Dismissing Good Numbers !

[stevekur1]

Hey Guys,

I have been hitting the balls very well the last few weeks, couple of 80's and multiple 70's, 60s and 50's.

My problem is this, we started League last night and i couldnt make a ball. I Think mentally i am now starting to expect at any time another run in that range of Numbers especially on a league night so i can secure the High Run Prize.

Plus the burdon i carry for being the Quote , unquote favorite to win the season !

i am having a tough time not thinking about it, any suggestions would be Great. Outside of "Have fun", and "enjoy it for a night out". When i play 14.1 i can't not play the game serious, when i have all sorts of personal goals at the game.

Thanks
Steve

 

[14-1StraightMan]

You are not alone.

Hey Guys,

I have been hitting the balls very well the last few weeks, couple of 80's and multiple 70's, 60s and 50's.

My problem is this, we started League last night and i couldnt make a ball. I Think mentally i am now starting to expect at any time another run in that range of Numbers especially on a league night so i can secure the High Run Prize.

Plus the burden i carry for being the Quote , unquote favorite to win the season !

i am having a tough time not thinking about it, any suggestions would be Great. Outside of "Have fun", and "enjoy it for a night out". When i play 14.1 i can't not play the game serious, when i have all sorts of personal goals at the game.

Thanks
Steve

Steve: You sound like me. The same thing happens to me by putting so much pressure on myself, it hurts my game. Being favored is another burden. People come to watch my matches and I end up with small runs. Barely winning, when I should of crushed the guy.
I am trying to learn how to relax but it is not an easy thing to do. My wife tells me to "just go & have fun"........ LOL, I wish it was that easy. I really do not know what to tell you but I just want you to know that you are not alone.
I can say that playing more often helps. Now that I am retired. I can play more pool & I have noticed that my game is getting better. I have more frequent high runs during my matches. I remember a few years ago when I would play a match once in a blue moon. I would miss shots all over the place. I think maybe a person can relate this to also playing in tournaments with high skilled level players. At first a person would be nervous but playing in tournaments over a long period of time with the same players showing up, one should learn to relax and have their better game come out.
What do you think?

 

[Cameron Smith]

I think you may be quashing a good playing streak with some unreasonable expectations. Not even the top players run 80 every time they get going.

To put it into perspective, in John Schmidt and Danny Harriman's first 400 point match, John averaged roughly 33 balls per inning and Danny averaged 27 (not including innings where they only played safe).

I've been having a similar problem with snooker within the last few months. Every time I got an openish table, I wanted to run a century (not that I've had many, most have been in practice). It got so silly, that at one point I had consecutive breaks of 52, 73, a 76 clearance and a 64, but instead of being pleased with my play I was pissed that I wasn't getting the century. And of course as the day progressed I managed to convince myself I was playing poorly. As a result I've put myself in a bit of a slump and the only way I get past 50 is in line up now.

I guess the best thing to do is be less numbers oriented. I'm just trying to making the most of my innings, play it one shot at a time and focus on winning the game, because at the end of the day that's all that matters. I think the more you focus on big runs, it begins to shark you a little. Kinda of like when you first start running racks in 9 ball, it takes a bit before the butterfly's stop popping up on the 7, 8 and 9. The less of a big deal it is, the easier it is to accomplish because you can just focus on the task at hand, not so much the number you want to get to.

 

[stevekur1]

Oh I definatly agree, I don't expect to be able to run good numbers all the time, but I do expect to ay better than I did.

It has nothing to do with playing in front Of the rail-birds. I actually play better listening to the banter going back and forth aboutgood shot selection and what not.
Sometimes it helps it you don't see the pattern, if you listen closely to the birds you may catch them exposing a good pattern !! Lol

thanks
steve

 

[sausage]

watching reyes vs rempe helped me a lot. the main thing was noticing how relaxed was reyes when he immediately ran over 100 balls. he looked unstoppable but then missed a gimmie at around 115. but then the next thing that helped me is noticing how tight and inept reme looked and we all know what a terrific player he is. the match began with a bang and ended with easy shots being missed and world-class players not getting out on open racks. finally, reyes gets back to the table with only 14 to win but he has to set up and make the break-ball and then just pocket ONE MORE BALL to win. he breaks and doesn't draw his cue back to center table! letting rempe back to the table at this point could have lost him the match. reyes just stops for a few seconds and actually starts laughing about his rookie blunder. ONE MORE BALL is all he needs and because he dogged his break, he now has to shoot a tough-for-straight-pool, bank in the side which he made. rempe had sooo many chances that he should have never gotten but was way too tight and indecisive to play to his capabilities. both players looked inept near the end....