I arrived in Toronto late on Tuesday, April 7th. I have to admit I was pretty tired so I just took it easy and got some rest. The good thing about this area is that there is a tournament just about every night of the week. My friends Erik and Naomi that we were staying with live right near the pool room, Shooters, so it was really pretty convenient.
The first weekly tournament of the trip was at Shooters on Wednesday night. They have a different kind of format for some of the weekly tournaments. They call it modified. What that means is that you are guaranteed to play two rounds but it isn't double elimination. Doesn't make sense right. So the second time that I had it repeated to me, I caught on. It means if you lose first round or second round you continue to play but cannot win the tournament. If you lose third round, you are out. There is separate (lower) prize money for the one-loss side. My handicap was 8 so I had to win 8 games to my opponents amount of games. I won my first two matches and played so-so but then I ran into a brick wall named John Morra. The little brat tortured me 10-2. So that ended my tournament run.
There is a weekly tournament on Thursday, I believe at a place called The Edge in Ajax. I didn't make it there. Instead we decided to make a trip to the nations capital, Ottawa. There was a tournament scheduled at a pool room called TailGators. If you go to Ottawa, check this place out. The room is huge! I believe there are around 30 tables, a night club, large bar, and live entertainment. The tournament was divided into three separate divisions, Gold, Silver and Bronze. In the Gold division we were separated into AA+, AAA, semi-pro and pro. There were game spots in a race to 10 depending on the match-ups. The format was round robin, two groups of six...yes, that means that there were 12 players. I did pretty well in the round robin format and ended up second in my group. I was undefeated until the last match but ended up losing. Oh well, it was still a ton of play for one day. Saturday the top three from both groups came back to play a single elimination tournament. I did not fare too well. My first match of the day I played the eventual winner, Steve. I was then demoted to cheerleader rather than player. It wasn't a bad thing. I got to meet quite a few very nice people. It was nice to meet you guys and get to chat a little. Best of luck to all of you in Vegas! As I said, Steve won and Jason got second.
Since I was in a place that is pretty important to Canadian history, I had to go exploring. The tournament was only held on Friday and Saturday because of Easter. The tournament finished pretty early so we went to downtown. The architecture is amazing in Ottawa. All of the government buildings are old and intricate. I haven't seen too much of that in major buildings in the US. Unfortunately it was a little late to visit the Byward Market. I heard from the locals that it is really cool in the warmer weather. I walked around the area and it seemed like there were plenty of bars and restaurants to keep people entertained. I'd like to visit again in the summer when it isn't so cold and things are open. Oh and I forgot to mention, there was a protest against Sri Lanka going on. That was the first time I had ever seen anything like that. All you could hear were hundreds of people screaming "stop the genocide in Sri Lanka". Some pictures from Ottawa. I believe this is the Photography Museum, the Parliament Building, a glimpse of the protest and the Byward Market signs. Someone please correct me if I got the buildings mixed up.
Since Sunday was Easter that meant no pool. And since I was not with my family it meant dinner at a restaurant and a movie....What movie you ask? I Love You Man. Yes, it was pretty funny. The next tournament was at Shooters again. This time it is a whole different format and yet another confusing rule. I'm going to attempt to explain this, but it might not work. Here goes...it is handicapped and a race to seven. The catch is that there are handicaps like 5, 6, 7, and so on. Then there are handicaps like tie 6, tie 7, tie 8 and so on. My handicap was tie 8. That means that if I play someone who is ranked higher than me, say a 9, if I make the 8-ball I don't win the game but I can't lose it. If I make the 8 and miss the 9 I tie the game and we replay it. So it came up that I played a tie 6. Since I was the higher player he tied if he made the 6-ball, won if he made the 7,8, or 9. This whole deal really kinda confused me. But anyway, on to the play...it is single elimination. I actually played pretty well towards the end of the tournament and alright at the beginning. When it came to the final match it was me vs. Jason. With some witty comments from the people in the room...something about play to see who does the laundry or who drives, we decided to split the money and not play. Woohoo...a little funny money in my pocket!!
Colorful eh? Yes, there are people playing hockey on the $5 bill!Tuesday I visited Le Spot Billiards. Of all days to forget my camera...this was not the day. Sorry no pictures. This is a room that you have to visit just to see the memorabilia on the walls. This is the room that Alex Pagulayan hangs out at when he is in Toronto. The room isn't a big fancy place, it is a pool room. They do however have the one Diamond Table in the area. I didn't get to play on it. I guess you have to get there bright and early to get that chance. When you walk in though you see that they have some cool stuff. All of Alex's magazine covers are blown up and put on the wall, all of his articles, photos, big checks...it is really awesome. I apologize for not getting pictures. I also got to meet a great snooker player that was just kind of hanging out, Kirk Stevens. It was cool to get to hear some of his travel stories. I did get in a little bit of action. Unfortunately it was all barbox 8-ball action. I ended up breaking even for the night after playing a few different people cheap sets. My lack of knowledge is really making me question the decision to play the 8-ball tournament in Vegas!
Wednesday I headed back to the tournament at Shooters. Again, I won my first couple of matches and lost my third. Oh well, I didn't play too bad, just not well enough!
Thursday I was really lazy but I did change up the practice routine a little. I played snooker. I had to take advantage of the fact that there are at least a couple of snooker tables in every pool room in the area. If you go to Shooters they have some good tables, I think eight in total. The Canadian Championships are played here each August. I used to play snooker everyday maybe seven years ago. I was never very good but I had fun playing. This was a little bit of a flashback for me. My poor opponent...had to get tortured then make excuses for the rest of the night...poor baby! I think both of us maybe had a high run of 40 or so...nothing to spectacular. I wish that there were more 12ft snooker tables in the states. It is a challenging but fun game. Everyone should try it at least once.
Friday the weekly tournament was in Missassauga at a place called Silver Tip. It is another good sized place with about 16 pool tables and 4 snooker tables. The tournament was handicapped and modified. I repeated what I did twice already...won my first two matches and lost my third...to John Morra again! I must say this is the first and only time I have seen Dufferin pool tables. They are pretty different from any table I have played on before. I think the best comparison I have would be Gandy tables. They are set a little too high for my liking...definitely not short person friendly! If I remember correctly they also have a tournament on Sunday nights.
On Saturday there was a Canadian Women's Pool Tour tournament in the area but I opted not to play. No, I wasn't scared but I do have good reason. It was Jason's birthday and it was the first time I had ever been there for that occasion. I opted to have a little fun after a lot of pool playing. It wasn't a massive party but we did have some fun. There are a lot of cool people that I have been lucky to get to know and make friends with. We started at a friends house to hang out, watch some pool, talk about pool and so on. Then we went to a few bars in downtown Toronto. Sorry, I never caught the name of any of them! It was a really fun night and thanks to Andrew, Bri, Alex, Gio, and Erik for hanging out all night and showing us a good time! Here is a pic of the group and myself and the birthday boy...and yes, I know my eyes are closed and no, I don't know who the people in the background are.
Sunday I just took it easy and watched a lot of hockey! My trip came to an end very early Monday morning when I head back to home sweet home.
I will leave you guys with one of my favorite food places that we go to every time I am in Toronto, almost on a daily basis...Alexandros World Famous Gyros. It's a small place that is great for a late night food fix.
The other thing is something that I guess they only have in Canada. I wish I never would have been introduced to it because now I want more and because I think I would eat them everyday if I lived there and gain about 200 pounds very quickly! It is called Poutine. When it was suggested to me I said, "what in the world is that??". Then I found out...fries, brown gravy and mozzarella cheese...in the words of my buddy Chris Bartram..."it tastes like more". Here is a picture for you to see it's greasy goodness!
Thanks again to Erik and Naomi for giving me a place to stay, Andrew, Bri, Gio and Alex for hanging out and everyone in Toronto that I got to meet or see again. I hope I get to visit again soon!
Well that should catch everyone up with all of my travels so far. The big trips are coming up...Taiwan, Vegas and Manila...I can't wait!! I'll be back with a couple more posts before then and I am supposed to have internet access at the hotel in Taiwan so I would like to do daily posts...we'll see!
you jet settin, red mustang driven, pool playin international women of mystery,
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