Eureka.. What has helped my game more than anything else..

I guess you have "let go" as some call it. Congratulations on playing the best pool of your life. May it continue.

I was talking to a really good pool player a week ago and I mentioned to him that as you gain more knowledge and skills in pool, it seems the game becomes VERY EASY, the struggling is reduced and the balls fall easier and there are few hard shots if any, as they are all "just shots". He agreed completely. It's not that the game becomes easier to play, you just quit struggling and you start doing the things that you have learned and trained yourself to do and that is what makes the game seem easier and that is what you see when you see a real player gliding from shot to shot.
 
I posted this in another thread and did not get any replies. It seems appropriate here too so I will try again as I think it leads to the kind of things the posters here have discussed.

This summer I decided to play the local shark. This fellow is a pretty good player when everything is going right. He has been a shark for so long (he is in his 60s) that I really do not think he knows any other way to play. I decided to play him all summer long, just about every night. My intent was to learn to deal with this type of play. A couple of things happened.

I think I am now pretty much bullet proof against any type of sharking that I know about.

I have learned to hear but ignore the opponent. Similar to what you do when watching TV and you don’t want to be bothered by other people.

And what was most amazing to me is that I have, through the exposure to this shark, learned to calm down and yet play intensely. It is difficult to explain but when playing the shark I first had to learn to ignore his antics and play my own game. I suspect I really did not care what he said or thought as I do not particularly like the guy (but he doesn’t know it). In some strange way it was almost like I was playing alone and therefore simply played my own game. The result was great. Apparently this lengthy exposure to the shark has improved my self confidence to handle any situation at the table including my ability to make balls.
 
Some more good stuff:

Gucciardi and Dimmock got two interesting results: the first was that anxiety only interfered with performance when it was coupled with self-consciousness. Nervous golfers who thought about the details of their swing, such as how to position their hips, hit consistently worse shots. That makes sense, since one of the main causes of choking is "thinking too much," as we start analyzing actions (like a golf swing) that are best performed on autopilot.
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From: "Don't Choke"

Another good place for information about relaxed concentration and directed practice is: http://kottke.org/tag/relaxed concentration
 
Bob Callahan said:
Some more good stuff:



From: "Don't Choke"

Another good place for information about relaxed concentration and directed practice is: http://kottke.org/tag/relaxed concentration
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I'm not sure what I've learnt from anyone else on this thread - despite the warm words - but I've bookmarked all you've linked and will check them out. I read of lot of words from certain people which don't actually say anything.

To me, it sounds like the OP has benefited from a good rest, is all. I had my first two week break from pool in a long time recently, and realised how much I needed it. I'm enjoying playing again. Conscious, sub-conscious, yadda yadda. There are the talkers and then there are players - choose who you listen to carefully.
 
Joey,

I learned to do all my thinking 'standing UP' and only get down on the shot when I was "LOCKED" into what I wanted to accomplish.

Like yours, my game became more fun and the wins were happening more often.

Amazing what the mind can do, isn't it?
 
irock said:
I truly believe, that I have actually figured out how a lot of Pros Aim, and how they execute their shots.
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I'd like to hear what you have to say. Or possibly start a new thread so Joey can keep this one on track.

Best,
Mike
 
JoeW said:
I posted this in another thread and did not get any replies. It seems appropriate here too so I will try again as I think it leads to the kind of things the posters here have discussed.

This summer I decided to play the local shark. This fellow is a pretty good player when everything is going right. He has been a shark for so long (he is in his 60s) that I really do not think he knows any other way to play. I decided to play him all summer long, just about every night. My intent was to learn to deal with this type of play. A couple of things happened.

I think I am now pretty much bullet proof against any type of sharking that I know about.

I have learned to hear but ignore the opponent. Similar to what you do when watching TV and you don’t want to be bothered by other people.

And what was most amazing to me is that I have, through the exposure to this shark, learned to calm down and yet play intensely. It is difficult to explain but when playing the shark I first had to learn to ignore his antics and play my own game. I suspect I really did not care what he said or thought as I do not particularly like the guy (but he doesn’t know it). In some strange way it was almost like I was playing alone and therefore simply played my own game. The result was great. Apparently this lengthy exposure to the shark has improved my self confidence to handle any situation at the table including my ability to make balls.
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I like this tried and true tactic of constantly being exposed to an uncomfortable situation and learning to become numb to its affects. Unless you play by yourself at home, you should have a method of closing out the distractions and playing your best.

I would think that your personal dislike for this fellow contributed to turning a deaf ear to his antics. What if you had a close friend doing the same thing? You have a base, so taking your selective concentration to the next level may be fairly simple.

I've played the human windmills, conversationalists, and mental grinders. One thing for sure is you need to have experience with this type of player, as painful as it is. :grin:

Best
Mike
 
Mikjary said:
I'd like to hear what you have to say. Or possibly start a new thread so Joey can keep this one on track.

Best,
Mike
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I would like to hear what Irock has to say about pros aiming as well. Start a new thread Irock.. I promise not to be a naysayer but Ican't promise that the naysayers will stay away. F them if they come. just sayin..... let it out dude. We want to know the SECRET to pro aiming! :D

JoeyA
 
JoeyA said:
I would like to hear what Irock has to say about pros aiming as well. Start a new thread Irock.. I promise not to be a naysayer but Ican't promise that the naysayers will stay away. F them if they come. just sayin..... let it out dude. We want to know the SECRET to pro aiming! :D

JoeyA
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I don't think Mike (Mikjary) meant *you*, Joey. Methinks he meant the original poster, who is also Joey. That is, unless, there was some kind of AZB swearing-in ceremony for the position of Honory Thread TrackKeeper, and you were the one sworn in? :D

J/K, of course,
-Sean <-- "JoeyA" does sound like "JoeyK" though... :D
 
sfleinen said:
I don't think Mike (Mikjary) meant *you*, Joey. Methinks he meant the original poster, who is also Joey. That is, unless, there was some kind of AZB swearing-in ceremony for the position of Honory Thread TrackKeeper, and you were the one sworn in? :D

J/K, of course,
-Sean <-- "JoeyA" does sound like "JoeyK" though... :D
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Mijary was talking to Irock and was just trying to keep JoeyK's thread on track.

I agree and want Irock to start a new thread about how he thinks pros aim and yeah, you're invited. ;)
 
Joey,
I had a somewhat similar experience this week. According to my teammates I tend to over think most situations as you described. This week I was overmatched, playing against a much stronger opponent . I felt the pressure to win and shoot well melt away, after all I was supposed to lose, right? I said to myself, 'just shoot and have fun'. The result, I played my best match ever. I think you are on to something.

Have fun, Steve
 
Thanks for the replies guys.. It's a simple concept but a lot of things need to fall into place for it to work, which is of course tougher than it sounds.. As "Thaiger" stated, the 3 months off did the trick, well I'm certain that it's a lot more than that, I think I know myself a little better than he..

I know what the "zone" feels like too, and this is not the same thing as far as I'm concerned. I appreciate all of the insight and for the most part keeping the thread on track in spite of a few fruitless attempts.. Good stuff, keep it coming.

Steve, congrats on playing well and enjoying your game..
 
Neil said:
I'm glad you "saw the light". Not many actually do. I struggled with it myself for a time. I and others have talked about it on here several times, but it usually gets glossed over, or just doesn't really register. It's simply a matter of training your mind and body to perform, and then letting go of the conscious and let the subconscious take over to perform.

Sometimes that is very hard to do. From training or practice, we tend to pay attention to every detail to ingrain the right way to do things. And, in the process, we tend to also train ourselves to use our conscious minds and not our subconscious minds.

Using our conscious minds to go through each step can and usually does elevate our game because we are now doing things the "right' way. But, it is not the "end all" to our goal. The next step, and the hardest to actually do, is to do what seems opposite to our training. And, that is to stop thinking about everything, and just trust our mind and body to do it the way it was trained. It seems counter to our training, but is actually the next step. It actually is what all the training has been for.

When we finally do that, we find that we suddenly make a jump in our play. Our mind and body perform best when we let the subconscious do things. And trust it to do what it was told to do. Sure, there will still be the occasional flub up. We even do it when walking. Every now and then when doing something as common as walking we will trip. Same thing will happen with your game. Every now and then we will trip and miss some duck. Just laugh about it, and carry on while still trusting yourself.

Many, when they do trip up, right away want to go back to using the conscious mind. Try and avoid that temptation. Just shrug it off as a fluke, and carry on.
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Well said. I certainly agree. I play my best pool when I'm not really thinking about much. It's kinda therapeutic really. Sure, I analyze the layout and all that. But I am not sweating the stroke mechanics, etc. I just play my game and get results.

The thing that seems to be impeding my progress the most is that pesky employment thing. If I could just give that up hahaha....

Seriously though, I've worked on my game a lot (I've visited Stan Shuffet as well and really benefited from that also) over the years and I'm generally pleased with my progress. I'm currently only able to play pool less than 10 hours a week on an average week and I think that I am playing about as well as possible given that level of table time. It's a great activity any way you slice it.

Cheers...
 
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