February's Big Adventure

The whole adventure started on February 13th. It started with the two hour drive to St. Louis and then an early flight to Austin, TX. After the flight we had an hour and a half drive to San Antonio, TX for the Fast Eddie's Tour stop.

I have to say what a pleasure it was to play in this tournament. I have always seen the results of the tournaments on AZbilliards and noticed how many players they draw. When I arrived at this tournament there were 86 players! That is very rare for events in IL so I was pleasantly surprised! The funny thing about it was that the tournament director told me that 86 players was actually a low turn-out for the tour. That is amazing!









They also decided to have a scotch doubles event since the tournament was being held on Valentine's Day. My boyfriend Jason and I didn't do so hot. But we did get in a round of mini golf.



I wasn't really sure how I would play at this tournament. I hadn't practiced in weeks since I had been trying to get caught up at work. Luckily, I played well. I ended up finishing 5/6th.

Since the Food Network is one of my top ten stations to watch I just had to try out some Texas barbeque. The first one we tried was a place called Grady's. It was pretty good. I had to go for the brisket.









Just when I thought it didn't really get much better, I found a place called Rudy's. Apparently it is a very well known Texas chain.






Obviously I tried a little bit of everything!






While it was all fun and games for the weekend, Monday came and it was time for business. The first Pool School that Shane Van Boening and I have done was set to begin at 9 am. I have to admit, I was very nervous about the whole thing. I wasn't really sure if I knew enough to try to teach others. My day started at 5:30 am. Now, for those of you that know me you know I am not a morning person! At 6:30 a.m. I did a live television spot for Austin's Fox affiliate. I posted the video a few days ago so I will spare the space of posting it again. At 9 am our first students rolled in. I was a bit shaky at first but luckily two of the students were WPBA faithfuls instead of total strangers. So as 1 pm rolled around I was feeling confident and ready for the second class. Thanks to Laura, Christina, Gaines and Lauri who attended the first class!

At 1:30 our second class started. There were four students that were all quite advanced! We focused more on breaking and the mental game this session. I really had a great time spending time with the students in this class. Everyone was very understanding and full of questions. I hope that I answered them all! Thanks to Emilio, Chase, Daulton and Blaine for attending! While we were going to end at 5:30 I was still rambling and playing past that time. I looked up and it was almost time to start the charity exhibition.

From 7-10 pm we held a challenge match exhibition with all proceeds going to the American Diabetes Association. My match was against Heather Pulford. As a disclaimer, Heather had a bad cold and I was pretty tired but we sure tried our hardest! I ended up winning 7-4. Shane played James Davis Sr. a race to 9. It was rematch from the finals of the Fast Eddie's stop. This time though, Davis got the best of it winning 9-8. Thank you everyone that donated money. I have to say the most touching moment of the night was meeting Staff Sargaent Stevens and his wife. He told me he was home on leave from overseas and he was so happy to have the chance to come that night. It was really great to see someone light up so much!

Tuesday we decided to hold just one session rather than two. After the first day was done I felt much more comfortable with myself and what I had to offer on the second day. I wasn't as tentative and thankfully everyone again, was full of questions. Thank you to Chris, Moe, Jason, John, Brian, and Patrick for attending.

I have to say that everyone in Texas, whether at the tournament, in the pool room, or just in general, where some of the friendliest people I have ever met! I felt so welcome at the tournament. That isn't always the case. I look forward to attending more tournaments in Texas. Thank you for making such a good impression.

After the pool school I decided to go back to San Antonio to hang out with my good friend Vivian (yes, Vivian Villarreal). We didn't get to see too much of San Antonio during the tournament and I wanted to try some authentic Mexican food. She definitely showed us a good time!





This is Mi Tierra, the restraunt we ate at, The Alamo, The Friendship Tower and the River Walk.


Thanks again Texas!




The second part of the adventure was to Verona, NY. Little did I know that the weather would not cooperate with this part of the trip. I was supposed to fly from Austin to Washington-Dulles to Syracuse. Well, we were re-routed to Chicago which ended up getting us to Syracuse very late. One other thing I didn't realize was that it is kind of a long, expensive ride from Syracuse to Verona. So myself, Jason, Shane and Charlie Williams piled into a cab at 1 a.m headed for Turning Stone Resort and Casino.









While this wasn't my first trip to upstate New York, it was my first time attending this event. I had seen pictures before of what the venue looks like and heard what players have to say. I have to admit I am a bit of a cynic when it comes to other people reviews. I was so happy when I arrived and saw just how great the place was!


When I walked in and saw this for the first time all of the tables were racked and ready to go. I said to my friends "Wow, I feel like I am in the end of The Color of Money!".







The field at this tournament was definitely world class. I was honored to be a part of it all. I won my first three matches. On Saturday I was so excited to still be in the winner's bracket. My match was against Oscar Dominguez who is really starting to play well! Our match was on one of the higher number tables so there were about six matches to be announced before ours. I heard names like Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen, Ralf Souquet, Dennis Hatch, Shane Van Boening and many more great players. I have to admit my stomach did a flip when they got to me! How awesome it was to be a part of something like this. Although Oscar got the best of me, it was a close match. Of course, on the one loss side things only got tougher. My next match was against Stevie Moore. I wasn't too nervous, I just wanted to put up a fight. I had my chances but can't say that I took advantage of them all. I got beat 9-4. So I ended up 17th-24th. I'm happy with that finish because I know things could have been much, much worse! I figured out what I need to work on ASAP. I think with just a few adjustments and practice my game will make another jump!

Thanks to Mike Zuglan and his staff for such a great tournament and thanks to my friends from NYC that came up to visit!

Since I flew to NY and didn't have a rental car I had no idea what the weather was like but I did know that my flight was at 6 am..ugh! At 3:30 am we left the casino in the middle of a blizzard. Luckily there weren't any delays at the airport and off we went to Chicago at 6 am. In Chicago though, it was a mad dash across O'hare Airport. For those of you that have been there, that is a huge airport! With about two minutes to spare, I was on my flight and ready to be back in St. Louis.

Now for the last part of the whole adventure. Monday was my younger sisters birthday. I don't get to see her too often since she lives a few hours away so I took advantage of the time I did get to spend with her. We visited the Loop and did some shopping and then we were off to eat way too much sushi! This is the birthday girl with the first boat of sushi...yes, there was more than one!








After stuffing ourselves we decided to stay in downtown St. Louis and do a little bowling. I have to say Flamingo Bowl is the coolest bowling alley I have ever been to! I also have to say that I better stick to pool!!Happy Birthday Kaeleigh!






Thanks again to everyone involved and it was great to meet many new faces. I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone. It was a lot of fun!

So that's the adventure. It was fun and I'm hoping to start another one soon. The next tournament is The Midwest Tour tournament in Olathe, KS. I look forward to meeting more readers there!