Celebrating a loss?

7

7forlife

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So i've mentioned before that part of my problem is playing good over winning, to a certain extent.
Well I lost a 14.1 match where i was giving up a lot of weight to a player who can run 14 balls and did (granted not consistently but he can). The race was 150 - 52 and ended 114 - 52, and although i would of like to of gotten that win I feel like i still came out on top because i grew as a player during that match.

I started of slow that hurt me (point wise) but I stuck with it dug about as deep as I could all the way to the end, stayed focus, just everything I could ask for and have been working on and wishing on I feel happened in that game.

I may of lost the match but I was the big winner in the long run. (lol, that's the type of thing a loser would say right) but really, I was so happy after the match you would think that i won. Now that I know i'm capable the quest of to try and repeat it more and more often.
 
I do the same. Nowadays, I get more enjoyment of the game if I played well, regardless if I won or lost.

When I was younger and gambling every day, all I cared about was winning.

I guess in my case, as I got older, the money means less, and the playing well means more.

Just the other day I was gambling (haven't in a long time), and was losing pretty bad. I missed an easy 9, because the CB did not swerve as much as I thought it would. I hit it exactly like I wanted to, it just curved less. I was not mad at all. I took it as a learning example. Years ago, I would have broken my stick.
 
I learn from every loss. If it's not something my opponent taught me then it is something I learned about myself but I hate losing whether I am gambling or not. I like intense match ups. Some guys I choose not to play because they never shut up and are more into being social than playing. I don't mind chatting a little during a match but I like to play guys that play serious pool. For me it's the competition that's fun.
 
RichSchultz said:
Celebrate? No. Learn from? Most definitely.
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it was really a learn from as much as it was a accomplishment, which is cause for celebration. you see win or lose i would of been very proud of my self for "that" particular match, mostly when he was on 47.
i've won 100 ball spots before and not played as well i think, mentally.
 
Good thread.

I feel differently depending how I lost. Losing because bad misses and stupid mistakes stings a lot more than losing because the opponent played well.

I know the really competitive types like to say winning is everything, but you have to take that in context. You can always win if you never challenged yourself. Always play people below your level, give inappropriate weight, shark, cheat, etc..

Glass half empty or half full ? Winning is more fun than losing, but did I learn anything from the loss that will help me get better ? What are the positives things that happened in the match ?

Success in athletics/games, financial, career, etc.. I read about people with success in one area, but it came at the expense of other areas.

What motivates you to play pool ? There has to be more to it than winning.
 
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Winning and losing is an illusion. Nothing innately has any value and everything is simply an outcome that you can either learn from or be torn apart by.
 
People usually focus on outcomes too much, like celebrating when their opponent scratches on the 8-ball. We should focus on whether we made a good shot or played a good match, not just whether we win or lose.

I see it happen on break shots a lot: Sometimes I hit it bad, the cueball is spinning with unintentional english, I didn't control the cue ball, but I made three balls. Yay, great break! But other times I squat the cue ball, balls are flying around the table, but nothing falls. Boo, bad break.

But that's stupid. We should tell ourselves we made played well even if we lose, and we should acknowledge that we played shitty even if we won.
 
I'm firmly in the camp of caring more about playing well than about winning. That doesn't mean I don't care about winning, or that I don't try to win, it's a relative thing. Playing poorly makes me feel lousy, win or lose. Winning becuse the other player played badly isn't much fun.

7forlife: Did you feel good about your performance and just lose so badly because of the other guy's brilliant play? Or do you feel the spot was not reasonable, and the score became irrelevant to you, so you just focused on how well you were playing?

This different way to balance playing well vs winning affects my play strategically in additionally to emotionally. For example, I am much more willing to shoot "the right shot" (or at least what I think is the right shot) than I would be if winning was all I cared about. While I do play a little more carefully in a league match than in my knocking around games (which I still try to take seriously), I take more shots vs safeties than I would if I was playing scared. I see a lot of guys afraid to take a good but not great break shot, for fear of a miss and opening up the rack. If I were playing like that I couldn't say I was playing well. I want to perform, not watch someone else make a mistake. I can't get better by depending on other's mistakes.
 
7forlife said:
So i've mentioned before that part of my problem is playing good over winning, to a certain extent.
Well I lost a 14.1 match where i was giving up a lot of weight to a player who can run 14 balls and did (granted not consistently but he can). The race was 150 - 52 and ended 114 - 52, and although i would of like to of gotten that win I feel like i still came out on top because i grew as a player during that match.

I started of slow that hurt me (point wise) but I stuck with it dug about as deep as I could all the way to the end, stayed focus, just everything I could ask for and have been working on and wishing on I feel happened in that game.

I may of lost the match but I was the big winner in the long run. (lol, that's the type of thing a loser would say right) but really, I was so happy after the match you would think that i won. Now that I know i'm capable the quest of to try and repeat it more and more often.
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I give up big spots in my straight pool league also. It's a real learning experience.
Wouldn't trade it for anything.
 
John Biddle said:
7forlife: Did you feel good about your performance and just lose so badly because of the other guy's brilliant play? Or do you feel the spot was not reasonable, and the score became irrelevant to you, so you just focused on how well you were playing?
.
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I mentioned before the guy can make a few balls and can run a rack or more at the right time. The spot was accurate but it's just like 9 ball where if that person has a good day the spot can feel way off.
The spot felt rough when i saw it cause i know that the other guy can play and i am not as good as my rank makes me seem. So i have to shoot absolute lights out and i came dame close. Although i won the racks in the beginning it wasn't due to me running that many balls or linking the racks together, but since i was winning the racks 3-1 i wasn't as worried, until that one shot that i hung and left him with my break shot which he ran 14 balls as a result.
After that I tightened up more and go into leave no survivors mode, the only score that mattered was mine, and i still needed over 60 balls when he needed about 3, i missed one safe that match and it was the last one and easy roll onto the head ball on a full rack, adrenaline must of been in me at this point cause i made a ball creep out and he needed 1.
 
Rather than start a new thread

So after playing possibly my best pool ever (for reason previously stated) unfortunately i haven't picked up the cue since. Good or Bad? or 50/50
 
iusedtoberich said:
Nowadays, I get more enjoyment of the game if I played well, regardless if I won or lost.
.
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You got it that right. Play to win but if we play well and lose that's life. Accept and enjoy the action. And if they is no money involved there is nothing to lose.
philly said:
For me it's the competition that's fun.
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Same here. If I want to chat and BS I'll join a ladies Mah Jongg club.
 
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