"It's not how Good your Best is, it's how Good your Worst is"

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Desmondp

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
a quote from snooker legend, Steve Davis

This is so true

Every decent player has days where they can't miss and run racks like it's blowing bubble gum, but it's the days where nothing is going right, your stroke feels rough , your position is off, luck is going against you. Winning under these circumstances separates the good players from the pack

when things aren't going well for me, i focus so much on my basic fundamantals and try and keep extravagant shot making to a minimum
 
Pearls of wisdom

Desmondp said:
a quote from snooker legend, Steve Davis

This is so true

Every decent player has days where they can't miss and run racks like it's blowing bubble gum, but it's the days where nothing is going right, your stroke feels rough , your position is off, luck is going against you. Winning under these circumstances separates the good players from the pack

when things aren't going well for me, i focus so much on my basic fundamantals and try and keep extravagant shot making to a minimum
Click to expand...
The true measurement is how can you play when things are not going your way. And you said it with no ten dollar words. I will be showing these words to my teammates as we go forward in a few tourneys in the next few months. I have always known this, but I need them to know. Thanks.
 
Bad news for me. My best is pretty good, at a number of games.

My worst is so bad I want to quit, throw away or burn my cues, donate my books/videos to the library, and deny I ever played the game. Especially when players you respect watch you fall apart and lose it. Kind of like a golfer getting the shanks...people don't even want to watch.

Even great players have that bad, bad day. I'd still like to think its more your average game.
 
This is so true. Plus when you make a mistake during these times the faster you forget about them the better.
 
That's for the competitive pros, when a single bad shot can cost them in many ways. Since they missplay infrequently, the one with the fewest missplays is the winner.

For everyone else "it's how good your average is", or better yet "it's how to keep your average consistent". Since lack of consistency defines the average player, then the most consistent will come out on top more often.
 
I do think it applies to everyone, not just the competitive pros

Everyone has a high performance level and a low performance level

What the saying is saying is that you should not only work on improving your high performance level, you also need to work on improving your low performance level.

Examples of improving your low performance level include having mechanisms in place to cope with frustrating misses. You see all too often in weekly league play good players who lose the plot completely. They miss a few shots and they start cursing, banging their cue, blaming the rolls, blaming the equipment and they end up missing more and more shots and not caring

"it's just not my night, since i'm having a bad one, might as well have a terrible one"

Well that kind of attitude can cost your team a win. If you have preset triggers in place to help you cope with the bad times, trust me, it can help you win when your not in stroke. Slow the game down, play more safety, take more time on your shots, calm yourself down etc etc

I generally am better at draw shots than follow shots so when i'm not shooting well, i tend to draw the ball more when there are postional options.

I work hard on my break and overall i do have a good break but sometimes the timing isn't there so i do have a very conservative backup break shot which has 70% the power of my regular breakshot but it never breaks down. I see players when they aren't breaking well just try and hit the ball harder and harder.
 
Its not how good

The first person I heard address this issue was Grady Mathews about 25 years.
He said something like "Everyone can win when they are playing great, but only a champion can win when they are playing bad. "
I also remember reading many times from him that the player who gets over a bad shot or a bad roll the fastest is the one who will win if the game is fair.
I have won lots of games I was gutted in with those words echoeing in my head.
Thank you Professor!
I am of the same opinion as the OP.
At the end of a day of play , when you boil it down and eliminate all the easy shots , all the impossible shots and think about the nuts and bolts , I find that most of the time, the difference between winning or losing was 5 makeable shots or less that came at critical times in the match.
 
i dont think i really agree with this statement. i like the guy who said its "how good you can play when things arent going your way." i saw efrens worst pool played on svb.... i mean my 7 year old cousin can make those shots standing on her tricycle. i dont think that is how good he is?? it lost him one set.... i dont know, i just dont get it.
 
My Favorite Poker Quote...

This is true for not only pool, but other games.

A great example is from Poker, and it's one of my All-Time favorite quotes. "Action Dan" Harrington (1995 World Series of Poker Winner) once said:

"My edge over a player when we're both winning, is nowhere near as great as my edge over him is when we're both losing."
 
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