Did You Ever Have "That Night?"

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DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
ok, posters, did it ever happen to you? what i am talking about is having a night where you are just unbeatable, where you are playing to the absolute best of your ability, where you get some decent rolls/spreads from the balls, where you have opportunities, where you run after rack, and you are just on cloud 9 in the pool world?

i keep hoping for that night at my table. hopefully, one of these days it will arrive. . . . . . . . . . .

DCP
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
ok, posters, did it ever happen to you? what i am talking about is having a night where you are just unbeatable, where you are playing to the absolute best of your ability, where you get some decent rolls/spreads from the balls, where you have opportunities, where you run after rack, and you are just on cloud 9 in the pool world?

i keep hoping for that night at my table. hopefully, one of these days it will arrive. . . . . . . . . . .

DCP
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Yes. I was playing at Master Billiards in Queens and I was totally zoned out in my zone (if that makes sense), 'til someone came over and pointed out "Do you realize that you've just broke and ran out 4 times in a row?" Well, if that wasn't a splash of cold water in my face then I don't know what was. Sigh.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
ok, posters, did it ever happen to you? what i am talking about is having a night where you are just unbeatable, where you are playing to the absolute best of your ability, where you get some decent rolls/spreads from the balls, where you have opportunities, where you run after rack, and you are just on cloud 9 in the pool world?

i keep hoping for that night at my table. hopefully, one of these days it will arrive. . . . . . . . . . .

DCP
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Thought this was leading to some great experience you had lol Guess not!
 
Yup, it happened at nationals this year all the way up to playing for the hill, but sadly i lost 2 after that and it went downhill. Keep shooting your day will come. :cool:
 
oh yeah!

did you also ever notice on these nights, there's NO gamblers around to profit from it? I have, and each time...nobody.
 
I had a night like that not too long ago, but it was more like 9 ball girl's experience. I didn't realize that I had broke and ran 5 in a row. But then a friend of mine came up and told me exactly what I had done. After that, I missed the first shot and lost the next 3 games in a row. :(
 
well, i haven't been playing that long, and i'm still not the best player there is obviously, but there was one night that I was playing with the people that I usually play with, and do not beat that often, but that night I was at the table for atleast 2 hours beating all of them over and over again, it felt great getting to beat them, cause I usually just play sit down and wait.. and then play sit down and wait.. but instead, I was making them sit down and wait.. it really gave me confidence in my game, which has helped me play better.
 
> Actually,the best one of mine came during the day with only one person that saw the whole thing,10 consecutive .900 plus races to 13,according to the witness. He used to go to tournaments with my group,and kept score and performance notes on a legal pad. I showed him the Accu-Stats method,and he used it several times before this. In 10 sets,I never missed more than 2 balls in any one set,including 3 in a row where I either played a ball in hand safety or ran out every time. I had 15 runs of 3 racks or more,with a high of 5-out,plus the first 2 racks in the next set. My opponent was no slouch either,he had a 6 rack run at one point,and never quit until he was too tired to sit and watch,he had been working for 10 hours before we even started this 12 hour marathon. I still felt the effects of that gear 6 months later. Sadly,both my opponent and the witness have passed,and I've only gotten close to it 2-3 times in the 9 years since. Tommy D.
 
duke@neo.rr.com said:
did you also ever notice on these nights, there's NO gamblers around to profit from it? I have, and each time...nobody.
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Duke,
Maybe not always. I've had 2 really great nights. The first was in the finals of our straight pool league, where I played the BEST pool under pressure I have ever experienced (but lost 100-88 :( - at least I know he is a better player than me; if it was 9-ball I would be certain he was just luckier).

The second great night was in my biggest money match ever (by far), and again I played almost perfectly, winning the match and the cash. Of the 2 matches I enjoyed the league match the best even though I lost - it was the first time I had ever played at a high level under significant pressure. It was an epic struggle, we both played our best, and my opponent is a super nice guy; I was happy for him afterwards. It felt like the end of a Rocky movie, we were both drained by the tension.
 
I've had it happen twice bowling and once playing pool. But I don't think it's going to happen to you DCP until you get rid of that blue cloth and get the forest green cloth. :D (J/K)

Terry
 
I was once playing for small stakes in Holland during one evening after I crashed out from the weekly tournament. My opponent was very capable of running many racks and was a good player. We played races to 7 and I was first spotting him 2 on the wire. I was down 4-0 the first set and found my gear and won easily 7-4. Next set, with a 3 spot: 7-3. Next with 4 spot: 7-4. I think I ran a couple of 3 packs and most of my racks came from run-outs while winning 21 consecutive racks on this skilled guy. Got only a $50 or so from him.

Another session was after a major straight pool tournament here in Finland I returned to my pool club, racked the balls and proceeded to run 10 racks of straight pool without missing. Actually, never came close to missing, just split the wicket on all shots. Unfortunately I got stuck in the rack 2-3 times during the run when another ball hit and returned the cueball to the rack leaving me absolutely nothing. I think I ran 60-70 during that session... Could've easily ran 150 without those couple of unfortunate rolls.
 
Whoa!

Last Monday Night, my regular APA League Night. 8-Ball, race to four, won the lag, broke and ran four racks for the win! Short lived though?...out in the first round in two Tournys I played this past weekend...and got beat 4 to 1 last night...oh well, it was good while it lasted!

:D
 
Yep, a week or so ago I had the table for three hours (13 games) unbeaten before I was finally taken down. With every shot I seemed to gain more and more confidence.
 
Jersey said:
Last Monday Night, my regular APA League Night. 8-Ball, race to four, won the lag, broke and ran four racks for the win! Short lived though?...out in the first round in two Tournys I played this past weekend...and got beat 4 to 1 last night...oh well, it was good while it lasted!

:D
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Race to 4? So you must be an APA5. I rarely see a 5 run one rack, let alone four!!!
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
ok, posters, did it ever happen to you? what i am talking about is having a night where you are just unbeatable, where you are playing to the absolute best of your ability, where you get some decent rolls/spreads from the balls, where you have opportunities, where you run after rack, and you are just on cloud 9 in the pool world?

i keep hoping for that night at my table. hopefully, one of these days it will arrive. . . . . . . . . . .

DCP
Click to expand...

I have had "That Night", but I'm pretty sure every human has a day when they play above themselves.

The negative side to focusing too heavily on memories of "That Night" is that we use this as the "acid test" of where we could be, instead of analyzing where we are and how we can improve. Truth be told, we could all rise far above our performance on "That Night" by making it a regular occurance.

Do you know why these nights rarely happen?.....because people hope that each night will be, "That Night". Most of the time a cold start discourages them and they get down-trodden which only leads to more of the same failure.

On the occasion when they string together a few great games, the self-awareness takes over. They say, holy crap, I'm on fire, then bam....the flame flickers out. They took their eye off the ball so to speak.

When a person learns to just let go and work towards the goal of putting in a consistent performance, that's when great things truly happen.

These days, I'm just happy to make a ball off the break. I've learned to cherish the little accomplishments, that way the big ones are that much sweeter.

It's consistency that's breeds confidence. It's confidence that breeds success. That's the cycle of sport, and it's also why it's so fickle.
 
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vapoolplayer said:
good god.........what a bunch of mosconies........guys running 4 packs 6 packs, 4 packs in 8 ball...........

i'll need the 6 from everyone..........

VAP
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Yeah, in my not so subtle way I tried to show how praying to the pool gods for, "The one night to rule them all" is a total waste of time........ but you found a much better way of making that point.
 
My greatest claim to fame was winning seventy-five games of 8-ball in a row. True story, believe it or not.

I was so sick of it, that I quit as a winner. One guy that tried all day to beat me grabbed me by my shirt and told me I HAD to stay until he beat me. lol. I'd say that this feat is just about impossible even if Willie Mosconi was playing a brand new hacker. I remember about half way through the run, one guy had the 8 straight in the side, about 6 inches away from the pocket...he missed it! That "locked me in" for the rest of the day.

I was 18, using a tipless cue on a Sears wooden-bed table. I didn't know shit about pool, but that day I developed my touch stroke which has helped me for life.

Btw, it was all for fun, no cash---der!. :(

Jeff Livingston
 
BrianK74 said:
Yeah, in my not so subtle way I tried to show how praying to the pool gods for, "The one night to rule them all" is a total waste of time........ but you found a much better way of making that point.
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you're right, its a total waste..........just play the game.

i was more so trying to point out that i think alot of these stories on azb are "big fish" tales.

if they aren't, then we definitely have the largest amount of players who can go from running a 6 pack to not being able to run 1 rack within a day.

VAP
 
I had one of those nights this year.
After months of suffering at a local jackpot series, 23 participations with never ever getting close to the money ranks I entered the final tournament by luck being number 16 on the final ranking list.

I had the worst group, 3 tremendous shooters and me, and I could proceed to the finals by beating all of them, one being a 2nd league player who had me to 1-4 already then missed a ball and then did not return to the table, I won 5-4 (probably my biggest match ever)
quarterfinal was quite easy as my opponent was a guy that hates playing against me and at 5-1 /(then race to 7) he unscrewd his cue and gave up, well thanks pal. I had no mistake in my game until then, either finishing or leaving him horrible safeties
half-final: I went 6-1 ahead but the other guy did fight like hell and made it hill to hill, he left me with a good safety but I made the 7 with a curve shot, and could luckily take the win.

The final was the worst set in the whole tournament, both my opponent and me played complete shit but my shit did stink better than his one and I could win 7-2 (normally I would get a 3-0 and then loose 5-7 against this guy !!)

So I won my first big prized tournament, took home the $ 1200
I took me some days to realize what had happened, and I think another 3 weeks to find back to a normal level, from the day after the big night until then I wasn't able to pocket 3 balls in a row.....

I hope one day I'll get another night like this :)
 
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