Konrad’s journey through suckage!

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

Easy Double kiss. Ball sitting by the side next ball over it. A little angle to pocket the OB. If you cut it you just overran the next ball. If there’s traffic you are screwed or banking the next ball. Hit the OB into the nipple with center. Double kiss and pocket. Works every time once you know it and the cb stays back for the next one…….

 

[maha]

nothing works until you can just walk up to the shot and plop down and be on the cue ball. best way to get there is to line up on the rail and plop down and stroke over and over the diamonds, until you can keep the tip from swaying.

then you have a straight stroke and no matter what you do with your feet head eyes your going to hit where you are expecting to,

then hit the cueball up and down the table until you can bring it back at the speed you want and hit your cuetip.

 

[boogieman]

And here’s something some will probably agree with. There are a lot of 9 ball players with shitty 8 ball breaks. They stay breaking from the side and don’t have enough power to get a good spread. And there are 8 ball players with shitty 9 ball breaks.

True, but for a lot of people that's on purpose. 8 ball isn't necessarily a B&R game, especially on smaller tables. If you break them wide and nothing goes in you might be hosed. Often if a player thinks they can out-move you they will do a side break. There's nothing more annoying though than someone with a super weak break and the balls just don't move much. Often in leagues there's no such thing as breaking rules, if the balls spread at all it's legal. It's kind of a silly strategy. I see a lot of the ladies in league do this break and probably 10 balls stay in the racking area. Of course it's not everybody, some of them break great.

I'll employ a side break if I'm playing someone I know can run out on me. IDK if it's smart but man I've smashed a lot of racks head on and nothing dropped due to unfortunate kisses and such. It's basically suicide to spread the balls and not make one when playing better players.

 

[book collector]

Agreed, we'd like to critique you.

We promise to be brutally honest.

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

True, but for a lot of people that's on purpose. 8 ball isn't necessarily a B&R game, especially on smaller tables. If you break them wide and nothing goes in you might be hosed. Often if a player thinks they can out-move you they will do a side break. There's nothing more annoying though than someone with a super weak break and the balls just don't move much. Often in leagues there's no such thing as breaking rules, if the balls spread at all it's legal. It's kind of a silly strategy. I see a lot of the ladies in league do this break and probably 10 balls stay in the racking area. Of course it's not everybody, some of them break great.

I'll employ a side break if I'm playing someone I know can run out on me. IDK if it's smart but man I've smashed a lot of racks head on and nothing dropped due to unfortunate kisses and such. It's basically suicide to spread the balls and not make onl

Boogie is playing chess over on the 8 ball table….not bad. I like to out offense my opponent on those ones rather that playing defensive. Doesn’t always work out, but when it does….

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

I might be signing out for a week or two. But if so it won’t be for long. Just something missing in my game right now. I don’t try-I win. Then everytime it matters and I really want to win and put in the effort I lose. Doesn’t matter the opponent. Could be that guy Charlie living under the viaduct. Could be Sam who has never picked up a cue before today. Could be anyone. Point being. They don’t even need to be good to win. Tonight made a 3 rail kick on the 2 , ran the whole table after and just missed a 2 foot 9 ball. I didn’t rush it or anything. Gotta be mental! Need to focus more on the table and less on the talking…….

 

[boogieman]

I don’t try-I win. Then everytime it matters and I really want to win and put in the effort I lose.

My best advice is to enjoy the game. I've been through this several times. You might look into the book "Playing to win" and "The Pleasure of Small Motions."

Without knowing more it's hard to say, but when I get into this state it's because I care too much ("I'm gonna play my best"), which adds stress, which shuts your brain down, which also causes tension in your body. Try breathing in fully and expanding your diaphragm then breathing out fully before you get down on a shot. That full breath in and out releases tension in your body/muscles. It's kind of like target practice, you don't want to be tense when you squeeze/ease the trigger.

Tension sucks, it can get to the point it makes your body hurt, especially if you have any arthritis or old injuries. Cold and wet make it worse. But tension puts your whole body on edge, like a live electric wire. Again, I don't know if this applies to you but it sure gets me from time to time. I notice it the most when I'm trying to "do my best" in a tournament or such. If I just can get out of my head long enough I play way better. Enjoy the feel of the game. Look at the layout and shot selection while up. Take a bit of time. If you're stressed and have tension you tend to rush this step and your game falls off as a result.

You can't win em all, and when you're concerned about winning them all you often lose many that you could have won. I think it was CJ Wiley that said he imagines losing before a game, kind of an exercise to clear your mind and not stress over situations. Basically it lets you clear your mind of the what if's and the stress that comes along with it.

Please let me know if you try anything that works because this is something that haunts me every so often. It's annoying and I agree it's likely mental but damn if this head of mine can get it through my thick skull!

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

busy going pro. Be seeing you.

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

If anyone is wondering on this crazy mindset I have about going pro now. It’s like this. This is the journey through suckage!

Over all my time playing I’ve put in the hours and the work to get better. I’d say well over 20000 hours of practice. Thats a very true statement. Yet never been a 700 Fargorate. So obviously something is missing. Most players will never practice 10000 hours in their lifetime. Maybe they’ll play that many. But not just practice that many. I decided to reevaluate everything and figure out the real issues. Last night was focusing on softer bankshots to make sure they are being hit correctly and a few caroms. And also was playing around with 8 ball patterns a bit to intentionally make balls more difficult to pocket and shaping the 8 a harder task. It was good practice for sure. I also threw in some hard to play safeties to see how they landed.

My new philosophy is stop making balls and start shooting them. I never doubted once that a ball was going to fall while playing last night with that mindset. And everything was falling. When you don’t worry about making balls anymore that’s one less thing to manage while playing. Like I said with so many hours of practice there really is no point in worrying about the balls going in anymore.

This all came to be about a week ago when it just seemed hard to play longer shots. I was getting worried on them for no reason. It was like my shot regressed. So after some thought I decided that is just a ridiculous and in turn laughed a bit about it after telling myself “stop being a bitch and play”.It was that dumb. Never let yourself think the ball isn’t gonna fall or you’ll never be a winner. Or something like that.

 

[Flakeandrun]

If anyone is wondering on this crazy mindset I have about going pro now. It’s like this. This is the journey through suckage!

Over all my time playing I’ve put in the hours and the work to get better. I’d say well over 20000 hours of practice. Thats a very true statement. Yet never been a 700 Fargorate. So obviously something is missing. Most players will never practice 10000 hours in their lifetime. Maybe they’ll play that many. But not just practice that many. I decided to reevaluate everything and figure out the real issues. Last night was focusing on softer bankshots to make sure they are being hit correctly and a few caroms. And also was playing around with 8 ball patterns a bit to intentionally make balls more difficult to pocket and shaping the 8 a harder task. It was good practice for sure. I also threw in some hard to play safeties to see how they landed.

My new philosophy is stop making balls and start shooting them. I never doubted once that a ball was going to fall while playing last night with that mindset. And everything was falling. When you don’t worry about making balls anymore that’s one less thing to manage while playing. Like I said with so many hours of practice there really is no point in worrying about the balls going in anymore.

This all came to be about a week ago when it just seemed hard to play longer shots. I was getting worried on them for no reason. It was like my shot regressed. So after some thought I decided that is just a ridiculous and in turn laughed a bit about it after telling myself “stop being a bitch and play”.It was that dumb. Never let yourself think the ball isn’t gonna fall or you’ll never be a winner. Or something like that.

Pay some monies. Enter some events.
Send some footage to a few companies and get some sponsors.
Post-up at some halls/make some streamed matches.

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

Pay some monies. Enter some events.
Send some footage to a few companies and get some sponsors.
Post-up at some halls/make some streamed matches.

Forget the sponsors. It’s just always been only a personal goal to get better. You sound pretty good yourself Flake. A lot of players miss the money ball or ball right before it. Why is that? I think it’s partly because they are worried about making the ball. Going with the fact pool is probably at least 50% mental.

 

[Flakeandrun]

Forget the sponsors. It’s just always been only a personal goal to get better. You sound pretty good yourself Flake. A lot of players miss the money ball or ball right before it. Why is that? I think it’s partly because they are worried about making the ball. Going with the fact pool is probably at least 50% mental.

It's all about money. All the good players can afford to take the risk. The reason they miss the money ball, is because of what it is. Pressure. Money down the drain. Traveling, entering and funding practice is expensive. Rich family or a determined stake horse required.
Who you know, who you blow and whatever else.
So things like streaming or chasing a sponsorship can get you exposure, or some coin to enter and establish yourself. Like I said, if you can't fund yourself/get someone to fund you, then posting up at a hall and making the money yourself is the only other way.
I'm not consistent enough, or have the time to develop the consistency in pressure situations to get 'good'. But I do enjoy playing and competing with good players, and have been lucky enough to have done so. I've met some great people playing this game, and on my day, like a lot of others, I don't miss. But it's the times we do miss that everyone will remember (unless we have the money to compete more and more often, and detach those misses from the collective memory lol)