Don't just practice pool, practice taking falls!

Tin Man

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I believe it was Titanic Thompson who said "Put a balance beam one foot off the ground and anyone in this room can run across it. Put that same balance beam fifty feet in the air and no one in this room can walk across it." He was referring, of course, to how competitive pressure can drastically change one's ability to perform.

There are many skills needed to play a competitive game of pool, but one of the most neglected is handling serious pressure. No one likes the feeling of falling apart in a meaningful match in front of a crowd.

Many players conclude the answer is practicing their physical game. And to a point they are right. Of course you have to put in hours working on your game, rehearsing the techniques and skills you will use under the lights.

The problem is that too often they stop there. That isn't enough. Because while you can practice all of your physical skills in your basement, you can't simulate the experience of being out of your comfort zone in the comfort of your own home. You know the feeling when you start feeling short of breath, your arm starts shaking, your stroke feels weak and wobbly, the pocket openings shrink up, and all you can see are ways for balls to jaw up or for the cue ball to be sucked into a pocket.

Many people hate this so much they try to avoid it. So they stay in their comfort zone with the plan to keep running drills with the belief that they will develop their physical game so strong that it will become impervious to this type of pressure. But there is no amount of comfortable practice that will develop your ability to manage through excruciating circumstances. The only way to improve this area of your game is to get out of your comfort zone again and again.

Going back to our analogy of the balance beam. Someone who intends to walk a fifty foot high balance beam is doing themselves a disservice if they are so afraid of falling that they work on their moves one foot off the ground exclusively. The best thing to do would be to keep moving it higher and higher and practice taking falls. Eventually those falls will start looking less and less daunting until, at times, the heights won't disrupt their performance.

I work with many players that are serious about improving their pool game. I often ask my students "When was the last devastating loss you experienced? When was the last time you were so nervous you totally broke down?" Those who have to reach back in their memory bank for matches long ago are on the wrong path. I tell them I can teach them, I can train them, but they have to set themselves up with a steady diet of adversity if they want to truly experience success in their pool career.

So if you want to be a competitor, it's time to stop looking at meltdowns as a negative thing to be dreaded and avoided. It's time to embrace those experiences as the practice you need most to reach your goals. True competitors collect losses. They understand the road to victory is paved with failure, and to become a player that achieve meaningful accomplishments there must be many attempts that end with heartbreaking setbacks.
 
I believe it was Titanic Thompson who said "Put a balance beam one foot off the ground and anyone in this room can run across it. Put that same balance beam fifty feet in the air and no one in this room can walk across it." He was referring, of course, to how competitive pressure can drastically change one's ability to perform.

There are many skills needed to play a competitive game of pool, but one of the most neglected is handling serious pressure. No one likes the feeling of falling apart in a meaningful match in front of a crowd.

Many players conclude the answer is practicing their physical game. And to a point they are right. Of course you have to put in hours working on your game, rehearsing the techniques and skills you will use under the lights.

The problem is that too often they stop there. That isn't enough. Because while you can practice all of your physical skills in your basement, you can't simulate the experience of being out of your comfort zone in the comfort of your own home. You know the feeling when you start feeling short of breath, your arm starts shaking, your stroke feels weak and wobbly, the pocket openings shrink up, and all you can see are ways for balls to jaw up or for the cue ball to be sucked into a pocket.

Many people hate this so much they try to avoid it. So they stay in their comfort zone with the plan to keep running drills with the belief that they will develop their physical game so strong that it will become impervious to this type of pressure. But there is no amount of comfortable practice that will develop your ability to manage through excruciating circumstances. The only way to improve this area of your game is to get out of your comfort zone again and again.

Going back to our analogy of the balance beam. Someone who intends to walk a fifty foot high balance beam is doing themselves a disservice if they are so afraid of falling that they work on their moves one foot off the ground exclusively. The best thing to do would be to keep moving it higher and higher and practice taking falls. Eventually those falls will start looking less and less daunting until, at times, the heights won't disrupt their performance.

I work with many players that are serious about improving their pool game. I often ask my students "When was the last devastating loss you experienced? When was the last time you were so nervous you totally broke down?" Those who have to reach back in their memory bank for matches long ago are on the wrong path. I tell them I can teach them, I can train them, but they have to set themselves up with a steady diet of adversity if they want to truly experience success in their pool career.

So if you want to be a competitor, it's time to stop looking at meltdowns as a negative thing to be dreaded and avoided. It's time to embrace those experiences as the practice you need most to reach your goals. True competitors collect losses. They understand the road to victory is paved with failure, and to become a player that achieve meaningful accomplishments there must be many attempts that end with heartbreaking setbacks.
Another Yes, Tin Man...
 
....and some of us just enjoy the game and its intricacies to relax, learn, exercise, improve mental acuity, etc. I am not at all interested in stressful competition to end my productive day. The day I walk out of the pool room without feeling refreshed, positive, smiling, and appreciating friends... is the day I quit. I appreciate those on the other side of the fence... however, don't ask me to let you hold a $100.
 
All of what Tin Man wrote is true. However, we play in a pool room with 8-9' tables and gambling is illegal. I suppose we could all go downtown and play on horrible 3-7' with terrible lighting and gamble. So, for us old dudes, we just play for the privilege of trying to win the games for pride, I suppose.
 
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....and some of us just enjoy the game and its intricacies to relax, learn, exercise, improve mental acuity, etc. I am not at all interested in stressful competition to end my productive day. The day I walk out of the pool room without feeling refreshed, positive, smiling, and appreciating friends... is the day I quit. I appreciate those on the other side of the fence... however, don't ask me to let you hold a $100.
Nothing wrong with that Tennessee! There are a lot of ways to enjoy this game and competition is only one of them. I totally respect those who simply enjoy the game for what it is without attaching undue importance to external results.

Many of us do enjoy the competition, and that is who I was addressing this towards. For people who want to compete I hope to get them to understand there is no path to victory that doesn't lead right through the middle of a bunch of chokes and disappointments. We cannot run from that. We have to run towards it.
 
I can’t imagine experiencing the physical sensations like my arm not being steady or shaking, shortness of breath,
or symptoms like that from just a pool match. Sure you may start to second guess your choices which contributes
to indecision and hesitancy that in turn throws your stroke off. But to actually have your nerves get on edge that you
experience breathing issues or a shaky arm seems unimaginable to me. The most I ever played for was $100 set/race
to 5 in a best 3 of 5. That seemed like big stakes for my tastes and my nerves got tight when I was on the hill in 2 of the 3 races. Although I won, I really didn’t win. My opponent just missed ez shots & I’m more than capable of running 3-4 balls on a open 9’ table. He gave me too many opportunities just like when I jawed the 10 ball a few times for him. Pool is a funny game because the best player usually wins but doesn’t necessarily have to prevail. It sometimes can become a game of missed shots & bad leaves. Becoming so intensely connected to the game that you physically react to your state of nervousness is completely foreign to me. Even when I played in USGA Pebble Beach Qualifiers, it was always just a game. Maybe I don’t have the same competitive drive as other players more prone to internalize any nervousness.
 
I can’t imagine experiencing the physical sensations like my arm not being steady or shaking, shortness of breath,
or symptoms like that from just a pool match. Sure you may start to second guess your choices which contributes
to indecision and hesitancy that in turn throws your stroke off. But to actually have your nerves get on edge that you
experience breathing issues or a shaky arm seems unimaginable to me. The most I ever played for was $100 set/race
to 5 in a best 3 of 5. That seemed like big stakes for my tastes and my nerves got tight when I was on the hill in 2 of the 3 races. Although I won, I really didn’t win. My opponent just missed ez shots & I’m more than capable of running 3-4 balls on a open 9’ table. He gave me too many opportunities just like when I jawed the 10 ball a few times for him. Pool is a funny game because the best player usually wins but doesn’t necessarily have to prevail. It sometimes can become a game of missed shots & bad leaves. Becoming so intensely connected to the game that you physically react to your state of nervousness is completely foreign to me. Even when I played in USGA Pebble Beach Qualifiers, it was always just a game. Maybe I don’t have the same competitive drive as other players more prone to internalize any nervousness.
I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe every few thousand people there is someone with a brain that is wired a little differently. I think that was the case in the Alex Honnold, the climber featured in Free Solo. This could be you.

Generally when people tell me they don't struggle with pressure what I hear is that they don't get out of their comfort zone.

There is a level of pressure that almost everyone will feel, and even though you know it's just a game in your head, your body reacts with a total fight or flight response. Adrenaline so intense you feel like you're having a minor panic attack. Passage of time is totally distorted, you can start moving way too quickly, overamped and trying to get it over with so you can be safe again, etc.

My message is that for players who want to achieve competitive pool goals that feeling this way isn't a problem. NOT feeling this way is a problem.
 
I'm sure there are exceptions. Maybe every few thousand people there is someone with a brain that is wired a little differently. I think that was the case in the Alex Honnold, the climber featured in Free Solo. This could be you.

Generally when people tell me they don't struggle with pressure what I hear is that they don't get out of their comfort zone.

There is a level of pressure that almost everyone will feel, and even though you know it's just a game in your head, your body reacts with a total fight or flight response. Adrenaline so intense you feel like you're having a minor panic attack. Passage of time is totally distorted, you can start moving way too quickly, overamped and trying to get it over with so you can be safe again, etc.

My message is that for players who want to achieve competitive pool goals that feeling this way isn't a problem. NOT feeling this way is a problem.
Maybe if I was driving a street race car or dragster at the track or confronting my fear of heights via sky diving?
Yet all of those pose an element of risk and loss of life so maybe in a high stakes poker tournament like WSOP?

It’s not a question of nerves with me. It’s the real consequences of losing. Obladi Oblada….I’ll strive to get better.
That why I prefer to play on the toughest pool tables with tight pockets. I want running a rack to be difficult to do.

Stress, anxiety, fear, worry, etc. are self-imposed and when you let them take root, recovering and conquering them
can seemingly become insurmountable. Remember everyone has good days, bad days and great days. So if you are
going to wager, aim to do it one one of those great days playing pool. There tends to be fewer of them as you get older.
 
I believe it was Titanic Thompson who said "Put a balance beam one foot off the ground and anyone in this room can run across it. Put that same balance beam fifty feet in the air and no one in this room can walk across it." He was referring, of course, to how competitive pressure can drastically change one's ability to perform.

There are many skills needed to play a competitive game of pool, but one of the most neglected is handling serious pressure. No one likes the feeling of falling apart in a meaningful match in front of a crowd.

Many players conclude the answer is practicing their physical game. And to a point they are right. Of course you have to put in hours working on your game, rehearsing the techniques and skills you will use under the lights.

The problem is that too often they stop there. That isn't enough. Because while you can practice all of your physical skills in your basement, you can't simulate the experience of being out of your comfort zone in the comfort of your own home. You know the feeling when you start feeling short of breath, your arm starts shaking, your stroke feels weak and wobbly, the pocket openings shrink up, and all you can see are ways for balls to jaw up or for the cue ball to be sucked into a pocket.

Many people hate this so much they try to avoid it. So they stay in their comfort zone with the plan to keep running drills with the belief that they will develop their physical game so strong that it will become impervious to this type of pressure. But there is no amount of comfortable practice that will develop your ability to manage through excruciating circumstances. The only way to improve this area of your game is to get out of your comfort zone again and again.

Going back to our analogy of the balance beam. Someone who intends to walk a fifty foot high balance beam is doing themselves a disservice if they are so afraid of falling that they work on their moves one foot off the ground exclusively. The best thing to do would be to keep moving it higher and higher and practice taking falls. Eventually those falls will start looking less and less daunting until, at times, the heights won't disrupt their performance.

I work with many players that are serious about improving their pool game. I often ask my students "When was the last devastating loss you experienced? When was the last time you were so nervous you totally broke down?" Those who have to reach back in their memory bank for matches long ago are on the wrong path. I tell them I can teach them, I can train them, but they have to set themselves up with a steady diet of adversity if they want to truly experience success in their pool career.

So if you want to be a competitor, it's time to stop looking at meltdowns as a negative thing to be dreaded and avoided. It's time to embrace those experiences as the practice you need most to reach your goals. True competitors collect losses. They understand the road to victory is paved with failure, and to become a player that achieve meaningful accomplishments there must be many attempts that end with heartbreaking setbacks.
I always enjoy your insight. You take a negative and make the point that it is a necessary experience for success. You had another line that was similar. People think a real pool player doesn't choke but only a real pool player chokes because a fake pool player never puts himself in a pressure situation.
 
this is similar to high level skating where learning how to literally take falls will get you further than learning all the hard tricks right away.

Learning to escape situations that would otherwise cause you great peril is paramount in being able to perform the trickier stuff later on where any mistake can cost you your life. in those situations the adrenaline and anxiety that you have to overcome and work with are probably similar to what you might feel in high stakes or high level pool.

i’m not good enough to gamble or compete in pool but i’ll give any man the 7 in s.k.a.t.e. ! good post Tin Man thanks for sharing
 
you stop choking when the money or whatever is insignificant to you. and or you have done this enough to be desensitized.

you wont choke for a 100 dollars if you regularly bet 200. or 5000 if you bet 10000.
 
I believe it was Titanic Thompson who said "Put a balance beam one foot off the ground and anyone in this room can run across it. Put that same balance beam fifty feet in the air and no one in this room can walk across it." He was referring, of course, to how competitive pressure can drastically change one's ability to perform.

There are many skills needed to play a competitive game of pool, but one of the most neglected is handling serious pressure. No one likes the feeling of falling apart in a meaningful match in front of a crowd.

Many players conclude the answer is practicing their physical game. And to a point they are right. Of course you have to put in hours working on your game, rehearsing the techniques and skills you will use under the lights.

The problem is that too often they stop there. That isn't enough. Because while you can practice all of your physical skills in your basement, you can't simulate the experience of being out of your comfort zone in the comfort of your own home. You know the feeling when you start feeling short of breath, your arm starts shaking, your stroke feels weak and wobbly, the pocket openings shrink up, and all you can see are ways for balls to jaw up or for the cue ball to be sucked into a pocket.

Many people hate this so much they try to avoid it. So they stay in their comfort zone with the plan to keep running drills with the belief that they will develop their physical game so strong that it will become impervious to this type of pressure. But there is no amount of comfortable practice that will develop your ability to manage through excruciating circumstances. The only way to improve this area of your game is to get out of your comfort zone again and again.

Going back to our analogy of the balance beam. Someone who intends to walk a fifty foot high balance beam is doing themselves a disservice if they are so afraid of falling that they work on their moves one foot off the ground exclusively. The best thing to do would be to keep moving it higher and higher and practice taking falls. Eventually those falls will start looking less and less daunting until, at times, the heights won't disrupt their performance.

I work with many players that are serious about improving their pool game. I often ask my students "When was the last devastating loss you experienced? When was the last time you were so nervous you totally broke down?" Those who have to reach back in their memory bank for matches long ago are on the wrong path. I tell them I can teach them, I can train them, but they have to set themselves up with a steady diet of adversity if they want to truly experience success in their pool career.

So if you want to be a competitor, it's time to stop looking at meltdowns as a negative thing to be dreaded and avoided. It's time to embrace those experiences as the practice you need most to reach your goals. True competitors collect losses. They understand the road to victory is paved with failure, and to become a player that achieve meaningful accomplishments there must be many attempts that end with heartbreaking setbacks.
Excellent Post! I appreciate your prospective and your love of the game and I find it strange that you should have to defend or explain your position. Anyone that doesn't understand your post has likely never competed at anything complicated or anything at a high level and they should have recognized that this post wasn't for them.
 
Losses? I have experienced my share. Meltdowns? Very few! I did climb iron off and on for fifteen years. Walking pipes and beams two or three hundred feet in the air, at least three thirty-five on one occasion. Often I didn't know how high I was and didn't care. The height range I hated was above twenty feet and below a hundred. That was the range I might survive a fall but be a vegetable or crippled badly for life.

A funny story from early climbing days. I had been around 200' for a few months when they gave me a little job 40' in the air. I could climb scaffold and rope things up or I could climb stairs, walk forty feet out a beam, make a right angle turn, walk twenty feet more, and be where I was working. I was taking the easy route, the stairs and beams. I was strolling along, a five gallon bucket weighing about seventy-five pounds in one hand, a bundle of material on the other shoulder, when it crossed my mind that the beam I was strolling was still forty feet up on top of some nasty things to fall on. I carefully squatted and measured the top of the beam. 7.25"! I still used that route but I didn't just casually stroll it, I paid attention to how I placed my feet as I was known for being clumsy!

Drag raced a little bit, circle track raced a good bit more. On dirt you turn by flipping the back of the car towards the wall and using the back tires and engine to take you around the turn. I have seen the aftermath of someone freezing maybe a half-dozen times when I talked to the driver afterwards. When I asked several of them what happened they told me they forgot to turn!

I have also competed with rifles and pistols where one shot can end your weekend. A few other things but bottom line, I have competed at a lot of things besides thousands of nights on a pool table. I have had meltdowns, but so long ago I can't remember details. I did know they were not acceptable and I eliminated them.

We all have to face losses. Most things we compete at there is one winner, dozens of losers! Anyone paying an expensive entry fee or travel expenses needs to do the same thing I once did, check what first place pays, check what it pays to finish the worst you expect to without totally unforeseen circumstances like food poisoning or catching a bug. First place is nice, but if you can't expect to break even barring a lot of luck then don't pay out money you can't afford to lose.

I feel pressure to one degree or another before an event. While at the table, not really. A little heightening of awareness, but if I don't feel this slight tension I seek it, I need it to compete at my best. We all need to find where our emotional temperature needs to be and learn how to reach and maintain that level.

Hu
 
Generally when people tell me they don't struggle with pressure what I hear is that they don't get out of their comfort zone.
Nailed it...

I have also discovered, at least for me, that my threshold for performance under pressure fell a good deal when I took the better part of a decade off. Went from grinding out solid cash games without twitching an eye, to sweating bullets over a league playoffs set...lol. You gotta keep diving head first in the deep end with dark water, because treading water with the little fishes isn't scary.
 
Well, it is all about balance, isn't it? for those who want to compete, either tournament, leagues, or gambling, a good balance between hours competing and hours of serious, structured practice should yield the best results. Some people have no desire to compete, for them casual play is the right choice.
Playing at one's own top form in any competitive environment takes a special breed- either naturally, or through learned behavior from being in the mix for extended periods. I have observed that the most successful competitors in all sports have the ability to block out every aspect of the competitive arena except for their own focus on correct execution most consistently over the entire time in competition.
 
Nerves are a good thing. It's basically a mental threshold. I feel that it is if you deal with them and come out ahead it makes you level up.
 
Excellent Post! I appreciate your prospective and your love of the game and I find it strange that you should have to defend or explain your position. Anyone that doesn't understand your post has likely never competed at anything complicated or anything at a high level and they should have recognized that this post wasn't for them.
That's it. I've watched all the top players break down due to pressure. SVB, Shaw, Alex, Ralf, etc. In my view melting down is like missing, totally part of the game, and the only way to stop doing it is to stop playing.
 
Well, it is all about balance, isn't it? for those who want to compete, either tournament, leagues, or gambling, a good balance between hours competing and hours of serious, structured practice should yield the best results. Some people have no desire to compete, for them casual play is the right choice.
Playing at one's own top form in any competitive environment takes a special breed- either naturally, or through learned behavior from being in the mix for extended periods. I have observed that the most successful competitors in all sports have the ability to block out every aspect of the competitive arena except for their own focus on correct execution most consistently over the entire time in competition.
Yes, it's a balance. Funny thing about balance. It's easy to fall out of balance if we lack awareness. Just like it's easy for me to not have enough vegetables and have too many empty carbs.

What I am trying to do is create that awareness among competitors. Pressure can be so uncomfortable it is easy to get out of balance at times with practice or lower stakes competition. And the rationalization is always "This will help me prepare for the big competition". I am just trying to shine a light on that. Almost everyone is out of balance with not enough fear in their diet.

And yes, I'm talking to competitors here.
 
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