distractions while playing (how do you deal)

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-devil-

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
One thing i have noticed about my area ... every place that has pool tables .. also has music playing so loud that it can almost make the balls roll along on their own at times ...

depending on the music it can be okay ... but at times (disadvantage of a juke box) it will be loaded up with types of music that i just find annoying ... which drastically affects how i am playing ...

my only thoughts have been earplugs, cutting the cord to the juke box ... or a (shudders) ipod ...

how do you handle distractions while playing if the places you go ... have em?
 
I always use an IPOD when things get loud or annoying. Some people think its wrong when you're playing pool but i say when im at the table i do wat i want. Where i live there are mostly bars and its always loud and full of drunks. Anything that will help i'll try.
 
I actually prefer a loud atmosphere to quiet with a couple people on another table chatting. If it is loud it becomes white noise for me, but when there are some people talking in an otherwise quiet room sometimes I tune into the conversation accidentally and can't get them out. Or a loud person walks in and takes me off my concentration.

It's not anyones fault but my own, it just is what it is.

The distractions that get me are people walking through my line of shot AND tapping on the table as they walk by.

I guess the general advice is to try and stop when you lose focus and then take some deep breaths and start your routine over again.
 
I find that locally, after I kick the crap out of 4 or 5 people for being annoying, the rest just kind of fall in line:)
 
The louder the better. It seems to create a bubble around me that keeps out other distractions. Crank up some AC/DC or Metallica and I'm good.
 
Ear plugs have been a godsend for me at times, especially tournaments where there is a live band that starts playing just as I am getting into the money matches. .

You can adjust the "volume" by the amount of pressure you put on them so you will still be able to communicate some.
 
This place is a zoo!

-devil- said:
one thing i have noticed about my area ... Every place that has pool tables .. Also has music playing so loud that it can almost make the balls roll along on their own at times ...

Depending on the music it can be okay ... But at times (disadvantage of a juke box) it will be loaded up with types of music that i just find annoying ... Which drastically affects how i am playing ...

My only thoughts have been earplugs, cutting the cord to the juke box ... Or a (shudders) ipod ...

How do you handle distractions while playing if the places you go ... Have em?
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this buddy of mine owned a pool room for several years,decided to go with a full bar kinda a sports theme.well now he gives free pool after 9 on mon,tue,wed,friday.....the drunks are always in the way and bumbing in to you and the the music is so loud your hand shakes while just resting on the table....trust me i feel your pain!!!! Its very hard to play like that,the best thing to do is just take your time and focus on what your doing and try to get some good practice.
 
-devil- said:
how do you handle distractions while playing if the places you go ... have em?
Click to expand...

If you can change your attitude to these distractions, you may find them easier to deal with.

Ideally you want to generate a mindstate that says that the distractions themselves are not the problem: the problem is internal, ie you are not dealing with them effectively.

The reason why this helps, is that when you think a problem is external it is much more difficult to block out - when someone walks across your line of site, or another crap song comes on the juke box, you can't help getting p***ed off. Things then have a tendency to go from bad to worse.

However, if accept that there will be loud & annoying music (and people), because that is the way things are, and that your job is to deal with it, you can cultivate a much more positive attitude. Then, when the guy on the next table vomits on your wife just as you are about to shoot, instead of getting annoyed, you can get up, reset, and focus more intently on blocking out these sorts of irrelevant external distractions.
 
First let me say that I only have about 50% of my hearing, if that now. A Cherry Bomb went off next to one ear on a boat (long story) and a handgun went off inches from the other(another long story). I am use to playing in bars with people yelling, rolling around on the floor fighting at my feet, and the juke box blasting, and I love it.

To me most poolrooms are like libraries, churches, and funeral homes. When some one does talk a little loud or drops a cue it distracts me. In the bars it's loud all the time and I'm use to it. The poolroom and the bar are two different animals. Pros go in loud bars and play $1000 sets or more never saying they are distracted. When these same pros go to a poolroom and play, they get all pissed off if someone sneezes. That's because it's so quiet that a small sound distracts them. Maybe we should start playing with rubber balls so we don't hear all the people breaking racks around them. Johnnyt
 
What r u talking 2 me?

If you are totally focused there will be NO distractions. I have been accused of being totally unavailable and in the twilight zone when I am playing my best pool. I see no evil and hear no evil! With that in mind while I am practicing if the music is not to my liking I put in my ear plugs. I can still hear everything just not to the point of total chaos!
Dan
 
i am going to have to check out the other places in my town to play ... i do not think any of them would be classified as a 'pool hall' ... mostly they are all bars ... some of which open around noon for people to play ... but around 6 the music gets turned up big time ...

yeah i know mostly it is a focus problem for me ... that i need to figure out how to do ... most loud music i can handle ... but some of it .. (mostly new rap stuff) just annoys the crap outta me at times... at the place i go it is always a contest to see who can get to the juke box first ... last time i went it was mostly old blues and some classic rock playing ... not suprizingly i won my matches in 8 and 9 ball ... (league play) ... but last night ... it was rap playing ... and after about 2 hours of it .. and missing most every shot i went for (was just playing for practice) .. i decided to leave ...

i may just get me some small earplugs to carry with me ... i have about 20% hearing loss in both ears ... so i rarely can hear someone talking to me anyways less they are looking right at me and yelling ... (in the bar that is) ... so the plugs would help muffle the rest a little bit as well ...
 
-devil- said:
i am going to have to check out the other places in my town to play ... i do not think any of them would be classified as a 'pool hall' ... mostly they are all bars ... some of which open around noon for people to play ... but around 6 the music gets turned up big time ...

yeah i know mostly it is a focus problem for me ... that i need to figure out how to do ... most loud music i can handle ... but some of it .. (mostly new rap stuff) just annoys the crap outta me at times... at the place i go it is always a contest to see who can get to the juke box first ... last time i went it was mostly old blues and some classic rock playing ... not suprizingly i won my matches in 8 and 9 ball ... (league play) ... but last night ... it was rap playing ... and after about 2 hours of it .. and missing most every shot i went for (was just playing for practice) .. i decided to leave ...

i may just get me some small earplugs to carry with me ... i have about 20% hearing loss in both ears ... so i rarely can hear someone talking to me anyways less they are looking right at me and yelling ... (in the bar that is) ... so the plugs would help muffle the rest a little bit as well ...
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If some certain type of music (noise) bothers you, it's mental. Don't complain to yourself or anyone else and it'll finally go away. As for hearing loss I have the same, it makes ancillary noise louder and isn't pleasant, but I never think of it when I play.
 
The room I play at has many attractive distractions! They are a "bar" with 9 Dufferin 9 footers, and two 9 foot coin ops.
Friday is their busiest night of the week, and they get the light show going and stuff, but around 9:30 at night, the DJ fires up the smoke machine.
By 10:00, you can barely see anything in the bar, let alone the other end of the table!
Now I find that to be very distracting, as well as annoying, considering the bar only starts to get busy around 11:30!
 
androd said:
If some certain type of music (noise) bothers you, it's mental. Don't complain to yourself or anyone else and it'll finally go away. As for hearing loss I have the same, it makes ancillary noise louder and isn't pleasant, but I never think of it when I play.
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i am going to have to try that ... or find something else in the room to focus my attention on ...

Cheez Dawg said:
The room I play at has many attractive distractions! They are a "bar" with 9 Dufferin 9 footers, and two 9 foot coin ops.
Friday is their busiest night of the week, and they get the light show going and stuff, but around 9:30 at night, the DJ fires up the smoke machine.
By 10:00, you can barely see anything in the bar, let alone the other end of the table!
Now I find that to be very distracting, as well as annoying, considering the bar only starts to get busy around 11:30!
Click to expand...

that sounds about like this place only minus the DJ and lights and smoke ... it is juke box most all the time till around 10pm they turn it off and fire up the karaoke machine ...
 
Talk about focus

We had a guy here in Southern California, named Robert, who had the knack to disregard any distractions while at the table. One time, him and his buddies go to a bar in a bad part of Los Angeles. Robert gets in action and starts focusing on his game. A fight breaks out in the bar and everyones attention is diverted to the commotion, except for Robert who is in the middle of a run. Sure enough, one guy pulls out a gun and fires it in the bar. All the customers hit the deck ducking behind the pool tables, while some poor sap is lying on the floor bleeding. But Robert was still on the table, shooting his way out of the rack. When asked about it later, Robert said he was convinced they were trying to shark him.

Ole Robert was a classic.
 
8ballEinstein said:
We had a guy here in Southern California, named Robert, who had the knack to disregard any distractions while at the table. One time, him and his buddies go to a bar in a bad part of Los Angeles. Robert gets in action and starts focusing on his game. A fight breaks out in the bar and everyones attention is diverted to the commotion, except for Robert who is in the middle of a run. Sure enough, one guy pulls out a gun and fires it in the bar. All the customers hit the deck ducking behind the pool tables, while some poor sap is lying on the floor bleeding. But Robert was still on the table, shooting his way out of the rack. When asked about it later, Robert said he was convinced they were trying to shark him.

Ole Robert was a classic.
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hah! now thats a funny story !
 
Here's how i deal with it:

badly

The End

But seriously... I am fortunate enough to be friends with the owner, and also lucky that the owner is a reasonable human being and serious about pool. Therefore when it's loud enough to interfere with my enjoyment of the game, he takes action.

In the past, we've had employees who stubbornly bump up the volume on their favorite tunes and I've had to come to him multiple times. Yes, you feel like an ass doing it. Yes the employee will almost certainly act like you're overreacting, or say you take pool too seriously, or say that you're blowing things out of proportion or you're a party pooper. They may even claim you're just acting out some vendetta or being a jerk on purpose to get them in trouble. The owner also might have trouble enforcing this, or they may take the attitude that you're making a big deal out of nothing. In my case the owner was cool and took my complaints seriously, but maybe he was just being too "Mr. Nice Guy" with the employees. It took a few sessions with him before I finally felt like I was getting results.

So, despite all the flak you'll get... overcome your embarrassment and complain to the employee (give them a fair chance to turn it down) and then complain to the owner. Be persistent. If you don't like the results, take your business elsewhere and make sure they know why your money is not going to go into their register. (easy for me to say, I know... realistically you'll endure it because it's close or it's where all your friends are. But at least tell them you'll be spending less money because you're leaving early when it gets to be too much)

As for other distractions, like people talking and crowding you or walking in front of your shot... that's tougher.
 
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if it's just a loud jukebox....put in a $10 bill and play the crappiest music you can find on the thing, and I'm not talking just crappiest in "your tastes", I mean stuff you would never hear coming out of a jukebox EVER!!!! That way, at least, you aren't the only one hating the music....there, even playing field! ;)
 
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