Immediately knowing you missed

[ENGLISH!]

Colin & Robin.

I have played predominantly 8 ball for most of my playing life.

I think it is a great game.

It sort of resembles other team sports.

It's my guys(balls) vs. your guys(balls)

That's not why it's a great game. You guys have outlined that.

CJ & others don't see it as the game to help bring back popularity to the general public. I think that's because they see it as too easy for high level players like Pros.

Play call the exact shot caroms & billiards, etc, & bank the 8 ball on tight equipment & I think they'll see a different game.

Most of the general public plays 8 ball & can easily relate to it.

Best,
Rick

 

[rrick33]

What you're experiencing is a Pre-Shot programming error.

Many aspects of the pre-shot routine leading into the execution of the stroke becomes a programmed process that is ultimately executed on a subconscious level.

If you are distracted in any way or not fully committed to staying focused on your objective, then the neural firing sequence within your programming will become misaligned.
But because it is the nature of programming to follow through, you will continue to deliver the stroke even though your programming missed a few key elements along the way
due to the distractions.

This problem is entirely a mental / focus issue.

 

[Colin Colenso]

Colin,

I've said before that IMO we don't (always) miss because we jump up.

Rather we 'jump up' to try to save a shot that our subconscious knows we are about to miss.

Just some food for thought,
Rick

I'd guess that is 80% of the reason for jumping up, but I've seen a few guys who jump up habitually and actually hit them ok. It's part of their speed control in some cases... weirdly enough.

Colin

 

[336Robin]

Your Post is absolutely right!

The one thing I prefer with 8-ball v 9-ball is that committing to the out in 8-ball often forces the player to take on some hard and risky shots toward the completion of the out, conversely, in 9-ball, the closer one gets to finishing the game, the easier it tends to get, as there are no obstacles on the table, and there's always the option of a reasonably challenging safety, should position be lost.

Colin

Colin and Rick,

First Colin,
You are absolutely right about 8 ball. If the shots do not get progressively harder its because you called your patterns correctly or you had a great layout. When I was playing 8 ball actively in my youth I recognized that with inexperienced players the tendency toward shot difficulty towards the end of the rack was very high. As a teenager I used this in my favor a lot and my idea was to make things difficult for the other guy if he didn't finish the rack, which he often didn't. I would just wait my turn for the open run out and if things got difficult put as much difficulty as possible in the next leave. I would usually get the table back.

I don't recall but two bad losers I made in a number of years and they really weren't bad I just could not beat the players concerned as they were visibly better at playing the same game I played against me.

Rick,
This was the first game I learned and its a great game for beginners and is the cornerstone to some plans that I hope go over here in the states that I call "Pool Club."

There has been some interest in this concept and hopefully it will bear some fruit and I would propose that 8 ball be the introductory game because of its simplicity and also because of its seemingly variable rules according to location. People get to play it the way they want to.

 

[ENGLISH!]

Colin and Rick,


...You are absolutely right about 8 ball. If the shots do not get progressively harder its because you called your patterns correctly or you had a great layout. When I was playing 8 ball actively in my youth I recognized that with inexperienced players the tendency toward shot difficulty towards the end of the rack was very high. As a teenager I used this in my favor a lot and my idea was to make things difficult for the other guy if he didn't finish the rack, which he often didn't. I would just wait my turn for the open run out and if things got difficult put as much difficulty as possible in the next leave. I would usually get the table back...

Hi Robin,

I've played 8 ball much the way you state here, especially after my slight eye injury that resulted in my eye astigmatism.

I was helping a retired gentleman that had not touched a cue until he retired. He came along rather well with my help, but the one thing that I could never get him to understand was that sometimes one should or actually 'has to' shoot a difficult shot early on so as to be able to run out either because the opportunity is simply there & a better one may not come along or because that one shot with the subsequent CB leave gets you on a very simple run out.

He'd do what most lesser players do. He'd shoot the 'easiest' shot on the table until it got to that difficult one that he'd wind up on with not good shape & then mis. He just could not understand that making 3 or 4 balls & not being able to get the win basically meant nothing.

I guess he might have just enjoyed making those 3 or 4 easier shots but I don't think that was really the case because you could just see him beam whenever he'd get what amounted to a rare win from one of those easy run outs with no difficult shot. Maybe those 'gifts' were the 'pool gods' way of keeping him interested in the game.

Best 2 You & All,
Rick

 

[CJ Wiley]

you can't have the mental without the physical, it's simply not possible. imho

Ever shoot and immediately know you missed ? It happens every now and then. Not regularly.

The CB and/or cue stick are not going down the line you intended. You see it immediately after you hit and know you have missed the shot.

Is this an issue due to bad alignment, aim, stroke, lack of focus, all of the above ?

This is from the mental enemy called Doubt.......which follows Faith like a shadow.

The answer to your question is usually "all the above," the pool game connects, you can't achieve your highest level of consistency unless your physical game is effective....you won't have the mental without the physical, it's simply not possible. imho