How do you lose?

How do you lose?

  • Total voters
    64
hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We know no-one here loses :cool:;) but if you know a "friend" that does, what most often causes "him" to lose a game?

I think most of the time when I am doing well for a run out I end up doing one of two things, hook myself or miss a shot I played shape for and should have made. That usually blows a break and run for me.

I did not put in "scratch" as that is pretty obvious as you give up ball in hand.
 
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Situation varies all the time.

Last tourney, I played 3 tough cuts to get back in line. Then had three easy shots to get out. I'm talking routinely easy. Simple stuff where position is built in or not really needed. I missed the second one.
 
rayjay said:
I lose focus, not on the list.
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That tends to lead to an easy missed shot or position error. Like falling asleep at the wheel, but cause of death is "hit a tree at 60".
There are probably a few ways to lose I did not list, like a foul where you double hit the cueball, not hit a rail while trying for a soft safe, etc...
 
Its almost always the easy shot that I miss. I can get out of shape or hook myself and usually still end up ok, but that easy shot after always gets me.
 
Most of my innings end on misses. I don't get perfect on a ball but I get good enough
(I'm careful to stay on the correct side etc.). But I'll blow medium difficulty shots.

I don't have a very good feel for where to aim some shots. I'm working on trying to be a little more careful
with my preshot routine, visualizing where I need to hit, and committing to it.
 
Im still relatively new at pool, been playing for 2 years right about now, but I usually run 5 or 6 then end up in the worst possible place with either being hooked or a real tough shot either to pocket the next ball or to get shape on the ball after.:eek:
 
Dog the Break....then it goes to ...to many beers.:)

Then the rest follows.
 
While I miss my share of easier shots, I tend to get out of position more often. Especially playing 9-ball. (Recovering from bad shape is easier in 8-ball, to me.). Being out of position begets more difficult shots, more often.
 
Good poll. I believe the progression goes something like this:

D- Player - Just doing what they can to get the ball in the hole. Usually loses on a missed shot, whether they have shape on it or not.

D Player - Can run a few balls if they happen to be in the right spot, but can't play position. Usually loses on a hook or missed shot from a bad position.

C Player - Decent shotmaker lacking position play or table management skills. Usually loses like a D player, just not as often.

B Player (Type 1) - Strong position play/table management skills and decent shot making skills. Usually loses on a missed shot from good position or a tough shot from their opponent's leave.

B Player (Type 2) - Strong shotmaker with decent positional/table management skills. Usually loses on missing a tough shot (from their leave or opponent's leave) or hooking themselves.

A Player - Strong position play, table management, and shot making skills. Usually have to be beat with a defensive shot or a decent run out, but they are still prone to missing, especially when they overextend on a shot when there isn't an obvious safe available.

Pro Player - Sure, they miss...sometimes. If you don't run out or play safe against them, you probably won't like what you see when you get back to the table because you're either going to be racking or locked up behind a ball. Most of their losses come from dry breaks or leaving their opponent a shot trying to get out of a safety.

Personally, I am a B player (Type 1). I miss balls that I probably shouldn't, sometimes from lack of focus/PSR, but mostly from flaws in my mechanics. At least I know what to work on...
 
hang-the-9 said:
We know no-one here loses :cool:;) but if you know a "friend" that does, what most often causes "him" to lose a game?

I think most of the time when I am doing well for a run out I end up doing one of two things, hook myself or miss a shot I played shape for and should have made. That usually blows a break and run for me.

I did not put in "scratch" as that is pretty obvious as you give up ball in hand.
Click to expand...

"Because I suck" doesn't seem to be up there...
 
The results so far are pretty interesting. It seems most people lose while on offense and not defense.

I know in my case, when I lose, most often, it is from getting a little out of line and the problem accumulates until I have painted myself into a corner. Sometime I lose from poor strategy or a simple miss but mostly its due to poor position play.
 
Now that I went over the posts, I realize I may have not totally made the title what I had in my head. What I was thinking of are "things that make you not win in one turn", when the balls are in OK position for a run.

I guess you can win after a missed shot or something, but I was more interested in what causes us to fail to run out when you "should". I worded it as a loss because that really is what the result of a mistake ends up being.

I have several games a night that I should have run out from the break or on my first turn and fail to do so because of something silly like a missed shot that I got great position for or hooking myself by a hair. Playing a bad safety also lands me in hot water, but it's mostly missing/hooking myself that causes a loss. One of my many great ways of losing that I found is to line up a combo on the 9 or 10 wile playing a safe, but fail to hook the guy so he just shoots my combo to win LOL.

I think if I put up % of why I did not run out a rack, I'd list

40% miss a shot I lined up for
25% hooked myself - often by 1mm
20% misplayed shape and missed a tough shot or made it but no shape on next ball which ends up in some good shots but most often a loss
15% messed up a safe
 
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Cdryden said:
The results so far are pretty interesting. It seems most people lose while on offense and not defense.
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Interesting, but not terribly surprising. Although I've definitely lost my share of games with a failed defense, it doesn't happen nearly as often as losing on a missed ball.

To lose on defense, you have to (a) have a decent defensive opportunity available, (b) decide that taking a defensive shot and allowing your opponent back to the table is better than the offensive shot, and (c) either fail to hook your opponent or watch your opponent make a great shot from where you left them hooked. For pretty much every game but 1 pocket, that situation is fairly rare because the offensive shot is usually the best play.
 
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