How and why does it work like this?

The reason that you get bad rolls is that pool hates people.

If you just leave the game to do what it wants, it will do the worst thing possible to you. Ever try to make a tough shot where you knew you had to let the cueball go? Most of the time you scratch, end up with pretty much 0 shot on the next ball or get hooked behind a ball where you can't even see the next shot.

I had a game a few weeks back where I had an easy 8 ball to make and the 9 ball was hanging in the jaws of the side pocket. So what happens? I just shoot the 8 saying that I can make that 9 from anywhere on the table, and the game decided that the right place on the table for the cueball is straight in on the 9, on the rail, so if I hit it straight the cueball scratches. Even though it was an easy shot to make, because I let the game do what it wanted I ended up with the worst possible shot I can be on the table short of being corner hooked LOL. Hanging 9 ball, and on a 4.5x9 foot surface the cueball ended up in the 1 inch of space that I could have lost from.
 
Tommy-D said:
According to people that have been around even longer than I have,supposedly the "rolls" will even out.
Click to expand...

A side note: Luck definitely does not even out. That's called the gambler's fallacy. If you have a run of bad luck, the best guess is that you'll have "even" luck in the future, the same way that if you flipped a lot of heads, the best guess is that you'll now get 50-50 heads-tails.
 
Most of the time, it is like others have said, today you are lucky , tomorrow the opponent is .
But, there are a few things that can sway the balance.
The biggest is to NEVER give up.
No matter how bad it seems, I have witnessed too many times, when it looked absolutely hopeless, and somehow, the underdog won!
You are never out of it , until the last ball goes in, don't ever quit early,
Also , never give your opponent any reason to think, you will ever give them an easy shot, for the win.
You will leave easy shots , it is inevitable , but make them know, that it was never a give up shot, that gave them the opportunity.
Then, there are all varietys of lucky people in this world and there are an equal amount of unlucky people.
Most people fall in the middle somewhere so there is the impression that it all ends up equal.
Well, it does for the majority , but for those people at the extremes , it is very apparant that something is not equal.
While this isn't as noticeable in games of skill , because all other variables are usually not equal, it can happen, that one person seems to get an overabundance, of lucky rolls at critical times, vs another player, always being unlucky.
I used to play an old man, and whenever I got a lucky roll, {or made a great shot} he would take extra time, looking at the shot, and giving himself the best chance, and then thank me for the opportunity, to have a chance to make a amazing shot!
That was nothing but a positive attitude, but it was a much better response on his part, than if he had whined about me getting lucky.
All that whining or complaining does, is give lamb killers courage.
 
Last edited:
Pool being what it is, I used to really get upset when I didn't get a roll or it seemed I was in some black dark dank pit of no jelly rolls. But then I just backed off for a bit, dropped my leagues and tournament play and jammed some solo practice for a while. I figured out that I play pool because I love it, I started having fun again... made me happy. I'm happy now and I seem to be getting a boat load of rolls. I'm also a better player now. Much better.

Coincidence? Dunno and don't care.

Lesh
 
Tommy-D said:
According to people that have been around even longer than I have,supposedly the "rolls" will even out.

<snip>

I have no idea why,but at the times when I need something to go my way,it almost NEVER happens.

If I miss a ball unexpectedly,I'm the guy that goes nights or weeks without lucking a ball in to continue my run.

Usually,my misses or whatever mistakes wind up in a place where the only way my opponent can f**k it up is if they just quit trying.

On the other hand,it feels like my opponents can repeatedly miss balls,and it either goes in so they can keep swinging,or it winds up in a spot where even a kick or jump is tough,or just flat impossible.
Click to expand...

You are not watching closely enough to see that some proportion of your pots would miss on a different table or a different night.

Your opponent, on the other hand, is hitting his shots with just the correct speed such that if he misses, his ball lands in a perfect spot a good deal of the time.
 
Chuck Fields said:
supply-chain-talent5.jpg
Click to expand...

WAIT .... I remember that cartoon ... ummm .... Wacky Racers?
 
Tommy-D said:
According to people that have been around even longer than I have,supposedly the "rolls" will even out.

It sure doesn't feel like it from my perspective.

I have no idea why,but at the times when I need something to go my way,it almost NEVER happens.

If I miss a ball unexpectedly,I'm the guy that goes nights or weeks without lucking a ball in to continue my run.

Usually,my misses or whatever mistakes wind up in a place where the only way my opponent can f**k it up is if they just quit trying.

On the other hand,it feels like my opponents can repeatedly miss balls,and it either goes in so they can keep swinging,or it winds up in a spot where even a kick or jump is tough,or just flat impossible.
Click to expand...
Not that the other answers weren't helpful, but here's a real answer (insert whatever emoticon you need).

If you've hit a 7-pack, then you're a very good player. You're not a professional, and therefor you aren't playing this game for a living, and you don't spend 40 hours a week playing. You work. You do other things. But, because you have the technical skills, you're going to always be playing at a relatively high level in your area.

Because you're not a professional, you're going to give up the table due to amateur mistakes. You'll overrun position slightly, you'll miss a shot that when you're on, you won't miss. When you give up the table due to an amateur mistake, because you are damned good player and can at any time runout a rack cleanly (I emphasize "cleanly," as anyone can get out the dirty ways), then you leave the table in good, wide open position more often than a lesser player. That's why you never get a roll when you miss. That's why you're not lucking balls in.

A lesser player... can't play position like you can and misses more often, so whether he makes or misses, the percentage of time he's going to leave the shot in a nice, open position is much lower than yours. And for sure, even if he leaves it perfectly, the cueball may have gone off of ten men and a boy (I think that's foosball term). The times he lucks balls in is going to be higher because he's just not as good as you are and shitting balls in is part of his normal game until he gets better.

It's an odd skill zone, but you're in it. Similarly, if you practice your break, you'll have noticed that as your break gets better and better, you will scratch in the side more often than compared to when you couldn't break for crap. (Raise your hand if you've noticed this).

That is to say that it's actually a sign of improvement into what I'll call 1st degree black belt level of pool. You're a at skill set that says that you've got a great handle on all the basic-to-advanced shots and strategies, but as an amateur, you're going to still suck vs professionals and destroy all the local amateurs.

The good news is that when the rolls aren't as severe against you, you look like a hero and you win the local amateur tournament. YOu've probably won 50 or 100. When the rolls are the normal "everything seems to go their way," every little roll seems worse than it is, and you go 2-and-out.

How's that for a response? I even play agains SL-9s that luck balls in and really aren't playing 9-ball the same way.


Freddie <~~~ typing in the mirror
 
Last edited:
^ I'd rep you Freddie but the site says I need to spread around some first :grin: Great reply and I concur with what you say.

It is also crucial to let it go a little when it starts to feel the world is coming down on you and everything rolls the wrong way around, don't beat yourself up for poor play every now and then. Most of us are not top tier pros, not even great amateurs. We miss. More than we like for sure and the feeling of dogging shots that you know you can make most of the time when you are "on" so to speak is one of the worst sides of pool. The better you get the more disappointment comes from your own mistakes. I've been in a massive slump the last two weeks or so myself so the feeling is still fresh in memory. But I try to keep in mind that before this swamp I played the best pool of my life for some time. Breaking all my previous records and beating some pretty tough guys out of their boots while at it :smile: With that in mind I will grind my way out of this slump once again and come out stronger again. Tough part is staying motivated untill then and enjoying the time at the table :wink:
 
Selective memory in several different ways. By itself, in remembering losses, and compound that against better players. They get out more when u mess up, then u do when they mess up. And better players probably don't try to run out as much as u. And u probably think u are better than u actually are. A guy on my team says the same things. We call him a whiner.

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
 
skip100 said:
Paranoia - it's what's for dinner :thumbup: :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Woe-is-me wine from the Self-Pity Vineyards compliments that nicely. A little bitter on the tongue, causes runny nose and teary eyes, doesn't go down easily...but those who enjoy it drink it by the cask.
 
BRussell said:
A side note: Luck definitely does not even out. That's called the gambler's fallacy. If you have a run of bad luck, the best guess is that you'll have "even" luck in the future, the same way that if you flipped a lot of heads, the best guess is that you'll now get 50-50 heads-tails.
Click to expand...

^ THIS ^

which is the same reason the roulette table shows the last string of winners..

Also, a lot of people don't understand how natural distributions work... in a group of pool players, each player can be expected to have even rolls, but a natural distribution will still occur. What people miss about this is that there will always be players in that distribution who "get all the rolls" and people who "don't get any", which is also expected.
 
Cornerman said:
Not that the other answers weren't helpful, but here's a real answer (insert whatever emoticon you need).

If you've hit a 7-pack, then you're a very good player. You're not a professional, and therefor you aren't playing this game for a living, and you don't spend 40 hours a week playing. You work. You do other things. But, because you have the technical skills, you're going to always be playing at a relatively high level in your area.

Because you're not a professional, you're going to give up the table due to amateur mistakes. You'll overrun position slightly, you'll miss a shot that when you're on, you won't miss. When you give up the table due to an amateur mistake, because you are damned good player and can at any time runout a rack cleanly (I emphasize "cleanly," as anyone can get out the dirty ways), then you leave the table in good, wide open position more often than a lesser player. That's why you never get a roll when you miss. That's why you're not lucking balls in.

A lesser player... can't play position like you can and misses more often, so whether he makes or misses, the percentage of time he's going to leave the shot in a nice, open position is much lower than yours. And for sure, even if he leaves it perfectly, the cueball may have gone off of ten men and a boy (I think that's foosball term). The times he lucks balls in is going to be higher because he's just not as good as you are and shitting balls in is part of his normal game until he gets better.

It's an odd skill zone, but you're in it. Similarly, if you practice your break, you'll have noticed that as your break gets better and better, you will scratch in the side more often than compared to when you couldn't break for crap. (Raise your hand if you've noticed this).

That is to say that it's actually a sign of improvement into what I'll call 1st degree black belt level of pool. You're a at skill set that says that you've got a great handle on all the basic-to-advanced shots and strategies, but as an amateur, you're going to still suck vs professionals and destroy all the local amateurs.

The good news is that when the rolls aren't as severe against you, you look like a hero and you win the local amateur tournament. YOu've probably won 50 or 100. When the rolls are the normal "everything seems to go their way," every little roll seems worse than it is, and you go 2-and-out.

How's that for a response? I even play agains SL-9s that luck balls in and really aren't playing 9-ball the same way.


Freddie <~~~ typing in the mirror
Click to expand...

Very good points, Freddie.
 
Thanks guys,all useable info shared here will be used ;).

I'd also like to clear something up. The match where I broke and ran out 7 times going to 9 was NOT 7 racks in a row. I ran the first 4 and came up dry,opponent ran out. He scratched on the break,I ran out then added 2 more BNR,then ran out to a spot to play safe,got ball in hand and ran out,then added another BNR in my hill game for a 9-1 win with my opponent only shooting twice.

I had plenty of witnesses,but unfortunately no video or it would have been on Youtube that night. Tommy D.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top