My Most Disappointing Night

D

DrCue'sProtege

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i take this game pretty seriously, and really try hard to get better. last night i had a guy over that is an excellent player. he won the '98 BCA 8-Ball tournament in Vegas, and just finished 17-24 out of 256 in the Midwest Open 8-Ball tournament in St. Charles back in October i believe. so, obviously he is a very, very good player.

and i was so disappointed. i couldnt do nothing. missing shots, missing position, bad rolls, etc, etc, you name it, it went wrong. i have no confidence now, i just know i am going to miss, and i usually do. the only thing i did halfway decent was that i kicked ok, i think i gave him ball in hand maybe just one time.

so disappointing. after he left i just sat on my couch, and stared at the ceiling. finally lit up a cigar, and just sat there pondering why i am so pitiful after all the practice and effort i put into this game. maybe its just not meant for me to be a decent player.

any of you other posters out there ever feel like this?

DCP
 
Sounds like the guy's skill level got to your subconsious and owned you hard before you took your first shot. No matter who you play in this game you cannot respect your opponent to the point you think they are better then you and should beat you, if you do think that then you are going to have a slim chance of beating that person unless somehow they show weakness with a miss or two and build up that confidence of yours back up. Confidence is key in this game, you have to think to yourself that if you play your best you will beat the guy, no matter who it is. That is the only way you will overcome a player who is better on paper then you, you have to think the paper is full of shit, beat him afew times and then all of the sudden he aint the favorite anymore. I just started reading "The Hustler", it has quite alot more intricate tidbits of knowledge going on in that book that the movie missed, it is a good book to read to see some mental flaws most players who are good, but cannot shoot when it matters face.
 
Yes i've felt like this too many a time. You start playing and you feel loose and your pocketing balls and all the sudden you miss something very rudamentary like a straight in shot or easy 1 rail position and your confidence starts to wither. What i've found is that I start thinking too hard. I let my mind fuck with my stroke way too much. My mind starts making these last minute "comfort" calculations that aren't needed. A good way to overcome this inconsistency and fear of not performing up to par is a preshot routine that you NEVER deviate from. Everything should be the exact same on every shot no matter what, aiming and all. Take the same amount of time on every shot and use the same thought process. I've found that if I do this I am able to overcome this so called "slump" and rise out of it slowly and build my confidence back up.

My mentor has a really good view on pool. He says that pool is mainly a balance. It's a mental balance of letting your mind do just enough and then letting your trust in your stroke take over. And after that, it's just a swing of the arm.
 
Can you play him again?

The first time I played a local "big name", I was nervous as heck. Couldn't make a ball to save my life.

After that I played other top guns and assumed I would lose, so didn't try very hard. Then one day I came close to winning. I realized that these players are actually human and do make mistakes. Sometimes the roll of the balls will give me an advantage, etc.

So I kept playing these guys. And one day I finally one a game!

I have since played the "big name" many times. He usually leaves me in the dust, but I have beat him 3 times (lots of luck). So keep trying...
 
After that last post I remembered something I forgot to mention. The only way to contain nerves is to CONSTANTLY remind yourself that you're playing the table. And no matter if your playing joe shmoe or johnny archer you're still playing the table not the player.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i take this game pretty seriously, and really try hard to get better. last night i had a guy over that is an excellent player. he won the '98 BCA 8-Ball tournament in Vegas, and just finished 17-24 out of 256 in the Midwest Open 8-Ball tournament in St. Charles back in October i believe. so, obviously he is a very, very good player.

and i was so disappointed. i couldnt do nothing. missing shots, missing position, bad rolls, etc, etc, you name it, it went wrong. i have no confidence now, i just know i am going to miss, and i usually do. the only thing i did halfway decent was that i kicked ok, i think i gave him ball in hand maybe just one time.

so disappointing. after he left i just sat on my couch, and stared at the ceiling. finally lit up a cigar, and just sat there pondering why i am so pitiful after all the practice and effort i put into this game. maybe its just not meant for me to be a decent player.

any of you other posters out there ever feel like this?

DCP
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Can't say as I have, at least not to the degree you are feeling. You just have to let it go and treat it as a learning experience. When players carry around excess baggage from prior games their destine for more failure. I see that is happening to you right now.

Hey you put in time?, I doubt your even close to the amount of hours good players or the guy you played has put into the game. Sorry, it's work and we all have to pay our dues. Just look at it as a free lesson, after all you were suppose to learn something. Or did you? Don't include how bad you played or feel sorry for yourself. Get back at it with a new attitude and play. Sure it might be testy for a short while but that's how you learn.

I might note, avoid low percentage shots. Play within your capabilities to build up your confidence. You'll get there, a few games of pool is just a drop in the bucket in the long run.

Rod
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
so disappointing. after he left i just sat on my couch, and stared at the ceiling. finally lit up a cigar, and just sat there pondering why i am so pitiful after all the practice and effort i put into this game.

DCP
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As Vincent said to Fast Eddie, "Stings like a bitch, doesn't it"?! Hey, EVERYONE at one time or another has gotten absolutely blitzed, Johnny, Earl, all of them. There were times I've gotten wiped out so quickly that I didn't even know what hit me. That's just the way the game goes sometime. You also have to realize that the guy is playing much more in tournaments and has confidence to begin with. His butt just isn't going to pucker playing someone on their home table, whereas it was kind of a big deal to you, even in the way you built him up and described his accomplishments.

Hopefully you didn't play him at his own game...8-ball. Next time pick another game...rotation, 14.1, cribbage, something that he never plays either.
Just make sure you practice up yourself first. If he waxes your ass again, just go back to the drawing boards to get better, or accept and admit what your level of play really is and just be happy. There's always a cigar and a drink at the end of the night.
 
drivermaker said:
As Vincent said to Fast Eddie, "Stings like a bitch, doesn't it"?! ...
Click to expand...

A fine, fine reference, indeed!!

C'mon, DCP. Tell us, did you break anything (balls don't count, insert peter joke here)?

-pigi
 
You were intimidated. You weren't trying to make shots, you were trying not to miss. I would not let it eat you up too much.

I felt the same way when the CCB had our little tourney at the US Open. Even though I am an OK player who can, at the very least, put balls in holes, once I realized 90% of the folks there were better than me I could not make a ball.

We live and learn I suppose. Go down to the local tavern, put your quarters up, and beat some drunk ball-slapper. You'll feel better :D
 
I remember watching Parica on ESPN one time and he won the tournament with a cheap cue from WalMart or something. The cue sounded horrible every time he hit the ball and I think Allen Hopkins was doing the color commentary and he was cracking up over his cue. Anyway, they interviewed Parica and asked him how he dealt with losing and he said that he beleived he could beat anyone in the world on any given day but knows at the same time that he could lose to anyone on any given day. He said that he knows that if he loses a match today that he might beat that same person tomorrow or the next day, that he's confident that his day will come and he just takes his losses in stride. I think a lot of the PI players have that attitude because you seldom see them get real upset when they lose.

Don't get discouraged, get better! And don't throw any thing through the walls!
 
You say that you try very hard. But you don't say at what level you play.

If you are playing a BCA Champion and you are an average player then it is a given you will lose every time. He just is too good and knows too much.

Someone mentioned Parica. Inside Pool mentions where Parica was in the practice room at a tournament and was giving the 3 and out. Can you imagine getting the 3 and out and losing? How humiliating is that? And people were paying to be humiliated.

Jake
 
Jake,

I watched Efren give some guy 13 to 3 in 1h for $3xxx in a race to 3. Some rich guy that just wanted to say he played Efren. What was really incredible was that the guy didn't play bad at all. Efren was just phenominal!
 
no, the guys skill level, his accomplishments, etc, etc, didnt get to me, and i wasnt intimidated. actually he and i played early last spring, and i did much better back then that what i did tonight. the scores that night, although i lost, were much closer, and i was somewhat satisfied how i played that night. it was 6-7 (i won the first set), then lost 7-2, 7-4, 7-3.

he's been playing for 40 years, i've been playing for a little over 6 years now so perhaps that accounts for some of it along with all the competitions that he enters. i suspected my performance would be pitiful, it would have been against anybody last night no matter who i was playing. i've hit rock bottom, in a huge slump, and cant seem to get out of it.

and yes, it did sting like a bit-h, believe me. it wasnt losing that hurt, it was playing so pitifully that stung. i believe i will just chalk this up to experience, and continue down the road. i dont get in competition that much, there just isnt hardly any games around this small town i live in. its a long ways to drive to evansville, indy, terre haute, owensboro, etc, to try and find a game. thats why i actually appreciate "Dave" coming over and giving me some competition. and for the record, Dave is an old buddy of Tom "Dr. Cue" Rossman, they were college room-mates i believe.

thanks for all the comments/suggestions/opinions.
i emailed Tom Rossman, told him how the match went, and how bad things are for me now, and he responded with "Straight Stroke + Proper Alignment = Shot Success". but right now i dont have any confidence i can do anything. maybe i need to go ahead and see that hypnotist.

regards,
DCP

p.s. i threw a flashlight threw the wall tonight. actually it stuck in the wall. after about 30 minutes of breaking without having any chances to run out, i just couldnt take it any longer.

.
 
DrCue'sProtege,

Throw all the balls up on the table, gently, and start shooting them into the pockets randomly. Do not use any english and shoot at a soft to medium stroke. Pick the easiest balls first. Keep shooting until you start getting more comfortable with your shot making. Work on your basics, stance, bridge stroke. Practice draw, stop and follow. The purpose of all this is to regain your confidence by making balls. If you're playing bad, something is wrong with your basics. Have someone take a look at you to check all the basics and tell you what you may be doing wrong. Some of the problems could be misalignment, moving while you shoot, poor follow through, etc.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
no, the guys skill level, his accomplishments, etc, etc, didnt get to me, and i wasnt intimidated. actually he and i played early last spring, and i did much better back then that what i did tonight. the scores that night, although i lost, were much closer, and i was somewhat satisfied how i played that night. it was 6-7 (i won the first set), then lost 7-2, 7-4, 7-3.

he's been playing for 40 years, i've been playing for a little over 6 years now so perhaps that accounts for some of it along with all the competitions that he enters. i suspected my performance would be pitiful, it would have been against anybody last night no matter who i was playing. i've hit rock bottom, in a huge slump, and cant seem to get out of it.

and yes, it did sting like a bit-h, believe me. it wasnt losing that hurt, it was playing so pitifully that stung. i believe i will just chalk this up to experience, and continue down the road. i dont get in competition that much, there just isnt hardly any games around this small town i live in. its a long ways to drive to evansville, indy, terre haute, owensboro, etc, to try and find a game. thats why i actually appreciate "Dave" coming over and giving me some competition. and for the record, Dave is an old buddy of Tom "Dr. Cue" Rossman, they were college room-mates i believe.

thanks for all the comments/suggestions/opinions.
i emailed Tom Rossman, told him how the match went, and how bad things are for me now, and he responded with "Straight Stroke + Proper Alignment = Shot Success". but right now i dont have any confidence i can do anything. maybe i need to go ahead and see that hypnotist.

regards,
DCP

p.s. i threw a flashlight threw the wall tonight. actually it stuck in the wall. after about 30 minutes of breaking without having any chances to run out, i just couldnt take it any longer.

.
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If he's played 40 years, don't you think he's missed more shots (and lost more matches) than you've ever attempted? (There's a lesson there.)

Nice story about the flashlight...did it shed any light on your problem? :) My throwing story involved an acoustic guitar...the neck ended up traveling five feet, going around a corner, going another five feet, turning left and ended up in the bathtub. I was left strung out and washed up at the same time!...somebody stop me!

Seriously, how about putting an ingredient(s) in your shot recipe that handles emotionally charged misses more effectively? My two ingredients for this are 1.) Control Emotions, and 2.) Integrate Others' Actions.

Jeff Livingston
 
Well, I have definitely smashed a guitar out of frustration, but I have not yet put any holes in my walls. I've only had a table for about 2or3 months, so I guess that there is still time for me...

Sometimes you just gotta tell whitey what you think of him:

-pigo
 

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piglit said:
Well, I have definitely smashed a guitar out of frustration, but I have not yet put any holes in my walls. I've only had a table for about 2or3 months, so I guess that there is still time for me...

Sometimes you just gotta tell whitey what you think of him:

-pigo
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The truth is, I smashed the guitar because of my reaction to a woman (surprise, surprise)...it had nothing to do with pool. Come to think of it though, that's about the time I again took up pool seriously. Maybe there's a connection?

Jeff Livingston
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
its a long ways to drive to evansville, indy, terre haute, owensboro, etc, to try and find a game.
.
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I have gone through the same thing several times in the last couple of months. Like you said, its not about the loss, its about the way you played after all the work you have put into your game.

Over the last year I have spent alot of time on my game. But I will go through spells where I think I am just picking up a cue for the first time. Most of it is mental or something in my setup that I have let slip. I am going next week for to spend a day with an instructor to try and tighten things up. I want to start seeing an instructor at least once every two months to try and get over the hump.

On a side note, if you ever want to come up to Terre Haute send me a PM and we will see if we can get together. I love to play straight pool (not real good at it yet) and play alot of nine ball. I am not sure, but I might know the Dave you are talking about.
 
DrCue'sProtege said:
i take this game pretty seriously, and really try hard to get better.

and i was so disappointed. i couldnt do nothing. missing shots, missing position, bad rolls, etc, etc, you name it, it went wrong. i have no confidence now, i just know i am going to miss, and i usually do. the only thing i did halfway decent was that i kicked ok, i think i gave him ball in hand maybe just one time.

so disappointing. after he left i just sat on my couch, and stared at the ceiling. finally lit up a cigar, and just sat there pondering why i am so pitiful after all the practice and effort i put into this game. maybe its just not meant for me to be a decent player.

any of you other posters out there ever feel like this?

DCP
Click to expand...

I used to doubt myself all of the time in terms of becoming a decent player. I usually did ok in matches, but that was mental, not because I was good, and I sure was not playing any A players.

I think that I kind of roll with the punches and have my good nights and not good ones. But if i did my best pool on a bad night, I was ok as long as I played smart, and was focussed, etc. On one occasion, a few weeks ago, I was beaten by a 'worse player', but it did not bother me. I had too much stuff in my head to really play well and my opponent was having a good night and played well, so on that night was the 'better player'.

I think all anyone can do is the best that they can, focus on ones improvements rather than winning or losing. Don't compare yourself to another player. It is a game about getting better and in learning from mistakes and being proud of what you did well.

strike
 
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