How to handle slow players?
- Thread starter yumeul
- Start date
It's just part of the game that you have to learn to deal with if you are going to play competitively. Find a way to stay within yourself and don't allow the other persons actions effect your game. Use the time to study the table and what you will do when it's your turn.
I just screw around on my phone, which is how I spend my time anyway in the chair...
unless the match is pretty serious. If I have time to clear my entire words with friends docket, I'm a happy camper.
When the match is more serious the phone goes off and I just stare at the layout and
play a little game of "what could possibly go wrong?" ...I try to guess what he's going to shoot
and how he's going to hit it, and then enumerate in my head all the possible ways he could screw up.
"Most players under-draw from this distance, he could end up thin on the next ball."
"I bet he tries low left here, he should do high right, it's a safer path"
"Watch him overcook this thin cut and end up frozen to the head rail".
Then I get my hopes up and feel a little pleased every time the prediction comes true.
If he struggles his way through the rack anyway I think "he can't keep making hero recovery shots forever,
eventually these screwups are gonna catch up to him".
It's my way of keeping positive and staying engaged in the match.
unless the match is pretty serious. If I have time to clear my entire words with friends docket, I'm a happy camper.
When the match is more serious the phone goes off and I just stare at the layout and
play a little game of "what could possibly go wrong?" ...I try to guess what he's going to shoot
and how he's going to hit it, and then enumerate in my head all the possible ways he could screw up.
"Most players under-draw from this distance, he could end up thin on the next ball."
"I bet he tries low left here, he should do high right, it's a safer path"
"Watch him overcook this thin cut and end up frozen to the head rail".
Then I get my hopes up and feel a little pleased every time the prediction comes true.
If he struggles his way through the rack anyway I think "he can't keep making hero recovery shots forever,
eventually these screwups are gonna catch up to him".
It's my way of keeping positive and staying engaged in the match.
Haha good one..I'll try to think of how they screw up next time
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possibilities
this i like. looking at the various possibilities. and when playing a better player then I will be doing some learning.
this i like. looking at the various possibilities. and when playing a better player then I will be doing some learning.
ditto :thumbup:
Slow players is used to be on the table mush more than the opponent. Take that from them and they will break apart
Amen Eric!!!!!
JC
Coos Cues
Excellent advice. Just because they can dish it out, doesn't mean they can take it. Slow play is their way of controlling the match. Don't believe any of the bullshit excuses you will hear in this thread and others about needing time to decide and plan etc. It's all about control. Take away that tool of control and they have only their pool skills left which in most cases isn't sufficient.
If that doesn't work, you hold your toothbrush close to the 60 watt light bulb in the shitter and stretch it out then snap it off in the center. Get out your tip tool and work the broken end down to a sharp point. Get out of your chair pretending to be looking at some controversial cluster on the table and slip your shank into their abdomen, just below the rib cage on the right hand side. This should be a direct hit on the liver.
JC
I play slow players in my own way. I DO NOT pay any attention to what they are doing, I don't watch them shoot and completely ignore what they are doing and how long it takes them to do it. In a local tournament recently one of the the players seemed slow so I intentionally watched another table match so I would not be upset by the slow play. I did have one eye on him to make sure he was not pulling any other moves but made sure he did not see me watching. Some folks are just plain methodical and slow by nature others are flat out trying to get in your head.
I almost forgot this tidbit of advice. I once agreed to play a guy for money who was known for notoriously slow play. Knowing this going in I rented the table next to us and would run drills or whatever to keep loose while he was at the table.
Wouldn't ya know it, his speed got a little faster when he noticed I didn't care how long he took.
I almost forgot this tidbit of advice. I once agreed to play a guy for money who was known for notoriously slow play. Knowing this going in I rented the table next to us and would run drills or whatever to keep loose while he was at the table.
Wouldn't ya know it, his speed got a little faster when he noticed I didn't care how long he took.
Yeah I have my friend's table always but I think its a little disrespectful to run drills while in a match.
Play One Pocket
Learn to play One Pocket and you wont ever care what anyone does at the table. If I put a good player in a trap in One Pocket and he takes a long time to figure a way out, I know my shot was the right one or a least one that made the guy sweat, so his slow play is a small victory during a tuff game with a better player or tuff opponent.
If the trap puts me in control of the table, I dont care how long it takes!
Buddy Hall, Johnny Archer, Hill Billy, Silver Ocho..., all slow, all really tuff to beat!
Learn to play One Pocket and you wont ever care what anyone does at the table. If I put a good player in a trap in One Pocket and he takes a long time to figure a way out, I know my shot was the right one or a least one that made the guy sweat, so his slow play is a small victory during a tuff game with a better player or tuff opponent.
If the trap puts me in control of the table, I dont care how long it takes!
Buddy Hall, Johnny Archer, Hill Billy, Silver Ocho..., all slow, all really tuff to beat!
In several tournaments in the NYC area that I used to play in you can call the TD over to watch him shoot, if he thought that the player was too slow he would be "put on the clock".....never really saw that happen and don't know the time limit for "on the clock" because just calling the TD over usually worked just fine. :smile:
J
J
In my opinion, this guy just nailed the answer. I'm also adding this in my person notes for future use. I think mental conditioning is more improtant than table time. I've seen great players break down mentally and faulter, and I've seen weaker players get real strong real fast just from a change to a good mental state. The mind is a very, very powerful thing.
Dopc.
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Sometimes u just can't think about it or it will throw u off. When it happens to me i just think what i would do if he misses from here and how i would proceed to run out. I remember one time at the BCA i played this one guy and u talk about slow. Every game he won took about 10 mins. He got to the hill first and somehow i crawled all the way back to make it hill hill my break. I break and start to run out and get down to my last ball. Now all i have to do is stop the cue ball and i am dead straight in on the eight. But instead of shooting my last ball i call the ref over there and ask him if he could keep an eye on the table that i had to go to the restroom real bad. I go in there wash my hands and face, talk to a couple of people out in the hallway and go back in to pocket the last two balls to win the set. He just sat there dumbfounded that i would even do that but i feel like he was trying to throw me off my game and almost did. Sorry about the long story.
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