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- Turning Stone Tournament Room
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- Mika Immonen and Darren Appleton sporting Billiard Life Apparel
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- Me, Linda Cheung and Sarah Rousey watching matches
Turning Stone was such a great experience. First of all, the tournament room was awesome. Very spacious and professional. Went up with Rob Pole and Mark Vidal. We didn’t leave the city until 3am Thursday since Mark had to work. Made sure I took my Tylenol PM and passed out for most of the ride. Got to Turning Stone at around 7:30 am with a pounding headache. At least the hotel let us check in right away… napped until noon and then to the tourney room to sign in.
Like I said before, the tourney room was great. I felt nervous because I didn’t know too many people there and I never really played on Diamond tables. I heard so many good things about Diamond tables but I also heard that they are really tough to play on. Determined to try the tables out, I walked around the room looking for a familiar face… finally hopped on a table with Jon Smith from New York. Was not exactly comfortable playing, at least, I was pocketing balls which was a big relief. To my surprise, the tables played easier than I thought because of the new cloth. As long as you hit the balls pocket speed, it should fall in. This definitely made me feel better.
We had the player meeting at 2pm which lasted until 3:30pm. I must say… this was the longest player meeting I ever attended. Was sitting with Mika and Darren so that was pretty entertaining…
Saw the draw and I play Liz Ford at 6pm. I was surprised to draw Liz out of 128 people but I was even more surprised to see that the winner would have to play Karen Corr after. Oh well…
Since I was sick, I needed to take another nap so that I will have energy for my match. Liz Ford is a tough competitor and I will need to play my top game. Our match started late and from the beginning, I knew that it was going to a tough one. She played well and played safe when she got out of line. This let her have a 4 game lead. I, somehow, got myself together, ran out a pretty tricky rack to win my first game. I broke in the 9 ball in the 2nd game and then I somehow tied it 4 - 4. After that, it was close and running out, playing great safeties, kick safes, kicking the ball in, etc. We drew a crowd and it was definitely a good match to watch. Unfortunately, I made a couple more mistakes that Liz did and ended up losing 9 - 8. I was disappointed since I tried really hard but at the same time I felt great about how I performed on these tables I never competed on before. Now, I have to bring this competitive side of me to my other matches!
Day 2 - I played Dave Wetmore. I played well from the beginning of the match not giving up many chances. Dave was struggling but he was definitely a great sport. I ended up winning 9 - 4 but we had a great time playing. He was such an enthusiast that he went to watch all my other matches afterward. That was really cool! 
I had to play another match with Josh Ulrich. I’ve known for a bit and he is such a cool dude. I am sad that I had to play him but I knew I would have to play well. He almost beat Thorsten Hohmann in his first match being down 8 - 3 and running a 5 pack to make it hill hill. But then he left himself a really difficult shot on the 9ball and missed! It didn’t help that Mika was telling me all this before my match… but it somehow made me more focused mentally. We lagged, I broke and started out strong. Honestly, I don’t remember much of what happened. I just knew that I was up 6 - 0 until he won his first game. I knew I was playing good because I was out from everywhere playing good patterns and positioning. I was on the hill 8 - 2 when I missed a not too hard out to win and the next thing I knew it was 8 - 6. I was thinking in my head, “oh no he’s going to pull a Thorsten on me!” I tried hard to play smart and finally Josh made a error giving me the victory. This match made me think one of my major mistakes which was not taking the victory when I had it in my hand. I could have lost the match because of that one rack when I was on the hill. That is definitely something to always remember!!! I’m sorry that I knocked Josh out. He is such a great person, so fun to hang out with and a great player…
Day 3 - 10am match with Jon Smith. I hate morning matches. My head is still in la la land. The medication didn’t help! I woke up at 8:30 am so that I can try to wake up… unfortunately, it showed in my performance during the match. I was not as confident and as decisive as I have been. I felt slow and mentally slow during my match with Jon. He played well but he gave me opportunities that I did not capitalize on. I was very disappointed with my play and eventhough I lost 9 - 6 I truly believed I could have won the match. I just made too many mistakes and because of those mistakes I got a couple of bad rolls… The game sure knows how to punish you at the right time! At least, I didn’t give up and despite my poor last performance, I had a blast at this Turning Stone!
Now I get to kick back and relax and watch some great matches!!!
