My biggest pet peeve in pool is the number of excuses about losing because of bad luck. Unless you played a perfect set with 0 mistakes (impossible) and your opponent slopped in the 9 hill hill you really have no reason to complain about bad luck. In all honesty you made mistakes earlier in the set that cost you the match, not your opponents lucky rolls. I try to simply focus on what I could have done better, anything else is counterproductive IMO.
Did you really lose by bad luck?
- Thread starter future757
- Start date
Whenever the other guy is at the table more than once, that means you did something not perfect. However, that does not mean that they won by playing better than you or by even making a single good shot that went where they made. That would be luck.
My son loves to lose by running out a rack and then scratching on the 8 or 9 or missing and leaving an easy 1-2-3 ball run for the other guy.
Did he lose because he messed up? Yes.
Did the other player win because they played good? No. They simply were the recipient of the other player being generous.
In the junior SBE tournament my son won 2-0 2-1 2-1 in sets the 3 matches that he won (it was best of 3 sets each match), each of the sets he lost were because the other player hunted the 9 ball or missed and got lucky safes where he could not hit the ball and when he did, he left them a shot. I'd say the other players won those sets by luck not skill. When those were taken out, he won the sets he won by scores of 5-1 or 5-2. When he lost it was hill-hill with the other player winning by banging in the 9 with random shots.
Yes, they were at the table because he let them, but they still won due to lucky shots, not skill.
My son loves to lose by running out a rack and then scratching on the 8 or 9 or missing and leaving an easy 1-2-3 ball run for the other guy.
Did he lose because he messed up? Yes.
Did the other player win because they played good? No. They simply were the recipient of the other player being generous.
In the junior SBE tournament my son won 2-0 2-1 2-1 in sets the 3 matches that he won (it was best of 3 sets each match), each of the sets he lost were because the other player hunted the 9 ball or missed and got lucky safes where he could not hit the ball and when he did, he left them a shot. I'd say the other players won those sets by luck not skill. When those were taken out, he won the sets he won by scores of 5-1 or 5-2. When he lost it was hill-hill with the other player winning by banging in the 9 with random shots.
Yes, they were at the table because he let them, but they still won due to lucky shots, not skill.
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It took me awhile to realize it, but you create your own luck. Win or lose, everything that happens to you at the table is a direct result of your own doing. Luck does not control shot selection, speed or accuracy. Nor does luck control those things for your opponent.
Do lucky rolls happen? Maybe, but for everyone that may occur, you set the roll in motion by your actions.
-J
Do lucky rolls happen? Maybe, but for everyone that may occur, you set the roll in motion by your actions.
-J
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That's all I'm saying. The balls go exactly where you hit them (unless you catch a piece of chalk or the table rolls off). If you think firing in a ball and going 3 rails for shape to end up an inch short and hooked is bad luck, the ball simply went where you hit it and you played poor shape by not hitting it hard enough or with enough spin. Failing to recognize that is failing to recognize your weaknesses and what you need to work on.
Ha, I recently played someone who came up to me after losing and said "Was it just me or did I get all the bad rolls? I mean anytime you missed I never had a shot."
Ever notice how the better players always seem to have better luck as well?
Rather than consider that I knew how to miss the right way he instead just dismissed it as him being unlucky.
It's a lot easier to blame uncontrollable outside forces than to own up to reality sometimes. The day you start quit making excuses is the day you take a step towards becoming a better player.
Ever notice how the better players always seem to have better luck as well?
Rather than consider that I knew how to miss the right way he instead just dismissed it as him being unlucky.
It's a lot easier to blame uncontrollable outside forces than to own up to reality sometimes. The day you start quit making excuses is the day you take a step towards becoming a better player.
Everybody gets good and bad rolls. The difference is a better player does more with the good roll and deals better with the bad roll. It is not the rolls that defines them, but what they do with them..
Sure better players miss on the right side but I would argue that the worse players get more "lucky rolls". They miss more often and miss worse sending the object ball around table and more likely to get lucky. Better players miss less often and would be more likely to barely miss and rattle a ball.
Right. I was being facetious when I said "Ever notice how the better players always seem to have better luck as well?".
My point was that it wasn't actually luck.
Luck is the residue of success. I think I heard that in a Steven Seagal movie.
Also, the better players won't enter into a discussion regarding good, or bad rolls.
The game is the teacher. (Now where have I heard that before?) :smile:
Also, the better players won't enter into a discussion regarding good, or bad rolls.
The game is the teacher. (Now where have I heard that before?) :smile:
The lucky roll thing definitely goes both ways. But a weak player will think that you got lucky when you leave him with a bad shot but in reality you were playing a 2 way shot. The worst thing about playing a weak player, mainly 8 ball I am speaking of, is you choose your group based on the layout of the table. If you do not run out every time (I know I don't run out every time I'm at the table, not yet at least) they so often shoot hard without much regard to which balls they hit after the object ball and completely rearrange the table. Often you end up with balls tied up, if you only have 1 or 2 other balls left it can be real tough to break that tied up ball out. On a 7' table it seems this happens pretty often.I would think the above falls into the bad luck category for the better player even though one can argue the better player caused by letting the weaker player to the table. Its just not realistic that the better player runs rack after rack.
I lost to a guy at the expo this year in the final set. I was up 2-0. I had him on two fouls and almost locked up on a ball. He kicks at the ball going two or three rails blasting the cue ball, it hits the 2 ball and then the cue caroms off it and knocks the 9 ball in miraculously. Then, he breaks and makes the 9 ball. Then, I broke and didn't make anything and left an easy 1 and 2 and then the 3 - 9 combo was dead in the corner. So in about 5-10 minutes I went from winning 2-0 to losing 3-2. I blamed bad luck for the loss because he eventually beat me then. A good shooter watching me play who sat by my buddy said to him that I never should have lost to the guy. I was definitely stronger, but I feel I just got bad rolls.
Tim
Tim
Like my best friend says " Who created the opportunity for who to do what to who"
I was hung up on the bad luck and rolls for a long time, but honestly when I look back it was me who opened the door for those things to even take place.
I was hung up on the bad luck and rolls for a long time, but honestly when I look back it was me who opened the door for those things to even take place.
It can be tough but my only argument is that the break in BB 9 ball is so important and you have to know how to make a ball. If not it's a miss. You're dry break was a mistake. I would also say you made mistakes in the first set you lost that could have been avoided. It's not possible to play perfect but I believe failing to blame yourself for your mistakes hinders you from getting better.
The weaker the player(s) the more lucky rolls come into play. The reason for this is they often have little clue as to exactly how they want a shot to work out. They have an idea, but not an exact plan.
They get lucky when they make a shot and let the cue ball fly and wind up perfect, they get lucky when they miss and leave you hooked/no shot. I've played long sets and never been left with a shot when the opponent missed. Other times they sell out, THAT IS LUCK since they had no plan if they missed.
This is the reason I don't gamble at 9-ball.... Call shot/call safe 10-ball or 8 ball, I'll play for money all day.
Also, some days you feel like you're shooting like God... the fact is you're shooting well, but you're not noticing the little rubs that are going your way, that on a bad day go against you. One or two "rolls" can make a huge difference and have no relation to how well you're playing.
Fact is we notice the bad rolls 10x to amount we notice the good ones.
They get lucky when they make a shot and let the cue ball fly and wind up perfect, they get lucky when they miss and leave you hooked/no shot. I've played long sets and never been left with a shot when the opponent missed. Other times they sell out, THAT IS LUCK since they had no plan if they missed.
This is the reason I don't gamble at 9-ball.... Call shot/call safe 10-ball or 8 ball, I'll play for money all day.
Also, some days you feel like you're shooting like God... the fact is you're shooting well, but you're not noticing the little rubs that are going your way, that on a bad day go against you. One or two "rolls" can make a huge difference and have no relation to how well you're playing.
Fact is we notice the bad rolls 10x to amount we notice the good ones.
well, when the guy shoots and misses and hooks you by "luck", its bad luck for you. vica versa. luck and bad luck is involved in all walks of life, whether we like to admit it or not. thats why some nights you get the rolls and some nights you shoot good enough that you don't need them, its a moot point. its like arguing the hit or feel of a cue. too subjective. somethings you just have to live with and move on. For the non elite/pro level player, everything counts.
This thread made me laugh. I too resent others from whining about " bad luck" and "bad rolls".
In a recent bar table tournament, at 4:30 am I found myself still on the winner's side, in a race to 7, playing 9 ball. My opponent and I traded games for a most of the set but he missed a ball during one of his runs and left me hooked. I had to jump the impeding object ball and cut the intended object ball and did just that, only to scratch two rails in the corner. The next game my opponent missed and again left me hooked and all I had was a JUMP/BANK on the 7 ball. I belly up to the table like a man and fire at the jump bank. I make the 7 ball and the cue ball continues going floating straight and falls into the bottom corner pocket. I lose 7-5. I guess I need to work on controlling my cue ball on jump shots.
JoeyA
In a recent bar table tournament, at 4:30 am I found myself still on the winner's side, in a race to 7, playing 9 ball. My opponent and I traded games for a most of the set but he missed a ball during one of his runs and left me hooked. I had to jump the impeding object ball and cut the intended object ball and did just that, only to scratch two rails in the corner. The next game my opponent missed and again left me hooked and all I had was a JUMP/BANK on the 7 ball. I belly up to the table like a man and fire at the jump bank. I make the 7 ball and the cue ball continues going floating straight and falls into the bottom corner pocket. I lose 7-5. I guess I need to work on controlling my cue ball on jump shots.
JoeyA