Here's a question for you - can it help you beat an opponent if you get mad at them? I believe that under certain conditions it can, so maybe there are times when you, in an effort to win a money or tournament match, should try to develop some negative feelings toward your opponent.
Here are a few pieces of info for you to consider:
1) Years ago I was playing a guy whom I had played many times and who was about even with me in skill. This guy has been around pool most of his life and has known a lot of top players, though not a strong player himself. I give you this background on him to give his comments and observations some credibility. Anyway, I am playing him one-pocket and he's beating me on this particular occasion. Something happened to make me angry, I don't recall what, and still feeling kind of mad, I dropped down on a fairly tough bank shot at a critical point in the game. I made the bank with a firmer stroke than was necessary and my opponent said, "Looks like you hit that bank with an angry stroke." His observation was dead accurate. I have thought about that shot many times and have come to believe that the moderate amount of anger I was feeling at that moment actually helped me focus on the shot, bear down, and shoot the shot with an unusual level of confidence.
2) It is a well known fact in the field of psychology that with certain emotions, one cannot feel two of them at once. For instance, mild sexual arousal doesn't coexist with fear. Fear and anger are incompatible, with one tending to displace the other. So if your pool game, at some point in time, is suffering from your feelings of anxiety (you know, the fear of missing that shot or the fear of losing the game or the cash), then generating some anger may well diminish or eliminate the anxiety and the tendency to choke that it causes.
3) Finally, from one of my recent matches: I was playing a guy one-pocket for small stakes and he knew I had limited time (2 hours) to play. He gets 4 games up on me and I ask if we can double the bet to give me a chance to get even. No, he says, we are just going to play for the same stakes. He wins the game and is five games up and I suggest a race to 3 for the total amount I am down. (We have a history of allowing the player who is down to increase the bet to have a shot at getting even.) He refuses. He wins the game and is six games up on me, at which point he explains that the reason he won't up the bet or play a race for the whole amount is that he just wants to be able to say he beat me on this particular occasion. (I have won the great majority of our earlier matches.) I get pretty angry about this and decide to stay longer than I had planned in an effort to pull even or better. Playing with a little anger boiling around inside, I win 6 games in a row and quit even.
So what do you think? Are the situations where getting a bit angry at your opponent will help you win the match?
Here are a few pieces of info for you to consider:
1) Years ago I was playing a guy whom I had played many times and who was about even with me in skill. This guy has been around pool most of his life and has known a lot of top players, though not a strong player himself. I give you this background on him to give his comments and observations some credibility. Anyway, I am playing him one-pocket and he's beating me on this particular occasion. Something happened to make me angry, I don't recall what, and still feeling kind of mad, I dropped down on a fairly tough bank shot at a critical point in the game. I made the bank with a firmer stroke than was necessary and my opponent said, "Looks like you hit that bank with an angry stroke." His observation was dead accurate. I have thought about that shot many times and have come to believe that the moderate amount of anger I was feeling at that moment actually helped me focus on the shot, bear down, and shoot the shot with an unusual level of confidence.
2) It is a well known fact in the field of psychology that with certain emotions, one cannot feel two of them at once. For instance, mild sexual arousal doesn't coexist with fear. Fear and anger are incompatible, with one tending to displace the other. So if your pool game, at some point in time, is suffering from your feelings of anxiety (you know, the fear of missing that shot or the fear of losing the game or the cash), then generating some anger may well diminish or eliminate the anxiety and the tendency to choke that it causes.
3) Finally, from one of my recent matches: I was playing a guy one-pocket for small stakes and he knew I had limited time (2 hours) to play. He gets 4 games up on me and I ask if we can double the bet to give me a chance to get even. No, he says, we are just going to play for the same stakes. He wins the game and is five games up and I suggest a race to 3 for the total amount I am down. (We have a history of allowing the player who is down to increase the bet to have a shot at getting even.) He refuses. He wins the game and is six games up on me, at which point he explains that the reason he won't up the bet or play a race for the whole amount is that he just wants to be able to say he beat me on this particular occasion. (I have won the great majority of our earlier matches.) I get pretty angry about this and decide to stay longer than I had planned in an effort to pull even or better. Playing with a little anger boiling around inside, I win 6 games in a row and quit even.
So what do you think? Are the situations where getting a bit angry at your opponent will help you win the match?
