Best Table Presence

Floppage

Floppage

True Beginner
Silver Member
As I am learning more about pool and playing better players I am becoming more aware of table presence. I am surprised at how effective it can be as a newer player.

I think if I was playing someone like Mike Sigel, even without his shot making abilities I'd look like a deer in the headlights just based on the way he moves around the table.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfz7rpVBVjQ

Earl's table presence is just shy of Jerry Springer in some matches and I'm not even sure how I would handle that. On the flipside, other players like Oscar or Shane seem to be very calm and non-obtrusive.

Who do you think has the best table presence in pool and why?
 
Floppage said:
As I am learning more about pool and playing better players I am becoming more aware of table presence. I am surprised at how effective it can be as a newer player ... Who do you think has the best table presence in pool and why?
Click to expand...

IMO I don't believe "table presence" in and of itself really exists.
What you may be talking about is reputation.
If a player is known to be a very good player, then obviously they exude a certain intimidation factor.
But that's really in one's own mind anyways.

You talk about different personality types as well.
Again, that can exists in any arena.
But to answer your question, the player with the best table presence is the player who has a reputation of being a great player—simple as that.
 
OK, I will admit that it might just be me who believes there is any such thing as table presence.

To be more specific, these are the behaviors I lump into presence:

- Approach the table in a very deliberate way
- Size up the shot carefully and follow a well practiced pre-shot routine
- When striking the ball, no fear or doubt
- If the shot is missed, no reaction. Maintain composure and return to your seat.
- Don't engage your opponent or anyone else, stay composed no matter what is happening on the table.

Some players almost take ownership of a table when its their turn and even a mistake looks as if it were intended. Others seem distracted and over react to anything that goes wrong.
 
i think table presence is definitely real.

its the way you hold yourself and/or conduct yourself, along with your own personal swagger. you can be a bully at the table without saying a word, by speeding up the game by pacing faster and shooting faster. it can throw another player off their rhythm or intimidate them, just the aura surrounding you itself can be powerful. i think that is the main thing, is how the other player perceives you at the table. but i also think its a two way street, you can throw someone off and look very non threatening, but surprise them by how good you play.

guys like strickland, hatch, immonen, bustamante, pagulayan, martinez, stalev, higgins etc. i feel are people who are very intense at the table. which may not reflect their personality necessarily.

while you have others like varner, reyes, parica, vlahos, hall, kennedy, hopkins, yang. who are more stoic, but still have the ability to make their opponent quietly fade away.

i dunno just my opinion
 
SeabrookMiglla said:
i think table presence is definitely real.

its the way you hold yourself and/or conduct yourself, along with your own personal swagger. you can be a bully at the table without saying a word, by speeding up the game by pacing faster and shooting faster. it can throw another player off their rhythm or intimidate them, just the aura surrounding you itself can be powerful. i think that is the main thing, is how the other player perceives you at the table. but i also think its a two way street, you can throw someone off and look very non threatening, but surprise them by how good you play.

guys like strickland, hatch, immonen, bustamante, pagulayan, martinez, stalev, higgins etc. i feel are people who are very intense at the table. which may not reflect their personality necessarily.

while you have others like varner, reyes, parica, vlahos, hall, kennedy, hopkins, yang. who are more stoic, but still have the ability to make their opponent quietly fade away.

i dunno just my opinion
Click to expand...

I do think table presence definitely exists. I for one have worked long and hard to never show any outward reaction during a match (if it's in an important tournament). This means standing in exactly the same way each time when not shooting and not engaging in any conversation during the match. If the opponent says, 'good shot' I don't acknowledge it because in my mind a good shot doesn't matter- winning is the only thing that matters.

Win or lose I always try to shake my opponents hand the same way and not show any outward emotion. This builds a persona in your opponents eyes and can sometimes make them get shaky.

The reality is that pool is a solo game. If you mess up the opponent shoots (if you aren't playing safe). Because of that only your performance matters and what the opponent does means nothing.
 
Floppage said:
OK, I will admit that it might just be me who believes there is any such thing as table presence.

To be more specific, these are the behaviors I lump into presence:

- Approach the table in a very deliberate way
- Size up the shot carefully and follow a well practiced pre-shot routine
- When striking the ball, no fear or doubt
- If the shot is missed, no reaction. Maintain composure and return to your seat.
- Don't engage your opponent or anyone else, stay composed no matter what is happening on the table.

Some players almost take ownership of a table when its their turn and even a mistake looks as if it were intended. Others seem distracted and over react to anything that goes wrong.
Click to expand...
Ko, lil ko, Dennis and Shane come to mind
 
I think that when earl is on, the way he addresses his shot is unbeatable. It is like he is a machine built to pocket balls (and his life seems to support that).

I have said it before: watching him in dead punch, bossing those stupid smooth spheres around is inspiring to me.
 
Table presence.

There is a clip of Willie Mosconi on a game show I got a secret (it's on you tube )
Maybe some will attach -- anyway after the part were the panel try's to guess what the secret is Willie is asked too run a rack.
Take notice after the break shot.
It's like he owns the table. Figures out the pattern and runs the balls like in 15 seconds.
It's kind of like Paul Newman telling Fats this is my table I own it.
MCP
 
I personally believe from a spectators stand point that Earl has the most intimidating table presence. He has a great stroke and knows tangent lines to move the ball around for perfection.


I personally do not pay attention to my rival during a match.. I only watch the table because it is the nemesis.
 
Floppage said:
As I am learning more about pool and playing better players I am becoming more aware of table presence. I am surprised at how effective it can be as a newer player.

I think if I was playing someone like Mike Sigel, even without his shot making abilities I'd look like a deer in the headlights just based on the way he moves around the table.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfz7rpVBVjQ

Earl's table presence is just shy of Jerry Springer in some matches and I'm not even sure how I would handle that. On the flipside, other players like Oscar or Shane seem to be very calm and non-obtrusive.

Who do you think has the best table presence in pool and why?
Click to expand...

Tommy Dalfonso, (shorty), he is the absolute best! You never know if he just made the GREATEST shot ever or he missed a duck;) If pool had more players like him, the sport would be in a better state!
 
Niels Feijen has a monster presence at the table, the combination of his shot routine, mechanical stroke and intensity during the match are fearsome. I think it wins him quite a few matches when his game is not quite at it's best.

I also notice that the more seasoned pros will hang around the table a bit too long after their shot, this is purely an intimidation tactic if they are playing a less experienced player. Watched Johnny Archer do this in Germany last month with a eurotour guy several times during a match, it didn't work sadly for Johnny...
 
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Grantstew said:
Niels Feijen has a monster presence at the table, the combination of his shot routine, mechanical stroke and intensity during the match are fearsome. I think it wins him quite a few matches when his game is not quite at it's best.

I also notice that the more seasoned pros will hang around the table a bit too long after their shot, this is purely an intimidation tactic if they are playing a less experienced player. Watched Johnny Archer do this in Germany last month with a eurotour guy several times during a match, it didn't work sadly for Johnny...
Click to expand...

I've had a few more experienced (typically older) players try that with me. So far, I am learning to ignore it. If you missed the shot or played safe and the balls are done moving, it's my table now. I get up, chalk and start figuring out my next shot. If the player is in the way of my shot then I just walk around a bit more like I'm sizing up the pattern.

I have already had a couple of them snap at me for doing that but after 20-something years of boxing, football and rugby I'm used to people trying to intimidate me. I may be a beginner in this world but I'm not a beginner in the world of competitive intimidation.

Having said that, there are still some pros who I have watched in matches who I know would intimidate me. Something about their confidence at the table is tough to ignore.
 
Oh it's real. Only the ones that have never played in many or any pro tournaments would say otherwise. For a lot of em,it's a big part of their game.Take Earl for an example. I was playing him in a match at the dcc a few years ago and he was down on his shot and looked around at me without getting up, and said......" you know I'll shoot your heart out" I just laughed at him and went on to win the set,3 to zip:D . I've played with most all the top pros in the US for the last 30 years. Some of em are so creepy, most folks wouldn't believe it even if they saw it and heard it with their own eyes and ears. Amazing to me what the spectators don't hear or notice....Part of it imo is why pool is still in the gutters and will be for a long time or forever. John B.
 
If your definition of table prescence is "intimidation," only other pros who have played them can answer the question: If the player is really good at intimidation, we fans would never see it. It is singularly aimed at the opponent.

Have you ever seen a close up of the face of a border collie when it's herding sheep? It is the scariest, most intimidating look of any animal. But we never see it unless we've got a slow-motion, telephoto movie camera. But the sheep sees it, loud and clear.
 
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