Why change your game mid tournament?

[Diamond69]

Maybe some of the higher level players will give their opinions.

I played the Carom Room in Beloit this weekend. Ended up 9-13, so I was happy since I'm a $10 calcutta player.

What I did notice on day 2 were many high level players playing much differently the 2nd day. Some were soft breaking, some were playing extra slow.

So my question is why? I could see if you were down in the set and wanted to soft break to avoid a runout by your opponent. But to me, if you change your PSR, break, or timing routine, it's a disadvantage to yourself.

Any feedback from either side on this? People who do, or people who don't?

 

[Jude Rosenstock]

Maybe some of the higher level players will give their opinions.

I played the Carom Room in Beloit this weekend. Ended up 9-13, so I was happy since I'm a $10 calcutta player.

What I did notice on day 2 were many high level players playing much differently the 2nd day. Some were soft breaking, some were playing extra slow.

So my question is why? I could see if you were down in the set and wanted to soft break to avoid a runout by your opponent. But to me, if you change your PSR, break, or timing routine, it's a disadvantage to yourself.

Any feedback from either side on this? People who do, or people who don't?

There are a lot of things that happen during the course of a tournament that you're witnessing here. Regarding breaking, it's very common for players to go into a tournament using their most common breaking style to see if it's effective or not. If not, they'll begin imitating anyone that's showing success. If Corey Deuel is making the wing-ball with a cut-break, five other guys are going to start cut-breaking. It's only a matter of an hour or two before the entire field is doing it.

Regarding timing, that's probably a product of stronger match-ups. In the first round, it's not unusual to see top players playing clowns. They'll swing freely without worry and win by a large margin. By the third or fourth round, most players assume they're facing tougher competition and will do everything in their power to capitalize on any opportunity. This often means that unless the situation is clearly laid-out for you, some deciphering might be called for.

 

[CreeDo]

Some players enter a tournament with a certain mindset, and their 'tournament game' is actually a little
different from their normal everyday game. As the matches go on, they probably tend to revert
to their normal game.

For example a player might say "ok normally I lean on my shotmaking a little, and don't sweat getting
dead perfect on every ball, but in this tournament I'm probably gonna miss semi-tough balls due to nerves.
So I'm gonna play PERFECT shape every time, even if it means risking a miss.
I refuse to settle on any leave."

But no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Maybe the player keeps missing
balls because they try to do too much with the CB.
Or they realize their shotmaking was always their strong suit and they keep getting hooked
when they try to do unfamiliar or aggressive position shots. So they switch it up.

 

[DallasHopps]

Not to take away from the excellent explanations from the esteemed posters above, but I would simplify it as follows:

When something isn't working, you adapt or fail.

 

[pt109]

So my question is why? I could see if you were down in the set and wanted to soft break to avoid a runout by your opponent. But to me, if you change your PSR, break, or timing routine, it's a disadvantage to yourself.

Your PSR, break, and timing routine probably reflects how YOU want to play.
In the military, there is a saying....
.."The map is not the terrain."

Your duty to yourself as a player is to recognize the conditions you're actually
playing under.

Light or heavy cue-ball, fast or slow cloth, conservative or aggressive
opponent are just some of the factors you should adjust to.

And when you are playing well, you should probably play quicker than
when there is no magic.
When you see what you have to do, do it.....some days it takes longer.

And in a tournament with new balls and new cloth, the first day everything
plays a lot different than the third day.
The cloth and balls get broken in...less slide on the cloth, more grippage
on the balls.