my thoughts on confidence , environment , tables oh yea...and meuccis

L

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
deanocs thread about confidence and the threads about meucci sponsoring pros got me to thinking about my experiences lately. plus the threads on here every so often concerning 7's vs 9's ...table conditions ... focus " or frame of mind " what's the best cue etc.

let me preface this by saying ...im smart enough to know that i know nothing about pool compared to a lot of people...but i do have common sense and am smart enough to know what does work and does not work for me.

re confidence...i know just because you have confidence in your self its not gonna make you play like an a player when you really are a c player. confidence will allow you to play to the best of your ability however.

i am gonna lump table size ...conditions...environment all into one here because they all interact together if you think about it. your mental state " confidence and focus " will allow you to adjust to these varying conditions and play to your full potential.

the reason i firmly believe the above is due to a match i played last night.

i joined a new travel division a few weeks ago and i absolutely hate our home base. its a dive bar withe the kinda tables and ball that you would expect in a place like that....and open mike night with worse singer than you normally encounter during kareoke

i am a 5 facing another 5 and win the 1st 2 racks. ....missed balls i should not miss but winning due to some timely safes. each rack running 3-4 innings and when i am not shooting i am lamenting the fact that i hate this place...hate the equipment and hate the gawd awful loud music.

3rd rack it gets down to both of us having one ball apiece and his ball is blocking the pocket. i shoot my ball into his ..knocking his in . leaving the cue ball froze on the bottom rail. the 8 ball is froze on the side rail about a diamond from the corner pocket at the same end of the table.

he elects to kick up table back down to the 8 ball. i am on the same side of the table the 8 is watching the shot. the cue ball hits the side rail about 3"s above the 8 and comes off the rail never touching the 8 ball.

i walk up and pick up the cue ball and he says its a good hit ....i say ...wut ? he says yea i hit the 8.

i calmly say ooookay and rake the 8 and my last ball but i am seething inside.

i am really pissed ...not only at him for not calling a foul on himself but because i failed to follow 2 rules.

1. not declaring the 8 frozen before he shot
2. not declaring bih before i picked up the cue ball.

my opponent breaks dry ..i walk up and run the table. next rack i have a break and run. match over 4-1. i went from shooting 3 racks in 12 innings to shooting 2 racks in 0 innings. helluva difference dontcha think. ?

same crappy table all 5 racks
same crappy balls all 5 racks
same loud ass gawd awful music all 5 racks
same psr all 5 racks
same stroke all 5 racks.

what am i getting at you ask there was only one difference...my frame of mind.

i went to the table full of confidence in my ability and completely focused blocking everything out...especially that loud ass music.

last but not least....about having meucci in the title.

a few months back i sold my custom cue for 2,500.00...made a down payment on a truck amd bought a used meucci for 200.00. did not really need it cause i have a dozen different cues but hey ...if i got rid of one i just had to have one to replace it. :grin:

since i have had that meucci i went up to a 6 in 9 ball getting 2 shut outs so far this session and 1 point from getting a 3rd.

i also have more 8 ball break and runs this session than all of last year. so ya'll keep flaming away about how bad meuccis are and i will keep smiling every time i pull it out of the case. :grin:
 
The church grants special dispensation in time of great need. If the Meucci's working, I say use it.

Anyway, living in Memphis and not having a Meucci means your not a very good player... because you've never been back to the pawn shop to pick it up after you won enough back to get it out of hock :-) Hell, you could throw a rock and hit the factory practically.
 
Ok, i really hate to admit this but, i tryed a new meucci yesterday... it was a low end model
with a black dot shaft. The previous black dot shafts i tryed hit like a wet noodle...this cue actually hit great. It was brand new, hopefully it stays straight, i gamble with the owner bi weekly, so ill see it again. But i was really surprised how well it plays.
 
Bob Meucci will never get any of my money EVER again! That piece of crap I bought fell apart like wet toiletpaper. I hear people raving about the new "Pro" shafts, yet every picture I see of one shows ugly blemishes on the shaft. If you charge a premium for your products, they'd better stack up! That's not to say that other companies shafts are perfect either, but I bet they'd not let shafts with knots in them pass regularly through quality control! I bought a cue for 40 dollars and the shaft wood is dead perfect, dense and heavy, guess I got lucky!

When I see stuff like those "Pro shafts" I can sort of understand why someone would be willing to pay 1000 dollars for a shaft...When close to 300 buys you crap, I guess 1K is what you have to pay for something perfect these days.
 
mojoatomic said:
The church grants special dispensation in time of great need. If the Meucci's working, I say use it.

Anyway, living in Memphis and not having a Meucci means your not a very good player... because you've never been back to the pawn shop to pick it up after you won enough back to get it out of hock :-) Hell, you could throw a rock and hit the factory practically.
Click to expand...

I guess the church really blessed me since selling my custom cue:grin:

Gotta be good to play with a meucci ? Guess that is why very few apa players here have one. :grin:

Never had to hock a cue:p

Guess you never been to the factory...its darn near in bum fvck Egypt. It's a 40 minute drive from my house.
 
lorider said:
I guess the church really blessed me since selling my custom cue:grin:

Gotta be good to play with a meucci ? Guess that is why very few apa players here have one. :grin:

Never had to hock a cue:p

Guess you never been to the factory...its darn near in bum fvck Egypt. It's a 40 minute drive from my house.
Click to expand...

Not good necessarily - but back in the 70's-80's they were cheap and plentiful. Especially at Pawnshops - and every pool player I knew made a few trips to the pawnshop now and again :-) I GUARANTEE you I'm not the only one who hit a PS down on Summer or Millbranch back in the day and then played off the wall until I could find my way outta' the woods :-)

I've been to the factory, but not the new one your talking about - it used to be in Olive Branch.
 
lorider said:
" confidence and focus " will allow you to adjust to these varying conditions and play to your full potential.

he elects to kick to the 8 ball. the cue ball never touching the 8 ball. he says yea i hit the 8.

i am seething inside. i am really pissed ...

..i walk up and run the table. next rack i break and run. match over 4-1.

i went to the table full of confidence in my ability and completely focused
Click to expand...

sounds like you play better when you're pissed and completely focused on putting the hurt on the other player ;)
 
lorider said:
he elects to kick up table back down to the 8 ball. i am watching the shot. the cue ball hits the side rail about 3"s above the 8 and comes off the rail never touching the 8 ball.
Click to expand...

by the way, kicking up table and back to the 8 near the corner, seems like a shallow bank, you would think that hitting the rail only 3 inches above the ball, would result in a shallow angle away from the rail, at least hitting the 8 ball.....maybe he just assumed he hit the 8........but it the 8 is still against the rail, he didnt
 
My favorite cue was a Meucci. Haven't found a cue that plays like my first Meucci. Keep thinking of buying a new Meucci, just don't feel comfortable about their product right now. Liked the maple shafts and red dot. Did not care for the black dot. Almost bought one from a vendor but part of the butt was spinning. It was an $800 cue with a defect. So if stay away from them.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
well fellas believe it of not this week we traveled to a hell hole worse than our home base.

its the type of place that would make serious players that expect perfect cloth ...perfect rails...quiet environment cringe when they walk in and have night mares for weeks afterwards.

slow rolls would some times veer right or left.

cloth was nappy and worn in spots

deadest rails i have ever seen. ...i used my normal lag speed and the cue ball only made it half way back up table.

the tables had those chalk holders on strings at each end of the table. had not seen those in a bar in 30 years.

the walls were painted concrete with graffiti all over them....did have a newman/cruise color of money framed poster though

the juke box was not too loud at 1st but when the bartenders changed shifts the new one cranked it up so loud that you had to yell at your team mate sitting beside you to be heard

and last but not least it was hotter than hell in that place.

my g/f played 8 ball 1st while i kept score. she complained about the heat and noise. i told her to adapt. she wound up winning against another 3 by 2-0

she played the same girl in 9 ball but the girl was a 2 this time . my g/f then was complaining about the slow cloth and dead rails. i said your opponent is playing on the same table. she says yea but she plays on it all the time...its my 1st time. i said adjust.

i played 8 ball vs another 5 who i had never seen before and it was a battle but i won 4-3.

i faced a 4 in 9 ball who i knew well and imo should be a 5. i was just raised recently to a 6 in 9 ball and knew i had my work cut out for me in this match.

when the match started i told myself to block out the music , focus and play with confidence .without warning i fell into that elusive zone we all aspire to seek out every time we play.

i did not hear that loud music...i did not see my opponent standing near the table. i shot one ball after another with out thinking .nothing existed except me and the table. i added another step to my psr that became automatic with out thinking also. it was taking my cap off and wiping the sweat off my fore head so it would not drip into my eyes before each shot.

then half way through the match with out warning my zone disapeared . i started to struggle ....over thinking aiming or cue ball position that came with ease earlier in the match. i lost confidence and missed shots that should come easy for my s/l.

the music bothered me

the heat bothered me

my opponent who i could see out of the corner of my eye bothered me but i managed to pull off the win 46-36.

some times you are your own worst enemy.
 
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