In a slump. Help Please!

Opie

Opie

Stronger than shortstop?
Silver Member
Hey everybody. To make a long story short, I've been in a hell of a slump for about the past 2 1/2 weeks. It seems like I'm playing a ball to a ball and 1/2 below the speed I was playing. I've read on this forum before where someone said that whenever a person goes into a slump they are subconsciously learning something new and whenever they come out of the slump they play stronger than before. I'm hoping this is what's happening because I'm becoming very frustrated with my play lately. I was just wondering how many of you thought this statement was true and was also wondering what you all do to bring your game out of a slump? Help Please!
 
Opie said:
Hey everybody. To make a long story short, I've been in a hell of a slump for about the past 2 1/2 weeks. It seems like I'm playing a ball to a ball and 1/2 below the speed I was playing. I've read on this forum before where someone said that whenever a person goes into a slump they are subconsciously learning something new and whenever they come out of the slump they play stronger than before. I'm hoping this is what's happening because I'm becoming very frustrated with my play lately. I was just wondering how many of you thought this statement was true and was also wondering what you all do to bring your game out of a slump? Help Please!
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hey friend,
slumps suck a$$. here's what I do when I'm in a slump.
break it down to the fundamentals - stance, grip, stroke, patterns
take things slow - slow your speed down
play straight pool - a little 14 dot 1 is just what you need to help get back in stroke. feel better about running balls again
play on buckets - don't play on tight pockets, you need to feel like a winner to be one.
Hope that helps. If you want, give it a shot (no pun intended). Lemme know how it works for you.
If all else fails, take a 3 day break. The pool addiction will ALWAYS resume if the soul is strong!
 
I've had the same issue and thanks to some advice from members here, what I do is just set up a few balls on the table, take ball in hand and run em out. Nothing too difficult as it's only a way to get your confidence level back.
Once you run a few, add another ball and repeat. Amazingly simple but it works for me.
Knock on wood, I haven't hit many slumps lately but if I do, I always go back to this drill to work myself out of it.

I hope this helpful.
Dave
 
Or ...

Sometimes it is not a slump... Sometimes the guy has been shooting with
his head in the clouds for about 4 months, and just comes back to reality.
This happens to a lot of young players that all of a sudden are playing 2
balls better than what they were playing last week. They get hot for a few
months, and then gradually come back to where their true skill level is, and
then they think they are in a slump.

Trying to teach Pool via the net is like trying to fix someone's computer
problem over the phone .... Rarely does the information you receive
reflect the true situation.
 
Opie said:
...I've read on this forum before where someone said that whenever a person goes into a slump they are subconsciously learning something new and whenever they come out of the slump they play stronger than before...
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Yes I read the same thing and have noticed this. And I have been recently learning new things and am also in a slump. So I am looking forward to when I get out of the slump! (My opponents will not be.)

With myself, it seems to be... learning new things which change my "overall" shooting. The latest is learning to "run 3 friggin' balls". This made everything click for me. Being able to run 3 balls and leave perfect position for each subsequent shot is the key to this thing. If I can run 3 and leave perfect position, then I can run more.

So I guess this is just a lot of information for my brain to process. Totally changes the way I shoot and what I am thinking about when I shoot. What I am "incorporating" into my game is being able to know where the cue ball will wind up after each shot.

So I have gone from running in 7 balls easily last week, to not being able to make one ball this week. (Note that I have allergies and have been loading up on the allergy medicine which does not help any.)

If I'm just learning, say one new shot, that does not put me into a slump.

Actually now that I think about it, I have changed the thinking part of my pre-shot routine. Before it was make the shot, check angles to be sure I will not scratch, and leave cue ball in a general area. Now I have also added checking angles to determine *exactly* where cue ball will go after each shot - paying just as much attention to where cue ball will go and stop as I have been doing to avoid scratching.

I think my brain has said; "Enough of this, I need a vacation for awhile!"

And no big deal being in a slump for me. I usually have the best scores on two of my league teams. So now the other players on my teams will have better scores than I do. They like that! Also we mostly like to have fun. If we win - fine, if we do not win - that is OK too.
 
Billy_Bob said:
Yes I read the same thing and have noticed this. And I have been recently learning new things and am also in a slump. So I am looking forward to when I get out of the slump! (My opponents will not be.)

With myself, it seems to be... learning new things which change my "overall" shooting. The latest is learning to "run 3 friggin' balls". This made everything click for me. Being able to run 3 balls and leave perfect position for each subsequent shot is the key to this thing. If I can run 3 and leave perfect position, then I can run more.

So I guess this is just a lot of information for my brain to process. Totally changes the way I shoot and what I am thinking about when I shoot. What I am "incorporating" into my game is being able to know where the cue ball will wind up after each shot.

So I have gone from running in 7 balls easily last week, to not being able to make one ball this week. (Note that I have allergies and have been loading up on the allergy medicine which does not help any.)

If I'm just learning, say one new shot, that does not put me into a slump.

Actually now that I think about it, I have changed the thinking part of my pre-shot routine. Before it was make the shot, check angles to be sure I will not scratch, and leave cue ball in a general area. Now I have also added checking angles to determine *exactly* where cue ball will go after each shot - paying just as much attention to where cue ball will go and stop as I have been doing to avoid scratching.

I think my brain has said; "Enough of this, I need a vacation for awhile!"

And no big deal being in a slump for me. I usually have the best scores on two of my league teams. So now the other players on my teams will have better scores than I do. They like that! Also we mostly like to have fun. If we win - fine, if we do not win - that is OK too.
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Question / R u trying something new .that u felt it would help your game ?
And when was the last time u had a break from the game????
 
Aren't we all missing the obvious?

The correct way to fix a slump is to go out and buy a new cue ;-)
 
Focusing on your mechanics during a slump can make things about 10x worse. Just take a break for a short while and get your mind completely off the game.
 
Slumps

Go back to your basics and just enjoy the game. I have gone into slumps only to come out of it playing better. That gives you something to look forward to. Keep it positive man. Don't ever say " I am in a slump" again. Just tell em you brought your c game today to give em a chance. :D
Purd :cool:
 
Opie said:
I've read on this forum before where someone said that whenever a person goes into a slump they are subconsciously learning something new and whenever they come out of the slump they play stronger than before.
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What you said and what Billy replied are two totally different things. I agree that when someone is learning new things they will often go through a slump before they get better. But what you have posted sounds like you havent taken a lesson, or read some new information, that you are working on to bring the slump on. So no, I dont think you are learning on a subconscious level and your not going to come out of it playing better if you dont do something about it.

If having a slump always made someone improve we would all be world beaters :D I would say more often than not if someone goes into a slump the advice they will get is to go back to the basics and look at their mechanics. In doing so they may make a correction to something they didnt know was wrong and by doing so they could improve, but it doesnt just happen. But as someone else posted thinking mechanics wont automatically make it better, and in most cases will make it worse for a while.

When working on your stroke (actually thinking about it) you will not play well, but you may improve your stroke if your working on the right things. You dont really see improvement untill the new stroke is learned and becomes automatic so you can go back to just playing the game and concentrating on the proper things at the table.
 
I once hit a slump where I could not run a rack.....I mean nothing. It could of have been a straight ball straight in and I still would miss it. The only way I got out of it ah,...was not to play... instead i played basketball with friends, video games and watched movies....oh and played chess. Ultimately it was a week before I picked up my pool stick and I was back better than before.... its more of an elongated brain fart than anything else....lol
 
Wish I could help, but having that problem myself. I'm about 3 balls short of where I was playing all of last year, been that way for a couple weeks. Played tonight and haven't hung that many 8's or missed that many 9's since hector was a pup. (whatever that means *l*)

Usually I'll run a good share of racks, ran 1 tonight. Thought I was maybe jumping up, but started staying down and it didn't help. Just seems like I can't get comfortable over a shot, pattern play was just fine though. Ball making is what was killing me.

Good luck, don't worry about it too much. Just practice more and I'm sure you'll shoot better. At least that is my plan.
 
LastTwo said:
Focusing on your mechanics during a slump can make things about 10x worse. Just take a break for a short while and get your mind completely off the game.
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I think that's what I'll do. I think I got kinda burnt out a little bit 'cause all I was doing there for a while was if I wasn't at the table than I was reading a pool book, watching Accu-Stats tapes, or reading internet articles about pool. I think a short break might do the trick. Thanks.
 
deadstroke32 said:
Question / R u trying something new .that u felt it would help your game ?
And when was the last time u had a break from the game????
Click to expand...

Yes it was something new to me (getting position for my next shot). A lot of other players here know these things, but I'm just learning them. While I think in terms of how many balls I can run, some on this forum think in terms of how many racks they can run! (Good place to learn about the game.)

My last break from the game was last summer. It is summer again so I guess another good time for a break (especially 4th weekend).

I'll probably get back into the swing of things after the 4th and a little rest...
 
Win some money that always brings me out of a slump..Builds confidence notches your game up ....
 
Bert Kinister has a shot in his 60 minute workout where you shoot a dead straight in shot along the long rail. When I find myself getting into a slump, I shoot that shot about 100 times. It cure's alignment problems and everything seems to come back together.
 
My normal game is probably what you would consider a slump, but I'll offer some advice anyway. Ever try to remember something like a name and no matter how hard you try you can't remember it? Then a few minutes later when your mind is on something else it comes to you? Sometimes when you try too hard your mind works against you, at least that's my theory.

When something like that happens to me, I go up to the most beautiful woman I see and start a conversation with her (as long as her old man ain't around). Relaxes me and takes my mind off everything else :)
 
whitewolf said:
This sounds really stupid, but in golf this is what a lot of players do - they go buy a new putter and shoot the lights out for a while.

Then they always go back to their old putter.
WW
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I guess the theory is that the NCS (New Cue Syndrom) is a good thing in this scenario. This is where you seem to shoot better because of the new cue when in reality you are taking more time and being more obvservant of your mechanics as you are not used to the feel and balance of the stick.
 
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