Confidence

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Taken from the IPT website....sportswriter coverage day 3

Sigel was asked about his game and said he feels only about 60% there. "I can't believe I won all these matches because I am nowhere what my game is capable of. Maybe my "A Game" is really that much better than everyone else. Time will tell if I can bring it back to life". Sigel's "B Game" is still better than most others "A Game"... so it appears.

Reigning World Champion Wu was shell-shocked at being knocked out of the tournament. "I don't know how I could of lost", Wu said through an interpreter.
 
I think its more a case of erogance rather than confidence.

You got to be careful saying things he says if you can't back em up. And he can't with the players on the tour. I don't know how well he will do but going up against guys like Reyes, he will get destroyed.

Instead of 60%, he should say 90%. Sixty percent is just going to make him look foolish when he loses.

What it does is makes hime look like a jack ass saying he beats people at half his speed and gives him a lousy excuse if he loses. Hopefully he is just having fun by saying it. From the context of it, it is written as if he is serious...

How could he say that anyways? You are only as good as your last game...
 
To some, the comments by young Wu and Mike might come off as arrogant and egotistical; I look at their comments as manifestations of the supreme confidence it takes to become world-class at anything. I wish I possessed total confidence when I played. I was a stone front-runner: if I thought I was better than you, I played to my full potential, but if I thought you were better than me, I turned into a human dog-pound, find a way to lose, getting weight didn't help, the whole 8 1/2 yards (couldn't ever get to 9). A buddy of mine, who I routinely beat, had the confidence to play people who had just beat me, and the sheer audacity to beat them. I would tell him that he couldn't win, and he would say something like "this guy will win at first, but if he doesn't quit me, I'll grind him down...he's too emotional and will self-destruct sooner or later"...sure enough, ol' grinder would take it off. I really think unshakable confidence is THE key ingredient in the mental aspect of pool. Good topic, T - lotta discussion here about aiming systems, cues, drills, etc, and not much on what it takes, mentally, to be a strong player. Signed, The REAL Snoop Doggy Dog.
 
CaptiveBred said:
I think its more a case of erogance rather than confidence.

You got to be careful saying things he says if you can't back em up. And he can't with the players on the tour. I don't know how well he will do but going up against guys like Reyes, he will get destroyed.

Instead of 60%, he should say 90%. Sixty percent is just going to make him look foolish when he loses.

What it does is makes hime look like a jack ass saying he beats people at half his speed and gives him a lousy excuse if he loses. Hopefully he is just having fun by saying it. From the context of it, it is written as if he is serious...

How could he say that anyways? You are only as good as your last game...
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Sigel has always been that way. He chirps more than Strickland whines. The one thing you can't take away from him though is the fact that he used to absolutely dominate, had a better tournament record than Efren when they were both competing regularly and was feared.

You still have to give him props for playing these challenge matches two at a time and winning them. If he was such a has been then all these players would be dominating him.

You can bet that the top players aren't discounting Sigel's skills. The IPT is going to be triple tough for everyone but I think that Mike will come through just fine.

Also, you need to understand that the IPT wants trash talk. This is just the kind of statement that gets people riled up and polarized.

John
 
CaptiveBred said:
I think its more a case of erogance rather than confidence.

You got to be careful saying things he says if you can't back em up. And he can't with the players on the tour. I don't know how well he will do but going up against guys like Reyes, he will get destroyed.

Instead of 60%, he should say 90%. Sixty percent is just going to make him look foolish when he loses.

What it does is makes hime look like a jack ass saying he beats people at half his speed and gives him a lousy excuse if he loses. Hopefully he is just having fun by saying it. From the context of it, it is written as if he is serious...

How could he say that anyways? You are only as good as your last game...
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What about Wu? He's good but he is not THAT good. Hes not that far ahead of everyone else right now, but we will see as he progresses.

Almost every player who wins consistently at proffessional level has some level of arrogance to them. You have to in order to compete with such pressure on you. You have to come into a match thinking you have already won. Playing is only a formality.
 
No disrespect to MS. I know of is past and respect it. He, and almost every IPT player, can not be sure of anything. The players are just to tough to be sure of yourself. At that level, skill is commonplace. Tossing a coin could be just as accurate in determining the winner as evident in al lother tournaments.

I agree that it has some merrits for being a champion... to some degree but Sigel looks like he likes to talk shit, which I enjoy :) Nothing better than seeing somebody back THEMSELVES in a corner and then get stuck in it. The look on their face is always worth a good chuckle ;)


About pressure -

Would'nt you think this would add more pressure to you? Saying all this and then getting stuck, for example, 7-0 in a race to 9... Don't you think the thoughts of running your mouth would start popping into your head when you know it would take a miracle to win?

I know I would start thinking about all the foolish things I said before the match was over. Not at first but when I see that I am going to lose I certainly would start thinking "why did I say those things"

I wish I could quiet that voice... Maybe thats one of the missing parts to my lousy game :)

/agree Good topic.
 
Wu???

I think different mind sets work for different people. You have to remember Wu is a child who just won the "Nine Ball World Championship". This might influence his mind in the short term. Not a thought to many have to deal with. As for Mike...well. I'll bet his game's getting stronger every time he plays the challenge matches. Watch for him to surprise some people and upset some more. It's not a requirement to be arrogant but, the ones who are seem to really try harder. I think it gives them some personal insentive to do their best because, they already opened their mouth and they would rather not insert their own foot.
 
Well I didn't get a chance to go down to Bellflower, but I did talk to Little Al on the phone about Wu. I asked him if this kid is the real deal. Lil' Al said: "Oh yes, he's the real deal. He just pockets those balls from anywhere, has a monster break, and plays very smart. He'll be the best when he gets to be 24-26." Little Al is a good friend of mine, and has seen just about everyone. For him to say that means a lot to me, and I'm not skeptical at all about this kid.
Mike Sigel on the other hand..... One of my favorite players to watch, because he did everything great, may still be living in yesterday. I would like to see his game "come back" myself.
 
Wu did NOT behave in a manner to be considered as arrogant.20-30 minutes after the match he was laughing and joking with a pretty good liking chinese girl.He took the defeat in a very sportive manner.I was standing three feet from him and watched him.I liked his demeaner.
 
CaptiveBred said:
Would'nt you think this would add more pressure to you? Saying all this and then getting stuck, for example, 7-0 in a race to 9... Don't you think the thoughts of running your mouth would start popping into your head when you know it would take a miracle to win?
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No. Sigel has chirping like this forever so Im sure he is used to any pressure that comes along with it. The best advice I have ever heard in terms of dealing with deficits comes from old golf legend Walter Hagen. "After making bogey's, I tell myself that i have used up my quota for the day, and I go on to par and birdie the rest of the holes." This works for pool as well, I know I use this way of thinking. If your down 7-0 in a race to 9, you think "I have just gone through the practice match, now its time to win 9-0."
 
i've always thought that the strange things players do and say (eg earl, sigel) are motivational tools to help them play better. mike saying these things may make him focus that much harder during play because he knows he has to back it up. if he said nothing, he may not be as apt to do everything in his power to win during a match, and really, that is what you need to do to win in my experience. and we all know its very easy to kinda let that give up stroke come out, and again, this is his way of never letting that happen. also, imo these things can be conscious or unconscious decisions, but that's a whole nother story.
 
CaptiveBred said:
I think its more a case of erogance rather than confidence.

You got to be careful saying things he says if you can't back em up. And he can't with the players on the tour. I don't know how well he will do but going up against guys like Reyes, he will get destroyed.

Instead of 60%, he should say 90%. Sixty percent is just going to make him look foolish when he loses.

What it does is makes hime look like a jack ass saying he beats people at half his speed and gives him a lousy excuse if he loses. Hopefully he is just having fun by saying it. From the context of it, it is written as if he is serious...

How could he say that anyways? You are only as good as your last game...
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Mike's comments are all shtick. He has a role to play now. He's Mike "The Mouth". Whenever you see him at an event you can be sure he'll be in character at all times. It's getting tiresome, but we're going to have to endure it at least through 2007 as I figure he'll keep his card after 2006.
 
jnav447 said:
To some, the comments by young Wu and Mike might come off as arrogant and egotistical; I look at their comments as manifestations of the supreme confidence it takes to become world-class at anything. I wish I possessed total confidence when I played. I was a stone front-runner: if I thought I was better than you, I played to my full potential, but if I thought you were better than me, I turned into a human dog-pound, find a way to lose, getting weight didn't help, the whole 8 1/2 yards (couldn't ever get to 9). A buddy of mine, who I routinely beat, had the confidence to play people who had just beat me, and the sheer audacity to beat them. I would tell him that he couldn't win, and he would say something like "this guy will win at first, but if he doesn't quit me, I'll grind him down...he's too emotional and will self-destruct sooner or later"...sure enough, ol' grinder would take it off. I really think unshakable confidence is THE key ingredient in the mental aspect of pool. Good topic, T - lotta discussion here about aiming systems, cues, drills, etc, and not much on what it takes, mentally, to be a strong player. Signed, The REAL Snoop Doggy Dog.


So what is your method of pocketing balls, mental world beater?
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I think most people think they are better then they really are. And when thier games dont hold up to thier fantasy they come unraveled and play worse then they normally do. Bob Fancher mentions this in his book "Pleasures of Small Motions" and I think he is dead on.
 
sonia said:
So what is your method of pocketing balls, mental world beater?
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Sonia, this isn't a discussion on aiming systems. I made the thread in order to generate discussions on confidence or arrogance. I read the quotes and took them a certain way. I was curious as to what others thought. There is a mental side to pool, it's not just aiming. If you don't agree with that & you want to discuss it, thats fine but please start another thread.

Jnav wasn't saying that he was a world beater. I thought his post was honest and humbling. He admitted that he was better than some but that there were some that was better than himself and that he didn't have the confidence to be able to stand up to them and give it his all. Calling him out and insinuating that he claimed to be a world beater wasn't neccessary imo.
 
Jimmy M. said:
Mike's comments are all shtick. He has a role to play now. He's Mike "The Mouth". Whenever you see him at an event you can be sure he'll be in character at all times. It's getting tiresome, but we're going to have to endure it at least through 2007 as I figure he'll keep his card after 2006.
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Jimmy I am sure you have been around pool for a long time and have seen Mike play many times. I have had the fortune (misfortune?) to have spent some time around him and I can guarantee you that his comments about his prowess aren't an act. He has always been arrogant about his game compared to everyone else. "The Mouth" fits him more than "Captain Hook" ever did.

Make no mistake, Mike Sigel will be have his tour card as long as he is healthy and able to hold a stick. Coming out of retirement he is still well capable of beating anyone on the planet. He will always be one of the top 100 pool players on planet Earth.

It's funny how people want to celebrate Keith McCready's playing whenever he beats today's champions but won't give Mike any credit when he does.

John
 
onepocketchump said:
It's funny how people want to celebrate Keith McCready's playing whenever he beats today's champions but won't give Mike any credit when he does.

John
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If you've ever read any of my other posts concerning Sigel then you would see that I am one of the ones who gives him all the credit in the world. I commented on his mouth, not his playing ability. Actually, I did comment on his playing ability only to say that I expected him to retain his card.
 
Arrogance or Pride?????

I have to say this and I am not pointing fingers at anyone or trying to offend anybody. I think that arrogance about a game is a derivitive of feeling unimportant in other areas of life. What I meen is this game and being very good at it gives alot of people that would otherwise feel normal the feeling of being special or more important than they really are. We all have seen this first hand in almost every pool hall in the country. There is always some little kid that can play close to good that thinks he's the best in the world. It shows me through their arrogance that this table game is all they got. You can see this same effect almost anywhere look at people you work around exaples include I am the best at typing I am the best at selling I am the best driver I am the best drug addict or whatever ......It is human nature to feel special for being one of the best you could say that this is a form of pride not arrogance. I would say being proud of your accomplishments is also a very important element to being good at pocket billliards.
 
Jimmy M. said:
If you've ever read any of my other posts concerning Sigel then you would see that I am one of the ones who gives him all the credit in the world. I commented on his mouth, not his playing ability. Actually, I did comment on his playing ability only to say that I expected him to retain his card.
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It wasn't directed at you. If it were then I would have made that clear. In the course of a conversation I can make general observations without them being personally pointed at anyone in particular.

John
 
Confidence is a quality of the mind. It doesn't have to be emoted to the world. What is being mistaken here as confidence, is really ego. I have to wonder if Sigel is trying to convince us or himself of his prowess.
 
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