Well I got asked by one of the juniors that bowls at my center to bowl a doubles tournament with them in Vegas today.
Didn't know what the shot was going in and it ended up being WTBA Athens.

I had only practiced on the kegel patterns as we don't have any of the WTBA patterns in the oiler. I set a goal of averaging 190 for it and came up a little short with a 182 for 4. With the exception of the last game, I threw the ball pretty well overall the first 3 just didn't score as well as I felt I threw it. The first game and a half it just seemed like I didn't have a ball that was aggressive enough and carrydown killed me game 4.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way I threw the ball for my first experience at a tournament with more than a house shot. I'd like to do more but I know now I need something more aggressive before i do

First off, Congrats on averaging 182 on your first sport shot tournament.  I remember the first Jr Gold tournament I went to (2001 I think).  There were a lot of 210-220 average bowlers there that struggled to even average 150.  They had no clue how to play the lanes and just kept trying to do what they did on their THS.  182 average means that you were close to the right line, and that you definitely were rolling a pretty good ball. 

Secondly, you say that you think you needed a more aggressive ball... Looking at your arsenal, I would think the rogue cell or even the crossroad should be enough ball for you to do pretty well on that pattern, I know I've had great success with my hyroad and blue vibe on that pattern and I really don't put much more on it than you do.  Just wondering if you were maybe playing too far outside or if maybe the lanes were just playing extra slick for some reason. 

Congrats again!

Jeremy

got ya, and that would make sense.   I can imagine a virtual energy being a little to squirty on that condition.  And if you say people were saying that house plays slicker then I can definitely say it could be a little rough.  Which makes your average even better .  Have one house out here, where I don't know if there is a problem with the lane machine, or if the backends just don't get stripped correctly or what, but practically everything there is very slick.  If they don't lay down a drier shot, and even lay down something like White 2, getting the ball to even wrinkle going down the lane is an achievement haha.

182 ave is very respectable for a 1st time out
proper equipment and surface will help raise that average
i really like the gamebreaker2 for several flatter patterns im on.
so rolly and predictable
and at 110 bucks, its a steal

I did change some surfaces before I went and brought a couple pads with me in case I needed it. I just couldn't get enough downlane motion from my Cold Blood having a smoother layout

To a degree yes, but in this case I feel it was more a lane surface difference once I found out that the lanes play slick there. When I got there and found out what the pattern was,  I was actually a little excited because I felt my game and equipment matched up pretty well to the pattern.

I even talked with one of the guys I know who also went and he told me he also bowled a few games on their house shot afterwards and it played pretty slick too.

I definitely don't think that. There are some patterns ive matched up pretty well to and others ive struggled when practicing. I know ill never compete in regionals or anything like that, but I definitely feel like I could have some fairly good sets at different tournaments say like Nationals or some of the Storm run tournaments a few hours north of me.