Confidence in Pool

Very simple.
Success breeds Confidence,
Confidence breeds Success.

Confidence is directly correlated with alcohol consumption. I think that's your best bet.

Lots of things affect confidence. You could be confident, shooting every day, then all the sudden a flaw creeps in to your stroke that you notice. Unable to immediately detect the cause, you are now less confident making shots, knowing the flaw is there.

Pressure playing against certain opponents or in tournaments, etc, can decrease confidence.

Your original question seems like common sense. If you stop doing anything in life that takes skill and training, for long periods of time, the very first time you try it again there's no way it's going to be as easy or natural as it was when you did it everyday. Therefore, you can't possibly be confident in achieving the same results until you practice enough to get back to your previous form.

You can always "fake it until you make it" but confidence is much more than a simple emotion. It's easy to control emotions like anger (at least for most people), and other simple emotions. Confidence, by definition, requires you to believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, changing your emotional state isn't going to change that. It's deeper than that. If it were as simple as calming down when you're angry, people would have figured out how to never choke on simple shots a long time ago.

Going to sleep, good luck with your spiritual awakening.

Zphix said:

Rail,

This is precisely what I'm trying to combat, though. I believe confidence, like any emotion, is created instead of caught and if that's the case it is also controllable - maybe not totally controllable but I'd like to identify as many factors as you can control in order to create it.

If you don't mind, I'll lay out your example with the Triad:

1) Physiology: Something is wrong with your body composition to create a flaw in your stroke.

2) Focus: Your attention is on what is wrong with your stroke.

3) Language: What could it be? How do I fix it? Why can't I figure this out!!?

If this seems plausible then you are directly responsible for changing your level of confidence, right? At least that's how it would fit into the theory I'm trying to create.

What do you think about what I've laid out Rail?

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Confidence is created but it is not as simple as trying to play in a flow state.

It is the confidence that allows the flow state.


The triad state that I learned comes from Lanny Bassham. The triad state comes when you have developed your conscious mind, your subconscious mind, and your self image.

Your conscious mind is about your thoughts... knowing what you can and can not control, knowing what to focus on, staying in the moment.

Your subconscious mind is about skill developement... it is about practicing until you obtain unconscious competence.

And your self image is all about beliefs in yourself.


When any one of these three factors suffer it will bring down your performance. Develope all three and you are ready for competition or peak performance.


Knowing this its easy to see that concidence comes from many sources... practice, thoughts, beliefs etc

There are also tricks to tap into your favorite sources of confidence in the heat of the moment or just before.

Confidence = Success and more Confidence

Confidence in Pool for me originated in finding a way or process that I could go through to size up every shot on the table. If it is the same, then you may miss the first one ....shot of that type but likely you wont miss the second one.

If the process is the same then if you can accomplish that in two shots then you can get a lot of confidence knowing that your process is the same and you can tune into it for different angles.

In this game shot making is the key through correct assessment and then successful delivery....delivery being easily 50% of the problem, if not more so the culprit in shot making. In the end the confidence is measured in success rate.

If you cant make shots whatever you do really doesn't matter much unless you go safe every time.

Confidence is a personality trait. It can improve somewhat as you gain more knowledge, but the bulk of it, or lack of, is already part of the player's personality way before they hit their first pool ball.

Players who lack confidence can learn how to manage their anxiety during competition. It's hard work, but it can be done.

For me a consistent pre shot routine performed over and over and over again is the primary building block of confidence. It's hard to believe but something that seems as easy as a PSR can be so difficult to attain. It takes discipline to make it a habit. Once it becomes a habit, it gets incorporated into your subconscious and that is where success in this game is born. Oh yeah and hit a million balls. JMHO.

I believe Fran is right. I am a confidant person,it shows in my pool game.

At times there is anziety brought on.by failure to execute.

But I have the confidence in my abillities to carry on.

I just fake it and hope the other guy plays worse than I do.

Honestly though, I believe it come from experience and knowing you're doing everything you can do to the best of your ability.

Confidence is everything

Been playing high dollar pool since I was 15, now 70, hit confidence problems around age 55 !

The reason players struggle with confidence, if they leave the game for a while, is because confidence is entirely self defined belief.

Self defined belief must be reinforced perpetually otherwise doubt will invade the mind and cause problems.

If I shoot the same shot 100 times and make it 99% of the time, then I have a firm belief that I will continue to pocket that shot with incredibly high "confidence" or belief.

If I haven't played pool in a year and I doubt that I can pocket that same shot with a high degree of reliability, then I have disbelief and lower confidence.

The key to the entire process is self perpetuated belief. This means you have to continuously prove to the mind that your previous success will dictate your future success.

Once you miss that easy shot that was taken for granite....you will find that you'll have to pocket that shot at least 10 times before you feel confident in that shot again. Your belief has been compromised.

The first 4 or 5 times you approach the table to try that missed shot you'll find that much more focus is required to ensure a higher level of confidence.

This is the brains way of verifying that all is well (fundamentally) and the problem was nothing to worry about. Having been reinforced.... confidence takes over again.

I'm a fairly good athlete but always lacked a bit of confidence. There is very extremely thin line between being confident & being cocky & overconfident filled with 'self love'.

There are some athletes that need little to no practice. I needed or rather wanted the successful practice to build my confidence in myself.

It's like another said success breeds confidence & confidence breeds success.

I'll throw in desire & fear, fear of failure can be a very driving force.

Whenever I am not playing my best I KNOW that I can just play my way trough it. One, because of the fear of failure & the desire to not fail. Also because I KNOW to what level I am capable.

As to your two friends games being off from a lack of consistent play they might want to get with Gene Albrecht & his Perfect AIM.

If one does not see the true straight line, in other words is actually seeing a crooked line as straight, our minds can make the subconscious correction if we are playing consistently, but if we take time off & then come back, it can take time for our minds to get back use to making that correction.

I played for the first time in a month yesterday & beat a much better one pocket player that has been playing the game for ions compared to me.

I contribute that to what I learned from Gene & that I now have a manual method to make sure that I am seeing & getting on the line. My game is almost no different regardless of how little I play.

Sorry for the slight derail.

Also, I think much of some of what you refer is what I call psyco-babble.

I can't get up in the morning & say I am going to have a great day & then have one when I find out that my daughter has been in a car accident & has just lost both of her legs. That is just an example & not real.

But the point is that life is real & exists & we can not mode it to what we 'want' it to be.

It's more about how we react to life rather than what we try to do to control it.

I agree with Fran Crimi. Some things come from who we are from the time that we were created & that goes back to even before we were born.

That does not mean that one can not work on 'faults' or on what one lacks.

Who & what you are or will become comes from within one's self & not based on outside psyco-babble.

Take the good & throw away the bad. Rarely do man made things consist of ALL good.

Sorry for the rant. Just some food for thought not really for debate or discussion. I hope something in there helps.

Also, I am not foo fooing on you becoming a 'life coach'. Everyone needs some guidance in one manner or another. In the old days they called them parents, teachers, priests, etc.

Best 2 You & ALL.

FranCrimi said:

Confidence is a personality trait. It can improve somewhat as you gain more knowledge, but the bulk of it, or lack of, is already part of the player's personality way before they hit their first pool ball.

Players who lack confidence can learn how to manage their anxiety during competition. It's hard work, but it can be done.

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Confidence in pool refers to your believe and trust in yourself to get the desired results at the table. How can that be possible unless you have played enough pool and achieved the results necessary to establish trust in your game?

Low self-esteem and anxiety that are attributed to the individual person can affect this confidence. But simply being a "confident person" isn't going to make you confident in your pool game, especially if you're new to the game. If you have never hit a ball before, then you have no basis or reason for being confident in your game. You surely can't trust in your ability to make shots when you don't know how to make shots.

EDIT: I think what you mean is that how closely your confidence level matches your actual abilities is a personality trait, or is attributed to the individual's overall self-esteem, self-confidence, anxiety, fear, etc.

FranCrimi said:

Confidence is a personality trait. It can improve somewhat as you gain more knowledge, but the bulk of it, or lack of, is already part of the player's personality way before they hit their first pool ball.



Players who lack confidence can learn how to manage their anxiety during competition. It's hard work, but it can be done.

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^^^^ this. Can it be learned, yes but generally the most confident develop it at any early age & it becomes a major personality trait

railbird99 said:

Confidence in pool refers to your believe and trust in yourself to get the desired results at the table. How can that be possible unless you have played enough pool and achieved the results necessary to establish trust in your game?

Low self-esteem and anxiety that are attributed to the individual person can affect this confidence. But simply being a "confident person" isn't going to make you confident in your pool game, especially if you're new to the game. If you have never hit a ball before, then you have no basis or reason for being confident in your game. You surely can't trust in your ability to make shots when you don't know how to make shots.

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I'm sure Fran will answer if she sees this but I think what she means is about the overall individual.

Let's say two 26 year old individuals go to her for lessons. One is an individual that perhaps played sports their whole young life & at a successful level. The other one is one that was perhaps sheltered by their parents & played no sports at all in their young life.

I think one can rather easily see where one would probably have more confidence in their ability to be able pick up the game & play it 'well' while the other may have doubts.

That's not to say that there would be any predictable outcome with regards to the two individuals.

If you are talking about ONLY confidence in one's pool playing ability to execute all of the shots then yes some experience would be required for that.

As I inferred in my earlier post there is such a thing as overconfidence. I've seen rather many a ball game lost due to a cocky & selfish athlete. I've seen players lose pool games for the same reason.

Best 2 You & ALL.

PS Just look at 'The Hustler'. How confident was Fast Eddie the first time playing Fats. 'I'm the Best... & even if you beat me, I'm still the Best.' He was carried out & 'broke'.