Played 8-ball with Gus (w/ the mustache) today. I've played one-pocket with him before, seen him kid around 9-ball games, but only today did I realize how good Gus truely is.

His game is solid. Tight stroke, not spectacular, but he knows exactly what he'll get out of it on every shot, even on those lefty shots. He had a few jaw-dropping shots (my jaws), but he's not the best shotmaker I've ever seen. But he plays the table wonderfully and gets perfect speed almost every time. I tried to keep a tight table with clusters, and I'm sure it's by no accident that he mostly picked the harder group. Every shot for him serves multiple purposes: potting balls, positioning, cluster-breaking, pocket-blocking. He let a couple of them slide and took it easy on me, but I'm not sure if he knew that I knew he was tanking it to keep me focused. One one shot, he played a distance safety when I knew he could have hooked me (it was maybe a 70% makeable shot, I made it without getting shape). It was truly humbling, a bit frustrating, but I know I took advantage of the few bones he tossed my way and made those runs count. At least I can say that the couple of games I won were some of the better games I've played.

I must have a chat with him next time about improving my game.