It' a strange old game...

Moco

Moco

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Does anybody else get really frustrated with pool somedays?

Im sure it's not only me, but i its strange how with 9-ball, or any billiards game for that matter, how truly amazing you can be one day. Everything just seems so simple when you look at the table, you can read the table instantly, position play just seems to fall together without effort and you simply feel as if you cannot miss. You leave the poolhall with a smile on your face and think to yourself 'all this hard work is finally coming together' and you just cant wait till tommorow to get back on the table.

Then finally you finish work or whatever, get to the hall as fast as you can thinking about yesterday. Then you start playing and you just play like crap........ the shots just arent going in, you struggle to get position on the most simple of shots and you want to throw your pool cue through the wall.

Iv not come across many sports that players have the sort of inconsistency as they do in pool. Even really great players i know have days that they exprerience this........ if you didnt know them and you wandered into the pool hall you wouldn't even take a second glance at them or think twice about laying some money down on a race with them.


What do you think it is about this game that causes this? i mean you are seeing the same angles you were all the other days you played, playing on the same table, same cue etc. Its madness lol.


Anyway just thought id say hello and get a bit off my chest and see what you people think about it. Been a long time reader of this forum and thought i better 'show my face' as it were.

Great site, alot of knowledgable players on here and without knowing it have been very useful to me over time:)
 
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Welcome Moco,i would have to say it can be frustrating but its all about consistancy and controlling that white ball.;)
 
Moco said:
Does anybody else get really frustrated with pool somedays?
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Sure do. Frustrated isn't even the word. I spot the other regulars the 7-out, and on my bad days, they demand it...what do you think happens when I'm playing bad and can't get out? :mad: :p

Each bad spell you have will eventually be followed by a new high. That is part of the improvement process. It makes perfect sense, you develope a bad habbit and play poorly (frustration usually helps this become extremely-poor), eventually you figure out what your problem is and fix it, and then you memorize this "fix". From that day on, you are that much better because you know what to do the next time you have similar problems...it comes down to diagnosing yourself to keep your consistancy up.

You're not alone on the frustration though, trust me!
 
Felt the same way this weekend....played Friday, shot 5 on a 10 scale....played Sat, 9 out of 10, and then 7 out of 10 on Sunday :confused:

Granted, I've had the same challenges with other sports....basketball, some days it seems like nothing will fall, and the next day you can't miss....golf, shoot 81 one day, 95 the next :mad: ....unfortunately, I've had this experience in all sports....

Stupid game ;)

I feel your pain....

EDIT.....Oh, and welcome to the forum from a fellow newb....
 
Moco said:
Does anybody else get really frustrated with pool somedays?

Im sure it's not only me, but i its strange how with 9-ball, or any billiards game for that matter, how truly amazing you can be one day. Everything just seems so simple when you look at the table, you can read the table instantly, position play just seems to fall together without effort and you simply feel as if you cannot miss. You leave the poolhall with a smile on your face and think to yourself 'all this hard work is finally coming together' and you just cant wait till tommorow to get back on the table.

Then finally you finish work or whatever, get to the hall as fast as you can thinking about yesterday. Then you start playing and you just play like crap........ the shots just arent going in, you struggle to get position on the most simple of shots and you want to throw your pool cue through the wall.

Iv not come across many sports that players have the sort of inconsistency as they do in pool. Even really great players i know have days that they exprerience this........ if you didnt know them and you wandered into the pool hall you wouldn't even take a second glance at them or think twice about laying some money down on a race with them.


What do you think it is about this game that causes this? i mean you are seeing the same angles you were all the other days you played, playing on the same table, same cue etc. Its madness lol.


Anyway just thought id say hello and get a bit off my chest and see what you people think about it. Been a long time reader of this forum and thought i better 'show my face' as it were.

Great site, alot of knowledgable players on here and without knowing it have been very useful to me over time:)
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Part of the problem is that you are thinking about the day before. You played your best game and you expect to play like that every day. It's just not going to happen like that.

What happens is you go into the pool room miss a couple of balls and then you think "I playing like crap today". You get frusterated and then everything goes down hill from there.

You have to treat every day like a new day. I have played 9 ball sets where I lost something like 7-0, but only because I never got any opportunities that I could concievably take advantage given my abilities. You can't get mad at that, if you don't like it, don't play 9 ball.

Make sure you warm up before playing. Make some easy shots, and focus on your stroke and alignment. If I play a stop shot and I see that I put unintentional side spin on the cue ball, I will check my alignment. If I work on that long enough, usually I can force a good day out of myself. In fact on Saturday I was practicing full table straight in shots and missed them for almost half an hour before I got dialed in and stopped missing.
 
Cameron Smith said:
Make sure you warm up before playing. Make some easy shots, and focus on your stroke and alignment. If I play a stop shot and I see that I put unintentional side spin on the cue ball, I will check my alignment. If I work on that long enough, usually I can force a good day out of myself. In fact on Saturday I was practicing full table straight in shots and missed them for almost half an hour before I got dialed in and stopped missing.
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The best that I think I have ever played was after practicing for about 20 minutes shooting 9 foot table-length stop shots with the object ball right around the middle of the table. I would set it up off just enough to bridge on the rail next to the pocket. You will see exactly how you are playing by doing this, and as Cameron said, you have to adjust until you are hitting them just right. Then you are ready.
 
cheers for the advice. I have to admit that when i go to play i rarely warm up with a few drills or anything. Just get straight into playing some games. I have days where i go by myself to practice etc but the two rarely mix.

Now that i see myself writing that down, it is a bit dumb really. Definately something to take into consideration.
 
With me its often a need to slown down and concentrate on basics. I.e. holding the cue lightly. Going through my pre-shot routine the same with every shot. Aiming while standing and if when I get down on the shot I see that I am mis-alinged then I have to get back up and start over. Making sure the cue is level. Taking a nice pause on the last stroke. Following through and stay down until the ball hits the bottom of the pocket or until the cb stops rolling.

Mainly I'm often just a little wired after a long day. Take a few deep breaths and slow everything down. Now is the time to be relaxed and cool. This is a precision game that responds to relaxed nerves and muscles. Relax and have fun despite the results.
 
Moco said:
Does anybody else get really frustrated with pool somedays?

Im sure it's not only me, but i its strange how with 9-ball, or any billiards game for that matter, how truly amazing you can be one day. Everything just seems so simple when you look at the table, you can read the table instantly, position play just seems to fall together without effort and you simply feel as if you cannot miss. You leave the poolhall with a smile on your face and think to yourself 'all this hard work is finally coming together' and you just cant wait till tommorow to get back on the table.

Then finally you finish work or whatever, get to the hall as fast as you can thinking about yesterday. Then you start playing and you just play like crap........ the shots just arent going in, you struggle to get position on the most simple of shots and you want to throw your pool cue through the wall.

Iv not come across many sports that players have the sort of inconsistency as they do in pool. Even really great players i know have days that they exprerience this........ if you didnt know them and you wandered into the pool hall you wouldn't even take a second glance at them or think twice about laying some money down on a race with them.


What do you think it is about this game that causes this? i mean you are seeing the same angles you were all the other days you played, playing on the same table, same cue etc. Its madness lol.


Anyway just thought id say hello and get a bit off my chest and see what you people think about it. Been a long time reader of this forum and thought i better 'show my face' as it were.

Great site, alot of knowledgable players on here and without knowing it have been very useful to me over time:)
Click to expand...

Two things:

First, that's why the basics of stroke is brought up so often. If your stoke is very sound then the fall off in game is not as far. A repeatable stoke is a lot of hard work that the pro's have and we wish for. Having the time, or making the time become an issue to bring your game up. With the pro's sure we can tell when they are off, they might miss 4-5 balls in a set. Compared to the amateur player, multiply that by any number you wish.

Second is the mental aspect of the game. Many times we go in then leave knowing we played jam up killer pool. The next time we play the confidence is high because we know we found our "game" again. I mean everyone knows that confidence is a big part of playing well. So the assumption should be confidence is the lions share of playing good right?

More to it than that. Rhythm, emotions, motivation, competitive environment, and concentration all play their parts as well. The ebb and flow of change has occurred and you can feel it in your bones that the specifics that reigned last night are not there anymore. Some things might be close to the way they were but like they say, "It's a new day."

So what has changed? Our approach to the new day? Any of the REMEC's from above out of wack?

You can train yourself to be more cognizant of everything around you, and everything in your head as well. If you could tabulate every nuance that happened in the environment and in your head night after night you would begin to see patterns right? Ralf Soquet has gone as far in tournaments of doing the same thing day in day out to keep everything in a pattern. He eats the same thing every morning, sits in the same chair when he eats, no gambling, gets the same amount of sleep, ect., ect... That's just the things outside of the mental game. Seems to me he has the mental thing down to a razors edge as well. Thomas Engert even says his emotion and demeanor are a constant as well.

All of us can't remember much of anything after the night let alone the day after except... we were confident!!! What we need to do (and this is very hard to do), is to record everything going into that that jam up killer night.

I took some creative writing classes. The rule was be a sponge to describing everything. (Good writers make a book open up like a movie in your mind with their descriptiveness.) The notes were mind boggling to setting a scene in that class. I'll be damned if I will be that detailed in a pool journal.

We can cheat by having key words written down then add a brief description behind them. If you don't know how to answer a description just leave it blank. Don't cheat yourself by guessing.

Example:

What was the main topic going thru my head driving there? Thoughts
What amount of warm up did I get? Warm up
Did I eat that night/time/amount? Food
Was I loose, casual in character? Withdrawn? Mood
Did I plan shots well? Planning
Did I have full concentration? Concentration
ETC...

I know it's a lot of work but with a journal it does show you winning patterns. If you know your patterns you can manipulate them to an extent. The journal is just so damn hard to keep...

Good luck! My journal is off again, on again all the time.
 
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One of the things I love about this game/sport is that it's SO intricate. You have to do a lot of harmonious things to play well. If any one of those things is "off", your game suffers. Finding out which of the many intricate things is off, then correcting it is one of the biggest challenges. And, of course, being consistent is the ultimate challenge...keeping all those intricate things working together. What a beautiful game!
 
You could also seek a golfer's advice, they have the same problem...
biglaugh.gif
 
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