Under Pressure?

You have already moved forward by recognizing the situation. I resolved this by developing a routine where I would never feel pressure again. In fact I have learned to love these situations so that I can perform for the audience. Now, if I miss, I just missed it had nothing to do with pressure.

thewhiffer said:

You have already moved forward by recognizing the situation. I resolved this by developing a routine where I would never feel pressure again. In fact I have learned to love these situations so that I can perform for the audience. Now, if I miss, I just missed it had nothing to do with pressure.

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What would that routine be that makes you feel no pressure? You could bottle it and make millions!

randytabares said:

What do most players do when they are under pressure? Every time I enter a tournament or get into some cheap action I play decent until I get further into the race or the tournament. It seems like I put to much pressure on myself to win. It feels like I try to steer the balls in instead of playing like I know I can. Any suggestions?

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Check recent post (Playing under pressure... - 07-03-2013, 01:35 AM)

My 30 years or so playing pool taught me that pressure is inversely proportional to pool knowledge, experience, and practice, the more you know the less chance for pressure to take over; say you are playing less caliber player that makes mistakes, you still make mistakes but his is more than yours and you win; so playing a very advance player leave no room to wiggle so one or two mistakes, all of sudden your hole is getting deeper and deeper; unless luck saves you. Having said that, pool is extremely difficult game to master, due to the order of variables involved; how many times you practice on your own and make every possible shot, and when playing someone for little money, all of sudden cannot make a ball; it is the fact that you were not paying attention to the details of every shot and mostly why you miss some balls; Never play for fun, your body/mode/brain takes time to adjust switching between fun game and money game often results in loosing 1st 2 or 3 games before you realize it.

A couple things I think are important - a rhythm, pre shot routine and being relaxed. Perform a mental checklist of these and remind yourself about them throughout the match to be sure you are consistent with them throughout. When I am under pressure, I tend to blow one of these three. For me, I think it is the "stay relaxed" part. I might say same for you if you say you tend to steer in these situations. In your pre shot routine, as you are standing back from the shot, perform your practice strokes - nice and smooth and fluid. Visualize a smooth perfect stroke through the cueball. Remember to breath. A nice easy exhale, then step into your shot. Same rhythm and cadence as the rest of the match. If, when you are down on your shot, you start thinking too much, feel yourself tighten up, etc., get up, back away from the shot and start your pre shot routine again.

- Steve

randytabares said:

What do most players do when they are under pressure?

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Well, most of us choke. I'm sure that you'll get some good advice in this thread, but those who handle pressure well have typically put ourselves under the gun many times over before they ultimately learned to cope effectively.

Shermanscs said:

A couple things I think are important - a rhythm, pre shot routine and being relaxed. Perform a mental checklist of these and remind yourself about them throughout the match to be sure you are consistent with them throughout. When I am under pressure, I tend to blow one of these three. For me, I think it is the "stay relaxed" part. I might say same for you if you say you tend to steer in these situations. In your pre shot routine, as you are standing back from the shot, perform your practice strokes - nice and smooth and fluid. Visualize a smooth perfect stroke through the cueball. Remember to breath. A nice easy exhale, then step into your shot. Same rhythm and cadence as the rest of the match. If, when you are down on your shot, you start thinking too much, feel yourself tighten up, etc., get up, back away from the shot and start your pre shot routine again.

- Steve

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I agree, but it takes a lot of experience and practice to know exactly the shot routine, and what checklist causes what issue exactly; many times we think it is stroke, we get good stroke, but still miss, or we say butt grip, or aim, or this and that so many variables, it takes years for the occasional player and many many hours of practice for advance players to pin point accuracy and constancy and know why you miss, and still forget some, due to brain status.
CJ is trying to push TOI as it is simple and cuts down on those variables, if you use it right, maybe.

You must have a pre-shot routine, and you have to follow that routine on every shot no matter what. You can not expect the same results if you are not doing the same thing every time. Watch pro golfers, they do the same thing before every shot every time. They even have it timed down to seconds. It seems silly and redundant to do that on tap in shots, but it's a huge part of playing consistently. Treat every shot the same, and every shot will become the same, no matter what the pressure or the stakes. When the heat is on, you will be confident because you know that your pre-shot routine gets the automatic responses from your mind and body in sync and on the right path.

Just keep doing it. Don't bet more than you can afford to give away. Winning and confidence is the only thing that will take away the fear.