How do you stay excited about playing?

Josh Palmer

Josh Palmer

I'll take the 6 :)
Silver Member
I'm asking this question because we all have our reasons for playing. I find it hard to play more than a month at a time, because I lose interest. I feel like fishing instead! I think it must be a serious grind for top players to get in and practice. I live in an area with zero people to play, and no real place to play either, but when I first learned to play, I would close the poolroom down every night....

Just wondering what other members do to keep the excitement alive.
 
As long as I have someone to beat, I have no problems staying motivated. Here in Baghdad, there is no one capable of winning any but the occasional game, so I do not play much.

It's all about the competition to me. It sounds like that is what it is for you, too. You should move back to an area where there are a lot of strong players.

I live in Central Florida, so I will have plenty of people to aim for when I get back home.

Russ
 
Lots to say here. I'm going to be hard pressed to keep it short....

I started at 11, I'm now 48. And I love pool more than ever. If I'm not practicing, matching up, reading about it or watching Accu-Stats over & over, I'm day dreaming about it. Or talking to you guys on here!

In another 13 1/2 months, I'll be 50. I'm going to start to play in tournaments and, God willing, make my first trip to the Derby City Classic.

I've worked since I was 11 also. Two jobs since I was 21 and for a 10 year period, I was working 3 jobs at the same time. Besides church & family responsibilities, pool is what I can totally get lost in.

When I come home from work and after everyone goes to sleep, I go downstairs and can play Fong Pang Chao in 9 ball (Really the ghost, but I use my imagination!). Or, I can see how many shots it takes me to bank a full rack of balls. Or, I can practice for hours just trying to play myself safe. Or, I can place the cue ball somewhere on the table where I am safe and practice hitting the next object ball. Or, I can work on my one pocket breaks to see where I get the best ball distribution on my side while leaving the cue ball bad for my opponant. Or, I play myself rotation and try to imagine what Efren felt like playing late into the night by himself at practice. Even when I'm playing someone and it's my turn in the chair, I've tried Ralf Souqet's method of concentration, I've squirmed around like Grady, chatted it up like McCready. I try to see the table like Billy Incardona does. I try to get cue ball control like Buddy Hall. It's always a work in progress, because nobody will ever be totally perfect 100% of the time.

One more important thing is goal setting. I've wanted to be able to break and run out in all 5 major pool disciplines. So far, I can break and run out from time to time in 8 ball, 9 ball, 9 ball banks and 8 & out occasionally in one pocket. I still want to be able to run 150 & out in 14.1 but I'm stuck in the low 40's.
I also like to play a set of 9 ball by myself and score it using the Accu-Stats method to see what I can shoot for each session that I do score my shots. It's all way too much fun!

When I can't fall asleep, I'll sometimes try to imagine what it was like watching Ralph Greenleaf playing Frank Taberski in the 1920's. I keep a copy of a list of all my pool matches with me in the car. I got another copy at work. Plus, all my pool literature and pool stats at home to look thru.
I could go on and on. There's just so much to love about our great sport!
 
Terry, you sound like you'd make for a real fun pool buddy. Pool is quite an obsession for me as well.

My drive to keep playing is to make "A" speed. "A" speed being good enough to beat the 9ball ghost. I sworn to myself to make it before the end of the year.
 
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winning, seeing steady improvment, without those 2 things yeah the cue gets real heavy and its time for a change of scenery, I know you play alot better than me so I dont have alot of room here to give you advice but speaking for myself and i'll try and give you some insight more than about pool, sometimes less is more....lemme explaine.

You cant get instroke playing once a week, we know that but....taking a month or two off then comming back hard and heavy for a month I seem to become a better player overall, hell I laid off for years and came back and played better than ever because my passion was at a higher level. Now how to keep that passion at a high level all the time, i dunno:confused: . when your a pro and winning means eating pool isnt as fun, its a grind but a means to an end however I'm not blessed with those skills. Those who are amaze me, that is the ones who last for more than 5 years guys like Efren, Archer I dont know how they do it year in year out. Constantingly winning. In my profession it comes with so much ease that it isnt to much work and what other choice do I have? perhaps thats how it is for the champions who last 20 years, but unless your that gifted it aint in the cards. and honestly i'm not sure i want to play that good. i see the same thing with peo body builders,m its their calling so they have to roll with it. whats efren gonna do get job knowing he can win any thing at any tiem, its not the highest and best use of his time, not many people are so lucky.


something to think about, my read on you is your a boarderline player who could make steady $$$, i'm not. My read could be all wrong and if it is no offence just trying to give you some insight, perhaps this should have been a pm.
 
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Josh Palmer said:
I'm asking this question because we all have our reasons for playing. I find it hard to play more than a month at a time, because I lose interest. I feel like fishing instead! I think it must be a serious grind for top players to get in and practice. I live in an area with zero people to play, and no real place to play either, but when I first learned to play, I would close the poolroom down every night....

Just wondering what other members do to keep the excitement alive.
Click to expand...
Everybody is different..don't push yourself into playing pool or doing anything else in life...enjoy fishing or anything that makes you happy..:)
 
To keep my focus I set realistic goals with a time frame and try to accomplish them,i have accomplished them all so far because im dedicated.I might find a guy alittle better and set him as my goal,maybe say i will beat him in 6 months or be able to be competitive.When i was in NY my goal was to have a better rating by winning tournaments and move up and i did it,it felt good to accomplish that,,for me its all about stepping up one more notch and is much sweeter then the money i won also. :)
 
Playing

Russ Chewning said:
As long as I have someone to beat, I have no problems staying motivated. Here in Baghdad, there is no one capable of winning any but the occasional game, so I do not play much.

It's all about the competition to me. It sounds like that is what it is for you, too. You should move back to an area where there are a lot of strong players.

I live in Central Florida, so I will have plenty of people to aim for when I get back home.

Russ
Click to expand...

Russ, what kind of equipment do you have to play on up there? I'm in Kuwait (AJ), there are some nice brunswick tables here with 860. If you make it down here look me up, ask at zone 1 for the guy that plays 1P. The TCN's know me.

I have to have a "carrot" to stay motivated. What I mean is a goal, like a race to train for. When I compete in duathlons or marathons, 10ks or pool tournaments, I will train for it. Right now I am practicing for DCC 09, I return home in July and have a GC to continue the "training" on.
 
Whenever I feel demotivated, I watch the Efren vs Kunihiko Takahashi match and hit the practice table. But as long as I have some competition, I don't really have a problem losing interest.
 
I stay motivated by the desire to master the game.... but pool like all great games gets more complicated the better you get at it. the game is in essence simple, easy to learn .. but infinitely difficult and impossible to master.

Every run in pool, be it a 1 ball run or a 1000 ball run they all have one thing in common they all end with a miss... the best pool player on earth. misses shots.

so there is no master. there is no end to this journey.
 
Yeah, it sucks

when you don't live in a 'Pool city'. Some cities have always been action towns for Pool. They have good Pool rooms, lots of play, and lots of gambling, and it also spills over to the bars.

When you play for money, you have a tendency to get hooked on the 'action', and everything about it. You want to be where the action is going on, or live close by. It adds an element of excitment to your life, that really gets in your blood. Plus these areas always have good tournaments to play in too, and road players travel to these places.

I lived in Indy about 11 years ago for a 1 1/2 years. Found a few bars for $5 dollar challenges, but only found a real money game there only twice in that time, and both times the other player quit on me after I got $2-300 up. Indy is 3 times the size of Wichita, but there was a lot more action in Wichita than Indy, as far as Pool went, at that time.
 
Josh Palmer said:
I'm asking this question because we all have our reasons for playing. I find it hard to play more than a month at a time, because I lose interest. I feel like fishing instead! I think it must be a serious grind for top players to get in and practice. I live in an area with zero people to play, and no real place to play either, but when I first learned to play, I would close the poolroom down every night....

Just wondering what other members do to keep the excitement alive.
Click to expand...
You answered your own question...I have the same problem here...noone to play and...well now we have somewhat of a place to play...but noone with cajones to gamble...I pretty much have stopped playing and won't start up again until I've moved away from here...which I'm in the process of doing in the near future...
 
Terry Ardeno said:
Lots to say here. I'm going to be hard pressed to keep it short....

I started at 11, I'm now 48. And I love pool more than ever. If I'm not practicing, matching up, reading about it or watching Accu-Stats over & over, I'm day dreaming about it. Or talking to you guys on here!

In another 13 1/2 months, I'll be 50. I'm going to start to play in tournaments and, God willing, make my first trip to the Derby City Classic.

I've worked since I was 11 also. Two jobs since I was 21 and for a 10 year period, I was working 3 jobs at the same time. Besides church & family responsibilities, pool is what I can totally get lost in.

When I come home from work and after everyone goes to sleep, I go downstairs and can play Fong Pang Chao in 9 ball (Really the ghost, but I use my imagination!). Or, I can see how many shots it takes me to bank a full rack of balls. Or, I can practice for hours just trying to play myself safe. Or, I can place the cue ball somewhere on the table where I am safe and practice hitting the next object ball. Or, I can work on my one pocket breaks to see where I get the best ball distribution on my side while leaving the cue ball bad for my opponant. Or, I play myself rotation and try to imagine what Efren felt like playing late into the night by himself at practice. Even when I'm playing someone and it's my turn in the chair, I've tried Ralf Souqet's method of concentration, I've squirmed around like Grady, chatted it up like McCready. I try to see the table like Billy Incardona does. I try to get cue ball control like Buddy Hall. It's always a work in progress, because nobody will ever be totally perfect 100% of the time.

One more important thing is goal setting. I've wanted to be able to break and run out in all 5 major pool disciplines. So far, I can break and run out from time to time in 8 ball, 9 ball, 9 ball banks and 8 & out occasionally in one pocket. I still want to be able to run 150 & out in 14.1 but I'm stuck in the low 40's.
I also like to play a set of 9 ball by myself and score it using the Accu-Stats method to see what I can shoot for each session that I do score my shots. It's all way too much fun!

When I can't fall asleep, I'll sometimes try to imagine what it was like watching Ralph Greenleaf playing Frank Taberski in the 1920's. I keep a copy of a list of all my pool matches with me in the car. I got another copy at work. Plus, all my pool literature and pool stats at home to look thru.
I could go on and on. There's just so much to love about our great sport!
Click to expand...

Yep, you're definitely a pool player for life. :)
Nice imagination too. I like it.

Terry, did you see the video of Ralph Greenleaf playing pool on the front page of AZBilliards.com?
JoeyA
 
Terry Ardeno said:
Lots to say here. I'm going to be hard pressed to keep it short....

I started at 11, I'm now 48. And I love pool more than ever. If I'm not practicing, matching up, reading about it or watching Accu-Stats over & over, I'm day dreaming about it. Or talking to you guys on here!

In another 13 1/2 months, I'll be 50. I'm going to start to play in tournaments and, God willing, make my first trip to the Derby City Classic.

I've worked since I was 11 also. Two jobs since I was 21 and for a 10 year period, I was working 3 jobs at the same time. Besides church & family responsibilities, pool is what I can totally get lost in.

When I come home from work and after everyone goes to sleep, I go downstairs and can play Fong Pang Chao in 9 ball (Really the ghost, but I use my imagination!). Or, I can see how many shots it takes me to bank a full rack of balls. Or, I can practice for hours just trying to play myself safe. Or, I can place the cue ball somewhere on the table where I am safe and practice hitting the next object ball. Or, I can work on my one pocket breaks to see where I get the best ball distribution on my side while leaving the cue ball bad for my opponant. Or, I play myself rotation and try to imagine what Efren felt like playing late into the night by himself at practice. Even when I'm playing someone and it's my turn in the chair, I've tried Ralf Souqet's method of concentration, I've squirmed around like Grady, chatted it up like McCready. I try to see the table like Billy Incardona does. I try to get cue ball control like Buddy Hall. It's always a work in progress, because nobody will ever be totally perfect 100% of the time.

One more important thing is goal setting. I've wanted to be able to break and run out in all 5 major pool disciplines. So far, I can break and run out from time to time in 8 ball, 9 ball, 9 ball banks and 8 & out occasionally in one pocket. I still want to be able to run 150 & out in 14.1 but I'm stuck in the low 40's.
I also like to play a set of 9 ball by myself and score it using the Accu-Stats method to see what I can shoot for each session that I do score my shots. It's all way too much fun!

When I can't fall asleep, I'll sometimes try to imagine what it was like watching Ralph Greenleaf playing Frank Taberski in the 1920's. I keep a copy of a list of all my pool matches with me in the car. I got another copy at work. Plus, all my pool literature and pool stats at home to look thru.
I could go on and on. There's just so much to love about our great sport!
Click to expand...


Man! ur a into pool almost as much as me. My fiance gets mad because I use pool for every analogy I make no matter the situation and right now im trying to coordinate my honymoon next year with either bca nationals or derby city. She doesnt play much so she doesnt get it

As far as motivation id say setting easy medium and hard goals for your self then meeting them. Like the 6,8,9 ball ghost or high runs in straight pool. Nothing gets me more in the mood to play than knowing im realllly close to acomplishing one of my goals. Kinda like xbox acheivement points.
 
this hasn't been problem for me. i'm on my pool table nearly every spare moment I have of the day.
 
Learn something new that can help your game. This is a lot about pool to learn. When you learn something new that can help your game, it excites you to work hard. Of course taknig a lesson or attending a pool school would probably do the same thing.
 
My normal routine for playing is a couple of times a week. One league night and one weekly tounament.

Normally, what motivates me to play and practice more is getting my butt kicked by a player who I consider not as good as me. To me, that is a dead indicator I'm not spending enough time on the table.

I practice up and then, go hunting. LOL

Terry, I like your enthusiasm. I wish I still had that hunger.

Fatboy's comment about the top players ran true also. I spent three years on the road and it does become a grind after a while. After I got off the road, I quit playing for about 3 years and told myself I wouldn't play again until it was fun and the itch was back.

I will tell you this. Once this game is in your blood, it's there for life. So, take a break if you need to and sometime, in the middle of the night, you'll hear your cue stick calling to you from the closet. LOL. Then, you'll be ready again.

Stones
 
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