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?
 
Competition, especially against better players than you, is the key to breaking through. Instruction may help, but at the end of the day you need to hone your skills under pressure. Gambling or tournaments or both. Playing yourself or the ghost gets old and you tend to reinforce bad habits. Competition doesn't flatter or ignore your weaknesses.
 
Take a short break off from the game, clear your head, and then come back. It just sounds like you're getting a little bored. It happens to everyone.

And start competing. It will definitely help your game. Competition motivates you to get better. Take your losses and learn from them. That's the most important thing. Learn from the mistakes you and your opponents make and learn from what your opponent does well.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
 
Without seeing you play my best guess, and I've taught Many different players over the years. It's usually a basic fundamental that is wrong. I'd seek out a Good instructor. Paul Potier is supposed to be in the NW area now or shortly. I'd HIGHLY recommend him, and even go to him (W. Canada) for a lesson. He's run the pool school in paradise for years, and has worked with Allison Fisher, Mike Massey and MANY others over the years helping him do classes. Your can find him on facebook.
 
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Videotape yourself during your home practice. That will reveal a great deal about your technique and any flaws that you couldn't have realized otherwise. And do it periodically -- say, once a week -- viewing the improvements you've worked on and achieved, will in turn reinforce further fine-tuning.

By all means also get started on practicing Straight Pool.

Beyond doing useful drills, adding Straight Pool solo sessions will teach you plenty about the cue ball and will speed your progress. Nothing gives you immediate feedback about your overall strengths and weaknesses better than SP.

And it really is an ideal game for playing without an opponent. Continually increasing the length and quality of your SP runs is convenient measure of your progress which is rewarding in and of itself.

But again, however you structure your home practice, be sure to videotape it periodically.

Arnaldo
 
Island Drive said:
Without seeing you play my best guess, and I've taught Many different players over the years. It's usually a basic fundamental that is wrong. I'd seek out a Good instructor. Paul Potier is supposed to be in the NW area now or shortly. I'd HIGHLY recommend him, and even go to him (W. Canada) for a lesson. He's run the pool school in paradise for years, and has worked with Allison Fisher, Mike Massey and MANY others over the years helping him do classes. Your can find him on facebook.
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I just watched Paul play on the streaming of the Spokane open. His stroke is a beautiful thing to behold.
 
you always need goals, do you play straight pool? try to get into the game if you have not and set goals like run 30 in 2 month, run 50 in 6 month, run 100 balls in a year, etc.
I like and play a lot of snooker because you can set goals: breaks of 50, 70, century, perfect game
 
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muddawg said:
Take a short break off from the game, clear your head, and then come back. It just sounds like you're getting a little bored. It happens to everyone.

And start competing. It will definitely help your game. Competition motivates you to get better. Take your losses and learn from them. That's the most important thing. Learn from the mistakes you and your opponents make and learn from what your opponent does well.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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This^ When you come back to the game, by all means, take up Straight Pool. It helps all games, regardless of what the hard core 9 ball players say. You'll need either instruction to get started or some books/videos but it will be well worth it.
 
When you play, you are really playing yourself & what you know you can do with what you have learned & the ability that God has given you.

Whenever I am playing a bit poorly, I simply do not want to waste what I know I can do & simply give myself a kick, so to speak, & increase my focus to match my desire to not waste my 'knowledge' & the ability that God has given me. Usually that increase in determination & focus has been enough to pick my game up to where it should be.

Sorry for no specific tangible material answer but it usually is not something material that takes one down into a slump. Slumps are more often the result of some non physical aspect, unless it is a physical injury or exhaustion, in which case the answer is time, physical rest, &/or rehabilitation.

Good Luck getting out of it, if that is what you truly want.

Best Wishes,
Rick
 
Read Willie Hoppe's book "Billiards As it should be played" - he pulls no punches and insults you greatly. It inspired me to bear down on my fundamentals.

He calls you an inferior player in pretty short order. Nothing gets the juices flowing better than anger. :)
 
I was in the same place a year ago. I have my own table, I was better than most of my friends, got better to a point but didn't really see any improvement.

What I did was join a league. The local APA league is played on 9 footers so I was happy about that. It was great playing against others who were better than me so I could see what I needed to do and what areas of my game that needed improvement.

The owner of the local APA is a pro player. She gives lessons so a couple of us took advantage of that. I started as a SL 3 and am now a SL 6 in less then 30 games. My practice time on my home table now has more purpose and I put in the time.

I now play 2 nights a week and love it more than ever.

The moral to the story is find some good competition, maybe get some lessons, practice all you can,and you'll see a huge improvement I think. Good luck.
 
awesome responses guys, i have never played straight pool but have started to wonder about it lately, and i love the video taping idea, any particular angle, like would directly over the table be ideal? I have a custom bob thompson cue coming in about a week(i'll share pics, its a unique beauty), i think i will take a break until it arrives, then get right into straight pool and set up a camera, and maybe join a league when i feel good about my game again? i'll look and see whats going on in gresham/portland area, i definitely have some nervousness to get over when playing strangers though, even in bar setting, but usually after a game of realizing i have nothing to be afraid of i can calm down, last time i was going up against a guy who had taken second in some tournament on the coast (b bracket or something) i was terrified at first, then i realized i might be able to keep up with him, then ended up winning 5/7 games, that was best ive ever felt at a table and probably best ive ever shot
 
poolguppy said:
awesome responses guys, i have never played straight pool but have started to wonder about it lately, and i love the video taping idea, any particular angle, like would directly over the table be ideal? I have a custom bob thompson cue coming in about a week(i'll share pics, its a unique beauty), i think i will take a break until it arrives, then get right into straight pool and set up a camera, and maybe join a league when i feel good about my game again? i'll look and see whats going on in gresham/portland area, i definitely have some nervousness to get over when playing strangers though, even in bar setting, but usually after a game of realizing i have nothing to be afraid of i can calm down, last time i was going up against a guy who had taken second in some tournament on the coast (b bracket or something) i was terrified at first, then i realized i might be able to keep up with him, then ended up winning 5/7 games, that was best ive ever felt at a table and probably best ive ever shot
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I'm in inner-SE PDX. If you want to come into town some time, I work 9-6 mostly, but hit me up and I'll see about meeting up. Been kinda busy lately.. weekend nights work best for me. You gamble? :idea2:

As for the other..

I try to play through my slumps. I figure if I left them unfinished, they'd just continue. Also, being able to play when you're off allows you to still have a fighting chance on your bad days. Slumps are almost something to look forward to for me, because when they're over my game gets a nice bump for a bit.

Edit: Find a game that you can play a bit by yourself. When I play alone, I prefer 9b because it's more of a run-out kind of game and it doesn't take as long to rack em up.
 
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Experimenting, Learning, and Practicing

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...

Experimenting, Learning, and Practicing .... let me know if I can help your process - www.cjwiley.com

Play Well, 'The Game is the Teacher'
 
Pushout said:
This^ When you come back to the game, by all means, take up Straight Pool. It helps all games, regardless of what the hard core 9 ball players say. You'll need either instruction to get started or some books/videos but it will be well worth it.
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When you guys suggest straight pool do you mean like Fargo or real 14.1 with the set up ball to break and stuff?:confused:
 
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Video

poolguppy said:
awesome responses guys, i have never played straight pool but have started to wonder about it lately, and i love the video taping idea, any particular angle, like would directly over the table be ideal? I have a custom bob thompson cue coming in about a week(i'll share pics, its a unique beauty), i think i will take a break until it arrives, then get right into straight pool and set up a camera, and maybe join a league when i feel good about my game again? i'll look and see whats going on in gresham/portland area, i definitely have some nervousness to get over when playing strangers though, even in bar setting, but usually after a game of realizing i have nothing to be afraid of i can calm down, last time i was going up against a guy who had taken second in some tournament on the coast (b bracket or something) i was terrified at first, then i realized i might be able to keep up with him, then ended up winning 5/7 games, that was best ive ever felt at a table and probably best ive ever shot
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Make sure we're able to see you stance from different angles and your swing mechanics and you walking up to the shot. If your missing the same shots all the time that's a good thing and easily fixed with a good instructor. GOOD INSTRUCTOR....is key.
 
hey banks nice to see a local, i work in gresham area and make my own hours but usually off by 6, where do you play? and sorry not a money player, i play because it goes so well with a good brew ;) and both my go to halls have closed down, started playing at billiards and bagels and had my first year of learnin with jim oswald, awesome guy, very much miss him, then cues shut down, classics is only place i know still around
 
poolguppy said:
hey banks nice to see a local, i work in gresham area and make my own hours but usually off by 6, where do you play? and sorry not a money player, i play because it goes so well with a good brew ;) and both my go to halls have closed down, started playing at billiards and bagels and had my first year of learnin with jim oswald, awesome guy, very much miss him, then cues shut down, classics is only place i know still around
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Most of the time I hang out at a bar on Hawthorne by Mt Tabor. Thursdays, I have BCA at Sam's. Wednesdays, I'll be playing APA masters up in Vancouver(looks like bsmutz is in my division :thumbup:). I go to Classics every now and then to try and find a game.

Edit: Pub 181 and Fortune Star would be good places closer to Gresham to find a game.
 
I know that one of the popular opinions is to say play people better than yourself. I've tried that and what I get from that is I become a better racker, unless it's a lesson type or Q and A situation. As lessons can be costly, one thing I do is after a few days away I'll get back to examining and practicing fundamentals. No detail is to small, everything from how I take my cue out and put it away to the mental side of the game. For instance, I discovered a while back that I don't play so good after I've eaten. So prior to that I was having dinner with my family and then going to play and getting schooled. I figured this out and things returned to normal, still getting schooled, but not as bad or as often. I find that I play better in warm weather, so during the Colorado winter the mental side of the game is very important to me, if I'm not in the right frame of mind it don't go so well. In your case you were recently in an accident, it's likely that you've had to change up some things physically and that's throwing you off. You'd always like to compete to stay sharp but that may not be all there is to it. Have a look at the fine print, you may spot the problem
 
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