9-ball APA pool

Long-term readers know I love my pool league. Last year we went all the way to Las Vegas with my team. This year I intend to go back with both the 8 and 9-ball teams. Then I plan to rock the national APA tournament.

That's the plan anyway.

So here is the latest video of my 9-ball team from last night as we won, with some bumps in the road. I had a great mash-up song mixed to the video, but it got pulled by Youtube. So that's why there is no sound at the moment.

Hope you enjoy the video

APA 8-ball featuring Greg Cordero

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of the Guys & Dolls APA 8-ball and 9-ball pool teams. Since I joined the teams we have won every season (except 1), and qualified to go to Las Vegas for the national competition. But that is because of the team effort.

While I have plenty of videos showing how I play pool, and explaining defensive shots, I am continuing to detail the other players on each on my teams. It is the combination of all our skills that have allowed us to dominate the Central New York region.

Today I will be focusing on Greg Cordero. Long-time readers will recall Greg from the interview I did with him back in 2008, discussing the mortgage and home buying markets. Greg is a real estate broker.

{Yes I know the audio is missing. Youtube pulled the music I had set. I will fix that soon.}



I still love that triple bank shot he does in the video. Greg is a 5 ranked pool player in 8 and 9-ball.

There are plenty of other pool videos, and others, at my youtube channel. Check them out if you have the chance.

Also, please remember to check out the online store World of Vass and my latest online store Alchemy at World of Vass. You might find something you like, and I appreciate the support.

Defensive shots in APA 8-ball

In 8-ball making shots always feels good. But when you are playing in the APA league there are times when making a crazy 4 bank or more shot is not the best answer. In fact, regardless of skill level, there are times when a properly place defensive shot will be the key to winning any game.

The following video is of an actual game. Michael Vass, in the red, is a skill level 5 APA pool player. The opponent is a skill level 6. Both can make difficult shots with a decent level of assurance that it will work. But rather than making the extremely hard shot, and thus opening the table for the opponent to win, defensive shots were used.



This is just one case where defensive shots can be critical. I have seen many matches decided by a well place defensive shot. Especially in Las Vegas during the National competition. Never underestimate the usefulness of this technique.

APA challenge - can a rank 4 beat a rank 7 in 9-ball?

From time to time I have discussed the American Poolplayers Association league that I play in. Located in Endicott New York, I play in the 8-ball and 9-ball leagues.

Most notably I have commented on how my 8-ball team qualified and went to the Las Vegas APA National Tournamnet this summer. And I provided a bit of video of not only me but the rest of my team.

But I have not given my 9-ball team (playing out of Guys and Dolls Pool Hall in Endicott) as much attention. Because while I am good, no one player is a team. And while I am captain, and my team is currently leading the fall session, this would not be tryue without a great team.

So I decided to show a bit of video on some of the rest of my team. this one focuses on Gary Hinkley (the man in the video). He is ranked a level 4 - though he may go up a level after this game. he is playing a level 7 player (the woman in the video). This is the last rack of their match.



You can see why Gary is one of the leading players in the league, and a great asset to my team. And yes, Gary did win the match. 18 - 2.

More on the rest of my team soon.

Planning for APA Las Vegas Nationals in 2010

I really haven't posted any of my APA pool league videos in a while. Actually since I got back from Las Vegas and the tournament there. So for those that follow how my teams and I are doing, a quick update. (I'm still ranked a 5 for the time being in both 8 and 9 ball)

So far my 8-ball pool team, Guys & Dolls, is leading the league. It's the same team of guys, minus one and added a woman, that went with me to Las Vegas. Currently we are already qualified for the competition match in 2010 to earn a spot back at Las Vegas. Our plan is to get back there and take first place this next time, now that we know what to expect.

As for 9-ball, my team is in 2nd place. I am captain of this team, so I feel good about that news. This team also has qualified for a try to get the Las Vegas trip. I admit my game is off the mark just a bit lately (I dropped from 4th in the entire league to 25th recently), but the team is a solid group and winning big.

The following runs gives you an idea of where I am right now. My shots are decent, with a couple of harder difficulty shots going well (ie the shot at the 43 second and 1:38). Just not finishing off as much as I should be. No doubt my concentration is off due to the economy and its impact.

Vegas bound

Well in just a few short hours My 8-ball pool team will be off to the APA 8-ball National Pool Tournament. I will strive to provide updates and video through out the week.

More as soon as possible

Going to Las Vegas for the APA National 8-ball competition

Written by Black Entertainment USA

So some of my readers may be wondering where I was over the weekend. The source of my silence was linked to my American Poolplayer's Association pool league. As I have mentioned in the past, I play in the Central New York APA. My team in 8-ball and 9-ball represent the Guys & Dolls pool hall in Endicott NY.

Since my team has been formed, we have won the 2007, 2008, and 2009 season playoffs, which gave us the opportunity to play in the regional matches against all the season winners from the leagues in Binghamton, Ithaca, and the other surrounding areas for Central New York. The winner of this Championship Playoff gets a trip to Las Vegas to play in the National APA Pool Tournament. That takes place in August, and has some several hundred teams from across the nation competing for cash and pride.

Sadly, while my teams have always made the regional competition and gone to the final match, we had not won. Which is a tough feeling, as we have become odds on favorites to win every time we arrive. There is nothing like having to battle through multiple teams and hours of matches, to arrive at the key game and then not get to move forward.

That completely changed this year, as the Pandemic team out of Guys & Dolls for 8-ball won the Championship and will be going to Las Vegas this year, along with Dysfunctional Fighters who also qualified. I must admit that there was a good chance for the team to spend 10 days in Las Vegas and play both the 9-ball and 8-ball Nationals. But the week prior we had again played thru the pack right up to the final and missed the critical win.

Still I have no complaints. It was a long weekend, with massive competition. There were several very good teams, each with multiple great players, that we had to defeat. I commend every one of them. This was no cake walk, and any one of the teams could have gone to Vegas and represented our area with pride.

How well did our team do? Well we had one player moved up a rank before the final match. 3 out of 8 of team were at 67% in the competition, with another 3 that went 100%. So that gave the entire team an 83.5% win percentage over the competition.

So for a little heads up to our competition in Las Vegas, I give you the members of my team. [Yes we all look tired, it was a long weekend.]

Team Captian - Gregg Cordero




"Panama" Grabow




Gary Hinkley




Gauge Majka




Zachary Majka




John Miller




Robert Miller




Michael Vass


Oh, I am working on the video as we speak. It’s a lot to edit, and may wind up being several videos. But give me a little time for that.

Again I salute all the other teams we played. They gave it their all and we had a great time playing them all. I am sure that in next year’s competition we will see them all again.

Pool League or bar pool?

As I mentioned in another post (at my political blog) Monday is my APA 8-ball pool league. There is nothing more rewarding than playing a match that is hard fought and challenging.

Normally I have video of these matches, but today I was behind the 8 ball (bad pun I know). The election had me a bit off balance. But what I can say is that I am now 12 out of 12 matches, and leading my league in individual performance. Of course I have also been raised by a level too (now a skill level 5 and just beat a skill level 7 tonight).

Now I have been asked what is the attraction of playing in a pool league, and why the American Poolplayers Association? Good question.

I have been playing pool for about 26 years now, on and off. So I enjoy being challenged in my matches. Often playing on a regular bar table is less than enjoyable since these tables are generally not kept up. Add to that the problem with drunk players and by-standers and the joy quickly evaporates. And if you are good, or on a winning streak you can get branded a pool shark – which never has positive results.

So a pool league cuts out many of the problems. And it provides players that can have a fun time, and still be very serious about their game. Thus you get to be around like-minded people, have competition, and no one ends up with broken thumbs.

As for which pool league, well that depends on where you are. In my area there are only 2 options. APA or Southern Tier. In Southern Tier there are teams and only 4 players play a match. The games are split between partner play and singles matches. There are a total of 17 games with each player guaranteed to play 3 times with at least 2 partner matches. One player gets the extra game, first team to 10 wins.

Sounds fine except there is a catch. The games are preset. By that I mean the matches go like follows:

Team 1 players 1 & 2 vs Team 2 players 1 & 2
Team 1 players 3 & 4 vs Team 2 players 3 & 4
Team 1 player 2 vs Team 2 player 2
And so on

Thus no one player gets to play consecutive games, nor more than 1 game versus any individual player. And you might get a match where horrible teammate #3 is your partner against the best 2 players of the opposing team. It can be a mess and takes forever. There is no momentum, and after the season ends you might get a bit of money back as a prize. That’s it.

In the APA you get a bit more. You have teams with no more than 8 players. Each player has a skill level between 2 – 9 (higher is better). New players get assigned a 4 for men and 3 for women. You can play any opponent and play a seires of games.

Ie.
Team 1 player 5, level 4 vs Team 2 player 2, level 2
This would be a match with a race to first to 4 games for player 5 or 2 games for player 2.

This goes on for 5 matches (in 8-ball), each worth 2 points. If you get to within 1 game of winning you get 1 point, winning is worth 2 (you can’t get more than 2). The team with the most points wins.

Now this is great because you get to play several games at once. You get to play against the same opponent. And you get a fair chance to win even against great players. In fact you might very well want to put a 2 up against a 7 because the 2 would need to win 2 games before the 7 won 5.

Now at the end of the season, the top teams have a playoff. The winner of that goes on to play a regional match, like the say the Central New York State finals. If you win that, you win a full paid for trip to Las Vegas to compete for the National Competition. And that means lots of money, depending on how high you finish there as a team.

Now which would you prefer, bar pool with the drunk guy that thinks you are a shark, Southern Tier where you play maybe 4 games over 5 hours, or APA where you can get in maybe 3 – 5 games depending on skill levels in maybe 3 – 4 hours for the entire team, and you might get the chance to go to Vegas.

So now you can see my enthusiasm and consistency for my pool league. My teams only problem is that we are all good enough that we are all getting moved up slowly and thus harder to win games.

Oh well. Video from 9-ball after my match on Wednesday.

Defensive pool shots - big benefits from not dropping the ball

I want to take a moment to just go over an aspect of pool that many players have difficulty with. I have to admit that I have as much difficulty with this as most any player. The hardest shot in any pool game or tournament is the defense shot.

Now if you only play bar pool you might have heard this shot referred to as a cheap shot, or dirty pool. That is actually a false thought. The defensive shot is both legitimate and fair. Often it is even a bit of a compliment, as the opposing player is deemed either too good or on too much of a run to be allowed to have a clear shot on the pool table.

Here is a small selection of defensive, difficult, and sometimes unintentional defensive shots from a recent American Poolplayers Association 9-ball match that I had. The opponent I faced was a level 5 and I am a 4. That means that he had to clear 38 balls versus 31 for myself.



We start with a shot that was left to me [I'm the handsome Black guy wearing the stylish hooded sweatshirt found at my online store]. (I realize that this is not the best angle to judge the shots from, bear with me) This is early in the match, and my opponent has left me with the cue nearly touching and to the side of the 1-ball. From this angle there is no easy shot. Running the cue up the table and back to the 1 for a kick shot was out as the 8 was in the way. In the reverse the shot would likely not be strong enough to get the 1 in the corner, and/or leave the 1 set for my opponents run.

In trying for the 1-ball in the side I also have the ability to then control the cue and bring it back such that if it drops I will have a shot on the 2-ball to the opposite side pocket. The added bonus of this shot, and the reason I took the shot was the fact that with a miss it also allows for the cue to be completely hidden from the 1-ball.

This effectively is a defensive shot, because of the low percentage chance of executing the shot and the result to the opponent, but it does not need to be claimed as such since there is a clear attempt at making the shot. The result is a ball in hand for me and an early advantage for that rack.

In the next shot we see that I have a bank and hard cut on the 1-ball in a new rack. The ideal shot is to place the 1-ball into the corner pocket. I of course screwed up this shot, which is low percentage to start with. The key here is the english placed on the cue. The expectation is that the shot will not go as expected. Thus the goal is to limit the danger of the opponent from running the table.

Now there is no complete expectation on this shot. The hope is to leave the cue in the upper portion of the table, and have the1-ball end up against a rail as close to perpendicular to the cue as possible. Again the goal is not to make the shot, but to prevent the opponent from doing so, possibly gaining either a ball in hand or superior position.

While there was no way to guarantee the result, the shot was sufficiently difficult enough that while he was able to contact the 1-ball he could not drop it. And due to the angle and force that was used, a beneficial shot was obtained for me.

In the next rack we see that my opponent has forced the cue behind the 6-ball after striking the 2-ball in an attempt to combo and drop the 3-ball. This leaves a very difficult shot at the 2-ball. Again while this was not the expected result it was an outcome that was hoped to occur since the prior shot had low chance of success. The goal was again to leave the cue in a more difficult position than the opponent had and force an opportunity.

The best shot at the 2-ball was a bank shot around the 6-ball, kicking the 2-ball with the hope of either going in clean, or if off to strike and drop the 3-ball in combo. But the english I used was incorrect, as was the angle, and results in the 2-ball going to the near rail and lining up with the 3-ball and corner pocket. The cue followed back and provides a rather easy shot for my opponent to run the 2, 3, 5 and 6-balls for a large advantage on this rack.

My opponent does this and is now shooting on the 7-ball. Because of the position after striking the 6-ball he has gone too far over and cannot strike the 7-ball directly. This position is an excellent time to play a soft bank shot to the 7, forcing it to just touch the rail and rise even or on the far side of the 9-ball. That defense would cause an attempt at a low percentage bank shot, or an extreme cut for me. Instead my opponent is aggressive (which I generally favor) and looks to strike the 7-ball off the bank with force and top spin. The hope is to then strike the 9-ball and spin the 7 into the corner. The cue should end up below the 9-ball, aligned to one of the corners. This does not happen.

The aggressive stance here leads to striking the 9-ball and thus a ball in hand for me. Now my draw on the 7-ball is not as much as I had hoped for. But there is a decent percentage chance of making the cut to the corner. This is also aggressive, but there is no other ball on the table and since any other shot missing leave an easy shot at the 9, I went for it.

Aggressive shots are fun, and look great. But as a far higher ranked teammate often reminds me,

“Making the harder shot may look cool, but most of the time they will cost you the match.”

Aggressive shots on a 9-ball are costly, but far less so than on other balls on the table as they lead to runs by the opponent. Once I dropped this 9, I gained the break for the next rack. That break added another 1 ball to my total besides the 4 I gained for the last rack (1, 7,and 9). That put me at 5 versus my opponents 6 for the entire last rack and I was still shooting. The advantage at this point was decidedly mine.

I ran 3 more balls and screwed up the 4-ball, knowing that this would lead to a run on the rack. Never over think your shots. Never plan to hard on the next shot before you make the shot at hand. And be glad of luck, which is how the 4-ball ended up behind the 9 and opposed to the cue. Ultimately that rack was split, with me still holding a lead from several of the defensive shots, and luck, described above.

I threw in the nice cut of my opponent be cause I liked the shot. He took most of that rack.

But in the rack after I was left with the 1-ball in front of the cue facing the side. The next several shots are an example of taking the shot at hand and understanding but not focusing on the shot to follow.

I’m no pro - obviously, but I believe that the defensive shots, and increasing the difficulty of the opponents shot whenever more effective than taking a very low percentage shot, shows it’s own reward. I won that match 31 to 23. The defensive and opposing difficult shots provided me a 10 to 4 advantage on an opponent that is a good player, higher ranked and expected to win. That advantage plus the fact he had nearly a rack more balls for a win were why I won the match.

Defensive and high difficulty shots are critical to a winning game. Just some thoughts and possible tips.

A 4 ball break in 9-ball pool league match by me

Ok, time to take a break from the political blogging, and all the polispeak spin surrounding the bailout talks that are on-going. It’s time for something a bit light.

Now as I have mentioned before, I am in an APA pool league for 8-ball and 9-ball. For my lifetime of playing in the APA I am at 61% win ratio for 8-ball and 53% win ration for 9-ball. Not too shabby.

Yesterday I was playing in the 9-ball league. I had the luck of pulling out a player 2 skill levels above me for my match. This made the game quite a challenge for me.

We started the match with me breaking, and the first game went 4-6 against me. But I rallied back in the next game for a 7-3 win. Again I got spanked 1-9 in the next game, followed by a 7-2 win for me. The rest of the games went 5-5, 3-6, and 3-3 for a nice win for me.

But the real point of the post is this video is a personal best. In the 2nd match I had the break again, and I love 9-ball because of this. The break is the best part of 9-ball, and I went for it. Especially since I had fallen behind and was losing momentum to a better player. This is how that second 7-3 match went. The break is the best break I've had on a level long pool table in 9-ball.



Now I realize I could have cut the 9, or gone for the bank shot to the long left corner. But I thought I was in position for the 9 to be kicked (reverse bank) to the side or the far right corner of a miss and bank. It’s a shot I practice and am usually able to make some 30-40% of the time. Of course I didn’t make it. But do you think it was a bad shot to take?

8-ball poolshot dilema

Hey there fellow pool players. I have a bit of a question for you.



The scenario is that you are playing APA rules 8-ball. You are in the final shots of your match and if you win the game you win the match.

Your opponent is a decent player, and is in a potion where they can run the table if you miss. They have just taken a shot that was meant to drop a ball, but also will leave you in a difficult position if they missed. And they have missed.

What you see on the table is your last object ball at the 2nd diamond (length-wise) about half an inch from the cushion. The cue ball is near the center of the table, about ½ inch to the center of the table from your object ball.

Behind the cue ball, centered at the side pocket is the 8-ball. About 1/4 inch away and even with it is one of your opponents balls. You opponent has two other object balls that are positioned at near opposing corner pockets.

So what is the shot you take?

It is highly probable that a shot straight on will result in a bank shot that will miss all pockets. With top right English, which will bank the object ball into the cross corner pocket, you will have the cue strike the 8 and lose. If you go for a double bank shot to the corner pocket closest to the object ball you have the lowest percentage chance to make the shot, and still risk the cue striking the 8-ball. And a cut shot is severely improbable. Oh, and a scratch or missing the object ball gives the opponent ball in hand, and assures you will lose.

My choice was a reverse bank (or kick shot) to the corner which then leaves the cue perfectly positioned for the 8-ball. But the problem is that this would also leave the opponent in a prime position to run the table.

Now several of my teammates prefer a defensive stance, looking to get themselves into a prime position for the win. I am far more aggressive in my game play (perhaps the most aggressive on my team). Which do you think was the best choice?

I present the video so you can see exactly what happened, but I’d love to hear your opinions.

[Yes, I know part of the video is shaky. I wasn’t filming so please bear with me on this.]

8-ball or 9-ball: which is the harder pool game?

Now I was at my 8-ball pool league game yesterday and yet another question was brought up. This time it had nothing to do with the size of the table (which I continue to assert that playing on bar pool tables is an advantage vs. a full table) but the game in and of itself.

Which is harder, 8-ball or 9-ball?

That’s a tough question as both are games that require a lot of skill and strategy. And the size of the pool table does make a big impact. The larger the table, the less balls are likely to bunch together and the more shots that are likely to be made. But let’s assume the table size is not a factor.

With 8-ball you have potentially double the number of balls to navigate around off the break. That means you must be more accurate with the initial shot and control of the cue ball is vital. A bad Cue ball placement can end a run faster than anything else.



Additionally there is the question of shot order. This is something that 9-ball players really have no concept of. Unlike in 9-ball you can hit any of your balls in any order. Thus if you go for the duck in the corner rather than taking the harder cut shot to the side pocket you may lock yourself behind the opponents ball or leave yourself a lower percentage follow-up shot – like say a double bank.

At the same time you must be concerned with the percentage, or confidence you have, in the shot you are making. If you are attempting a low percentage shot, you must factor in where you will leave the cue ball for your opponent. The ideal placement would involve placing your object ball in to control of a pocket while hiding the cue in a place on the table to negate a clean shot or mandate your opponent to take a low percentage shot – hopefully leading to a run for you.

These are just a few of the things to consider in 8-ball.

For 9-ball life is much easier. The table is essentially wide open. A run is much more doable for players of most any skill level. Dropping the 9-ball off the break is dramatically easier than the 8 in 8-ball. You have far less worry about ball in the way, and any combination that leads to the 9 dropping is a winning shot – as opposed to in 8-ball where the 8 dropping early is an instant loss.



Of course it is harder to force an opponent into making low percentage shots. Thus control of the cue is perhaps more important than in 8-ball. But you have some 25-50% more space on the table to work with.

For me the choice is obvious. 8-ball is the harder game. There are more factors to deal with and more outcomes based on each strike of the cue to an object ball.

There is one caveat though. If you play 8-ball consistently, switching to 9-ball will take practice.

If you are accustomed to 8-ball and switch often what happens is that you will play mid-percentage shots for position. In 8-ball this is a smart move and allows you to control pockets, or arrange for future runs in the game. In 9-ball this means you will be slaughtered.

By playing to arrange future shots you are placing the object ball into position for your opponent to take the run you hope for in the future. A ball that is capturing the pocket will become a duck for the opponent. A run is as easy for you as them, and moreso if you are setting it there for them.

Plus the 8-ball player loses the advantage of more balls potentially in the way or to create a need for low percentage shots. And as I mentioned, shot order is out the window.

This is how I feel about playing pool. I am in both an 8-ball and 9-ball pool league. But what do you feel?