How good to win amateur opens?

iusedtoberich

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You have to be a solid A player or above to win an open monthly tournament with a $40 entry fee. Becaue several of the players will be A players, if the town has any decent population size.

That means absolutely CRUSHING the 9 ball ghost on a barbox in your home. CRUSHING it.
 
C

Cameron Smith

is kind of hungry...
Silver Member
Having gone through spurts of 100% solo practice and a mix of solo and competition, I think can speak to this question fairly well.

I think if you decide to spend a year or two only playing by yourself and practising in a structured way, you can certainly improve a lot. But even if you have prior competitive experience, going a long stretch without competing will have consequences. Any time I have returned to competition after a long time, even though I've been practising consistently, I am rusty. The only way I will win a tournament on my first try is if the competition is well below my ability such that they can't take advantage of my mistakes. It's the unfamiliarity with the pressure, the weird situations that can arise, different players antics etc. All of the stuff that can be really difficult to simulate on the practice table.

One other thing to consider. If you practice on your own for a long time and make a jump or two in ability, that can also cause some growing pains. Improving can often mean adjusting your shot selection to take advantage of your new ability. Suddenly that low percentage shot is not all that low percentage anymore. But you have to find a balance and I think it's easier to find that balance if you've been competing the whole time because it's a more organic process.

I had got in the habit of pushing the boat out more in practice and taking on a few more risky shots to keep the run going and it often does work. But you don't really learn how low percentage a shot really is until you've tried it in competition. That happened to me last fall where I returned to tournament play and got crushed by a great player because I took too many liberties. They go in during practice! But you only need a few key misses to lose matches against great players.
 
M

marek

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cameron Smith said:
Having gone through spurts of 100% solo practice and a mix of solo and competition, I think can speak to this question fairly well.

I think if you decide to spend a year or two only playing by yourself and practising in a structured way, you can certainly improve a lot. But even if you have prior competitive experience, going a long stretch without competing will have consequences. Any time I have returned to competition after a long time, even though I've been practising consistently, I am rusty. The only way I will win a tournament on my first try is if the competition is well below my ability such that they can't take advantage of my mistakes. It's the unfamiliarity with the pressure, the weird situations that can arise, different players antics etc. All of the stuff that can be really difficult to simulate on the practice table.

One other thing to consider. If you practice on your own for a long time and make a jump or two in ability, that can also cause some growing pains. Improving can often mean adjusting your shot selection to take advantage of your new ability. Suddenly that low percentage shot is not all that low percentage anymore. But you have to find a balance and I think it's easier to find that balance if you've been competing the whole time because it's a more organic process.

I had got in the habit of pushing the boat out more in practice and taking on a few more risky shots to keep the run going and it often does work. But you don't really learn how low percentage a shot really is until you've tried it in competition. That happened to me last fall where I returned to tournament play and got crushed by a great player because I took too many liberties. They go in during practice! But you only need a few key misses to lose matches against great players.
Click to expand...

Perfectly said!;)
 
J

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cameron Smith said:
Having gone through spurts of 100% solo practice and a mix of solo and competition, I think can speak to this question fairly well.

I think if you decide to spend a year or two only playing by yourself and practising in a structured way, you can certainly improve a lot. But even if you have prior competitive experience, going a long stretch without competing will have consequences. Any time I have returned to competition after a long time, even though I've been practising consistently, I am rusty. The only way I will win a tournament on my first try is if the competition is well below my ability such that they can't take advantage of my mistakes. It's the unfamiliarity with the pressure, the weird situations that can arise, different players antics etc. All of the stuff that can be really difficult to simulate on the practice table.

One other thing to consider. If you practice on your own for a long time and make a jump or two in ability, that can also cause some growing pains. Improving can often mean adjusting your shot selection to take advantage of your new ability. Suddenly that low percentage shot is not all that low percentage anymore. But you have to find a balance and I think it's easier to find that balance if you've been competing the whole time because it's a more organic process.

I had got in the habit of pushing the boat out more in practice and taking on a few more risky shots to keep the run going and it often does work. But you don't really learn how low percentage a shot really is until you've tried it in competition. That happened to me last fall where I returned to tournament play and got crushed by a great player because I took too many liberties. They go in during practice! But you only need a few key misses to lose matches against great players.
Click to expand...

I agree. Well, said.

Solo practice, if structure is there, can be a super positive to most anyone's game but then we still have to weather ourselves to pressure.
 
J

jrctherake

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
greyghost said:
That’s not beating the ghost that’s murder 1


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Click to expand...

Lol.........

Yeah but when I don't take ball in hand the charges drop from murder 1 to attempted murder and sometimes all way down to assault.
 
zencues.com

zencues.com

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you can beat the Ghost in a 9 ball race to 7 in the middle of a freeway,
then you got a chance to win having never played in a tournament.
 
Mkindsv

Mkindsv

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How amateur??? I am not the best player even my house has ever seen. That being said I have placed and won my fair share of tournaments. To be honest, I didn't even know "playing the Ghost" was a thing until I visited this forum.

If you can keep your wits about you and make an average of 4-6 balls every time you step to the table, you can win just about any tournament that doesn't involve upper tier players (and maybe some that do).

Walking in cold with no tournaments in a while...it will depend on how quickly you can work out your jitters. A lot of the time not knowing who the opponent is, or their reputation can help. No fear means a clear head.

I remember walking into my first 9 ball tournament here in Texas a few years ago, drew a guy named TJ Davis, honestly I didn't know the guy from Adam, I beat him 3-1, but I guess he is some notable player from the area. My next opponent was Jeremy Jones (super nice guy and all around good sport and fantastic player), and being new to the area I just thought he was some dude named Jay (couldn't really hear his name when they called it), turns out he shot pretty sporty, but I took him to hill hill in a race to 3, where he proceeded to get out rather quickly and my night was over with a 3rd place finish (out of 27). All that and I am only a 6 in TAP league 9 ball.

All that to say, if you don't get in your own head, or let others do so, if you are capable of running a rack...anything can happen in a tournament. My suggestion, show up some place and test out your theory, but get there just before the gun goes off and don't worry about anyone but you.
 
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