Any advice on how to deal with exceptionally slow opponents?

a solid thunk in the ribs works too.

vagabond said:
so far, the comments of other posters have addressed what the opponent of a slow player has to do.

What should a player on the adjacent table do when the Einstein is standing between the tables,looking at the Balls and thinking for 1-2 minutes while blocking the play on the adjacent table?
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When somebody makes a habit of blocking play at nearby tables for long periods of times I squeeze in and give them a nice solid thunk to the ribs with the butt of the cue when trying to shoot. Works best with a bumperless cue. I apologize profusely every time it happens even if it happens two or three times in one game. When their ribs get sore enough they start paying attention.

Hu
 
whitewolf said:
I do things to irritate the **** out of him.

I usually try and be courteous and keep the powder off the table. But against a slow freak the table with look like the north pole when I get through with it. When I rack the balls I make sure there is plenty of powder to go around on as many balls as possible.

I turn the chalk upside down.

I will call somebody to come watch his shot when not necessary.

I will talk to him in between my shots. Just go over and start a conversation about breathing or something. Make it obvious that you are ****ing with him. I will talk to people who walk by while I am shooting - as long as possible.

I will go to the bathroom 16 times during the match and tell him that I am diabetic. I will do this sometimes while I am shooting, and sometimes right after he has spent 5 minutes analyzing a shot and before he shoots, asking him to wait until you get back.

When he does a stupid shot, I will be the first to let him know and will tell him what I would have done.

I will get my friends to walk by and stand in front of the pocket while passing by.

Everytime he misses I will make some comment, like 'nice try', or just a simple 'thanks for that gift'.

You get the picture. Try and distract him as much as possible - and make it a game to you. That way you will have some saddistic fun and hopefully he will be a basket case by the time you get through with him.

Anybody else want to add to my list? I need some extra ideas. :D
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I'm repeating myself, but anyone coming up with stuff of this sort can only be thinking about lesser competition. None of this will work against someone who's slow and worth their salt. Let's say you do all this against Ralf Souquet. The net result is, you're wasting all that energy you'd have needed to make a move when given the opportunity, the match is going to take even longer than anyone including yourself would ever imagine, and you'll lose. So what's the point? The point is, you'll do this with success only against opponents of lesser skill and mental strength - players you'll beat anyhow provided you simply stick to your guns. All else seems childish to me. Admittedly, if that's the purpose, that is, if instead of playing pool one is more interested in playing mind games, go ahead. Not my cup of tea, though - I'll stick to playing pool, infinitely more interesting.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
Whole town has to come to a standstill when the Einstein is figuring out the solution for the problems created by the colorful spherical objects.
 
whitewolf said:
I do things to irritate the **** out of him.

I usually try and be courteous and keep the powder off the table. But against a slow freak the table with look like the north pole when I get through with it. When I rack the balls I make sure there is plenty of powder to go around on as many balls as possible.

I turn the chalk upside down.

I will call somebody to come watch his shot when not necessary.

I will talk to him in between my shots. Just go over and start a conversation about breathing or something. Make it obvious that you are ****ing with him. I will talk to people who walk by while I am shooting - as long as possible.

I will go to the bathroom 16 times during the match and tell him that I am diabetic. I will do this sometimes while I am shooting, and sometimes right after he has spent 5 minutes analyzing a shot and before he shoots, asking him to wait until you get back.

When he does a stupid shot, I will be the first to let him know and will tell him what I would have done.

I will get my friends to walk by and stand in front of the pocket while passing by.

Everytime he misses I will make some comment, like 'nice try', or just a simple 'thanks for that gift'.

You get the picture. Try and distract him as much as possible - and make it a game to you. That way you will have some saddistic fun and hopefully he will be a basket case by the time you get through with him.

Anybody else want to add to my list? I need some extra ideas. :D
Click to expand...

I don't believe in sharking but I would make an exception for slow players. Good list. :cool:
 
I would be leery of any advice that says you should slow down your own game. Even if that worked, it's just trying to shark the guy on purpose, and really if you're gonna stoop to that, you might as well just start flashing paper, sneezing, or twirling your stick.

Definitely don't shoot faster to "make a point" or whatever, that's a recipe for doom. You'll shoot your best playing at your own pace, unless your own pace has always been too fast for your own good.

Find something else to occupy your time. I usually have about 50 games of WWF on my phone that I can catch up on. Don't treat it as him being rude or him trying to shark you, because 9 times out of 10, it's not, it's just that his natural rhythm is slow and he's maybe a little scared of rushing things.
 
CreeDo said:
I would be leery of any advice that says you should slow down your own game. Even if that worked, it's just trying to shark the guy on purpose, and really if you're gonna stoop to that, you might as well just start flashing paper, sneezing, or twirling your stick.

Definitely don't shoot faster to "make a point" or whatever, that's a recipe for doom. You'll shoot your best playing at your own pace, unless your own pace has always been too fast for your own good.

Find something else to occupy your time. I usually have about 50 games of WWF on my phone that I can catch up on. Don't treat it as him being rude or him trying to shark you, because 9 times out of 10, it's not, it's just that his natural rhythm is slow and he's maybe a little scared of rushing things.
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The problem is, if the guy is any good, the sharking will function only as what it is primarily: an interruption of sorts. In short, it will make him false-start, regroup, not miss, and even more time is going to elapse. In the meantime, the sharking may take something out of the sharker, unless he's got a sufficiently vapid character and just loves sharking, regardless of how much this slows down play.

I prefer to say to myself that I respect my opponent, and that I am there to play pool, and that if I do this the way I'm able to, I'm going to be at the table, so there is no problem, and if I let my opponent to the table, I'm not going to pretend he's the problem - I know better than that.

The longer he stays at the table, the greater the incentive to keep it once I get it - it's that simple.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
acousticsguru said:
I'm repeating myself, but anyone coming up with stuff of this sort can only be thinking about lesser competition. None of this will work against someone who's slow and worth their salt. Let's say you do all this against Ralf Souquet. The net result is, you're wasting all that energy you'd have needed to make a move when given the opportunity, the match is going to take even longer than anyone including yourself would ever imagine, and you'll lose. So what's the point? The point is, you'll do this with success only against opponents of lesser skill and mental strength - players you'll beat anyhow provided you simply stick to your guns. All else seems childish to me. Admittedly, if that's the purpose, that is, if instead of playing pool one is more interested in playing mind games, go ahead. Not my cup of tea, though - I'll stick to playing pool, infinitely more interesting.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Click to expand...

FYI, 95% of the people on AZ don't play at the pro level or in your league. So, IMHO, I think my sharking techniques are just fine for most of us. Ralph gets beat by pros who just play their own game without modifications to account for his slow play - same as we should. But nonetheless, slow players piss me off, and many others, so that's the point - by making a game out of it to make yourself forget the slow play works, if you have the mental discipline.
 
vagabond said:
so far, the comments of other posters have addressed what the opponent of a slow player has to do.

What should a player on the adjacent table do when the Einstein is standing between the tables,looking at the Balls and thinking for 1-2 minutes while blocking the play on the adjacent table?
Click to expand...

And on that point. Are pool players blind, deaf, and dumb? Why is it when I'm down on a critical shot in League, some nitwit behind me decides to rack the balls while bumping into my cue? :frown:
 
OneIron said:
And on that point. Are pool players blind, deaf, and dumb? Why is it when I'm down on a critical shot in League, some nitwit behind me decides to rack the balls while bumping into my cue? :frown:
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Last time someone did that to me, that person made a (tiny, admittedly, but nonetheless) dent into the butt of the cue I used that night, barely uttered something to the extent of "Oops!", then proceeded to stare at me as if it were my fault. What happened to the good old days of politely apologizing at least?! :(

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
 
acousticsguru said:
Last time someone did that to me, that person made a (tiny, admittedly, but nonetheless) dent into the butt of the cue I used that night, barely uttered something to the extent of "Oops!", then proceeded to stare at me as if it were my fault. What happened to the good old days of politely apologizing at least?! :(

Greetings from Switzerland, David.
_________________

„J'ai gâché vingt ans de mes plus belles années au billard. Si c'était à refaire, je recommencerais.“ – Roger Conti
Click to expand...

Beats me but it seems most pool players believe they're they're the only living, breathing organism in the room. :frown:
 
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