I pretty much got curb-stomped last night

Race to three is a coin flip *especially* for "luck" games like 9-ball

Texas Prez said:
It was a really short race (to three) and I guess I didn't expect much...but just because I am competitive I always expect a win regardless of who I am playing...that is just my competitive nature; I know I am not the best but I do believe that I have the potential to beat anybody given I play perfect.
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TexasPrez:

If this "race to 3" was in a luck/chance game like 9-ball (vs. a pattern game like 8-ball or One Pocket), then yes, Beware_of_Dawg's analogy to being sucker-punched holds true -- you got popped in the forehead, and before you knew what happened, he disappeared around the street corner leaving only a smoke trail. The win was certainly not an indicator of any sort of skill on his part in this instance. In 9-ball, even races to 7 are considered by many pros not to be an indicator of true skill / ability.

Don't fret it. Could've been that he was already used to the table conditions when you hadn't even warmed up yet (especially if he was playing "home" and you were playing "away" -- he had home court advantage). Or that you had other things on your mind, and didn't have a chance to switch your mind into the match. Or, since you mentioned you two had played before and you beat him that/those times, he made it a specific point to beat you, put a concerted effort into doing so (and meanwhile, you treated the match as nothing special). Or... any number of things.

Point is, race to 3 is nothing. It's hard to "find 'it'" (as you put it) in such a short race, if "it" is not already there right out of the chute (especially if you'd not warmed up on that particular equipment beforehand). There is simply not enough time during such a short race. Bob Jewett, Scott Lee, and the many others have sage advice in their posts above.

Hope this is helpful,
-Sean
 
Maybe this true story will make you feel better.

The local Houston Rock and Roll station hosts an annual pool tournament with a bunch of qualifiers all over Houston. I had some free time to try to qualify so I drove 40 miles to the other side of Houston with a buddy of mine. The entry fee to the qualifier was 10 bucks each. Cool so far.

There are a lot of players that come out, maybe more than 100. Anyway, the draw is done and the matches are called. Neither of us are called so we assume that we're on the bottom of the draw and just have to wait, so we wait. And wait. And wait.

Finally, we go up to the TD table and ask to see when our matches will be announced. It's at this time that we find out that neither of our names are in the brackets.

He immediately apologizes and tells us that we'll have to play each other. He also tells us that the format was changed because there were so many people playing, they were running out of time. We were instructed to play 1 game and the tournament is single elimination. WTF?

My buddy and I look at each other and laugh and shake our heads at the silliness of the situation. We go over to the table we were assigned and flip for the break. My buddy wins the coin flip and promptly breaks and runs out the game. I never even got to the table.

So basically, I drove 80 miles and paid 10 bucks and didn't even get to shoot. I laugh even now whenever I think about it.
 
Texas Prez said:
So in league play I was playing someone who has the same exact skill level that I do. We have played before and I have beaten him in our prior matches.

Last night he destroyed me. I am willing to swallow pride and admit this. Yes he did play well and as usual when I lose I say I played badly. But the thing is, I know that I wasn't 100% there. My mind was on other things and I feel like this really had an impact.

How do you find "it" on a night when you know you are not 100%?

...maybe I should take up yoga:rolleyes:
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If you figure that out, write a book and make a few million $$$.
 
9-Ball is nothing but a luck game?????

Texas Prez said:
I think that is what makes me go crazy...the race to three.. its one of those where a single miss, not even a mistake but just a miss, costs you.

This forum is awesome...it was just one of those times where I lost, got upset about it for no reason, and thus vented....I've been playing long enough to know better but it is still good to get this kind of feedback. Competing for about four years now...and still occasionally forget the day-one stuff; like YOU ARE NOT GONNA WIN EVERY MATCH!!!! haha...lesson learned...again :)
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Race to three has nothing to do with it. If you expect a win, you better play for a win. Just wait until you're playing that race to 7 on the bar table and you miss one and lose the match. It happens. A C-player can put together 4 or 5 racks on the bar table. It's not likely, but it happens.

It always makes me laugh to hear the stories about how that guy only missed one shot and lost the match....he lost because he missed, and the other guy didn't. There's no magical reason and there's no magical solution. If you want to win, don't miss.

sfleinen said:
If this "race to 3" was in a luck/chance game like 9-ball (vs. a pattern game like 8-ball or One Pocket), then yes, Beware_of_Dawg's analogy to being sucker-punched holds true -- you got popped in the forehead, and before you knew what happened, he disappeared around the street corner leaving only a smoke trail. The win was certainly not an indicator of any sort of skill on his part in this instance. In 9-ball, even races to 7 are considered by many pros not to be an indicator of true skill / ability.
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Is this implying that there is somehow no luck involved in 8-ball or one-pocket?? This always makes me laugh. If your opponent always seems to get lucky playing 9-ball, I guess you should learn how to play better 9-ball.

I play 9-ball, one-pocket, 8-ball, bar table, big table...whatever. One thing that I have noticed is that it is immensely more difficult to get "lucky" playing 9-ball. One mistake is likely to cost you a couple games. A game-costing mistake in 9-ball could mean nothing more than leaving yourself a weird angle. A game costing mistake in 8-ball or one-pocket means leaving an open run-out.
 
The "ability to come back" does decrease in a short race

Drew said:
Race to three has nothing to do with it. If you expect a win, you better play for a win. Just wait until you're playing that race to 7 on the bar table and you miss one and lose the match. It happens. A C-player can put together 4 or 5 racks on the bar table. It's not likely, but it happens.

It always makes me laugh to hear the stories about how that guy only missed one shot and lost the match....he lost because he missed, and the other guy didn't. There's no magical reason and there's no magical solution. If you want to win, don't miss.
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Drew:

This is certainly true, and worthy of the "quote of the day" -- that if you want to win, don't miss. But we all experience those days when, for whatever reason, we miss a shot. It happens. When it does happen, yes, your opponent now has the ability to run out the match (but that depends on format, though; i.e. winner breaks or alternate break). If it's winner breaks, then yes, you might be sitting in your chair for the rest of the match. If it's alternate break, you have a chance to come back, depending on whether your break is "on" or not (i.e. you're getting a ball consistently on the break).

The point is, it's much harder to "come back" (i.e. have a chance to redeem yourself) in a short race than a longer one.

Drew said:
Is this implying that there is somehow no luck involved in 8-ball or one-pocket?? This always makes me laugh. If your opponent always seems to get lucky playing 9-ball, I guess you should learn how to play better 9-ball.

I play 9-ball, one-pocket, 8-ball, bar table, big table...whatever. One thing that I have noticed is that it is immensely more difficult to get "lucky" playing 9-ball. One mistake is likely to cost you a couple games. A game-costing mistake in 9-ball could mean nothing more than leaving yourself a weird angle. A game costing mistake in 8-ball or one-pocket means leaving an open run-out.
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I'm not sure I agree with those last two sentences. As written, they seem to be making the assumption that in 9-ball, a "game-costing mistake" is merely bad position (but you made the shot); whereas a "game-costing mistake" in 8-ball or One Pocket is a miss with an open table (in 8-ball) or a miss with loss of control of the cue-ball and the opponent has an open shot at his/her pocket with a game-winning number of balls sitting right there (One Pocket). The above two sentences are really slanted towards 9-ball. What if you run the majority of the rack in 9-ball, miss (for whatever reason -- maybe you were trying to stun the cue-ball over for position for the next object ball, and the object ball you shot at jars in the pocket)? Your opponent now has the majority of the rack off the table, and has to run two, maybe three balls including the 9. The point was, in pattern games like 8-ball or One Pocket, your opponent still has to run his/her category of balls (in 8-ball) or pocket a quantity of eight balls (depending on the spot in the match) in his/her pocket in One Pocket. There's at least a sense of "Ok, Mr./Ms. Opponent, you're going to have to earn it now," rather than, "Ok, Mr./Ms. Opponent, I cleaned off the table for you, all you need to do is sink the 9 now."

Does luck exist in 8-ball or One Pocket? Absolutely! There are any numbers of scenarios in either 8-ball or One Pocket where your opponent can benefit from lucky rolls. There isn't a cue game where luck doesn't exist.

Sure, if you really want to win, you better play to do so. But the point of my reply to TexasPrez was that a short race gave him less chance to "come back" or redeem himself. We can't be machines all the time, playing to championship calibre every day, every game, every shot. We're all human.

Hope this helps clarify,
-Sean

P.S.: I also play the games you mentioned (8-ball, 9-ball, One Pocket) on both bar tables and 9-footers, and I also regularly play straight pool and 3-cushion as well. My comments above were not to insult the 9-ball playing crowd; it was merely to console TexasPrez in the notion that in the game of 9-ball, unless you "miss safe" (i.e your opponent has no direct shot at the object ball and has to kick at it), you just "assisted" your opponent towards his/her win and have very little chance to redeem yourself in such a short race to 3. That kind of situation is much more costly in 9-ball than in a pattern game like 8-ball or One Pocket.
 
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Texas Prez said:
So in league play I was playing someone who has the same exact skill level that I do. We have played before and I have beaten him in our prior matches.

Last night he destroyed me. I am willing to swallow pride and admit this. Yes he did play well and as usual when I lose I say I played badly. But the thing is, I know that I wasn't 100% there. My mind was on other things and I feel like this really had an impact.

How do you find "it" on a night when you know you are not 100%?

...maybe I should take up yoga:rolleyes:
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Why bring the other player into the equation, I know he is a factor but I think the game is against the balls if you rate yourself based on the other player how can you win when the other player is Johnny Archer or like. I played Roger Griffis once and was holding my own until it dawned on me that I was holding my own against Griffis and he destroyed me. If I would have kept my battle with the balls and not added the outside influence in this case Roger I would have been more likely to stay at 100%. Base your game, off of what is there every time (the balls). By doing this you are playing in the same enviornment as much as possible at all times if you can find 100% in that enviornment then it is easier to allways be at 100%. You mentioned your mind was on other things that is enough of a reason to not beat yourself up over less then your best play. If you are bickering with your spouse or your kids are sick etc. it is real tough to play 100% if not impossible. Everyone has to find what works for them mentally if I new how to find it like the best have found it I would be the best but I'm not pool is a hard game.
 
the only thing you can do if you feel immediately that you are just not in stroke, or not in the zone, is drastically (!!!) change the way you are playing.

That means, if you are chatting with people, don't say a word and get away from any distractions. If you are being too serious, maybe chat with someone and take the pressure off of you. If you are rushing, slow down... vice versa. But you have to be extremely deliberate in your changes.

This isn't always going to work, and in fact sometimes it could make you play worse.. but if you already know you are in for a loss without drastic change you might as well try. You cannot allow negative thoughts to seep into your head and you have to shrug it off afterwards... especially in short race league play.

This is the exact reason I will be getting out of APA as soon as I fulfill my obligation at city tournament for my team this upcoming year.
 
One thing that helps me... is playing safeties.
Playing safeties takes a lot of CB control.
So, playing safeties will help me get me back on track, while getting my opponent out of rhythm.
 
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