How do you focus under pressure

M

mnShooter

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've been having a problem lately where I have been choking when playing good players or important matches. I start thinking about how I'm going to lose if I miss or how badly I want to win. Then of course I miss because I am not focused on the shot at hand. If I'm playing a lessor player I'm out every time because I know even if I do miss they will let me back to the table usually.

So how do you keep the same focus that you have in practice and apply it during pressure situations? I try to focus but just can't stop thinking about other things than the shot at hand. It's like I have ADD.
 
Try playing for stakes with your friends, dont just play for fun ,play for money. When you have played for money a while it makes it easier to stay focused during tournaments and such. I'm not talking big stakes just a dollar or two, but it helps to train under some preassure. Plus dont drink Coffe or energy drinks, or liquor for that sake. This is only my idea, but i think it helpes me in my game.
 
I learned to play under pressure playing lots of cheap sets with anyone who would play me - even if I knew they were a much better player than me.... Especially if they were a better player. Some of these guys actually lost to me, I'm assuming because a $5 set didn't interest them much and they knew I was trying to work on my nerves.

Also, like ATH said, avoid stimulants and alcohol. I'm a smoker, but you won't see me with a cigarette during a serious game.
 
Focus

This question is very hard for several people. I wish that I could give people my focus. For some reason I have a natural ability to tune everything out, and just take the freakin shot.

I have always been able to do this. One thing that can help you with this focus is simply this.

After you find the spot on the cue ball you want to hit, take a last look at the object ball. Then when you do your warm up strokes look at the cue ball, and only focus on that one spot you want to hit. After your warm up strokes look at the point on the object ball you want to hit, and fire away.

By doing this you get in a habit of doing the same thing, and thinking the same way for every shot. Therefore you won't think about missing, you will be thinking about doing the same routine over, and over. The key to pool is consistency.
 
Sounds like you need a pep talk.

We have all been there, and trust me, pool has nothing to do with it. Losing is no disgrace if you've given your best. You're never a loser until you quit trying.

Show me a man who is afraid to lose, and I'll show you a man who has already lost.

I've competed at my lowest level in various arenas when I was too concerned with winning and losing. It's painful to show up without your A game, the game you know you have in you, to lose to a lesser opponent you know you can dominate, when it matters to you the most.

Winners find a way to focus on the process, the act. The things that got them to where they are. Not where they want to be. This is where you want to be. It's not alway easy, but when you can get into your zone, or dead stroke, when the game is over and your chalking your cue, ready for the next game, you know you're there. Tiger Woods said he was pretty much walking to the next hole, mentally prepared for the next hole, after he already won the green jacket for his major victory. Was he, at that moment, worried about winning or losing? I doubt it very much. This is something I think we should all strive for.
 
i just found out last week hyperventilting helps for me. I exhale very short peaces of air at a faster then normal pace, and seems to help. i have to try it again next time im under big presure. try it and let me know if it works for u?
 
Definitely good ideas guys thx.

I knew about the point thing but I guess I forgot. Most the time when I'm shooting I'm just taking in the whole picture not really staring at one point.

I've never heard of hyperventilating. I'll have to give it a try.

Most the time I just get mad and that doesn't help at all.
 
playing for money and tournaments helped me cause there was that pressure situations, as when i find myself playing a buddy or someone that ain't a good player i find myself losing my concentration. But these are the times when presure is at hand when it ain't, my pre shot routine keeps me focused.

Ever watch the movie For The Love of The Game starring Kevin Costner, he always says block out the mechanism before he throws the ball, i might have to give this a try..
 
I find that I have to be under pressure to play my best, if I am not I will screw up and miss shots.

So I have found a way to add pressure to myself by telling myself that if I miss THIS GUY IS GOING TO BEAT MY BRAINS IN, this allows me to bring my full focus to every shot and usually brings a jump in my game.

I think this comes from the other sports I play, I always played my best with the game on the line and this is the only way I know how to transfer this pressure to pool.

Bern
 
Playing worse against better players sounds odd to me, but maybe there's a fight or flight thing going on here.

According to the theory, when us humans get confronted with a threat, we intinctively decide in our gut to either fight it out, or run. I've seen this happen on some players on some of my league teams. The player whips himself, or herself, into a tizzy thinking if they lose the match, the world is going to end, and then just completely tune out and play like crap.

Enjoy the fight! No one is going to die anyway.

Hope this helped a little.

Da Poet
 
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I say to myself. Just Play the Balls/Table infront you me, and forget the Guy I am Playing is Rated Better than me. Sometimes it works, and sometime it don't.
 
PoolSleuth said:
I say to myself. Just Play the Balls/Table infront you me, and forget the Guy I am Playing is Rated Better than me. Sometimes it works, and sometime it don't.
Click to expand...

What Dave said about quieting the mind is a big part of it. When we are really concentrating, our minds are very quiet. We are focused.

I find under pressure the thing that helps me is to follow a steady pre-shot routine--do the same things at the same pace. I occupy my mind with simple things: I want to make this ball here and bring the cueball to there. I visualize the path of each ball. I decide before I get down how to hit the cueball to accomplish my task--say, a touch below center, left English. Then I go into my shooting routine. Once over the ball, I know it's going in because I've already seen it. I know I'm hitting the cueball right because it's all been worked out. I pause before I shoot just to check my aim one last time. If it's good, trust it and let it go. If not, get up! Do the whole routine again.

The key is to assign your conscious mind a series of simple tasks--keep it busy so it can't be carried away with negativity. I have also found that even with 8 or 9 ball shots, it helps to think of where you want the cueball to end up. This makes it just like every other shot. Keep it simple: shoot it in, bring the cueball to here.
 
MnShooter

I have been having a similar problem over the summer and have come to the conclusion that I am not motivated. The past couple of months, in almost every 8-ball game, I will pocket 6 or 7 balls very quickly and then choke (not concentrate) at the end and let the opponent back in the game. I am just playing for fun this summer but I am really getting tired of not closing the deal. I think when fall and winter come around I will get my killer instinct back, at least I hope so.

BK
 
i had a problem when i made it to the final few people. early in the tournaments im playing my a game normaly and all is fine. i was always the shy one in the class...never liked standing up and giving reports and such. anything that had to do with being the center of atention in a croud got me choked up. it kinda transfered to the pool hall. when im playing for fun or practicing im in total concentration. when i make it far in a tournament and everyone who was previously playing stops and goes to the main table to observe, i start to get that choked up feeling again. i got better at it tho. just something you have to get used to. try to intentionaly put yourself into positions you are not comfortable with and you will eventually get used to it. iv got to where tournaments and 2 or 3 dollar racks dont pressure me as much anymore...gotta work on higher stakes now :)
 
I use a killer instinct when I'm playing...in my mind you are my worst enemy...when the last ball is made then we can be friends again...that's what works for me and keeps me from getting too bored during a match...
________
 
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for me the minute i realized that im playing not against the person im playing but against myself all the pressures off and i enjoy the game so much more better and perform much better under pressure in tourneys. before i used to
beat myself worry about oh what if i draw this guy. in fact it doesnt matter who you draw your always playing against yourself99 percent of the time
the person who beats you is yourself!!
 
How do you focus under pressure ?

Years ago I learned that I wasn`t playing the person I was playing the table, And as long as they were in the chair they could not win. This helped me a whole lot.
One shot at a time.
 
You are playing the table

It has been stated a million times, by much better players, and now I am repeating it again. When you are at the table, it does not matter who the other players is, they aren't shooting, you are. You need to think about your pre-shot routine, and complete the shot. If you don't have a preshot routine, then you need to establish one. If you have a strong enough foundation and pre-shot routine, just settle in and follow through, after the final ball drops in the hole, tell your opponent it was a good game.
 
Good stuff guys. I'll see if I can just pretend it's me playing myself at the local tourney tonight. Cause really that's all there is-me and the table. There's also quite a few things in blackjacks writings that could be of some use.

I definitely have a preshot routine but when I'm feeling the heat it seems like something is just a little bit out of whack. Next time I'll see if I can recognize what is different besides my head.
 
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