HELP! I Need to find my old game!

[VKJ]

You have one huge thing in your favor. You were a strong player once so you know the feeling, you've been there. It may have been a while ago but you were there and thats a huge difference from never having been that good.

 

[JLW]

So, just out of curiosity, how's your game coming along?

 

[oceanweb]

Place an object ball on the foot spot. You have ball in hand on the first shot only. Now pick a corner (foot corner only) and pocket the ball. Draw the cue ball for shape on the next spot shot (same corner). Keep shooting the corner shot and drawing for shape until you miss.

If you can make 15 balls and stay in line, your old game is back and better than ever.

 

[Fatboy]

Hey, I get what you are saying. I have witnessed this kind of behaviour myself. Especially in the bars. You see guys who have been making the exact same mistakes for years, without making any effort to learn or correct them, scratch their head when it happens again! -and again, and again.

I appreiciate your reality check. Trust me I was already in the midst of one! Any illusions of mine have already been taken away at least for this moment. Just for the record, I was a 7 and 8 skill level in APA, and a 94 or 9.4 in BCA and went to national events for it. I have worked in four different pool rooms in two different states, and have seen and played some of the best players in this game. I do know how to accurately gauge ones ability ( mine and others). I consider myself to be a very competent, and knowledgeable player. I have never claimed to be a world beater or on par with the best players, but am ( at least in the past) a serious danger to get out in most circumstances, and can usually get the cash more often than not. If I were to be judged by my best consistant game, I would be a B+ player. A pretty good shortstop.

So to go from being able to runout at least open racks consistently, and more challenging ones most of the time, to not having any real confidence in getting out from the six, is quite an adjustment! Trust me, I ran into a guy I haven't played in about three years ( who I used to rob blind) and he was asking me what was wrong! A lot of people are accusing me of hustling, when I am playing full out! I am not imagining my decline in performance.

I may have responded the same way if I read this post from someone else. Just thought I would put it into perspective.

were in the same boat, I played as good as you described back in 94, i played a bit in 99 and didnt feel like I lost much after playing for a week, but now this many years later(im 40) i can tell I have lost alot of what I had in 99 and 94, I havent lost the knowlege for the runout patterns. but I cant get out i cant keep a leash on the rock, or if I do i miss the shot by alot. Then about once every hour I'll do something like Efrin, I did tonight played a 3 rail shot to get to the short side(only 6 inches-it was a tight squeeze) of the 1 ball(playing 8 ball) leaving myself perfect and the rest were stop shots to get out-it was only the kind of shot that a player with years of experience would see, and thats where the frustration is, i can see it but cant acheive it, with any consistancy, If someone on the rail saw that shot they would want the 5 ball and i would need the 5 ball to win, it would knock my action instantly, makeing me look alot better than i ever was.

I feel like I could give the 5 ball to my old self, I was only ever a weak A player at my best. and never could improve from there, but I did become very good at controlling my game to give a customer his $$$'s worth and keep them on the line letting them think they had a chance, I learned how to play just good enough to win, that was hard for me because for years if I slowed down, i couldnt pick it up again to win. So in that area of the game I was improving, but I didnt see the skills to run a 6 pack in 9 ball. right now I'd be happy to run 6 balls playing 9 ball.

i'm going to keep playing for a while and see what happens, i waant to get into action, i love action but its too soon, like i said i come with shots that would rightfully so scare people away unless they are world beaters, then that isnt action thats me getting robbed, wouldnt be the first time but i hate getting robbed, at least if I lose the other guy needs to earn it.

 

[Fatboy]

You have one huge thing in your favor. You were a strong player once so you know the feeling, you've been there. It may have been a while ago but you were there and thats a huge difference from never having been that good.

thats a great point!!! thats why Rodney came back so strong, i think the stronger you played before any 5-10 year lay off the better your chances are of getting back fast increases, its natural talent, you cant train in what God left out.

 

[chilli66]

I know this feeling all too well. After a 12 year break I've been playing again for 6 months now, though not nearly as much as I would like. Add to that the change from playing 8 ball in the UK to 9 ball here so I haven't done nearly as well as I believe I'm capable of.

I played last night in my local 9 ball tourney (I rarely do well, got to 5th place once) & went in cold. No warm-up games. My first match was against a guy who is one of the better players there. He plays a very solid game, but I have beaten him once before. I won the flip, broke & ran the first rack. He miscued in the second & I took that. It ended up hill-hill & I lost. Really good, enjoyable games. I was happy with my game at that point. In the one loss side I won the next game but lost the next one after making some horrendous misses.

It seemed like I'd gone from playing well to needing all the luck I could get as the night went on. I spent some time talking with folks afterwards & I have to say this, where my game is concerned, the more I analyse it the worse I play, which I'd been doing. I've always been more of a natural player. I see the shot, I know how to play it & where the CB will go, or how to hit the CB to make it go where I want it to. As soon as I start thinking about all the possibilities of the shot, I'm doomed. I really do think I'm better off just relying on my eye for the shot.

My buddy said to me the other day "You didn't even look at that ball & it went in!" That was on a long cut shot. I just got down, played the ball. I knew where the pocket was!

I know how strong my game was 12 or 13 years ago. I WILL be there again. Or better.

Believe in yourself, if you could do it before you CAN & WILL do it again!

 

[poolpro]

So, just out of curiosity, how's your game coming along?

Hey everyone, I am glad to see I am not alone! I went to a friends house to play, and saw some of my old game come back. I had the confidence in my shot back. My position play is still very good, but my shotmaking is still off. My cueball control has always been a strong point for me, and actually has spoiled me a bit. I can usually count on giving myself an easy shot, but if I am playing off my opponents leave I do not have the confidence in my shotmaking skill to get going. So, if I play a safety and get ball in hand, or have an easy shot to start off with I am going to have a fair chance of getting out. I am lacking the ability to come with a good shot to start off a run, or turn things around from a bad leave. So I have to kinda bide my time and wait for the chance to win instead of making the oppertunity to win. So now I know what to work on next. One of my typical practice routines was to scatter a rack of nine ball out on the table, take ball in hand and runout. This is a good practice exercise, but I believe I spent too much time on this, and the rest of my game has suffered. Now I am a danger to get out with ball in hand or an easy shot to start with, but my break is weak, and I have difficulty with making even slightly difficult shots with any real consistency.

Seriously, the best thing I have done was to just play and enjoy the performance again. Island drive's post reminded me to not put so much pressure on myself to win and just relax. I am confident that my game will come, but I cannot force it out. I am going to go back to just enjoying the game for the game and let the results be what they are. I am focusing on my stroke and my shot, and just the feeling of playing, and not whether I win or not. My confidence and rythm are getting better as a result. Sometimes you may play great and still lose, or you may play terribly and win. The score is not always the best indicator of your performance. If your only goal is to win, all you have to do is find weaker players to play. So the number of games you win is not the thing to strive for. Your performance should be the focus. This has done wonders for me in the past, and just needed to be reminded of it. As soon as I realized my best game was not coming out, I would get negetive feelings, and get frustrated, and any chance of it returning was lost. Now, I now it WILL come, but it will come when I stop trying to make it and just focus on what I have always done. Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. It has helped me a lot.