Do you start slow or fast

D

DanielDeTinne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It seems I am a slow to start player. When ever I play I need to get on the table and hit 15 to 30 shots to get in stroke. If I just start playing, I play like shit.
Now I am not great player, a strong 4 by APA and a 7 in my local league. But I will get in a race to 10 with people and unless I've been playing some befor our match, I will loose the first few games badly, then I normally come back and win in the end. I don't often lose a race to 10 but always start slow. It's very frustrating. Anyone else have this problem?
 
DanielDeTinne said:
It seems I am a slow to start player. When ever I play I need to get on the table and hit 15 to 30 shots to get in stroke. If I just start playing, I play like shit.
Now I am not great player, a strong 4 by APA and a 7 in my local league. But I will get in a race to 10 with people and unless I've been playing some befor our match, I will loose the first few games badly, then I normally come back and win in the end. I don't often lose a race to 10 but always start slow. It's very frustrating. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

Well there ya' go ... you found the solution. :thumbup:
 
DanielDeTinne said:
It seems I am a slow to start player. When ever I play I need to get on the table and hit 15 to 30 shots to get in stroke. If I just start playing, I play like shit.
Now I am not great player, a strong 4 by APA and a 7 in my local league. But I will get in a race to 10 with people and unless I've been playing some befor our match, I will loose the first few games badly, then I normally come back and win in the end. I don't often lose a race to 10 but always start slow. It's very frustrating. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

Oop's didn't realize this was pool related.
 
Nine ... corner said:
Well there ya' go ... you found the solution. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I already knew my solution, but thanks. I'm just curious about others. I play against my wife or friends and they just walk to the table and play their best pool. I walk to the table and play like a first timer for a few games, then after a while I play to my true form.
Unfortunately I sometimes come late to league night and don't get to the practice table befor my match. Then when I start slow I get accused of sandbagging when I'm not.
 
I start out slow and then get on my game around the 3-4 game. I try to play for the 30 minutes prior to a match but that isn't always possible.
 
bdorman said:
I start out slow and then get on my game around the 3-4 game. I try to play for the 30 minutes prior to a match but that isn't always possible.
Click to expand...

+1

I'm just tight in the beginning and problem #1 is coming up out of the shot.
 
I actually think I play fast - if slow means that you have to warm up to get in stroke, and fast means you can just get to a table and shoot normally and consistently.

Whenever I head to the APA league on Thursday I get there an hour before the matches start and practice - from the minute I bust a rack open I'm playing as I normally would in-stroke.

There's been a night or two where I've been delayed and showed up to immediately get thrown into a match and I still play fine. I got to my match with no practice and played very well.

-Richard
 
I matched up this weekend and I would say I felt I was in stroke and comfortable after the first 21 games or so. You just got to know what it takes for you and get there before you play a match that matters.
 
I've only recently started playing on the longer running games (first to 7 games is our format.) At first I lose, then on the second game I lose... then I may still lose again. We have a table at home, you would think I'm used to it. Typically I can lose a number of games before getting the win. However I do win the first match went hill-hill the second was 7 to 4. It can be frustrating and tiring but I enjoy it specially when you come back for the win. Therefore apparently I am a slow player, but I have always been I can play a shut-out too but that's not the norm for me.

Any time I can I like to warm up with drills on draw, stop, follow, banks and kicks. When a warm up is not an option I struggle to get in the groove. When I'm not in the groove I will play a heavy defensive game until I come around.

We played in the APA for about 2 years my sl when I left was 4 in 8 ball and 3-4 in 9 ball. I quit the leagues so I could spend more time and energy practicing so I could enter the local tournaments. My first one is 8/9/14 and it will be streamed too :cool:
 
Have to hit the ground running. They say Mike Sigel was so hard to beat in his prime because he would put racks on you and then play you safe. Hence the Captain Hook nickname. Hard to come back against players who do that, no?

Think you are in stroke and you will be. Think you're not warmed up and you won't be. It's all in your head.
 
I agree with the above statement. If you think you're on, you will be. With me - I've noticed that I don't necessarily start fast or slow. That's about 50/50. But once I get myself to the point where I feel on it doesn't go away. Lately, with it not being pool season for me, I've been warming up for an hour or two and then going off to play disc golf league, and then coming back for about a 15 minute warm up before jumping into my league match.

Somehow the break in between the warmup and coming back for league seems to get me in the right comfortable mental state to play a competitive match.
 
I seem to play better earlier. Often the best games I play in a given evening are the first few, so I try not to warm up too much.

Seems like the more I play, the more I think, and that's never a good thing :p
 
I seem to win more often if I get put up first or last. Not sure why. I have one thing for you to work on that might help. It will also strengthen other areas of your game as well. Work diligently on your pre shot routine. Examine every aspect.....ie approach to shot on line, correct feet placement, getting down over cue on the shot line, etc. Put together a choreography of movements that is repeatable every time....at the same pace every time. Almost machine like. You will be surprised how well you start playing a match, cold stroke, when you work on the preshot. It really is a confidence builder when you can walk in the room and run a table with no warm up. Only done it a few times, but I want more!
 
I'm a notoriously slow starter as well and I'd say it takes several games to feel like I'm in stroke if I'm coming into a match cold. I tend to play conservative for the first few racks and get a feel for the table and keep my opponent from getting in stroke before I do.

I do have a couple shots that are triggers to let me know when I'm in stroke. One is a straight in draw shot where the cue ball comes straight back with no sidespin whatsoever and the other is the force follow with inside to go around three rails for shape. Once I nail a couple of these, I know I'm ready to go.
 
DanielDeTinne said:
It seems I am a slow to start player. When ever I play I need to get on the table and hit 15 to 30 shots to get in stroke. If I just start playing, I play like shit.
Now I am not great player, a strong 4 by APA and a 7 in my local league. But I will get in a race to 10 with people and unless I've been playing some befor our match, I will loose the first few games badly, then I normally come back and win in the end. I don't often lose a race to 10 but always start slow. It's very frustrating. Anyone else have this problem?
Click to expand...

Many very excellent players have been "slow-starters", it's not uncommon. I'm that way myself. I'd rather finish strong than worry about starting fast except when gambling. When slow-starters make their inevitable move when gambling their opponents tend to quit at the break-even point.

You can't change who you are and I, for one, think you are better off than the fast-starters. Those guys tend to fall apart when we make our move.

ONB
 
Old Nine Baller said:
Many very excellent players have been "slow-starters", it's not uncommon. I'm that way myself. I'd rather finish strong than worry about starting fast except when gambling. When slow-starters make their inevitable move when gambling their opponents tend to quit at the break-even point.

You can't change who you are and I, for one, think you are better off than the fast-starters. Those guys tend to fall apart when we make our move.

ONB
Click to expand...

Thanks. Nice to know some others start slow too. I have noticed that some people I play that start off strong fade early.
 
I don't necessarily start slow or fast, but I often go through a poor area in my game if I don't get 30 minutes of warm up before starting.

In any event, when I do end up in a position where I have to start before I might be optimal, I make very sure I am 100% focused on the shot of the moment, the line, the stroke,...etc. If I do not "overconcentrate" I can miss a few easy ones and ruin a short race. But If I attempted to concentrate at this level for more than a couple of games, I would become exhausted after not a long enough period of time--just from the mental stress. So, once my game comes around, I ease off a hair.
 
"Do you start slow or fast"


Oh no.....not another sexual reference in pool.
So far we have too many to count.
 
Slow...

Usually slow. Then good for about 3 hours, then down hill and tired......I'm old!:(
 
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