in a slump, what made the biggest difference in your game?

poolguppy

poolguppy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Hey my name is Skyler, new to the forums. Always loved to shoot pool, did the poolhall thing for awhile but that gets expensive and didnt help my game a whole lot playing once a week, i had finally found my dream table on craigslist, a mission style dark cherry Golden West table 1 inch slate, simonis felt, bought a decent cue, played a lot, and my game improved drastically, now its about 8 months down the road and im in a slump again, most my friends don't want to come play anymore, and when they do its kind of boring and hard to take it seriously and get into the game when i know i'll have plenty of chances to get back to the table if i make a mistake because none of them are great players, i mix it up sometimes and go shoot at our small town bar, but thats getting boring quick, and lately even my shot in practice has gone downhill. So how many of you have experienced this wall:banghead:? im a good shot, i understand pool well, my leaves need help, my break sucks ever since a car wreck 3 months back that injured my chest. Is competition a wallbreaker? has doing tournaments upped your guys' game or should you have your game up before you enter one? Im sure i would get my ass handed to me, but maybe thats what it will take to improve?
 
poolguppy said:
Hey my name is Skyler, new to the forums. Always loved to shoot pool, did the poolhall thing for awhile but that gets expensive and didnt help my game a whole lot playing once a week, i had finally found my dream table on craigslist, a mission style dark cherry Golden West table 1 inch slate, simonis felt, bought a decent cue, played a lot, and my game improved drastically, now its about 8 months down the road and im in a slump again, most my friends don't want to come play anymore, and when they do its kind of boring and hard to take it seriously and get into the game when i know i'll have plenty of chances to get back to the table if i make a mistake because none of them are great players, i mix it up sometimes and go shoot at our small town bar, but thats getting boring quick, and lately even my shot in practice has gone downhill. So how many of you have experienced this wall:banghead:? im a good shot, i understand pool well, my leaves need help, my break sucks ever since a car wreck 3 months back that injured my chest. Is competition a wallbreaker? has doing tournaments upped your guys' game or should you have your game up before you enter one? Im sure i would get my ass handed to me, but maybe thats what it will take to improve?
Click to expand...

There's no doubt a lack of competition can impact your game. Advanced pool has its own style to it and it's surprisingly not unusual to see immediate improvement when you're surrounded by top-caliber players. When you're playing Jose Parica and he takes a minute to size-up a safety, you're going to feel a little foolish "going for it" when you're faced with a similar situation. You subconsciously begin to pick-up on anything that could be more deliberate. But, the *real* bump is seen when you're not just playing with these guys but you aspire to beat them, too.
 
poolguppy said:
Hey my name is Skyler, new to the forums. Always loved to shoot pool, did the poolhall thing for awhile but that gets expensive and didnt help my game a whole lot playing once a week, i had finally found my dream table on craigslist, a mission style dark cherry Golden West table 1 inch slate, simonis felt, bought a decent cue, played a lot, and my game improved drastically, now its about 8 months down the road and im in a slump again, most my friends don't want to come play anymore, and when they do its kind of boring and hard to take it seriously and get into the game when i know i'll have plenty of chances to get back to the table if i make a mistake because none of them are great players, i mix it up sometimes and go shoot at our small town bar, but thats getting boring quick, and lately even my shot in practice has gone downhill. So how many of you have experienced this wall:banghead:? im a good shot, i understand pool well, my leaves need help, my break sucks ever since a car wreck 3 months back that injured my chest. Is competition a wallbreaker? has doing tournaments upped your guys' game or should you have your game up before you enter one? Im sure i would get my ass handed to me, but maybe thats what it will take to improve?
Click to expand...

Back in 2006, I was lucky enough to join Allison Fisher for dinner in Baltimore. I asked the same question. I think my exact question was, "Back when you were my speed, what helped you break through to the next level?"

Without any hesitation, she said "Pre-shot routine." Essentially, building a "construct" for your game where you do the same technical procedure each and every time. In doing so, you consciously eliminate variation in your game and know the hows and whys of each and every component of your game. That way, if you miss, you have a good understanding of why you missed.

The best way to improve is to "learn" each and every time when you miss or when you fail to execute. The best way to do this is to build a technical routine that serves as the baseline for your game.

I believe RandyG/Scott Lee defined a number of separate pre-shot routines that include: 1) decision making 2) setup and 3) execution/stroke.

I've always been pretty technical on the setup portion, but I've recently focused on defining a procedure for decision making. Otherwise, I tend to "brain lock" on a direction while in a run without taking the time to reassess after each shot - which many times ends a run prematurely.

In conclusion, you really need a shooting system (NOT referring to aiming system) -- something that is a solid defined procedure for anything you do while having control of the table.

Hope that helps-
Dave
 
you're already beating up on your buddies, so you definately need to find some better competition.

If you cant do that, find a game that you can play or practice solo that will motivate you to push yourself.

(14.1 is that game for a lot of people)
 
I play a lot of different practice games.

One I play is "Get There a Different Way" It is a game I made up. Lets assume I was going from the 1 to the 2 ball. I would normally shoot this shot with a draw shot, but I have to "Get There a Different Way", so I would have to get position using follow to get there. This game forces you to learn different ways to get shape. (I think we get in ruts and don't improve). This is a practice game so if I miss or don't get the shape I want, I can set the ball up again, and shoot it again, and again.

I also try to get in a "Ring Game". The advantage I think of playing in ring games is it really forces you to try to get out. At pool halls I play in, it is "honest effort" and there is usually multiple "money" balls.

I win a lot of games with great safety play, but I disagree with above posters saying work on that part of your game. Sometimes you need to "let your stroke out and play"

That's what I do when I need to get out of a slump.

Best of rolls,

Ken
 
Slumps are usually 100% in your head. You can't get superstitious about it.
Sounds to me like you're bored, you used that word a couple of times...
you will not give 100% full care and attention to each shot when you're bored.
And if you don't really care about the outcome or the shot in front of you, then you'll lose more often.

Sometimes one good runout (even if it's easy and I sort of halfassed my way through it)
will get me 'unbored' because I then want to try to make it into a package.
I'm interested in breaking really well right afterwards. Then if I make a ball I will
really pay attention and bear down on the next rack to try to run 2 in a row. And hopefully more.

If that doesn't work for you or you're not likely to run out, I'll tell you one game that
always unbores me. Works great with 2, 3, even 4 players. It's a weird game.
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=3556483#post3556483
 
thanks for the ideas guys, I realized I somehow accidentally posted this thread twice, but there are a couple new ideas here that weren't on the larger thread, I could probably benefit from all of them haha, i'll try out some of these new games, 7 ball, 8 ball, 9 ball, 10 ball and one pocket have been getting old, definitely going to try some straight
 
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