Tournament info:

• When: 7/20/2016
• Place: Ferdies
• A/B Parity Draw
• My Rate: 12
• My Partners Rate: 2
• Outcome: lose – lose

The very first match of the night was against the eventual undefeated winner.  We gave them a good run, took them to a game 3, but couldn’t close it in the end.  My opponents low end partner hit some big key shots for them to win it.  My second match on paper, I felt like we should have won, but I flat out didn’t play well.

My take away from this tournament, and actually I’ve noticed this in several tournaments.  To win a tournament you don’t need to play your best, but you just need to play your rating as the A side, and from the B side all you need is a few key shots during important situations.  It could be a single mark to close opponents from pointing, or snagging a triple to put you ahead in score.  I don’t believe the A side can carry the B side all night long and win it, it’s a team effort and takes both players to be effective to move deep into a tournament.

One other thing that I’ve noticed about my game — slow starts.  During shoot around before tournaments or league starts, I shoot fairly well and comfortably.  When it counts though, I’ve been starting slow.  The first games are usually 01 and I tend to not find the bull right away.  I’ll need to figure out how to overcome my slow starts, probably mental, but I’ll need to find away to start fast and strong.