How important to your success at the table is your pace of play?

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newcuer

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Would you play worse or pretty much the same, if for some reason, you changed the normal pace of your play? (This is disregarding your opponent's pace...for instance if you were playing the ghost)

1.) For players who are a bit methodical and for some reason had to speed up a bit.

2.) For players who are fairly quick and for some reason decided to slow down a bit.
 
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And I guess my next question is...has anyone made substantial strives in their game just by changing their pace of play?

Answering my original question and/or this one would be very informative to me. Thanks.
 
newcuer said:
Would you play worse or pretty much the same, if for some reason, you changed the normal pace of your play? (This is disregarding your opponent's pace...for instance if you were playing the ghost)

1.) For players who are a bit methodical and for some reason had to speed up a bit.

2.) For players who are fairly quick and for some reason decided to slow down a bit.
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Honestly I hate to even think about pace. As long as I see the shot, get in stance correctly, shoot the shot, I don't care how fast or slow it takes. If I see an out I can shoot 7 or 8 balls off the table in a minute. If I don't really see anything it might take me a minute to make one shot/play safe. Sometimes it just takes a bit longer to debate what the shot is and how to navigate the run.

If I'm playing really good I play fast. I see everything much quicker, get into proper stance like I'm in a dream. These times happen more often than they used to, but it can be frustrating when you can't catch the lightning in a bottle.

If I'm not playing good/seeing shots, speeding up will not kick me into high gear, just make me miss or get out of shape faster.
 
It is a weakness of mine that I am a rhythm player.
As, all the pool halls where I live are woefully short of space between tables.
So, I have to start stop all the time when it is busy or during a tournament and sometimes it makes me miss.
Vs.
Free flowing at my pace and not missing these types of shots.

So it is very important for me.
 
I believe finding a personal rhythm is very important.
Having more than one personal optimal pace is something to work on too.
Being able to do the Fox Trot as well as a slow dance could be beneficial.
 
newcuer said:
Would you play worse or pretty much the same, if for some reason, you changed the normal pace of your play? (This is disregarding your opponent's pace...for instance if you were playing the ghost)

1.) For players who are a bit methodical and for some reason had to speed up a bit.

2.) For players who are fairly quick and for some reason decided to slow down a bit.
Click to expand...
If you are focused and in the zone, you likely have no concept of your pace - Fast paced players how no idea how fast they are playing and slow paced players have no clue how slow they are playing.

Altering your pace of play is likely as hard if not harder to change as a major stroke change would be. I believe we are just born to play this game at a certain pace, regardless of skill level, and forcing yourself to drastically change your pace in attempt to improve your game will likely not work.
 
I always play pretty fast in all games except ! pocket . I have become a more patient player , but extremely slow play irritates me . I tried to watch some APA matches on video but when I see a shooter take 45 seconds to shoot a simple shot I want to scream .
 
I find myself trying too hard when my opponent is a slow player. Really, it should not take very long
to figure out your next shot and how to play it beyond 20-30 secs. Based on the table layout before
you, that amount of time can seem overly generous, especially as the number of OBs left decreases.

Consequently, when he misses, my gut reaction is to punish him with a run out regardless of how the
OBs are scattered. Not always the best approach since often times there are OB clusters to deal with.
Slow play is just infuriating watching your opponent figure out how to play the OB & take forever aiming.
 
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I am type 1, I am a methodical player and my game suffers if I speed up.

Minnesota Phat said:
I'd play better if I played slower, but I refuse to play slow, because I think that sucks for whoever I'm playing against. I may not be good, but at least I won't bore you to death at the table.
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That is something I tend to do as well... while going through my PSR a voice in the back of my head says "this takes too long, I'm too slow" so I start rushing it which results in misses. I hate that, so I have to force myself to execute in my own speed. And if I'm slow, then I'm slow.
(By the way, I am aware that this conviction probably only exists in my head. Most opponents have no problem with my speed)

I think there are more 'slow' (methodical) playing good players than fast playing good players. (and 'good' in this case would mean: they get out of racks, hardly ever miss, and have great CB control). What do you guys think?
 
newcuer said:
And I guess my next question is...has anyone made substantial strives in their game just by changing their pace of play?

Answering my original question and/or this one would be very informative to me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
My game improved a lot when I became a more methodical player (which slowed me down).
 
newcuer said:
Would you play worse or pretty much the same, if for some reason, you changed the normal pace of your play? (This is disregarding your opponent's pace...for instance if you were playing the ghost)

1.) For players who are a bit methodical and for some reason had to speed up a bit.

2.) For players who are fairly quick and for some reason decided to slow down a bit.
Click to expand...

I think there is an optimal pace/rhythm for every player. It pays to experiment, what your optimal pace is. If you deviate from your optimal pace, your game worsens. (Best approach is probably to find optimal speed for different shots of different difficulties. If it's a hanger, treat it like one, if it's a tough shot, take your time.)

I am a slow player but I play faster (than optimal for me) in most matches because I don't want to unnerve my opponents. So I train to play faster to look better even if it worsens my performance. If later I go back to my slower pace, this slower pace tends to be faster than when I started out.

Like in speed reading training: you leave your comfort zone and read faster, when you used to. When you go back to your feel good reading speed, you notice, you became faster. (Hope I was able to get my point across.)

But only reason for experimenting and speeding up my game: I hate watching slow players (Souquet, Harriman) and love watching fast players (Jayson, Schmidt). That's why I don't want to be (or stay) a slow player myself.
 
hotelyorba said:
That is something I tend to do as well... while going through my PSR a voice in the back of my head says "this takes too long, I'm too slow" so I start rushing it which results in misses. I hate that, so I have to force myself to execute in my own speed. And if I'm slow, then I'm slow.
(By the way, I am aware that this conviction probably only exists in my head. Most opponents have no problem with my speed)
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I think everyone over-thinks shots from time to time. For me, it's more that I know I should probably stand up and start over, but I don't want to be the guy who keeps re-setting.
hotelyorba said:
I think there are more 'slow' (methodical) playing good players than fast playing good players. (and 'good' in this case would mean: they get out of racks, hardly ever miss, and have great CB control). What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
I think a problem with pool as a game is that you can usually figure out a more optimal strategy by thinking about it longer, and taking longer also wears down your opponent.

I think that playing slow is effective and boring, while playing fast is classy and interesting.
 
newcuer said:
Would you play worse or pretty much the same, if for some reason, you changed the normal pace of your play? (This is disregarding your opponent's pace...for instance if you were playing the ghost)

1.) For players who are a bit methodical and for some reason had to speed up a bit.

2.) For players who are fairly quick and for some reason decided to slow down a bit.
Click to expand...
Good post. Pace of play is definitely an interesting aspect of the game. I'm always fascinated with watching Dennis Orcollo play long sets. He usually changes his pace several times throughout the match. If he gets way behind he usually starts freewheeling and plays super quick. I've also seen him play very slow at times. He's interesting to watch for sure.
 
Perfect timing.
I played a BCA Pool league match last night.
Came down to the last rack, the guy I was playing is a 600 FargoRate player.
He slowed down from his usual pace to a crawl.. Like, 1 min a shot..
He over thought every shot, I mean easy stop shots...
In the end, as the pressure built his last shot to split out the 8ball put it on the rail..
He jawed a bank shot.

I played my normal pace, not over thinking anything easy and ran the table for the team win.

The point is, find a pace that works for you and stick with it.

Funny thing is, after that game he played with his mates for some practice and went back to running the table with a 15 second average shot time... Saw him run a 3 pack...
 
Think to be good at One Pocket you have to learn to decide shoot shot, or play safe.

Know Pro Player play faster because it a job they work at. When you see same situation you saw 10,000 times before. You can decide faster what to do.
 
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