week only! Thing is, 8BR didn't win this match. IND lost it. They choked in every big situation it seemed. Goober trying the unnecessary safety, lack of position, Navin losing the opener (surely mjong didn't outshoot him...) plus of course, the lack of awareness from the IND Captain, not checking justin to see if he was eligible before asking him to play. Even though I disagree with the ref asking for a list if they're not smart enough to check everything, the Captain needs to check their own players. Lists are not required, and personally I don't think refs should even ask for them. But I digress.
STATS:
8Ball Runners (1-0 [4-3])
mjong_babe - 1-0
xchrisxsoccerx - 1-0
fire_wolf87 - 1-0
mc_candi - 0-0 [1 DQ win]
Garett14 - 0-1
sonof.agun - 0-1
MOLSON__CANADIAN - 0-1
Indian Pool (0-1 [3-4])
jerfighter - 1-0
SiccNasty - 1-0
Elite_Stealth_Trooper - 1-0
godly.justin - 0-0 [1 DQ loss]
Black_Man_For_You - 0-1
XXGOOBERXX - 0-1
ToddEms - 0-1
#5 Beer Ball Masters @ #4 Pool Legends
Game 1 - Moe simply whooped Fart_Hard, who you may remember as dam_balls, a 1-time record-setting player when he played in PM... 2 seasons ago? or was it last season? Anyways Moe got an opening, skinned the cat on the 8 however, but a win is a win, big win for Moe big win for BBM they go up 1-0.
Game 2 - Safety start for jimvan and Tylernm, aka grey_gooose who I got DQ'd against tanzania_pool Sunday :s Tyler gives up the ball in hand to jimvan. He knocks down the stray 7 over on the left side into the bottom left. Then makes the BEAUTIFUL bank, 6 starting near the bottom rail, off the bottom, to the top right, 5 easily goes as does the 8 and we're tied at 1-1.
Game 3 - FearNo1 has a somewhat open table and starts with 2 solids already made. He decides he might as well go for it all but it's cluttered a bit on the right side. SOMEHOW dropped the 5 into the bottom middle, but still nothing else so he has to safety. Then, after a couple safeties, Fear bangs again and this time drops in the 3ball, leaving just the 7 and the 8. 7 rattles home, and the 8 goes soon after, and FearNo1 flukes his way to the win, and puts BBM back on top 2-1.
Game 4 - DJTipper and atsamxim simply played a long boring game. Late in the game, Tipper drops the 14 bottom right and leaves a long shot for his final stripe, aiming top left. Nails that, then the 8 goes top right, Tipper wins and it's back to a tie at 2-2.
Game 5 - Bigcal and Coria played another slow game during all the drama of the 8BR-IND match. Coria knocks down some well-planned shots on his way to the 8 at the end, then drops the 8, BBM goes back on top it's 3-2 BBM.
Game 6 - Sweetgirl works her way into a situation where all but 1 of jerm's solids are in, and sinks her remaining 6 stripes (eventually) for the clutch win. 3-3 going into game 7!
Game 7 - For BBM, Ivey. For PL, LuckyDog. A lot of the safeties in this game actually advanced the game instead of little tap-tap stuff. That's what made it bearable after a whole night of long games. Might as well get used to it in D-I, as opposed to D-III which is more of a pool-hall pool style. Late in the game, Ivey intentionally fouled making the 2 in the bottom left and backspinning to drop the 1ball bottom left. LuckyDog bang shot to break the 5 from the rail and 3 stripes on the right side of the table, it would include making the 3ball top right. Full follow-through. It goes but NO shot on the 5 other than a cuebank from either the top or bottom, around a vertically-stacked 14-15 to hit the 5 in either top right or bottom right. The 8ball is sitting on the bottom rail about an inch right from the headstring. LuckyDog NAILED the 5, cue off the bottom and the 5 goes top right. Easy shot for the 8 along that bottom rail into the bottom left... BUT HE MISSED IT! Ivey nails the 9, top middle. 14 top left? Good. Backspins off the right rail and comes under the 15, past it by about a quarter inch. Sinks that 15 top right, 8ball bottom left with the 8 a quarter inch above the bottom rail, ballgame! 4-3 BBM escapes by the hair of their asses!
BBM was very fortunate to get out of this with a win. FearNo1's 80% luck win was incredible, LuckyDog choking that game away hardcore at the end was unbelievable, but credit to BBM, and hell, Moe probably had the most watchable game of the night. Quick, no huge luck, just a straightforward game to start the match. For PL, jimvan if possible could be looking at later games, because he proved why he was PM's ace in the past when he nailed that bank on the 6. I do think that LuckyDog captained this match as well as he could have and probably PL should've won tonight. He saved himself for last, hot off that Cam Jump win, where he played very well. But it was a great match to watch all-around, I get the sens the next one for these 2 will be just as tight. The breaks may go the other way, who knows?
STATS
Beer Ball Masters (1-0 [4-3])
AbsolutelyAmazing23 - 1-0
FearNo1 - 1-0
coria_snake_eyes - 1-0
ll_ivey_ll - 1-0
atsamxim - 0-1
lxl_jerm_is_evil_lxl - 0-1
Tylernm - 0-1
Pool Legends (0-1 [3-4])
DJTipper - 1-0
Sweetgirl_167 - 1-0
jimvan723 - 1-0
Fart_Hard - 0-1
jmunoz3rd - 0-1
sexxxy_bigcal69 - 0-1
LuckyDog71 - 0-1
DIVISION III
#9 Pool Loverz @ #6 Breakers Alley
Game 1 - terriberri69me beat hiphops_disciple. 1-0 BA, I wasn't there.
Game 2 - lmb19692003 beat j.onathan 2-0 BA. Wasn't there.
Game 3 - jeremy missed a tough cuebank on the 8, and bballstar finishes to give PZ their first ever MLP game win, 2-1 BA still leads.
Game 4 - Naughtia gets a very late BIH and easily sinks the 8 to give BA the 3-1 lead as she beats Lonely Knight.
Game 5 - Raider gives up the BIH to blondes, who has 6 stripes to run. She makes 3 before botching a straight shot but gets a lucky safety. Raider fouls again, blondes gets to her final stripe. She makes it, but the cue goes that weird angle off the left rail and into the bottom middle! Raider saves the match it's 3-2, BA still on the hill.
Game 6 - au_pair going for the tie on the 8, easy money. Leaves 5 solids on the table against rock n roll, game 7 decider in the first D-III match of the season!
Game 7 - stoney_da_hustler for BA, sxy_babe_z for PZ. Stoney starts up with 3 stripes in. sxy comes back, knocks down the 1, flukes in the 3ball. However, she missed the 4-5 combo going top right, and stoney went back at it again. All he would get is the 9ball. sxy easily dropped the 4 in the top center, then the 7 to the bottom right. Right when it looked like she had it all won, she botched an easy shot on the 5 to the bottom left, and stoney took back over. He barely made the 15 straight into the bottom right, but had no angle for the 10-11 combo top right. his bank attempt on the 10, off the right side was way off. sxy's bank attempt on the 5, same rail, was off the mark as well but she ended up scratching on top of that. Stoney took the ball in hand and shot the 10 straight into the top middle, but the 8 is still frozen to the 6 near the bottom right, being blocked. He made the 11 top right, and for some silly reason tapped the 8 free and it left the 6 open for sxy to drop in, which she did. She then nailed the 2 easily into the top left, and when it came time for the long 5ball shot to top right... Well she nailed that too. 8ball went easily, PZ comes back from 2-0 and 3-1 to win 4-3, in the first game 7 decider of this MLP Season (happened before the other 2). BIG win for the Pool Loverz!
BA always does this. No matter who they play, week 1 it's a 4-3 loss. Always a hgue scare for whoever plays them, and PZ simply got lucky. They shot very poorly for a team who has as many pretty good shooters as they do. They got a huge break when that cueball scratched and redraider was able to steal the win, very rough night for BA. However for PZ, they did have a very good game 7 win, sxy_babe seemed to know what she was doing and handled the table rather well. See how the rest of the week goes I guess to see how far up they move. MAYBE they'll pass BA, but with such a sloppy win who knows?
STATS
Pool Loverz (1-0 [4-3])
bballstar50644 - 1-0
redraidertexas66 - 1-0
au_pair1982 - 1-0
sxy_babe_z - 1-0
hiphops_disciple - 0-1
j.onathan - 0-1
Lonely_Knight - 0-1
Breakers Alley (0-1 [3-4])
terriberri69me - 1-0
lmb19692003 - 1-0
naughtia_24 - 1-0
im_just_jeremy - 0-1
blondes_1001 - 0-1
rock_n_roll.fantasy - 0-1
stoney_da_hustler - 0-1
Great night of MLP to say the least. Thrilling of course, Division II starts up tonight (technically) with BritPool and Hot Shotz meeting up. Regul8ors return and start from D-III as they take on Blazing Cues. Regs replaced Sicc Skillz and I see no real reason yet to adjust my rankings to accomodate for that. In fact it's rather convenient for me. Cya tonight!
