Pool Knowledge: What's the last thing you learned?

MmmSharp

Nudge is as good as a wink to a blind bat.
Silver Member
I wouldn't think a couple of drinks over that period would affect you either. I've only drank a handful of times when playing any sort of competitive pool and I've never noticed it affecting me then.

I'm just wondering if is due to with a heightened senses/awareness because you're now more focused?
I never thought a few drinks over such a long period would affect my game. I am 6 ft, 235lb. Not a light weight by any account. And often one or two drinks would help me get in stroke. No drinks seem to let me play more consistent it seems. I think it is Less over hitting mostly so less getting out of line. It surprisingly upped my game.
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
i am missing balls i would not have missed in the past
That is frustrating. Last Saturday I had the opposite happen. I don't know what was different but it was like I had a superpower. It was like I was a good bet to sink any ball, anywhere, from anywhere. Position still sucked but when you can sink anything you can see, it doesn't matter as much.

On a similar note, I ran a sophisticated computer probability simulation with $12.50 worth of quarters. I mixed them up and spread them out in two lines of 25. It seems that my perception of probability and the reality are quite different. in a row of 25 quarters, with heads representing successful shots and tails representing misses (or a 50:50 chance), there were only 6 shots that were not part of a group of hits or misses. There were 6 heads in a row, and 4 tails in a row. So that 6 ball run I put together isn't so hot. And the shots I dogged sequentially aren't exactly as disgraceful as I thought.

By aligning the second group of quarters next to the first, tails in both rows represents a miss at a 75% success rate. There were still 3 pairs of misses out of 25 chances.

I guess I expected very few groups but found that seemingly large runs or losing streaks are still very common, even if I thought they were not. 6 heads in a row should be 1 in 64 but it will still come up. I guess the lesson is don't smash you cue stick until you miss at least 8 in a row.
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
I always marveled at the guys who claimed they shot their best pool after several or more drinks.
That's called "state dependent learning." When you learn to do something in an altered state you perform best in that state. Or it could just slow down their brain enough that they don't overthink the shot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pin

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
I've learned , you don't know what you don't know until you know it.
Once I knew it, I realized I still knew nothing, until I practiced what I didn't know repeatedly.
Now I have to forget what I thought I knew , and remember what I didn't know, and repeat it when called upon, and I didn't know any of this either.
So I've learned nothing, but at least I know it. Pool and life are tough, in that order.

My wife says " Hon" you're overdosing on pool and fishing, you must eat something.
I say to her,,I know,,I know,,I know,,I know,,I know, after I read page 1,000,000 on aiming.
I tell her I know everything, and she agrees, just ask her.
The more I think about it , I may have learned never to say " I know "
No waaaaaaaaaaaay.....:)
 

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
So what did Caitlyn Jenner teach you about pool?
I was before her, I was more concerned about a gal, my age from Northbrook IL, Leah Poulos....wow! I'm sure she's googable. :)



I was around during the early 60's, flew to NY city in a DC 10 with the Olympic 400m gold metal winner next to me, giving me pointers for the North American Finals, two golds and a silver I end up with. It was short tarck indoor speed skating at the Buffalo Hockey arena. This type of skating is like stock car races with your body.

FF to his TV moment....Terry McDermott was in tights on camera, the night Ed Sullivan showcased the Beatles live on TV for the first time in America, no one remembers Terry in his wool tights and speed skates on stage....just before ''I wanna hold your hand'' moment played out.?
 

bbb

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
That is frustrating. Last Saturday I had the opposite happen. I don't know what was different but it was like I had a superpower. It was like I was a good bet to sink any ball, anywhere, from anywhere. Position still sucked but when you can sink anything you can see, it doesn't matter as much.

On a similar note, I ran a sophisticated computer probability simulation with $12.50 worth of quarters. I mixed them up and spread them out in two lines of 25. It seems that my perception of probability and the reality are quite different. in a row of 25 quarters, with heads representing successful shots and tails representing misses (or a 50:50 chance), there were only 6 shots that were not part of a group of hits or misses. There were 6 heads in a row, and 4 tails in a row. So that 6 ball run I put together isn't so hot. And the shots I dogged sequentially aren't exactly as disgraceful as I thought.

By aligning the second group of quarters next to the first, tails in both rows represents a miss at a 75% success rate. There were still 3 pairs of misses out of 25 chances.

I guess I expected very few groups but found that seemingly large runs or losing streaks are still very common, even if I thought they were not. 6 heads in a row should be 1 in 64 but it will still come up. I guess the lesson is don't smash you cue stick until you miss at least 8 in a row.
Your example of the line up of quarters has a flaw to me
Your conclusions are based on the results of a random line up
theoretically you have developed skill so your make /miss should not be a random result
jmho
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I used to care about what the railbirds and what my opponent thought about my game, my strengths and weaknesses. It's called "status concerns". And when your performance hinges on whatever status or judgments you feel others might be assigning to you, it's easy to start overthinking shots or to start playing shots you normally wouldn't play.

My most recent learning bit involves how to not give a shit about what anyone might think of me.

Example: I'd make a great shot or run a few racks, then hear someone say, "He wrote a book on pool." That statement would bounce around in the working area of my mind and cause all sorts of havoc. I'd then find myself playing to prove something, rather than just playing to play, or playing to win.

Now I'm in the habit of embracing those types of comments. So I guess the newest thing I've learned isn't so much a new skill, but it's the ability to handle things that used to throw me off my game. I suppose that's a mental skill.

With physical skills, I believe the newest thing I've learned might be the massé draw shot, but that was a couple of years ago.
 
Last edited:

MrKnives

Member
Most recently I’ve learned I can run the first nine ball rack more times than not and never run another the rest of the day….

Also, the Simonis x1 table cloth cleaner is a game changer for my table. It almost looks new each time I use it and I’ve given up on the vacuum. So thankful. I don’t have Simonis cloth but it’s a higher end cloth that came with the preowned table I bought.

Pushes and safeties. Watched Neil’s newest video and it gave me some new approaches to consider.

Lastly, I’m down with the Rona this week so I made me one of those diy ball polishers for $35 and I love it!
 

Maniac

2manyQ's
Silver Member
Lastly, I’m down with the Rona this week so I made me one of those diy ball polishers for $35 and I love it!
I made one for about the same cost. Worked GREAT until I went somewhere and left it running for 5 hours staright and burnt the motor up.

Maniac (gonna be more minful next time)
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
theoretically you have developed skill so your make /miss should not be a random result
In theory....

Yeah, there are a lot of variables, my odds of making the shot should depend on the difficulty of the shot. It's definitely a crude simulation, but I still think it was instructional in the sense that with any odds streaks of hit or miss are a LOT more common than I thought. I could have a few bad shots and that doesn't necessarily mean I am shooting poorly, I could still be shooting within my normal performance range and the coin is coming up tails. I tend to get frustrated and this helps me remember that even if I can shoot at 90% there will still be plenty of times that I won't hit 9 and dog 1. I'll probably miss three and make 20, miss 1 and make 12.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bbb
Top