How Common Is This?

lfigueroa said:
As some (many) know, I'm writing a book and something happen to me this past weekend that I would want to address in said book.

It is something that has happened to me in the past but was particularly dramatic/traumatic this past weekend. I've been playing pretty good, consistent, high level for me, and then this past weekend -- for one session -- my game fell completely and totally off the cliff. Could not see the angles, could not judge CB speed accurately, and my banks went into the toilet, (sigh). My game was a wreck.

So my question is, though I know we all have our ups and down: do you occasionally walk into the PR, get into a game, and without prior warning, have your skills evaporate? Yes, I know they eventually come back. But do you occassionally suffer a fugue state in which it appears you've never played pool before?

Lou Figueroa
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The short answer is yes.

When I wander into the dreaded "fugue" state (for me and until this point--it may change in the future) I view the cause of this collapse as some change--intentional or unintentional--in my pre-shot routine. Does this occur because of fatigue or age as some above have suggested. Maybe, I have started wearing readers occasionally.

I find it hard to not tinker with my PSR.

I am suspicious that my tinkering or anyone's tinkering (at some point) is not wise or productive, unless it occurs because for some reason the person unwittingly entered the dreaded "fugue" state you describe. As I am writing this, I wonder if a PSR is so fragile that this can happen--someone goes into the pool hall and everything seems impossible--maybe the PSR should be altered to something more "durable" or simple? Here I go, rationalizing additional tinkering in the same paragraph wherein I assert over tinkering is, as Grady would say, "fraught with peril".

Early in my pool life I was on a search for a PSR that would allow for consistent accurate cue movement and a powerful stroke. I have come to believe this is not enough. What's required, I think, is a PSR that allows for consistent and accurate cue movement and a powerful stroke that the player uses unconsciously or very close to unconsciously such that his mind is free to worry about the game and not his PSR. Of course, if the PSR is unconscious, how do you find your way back if you get lost? I don't know.

When the best players in the world are practicing or playing, they are (for the most part) not tinkering with their PSR. All of that is over. Their PSR and all of its unique benefits and flaws are unconsciously deployed. I feel like I have seen enough of the top players play to know they are all accurate and powerful at the top level using a variety of methods (with some commonalities of course).

Currently, I have as a category of critique in my proposed PSRs for myself a category of perceived "durability". How easy or difficult is this PSR to get right? If I get down on a ball "slightly" different, does it still feel workable or is it alien and impossible? How much does it resemble (or not resemble) PSRs implemented by top players?

A couple years ago Ko Pin Chung ran something like 9 racks against Aloysius Yapp in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open on Matchroom's super microscopic pockets. It highlighted to me how precise the best players are, and it got me thinking that every day I re-make my PSR, I am frustrating a process that requires a march towards as much precision as I can muster.

I am not claiming to have the answer here. I am posing a proposed answer, and choosing to walk the walk myself. Moving forward, I have decided to incorporate what I am calling "durability" in my PSR, and I am going to try really hard to not screw around with it.

Also, it's very happy news that you started the book.

kollegedave
 
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Perhaps a tangent tchal but the topic makes me think of the difference between The Natural and the trained.
In my earliest sports training (little league baseball in 1959) for 4 years 8-12 years old. I encountered a few Naturals that just did the (hard stuff like skate boards) easily first try. 🤷‍♂️
High school football gave me the opportunity to observe a Natural. Whew he did everything....first ry. Well except riding a bull. 🤷‍♂️ at 6' 210 lbs that must be impossible. Bull riders were the little monkey guys. 🤷‍♂️ where was I? Oh almost forgot my brag. I got to help him get his scholarship. The geometry teacher was world wise. Seated the Natural next to me in sophomore geometry. His body speak lead me to keep my arm out of the way during testing. He needed the class. My reward was his tales of his conquest s with the ladies. 🤷‍♂️
Anyway I as an un Natural achieved all league in all of my sports endeavors through study and practice .
Every day starts as Unsure. Sometimes you only get one miss. Against weaker competition the ground sluice shot becomes prefered over Quigley Down Under. 🤷‍♂️
Build the foundation rebuild the foundation every morning leads to practice the basics. Just like the scales of music.
My billiards accomplishments were typically preceeded by a jump of faith moment. Where I had to trust the training. The leap of faith like Butch Cassidy and Sundance. Exhilarating at first success but don't get cock E. A splat on the easy follower is painful. My self to self reminds that a miss now negates one of my best shots ....ever. it helps me. 🤷‍♂️ 😉
The level of competition is a hone.
Hard to soar with the Eagles when the competition is the Wrens.
Guess I am done now. A new room in Kingman is on my help list. So anyone that's passing through. We can do something uh recreational.
 
My wife always answered the same way whether I had a bad day at work, couldn’t find my car keys or lost a match.

“it’s the early signs of a brain tumor”
 
Fitzz47 said:
Sometimes you get the Bear
Sometimes he gets you. I’m 78 hell I’m glad I get up everyday. Somehow I try and play every day. If I get in a groove and run a rack or two it’s a good day.
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Im 72 and went thru prostate cancer treatment the past 2 years. Ive been back at it the past 1.5 years after a 25 year hiatus. It's been a tough grind getting to this point and if I have a bad day it's no biggie. Old age has a grip on us old guys and not much we can do but take it one rack at a time
 
lfigueroa said:
As some (many) know, I'm writing a book and something happen to me this past weekend that I would want to address in said book.

It is something that has happened to me in the past but was particularly dramatic/traumatic this past weekend. I've been playing pretty good, consistent, high level for me, and then this past weekend -- for one session -- my game fell completely and totally off the cliff. Could not see the angles, could not judge CB speed accurately, and my banks went into the toilet, (sigh). My game was a wreck.

So my question is, though I know we all have our ups and down: do you occasionally walk into the PR, get into a game, and without prior warning, have your skills evaporate? Yes, I know they eventually come back. But do you occassionally suffer a fugue state in which it appears you've never played pool before?

Lou Figueroa
Click to expand...
Yep. It happens.

I know what caused my recent one and it sounds really out there. I've been getting allergy shots to try to get rid of or lessen some allergies. I'm right handed and get one in both arms for different things. The two things I'm most allergic to go in my left arm. For two days after the shot it does me no good to play pool. I get inflammation in that arm and can't properly form a bridge, neither open nor closed. Nervy feeling like if you would hit your elbow. Weak grip and just general weakness in that hand/arm.

I didn't realize what was going on and it felt like I had never held a cue before. Apparently my bridge hand is way more important than my shooting hand. I played absolutely piss poor for two weeks in league before I put 2 and 2 together. I scheduled the shots the day after league night and all was ok again.

It can sometimes be little things that make the wheels fall off the cart. Something doesn't feel right, you're not thinking right, thinking too much, etc. It's annoying but generally if you stick with it (or take a week off) stuff returns back to normal. It's just another one of pool's mysteries. :)
 
lfigueroa said:
As some (many) know, I'm writing a book and something happen to me this past weekend that I would want to address in said book.

It is something that has happened to me in the past but was particularly dramatic/traumatic this past weekend. I've been playing pretty good, consistent, high level for me, and then this past weekend -- for one session -- my game fell completely and totally off the cliff. Could not see the angles, could not judge CB speed accurately, and my banks went into the toilet, (sigh). My game was a wreck.

So my question is, though I know we all have our ups and down: do you occasionally walk into the PR, get into a game, and without prior warning, have your skills evaporate? Yes, I know they eventually come back. But do you occassionally suffer a fugue state in which it appears you've never played pool before?

Lou Figueroa
Click to expand...
I'm sure the older we get...the more it happens.
 
boogieman said:
the wheels fall off the cart
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While sitting in the chair do the roadside repair. 🤷‍♂️
Self analysis is do able. I proofed it going down 6-2 racing to 7. Nine ball on the big stage no less.
Talk about the wheels falling off. Sheeesh rack after rack I handed him 3 ball outs. Eek.
The poker expression is A Chip and A Chair. Getting my mind right like Cool Hand Luke, allowed me to win the match. A good friend's $5 bet on me was motivation too. 🤷‍♂️ 😉
 
I believe it's a concentration/ state of mind issue once you reach a certain playing level. Thinking too much at once or not enough will lead to inconsistency.

What I've found when practicing with some phenomenal snooker players is that when they're off it they know exactly why and their root cause analysis is almost instantaneous. Whilst they might not know the exact physics behind everything they know their game inside out and immediately understand what they're doing wrong and very quickly find the root cause. That then gives them something to focus on. So they're concentrating on something but not lots of things...in somewhat of a Goldilocks concentration zone.

Until I realised this I used to spend so much time trying to fix the symptoms of the root cause, wasting days or even weeks. Now, in practice if I'm off it I just go and take a coffee break really trying to assess what's causing all this. When I figure it out my levels always increase, and where they don't I just call time and go again the next time. Frustrated practice is pointless.
 
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