Getting the most from your game

[wincardona]

Billy-

Do you think that there are some players that never seem to bet their own $$ is because they can't handle the pressure? Or are they simply being 'good businessman' in having someone else take the financial risk but decreasing their own potential win level. It doesn't even have to come down to gambling, some players are always looking to get staked in tournaments as well. Does the same hold true in regards to pressure for them?

And then there are the players that are non-gamblers. They might be great tournament players but why is it that they won't gamble?? Is the pressure increased?

Watchez,I think all of your observations on this are true. The % of players not able to handle the added pressure of the money are certainly less than the players that can't economically afford to sponsor themselves in both tournament play, and money games. But then again those two categories are some what related aren't they? But there are players that can't handle the pressure and can afford to stake themself but just won't,but not many imo. And there are players that I feel that can handle the pressure and can afford to sponsor themself but rather have someone else do it. Something that I could never figure out. For instance,remember a guy by the name of Mark Trainer, he was the shady looking guy that wore sunglasses at the IPT events going around offering contracts to certain players. Well my point is this,take a player like Ralph Soquet. He dresses well ,he handles himself well,he manages well,and he certainly plays very well. Then why was it that he was willing to put himself under contract with Trainer? And there were other players as well that were contracted that I thought could afford to sponsor themselves.In regard to your question why certain players refuse to gamble ,one of the reasons might be that they feel gambling is beneath them, for legal reasons or their religion doesn't allow them. But that certainly doesn't make them a bad person,does it?But remember that this is only my opinion and not fact.

 

[Rickw]

Mr Incardona,

Great thread!! A thread like this is exactly why I ventured to register to this site in the first place.

Some of the other posters on here have given some really great input on this thread. For myself, I find that if I focus on anything but shooting the ball, I'm lost. I played in a tournament once and the spectators were all standing around the table within a few feet from the table. Every time I got down to shoot, I could see their faces in my line of vision. I just couldn't focus on the shot anymore. Btw, I took total responsibility for that. I should have found a way to overcome that obstacle (I can't stand it when players find excuses to lose)!

I also think it would be a good thing to truly get in touch with those good feelings about pool when you're playing. Most of us, I'm sure, love this game and if we get in touch with that love of the game instead of worrying about winning or losing, we will all do better.

Thanks for sharing so much with us!!

 

[Fatboy]

Billy are you talking about the Mark Trainer from Vegas? If so I know alot about him, we'll save that another time.

I have known players who played on other peoples $$ and not as well on their own $$$ for what ever reason, but that being the case it is smarter for a player like that to get staked, its just better managment as you know.

 

[Big Bad Bern]

First off a big thanks to Billy for posting here and starting this wonderful thread.

Now on to business, I always had a problem with missing makable shots under pressure against top players, if I was playing players my caliber or slightly better it was very rare that I missed these shots (mid range shots, not hangers but deffinately makable) and rarely felt pressure shooting them.

I looked for years trying to find a solution to this problem and stumbled on it in an article by Max Eberle. In this article he talked about just throwing all the balls out on the table and running them off and then repeating this and keeping track of your high run (I think he said his was around 300) and once you reached a run of 200 or more you could move on to playing regular straight pool.

It took me almost a year to run 100 ball in this manner but the improvement was drastic I began running lots of racks in my 8 ball leagues from the increased focus and confidence and pressure all but disapeared for me, the game became a blur of make a ball play position, make a ball play position with no thought going to how easy or hard the shot was, it was just a shot make the ball play position.

My current high run in this manner is 258 and I am shooting for 300 and then 500 and then 1000. I find that these goals translate well into my pool game as my tournament performances have steadily improved (I rarely gamble but when I do I find great improvement there also) and I know there are other things that I need to improve to keep my game rising like banking, kicking and my break but my ball pocketing and position when I do get an open shot just keeps improving.

After carefully contemplating the results of this drill I have developed an opinion that running balls like this brainwashes a player to make a ball and play position and this is why the old school staight pool players were so adept at playing for long periods of time without missing or making a mistake and yet todays players with all their tremendous talent and improved equipment can't keep it up for as long a time (I once heard Alex say he could only go about 20min. without getting out of line or making a mistake, while he was talking to Paul Thornley).

I would be interested in Billy, Jay and Freddie's opinions on this as well as anyone elses.

Thanks

Bern

 

[Neil]

................

 

[Big Bad Bern]

Just bumping a great thread for more replies.

Bern

 

[philw]

I find this to be a very interesting topic and an area of major concern in all competive sports. If everyone would share their techniques,and methods of dealing with pressure,a lot will be learned in this thread.

Bill, I try to calm myself when I play. Breathing exercises work well. Having a martial arts background you learn that proper breathing can calm your nerves and allow you to perform at peak level. I think it also increases your level of focus. Another way I have found to distract myself from the pressure is to hum a song to myself I don't mean I actually hum it but I hear it in my head and it helps to relax me. Just some thoughts. Philw

 

[Pushout]

Bill, I try to calm myself when I play. Breathing exercises work well. Having a martial arts background you learn that proper breathing can calm your nerves and allow you to perform at peak level. I think it also increases your level of focus. Another way I have found to distract myself from the pressure is to hum a song to myself I don't mean I actually hum it but I hear it in my head and it helps to relax me. Just some thoughts. Philw

Though we haven't discussed it at any great length, Sammy Jones advocates paying attention to breathing while playing. I think it's about increasing concentration.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Patrick Johnson's focusing on the cue tip brings up a point that I have been thinking about. Great ball players (whatever kind of ball) have this ability to focus on some point during the short time the shot is being made. The basketball player stares at the rim of the basket and uses this to tune out everything else. The golfer stares at the ball, etc.

The problem here is that one must be able to pull this highly focused concentration for a few moments. In pool we make the shot, stand up and analyze the next situation. Did we get the position we sought? Where is the third ball now? The cognitive game kicks in. The same is true of the golfer. Make the shot, walk to the next shot as you think about the situation. When the analysis is done, get focused again while the shot is being made.

So Patrick's point seems to take on all the more significance. One needs to learn the ability to instantly have a deep level of focused concentration at will. This is a form of discipline. I don't think that this is getting in the zone. That happens after one or more shots have been made. The shooter becomes comfortable with the layout, the environment and all the potential distractors.

The zone could be compared to getting lost in a good book. Most distractions are simply ignored. Significant distractions interrupt the flow. I bet, but don't know, that good players are able to quickly get to a state of highly focused concentration such as Jay Helfert writes about. At times, under the right conditions, this leads to playing in the zone.

My conclusion is that one needs to be able to move to a high state of concentration quickly and easily. That is what makes a great ball player -- any kind of ball.

Exactamundo, Joe. Whatever you find to focus on is the "seed" from which greater and greater focus grows. It's a well known technique for all kinds of meditations (it's what chants and mantras are for), and is useful for getting out of slumps and getting into your "zone". It may the most important skill of all in pool.

I'm known as an "analytical" guy when it comes to pool, so this may seem out of character for me. But the two aren't incompatible at all - getting into your zone is only part of it; knowing what's going on can make your zone that much more powerful when you get there, and can give you more tools to help you get there.

pj
chgo

 

[JoeW]

I suspect that we simply do not have the words in our English vocabulary to state what it is that needs to be done to execute a shot well. Therefore, we resort to words such as focus, concentration zone and use others such as meditation, hypnosis, etc.

These types of activities take place in many areas of life. An excellent chef, women who have a natural talent with children, playing most games or participating in some types of craft activities.

Playing pool requires a special form of concentration / awareness/ focus. Tim Galway discusses Self 1 and Self 2 in the Inner Game of Tennis. And I have learned something about this state in some of the sports I have played, authoring texts, and in writing computer programs, oil painting, and sculpture. All of these things are related to a special form of concentration for which we do not have words. I was a competitive diver and involved in gymnastics as a teenager and remember a special state I would get into when executing a particularly difficult dive such as a double twisting two and one half somersault. It seems to me that I used the same type of relaxed, focused, heightened concentation while staring at the end of the diving board for these difficult dives.

It is a trainable technique that goes under various names in such varied sports as sailing and football, From what I have read to date, Jim Loehr in his book Mental Toughness Training For Sports has one of the best training approaches. And of course Bob Fancher outlines various aspects of the issues to be addressed in his Pleasures of Small Motions (especially the second edition).

I have become intrigued by this aspect of playing any sport and will round up this literature and the current research in mind sciences for a text that explores the issues.

While I am not against the use of words from other languages, our language is full of them, I do think that we need some parsimonious terms that have applicability to our language and our sport.

Consider that one cannot simply focus on the cue tip. There is a need to consider many, many other aspects of the shot. However, once these have been analyzed one must place their primary (for lack of a better word) focus in one place to allow the other aspects of the mind to accomplish the bodily coordination that will accomplish the task. For instance I have begun to use the focus on the tip technique a few weeks ago and found that when I use this type of technique I am less likely to forget to follow all the way through on a shot (one of my bad habits). So focusing on the tip helps my shot makng in other ways -- hmmm

One of the things that is most fascinating to me is this nonverbal aspect. Watch some of the top pros and you will see them point to a spot on the table where they want the cue ball to land. And darn if they don't put it exactly on that spot. It is not in words but in imagery that the conscious mind must communicate with the sub or unconscious mind to accomplish a task.

Fascinating stuff -- well for a psychologist anyway.

 

[emccune]

. And btw, I have that problem you mention at times; trying to steer the ball into the pocket, usually by a last second "correction" in my stroke or twisting my wrist. Boy, there are a LOT of ways to do things wrong, aren't there!

Yes. I still find i can feel my arm trying to pull shots from certain positions. I think it is an an alignment thing or rather a perception of bad alignment that wasn't really bad.

For a while I practiced running racks with my eyes closed and found I didn't really need them open to play as my original alignment was fine so now, when I get that eeirie feeling that my alignment is off and I know it is not, I "pretend" my eyes are closed.

Actually I just know to trust my alignment and stroke the ball the same as I would if my my eyes were closed.

Ed

 

[Patrick Johnson]

I suspect that we simply do not have the words in our English vocabulary to state what it is that needs to be done to execute a shot well. Therefore, we resort to words such as focus, concentration zone and use others such as meditation, hypnosis, etc.

These types of activities take place in many areas of life. An excellent chef, women who have a natural talent with children, playing most games or participating in some types of craft activities.

Playing pool requires a special form of concentration / awareness/ focus. Tim Galway discusses Self 1 and Self 2 in the Inner Game of Tennis. And I have learned something about this state in some of the sports I have played, authoring texts, and in writing computer programs, oil painting, and sculpture. All of these things are related to a special form of concentration for which we do not have words. I was a competitive diver and involved in gymnastics as a teenager and remember a special state I would get into when executing a particularly difficult dive such as a double twisting two and one half somersault. It seems to me that I used the same type of relaxed, focused, heightened concentation while staring at the end of the diving board for these difficult dives.

It is a trainable technique that goes under various names in such varied sports as sailing and football, From what I have read to date, Jim Loehr in his book Mental Toughness Training For Sports has one of the best training approaches. And of course Bob Fancher outlines various aspects of the issues to be addressed in his Pleasures of Small Motions (especially the second edition).

I have become intrigued by this aspect of playing any sport and will round up this literature and the current research in mind sciences for a text that explores the issues.

While I am not against the use of words from other languages, our language is full of them, I do think that we need some parsimonious terms that have applicability to our language and our sport.

Consider that one cannot simply focus on the cue tip. There is a need to consider many, many other aspects of the shot. However, once these have been analyzed one must place their primary (for lack of a better word) focus in one place to allow the other aspects of the mind to accomplish the bodily coordination that will accomplish the task. For instance I have begun to use the focus on the tip technique a few weeks ago and found that when I use this type of technique I am less likely to forget to follow all the way through on a shot (one of my bad habits). So focusing on the tip helps my shot makng in other ways -- hmmm

One of the things that is most fascinating to me is this nonverbal aspect. Watch some of the top pros and you will see them point to a spot on the table where they want the cue ball to land. And darn if they don't put it exactly on that spot. It is not in words but in imagery that the conscious mind must communicate with the sub or unconscious mind to accomplish a task.

Fascinating stuff -- well for a psychologist anyway.

By the way, when I "focus on the tip", I don't mean I focus exclusively on the tip itself. I just pay closer attention to where the tip will contact the cue ball, and then it becomes more clear to me how straight the shaft is moving and where exactly it's pointing, and how the cue ball will react when struck, etc., etc. It's an expanding "sphere" of focus that eventually includes all the elements of the shot.

pj
chgo

 

[ledrums]

I think my problem is fear of losing/embarrassment, I can't stand losing to anyone I feel I'm better than. That fear of not being perfect in front of others causes me to choke at times. I still work on it