Playing under pressure...

Gsitz89

Gsitz89

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was thinking of why sometimes my game is different between playing for fun and tournaments and playing for money. Now I don't play God like by any means but I do seem to play better in tournaments, I know what everyone thinks is it's the money but its not. The only thing I can think of is the rhythm or the speed at which I am playing at. Normally I play really fast kinda like earl stop shoot stop shoot. But for money i slow my game down so much that i normally cant hit two diamonds away from a pocket. Does this seem possible?
 
Just remember anything that changes your style of play is do to a reason. You can say its not pressure all you want, but that's what changes your play. Keep playing and you will get used to it hopefully, some never do.
 
Your conscious mind and your subconscious each play a roll in the shot process. Ideally the conscious will identify the outcome needed and communicate this to the subconscious, from there the subconscious takes over and performs the action.

Even though we know the sub is much more capable than the conscious,it is human nature to want to consciously control the action when the outcome becomes important to us. This need for the conscious mind to control the shot instead of trusting the sub to perform is likely the difference you are noticing when playing for money.

If I understand right you say you don't really play that well for fun either, this could be because you are not interested enough to consciously focus at the desired level. Tournaments seem to be the perfect conditions for you at this time. It is this environment where it seems that your conscious and sub are able to work together most effectively.
 
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Reads to me like you don't care much playing for fun so you just try to have a fun time running balls,
and if you happen to rush a shot and miss... oh well, didn't matter anyway.

In the tournament you're taking the time to think through every shot and you care if you miss,
so you take those extra seconds to make sure the shot is correct before firing.

Try, just for fun, to play that way when you're just hitting balls with friends.
Put full care and attention into every shot. You might be surprised to find it's also fun, in a different way.

Make your goal to run the rack, not just win the rack.
To simply win, you usually just need the opponent to play a few speeds below you.
This can lead to lazy playing, because you know you'll probably win most games even if you miss.
To run out, you need to play perfect, doesn't matter what their skill level is.
 
Narcissist.
Confident.
Semi-confident.
Not confident.

Pick which one describes you as a person. The farther away from the top you are, the harder it is to believe you have what it takes to compete.
 
This is probably the toughest part about pool.

Defining pressure is also huge. Is there more pressure during a team tournament? Singles? Playing a friend? Playing a stranger? Cash game?

For me, I don't excel in a tournament setting, never have. In a tournament I have two shots to lose, gambling I could play until I ran out of money. I also hate the idea of playing for 2 days to win a thousand or 1500.

If we're talking the opponent, there are a lot of ways you can add some pressure just by the style you play. A lock up safe, hit them with a package or two, bet them out of their comfort zone, your pace of play also effects your opponent too. I generally play pretty quick when I'm in stroke, so I get a bunch of games in a short period.
 
If you want to play well in tournaments... Play in more tournaments. If you want to play well for money... Play for money more often. I think it's more about what you are comfortable with.
 
Playing and getting used to pressure is important, but imo, building and maintaining a solid pre-shot routine is the key to overcoming pressure situations.
 
On every shot consider these key elements:
1. Where do I need to be
2. Where do I not want to be
3. Where are the trouble routes (balls, pockets etc)
4. If I land straight in can I get to the next ball and if no...make sure at all costs your not straight
5. Always land on the right side
6. Don't beat yourself. Get down and pull the trigger when you know your going to make the ball
7. When you land in trouble. What is my best chance from here?

Nick
 
FranCrimi said:
Narcissist.
Confident.
Semi-confident.
Not confident.

Pick which one describes you as a person. The farther away from the top you are, the harder it is to believe you have what it takes to compete.
Click to expand...



I'm all 4 at the same time in no particular order. What can I do? Please help me. No wait, I've got it covered. Believe me, I'm the best - I can handle this. I think I can. No, I know I can't. Wait a minute, I think there's a chance. Let me think about it. Can we add "thinks too much" to the list?

TJ
 
Balance is everything...

Learn to play with balance. Pace, rhythm, tempo is what you need to strive for. Find your perfect balance. If you play too tight , then maybe you are playing too slow. Playing too slow and tight and you sometimes cannot make a ball. Also, if you are playing loose , you may play very very good. But if you play too loose, then maybe you will play very sloppy and many errors... Learn to find your perfect balance between tight play and loose play. Each and every one of us has a perfect balance point 50-50 so to speak. Find your perfect balance point. Good luck to you. Mr. J
 
Gsitz89 said:
I was thinking of why sometimes my game is different between playing for fun and tournaments and playing for money. Now I don't play God like by any means but I do seem to play better in tournaments, I know what everyone thinks is it's the money but its not. The only thing I can think of is the rhythm or the speed at which I am playing at. Normally I play really fast kinda like earl stop shoot stop shoot. But for money i slow my game down so much that i normally cant hit two diamonds away from a pocket. Does this seem possible?
Click to expand...

Two different settings, in tournaments you know if you loose you are going home, so you you will give it your best , defensive play comes first; playing for money, is open ended, first few games are like playing for fun and go for everything, you say oh i will catch up, i got all night long, all of a sudden you are 5 or 6 down because you are playing someone who knows how to keep his winning.

Other poster saying subconscious (SC) is responsible for your shot making, i will give example here of subconscious moves, say you are driving a car and a car crossed a red light in front of you, your SC will get you to move away from it to save yourself regardless of who is sitting next to you, this is why behind the driver is the best seat in house. So SC is a hard core memory bank that is recalled in instances to save life, blink of an eye to save the eye, breathing, walking, involuntary body functions and instincts; now the actions involved in playing pool are different and actually all are trained conscious decisions that are saved in an erasable memory bank that gets called in when needed; sure it is quick, but no way near the SC recalling speed. Because it is conscious its efficiency depends on the state of mind which is heavily depends on many factors, what you eat, drink, sleep, exercise, happy mode, sad mode, give up mode...you name it. I am sure at times you play and your thoughts will be all out mean and not giving any chance to the other player, at times f**ed it who cares, so you will loose; unfortunately, it is hard to control; also do not ignore luck, sure it is big factor, dead balls, 9 ball missed and sits as a duck, cb kiss three balls and scratch..
If you depend on SC you will fail unless luck saves you. No substitute to learning all the 4000 shots possibilities to be master of the table and over come luck intervention. Best of luck.
 
Why you play different

Why you play different was best explained by Satori IMO. You cannot just mentally force your best play in the game, no matter the format; gambling, tournaments or hitting balls with friends. You have to train yourself to have a flawless physical and mental preshot routine and practice enough under all conditions so it is automatic. When playing a set for a few hundred for the first time and you need 3 games to get out of a trap will your conscious thoughts take your game astray? Or is it less pressure to have entered a $20 tournament that you aren't supposed to win (no offense there :wink:).

If you ever learned to play a musical instrument there are many parallels. Once you learn finger placements and techniques with enough practice your unconscious mind makes the music. You really aren't consciously doing anything to perform. Your pool playing needs to be more like that.

Personally I would rather gamble for the cash. I am not sweating every penny, so I don't have the pressure as some opponents may. I feel gambling brings out my best game and usually theirs. If I beat somebody for funsies it just isn't the same as winning a good buck.
 
naji said:
Two different settings, in tournaments you know if you loose you are going home, so you you will give it your best , defensive play comes first; playing for money, is open ended, first few games are like playing for fun and go for everything, you say oh i will catch up, i got all night long, all of a sudden you are 5 or 6 down because you are playing someone who knows how to keep his winning.

Other poster saying subconscious (SC) is responsible for your shot making, i will give example here of subconscious moves, say you are driving a car and a car crossed a red light in front of you, your SC will get you to move away from it to save yourself regardless of who is sitting next to you, this is why behind the driver is the best seat in house. So SC is a hard core memory bank that is recalled in instances to save life, blink of an eye to save the eye, breathing, walking, involuntary body functions and instincts; now the actions involved in playing pool are different and actually all are trained conscious decisions that are saved in an erasable memory bank that gets called in when needed; sure it is quick, but no way near the SC recalling speed. Because it is conscious its efficiency depends on the state of mind which is heavily depends on many factors, what you eat, drink, sleep, exercise, happy mode, sad mode, give up mode...you name it. I am sure at times you play and your thoughts will be all out mean and not giving any chance to the other player, at times f**ed it who cares, so you will loose; unfortunately, it is hard to control; also do not ignore luck, sure it is big factor, dead balls, 9 ball missed and sits as a duck, cb kiss three balls and scratch..
If you depend on SC you will fail unless luck saves you. No substitute to learning all the 4000 shots possibilities to be master of the table and over come luck intervention. Best of luck.
Click to expand...

You are referring to the autonomic nervous system. The ANS is controlled by the sub mind but that is not the sub minds only job.

Once learned, walking is a subconscious act. You don't have to consciously contemplate how far to step or which muscles to use. A good example though of how the conscious mind can try to take control and make a task much harder can be shown with the simple act of walking. Imagine a board that is 12" wide and 1200 ft long placed firmly on the ground. If you were asked to walk across it you could probrabaly accomplish it with ease. Raise that board 1200 ft of the ground though and the act of walking across it becomes much tougher. Why? Because your conscious mind no longer trusts your sub to perform the task on its own. He wants to direct the sub on where to place the foot on the board, how far to step, how to shift the balance, the simple act of walking has now become a little tougher because even though we think we are helping out by consciously directing the task during the execution, the truth is that the sub is much more capable.
 
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(((Satori))) said:
You are referring to the autonomic nervous system. The ANS is controlled by the sub mind but that is not the sub minds only job.

Once learned, walking is a subconscious act. You don't have to consciously contemplate how far to step or which muscles to use. A good example though of how the conscious mind can try to take control and make a task much harder can be shown with the simple act of walking. Imagine a board that is 12" wide and 1200 ft long placed firmly on the ground. If you were asked to walk across it you could probrabaly accomplish it with ease. Raise that board 1200 ft of the ground though and the act of walking across it becomes much tougher. Why? Because your conscious mind no longer trusts your sub to perform the task on its own. He wants to direct the sub on where to place the foot on the board, how far to step, how to shift the balance, the simple act of walking has now become a little tougher because even though we think we are helping out by consciously directing the task during the execution, the truth is that the sub is much more capable.
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Hello (((Satori))), i heard this example a while back, it is not applicable to pool at all, you simply gambling with your life here, subconscious (SC) mind job is to direct the brain to move the legs, how much, how fast, how high, direction, all of these are conscious efforts to avoid falling to your death, Gambling in pool is different, than gambling with your life; though betting over your head is close to death! i want to add a twist to your example, say i told someone go jump of a high rise building, of course he is not, but if there is fire in the room, probably that is the only choice left before.... who decides this, it is SC
I will agree with you though, that playing for fun is different than gambling play, but it is not the SC who decides how to play, it is the conscious mind under pressure that makes mistakes and not account for all proper check list items in a pool shot or bad decisions, one bad moves at times, worth mentioning here, is not playing safe when you have to, and that is knowledge that needs to be gained and trained. Also agree some basic easy short rang shots in pool are easy no brainier and SC probably will do some of the steps (no all), but if you depend on SC you will never be consistent player and will always fail unless luck saves you . You must think, and evaluate all options before you shoot especially long range, hard cuts, hard position shots, CB near the rail..etc.
 
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