Went and paid my entry for the Derby City Banks yesterday.

Guess it's time to pick a damn cue and start practicing instead of fucking around.

I haven't decided whether to play in the 9-Ball or not. That decision will probably wait until the absolute last minute. I may actually be pooled out by then.

I generally rank myself in the top third of the banks players at the tournament. Actual results show me at the bad end of the top quarter, so that's good. Enough to get into the money or very close to it.

In 9-Ball I honestly don't know where I'd stand. If I had to guess I'd say that two-thirds of the players there are better than I am. And even that may be giving myself too much credit. If I'd been playing 9-Ball as often as I used to several years ago then I might even make the top third but now, I don't know.

Of course, I don't play in the thing to win, or even to get my money back. I play for the chance to play the Varners, the Halls, the Daultons. What I don't want to do is pay my $125 dollars to enter the 9-Ball and then get beat out by two people I never heard of.

My cousin Mike came over last night and we played for several hours.

All I really wanted to say was that my 9-ball game was pretty good. I was using the Schon, and for the most part I ran out when I felt like I should.

Of the 70 or so games we played, I broke about 50 of them, and made a ball on the break a whopping three or four times.

It was fun though.

Man it's boring here. Can you get cabin fever in a single day?

Okay, so I guess I'm switching cues.

I'm banking so much better with my Predator than I am with my Schon - I just can't ignore it any longer.

I don't know if it's the weight, or the balance, or the thinner shaft, or what the hell it is.

All I know is that banks with the Predator, whether they go or not, feel completely effortless. With the Schon, I feel like I'm having to really work at each and every shot.

Now, if I could only transfer some of the Predator ease to my 9-ball game.

I suppose an update is in order.

I've decided that I won't be playing in the one-pocket at the DCC next month. Oh, I'm shooting well enough, but I haven't been practicing any one-pocket at all. Also, I will be playing in the banks and probably in the 9-ball so a break of a couple days between those sessions would be helpful.

My 9-ball game is fairly decent. I don't think I'm playing as well as I can, but I'm playing well enough to make it into the money I think. We'll see.

My banks game is downright scary. I'm playing the best banks of my life (and I know, I say that each year at about this time). If I can stay in a offensive mode, and make it work for me, I may even be able to (dare I say it?) take the whole thing. Jason Miller did it last year by shooting at every shot, and I'm shooting better right now than he was then.

Of course that won't happen. I'll miss a couple of banks that I'll figure I should have made, then I'll revert to playing a more rounded game. Or maybe I'll start out cautiously, afraid to make a fool of myself in front of my adoring fans.

Yes, I have fans.

They watch these movies I put on the Internet, and they decide that I'm some kind of banking machine or something.

I wish.

To veer off-topic for a second...

While I was in Las Vegas last week I, every now and then, would pick up a house cue at The Tilted Kilt and bank a few racks in on their 7' tables with their 6" pockets. This never failed to get me a free beer or two, and once it got me a phone number that I didn't bother calling.

Anyway...

This friend of mine from Seattle has said that he might come to Louisville for the DCC this year. That would be pretty cool as I don't really have any pool-playing friends here at all. Just acquaintances. Also interesting would be to see if all of the stories (mostly in first-person) that I've heard about YouKnowWhoYouAre's abilities have any basis in fact. I still think of him as a bar-table 8-ball player.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.