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My tourney results from Aurora
https://ooakforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=24914		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  GrumpyJoe [ 20 Jan 2014, 15:16 ]
Post subject:  My tourney results from Aurora
As some of you all know I went to the Butterfly Aurora Cup this past weekend. Entered 4 groups and played MY ASS OFF!!!! :rock: I won 1st place in the U-1800 and placed 2nd in the U-1900. My win/loss record was 16 wins and 3 losses. Just got home after a 6 1/2 hour drive because of the weather. I'm tired. I'm off work tomorrow so I will be sleeping in. I will post more when I get up.
Author:  Red_lion [ 20 Jan 2014, 15:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Congrats Joe and I know you felt so good! Enjoy your win!
Author:  RebornTTEvnglist [ 20 Jan 2014, 16:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Well done Joe! Sounds like you found your TT mo-jo again.
Author:  Old-Man-Southpaw [ 20 Jan 2014, 16:16 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Ahhhh, you were one of the people I was told to "be on the look out" for :)

I was going to play but had to withdraw due to arm elbow and tendon pain.

Congrats on a great showing!
Author:  glennholder [ 20 Jan 2014, 16:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Wow, 16-3 is quite a record! CONGRATS ON THE GREAT PLAY!

Joe, what were the strong points of your play that weekend?
Author:  Matt Pimple [ 20 Jan 2014, 22:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Hey Joe, it was great meeting you at the tournament. Congrats on a job well done! I saw you chopping like an animal against a 2200+ dude yesterday. :rock: I would have liked to watch you play a little more but was quite busy myself though my record wasn't as good as yours. :swear:

Cheers,
Matt
Author:  GrumpyJoe [ 21 Jan 2014, 01:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
I'm not going to go into detail about each of the games. Too many to remember. I will say this about the venue. A defenders dream :up: . Soft floors, nice Butterfly tables, and plenty of room. I had no trouble seeing the ball as we had blue floors, blue barriers, blue tables, and white balls. Very easy to see. The schedule was pretty much on time. The only thing I could complain about would be the lack of seating. Had some fold out chairs but not many. There were some benches but people were using them to put their bags on.

The biggest thing I liked about this venue was the court size. :up: :up: . Being a defender it is very hard to find a venue that has enough room. Sometimes I am bouncing off the walls or the barriers. There are two tourneys that I try to go to every year. They set it up with 3 rows of tables. The middle courts have more than enough room but the outside courts are... well, smaller than regulation court size. And it seems like I never get to play on the center courts. The club that runs both tourneys are great people and I love supporting their club. But sometimes I feel like I'm just throwing my money away. I might just send them an email and see what they say.

Glen. I think what was working the best for me was my BH chop. With a soft floor the ball was kinda slow. Not OMG slow but slow enough that I could chop back (for the most part) even the hardest smash. My 3 losses were all tight. I didnt get blown out in any of my losses. My 2nd place in the U-1900 was a 11-8 loss in the 5th to a guy that was about 100 point higher than me.

Matt. It was very nice to meet you as well. I wish I could have had a hit with you but the time just wasn't there. Cya next time.

Overall I had a great weekend. Saw old friends, made up with some not so friends. I will be back next year. And I will advise any defenders to do the same.
Author:  Old-Man-Southpaw [ 21 Jan 2014, 02:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Yes, nothing like tripping on the legs of the barriers because there is no room. It gets dangerous playing in places like that, no matter how nice the people are. I don't know about you, but I don't seem to think about it until I trip over one or find myself hugging a wall. Anymore, I pace off the distance behind the table if it looks at all tight.

Hopefully I'll make it there next year. I couldn't have played well with the arm, and can't afford to burn my one tournament per year budget of TT money to lose points because I'm hurting. I'll survive to play again another day, I hope.

Did you see the video links I posted? I didn't notice you in any though. I think it was table #2 they had streaming, and on sunday it died at about 2 pm.

BTW, how did you beat the blocker in the u1800 finals? He has a very odd style. I've never played him, though.
Author:  abdulmuhsee [ 21 Jan 2014, 03:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
GrumpyJoe wrote:
The club that runs both tourneys are great people and I love supporting their club. But sometimes I feel like I'm just throwing my money away. I might just send them an email and see what they say.


They are definitely nice people; I remember in one of their non-USATT tournaments, he moved the groups around so I could play someone I was itching to have a match with during the tourney. Was this tournament expensive, hence the money comment?
Author:  GrumpyJoe [ 21 Jan 2014, 04:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
The blocker I played in the final (btw it was at 10:00 at night) didn't move all that well. His BH loop was not all that fast but was very spinny. Surprised me in the first game. Got a lot of my points from he would loop to my BH, I would chop deep to his middle/FH (right pocket) he would bunt, I would LP push hard to his deep BH. Or I would just chop him down. There were a few points were he had me pinned to my FH side and I would do kind of a inside/out to his BH corner down the line. He couldn't move very well. The final score was -8,8,5,5.

Abdulmuhsee. The money I'm talking about is the hotel, gas and food. The tourney fees is really no more than any other tourney.
Author:  Old-Man-Southpaw [ 21 Jan 2014, 04:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Yes, I've watched him a few times and he does real well considering that he moves so little. Yes, by 10 pm I'd expect he'd be having even more trouble moving (being old and out of shape myself).

From watching him those times, I was thinking he'd have problems with quick wide pips balls and chops that land near the back, which might force him to backup, and make him vulnerable at the corners as a result.

I haven't ever had the chance to play him. He is probably a hundred points or more above me.
Author:  Matt Pimple [ 21 Jan 2014, 06:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
I played that blocker in the U-1900 final of the Aurora Fall tournament and won easily; it was already past 9pm as well and he had made it deep into another event too so by the time I got him he was quite tired and moved even less than he already does. I looped or pushed him in the corners. If you loop into his strike zone he is really good though and he used to be a solid 1900+ guy when he was able to loop better. Real nice guy too!
Author:  Der_Echte [ 21 Jan 2014, 06:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
Great work Grumpy, saw the FB pic !
Author:  GrumpyJoe [ 22 Jan 2014, 01:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
One thing that really surprised me was the lack of Jr's. I saw some but not nearly the amount I would see at some tourneys. Maybe they were there, I just didn't play any.
Author:  Old-Man-Southpaw [ 22 Jan 2014, 01:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: My tourney results from Aurora
No, you are correct.

If you looked at the event registration from the beginning, there weren't many signing up in the jr class and I think they reallocated tables and player slots to the other events in the same time slot. Maybe it being in Chicago in the winter, being that the kids have to get someone else to drive them there and back, was a factor.
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