How do you deal with slow players?

Flex

Flex

Banger
Silver Member
Recently, I heard a guy whining that his opponent (who beat him in the finals of a recent tournament) "put him into a coma."

How do you deal with those who play slowly, not as a sharking technique to take you out of your rhythm, but who are just methodical and plod along, running some balls and then playing safe whenever they can?

Flex
 
Play people like that during your practice time, it used to bother me but, it doesn't any more. In fact if I slow down some, I play more thoughtfully and actually play better. It is natural to want to race up there and shoot, (you are so anxious to play) and then you miss--It's good practice to play slow players because as you know you can not pick your opponents in a tournament. Then you'll be better prepared.
phm
 
Be patient, when they are done then it is your turn. Stay in the game and thinking what you would do in their position.
 
when im playing someone who takes 4 or 5 minutes to shoot one ball it anoys me too. everything else going on starts to distract me bc im not up there shooting. something that has helped me deal with it and actuealy expand my knowledge of position play is when they take their time i pick apart the table in my head...if he is still shooting after i find the way out, then il look for alternate ways out, then for alternate shots with diferent english to get the same shape, just anything to keep me thinking about the game and not the chick that keeps walking by :)
 
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Flex said:
Recently, I heard a guy whining that his opponent (who beat him in the finals of a recent tournament) "put him into a coma."

How do you deal with those who play slowly, not as a sharking technique to take you out of your rhythm, but who are just methodical and plod along, running some balls and then playing safe whenever they can?

Flex
Click to expand...
Once while having breakfast with Jim Rempe he casually asked "who are you playing today (I think he already knew )" I said Jimmy Reid, got any advice?
He paused and then asked "Got anything else to do today?" Not Really I replied.
"Good, remember that while you're sitting in the chair, you got no where else to be"
When it took Jimmy about 10 minutes to get the 1st rack racked up properly I immediately knew what JR was talking about and the chant in my head started, "Got no where else to be"
It worked in that match and against every other slow player I've ever played. I just say to myself, go ahead take your time, you're gonna need it cuz I've got no where else to be and I'm getting out when I get up.
 
Joe T said:
It worked in that match and against every other slow player I've ever played. I just say to myself, go ahead take your time, you're gonna need it cuz I've got no where else to be and I'm getting out when I get up.
Click to expand...

Joe T,
Nice story, very good advice.

My philosophy is NEVER play a slow player unless you have to. Pool is fun; slow play = less fun.

When I have to play a tortoise, I look at the table ONLY when he is physically in the act of shooting. Otherwise I look at other tables and watch other games - this gives tortoise-man the idea that he's a little slow. I try to never talk to him unless it's my inning. If there is a magazine around I would definitely pick it up to read it while waiting.
 
I'd say, if it's a tournament, let a ref or the TD know to watch the match a bit closer. They may well have some rules on slow play, and may just step in and tell your opponent to step it up. After all, your match could end up being the one that holds up half the tournament, and the TD surely would want to keep things rolling.

If that doesn't work, a fake bomb with a big glowy timer on it - preferably making the "24" sound - KA-chunk! KA-chunk! KA-chunk! - may motivate your opponent.

(Yes, I'm kidding. :D)
 
JayBates said:
when im playing someone who takes 4 or 5 minutes to shoot one ball it anoys me too.
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4-5 minutes to shoot one ball? :eek: That should give you an incentive to run out the table the next time you're up...or suffer the consequences. :)

While waiting for my turn at the table, I find that it helps break the tedium to watch other games (between better players) going on nearby.
 
Slow

The best way to deal with slow players is never miss. When you are running racks, you don't have to deal with them. I know it isn't easy, but it works. Pool is the only game out there where you opponent has no control over what is happening when they are not up.
 
Only ERO's said:
Pool is the only game out there where you opponent has no control over what is happening when they are not up.
Click to expand...

What do you call sharking, then? :D
 
Joe T said:
He paused and then asked "Got anything else to do today?" Not Really I replied.
"Good, remember that while you're sitting in the chair, you got no where else to be"
Click to expand...

Joe, this is the best advise I have ever read, concerning slow players.
Thanks for passing it along.

On the other side of the coin, I see a lot of players do the worst thing they can do, and that is speed up their own game. It is as if they are trying to compensate for all of the time being wasted by the slow player. Of course, by playing faster, they make more mistakes and lose. You have to find a way to both, deal with the slow player and maintain your own pace.
 
Only ERO's said:
The best way to deal with slow players is never miss. When you are running racks, you don't have to deal with them. [...]
Click to expand...

we've also heard,

go ahead take your time, you're gonna need it cuz I've got no where else to be and I'm getting out when I get up.
Click to expand...

and

4-5 minutes to shoot one ball? That should give you an incentive to run out the table the next time you're up..
Click to expand...

And these bring up the second danger (besides speeding up your own game) of playing a slow player. After what seems like an interminable wait, the last thing a player wants to do is bunt a ball and let the slow guy back at the table. So there is, I think, a tendency to play more agressively (offensively) against a slow player. And if you are more likely to go for the out because you dread the chair, then your opponent *is* affecting you while you're at the table.

Normally, letting your head get out of the game (by watching another match or whatever) is a bad idea. But if you commit yourself to a full de novo study of the table and your options when you get back to the table, then I think it can be OK.

mike page
fargo
 
Jim Rempe/Joe Tucker have the answer

No surprise, Jim Rempe/Joe Tucker have the answer. I used to gamble with an elderly gentleman who gave new meaning to slow. After he got up to shoot I could go get a beer, drink it, pass it through my kidneys, and be back at the table by the time he was taking his first shot. He did everything slow and never shot a ball hard enough that it lost contact with the bevel rolling into a pocket. To make matters worse, ol' Joe was pretty good and when he was running out on you, you were guaranteed fifteen minutes of pure torture.

The thing was Joe's money spent as good as anybody's so I had to figure out how to reverse the flow since he was lightening my pocket instead of vice-versa with my impatience. The secret was simply to shift gears. I became an observer while he was shooting and just kicked back like I was sitting on a river bank during a nice Spring day. No rush, no worry, no impatience, I'd shoot if and when he missed.

Joe hadn't really been what was beating me, just my impatience and I never lost money to him at the end of the evening again.

Hu
 
This doesn't help the speed of the match, but after trying other failed methods to attempt to concentrate, when it's finally my turn during a game I would put my cue on the table and go to the bathroom to ice him/her for a while. I would only do this if I'm playing like crap because of their slow play and there is no end in sight. At this point I even hope the TD gets involved so I can suggest a shot clock.

Joe's suggestion is a really good one.
 
This reminds me of a local in LA who plays slow. Every shot (even a stop shot with automatic position) he has to size up, look at the angle, go to the object ball, take a million warm up strokes, stand back up, etc etc etc. It's beyond the point that he's just being cautious and sure of the shot. It's to the point that anyone who plays him hates him, and there's actually a bounty on his head because he does it deliberately sometimes, and if you complain he goes off on you.

I was told once when playing him in a tournament to out slow-play him -- rack up the table time so that when I beat him he's got to eat it; and that if I lost doing so, I'd be comp'ed the time.

That wasn't so much my style (I can't stand to try and out slow-play someone) so instead I just tried to annoy him by 3-fouling him every game. And it worked! He got so pissed he wanted to quit the tournament right there. Best of all, he couldn't kick at all so it was easy to 3-foul him.

And on the hill game, the 9-ball is sitting in the jaws of the pocket, dead straight about 3 feet away. Absolutely impossible to miss. So I stare at it, walk up to the 9-ball to get my line of aim (straight in, of course), walk back behind the cue ball, take a million warm up strokes, stand back up, walk back to the 9-ball so as to make sure I have the right contact point (still straight in), go back to the cue ball, take my second million of warm up strokes... you get the picture. He'd finally had enough and just broke down his cue.
 
Flex said:
Recently, I heard a guy whining that his opponent (who beat him in the finals of a recent tournament) "put him into a coma."

How do you deal with those who play slowly, not as a sharking technique to take you out of your rhythm, but who are just methodical and plod along, running some balls and then playing safe whenever they can?

Flex
Click to expand...

I do not think that there is a right answer or right solution.In daily practice situations shot clock is not practical.In the tournaments many TDs do not do any thing about the slow players.From the books I gather ,one time when Ralph Greenleaf was playing Frank Taberski Frank took 20 minutes studying the rack and after that went to the Can.When he returned from the Can he anounced a deliberate safety.
 
mikepage said:
And these bring up the second danger (besides speeding up your own game) of playing a slow player. After what seems like an interminable wait, the last thing a player wants to do is bunt a ball and let the slow guy back at the table.
Click to expand...

Boy can I relate to this. I was playing the slowest guy in our league, a fellow with many of the traits mentioned, and after considerable thought and gyrations on his part ,he missed and left me nothing (even though most of the balls on the tabled moved !). As I'm walking up to the table I find a reasonable safety and proceed to shoot it. On my way back to the chair I think to myself "why the heck did I do that, now I've got to watch this guy for 5 more minutes while he figures out how to hit the thing !". For sure slow players can cause their opponents to make poor shot selections to avoid the pain of watching more slowness, you make an excellent point.

Dave
 
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