Choking - Why we do this

1. Being result oriented instead of process oriented.

Do any of the following apply to you?
A. Play better in practice than in competition.
B. Get distracted & play worse when being watched by others.
C. Nervous or scared in competition.

If you answered yes to any of the aforementioned issues you have a lack of mental toughness which is a lack of focus. This being a direct result of being results oriented versus process oriented.
 
A good steady repeatable PSR is the only cure for this that I know of.
 
A friend went to a golf instructor who uses brain censors to show why people choke on short putts. He could tell when you're using your left side of your brain or right. When people choke they are using the left side. So the resetting of your stance etc. could also reset your brain thought process. You're not thinking of the proper aspect, most likely of what happens if you miss etc.
 
Alright, I usually don't do this, but I'm going to be serious for a moment, and pass a long a tip given to me by my great-grandfather Jeremiah Steamer, who got it from Bartholomew Lassiter. Bartholomew Lassiter was the great-great-grandfather of Luther Lassiter, and was the man responsible for teaching young Luther everything he knew about pool.
Bartholomew said that choking up on a shot, or 'freezing', as he called it, was due to nothing more than tension that had built up in the head, shoulders, and arms.
The cure to the problem, he said, was simple. All you do when you bend over the table to take the shot is, smile. Or, at least, shoot with your mouth open.
He explained that with an open mouth, tension melts away and so does buck fever.
So there you go. A helpful hint from days gone by. :smile:
 
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Tramp Steamer said:
Alright, I usually don't do this, but I'm going to be serious for a moment, and pass a long a tip given to me by my great-grandfather Jeremiah Steamer, who got it from Bartholomew Lassiter. Bartholomew Lassiter was the great-great-grandfather of Luther Lassiter, and was the man responsible for teaching young Luther everything he knew about pool.
Bartholomew said that choking up on a shot, or 'freezing', as he called it, was due to nothing more than tension that had built up in the head, shoulders, and arms.
The cure to the problem, he said, was simple. All you do when you bend over the table to take the shot is, smile. Or, at least, shoot with your mouth open.
He explained that with an open mouth, tension melts away and so does buck fever.
So there you go. A helpful hint from days gone by. :smile:
Click to expand...


I might add that Bartholomew also believed that excess gas in the lower intestines was also responsible for 'choked' shots. He advocated deep-knee bends for immediate relief, and high-colonics if the problem was more severe.
Bartholomew was often seen shooting, farting, and smiling, all at the same time. :grin:
 
There are a lot of suggestions that one can give to another to get them back on track, which most of us already know, but the one single most important fact to get across is...IT'S JUST A GAME.... and nothing else. What ever happens you will always be able to come back tomorrow or next week and play again. With this mindset you will eventually settle in.

Bill Incardona
 
Mr. C said:
Sometimes playing for a team is more difficult that individual play because we never want to feel like we've let the team down. It's a different kind of pressure.
Click to expand...

I agree. I put more pressure on myself when other people are depending on me and I play more conservatively during doubles or team play and more aggressively during singles play. I usually play in a local doubles snooker tournament and I have not been doing well because I am constantly thinking about what my partner will think about me if I screw up. However when I gamble one-on-one after the tournament I play much more loose and with less pressure. I guess the key is playing your game regardless of whether it is teamplay or singles.
 
People respond to stress differently. Your first option is to try to embrace the stress and harness it to will yourself to play better and enhance your focus. Even if that doesn't work, the embarrassment of choking should drive you to practice harder. You'll get even better, and choke even harder for a little while. Then you'll get used to shooting under pressure and your true game will start to show up.

Playing a lot of team sports I was used to harnessing pre-game jitters to will myself to play better than in practice. For pool, I remember my first several matches playing league went like that, boosting my performance, but then I had some bad chokes trying to keep up that level of performance. It turns out, pool is a little different than other sports, you have too much time to psych yourself out. After a match I shouldn't have lost, I'd stay up shooting until 4 am. You need a little self doubt so you strive to get better but not so much you fall into a pattern of not being able to overcome it when you need to.

You'll adjust and get used to the pressure. It may not be this season. Or even the next. But it will come. If it's also physiological symptoms, you can try taking a supplement like Rhodiola Rosea or Phenibut to help manage stress. To increase mental focus, while Cheqio is trendy in the pool scene, I find Brain Toniq works even better (keep it on hand for work as well.) Get in good shape. Try taking some sort of choline and B vitamins. If you really want to pull out the big guns you can take something like Noopept or Phenylpiracetam.
 
You probably got your answer already and there must have been some good replies within these 3 pages, but i didn't read them all so here is what i think and discovered over time.

For those that just don't have the skill then nerves affect fundaments, for those with a bit more skill experience in said situation falls into play but for a select few the problem is settling.
What i mean by that is the individual who may play other shots up to that point better but then fail in the end tends to "settle" for just making the ball. See during the rack one knew that they "had" to do "this" in order to run or stay in the game but when came to the last ball it became "all i have to do is make this so i'll just ________", and there in lies the problem. You let up on the stroke, anticipate the hit and so many other this resulting in The Choke.
There will be times when "just making the ball" will be fine, both during the rack and at the end but during the rack you are still shooting at a goal rather than just "making the ball", maybe you're avoiding being straight or on the rail so you tend to stroke or focus accordingly but not on that game ball, so you play to hit it with draw not taking into account the distance or conditions and end up having the draw run out and turn into roll, you scratch and walk off to go break your cue (at the butt, not just the shaft) and sell you break cue cause F@$& THIS GAME.

Like most advice we've heard it before say that "we know" then for some reason fail to do, so here it is once more.
Stay focused up, play for an imaginary ball if possible, play for a certain part (not spot) of the table i.e. break the table in to 9 squares and play to land in one of them (take that corner shot as an example adn you'll see that almost never to a pro "just make the ball" they play it with outside and go like 2-3 rails just so that the hit the ball firm or "let the stroke out", or you can do what i do sometimes, play it just like one of the countless shots i've hit in practice and treat it just the same, that shot has to look like one of the many i've set up and played to get to X so then that's what i do.

Best of luck in defeating that demon that we've all ran across
 
My explanation of why you scratched

I think it is easy to to forget the path of the cueball, when you are on the game winning 8Ball, 9Ball, or 10Ball, because you don't have a final position you are needing the cueball to come to rest.
The solution is easy, play the shot with the intent to position the cueball in a specific place, just like you would with any other shot. I suggest playing the cueball into one of the middle diamonds on the rail when ever possible, always pay attention to cueball speed.
PROBLEM SOLVED
 
If you play good for the chez , you sound like you might be like myself. If I'm not playing for money I lose interest VERY quickly. So leagues, practice , even tourneys I lose interest which in turn causes lost concentration and ultimately results in just beating balls around and not caring whatsoever and in fact playing turns into a chore and wishing I wasn't doing it. Now if in action, for a decent amount, I can stay focused for up to 12 hours or even more. Not saying this is for sure what's going on but kinda sounds like it if you can play well for money but dog it in other situations.
 
Bank it said:
1. Being result oriented instead of process oriented.

Do any of the following apply to you?
A. Play better in practice than in competition.
B. Get distracted & play worse when being watched by others.
C. Nervous or scared in competition.

If you answered yes to any of the aforementioned issues you have a lack of mental toughness which is a lack of focus. This being a direct result of being results oriented versus process oriented.
Click to expand...


Sounds just like me.
 
Bank it said:
1. Being result oriented instead of process oriented.

Do any of the following apply to you?
A. Play better in practice than in competition.
B. Get distracted & play worse when being watched by others.
C. Nervous or scared in competition.

If you answered yes to any of the aforementioned issues you have a lack of mental toughness which is a lack of focus. This being a direct result of being results oriented versus process oriented.
Click to expand...

Very true.

This is helpful thanks.
 
Most choke because they play for more $ than they can afford. Some people will choke for just about any amount of $.

I had a 20 yo that played in my poolroom that ran a 100 + almost every day for NO money. I took him a few towns over to another poolroom and put about $200 (1960's) on him and he couldn't run 5 balls. Johnnyt
 
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