First Tournament - What should I expect

PegLeg

PegLeg

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
OK. I will show how much of a sheltered life I lead and how much of a novice I am.

I have never attended a tournament in person. I don't even watch them on the tube. Having gotten that out in the open I will be attending and playing in my first tournament next Tuesday night.

There is a pool hall about 40 minutes drive from me that has a tournament every Tuesday night. It is luck of the draw, double elimination and cost $6 to enter. I figure it is as good a place and time as any to start.

Tournament starts at 7:00. They open all the tables up at 6:15 for warm up and practice. All skill levels. They alternate between 8 and 9 ball. Next Tuesday is 9 ball.

What should I expect other than getting my butt kicked because I don't play a lot of 9 ball however I have a few days to practice.
 
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As long as I've been playing pool I get excited when I get to play in a tournament. I love to play and love to show off and love to win. Pool provides the venue for my entertainment.

I will always get nervous playing in a strange pool hall with strange players, but this is just human nature as far as I am concerned. Shaking off the nerves could take a couple of games. I just hope the race isn't to two...LOL.

Good luck, have fun and if you get a chance to show off , take it...
 
You are going to be nervous. Its ok, its normal, it doesn't go away. but you learn to control it the more tournaments you play in. Good luck and have fun.
 
Try to relax as much as you can. Mingling with people and making friends may help accomplish this. I think by nature pool players befriend other pool players easily. Relaxing will help you play the best pool you can play. I am sure you have played your best pool playing in an environment that you are comfortable, with people you are confortable around. Try to get yourself into that comfort level. Go into the tourney with a positive attitude, not an attitude that you are going to loose. Good Luck.
 
Look at all the angles and make sure you take the best shot you believe will setup your table, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Especially if it is a race to one. Anyone can win. Stay low when you shoot so if you do miss you can see what you did wrong and adjust quickly.
 
You don't want to know

My experience has been this:

1). Throw up before a tournament because I would force my adrenaline up too high.

2). Be very nervous at numerous points while playing in the tournament.

3). Throw up after the tournament because of too much COORS! :D

Enjoy it and focus on your routine and you will gain a wealth of info on you and how you play the game. Enjoy!
 
PegLeg said:
OK. I will show how much of a sheltered life I lead and how much of a novice I am.

I have never attended a tournament in person. I don't even watch them on the tube. Having gotten that out in the open I will be attending and playing in my first tournament next Tuesday night.

There is a pool hall about 40 minutes drive from me that has a tournament every Tuesday night. It is luck of the draw, double elimination and cost $6 to enter. I figure it is as good a place and time as any to start.

Tournament starts at 7:00. They open all the tables up at 6:15 for warm up and practice. All skill levels. They alternate between 8 and 9 ball. Next Tuesday is 9 ball.

What should I expect other than getting my butt kicked because I don't play a lot of 9 ball however I have a few days to practice.
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Unless this is a gladiator tournament and you're playing to see who lives and dies :) It's all practice so just do your best and enjoy it.

And it's only $6 :)

Also, I heard something by a pro golfer one time that really helped me free up in tournaments. She said that she always used to stress about how she played and what everyone would think about her if she played bad. Her brother slapped her out of it by saying "You're not the center of the universe, nobody cares how you play because they're all obsessed with how they play. Tomorrow nobody will remember how you played."

While some pool players do 'clock' people they first meet, being under-clocked (so to speak) is only an advantage. So play, don't worry about it and have fun.

I bet you'll enjoy yourself and make some friends.

Whatever you do, don't obsess or argue about the rules too much, it'll just distract you. Just go with the flow. Make sure you know the rules, but if someone calls something on you that you don't understand, just ask them to explain it so you'll know next time.

Please let us know how it goes.

~rc
 
Tournament Play

PegLeg, Good luck and I mean that literally if it is a short nine ball race.
I did not play tournaments until I was in my 30s about 1980. I had to relearn competitive pool to make it through to the end which I usually lasted longer than others expected me to.

Others have made some fine points. A few things I will mention as to how I have been successful even though I practice less than many of the competitors. (Some of us work and cannot live on the table) First, I consider the nerves to be adrenalin, not fear. If I am not nervous, I am overconfident and do not get serious. Secondly, if you can win your first match, it will get easier no matter who you play next. Third, the best player does not always win, especially in the shorter races, but the smarter player usually does. I regularly beat better shooters with experience and better strategy.

I could probably write a book of my experiences. Enjoy the experience. You will learn something new every tournament, win or lose. Bob H.
 
If you're nervous, have a beer or two. And don't worry too much. If you're a stranger, people will assume you're better than you are. Might get you a game or two early. Heck, I got lucky and won my first-ever tourney match, which was against an A-rated player and I was only getting the 8. It was a few months before I won another match there, though! Good luck.
 
just shoot to have fun. don't have an expectation your first time out. of course you are playing to win and having a confident and positive attitude of you will win is what you should always bring with you, don't place an expectation of "i am going to win the whole show" or "i'm done in the first round". just play your game. the more times you enter you will begin to develop more confidence and you will begin to know your place in that particular room. once you establish that then you can start setting goals. o.k. i finished tenth. now shoot to move up to eighth and so forth. the most important thing is to have fun, it's a cheap way to have fun and get better.
 
Get there early so your not in and out the door before you know it. I think, I know where your going to be playing and there are a lot of people there you may be able to compete with, and possibly win. There's a lot of good advice here take what you feel you need. I won only one game in two sets, two races to seven, the first time I played in t a tournament. What I took from the experience was, I watched the people playing and I new I could eventually compete with them.

Good luck.
 
Thanks for all the advice.

The nerves will be a factor but not to much I hope. I played in a golf league and golf tournaments for years so I should be able to handle it.

The real reason I am going is not to win the tournament, I won't, but is to play some new people. I have been playing with the same handful of people for the last few months. I have also taken a 1/2 dozen or so lessons in the last few months and have been practicing about 90 minutes every other day. Time to see what I can do.

The only thing that has me thinking is the 9 ball aspect of it. I have nothing against 9 ball other than I don't play it to much. Also the break. I have been working on a new break using a rail bridge and a different stroke and I haven't gotten it down yet.

I figure to go there, play my best game for the circumstances, meet some new people and have some fun.

I guess I could always wear a gorilla mask that way if I stink nobody will know who I am. :D
 
tom mcgonagle said:
Get there early so your not in and out the door before you know it. I think, I know where your going to be playing and there are a lot of people there you may be able to compete with, and possibly win. There's a lot of good advice here take what you feel you need. I won only one game in two sets, two races to seven, the first time I played in t a tournament. What I took from the experience was, I watched the people playing and I new I could eventually compete with them.

Good luck.
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I am heading to the Billiard Cafe in Ayer. I exchanged a few emails with Calvin (who is either the owner or runs the show) and he is expecting me.

I can hold my own and I should be able to at least make a showing. I tend to be streaky so if I am on then I will do OK otherwise it could be 2 and out.
 
sixpack said:
Unless this is a gladiator tournament and you're playing to see who lives and dies :) It's all practice so just do your best and enjoy it.
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I would do better in a gladiator tournament. I grew up in the city and you learned to fight real young or you did not get to be old. :bash:
 
Expect to play well below your best. Then when you have a few brain freezes you may not get too self conscious about it and perhaps can struggle your way back to some form.

I'm not saying give up before you start; in fact, give it 100% in terms of effort, concentration and shot choice. Fact is, most players really struggle in their first few tournaments and the disappointment can put them off for life.

If you can focus enough to hit a couple of solid patches during the event then you'll have something positive to take away.

I think it took me about 20 tournaments before I began to feel I could rely on playing near my practice abilities for most the duration of the tournament. The nerves may still be there, although reduced, it's largely a matter of learning to deal with those nerves and learning to block out all the thoughts that come into one's mind when getting used to tournament play.

So main point is try to come out of there having felt you enjoyed some of the competing time feeling not too dissimilar to what you would during a focused practice session.

Worry about you skill levels and what to do about them after the event. Just try to execute what you know, and execute that as well as possible during the event.

Colin
 
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PegLeg, with 90 minutes of practice every other day and a 1/2 dozen lessons, you very well might do a lot better than you think.....thats likely more practice time than most you will play.....relax, be a gentleman, play your best, and just enjoy yourself....$6 is a cheap buy-in, so just have fun with it.....if you have a chance, stay around, even after you lose....watch the other players, get a feel for their speed, and since you don't play a lot of 9ball, use the opportunity to learn more about the game.....see where people are breaking from, the different methods, different patterns....meet a few folks, kick back, and have a good time....you might just surprise yourself....
 
PegLeg said:
I have nothing against 9 ball other than I don't play it to much. Also the break. I have been working on a new break using a rail bridge
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I like using a firm stop shot on the break, only as hard as you can control. 9 ball racks are easier to break than any other game, and this will drop a ball most of the time.

The simple fact is it's very hard to scratch if you control the cueball, and I think not scratching is more important than making a ball on the break. (Especially in short races.)
 
In a short race, if you are a B-level player or better, don't be surprised if you actually do better than you expect. Anything can happen in a short race.

Hopefully you get a good draw and are able to win one of your first two matches. That will build some confidence and make the event much more fun and memorable.

I wouldn't say that you can "expect" this...but in my first two tournaments, I was very naive and ended-up getting sharked big time by a couple different players. One guy was just an SOB and pulled an outragous move, that included unscrewing his cue while I was down on the 8-ball. I was stupid and shouldn't have shot the ball and should have just taken the win since what he did was essentially concede the match...but he did it standing directly in front of the 8-ball and I got flustered, rushed the shot and scratched and he had the guts to take the win. (I didn't know any better at the time and was more mad at myself for scratching on the 8-ball).

The other tournament the guy was a former pro that simply started talking to me about the weather to distract me when I was 3 balls from winning the match. (He hadn't said a word to me during the first 2 games). That also succeeded in throwing me off enough for me to blow the runout and lose the match.

These were the first two tournaments that I ever played in, and when I realized after the fact that they had intentially sharked me, I was very discouraged and didn't enter another tournament until I was much more seasoned.

So I hope that you don't run into any opponents like this, but it's always good to be prepared to stop that kind-of thing immediately by calling them out on it, if it does happen to occur.

Good luck to you.
 
OK. I survived.

Here was the setup. 9 Ball. APA rules + must call 9 Ball, Lag for break, winner breaks after that. Double elimination. Winner bracket race to 3. Loser bracket race to 2.

Match 1 - Race to 3.
I lost 3 to 2. Pretty even match.

Match 2 - Race to 2.
I lost 2 to 1. I gave the guy the match. I deserved to lose. We are 1 to 1 and I break. Nothing in on the break and no shots. The 1 is on the end rail and it is wicked cut shot. I try to make it an miss. He runs 2 balls and is out. I run the rest of the table and leave the 9 ball sitting right in front of the corner pocket. I am at the other end of the table with a dead on shot. I am stupid and shoot it to hard with no back spin and scratch on the 9. I mean the 9 went in and cue ball set there for like a few seconds and then dropped in the pocket. I could not believe it. What a bone head.

I celebrated my elimination with a shot of Jack and a Sam Adams Winter draft. I should have beat that dude and kept on going. Well there is always next week.
 
PegLeg said:
I lost 2 to 1. I gave the guy the match.
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If that's the worst you ever do, you'll be fine. I could write a book on all the innovative ways I've snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (or however that saying goes...)
 
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