Playing bad
- Thread starter zach12345
- Start date
yup. I am returning to pool after a 17 year absence from tourney or league play, a little over 10 without ever touching my cue. Besides the bumps on the return, I am having ups and downs. one night, couldn't make anything in. quite literally. not even straight in shots. a couple nights later, was playing with some friends because league was postponed because of illness, stepped up to the table and won a close game. then had 4 consecutive EROs followed by 7 more wins. Got a text from a person I was trying to ignore and went right back to not making anything. Some days I blame a clouded mind, other days i use my health as an excuse, other times the issues with my eyes. in the end, I think it all about mood and confidence.
I believe you're right. A month or so ago (at this time I've only been playing 3 or 4 months) I could play 10 racks and usually run out 1 of them which everyone was saying was impressive for how long I've been playing and just giving me compliments and it really increased my confidence. I was playing really good. Now I just don't have confidence in my stroke and my games took a turn for the worse. It's actually depressing.
It doesn' t matter how long you've been playing this game you will go through ups and down's for whatever reason. I will go through periods where I can't lose to the ghost in practice then suddenly I can't beat it to save my life. The key for me is not to dwell on it. If my fundamentals are correct and my pre shot routine is good I remind myself that even the best players in the world go through ruts so who the hell am I not to? lol ... Keep playing and things will fall back into place. they always do. :wink:
What does really really good measure to? wining games is usually not it, because at times the balls are at extremely easy position, and position to them natural you cannot miss. The real measure have to be with % completion of the following
-Start with Cue ball by itself, from head string shooting down to bottom rail at a pin -----point mark you place
-Long straight shots
-Long large angle cut shots (greater than 60 degrees)
-4-5 diamonds apart combination shots
All above shoot with slow, medium, and fast speed three to 4 times in a row each, if you miss repeat, and when done with 1st day, must repeat high performance on 5 consecutive days at practice as well at matches, NO English shots for now.
If for what ever reason you find that you are missing balls that you should not normally miss during matches, back to the drawing board). Based on % you get that defines how strong your stroke and knowledge with no english. Combinations reserved for those that reaches 90% of all other shots.
After that start introducing english, again has to be repeatable performance over five days consecutively.
Pool have huge secret, you have to find it, it is there.
I never played bad for a long stretch like a week or whatever.
There's a few simple tricks to this.
The first trick is to try hard every time you play. I don't care if it's scotch doubles with your girlfriend
and 2 buddies and you're all half-drunk. Play like you want to show them how f*cking good you really are.
Play to impress them. You might think losing those games doesn't matter but losing is losing...
it should annoy you at least a little. So play like you really want to win. All the time.
The second trick: don't get trapped in superstitious thinking.
It's not the stick, it's not the shoes, it's not the different brand of chalk, it's not your lucky socks or favorite song.
It's 100% you and how much care and effort you put into it.
If you get caught up thinking you're "in a slump" you might as well be a villager in a 3rd world country
who thinks the crops are failing because nobody could catch a goat to sacrifice to the sky god.
It's nonsense. You're in control of what happens on the pool table. You don't just throw up your hands like
"well I'm just having a bad week, the pool gods hate me I guess, looks like this bad streak
is going to continue for a while".
Thinking that way is going to weaken your mental game and make it easier to lose,
Because it gives you an excuse.
The third trick: Understand that everything in pool... the shot, the leave, the overall win/loss rate...
it's all percentages. There's a certain statistical chance to make the shot and get the leave,
and there's a certain chance you will blow it.
When you blow it, you have to be honest with yourself. Did you blow it because you didn't care?
Or is it just normal to occasionally miss a long thin cut or whatever?
If you take your time, and aim carefully, and then miss a shot you make 70% of the time...
well, I guess that particular effort is what happens the other 30% of the time.
You have to accept that's normal and not beat yourself up. 3 times out of 10, like clockwork,
you're gonna miss that ball. That isn't playing bad, that's just playing normal.
And if you're trying hard but STILL missing more than 3 times out of 10?
Well then you may have fallen into a common trap pool players have... call it overrate-itis.
We tend to overrate our own games and think we shoot better than we actually do.
That 70% shot might really be a 50% shot and if you don't get that then you will feel
disappointed all the time when you miss it.
My advice: try hard and bear down. If you miss, be honest about the reason why.
It boils down to 3 things.
• I'm not sure exactly where to aim to make that ball [with the chosen english or just in general].
• I know where to aim, but my stroke isn't straight enough to deliver the cue ball there.
• "Other".
Other can be, you allowed some bad habit to creep in, the waitress has a nice ass, your dog just died, etc.
Misses caused by "Other" can be fixed by just learning to ignore those things when you're at the table.
Misses caused by the first two issues... those take practice, instruction, and dedication. No quick fixes.
"Slump" is not on the list.
There's a few simple tricks to this.
The first trick is to try hard every time you play. I don't care if it's scotch doubles with your girlfriend
and 2 buddies and you're all half-drunk. Play like you want to show them how f*cking good you really are.
Play to impress them. You might think losing those games doesn't matter but losing is losing...
it should annoy you at least a little. So play like you really want to win. All the time.
The second trick: don't get trapped in superstitious thinking.
It's not the stick, it's not the shoes, it's not the different brand of chalk, it's not your lucky socks or favorite song.
It's 100% you and how much care and effort you put into it.
If you get caught up thinking you're "in a slump" you might as well be a villager in a 3rd world country
who thinks the crops are failing because nobody could catch a goat to sacrifice to the sky god.
It's nonsense. You're in control of what happens on the pool table. You don't just throw up your hands like
"well I'm just having a bad week, the pool gods hate me I guess, looks like this bad streak
is going to continue for a while".
Thinking that way is going to weaken your mental game and make it easier to lose,
Because it gives you an excuse.
The third trick: Understand that everything in pool... the shot, the leave, the overall win/loss rate...
it's all percentages. There's a certain statistical chance to make the shot and get the leave,
and there's a certain chance you will blow it.
When you blow it, you have to be honest with yourself. Did you blow it because you didn't care?
Or is it just normal to occasionally miss a long thin cut or whatever?
If you take your time, and aim carefully, and then miss a shot you make 70% of the time...
well, I guess that particular effort is what happens the other 30% of the time.
You have to accept that's normal and not beat yourself up. 3 times out of 10, like clockwork,
you're gonna miss that ball. That isn't playing bad, that's just playing normal.
And if you're trying hard but STILL missing more than 3 times out of 10?
Well then you may have fallen into a common trap pool players have... call it overrate-itis.
We tend to overrate our own games and think we shoot better than we actually do.
That 70% shot might really be a 50% shot and if you don't get that then you will feel
disappointed all the time when you miss it.
My advice: try hard and bear down. If you miss, be honest about the reason why.
It boils down to 3 things.
• I'm not sure exactly where to aim to make that ball [with the chosen english or just in general].
• I know where to aim, but my stroke isn't straight enough to deliver the cue ball there.
• "Other".
Other can be, you allowed some bad habit to creep in, the waitress has a nice ass, your dog just died, etc.
Misses caused by "Other" can be fixed by just learning to ignore those things when you're at the table.
Misses caused by the first two issues... those take practice, instruction, and dedication. No quick fixes.
"Slump" is not on the list.
Sound fundamentals will smooth out the bumps in your form, seek out a good coach and burn in the good habits, they will last you a lifetime.
Good write up, I will ask permission to use it for my next book
Cheers, you have it as long as there's credit ^^