Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Pool Fiction Dominates Tourney Pool
Game one featured derekgnr for Pool Fiction, while Tourney Pool at home replied with emmitt22_da_man. In the latest edition of Pool Fiction v Tourney Pool, it was he who had Pool Fiction's cue.ball up against the ropes in an hour-long opener. This game flirted with the one-hour mark as well. Both players had their chances throughout to make one or two big shots to take control, but it would be a glitch that ultimately gave Derek the upper-hand. With balls cluttered up in the top right corner, the Tourney Pooler tried a carom shot. Not only did the shot miss, but the cueball glitched through another ball and ended up on the opposite side of it. Derek would hold the advantage throughout the remainder of the game, and though he needed a handful of safeties along the way, he gave Pool Fiction the 1-0 lead.
In game two, Tourney Pool was reacquainted with xlx_ogges_xlx, who as previously mentioned, picked up three big wins against them three months ago. Three months is a long time, but neither he or his opponent, tam_s0, seemed to care. Tuesday's second game would last even longer than the first, which lasted just under 40 minutes. Again, both players had plenty of opportunities, and both players blew some chances that were even served up on a silver platter, multiple times. While the game lasted over 40 minutes, xlx_ogges_xlx and tam_s0 could've easily finished in as little as 15 minutes. However, as sloppy as the game was, both derek and xlx_ogges_xlx did more than enough to earn their wins. Multiple times they found themselves at a huge disadvantage, but kept making just the right shot so that they didn't give up an easy run, or fall too far behind. As the game progressed, tam_s0 just lost it. Eventually, he let loose with a desperation bang attempt trying to force the issue. That attempt failed, and Pool Fiction took a 2-0 lead, five shots later. Perhaps the most remarkable fact about this long, sloppy game, was that there were no fouls committed by either player.
A trend was forming already in this match. In game one, derekgnr made all eight of his balls himself. In contrast, his opponent made only four of his balls that were potted. In game two, despite three misses, xlx_ogges_xlx made all eight of his balls, while tam_s0 made just four of the five that fell. Game three was no different. Pool Fiction Captain kerryanne_24 put up xlx_bpk_xlx (Jamie) with the break, while Tourney Pool called on ball_brilliance. Jamie broke the same way he usually does, by hitting the rack and scratching. This play usually serves as a challenge to the opponent to try and run him. More often than not, the player tries it, fails, and leaves an open table. This wasn't much different. This time, however, ball_brilliance had a chance. An opening bang of sorts, but an easy miss left the game entirely in Jamie's hands. No run yet, however. He merely safetied, a play he'd make only a few times in this game. When the National League's reigning Most Valuable Player got his first chance to run, it was short-lived. A couple shots in, he faced a cluster of balls on the right side. A bank safety attempt failed, and ball_brilliance barely had a chance to make him pay. Unfortunately for TP, when he got to his final two solids, he had no shot on them. His safety would prove useless as well, as Jamie was left with a wide open shot. That led to another, and another, and another, until he reached the eight and, of course, made it. For the curious, xlx_bpk_xlx had eight shots made, in eight attempts. On the flip side, ball_brilliance, four. Pool Fiction leads 3-0.
Pool Fiction called zl_stu_lz, as it looked for a 4-0 lead for the second straight week. Last week, PFN won four straight to open up a match with Dream Pool. That match finished 4-3. Tourney Pool Captain xl_sassy.lisa_lx looked to superstaaaar (Matt) to keep the match alive. Just like Jamie had gone 8-for-8, Stu followed, though it wasn't as clean. With only a couple balls left on the table, in two instances that looked like easy finishes for a player like Stu, he didn't add the right power and backspin to set up the next shot. Despite all that, both times he played the right safety shot and kept the upper-hand over Matt, who had picked up a huge win for Tourney Pool in last week's marathon match with Pool Pals. Stu finished his final solid, and the eight, Pool Fiction 4-0.
Pool Fiction would go on to win 6-1, winning the first six games to stretch the individual game streak to 13 over Tourney Pool. In game five, cue.ball beat deep_cerebro. Game six saw jasonlippi01234 beating lnspired_spin. Game seven went to Tourney Pool, as lvlr.ownage beat devilstature to end the streak. At one point, xlx_ogges, xlx_bpk, zl_stu_lz, and cue.ball all combined to make 27 conescutive shot attempts. That streak ended with an early miss by cue.ball, his only one of the game. On Tourney Pool's end, lvlr.ownage easily had the most impressive game, going 8-for-8 without a foul, the only perfect game of the night. After derekgnr forced three fouls from emmitt22_da_man in game one, Tourney Pool didn't commit any other fouls until lnspired_spin did so in game six. Match time: 3h 3m.
SHOT STATS ------------------------ Made/Att -- Fouls
TOURNEY POOL
emmitt22_da_man --------------------- 4/6 ------------ 3
tam_s0 --------------------------------- 4/7 ------------ 0
ball_brilliance -------------------------- 4/6 ------------ 0
superstaaaar --------------------------- 4/8 ------------ 0
deep_cerebro -------------------------- 5/6 ------------ 0
lnspired_spin -------------------------- 4/6 ------------ 1
lvlr.ownage --------------------------- 8/8 ------------ 0
POOL FICTION
derekgnr ------------------------------------ 8/9 -------------- 1
xlx_ogges_xlx ----------------------------- 8/11 -------------- 0
xlx_bpk_xlx ------------------------------- 8/8 --------------- 1
zl_stu_lz ----------------------------------- 8/8 -------------- 1
cue.ball ------------------------------------- 8/9 -------------- 0
jasonlippi01234 --------------------------- 7/8 -------------- 0
devilstature -------------------------------- 4/5 ------------- 0
Tuesday night's win puts Pool Fiction alone in the lead in the National League at 3-0, with a 15-6 games record. Extreme Cues awaits the defending MLP Champions next Tuesday night, again at 6:00. Tourney Pool falls to 2-1, and dip below even in win/loss record, at 10-11. Break And Run is next on the agenda, as TP tries to rebound.
Elsewhere this week, United Pool needed only 43 minutes to gain a 5-0 lead over Pool Loverz, and the final two games were forfeits as UP won 7-0. The win puts United Pool at an American League, and MLP-best 15-6, tied with Pool Fiction in the National League, in its three wins through the first three weeks. Pool Loverz continues to drop, at 0-3 and just one win out of 21 games tallied this season. For United Pool, Straight Shots sits on the horizon in week 4, while Pool Loverz will visit Blurry to take on True Pool Legends.
TPL was involved in a far more intriguing match on Monday night, taking on Pool Legends in a rematch of last season's National League Semi-Final. Just as with last season's matchup, True Pool Legends came out on top, this time needing all seven games to do so. True Pool Legends' anchor, hornypom, beat Pool Legends Captain sexxxy_luckydog17 in that seventh game to cap off a quality comeback effort. For True Pool Legends it's another 4-3 result, the third of the season for TPL, sitting at 2-1, and 11-10 overall. Pool Legends drops from the ranks of the unbeaten, and sits at 2-1, with a 15-6 record to equal United Pool. As mentioned, True Pool Legends welcomes Pool Loverz, while the "other" Pool Legends will wait for 8 Ball Scratch next week.
Tuesday night was not as pleasant for True Pool Legends Captain, and Sports Center Writer Ryan. His Upset Of The Week was once again thwarted, as Magic Pool defeated Break And Run by the score of 5-2. Once again, Break And Run fell behind 3-0 but this time didn't get to game seven. Magic Pool's mike_oneill43 picked up the win over th3.gl2een_m0nster420 in the sixth game to seal the deal. Magic Pool improves to 2-1 with a 12-9 record, right on the heels of National League-leading Pool Fiction. MP takes on Pool Pals next week to open up week four, while 0-3 Break And Run plays Tourney Pool.
Still to come in the third week of MLP 12, Lucky Shots sits at 0-2, Extreme Cues is 2-0 but without the biggest part of its team. Mark (spin.technician) returned to Pool Pals this week, where he had been Captain last season until being relieved of that role by MLP for cheating. Those two leagues get under way at 7:00 Wednesday night. Also on Wednesday night, Devine Cuez looks to avenge its fall from perfection at the hands of Pool Legends, when DC visits 8 Ball Scratch at 8:00.
Thursday night features a pair of 8:00 matches, with Cheap Shotz looking for its second win of the season, hosting Straight Shots. While they duke it out, Pool Pals and Dream Pool will be playing, as Pool Pals looks for its first win of the season to welcome back the former Captain.
