My Four "BEST Recommends" on the mental aspects of Playing Pool
- Thread starter mikemosconi
- Start date
Well that depends on how one approached pool right from the beginning of picking up a cue! Yes, we all know of those who never went to school, but started hanging out in pool halls full time by age 14 or so and became great at the game- mostly to the detriment of everything else in their lives.
Fortunately, most of us on this site chose a different life that included a decent education,
a lifetime of work, raising a family, and loving the game of pool as a sport and hobby, in its proper perspective. For THAT majority of pool players- who like to compete and gamble responsibly, THERE is an interest in understanding WHY they are not playing up to their perceived true potential most consistently. These writings mentioned in this post are a great aid to figuring out where the missing pieces may lie for someone's game. Nothing wrong with that IMO.
easier said and done but ...
Granted it is easier said than done but not pulling the trigger until you can see the ball going in the hole will go a long ways towards making those tough shots. When you are uncomfortable and can't picture the ball falling in the hole it is largely a matter of luck when it is pocketed, and pretty rare besides!
Our unconscious will put a supercomputer to shame but we have to feed it what we are trying to do. When we can't envision success we aren't giving our unconscious what it needs to work with. If we give our unconscious the end goal it will fill in the blanks.
An off topic story but relating to the unconscious and it's power: I stopped to visit a friend of a friend and buy a rifle. I was a pistol competitor but normally shooting two handed. He owned an olympic 10 meter air pistol, a $1500 bb gun. We went in his back yard to shoot it. I knew the button used for a trigger would be very light but I also knew it is bad for the valve mechanism on these pistols to dry fire them so I didn't ask. I went to shoot my usual two handed style, no, you shoot these one handed duelist style. Not good!
As I feared my first shot broke early with my sights about 3/4" left of the roughly eighth inch dot that was the center mark of the target. Far faster than I could think about it my wrist flicked right. Before the pellet could leave the barrel, the muzzle moved enough that I was only a quarter inch from the bull matching the owner's shot. My unconscious knew what I wanted to do and tried to achieve that goal. For the next maybe thirty minutes the owner and I matched each other shot for shot. I think the pistol weighed several pounds when we started, about twenty when we finished! He was the one that said quit though and I had matched him shot for shot. Had my unconscious not saved me that first shot I would have been beaten.
Hu
Granted it is easier said than done but not pulling the trigger until you can see the ball going in the hole will go a long ways towards making those tough shots. When you are uncomfortable and can't picture the ball falling in the hole it is largely a matter of luck when it is pocketed, and pretty rare besides!
Our unconscious will put a supercomputer to shame but we have to feed it what we are trying to do. When we can't envision success we aren't giving our unconscious what it needs to work with. If we give our unconscious the end goal it will fill in the blanks.
An off topic story but relating to the unconscious and it's power: I stopped to visit a friend of a friend and buy a rifle. I was a pistol competitor but normally shooting two handed. He owned an olympic 10 meter air pistol, a $1500 bb gun. We went in his back yard to shoot it. I knew the button used for a trigger would be very light but I also knew it is bad for the valve mechanism on these pistols to dry fire them so I didn't ask. I went to shoot my usual two handed style, no, you shoot these one handed duelist style. Not good!
As I feared my first shot broke early with my sights about 3/4" left of the roughly eighth inch dot that was the center mark of the target. Far faster than I could think about it my wrist flicked right. Before the pellet could leave the barrel, the muzzle moved enough that I was only a quarter inch from the bull matching the owner's shot. My unconscious knew what I wanted to do and tried to achieve that goal. For the next maybe thirty minutes the owner and I matched each other shot for shot. I think the pistol weighed several pounds when we started, about twenty when we finished! He was the one that said quit though and I had matched him shot for shot. Had my unconscious not saved me that first shot I would have been beaten.
Hu
Deanoc is wise, I think the one thing that inter fears with mental focus is the think about money involved in a money game.
Mental focus is liker being in a bubble, nothing get into the bubble, and you are immune to everything else outside the bubble.
Excellent recommendations! Another book I highly recommend, especially for players who fall apart under pressure is Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To
Choke provides the missing link between brain and body, science and life. Here’s what really happens during mental and physical performance when we crack under pressure, and here are simple ways not to choke in stressful situations.
The one book I found very helpful when I was studying in graduate school and have adopted to my pool game, as well as other aspects of life, is:
How Life Imitates Chess
by: Gary Kasparov
I found this book very rewarding in both school and other aspects of life, such as pool. I do find myself re-reading parts or even the whole book every couple of years. The main points to take away from it is that, in order to be successfull, you must have a solid routine. Any excuse saying, "Well, I'll just vary from the routine just this one day" is unacceptable he says, as that breaks the spirit, diligence, and focus that you are trying to achieve.
Another great part was when he was studying chess at a young age, his coach would turn on the radio/tv extremely loud, face it at his ears, then blow cigar smoke into his face while Gary was tryingn to figure out the next correct move. Gary's response to his coach on this sensory overload was that it was breaking his concentration. His coaches reply, "What does any of that have to do with chess?" and he has adopted this maxim ever since.
It's my #1 go to book when I need encouragement or begin breaking my good habits.
A second on my list is
Rational Living
by: Henry Churchill King
A long forgotten and lost book. I believe it was written in 1905, and I was lucky to find a copy from then at a local userd bookstore. The book is ungodly insightful and full of beautiful quotes and maxims to live by. This is another book I have sections with post-it notes in that I go to on a regular basis to remind myself of the true art of being rational and living to acheive optimal performance. If you can find it, buy it. It's a must read for anyone wanting to improve their mental state.
How Life Imitates Chess
by: Gary Kasparov
I found this book very rewarding in both school and other aspects of life, such as pool. I do find myself re-reading parts or even the whole book every couple of years. The main points to take away from it is that, in order to be successfull, you must have a solid routine. Any excuse saying, "Well, I'll just vary from the routine just this one day" is unacceptable he says, as that breaks the spirit, diligence, and focus that you are trying to achieve.
Another great part was when he was studying chess at a young age, his coach would turn on the radio/tv extremely loud, face it at his ears, then blow cigar smoke into his face while Gary was tryingn to figure out the next correct move. Gary's response to his coach on this sensory overload was that it was breaking his concentration. His coaches reply, "What does any of that have to do with chess?" and he has adopted this maxim ever since.
It's my #1 go to book when I need encouragement or begin breaking my good habits.
A second on my list is
Rational Living
by: Henry Churchill King
A long forgotten and lost book. I believe it was written in 1905, and I was lucky to find a copy from then at a local userd bookstore. The book is ungodly insightful and full of beautiful quotes and maxims to live by. This is another book I have sections with post-it notes in that I go to on a regular basis to remind myself of the true art of being rational and living to acheive optimal performance. If you can find it, buy it. It's a must read for anyone wanting to improve their mental state.
For mindset I recommend Inner Tennis.
My list beyond that is
A.C.T. : Attention Control Training: How to Get Control of Your Mind Through Total Concentration
by Robert M. Nideffer and Roger C. Sharpe
(Gives insight into how stress impact your attention)
Perception, Cognition, and Decision Training
by Joan Vickers | Jul 10 2007
(Decision Training and Quiet Eye are used by Olympic athletes)
The rhythm : being your best in sport and business
by Richard Lonetto
Best on this list - in my opinion - pulls all together in performance
Zen in the Art of Archery
by Eugen Herrigel and Daisetz T. Suzuki | Jan 26 1999
(Good companion to Inner Tennis and Golf in the Kingdom)
Shooting from Within: A Guide to Maximum Performance
by J. Michael Plaxco
(A great complement to The Rhythm) - thanks to Shooting Arts for the recommend previous
In the Zone: Transcendent Experience in Sports
by Michael Murphy (Author), Rhea A. White (Author)
(athlete descriptions of experiences)
A thread on Developing Expertise has good material as well
https://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=496802&referrerid=110780
I own the pleasures of small motions. It just wasn’t right for me at the time and it didn’t seem to add anything to the above resources, I had already read.
An additional interesting read is
https://classic.esquire.com/article/1987/5/1/[B]secrets-of-the-masters[/B]
Dr Peters helped Ronnie O’Sullivan sort out his perspective and return to top form, at a crucial time in his career.
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