Advice on not playing to the leve of my opponent?

S

skeptic

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Anyone else do this, play to the level of your opponent? First, I'm having a great season. Last season was my worst ever, finishing 1 game under 50%. Using some tips and things I've picked up from here so far I'm having my best season since moving out of Oregon and quitting pool from 2000-2006. I'm 25-7 so far this season. Remove 3 table runs against me and another loss where I slopped in the 8 on a bad carom while breaking it out and I have won almost every game where I get a chance to start shooting.

What is beginning to worry me a bit is my play against people I don't view as a threat. Last night I played terrible. The other team has one good player, and I played just well enough to beat him. The other three I should have completely stomped, but it took several dumbass misses for me to finally win (4-0 on the night). It's been like this all season, I'm playing great (for me) against the tough opponents, meh against the average shooters, and like dog poo against the crappy players. Several of my wins I chalk up to dumb luck. I may have played just good enough to win, but shooting at a level where I should lose, and would have lost to most other players.

I know I need to play the table, not the player, and I honestly don't have a clue what any of you could possibly tell me to snap me out of this, but if you guys have any advice at all I'm all ears. I play to have fun, not take it too serious, but ultimately my competition is with myself. I don't care about wins/losses nearly as much as how well I play. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with myself last night.
 
Eagerly awaiting some advice on this, I find that I do this alot myeself. :frown:
 
Skeptic,

I think a lot of players have this issue, and not just in pool. It extends to just about any individual sport (golf, tennis, ping-pong, etc.). I think there are several reasons for this.

1. Problem - Sometimes we subconsciously pick up bad timing and habits from a weaker player. I have caught myself playing too fast and poking the ball too hard when playing against someone that just whacks the hell out of it on every shot.

Solution - Stay with your pre-shot routine and play your own game at all times. Keep your mental focus on the proper tempo and cue ball speed. Block out what your opponent is doing if necessary.


2. Problem - It can be difficult to maintain the level of concentration necessary to play our best over a long period of time, even just 2 or 3 hours. We naturally are better at this when we have respect for our opponent.

Solution - Again, play your own game at all times. Effectively, you want to compete with YOUR best level of play, not your opponent's. Challenge yourself to keep your concentration level up and execute each shot to the best of your ability. The only thing your opponent's skill level should affect is your strategy decisions, not how well you execute those strategies.


3. Problem - I think sometimes we have a tendency to play down to our opponent's level for some subconscious reason that I have had trouble putting my finger on, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to fix it. Maybe we don't want to embarrass them or make them feel bad or maybe it's because they don't expect us to play that well. This is the most mental and hard to explain of all the reasons.

Solution - I will say again, play your own best game at all times, but this time there is more to it. This is where you need to have a killer instinct and be a little cold blooded. Many weaker players are more likely to whine too, which makes it harder to stay focused. Comments like, " I can't BELIEVE I missed that." or "man, I'm sucking shit tonight". Tune all that crap out and play each shot to the best of your ability. Be merciless. Slaughter them as bad as you can, but maintain a calm, confident, and cheerful attitude.

Smile afterward and congratulate them on a good match.
 
If your goal is to run racks, as opposed to just win, you might find a little more success. My question is when you think back on the night do you focus more on the game you lost (or won), or the runout path you lost from having poor speed control, using the wrong english, misjudging a carom...

Where's the focus and what do you consider a success? I'll never like losing but when the barometer of success is on my accomplishments instead of the end result I find the great battles are a lot more fun win or lose. I also find when I approach my game that way there are less losses because I'm trying to accomplish something more measurable and less subjective.
 
I measure myself by how well I feel I played, not by wins/losses. Thinking back, as a team we were pretty chatty and social, not serious and concentrating like we would against a better team. I think I was also thinking more about run-outs than the actual shot I was shooting, again because against these people it was less important in my mind. Finally, at no point did I ever think "if I miss this and leave it open I'll lose" even though I almost lost 2 games because of it. After narrowly escaping a loss those 2 games I got up and finished it then and there. It's like I need the pressure of do or die before I can shoot well?? You know, when I play at home against the wife and friends, I'm the same way. I'm MUCH worse in the comfort of my own home playing on my own table with nothing to win/lose than on a crappy bar table against a good player during a match. Do you think my home play could be helping to cause this and not just a side effect?
 
Neil and purpdrag,

Very good replies to skeptic's question, I will give your suggestions a try Wed night.
 
Wow. Nice way to find a way to start a thread to plug how well you are dominating the pool league.
 
I had the opportunity to play with a guy that is much much better than i am and I had told him "heck, you're prolly getting bored playing me"

He told me that he wasn't playing me, he was playing the table and trying to solve the puzzle..

If you think about it this plays into this post well because it's not about who your playing.. Every rack is a new puzzle that you must solve in order to gain victory.

Like he said, "if you worry about WHO you're playing you either get complacent or think you'll never win because that person is too good.

I took alot from being able to shoot with him but that tip really made sense to me..

Solve the puzzle and just play the table... Let the other guy just come along for the ride:)
 
I had a huge problem with this for a long time. I think my problem was trying to do too much and taking on shots that I normally wouldnt try against a better player. Play strong safeties and keep leaving tough shots against a weaker opponent and you will get a ton of chances and they will have very little chance of beating you.
 
I never agreed with the saying "play the table, not the player".

If I am playing SVB, and have a shot where I am 50% to make it or play a weak safety, I take the shot. 50% looks alot better than what he might leave me next.

If I am playing a guy that I know can't kick a ball to save his life, I play the safe. I think there is always a benefit in playing the player.
 
Neil said:
This thread goes hand-in-hand with another one on here right now. You feel like you have the win just getting to the table. And, the win is your only motivation. Since you know you are the better player, inside, you feel like all you have to do is show up for the match to win.

As you know, it usually doesn't work that way. You need to find another motivation, one that will make you come straight out of the gate instead of waiting for the other guy to put the pressure on you.

One thing you can do- just make a little bet on the match. Now, since most leagues don't allow gambling, make it with yourself. If you lose, you have to buy a round of drinks or something. No one else has to know about it, just you. But, that added cost will make a difference in how you approach each game.
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You gotta give me something else. I enjoy buying rounds for my friends.
 
skeptic said:
Anyone else do this, play to the level of your opponent? First, I'm having a great season. Last season was my worst ever, finishing 1 game under 50%. Using some tips and things I've picked up from here so far I'm having my best season since moving out of Oregon and quitting pool from 2000-2006. I'm 25-7 so far this season. Remove 3 table runs against me and another loss where I slopped in the 8 on a bad carom while breaking it out and I have won almost every game where I get a chance to start shooting.

What is beginning to worry me a bit is my play against people I don't view as a threat. Last night I played terrible. The other team has one good player, and I played just well enough to beat him. The other three I should have completely stomped, but it took several dumbass misses for me to finally win (4-0 on the night). It's been like this all season, I'm playing great (for me) against the tough opponents, meh against the average shooters, and like dog poo against the crappy players. Several of my wins I chalk up to dumb luck. I may have played just good enough to win, but shooting at a level where I should lose, and would have lost to most other players.

I know I need to play the table, not the player, and I honestly don't have a clue what any of you could possibly tell me to snap me out of this, but if you guys have any advice at all I'm all ears. I play to have fun, not take it too serious, but ultimately my competition is with myself. I don't care about wins/losses nearly as much as how well I play. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with myself last night.
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I'm going to say it, but with a different spin that usual:

Play the table, not your opponent.

When I say this I mean putting yourself and your wetware (brain) in a whole different mode than you might be used to employing. When you step to the table you should look upon it as nothing more than a problem to be solved. A problem upon which you are bringing all your competitive experience and practice time to bear. *The table* is presenting you with an opportunity to perhaps accomplish a simple or complex run out. Or, it may be demanding that you execute a simple or difficult safety. Or maybe something in between where you need to run a few and get to a position to break a couple of balls loose and create a trap. It doesn't matter whether Joe Blow, the APA -1, sucked out and the balls rolled into a lousy pattern, or SVB came off two rails with inside english and buried you: what's left are the balls on the table. It might be simple or it might be diabolical, but that's what it boils down to.

Sometimes the problem will be too complex for you to solve with the tools you have at your disposal. I think it's important to be able to clearly see when that's the case, because frankly, a lot of the problems you're going to be faced with require many tools to resolve. If you're a beginner and all you have in your tool box is a hammer, you're only going to be able to solve a limited number of problems :-) It's when you have the custom built multi-drawer cherry-red rolling tool chest that you'll be able to solve most of them.

Anywhos, if you can put yourself in this mode you'll find a lot of benefits. Along with zeroing out the effects of your opponent's play, you'll also find that distractions melt away. It's not easy to do, but who said anything about easy :-)

Lou Figueroa
 
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Luxury said:
Wow. Nice way to find a way to start a thread to plug how well you are dominating the pool league.
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Shortside K said:
beautiful! exactly my thoughts
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I am having my best season ON PAPER in more than 10 years. However, as I clearly pointed out, I'm struggling against a lot of players, not playing well, and many of my wins were pure luck. I also pointed out that last season I was under 50%. I am easily in the top half of this league but there are plenty of players that are much better than I am. Basically, there is a wide range of skill levels and only a handful of really good players (all of whom I consider better than myself).

I have no illusions of grandeur, I am improving but I am not one of the top players at this little bar, let alone a tournament level player. My hope is to improve my play and fix some major issues like the one this thread is about so I can become one of the top players in my league.

If you really feel the need to be dicks, there are plenty of other threads to choose from. May I suggest you get in on one of the CTE threads?

PocketPoint said:
The good thing about it is if you play down to the level of your opponent you'll probably still win, so no problem.
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Pure luck. Two of the games this week should have been losses, they missed things they normally wouldn't including a nearly straight 8-ball shot from less than half a table away. Plenty of other games this season that could easily have gone either way and would have been losses against some of the better players. I can't keep relying on my opponent screwing up and giving me the game.

Big thanks to all the helpful posts. I'll probably come back and re-read this thread a few times, hopefully it will help me get in the right mindset.
 
DoubleD said:
One thing that really helped my game was deciding that winning wasn't the main motivation. My main motivation is playing the game well. Winning shouldn't come from a handicap or my opponents poor playing, it should come from me playing well--and nothing else.

Playing down to your opponent is allowing yourself to not play well and at that point, you are playing to hopefully not lose.

dld
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Exactly where I'm at, and what I'm trying to break out of. Playing to hopefully not lose is the perfect way to describe what I have been doing. Giving my opponents multiple chances to win and counting on them screwing up is another way to describe what has been happening.

I may try adding pressure to practice. Maybe something like playing the ghost, but marking spots on the table so if I screw up I have to start over with the same layout. I can see this as being frustrating and irritating enough to add pressure and make it really matter if I screwup. I rarely get a table run, maybe 1 in 20, so this may be a good way to challenge myself and train myself for the concentration I need.
 
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