Don't just practice pool, practice taking falls!

ShootingArts said:
I really don't understand the continued shots at me. Simple fact, I am rarely negatively impacted by pressure and when I am it is to a small degree. I can't remember the last time I completely folded under pressure, had a melt down. It has happened but so long ago and buried under so many times I did come through under pressure that I really don't remember a melt down under pressure. People that have competed with me a good bit know that they have the win to take, I am very unlikely to give it to them.

I don't consider every mistake a melt down, sometimes I make a mistake that is nothing to do with my mental game. Years ago I went back over several years of pistol competition and had to admit that my "normal" was one mistake, one shot, an event. The wins with no mistakes were as abnormal as the losses with two or more mistakes. It galled me to see that making a mistake every week was normal and that pushed me to do better. Even after I quit shooting I came back once a year to "steal" a match with little or no practice. Good equipment and a tough mental game. I gave away one point one match, pissed me off because it was pure ring rust. I broke the shot when the sights had drifted onto the nine. In tune that wouldn't have happened. Next year I shot a perfect score.

Racing cars I sometimes drove other people's cars when mine wasn't ready to race. Winning with my own car gave me satisfaction, I built, tuned, and drove that car. However I expected to win with my car so it was no big deal. When I climbed into somebody else's tenth place car and pushed it to a top five finish, then I felt like I had really accomplished something! I ran second place to a far better car every race one night. I knew the car I was in didn't break top five with a handful of other drivers so I was very pleased with my performance. At least four or five better cars were behind me. Second place with subpar equipment was more impressive to me than first place with first place equipment. All that first meant is that I didn't foul up and open the door for somebody else.

Hard to measure my pool performance because in my peak years there was rarely a local tournament to play in that was worth the bother. That meant action and trying to minimize my performance while still ending up with the money. I got a lot of lucky rolls when I needed to.

We can all lose to players that played better for that short time or players that really did get the rolls in tournament play. Every loss doesn't mean there was a melt down. I came out the gate a little cold one morning at a pistol match. I dropped three or four points out of sixty possible for the first stage. I wasn't too worried, out of between thirty and forty shooters I was second overall, plus I had put heat on the first place player probably a dozen times in the past and had him flinch. I figured I would get him. Still, I was used to being in a very small pack of front runners in these events and not having to come from behind. Stage after stage I shot perfect scores. So did the other guy. When the smoke cleared I had never got back the point or two needed to win.

It didn't bother me, the guy I lost to was a good guy and clean competitor. I also felt like I had done enough to win nine times out of ten, that just wasn't my morning. I gave the winner a very sincere congratulations. A few weeks later he passed by where I was getting ready for another shoot and told me that I had pushed him to a career best. I thought so but wouldn't have told him that. Nice to hear it and I hope he went on to more wins, just not against me!

I'll have my wins and losses, wouldn't be much fun to win them all. When I do lose odds are strong that I lose to a better player at the moment, not to my game breaking down. With age my biggest issue is being too relaxed and flat footed. I need to be on my toes just a little to give my best performance at anything.

Hu
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All good Hu.
I mentioned that there are some exceptional individuals that for whatever reason, experience, mental fortitude, slightly different wiring, who knows, but there are individuals out there that just don’t respond the same to pressure as others. You appear to be one of them so Im citing you as an exception case.

I also know people who deny pressure ever playing a role, but sometimes when they are in pressure situations when I’d struggle they somehow dog it the same exact way I would if I melted down. But they chalk it up as a physical or careless error, “I just didn’t adjust for the deflection on that shot” or “I should’ve gotten off that, that was stupid”. It’s like their mental game strategy is to believe they don’t feel pressure. I’m not talking about you Hu. I’m not being sarcastic when I say I believe you may be in the minority where you don’t respond the same.

The vast majority go through ups and downs with pressure. For those of us who do I think the best approach is to acknowledge and accept it, the. Face it regularly to improve at handling it. That is all.

Either way it is a fun game. 👍
 
Tin Man said:
All good Hu.
I mentioned that there are some exceptional individuals that for whatever reason, experience, mental fortitude, slightly different wiring, who knows, but there are individuals out there that just don’t respond the same to pressure as others. You appear to be one of them so Im citing you as an exception case.

I also know people who deny pressure ever playing a role, but sometimes when they are in pressure situations when I’d struggle they somehow dog it the same exact way I would if I melted down. But they chalk it up as a physical or careless error, “I just didn’t adjust for the deflection on that shot” or “I should’ve gotten off that, that was stupid”. It’s like their mental game strategy is to believe they don’t feel pressure. I’m not talking about you Hu. I’m not being sarcastic when I say I believe you may be in the minority where you don’t respond the same.

The vast majority go through ups and downs with pressure. For those of us who do I think the best approach is to acknowledge and accept it, the. Face it regularly to improve at handling it. That is all.

Either way it is a fun game. 👍
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Our only disagreement is very little, how much pressure the student needs to feel. As much as possible I don't want to push them to the point of failure.

I think that people know when the issue was between their ears whether they admit it or not. Some people always have an excuse. After getting tired of all the lame excuses I made up my own and used it when I missed, "the cue ball is warped!" Seemed like a patently silly excuse but it was funny to see people pick up the cue ball and look it over closely sometimes!(grin)

Hu
 
Tin Man said:
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.
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This paragraph says it all. Alot of playing pool. Is about attitude. The way you look at it.
Quite often it's a process. You learn from the wins. But especially from the losses.
It will definitely make you a stronger player, if you can come through, those tough times and improve.
 
WardS said:
I have had people who profess a love for pool but can’t enjoy it unless they bet something, I tell them they don’t love pool they love gambling.
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Hey Ward! I've heard this and it makes some sense to me for sure. If you can't enjoy a low stakes game for what it is then do you really love it?

My only hesitation is this: I enjoy competition, tournaments and playing tough opponents. Why? I could just practice at home, right?

The thing is that I love to challenge myself against the adversity of the game. When I'm practicing that adversity is the physical challenge I'm facing as well as whatever pressure I put on myself. But there is added mental adversity facing an opponent who is punishing you and beating you and keeping you in your chair. Then too, in a tournament, there is additional pressure when you are in front of a crowd, playing for higher stakes, and on the verge of new high water mark accomplishments.

I agree some people are just action junkies, and many more are ego junkies. But there are also real competitors that love pool also love pool in it's toughest environment, when the pressure is highest. To use my analogy, they enjoy the balance beam being 50' up in the air. It pushes them in ways they enjoy.
 
Tin Man said:
There are reasons people tend to play up and down to their opponents, but it’s not the right thread for me to pursue. What I did want to address is that there is some observer bias in our memories. We don’t expect to win against better players so don’t feel as bad playing poorly and losing as when we are given winning chances by an opponent we should beat and can’t take advantage. Not always, it’s not black and white, but it’s not uncommon.

The point is that if you never dogged it against better players under pressure you could just play big events and win them all. 👍
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Sometimes when we see we are up against a far superior player we forget how to play :). That happened to me the first time I played Petey Margo. I felt so outclassed I didn't know what to do if I got a shot. I was basically lost out there. Never forgot that feeling either.

I'm glad that you mentioned how we tend to play somewhat in line with the skills of our opponent, playing better against a strong player and not as good against a lesser player. That is very common with most average pool players. The truly great players have a killer instinct where when they sense weakness they will run all over you. Buddy Hall wanted to beat everyone 11-0. He could be ahead 10-0 and play a lock 'em up safe if that was the right shot at the moment.
 
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jay helfert said:
Sometimes when we see we are up against a far superior player we forget how to play :). That happened to me the first time I played Petey Margo. I felt so outclassed I didn't know what to do if I got a shot. I was basically lost out there. Never forgot that feeling either.

I'm glad that you mentioned how we tend to play somewhat in line with the skills of our opponent, playing better against a strong player and not as good against a lesser player. That is very common with most average pool players. The truly great players have a killer instinct where when they sense weakness they will run all over you. Buddy Hall wanted to beat everyone 11-0. He could be ahead 10-0 and play a lock 'em up safe if that was the right shot at the moment.
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Been there done that. The first time I played David Matlock in the 1990s in a bar table tournament seemingly simple runouts looked like a Rube Goldberg drawing. Over the years I was able to overcome playing superior opponents and actually won a match here and there when I played my best and the balls rolled my way.
 
I played in a bar tournament a couple weeks ago and I was surprised that I noticed an elevated heartrate and tightness in the chest due to nervousness. I was surprised because I didn't anticipate that this would happen! BTW, I played really well. I don't think my nerves affected me much at all, if any. Just an intermediate player. The two guys I predicted would be top two finished as expected. I have to play great to beat them, they play all the time and are steadily good. I had a shot that night, winning match 1 and 2 but my lack of knowledge cost me in match 3, not my shots. And then in match 4, I never got a shot, as the guy who eventually finished second broke and ran.
 
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