MY POOL TABLE NIGHT PROBLEM

Hi, I’m Phil, I live in Caloundra and here’s my POOL TABLE NIGHT story…

I’ve got a problem. It’s a big problem and I’ll get to that very shortly. But firstly here’s the backstory.

I’ve got a Pool Table. It’s an 8-foot Grand Duke. I love it. I bought it to celebrate my 50th birthday.

But this is where my problem began. To be exact – about four and a half months after it came into my life.

Since our mid to late forties three of my now best mates and I have gathered every fortnight for a catch-up over a game of Pool. While it has and will continue to be a social outing it has evolved into quite a fun competition.

We call it the “Home & Away Neighbours Cup”. Great name hey! We came up with the name because two of us have children and wives who love the TV show Neighbours with the other two – you guessed it – Home & Away.

To cut a story even shorter during our first ever Pool Table Night we discovered this and there was a collective sigh of ‘anything to get me out of the house when these shows are on’.

So needless to say Dominic, Lou, Arthur and myself don’t watch either show. From all that enhanced chatter we came up with the name for our Pool Table Night. Long live the “Home & Away Neighbours Cup”.

So to my POOL TABLE NIGHT problem..

For the first three and a bit years of the fortnightly catch-ups we played between my mate’s three homes as naturally they had Pool Tables – I didn’t.

I’d always loved the look at the Traditional Grand Duke so with a bit of saving and clearance from my better half in came my GD.

Three days later I hosted my first ever Pool Table Night of the “Home & Away Neighbours Cup”. I was so excited in particular since I didn’t have to travel.

Much to my relief, I won the first-ever game I played on GD. Lou played particularly and unusually badly which I didn’t think much of then.

Anyway, I’ve hosted the Cup 6 times but since that opening match win, I haven’t won a single game. Not one!

Now that’s my problem. I win a great deal on my mate’s tables but I can’t win on my own.

Whatever happened to the notion of home-ground advantage?

The guys know how much it’s bugging me while trying to contain their laughs. Actually, that’s wrong – they don’t contain their laughter.

To make matters worse after beating me on MY 8′ GRAND DUKE TABLE the last time we played at the time of writing this article, Lou gave me a good old pat on the left cheek and said – “Just as well you won that first game”.

I knew he threw that game when we christened the table.