Feb 09
26
Adapting to the Elbow Rule
It’s been just over 1 month since we were all at the Flamingo in Las Vegas for the 4th annual WSOBP. I must have been missing Vegas because I went back last Friday for the weekend. Mainly because I was comp’d two free nights at the beautiful Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino. If you haven’t had the pleasure of entering this Casino let me warn you, you aren’t missing a thing. To paint a picture: Immediately entering the casino you are smacked in the face with the lingering smell of cigarette smoke and cleaning supplies. The casino is filled with blue headed senior citizens playing 1 cent slot machines. But if you like beer pong there isn’t a closer casino to O’Sheas then the IP.
O’Sheas is well known for their cheap table games but more recently, beer pong. I’ve played there a few times before. Most memorably after day 1 of WSOBP IV where Eric of Snipers Inc. and I played another WSOBP team $100 a game. The reason it’s most memorable is because we lost both games. But this weekend was much less competitive than the WSOBP week.
If you haven’t played at O’Shea’s before here is how it generally works. The challenger buy’s both pictures of beer and the winner decides on the rules to be used. This became challenging our first game. The current table winners enforced the infamous “Elbow Rules”. Now I started playing beer pong like most others, on a ping pong table with a bunch of various rules that mainly supported more drinking. Rules like two balls same cup = three cups, bouncing = two cups and the elbow rule. The problem is since competing in SCBP tournaments I have adapted to a completely different style throw, the lean.
I know there is an age old debate with elbow rule players vs. leaner’s which I’m not going to get into. But what I did want to talk about is how players adapt or adjust to the elbow rule. Personally, I have a very difficult time. Our first game at O’Sheas was a true testament. I knew we were way better than these guys and I had to beat them if I wanted to play my rules. So I adapted. I had to stand about 3 ½ feet behind the tables edge to make a cup. The reason being, I am so use to leaning I can’t make a cup standing upright. So I had to lean, only it was like leaning while playing on a 11’-6” long table. This caused a lot of attention, especially since one of the guys we were playing looked like a young Andy Dick and my partner kept reminding him of it. We did win, beating them by 3 cups. So I was able to go back to shooting on an 8’-0” long table on our next game but it wasn’t easy.
Backing up 3 ½ feet worked for me but I was wondering what others do. It sucks when you know you are better than a team but your shot is off because of the elbow rule. What do you do when WSOBP rules don’t apply? Leave your comments.
