Friday, April 17, 2009
Week Ten Review
MONDAY
Straightshots and Break and Run both won their respective matches 4-3. SS knocked off an underachieving Lucky Shots team, while BNR had a much easier task, Pool Loverz.
Straightshots has icreased its lead over LS in the standings to three games, and more importantly, helped set up a three-way tie for the final two Playoff spots in the AL at 6-4. Most notably for SS, snookrun improved his record to 4-0 on the season by beating aiming_skillz. The result could be considered an upset, as Straightshots came into the week with a home record of 1-4.
Lucky Shots, meanwhile, has been relegated to the role of spoiler in the American League. Three matches separate LS from Straightshots, Cue Killers and Tourney Pool (all 6-4.) With four matches remaining, it's extremely unlikely LS can make any kind of push for a spot in the top four. Lucky Shots Captain simon.kitto won his game over o_sweet_temptations_o to improve to 7-3, one of only two bright spots for LS this season. Simon is also 2-2 in clinching opportunities, though Monday's win was not one.
Break and Run avoided getting pulled into the massive tie by beating Pool Loverz. At 7-3, BNR continues enjoying its most successful season ever in Major League Pool, one that saw a 3-0 start. No single player has had a standout season for BNR. kccwc1 is 4-2 with a 2-1 clinch record after losing this week. But the team continues to make a run towards its first #1 seed in any Interleague, getting help from Tourney Pool's victory over True Pool Legends. BNR sits just a game back of 1st, and plays True Pool Legends for that #1 spot next week. Break and Run lost the first meeting 5-2, in the first loss of the season.
Pool Loverz drops to 1-9, and holds the worst record of leagues who have played all ten weeks this season. shootalready69 leads the team with five of its 23 wins. Pool Loverz is not mathematically eliminated from Playoff contention yet, trailing Sexy Poolerz and Magic Pool both by four matches with four to play, but it's only a matter of time now.
TUESDAY
Three matches featured primarily National League teams, and key matches for seeding and Playoff livelihood.
Sexy Poolerz destroyed Magic Pool 6-1 in the opener.
Magic Pool came into the week with a one-game lead over SP for the fourth seed in the National League, and a 4-3 head-to-head advantage. But this Magic Pool team has been in freefall for the past month, and has seen its #2 seed evaporate into fifth place in the National League. The lone win for MP came from lvlancunian over k.etan. Magic Pool falls to .500 with the loss, and in a tie with Sexy Poolerz. The 1-6 defeat means SP takes over the #4 spot for now. Next week, MP faces possible payback at the hands of Straightshots after the embarrassing display from SS in their first meeting.
Sexy Poolerz figures to be in control in the National League with the commanding victory. Not only does SP take over the #4 seed, but next on the schedule is the winless 8 Ball Crushers (formerly Pool Dragonz.) One note of concern for SP, though, is the team struggles to beat the bottom-feeders it's expected to handle. Time will tell if this has changed.
In the lone American League showdown, Cue Killers followed the example of Straightshots and kept True Champs (formerly High Timez) out of the win column for the season with a 4-3 win. For CK, it's a streak that began with a narrow 4-3 loss to True Pool Legends. Since then, Cue Killers has upset Tourney Pool and survived the loss of key players to stay in the hunt for a Playoff spot. Against Tourney Pool and Straightshots, Cue Killers holds a 1-1, 5/9 record.
True Champs continue to search for win #1 this season. After replacing the pathetic High Timez team, TC had its best chance for a win last week against Xtreme 8Ball. After fluking into a 3-0 lead, aided by a pair of opening early 8s, True Champs squandered a golden opportunity in the fourth game, multiple times. Xtreme 8Ball won the match 4-3. In this week's match, l3ites.l3ack won yet again to improve to 4-0 this season. l3ites.l3ack has played in every TC match so far.
But all eyes were on the nightcap between Poolfiction and Pool Legends.
In the first meeting, PL overcame a 3-2 deficit to win 4-3 and drop PFN to 0-3. This week, a much different story. Poolfiction jumped ahead 2-0 and never looked back, clinching a 5-2 victory in five games and add some breathing room ahead of the tie for fourth. In the past seven weeks, Poolfiction has gone 6-1 with the only loss coming against True Pool Legends. With the win, Poolfiction takes over the head-to-head advantage against PL by an 8/6 total. For now, it's still a one-game advantage for Pool Legends over PFN, with both teams having to take on X8B in successive weeks. Next for Poolfiction, though, is a trap game with Pool Loverz.
Pool Legends is still 7-3 and the #2 seed, but trails Xtreme 8Ball by two matches. With a win this week, PL would've been able to challenge X8B for the #1 spot when the teams meet next week. Both g.rinch31 and darkinc00, tops in the MLP Top 10 Players listing, lost their games but lilsparky67 did win after the match had been clinched. Usual PL Captain sexxxy_luckydog17 was not at the match, which will probably change for next week's showdown.
WEDNESDAY
The lone showdown between Tourney Pool and True Pool Legends wasn't as highly anticipated as their memorable World Series last season.
True Pool Legends was in the running for the top record in MLP, trailing Xtreme 8Ball by a couple games in the overall win/loss record. At 8-1, they were also fending off a surprise run from Break and Run, who had pulled to within a game and a half earlier in the week. The last time these two leagues met was a Pool League Championship match, where TPL won with a 7-0 sweep. In MLP, TPL was on an 8-game win streak. But TPL never got it going in the match this week, dropping three of the first four games and allowing Tourney Pool to clinch in just six games. The 3-4 loss drops True Pool Legends to only a game ahead of next week's opponent BNR.
Tourney Pool had gone into free-fall mode and came perilously close to falling a game clear behind the pack in the battle for any Playoff spot. But a 4-3 win this week came when TP needed it most. Cue Killers and Straightshots had already won, and Tourney Pool not only won, but won convincingly to send the message that this is in fact still a three-team race for two Playoff spots. The tiebreakers spell out the following:
Straightshots is currently in third place with a 2-1 record between the three leagues. The record includes a 6-1 win that at the time looked to cripple the Cue Killers season. That leaves a two-way tie between Tourney Pool and Cue Killers, which CK holds via head-to-head due to the 4-3 win over TP. So if the season ended this week, Straightshots would be third, Cue Killers fourth and Tourney Pool surprisingly out of the Playoffs.
THURSDAY
Not much to say about the finale to Week 10. Xtreme 8Ball took over a clear one-match lead in the overall MLP Standings with a 5-2 win over 8Ball Crushers. Xtreme 8Ball is now 9-1 with a two-match lead over Pool Legends ahead of the showdown next week. It's the toughest stretch of the season coming up for X8B, featuring Pool Legends and Poolfiction in back-to-back weeks.
8Ball Crushers remains 1-9, and in the basement in the National League. Pool Loverz is also 1-9, but beat Pool Dragonz 5-2 back in the second week of the season, matching 8BC's 5-2 win in Week nine. Pool Loverz holds a three-game lead in the overall win/loss record, while both teams enjoy a one-match lead over the tandem of True Champs and High Timez, sitting at 0-10 in the American League.
