Have you ever fallen into a slump?

P

PoloBob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If so, how did you manage to get out of it?

I can only think of two ways to overcome this:

1) Attempt to shoot your way out, digging and clawing, working hard for every inch, forcing yourself through the issue

-or-

2) Taking a break. Giving yourself some rest for a few days/weeks/months/years, whatever the case may be. Coming back refreshed and ready to start anew, hopefully.


What do you guys think?


If one's skill level plays a role in the decision, please explain why.

For this example, let's use my handicap. I shoot as a middle of the road "B" player and most of my table time is spent on league matches. I may compete in a tournament once or twice a month outside of league. I direct tournaments at the pool hall where I am employed and also help promote other pool related local events. As well as selling genre specific accessories, I dabble in minor cue repair and basic table maintenance. So this is simply not a mere hobby to me, I am interested in many facets of this sport.

Thanks all.
 
Slumps are imaginary. The more you believe in them, the worse you will shoot, because your stroke can be affected by your subconscious. If you believe you are about to play bad and miss, your brain will instruct your arm to make sure that happens.

There's a possibility some external issue like a new bad habit or a personal problem off the table will affect your shooting. When that happens, just figure it out and call it what it is, don't think of it as a slump, just think of it as a specific problem you need to get over.

At the core of a "slump" is a superstitious attitude, do you think you can't shoot without your lucky socks or you play better with seven pieces of chalk? if you couldn't take that stuff seriously then you should look at slumps the same way.

The cure is to approach every shot the same way, physically and mentally, and to give each shot full care and effort. You'll shoot fine as long as you get rid of silly superstitions and just take each shot seriously.


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If I don't feel I'm playing my best, which is always, I go back to the basics try and get a good stroke and try not to force myself out of the "slump"
 
For me

When it seems I can not make a ball or see the shots, I know I need to slow down. To do this I will go with out using any chalk. It forces me to use center ball and also slows me down and forces me to concentrate.This is what works for me.
 
Here's my response to this same question from a diff thread

Funks don't exist - 04-21-2013, 10:16 PM
I used to go through slumps like what you are referring to. The last slump I can remember was about 10 years ago. Now I have good months, great months, and decent months, no more slumps.

What did the trick for me, was a good friend that owned the pool hall where I played, explained to me what a slump was. How slumps were nothing more than something made up by our imaginations. How slumps dont exist in the real world, we mentally create them and foster them. He referred to a book, don't know which one, as he explained.

He explained, ...a guy gets up to the table,...
1. Forgets to chalk
2. Miscues on the shot
3. Gets nervous about the miscue..and nervous about if there's something wrong with his stroke.
4. Miscues again, due to being nervous about miscueing.
5. Starts using less English/draw due to the miscue being stuck in his head, trying not to miscue.
6. Misses shape on the shots, due to lack of confidence in the stroke
7. Starts to miss shots due to lack of confidence, cause he's losing games.
8. Starts to question himself, question his equipment, question his team-mates intentions.
9. Starts to change things...
10. Starts to speed up his game, due to nerves.
11. Starts to tell people that he is in a slump.
12. Starts to believe the words coming out of his mouth.
13. Has now completely convinced himself that he can't even hold a cue right now.

Lets examine............
No such slump ever existed...
The only mistake was not chalking the cue, simple, repairable.
This player CAUSED all of this mess, un-necessarily, himself, mentally CREATED a slump which didn't even exist...through his actions.
Had he taken that first miscue with a grain of salt...and said...damn, I gotta remember to chalk, or ...I just miscued, ..no big deal. I'm awesome, I'm gonna rock and roll when I get up. ...he would have woke up the next day in the same good mental place he was in the day before.

Now, I always remind myself, when I miss an easy shot, miscue a lot, lose, whatever, that it happens...I tell myself that if everything always worked out the way I wanted it to, that I would quit playing cause it wouldn't be fun or challenging anymore.

I remind myself that the only reason I keep playing is BECAUSE things don't always work out the way I meant them to.

After all, easy games cannot hold our attention.

THis guy that helped me see out my last slump 10 years ago, was Mr. Jerry Johnson - of CR BILLIARDS in Coon Rapids, MN ...
thanks for everything Jerry

Now...I play badly sometimes...but notice that I don't believe that it's a slump. It's just a bad night...to creedos point...u can't enter into a world u don't believe exists, can u???
 
Desire to play affects my game. I just don't have the desire or energy to play like I used to.

Health, age, energy, the 2 zillion other things I should be doing and don't feel up to doing are always on my mind. Family,pfff...there are so many other things I should be doing.
 
PoloBob said:
If so, how did you manage to get out of it?

I can only think of two ways to overcome this:

1) Attempt to shoot your way out, digging and clawing, working hard for every inch, forcing yourself through the issue

-or-

2) Taking a break. Giving yourself some rest for a few days/weeks/months/years, whatever the case may be. Coming back refreshed and ready to start anew, hopefully.


What do you guys think?


If one's skill level plays a role in the decision, please explain why.

For this example, let's use my handicap. I shoot as a middle of the road "B" player and most of my table time is spent on league matches. I may compete in a tournament once or twice a month outside of league. I direct tournaments at the pool hall where I am employed and also help promote other pool related local events. As well as selling genre specific accessories, I dabble in minor cue repair and basic table maintenance. So this is simply not a mere hobby to me, I am interested in many facets of this sport.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Pool is one of the hardest games to master if you do not play competitively all the time; sure you have to be good with basics and know all 4000 shots possibilities. What happens when you play sociable, your guards are dropped, kind of you do not care, low focus or effort, who cares attitude, that does not work if you are serious about the game; in fact this bad habit infiltrates into real matches and usually too late to recover. IMO, to avoid slumps you should never play sociable game, and play daily money games or tournaments, you need to practice how it feels to win or lose and get that locked in memory just like a good stroke. True practice on your own helps ingrain some of the basics, but sorry will not help your slumps much. In real match you cannot set up and shoot that shot again if you miss or bad position play, i am sure you have enough practice, you need to practice, one chance per shot mental attitude, ones that cost you something if you miss. Sorry positively no alternative no matter how good you against the ghost!
 
count yourself lucky... i'm not even good enough to have a slump....

i was thinking about buying a better cue, but then I realised that it's like a fat bird spending $1000 on a haircut.... :D

Bob
 
I'm in the slumps don't exist camp.. but that isn't helpful if your brain believes you are in a slump because your brain can make it happen. Every game of pool is an independent event - you can learn from previous games but they can only effect the next game if you let them (either positive or negative). Notice the good shots you make, even when losing there will be some, and make sure to tell yourself 'that was a good shot'. If your brain is the enemy you need to start filling it with positive images - balls going in or good safes. Whenever you miss a shot you have two options - forget it entirely or intentionally remember it wrong (as going in). Remembering the miss over and over just sets that pattern into your brain as if it were a good thing. Right after a miss, acknowledge the miss and what you might have done wrong but then form a mental image of that shot going in - and replay that positive mental image in just the same way you would obsess over a miss.

There is no slump if you focus one ball at a time and just let the outcome take care of itself. Remember that winning or losing isn't something you actually do at the table. Winning or losing is the outcome but the action is making balls or safeties. Forget about the win or loss and focus on making good decisions / good shots. The wins will take care of themselves.

also forget the word slump - remove it from your dictionary - if you call it a slump you associate other worldly powers to it and suddenly you are fighting this oppressive force that doesn't even exist. There is no slump, only players who hold themselves back because they are focusing on every miss and not seeing the positive side of their play.

Craig
 
cyork2 said:
I'm in the slumps don't exist camp.. but that isn't helpful if your brain believes you are in a slump because your brain can make it happen. Every game of pool is an independent event - you can learn from previous games but they can only effect the next game if you let them (either positive or negative). Notice the good shots you make, even when losing there will be some, and make sure to tell yourself 'that was a good shot'. If your brain is the enemy you need to start filling it with positive images - balls going in or good safes. Whenever you miss a shot you have two options - forget it entirely or intentionally remember it wrong (as going in). Remembering the miss over and over just sets that pattern into your brain as if it were a good thing. Right after a miss, acknowledge the miss and what you might have done wrong but then form a mental image of that shot going in - and replay that positive mental image in just the same way you would obsess over a miss.

There is no slump if you focus one ball at a time and just let the outcome take care of itself. Remember that winning or losing isn't something you actually do at the table. Winning or losing is the outcome but the action is making balls or safeties. Forget about the win or loss and focus on making good decisions / good shots. The wins will take care of themselves.

also forget the word slump - remove it from your dictionary - if you call it a slump you associate other worldly powers to it and suddenly you are fighting this oppressive force that doesn't even exist. There is no slump, only players who hold themselves back because they are focusing on every miss and not seeing the positive side of their play.

Craig
Click to expand...

I disagree about "wining or loosing isn't something you do at the table" ; your mental state which is directed by what you inject into it; is the main reason for decision making; it is that state that is responsible for deciding weather you play safe or go for it; if you play one pocket you know what i mean, some days you do not let your opponent breath, other time you let him ride you.
 
It's interesting to read how others approach so called slumps, otherwise known as poor play in my view.

When I lose to an opponent who didn't make any mistakes or caught a few lucky rolls I don't let it bother me, thems the breaks.

When I play poorly and lose that's another story. The game of pool is a work in progress for me. Every game, for good or bad, is a learning experience. So I will practice the shots or position I missed over and over until I'm comfortable with them.
 
I can tell you the secret to breaking out of a slump quickly, but then I'd have to kill you. :wink:
It will be in my new book, More Pool Wars. Believe me there really is a secret that absolutely works!
 
jay helfert said:
I can tell you the secret to breaking out of a slump quickly, but then I'd have to kill you. :wink:
It will be in my new book, More Pool Wars. Believe me there really is a secret that absolutely works!
Click to expand...

Will be the 1st to buy it! even unedited version of it, or the scratches and even hand written notes..
 
There are many variables that can put one into a slump. But I'd start with asking Bob 3 questions.
1. Do you have a solid preshot routine?
2. Do you have a solid aiming system?
3. Do you know which eye is your dominant eye and are you consistent in using the dominant eye?
If you answer no to any of these you are on the way to finding your answer.
 
I fell into a slump, once. I had slump all over me. I stunk like slump.
A few days went by and I was as good as new. :smile:
 
All a matter of perspective

My definition of "slump":

When someone is in denial over the level of their abilities.
 
TomInFaribo said:
There are many variables that can put one into a slump. But I'd start with asking Bob 3 questions.
1. Do you have a solid preshot routine?
2. Do you have a solid aiming system?
3. Do you know which eye is your dominant eye and are you consistent in using the dominant eye?
If you answer no to any of these you are on the way to finding your answer.
Click to expand...

In pool there are static fixed issues (usually not a factor in missing a shot) such as pre-shot routines that usually are followed such as stance, aim, go down; and dynamic ones that usually are not followed consistently due to brain status, or lack of frequent play, and are correct decisions making, play safe or not, follow through, raise your head, cb speed, squirt, swerve, elevation, tip missing contact point intended, position play...and others. those what get you into slumps and frequent misses .
 
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