How do you guys bounce back from that devastating loss?

Take a break, yes.

Fast Lenny said:
Take a little bit of time away from the game for other things in life. You will have the itch to play and then you get back in the box. If it was a tough loss I just take a break for a couple of days making sure my mind is clear.
Click to expand...

Yes, take a break!

And sometimes you need longer than a few days.

After my best year (up till then), the 1986-87 season, I played terribly in the final rounds of the VNEA National Team Event in Vegas, and felt so bad I sold my cue and quit playing for two years. I also left Wisconsin for a job in Maryland and a change of scene. I could have used Phil Capelle's advice about "forgiving yourself"...I might have come back sooner.

But I did come back, and '92-'95 were my best years.
 
Shermanscs said:
The match that, on paper, you should win 90% of the time - yet, in the big spot, you come up short. The kind of match that makes you wonder about why you put in as much time as you do on the practice table, all the reading & studying, the hours watching pros on film. How the hell do you guys bounce back?

Signed,
Thoroughly disgusted (aka Steve sherman)
Click to expand...

I always said practice a lone is not enough, you have to take your practice to the field, if you play like the way you practice five times in a row for money then you are getting their. Just like fire fighters training, they sit in a class room for hours, and then the real heat practice!! If you fail back to the drawing board. Pool have a secret you have to find it; those that find it before you will enjoy you until you become one of them!
Consider your losses investment in pool knowledge. Best of luck next time.
 
Fast Lenny said:
Take a little bit of time away from the game for other things in life. You will have the itch to play and then you get back in the box. If it was a tough loss I just take a break for a couple of days making sure my mind is clear.
Click to expand...

sounds about right
 
Couple of Blue Moon's, b1tch about the bad rolls, and mention my opponent had a horse shoe up his arse cause he can't hold my jock strap... and i'm good to go :)
 
Shermanscs said:
The match that, on paper, you should win 90% of the time - yet, in the big spot, you come up short. The kind of match that makes you wonder about why you put in as much time as you do on the practice table, all the reading & studying, the hours watching pros on film. How the hell do you guys bounce back?

Signed,
Thoroughly disgusted (aka Steve sherman)
Click to expand...

There's a support group for that. It's called "The Bar" near your pool room and meetings are held after every tournament.
 
Shermanscs said:
The match that, on paper, you should win 90% of the time - yet, in the big spot, you come up short. The kind of match that makes you wonder about why you put in as much time as you do on the practice table, all the reading & studying, the hours watching pros on film. How the hell do you guys bounce back?

Signed,
Thoroughly disgusted (aka Steve sherman)
Click to expand...

No joke this time. It's intergral to the game of pool and you have to be able to accept losses of all kinds. The sooner you learn to accept losses, the sooner your game will jump. The best quote I ever heard "I stopped giving a crap and my game leaped".

Actually, losing to someone you "should" have beat is understandable. You should never think "I'm supposed to beat this player". You are underestimating your opponent, which is not usually a good thing. Plus it pisses off the pool gods.
 
TATE said:
No joke this time. It's intergral to the game of pool and you have to be able to accept losses of all kinds. The sooner you learn to accept losses, the sooner your game will jump. The best quote I ever heard "I stopped giving a crap and my game leaped".

Actually, losing to someone you "should" have beat is understandable. You should never think "I'm supposed to beat this player". You are underestimating your opponent, which is not usually a good thing. Plus it pisses off the pool gods.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Everytime you go into a match with that thought in your subconscious, you automatically installed a "governor" on your performance. You automatically throttle back, even though you may not "think" you're doing it. "Hey, I DO want to win this match, and I'm supposed to, right?" And yet, in the back of your mind, there's that governor installed that prevents you from giving it your all, "because, you're supposed to win this match anyway, right?".

I know, it's very hard NOT to think this way. You look at who you got matched up with, and you say to yourself, "I got this." And that, right there, is where you go wrong. Immediately stop yourself and say, "wait a minute -- that guy has beaten me before, so I DON'T got this. I'll have to earn it."

And you'll find that you're duking it out with what was supposed to be a "gimme" opponent. It's all a mindset issue.

-Sean
 
lots of support here, I'm getting that weepy Oprah Winfrey show vibe going.

But Dude, its just a game of pool.
 
Well I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win
 
Kickin' Chicken said:
I see my attempt to lighten it up for you with some bowling humor didn't work.

now I get it, though. it was a team playoff and you feel like you let your team down. those are always harder to take than losing a singles match.

just suck it up, it didn't work out this time, and remember that your good play during the season helped get your team there for the opportunity.

and look forward to the next chance.

best,
brian kc
Click to expand...

I agree with Brian. Another thing, league captains and fellow players do a player (that's about to step up to the table for his/her match) a great disservice/injustice by "rooting the player on" with quotes like, "you got this -- you're the stronger player on paper / you've beat him before," etc. By doing this, your own team is sharking you.

It's better that they keep this type of banter to themselves, or at least between the players NOT in playing that match, so that the player that is playing that match doesn't get that "performance governor" automatically installed. It's really sad to see league teams do this to themselves -- shoot themselves in the foot -- because they think "rooting the player on" is somehow going to make him/her play well, when in fact, it has the opposite effect.

-Sean
 
Last edited:
My win/loss ratio is in reverse. I loose 90% of the time with 10% winner. So I am used to loosing. The only thing bad is I miss the money when it is all gone.
 
A few years ago I took a bad beat but it turned out good because it motivated me to improve two areas of my game.

I was playing the best guy in our league an 8ball race to 5. He was 10-0 for the season. I got him to hill-hill and I had a roadmap to run out. I pocketed my last solid but did not think much about my speed. It looked like I had a huge margin of error. But my standard medium stroke brought the CB across the table and back perfectly snookering me behind his last stripe.

I was left a simple 3 rail kick using the Corner 5 system. But I had never heard of Corner 5. I ended up losing the game and hence the match.


Afterward I began a 6 month quest to learn as much as possible about kicking. I studied 3 rail, 2 rail, and 1 rail kicks. Mirror system, plus2, corner5, etc. Now my team mates often ask for my advice on kicks.


And I try it never take the speed of a shot for granted.
 
I've bet and staked a lot of players in my life.

If a man dogged it, it didn't make me quit him.
If a man missed and broke his cue, it didn't make me quit him.
To me, these things showed that a man cared...
...and was giving it everything he had.

What would make me stop betting on a player was carelessness....
...or just not trying hard enough.


Get back on the horse, Steve
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top