Anyone ever go from playing great to playing terrible all at once?

I think everyone goes through this. Slumps are typically caused by a flaw in your fundamentals which has become more pronounced or simply becoming lazy with your mechanics or pre shot routine. Either way, the best method of dealing with this is to go back to basics. Ensure you are doing everything properly.

It's not a bad idea to write down a step by step list of your pre-shot routine, where you stand, hold the cue etc. You can use it during slumps to go through all potential issues.

But I think Lou said it best that our expectations often get in the way. It happened to me years ago when I made my highest break (snooker) of 139. It got into my head that I should be making centuries almost every game, I started thinking I was playing terrible even when I was actually performing normally in retrospect. It didn't take long for my game to plummet due to my poor attitude.
 
I've had that happen before and it is frustrating. One thing I've found that often works surprisingly well is to slow down and really think about what you are doing. I found this out years ago when I was set to gamble with a player from my homeroom, I was giving him the 8 ball and it was going to be a tough match. I'm normally a fast and loose shooter, like Strickland or Rodney Morris (not as good though : ) Anyway I showed up for the match and while warming up I couldn't run 3 or 4 balls without missing or getting out of shape. I really didn't want to lose to this particular guy, he was this obnoxious braggart and I'd never hear the end of it. So I started really focusing on each and every shot and played in a very mechanical manner, very different from my usual style. Well, it wasn't fun but it worked great. I think I only missed 2 or 3 shots in the whole set and won something like 9-3 or 9-4, the guy quit after that.

Since then I've experimented with this slow, very focused and mechanical kind of play versus my natural loose and fast style, and overall I generally get better results on a day to day basis with the fast and loose style but the slower style is great in a pinch to get back into stroke.

Another thing that a very good player once told me that seems to work is to never take your eyes off the table and balls even when you're in your seat. It puts you into a sort of trance and helps you sray focused.
 
I started playing in a weekly tournament to help with the stress. After 2 months placed in the money. It is easy to compare my best play but I don't always play my best. Some days my back just hurts and I can't get a stroke down and just poke the balls around. It sucks, but it happens. Somedays you are the bug, somedays you are the windshield. John
 
plshrk22 said:
You don't just lose muscle memory over night. It's all in your head.

Pickup the book, The Inner Game of Tennis and it will answer a lot of your questions.
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He prolly salivate his shirt wet. Just guessing. Can't blame me.
 
This should get you out of a slump!

DJordan816 said:
Im in a slump that just wont seem to go away. I havent played what i consider good in a very very long time. I used to play good and it seemed to just all go away at once. Now everytime i go to a tournament i leave so disgusted that i dont feel like playing ever again. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and how i might fix it. Thanks.
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Phil Capelle has a great book that is damn there guaranteed to get you out of any slump. It is called "Capelle's Practicing Pool"
This book has helped me out a lot. It covers almost every thing.
 
tournaments you are usually sitting around for hours, when you play you are playing cold, not everyone can play even decent like this. Also make sure you are looking at the object ball before you start your backstroke, otherwise you are shooting blind.
 
Cameron Smith said:
I think everyone goes through this. Slumps are typically caused by a flaw in your fundamentals which has become more pronounced or simply becoming lazy with your mechanics or pre shot routine. Either way, the best method of dealing with this is to go back to basics. Ensure you are doing everything properly.

It's not a bad idea to write down a step by step list of your pre-shot routine, where you stand, hold the cue etc. You can use it during slumps to go through all potential issues.

But I think Lou said it best that our expectations often get in the way. It happened to me years ago when I made my highest break (snooker) of 139. It got into my head that I should be making centuries almost every game, I started thinking I was playing terrible even when I was actually performing normally in retrospect. It didn't take long for my game to plummet due to my poor attitude.
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Writing down your PSR is a *great* idea.

Lou Figueroa
 
Neil said:
Here's one for you that goes right along with what Lou said- act like a surgeon when you play. Don't just shoot the ball in the hole. Pick a part of the pocket to shoot it in. Be very precise in what you do. Then, when you are a little off, you have a better chance of still achieving your goal.
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In the same vain: I think a major problem why it can be so hard to advance at this game, is that it is very easy to accept "good enough."

How many times have you hit a shot a little off and it still goes and you go on your merry way without further introspection? Or how about the situation where you don't get exactly the position you want -- but still have "good enough" position for the next shot. We just don't stop and take the time to analyze why what we wanted to happen, didn't happen. We fall into the trap of just accepting that the cue ball went a little right or left, or maybe back a bit, when what you wanted was to kill it cold.

We accept good enough rather than to take note and tackle the cause. I mean, nobody's perfect, right?

But let's face it: there's a reason the object ball goes off to the right or the left (and still goes), when you wanted it to track perfectly straight. And there's a reason that the cue ball comes back to the right or the left, when you wanted it to track straight back. But we settle for good enough and go on without pausing to reflect and dissect the nuances.

But at this game, it's the nuances that kill you. And those slight deviations in the object ball or cue ball path are what eventually come back to haunt us by manifesting themselves on the bigger shots. Sooner or later, without realizing it, those small "acceptable" flaws come back to bite us, in a big, unacceptable kinda way.

Lou Figueroa
 
Bobby said:
I've had that happen before and it is frustrating. One thing I've found that often works surprisingly well is to slow down and really think about what you are doing. I found this out years ago when I was set to gamble with a player from my homeroom, I was giving him the 8 ball and it was going to be a tough match. I'm normally a fast and loose shooter, like Strickland or Rodney Morris (not as good though : ) Anyway I showed up for the match and while warming up I couldn't run 3 or 4 balls without missing or getting out of shape. I really didn't want to lose to this particular guy, he was this obnoxious braggart and I'd never hear the end of it. So I started really focusing on each and every shot and played in a very mechanical manner, very different from my usual style. Well, it wasn't fun but it worked great. I think I only missed 2 or 3 shots in the whole set and won something like 9-3 or 9-4, the guy quit after that.

Since then I've experimented with this slow, very focused and mechanical kind of play versus my natural loose and fast style, and overall I generally get better results on a day to day basis with the fast and loose style but the slower style is great in a pinch to get back into stroke.

Another thing that a very good player once told me that seems to work is to never take your eyes off the table and balls even when you're in your seat. It puts you into a sort of trance and helps you sray focused.
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Slowing down (but not too much) is good advice.

Not taking your eyes off the table is another excellent tip.

Lou Figueroa
 
bhodi said:
tournaments you are usually sitting around for hours, when you play you are playing cold, not everyone can play even decent like this. Also make sure you are looking at the object ball before you start your backstroke, otherwise you are shooting blind.
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I think this is a great observation -- about how tournament conditions can impact your game. Adjusting and playing your game under adverse circumstances is one of the skills that makes a pro a pro. Not everyone can do it.

Lou Figueroa
 
I was talking to some 3 cushions player about some of the differences I see between 3 cushion and pocket billiards.

Like I've never seen a stun, stop shots. That if you miss in 3 cushion you really don't get punished like you can in pocket billiards. That brought a puzzled look on his face.

I explained:The level I play at is the one mistake level meaning that if I make one mistake at the table, that is it, game over. As a example, in my last 8 ball tourney, I ran down to the 8 and the only shot I had was a 2 railer into the corner which I missed by a very small amount. My opponent still had all his balls on the table, he ran out making the 8. This is what I call 1 mistake players. This really hit home one night in 14.1 league play where I missed a playing a safe by mm's and the guy got up and ran 40+ on me.

In 3 cushion, you miss, odds are you will get back at the table. The same can not be said for high level of play in pocket billiards.

To add to what Neil wrote is that you have to do it right the first time, cause you my not get another chance, like in surgery at times.

Lou, after reading your post, I decided there needs to be a Hall of Fame for great post made on AZB and yours should be the first in it, but that not saying there aren't many other that deserve to be included.
 
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DJordan816 said:
Im in a slump that just wont seem to go away. I havent played what i consider good in a very very long time. I used to play good and it seemed to just all go away at once. Now everytime i go to a tournament i leave so disgusted that i dont feel like playing ever again. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and how i might fix it. Thanks.
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This is common. The last time I felt this was after 3 fouling in 14.1 for no reason other than I had my head up my ass.

Up to that point, I was putting the time into practice, I understood everything I was doing, performing well in practice, felt get that night going to start up 14.1 again, and whammy, fell flat on my face, 3 fouling in 14.1.

I did alot of questioning about my pool playing. Why was I doing it, what did I want from it? Was I being truly honest with my self about how well I play? Did I have a feeling that because of the time I put in, winning should be easy? Do the pool gods just hate me?

Basically, it came down to this one question: Why do I do it?

This is what you have you figure out and the fix is there once you do.
 
The good news is your game can come back as fast as it left. After ten months of disappointing play. I am happy with how I have played for the last few weeks. I have been working on a PSR, mine still sucks and has a long way to go. I have also been working on smoothing out my stroke, still needs a lot of work too. Some how just improving those two things has given me vision I have been lacking for quite some time. It's hard to explain. I just know when when things are lined up. Hope my new found vision stays around for awhile. Last night I got to the finials of our weeky 9 ball tournament, we did a split, so I can't say I won. Sorry for the bragging. I am just so excited with how I have been playing! Guess I am saying the same has every one else. Pay attention to the basics and they will take care of you!

Larry
 
i'm at a point now that when i start to play and i start missing i realize it's usually because that i'm just not into it at the time.Then other times i will play really good. Either way i don't sweat it when the balls don't roll my way anymore. I still have fun just playing and not putting to much pressure on myself.
 
I can induce bad play in a minute..I know what happens.

DJordan816 said:
Im in a slump that just wont seem to go away. I havent played what i consider good in a very very long time. I used to play good and it seemed to just all go away at once. Now everytime i go to a tournament i leave so disgusted that i dont feel like playing ever again. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and how i might fix it. Thanks.
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Hi there jordan,

As you probably know my corner of the pool world is aiming and teaching how the eyes naturally work. The secret is keeping the dominant eye in the dominant position on each and every shot.

Easier said than done though. Unless you know how to do this you are at the mercy of guessing, which many times will let you down.

In my teachings I show a player how to make the non dominant eye work as the dominant eye to show the player why some shots look bad when you get down right away. Then you get back up and go back down and the shot looks so much better. What happened is you just naturally got the dominant eye in the right position.

One day i tried a little experiment. I'm left eye dominant. Knowing how to make my right eye work as the dominant eye, I force myself to shoot like that for about an hour.

I was pretty happy with my results though I missed alot more shots than I normally do.

The problem is that when I went back to shooting left eye dominant I really struggled. I had a hard time getting anything lined up right. It was just a mess. I even felt a little crosseyed a couple of times.

My conclusion to this little experiment was that every time you shoot a shot and have the wrong eye in the dominant position it is fouling up your vision a little for future shots. The more you accidentally do this the worse it can get for the rest of the night until you are little tired and then it just gets horrible.

Many players have done this also. They are trying to fish a guy into a game so they lay down a little. While they are doing this they are not lining up the eyes correctly when they are missing shots intentionally.

Now when they try to put the petal to the metal and get the cash later they are struggling and might even lose. They don't even know why or what actually happened.

I didn't know why but I made sure that as I was missing on purpose that I was still aiming real hard at how I was going to miss. I was accidently making sure I kept the eyes in the dominant position. This seemed to avoid all the problems later. It's not just about your focus but about the eyes.

Have a great day geno................
 
Every time I approach the table it's a mystery. I can play very well. I can play like I never held a cue before. When I'm tired forgettaboutit.
So I just try to relax and enjoy. I play good enough to have fun. I'm thankful it's not my livelihood.....very thankful.
 
If you knew why?

63Kcode said:
The good news is your game can come back as fast as it left. After ten months of disappointing play. I am happy with how I have played for the last few weeks. I have been working on a PSR, mine still sucks and has a long way to go. I have also been working on smoothing out my stroke, still needs a lot of work too. Some how just improving those two things has given me vision I have been lacking for quite some time. It's hard to explain. I just know when when things are lined up. Hope my new found vision stays around for awhile. Last night I got to the finials of our weeky 9 ball tournament, we did a split, so I can't say I won. Sorry for the bragging. I am just so excited with how I have been playing! Guess I am saying the same has every one else. Pay attention to the basics and they will take care of you!

Larry
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Hi there larry,

There is a reason it looks right to you. Right now you are getting the eyes in the correct position.

This can be taught to everyone with great success. By knowing this you can avoid ever being in a slump or funk. It just won't happen.

Give me a call and I will help you understand what happens with the eyes. It's actually very simple once you see it but seeing it for the first time is difficult without some guidance.

Just trying to help pool players play better pool one player at a time.

715-563-8712 and be by a table.

Have a great day geno........
 
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