Your luck rating?

Luck is the better part of my game, I depend on it.

Lunchmoney

Problem here is that everyone tends to remember when they were unlucky. When we are lucky we tend to remember it as if we had deserved that game. I did have a bad luck streak a while back and I got to complaining about it. My buddy Ken started pointing out all the times that I'd luck out and win a game. I finally got tired of it and said, 'OK, I get the point, now shut the xxxx up." We laughed.

A friend of mine gave me the mindsight that there is no such thing as luck in 9ball. Whenever someone hits the object ball a certain way, whether intentional or not, the actions that follow are inherent. You scratched in the side pocket, so that makes you unlucky? WRONG! The cueball hit the rail at the one spot that made it scratch, and that action all started with the way you stroked the shot, and the way you hit the cueball.

The only luck in 9ball is the break. That is the one part of the game you can't control entirely. Everything else, is in your hands.

Billy_Bob said:

We have "A" players, "B" players, "C", etc.

I was thinking there should also be a luck rating for each player.

Best luck to worst luck.

Let's see....

- How the balls roll after each break.
- How often your opponent scratches (good luck for you).
- How often you win the flip of a coin.
- How often your opponent gives you ball-in-hand on the 8/9.
- How many matches you win in a tournament due to opponent's errors.
- Opponent miscues leaving you with excellent position.
- Etc.

So I guess it would be an "A" luck player, "B" luck player, "C" luck player, etc.

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I think the underlying problem with this is that what constitutes "luck" will vary according to skill level. See, for me, getting a ball on the break and position on the 1 is critical so I spend a great deal of time working on accomplishing this deliberately. Getting ball-in-hand at virtually ANY TIME during the rack usually equates to a win and all but a few of the matches I've ever won in my entire life were, in some part, due to my opponents' errors. In my opinion, no luck is good luck.

When the luck scale is swinging south, I think of the local pros I get to watch and realize that if they can consistently avoid the pitfalls that I encounter, then perhaps there is more to this game that I have yet to learn. "Luck", in my opinion, is the unexplained event. It is the occurance that was not factored into the equation. The more you are capable of factoring in, the less bad luck you'll encounter.

With that said, one has to understand that not everything can be factored in. When I said, no luck is good luck, I meant it. To break, make a ball, have a shot on the 1 with a manageable table is lucky, even if it were intended. When you consider all of the things that could potentially happen, it is sweet when these things work right. The better you get, what is defined as "manageable" increases and the frequency of obtaining a manageable table increases but because of the randomness of pool, one never attains 100%. Even when a player is perfect, a player is lucky he wasn't unlucky.

CaptainJR said:

Problem here is that everyone tends to remember when they were unlucky. When we are lucky we tend to remember it as if we had deserved that game.

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It's kind of funny...I critique my own play almost completely opposite of this.

I'm not spectacular by any means, but a decent enough bar & league player (APA 7, TAP 6). Being married w/ two kids I get 2 nights a week and that's pretty much the extent of my pool time.

I'm good enough though that if I get to the table with a decent starting shot I feel like I should win the game (either by running or by playing a smart safe if needed). If I blow a shot (or a leave), or screw up a safe, and let my opponant back onto the table with a managable shot--I feel like I deserve to lose. If I wind up getting the game anyway, I feel like I lucked into it.

That's probably a little tougher than I should be on myself, but I think it keeps me striving to get better, play smarter, etc.

I've had nights where I went home disgusted with how I played despite the fact that I won my match 5-2 or similar. I had another match a week ago that I lost 5-4 while missing only 2 shots total. I was a little ticked at the loss, but I was happy with my play.

I think that the rating scale should be 1 to 10 with 10 being the luckiest player imaginable (like Rusty in Vegas Vacation). With this being said, some examples may help. Dr. Cues Protege will be a -1 (negative 1) and I will be a 10 or 11.

amen to that Willie. i am certainly in the negative range, at least a -1.

hey Willie?
when we get to Peoria lets borrow Allison's cues and go hit some on the TV table. you can help me with a few of the things i am having problems with.

DCP

DrCue'sProtege said:

amen to that Willie. i am certainly in the negative range, at least a -1.

DCP

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DCP,
I feel strongly that your rating would be a little higher if you did not have to always contend with the humid/wet conditions with which you always must play (you know, that little black cloud that always hovers over your head and drizzles on you). Perhaps playing in one of those little hats with the umbrella attached would help your general luck level.

Well I must be very lucky, because everytime I beat someone they tell me how lucky I was.

But its like the old saying, the harder I work the luckier I get

Although I do have one regular playing partner that would have to rate at least a 12, she will know who she is when she reads this

woody_968 said:

Well I must be very lucky, because everytime I beat someone they tell me how lucky I was.

But its like the old saying, the harder I work the luckier I get

Although I do have one regular playing partner that would have to rate at least a 12, she will know who she is when she reads this

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Woody,
Be careful now. One of the pro's that I compete with occasionally gets lucky - when I tell them how lucky they got, their reply is, "Yes, lucky to have you as an opponent."

Williebetmore said:

Woody,
Be careful now. One of the pro's that I compete with occasionally gets lucky - when I tell them how lucky they got, their reply is, "Yes, lucky to have you as an opponent."

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Thanks for the line Willie,,, I will be using that one in the future

woody_968 said:

Well I must be very lucky, because everytime I beat someone they tell me how lucky I was.

But its like the old saying, the harder I work the luckier I get

Although I do have one regular playing partner that would have to rate at least a 12, she will know who she is when she reads this

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Shame on you Woody

my bad luck is when the tables roll and i scratch. that shit gets me mad. or when it rolls and i get behind a ball. and the worst is when this shit happens by like a centimeter.

Who needs luck when you have Voodoo?

Billy_Bob said:

We have "A" players, "B" players, "C", etc.

I was thinking there should also be a luck rating for each player.

Best luck to worst luck.

Let's see....

- How the balls roll after each break.
- How often your opponent scratches (good luck for you).
- How often you win the flip of a coin.
- How often your opponent gives you ball-in-hand on the 8/9.
- How many matches you win in a tournament due to opponent's errors.
- Opponent miscues leaving you with excellent position.
- Etc.

So I guess it would be an "A" luck player, "B" luck player, "C" luck player, etc.

Click to expand...

so what's an "A"? real lucky???

i am a cold calculating player, sporting a game blessed with the precision of fine german optics. i slice and dice in increments finer than a ginsu blade.

nary a ball goes where i don't want it, and "luck" has no place in my pool vocabulary.

so what does that make me?

bruin70 said:

so what's an "A"? real lucky???

i am a cold calculating player, sporting a game blessed with the precision of fine german optics. i slice and dice in increments finer than a ginsu blade.

nary a ball goes where i don't want it, and "luck" has no place in my pool vocabulary.

so what does that make me?

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That would either make you one hell of a player that should be on tour, or one of the typical self over rating players of which I know many

woody_968 said:

That would either make you one hell of a player that should be on tour, or one of the typical self over rating players of which I know many

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you left out a third.......a virtual pool god who looks askance at the pool today and wouldn't sully his game in tournament play!!! you know,,,,,,kinda like o'sullivan

Lucky Efren

Efren must be the luckiest pool player in the world because everytime he wins, he says he was just lucky.

I'm a very lucky pool player ..... very lucky to have met so many wonderful people in my thirty six years leaning over the glorious green felt.