twice this damn week i choked on hill hill easy 9 ball....i F***ing hate playing for money because of this, please give me a good way not to get nervous
2 times this damn week
- Thread starter Varsity2016
- Start date
T
Timberly
Guest
How long have you been playing? This usually comes with time. The longer you play for money or tourney and the more you play, it should get easier.Varsity2016 said:
simple
Don't play for money, Go to more tourneys and get more experience. Or just keep betting but make sure it's money you can risk.
Don't play for money, Go to more tourneys and get more experience. Or just keep betting but make sure it's money you can risk.
Varsity2016 said:
Guess what? It's going to happen so many more times you aint going to be able to keep count.
The ones you win are sweet and the ones you lose make you want to quit playing.
Being nervous is natural in any sport, it gets your blood pumping, the adrenaline flowing..........just enjoy it and play......whatever happens, happens.
Varsity2016 said:
V-man,
You can't go wrong listening to steviel.
I would add, however, that pool is like most other sports. Focus on the physical process of the stroke, NOT the outcome; and you will maximize your ability to perform. The more you can concentrate on fundamentals, and exclude ALL thoughts of outcome (good or bad) the more reliable your stroke will be under pressure.
I had the good fortune to spend some time with Jack Nicklaus, who said that he felt the biggest reason for his success in major events was that he tried to be extremely "process-oriented" so that each swing was made with exactly the same thoughts and physical process. He said his first swing at the Masters on Thursday morning was EXACTLY the same as his last swing on Sunday afternoon, no matter the pressure or score. ALL YOU CAN CONTROL is your stroke - make it precise, make it repeatable, then rely on it and accept the outcome.
Louis Ulrich
New member
Something for you to think about. Shooting the 9 ball is going to be different than any other shot in your run out, and in most cases is going to be mentally more difficult. I believe the reason for this is that you do NOT have to play position on the next ball when you are shooting the 9. Most of the time when we make a great run and dog the 9, the 9 was one of the easiest shots in the rack.Varsity2016 said:
Try this. Give yourself an imaginary ball to play position on while you are shooting the 9. Make the position natural and simple. You don't want to make your 9 ball more difficult! By having something to do with the cueball during your shot it will give you something to think about other than dogging the 9.
I don't know if this will work for everybody, but its what I do when I get into choke mode.
Best of luck!
A way not to get nervous, hmmm. Build a robot clone of yourself and operate it with a sony playstation remote from behind the bleachers.Varsity2016 said:
There is no way to completely turn off nervous emotions, it's one of the most basic human instincts. You can only learn how to deal with it, and that comes from time, experience and patience. And before someone says Efren doesn't get nervous, yeah, he does.
That's some of the best darn advice I've seen on these boards, and probably the hardest to accept.stevelomako said:
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Louis Ulrich said:
It looks to me like a lot of the pros do this when they play 9-ball. Because none of the other shots in the rack involve just focusing on where the object ball goes, it looks to me like they aim the cueball toward the center of a rail when shooting the nine, to give themselves a positional target and make the money ball "just another shot". It also obviously helps avoid the careless scratch that can sneak up on you if you're only focusing on making the ball.
-Andrew
My 2 Cents....get up off the shot, walk around the table, grab a piece of chalk. Even if the shot look's easy, look at it from the pocket, then go back and step into the shot and align your body with it. Then take a few practice strokes and shoot when you "Feel it". Don't let your rythym rush the shot, take your time with it. Stroke with confidence and stay down and follow thru. also use center ball if you can.
Good advice, I don't know how many time I see people using english on the game ball, like they need to get position. Also, I failed to notice the key word in the original post, "EASY". Whenever I miss an easy shot, it's usually because I didn't give the shot the respect it deserved and rushed my stroke. Fact is, all shots are missable, the only thing that varies is our confidence to make them.CaptainHook said:My 2 Cents....get up off the shot, walk around the table, grab a piece of chalk. Even if the shot look's easy, look at it from the pocket, then go back and step into the shot and align your body with it. Then take a few practice strokes and shoot when you "Feel it". Don't let your rythym rush the shot, take your time with it. Stroke with confidence and stay down and follow thru. also use center ball if you can.
Varsity2016 said:
You asked the wrong question, you can not help but get nervous you need to recognize when it is at the point it is effecting your play. Some times it needs nothing more then to take a quick break and get a sip of water and calm down a little. there is probably not a pro in any sport who doesn't have little things they do when they are getting really nervous. What eventually will happen is as you have more and more positive outcomes the nervousness will be less but it will always be there and it should it keeps you sharp.
I need to add, don't be afraid to acknowledge your nervousness. One of the reasons you probably missed the shots is because you were not really ready to shoot but didn't want to look afraid in front of the crowd and shot in spite of your better judgment. You were being affected to a point by the people around you and what you thought they might think.
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Mastering the jitters ...
Is part of the mental game. It is not always
something 'everyone' can get past because it
depends on how well you can control your
inner state. Exposure to those situations help
some, but practicing techniques that assist you
in attaining a calm collected inside will help you
more. I found that techniques from martial arts
and transcendental meditation helped me to get
past the nervousness. Nervousness occurs because you are afraid of what will happen if you
make a mistake. It is important although to
learn from your mistakes, and to find a way
for them not to occur again.
Is part of the mental game. It is not always
something 'everyone' can get past because it
depends on how well you can control your
inner state. Exposure to those situations help
some, but practicing techniques that assist you
in attaining a calm collected inside will help you
more. I found that techniques from martial arts
and transcendental meditation helped me to get
past the nervousness. Nervousness occurs because you are afraid of what will happen if you
make a mistake. It is important although to
learn from your mistakes, and to find a way
for them not to occur again.
Varsity2016 said:
I used to dog money balls....The playing position advice that was already posted worked very well, and you will hear that from many top players...
Another thing that helped my "mental" aspect of this is...Instead of dwelling on how nervous you are shooting the money ball...I instead started thinking about how nervous my opponenet is that I am shooting the money ball.....and them not being able to do a thing about it...
Two years ago at the swanee....
If this makes you feel any better......
Two years ago at the swanee. I had an easy matchup against a B player who really probably shouldn't have even been at the tournament, but get this.... ALL NINE games that he won were games that I ran to the Nineball and missed!!!!!!
I ended up breaking and runnning 3 games running from the two or lower 3 times and breaking and running to the nine 3 additional times and running from the two or lower to the nine 6 additional times. I think the other guy made a total of 12 balls including the nines......
I was livid and my wife said she would never watch me play a tournament again because she thought she was throwing me off. I didn't miss a single ball except for nines. it was really sad.
Don't worry those of you playing in this years swanee, it ain't happening again.LOL......
If this makes you feel any better......
Two years ago at the swanee. I had an easy matchup against a B player who really probably shouldn't have even been at the tournament, but get this.... ALL NINE games that he won were games that I ran to the Nineball and missed!!!!!!
I ended up breaking and runnning 3 games running from the two or lower 3 times and breaking and running to the nine 3 additional times and running from the two or lower to the nine 6 additional times. I think the other guy made a total of 12 balls including the nines......
I was livid and my wife said she would never watch me play a tournament again because she thought she was throwing me off. I didn't miss a single ball except for nines. it was really sad.
Don't worry those of you playing in this years swanee, it ain't happening again.LOL......
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Don't let him get to the hill.
Varsity2016 said:
try to imagine that the nine ball is the one ball. i know that may sound stupid but think of how easily you make the one all the time; even if it is a difficult shot. i believe that the one ball is usually the easiest shot for a player because there is less pressure on it than any other ball. we "wing" it in the pocket without even thinking about it most of the time and choke on the 7,8,9 when they are sitting right in the hole.
T
Timberly
Guest
Louis Ulrich said:Something for you to think about. Shooting the 9 ball is going to be different than any other shot in your run out, and in most cases is going to be mentally more difficult. I believe the reason for this is that you do NOT have to play position on the next ball when you are shooting the 9. Most of the time when we make a great run and dog the 9, the 9 was one of the easiest shots in the rack.
Try this. Give yourself an imaginary ball to play position on while you are shooting the 9. Make the position natural and simple. You don't want to make your 9 ball more difficult! By having something to do with the cueball during your shot it will give you something to think about other than dogging the 9.
I don't know if this will work for everybody, but its what I do when I get into choke mode.
Best of luck!
Good idea Louis, which reminds me of something I had forgotten about until I read your post... quite a few people practice 10 ball for the same reason. In your mind, the 9 ball becomes just another ball and not the money ball.