Pre-Tourney Jitters

a9ballbr8k

a9ballbr8k

Don't anger my stakehorse
Silver Member
Just before and during the first part of tourneys I get so nervous and cannot calm down. Takes a toll on those touch shots and slow played safeties. I try slow breathing, and it kinda works. The nervousness goes away when I lose my first match in a double elimination tourney. After I lose my first match, I seem to not care and play better. Any suggestions?
 
lol,i went through the exact same thing for a long time so i know what youre feeling.i even got mad at myself for having to get beat to get me really ready to play.this may not help or even make sense but i say to myself before a match;this is my match to win or lose,its on me,so make him beat you and do not beat yourself.then i just feel relaxed and i dont get mad at myself and take my bad rolls just as i do my good ones.:)
 
I hate to advocate the use of drugs and alcohol, but ya know, they always work for me. No, no, no. I'm just being silly. Sorry.
 
8ballEinstein said:
I hate to advocate the use of drugs and alcohol, but ya know, they always work for me. No, no, no. I'm just being silly. Sorry.
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hey 2 buds before a match does wonders for me:)
 
It is tough

There is a certain amount of pre-match jitters for everyone. Controlling them is key. Slow breathing does help. Breath slow and deep and if you can, think of a peaceful place while doing it. A favorite fishing or picnic spot on a cool day for example.

Also focus on positive thoughts. "I am going to play my best today" "I am going to set the pace and others will have to try to catch me" Imagine yourself shooting and the ball rolling cleanly into the pocket. If you can extend that to imagining cue ball placement and even entire runs so much the better.

DON"T think thoughts like: "I'm not going to choke" "I'm not going to scratch" I'm not going to break poorly like I did last time"

There is a line of thought that our subconscious doesn't recognize negatives. To our subconscious there is no difference between "don't scratch" and "scratch". I don't know if this is true but I do know we often do the exact thing we are focusing on not doing if we focus on not doing that instead of replacing the whole line of thought with a more positive thought.

Walking slowly, drinking water in moderation, and just easing off by myself to focus on my plans and mental preparation brings me to the table in a better frame of mind.

After all of the suggestions in this thread and all that you find searching on the old threads on this same subject, in the end you have to find what works best for you.

Good Luck,
Hu
 
a9ballbr8k said:
Just before and during the first part of tourneys I get so nervous and cannot calm down. Takes a toll on those touch shots and slow played safeties. I try slow breathing, and it kinda works. The nervousness goes away when I lose my first match in a double elimination tourney. After I lose my first match, I seem to not care and play better. Any suggestions?
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Just enjoy your game! It's YOURS... seriously!

I mean, you're in the table by yourself and the only person that is watching is nothing more than your opponent (whether he is good or not). I mean, who are you impressing?

Alot of people get jitters because they just -flatout- want the big loot. Myself, for instance, am a jittery person when I play my friend, Sylver Ochoa, and believe me, I have learned alot from that day that you should never beat a lion... even if he is not even taking it seriously :p .

Hu's got some pretty good points on his recent post -- even though he does make some unagreeable analytical posts :rolleyes:. But kudos on Hu's mark, nevertheless.
 
dimes33 said:
hey 2 buds before a match does wonders for me:)
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That's just silly. I have said in another post I cannot concentrate when I do that....I do that just recreationally. When I play pool, I try to stay focused completely.

To 8balleinstein, I do find I have played more relaxed after a couple but then again I want to stay as focused as possible. When I played league a few years ago I noticed this affected my game and vowed not to drink while I play unless it was for fun. Not during tourneys or sets. Although I love to play for beers at the bars. Usually they line them up faster than I can drink em!!!
 
To Conquer Your Pre-match Jitters

Forget the beer.

Forget "foooling" your subconscious.

Forget "avoiding" negative thoughts.

Forget "imagining" you're at your favorite spot.

Instead, start focusing on your pre-shot routine. Establish a pre-shot routine over the next few weeks because you probably don't have one. People who suffer from nerves are shortchanging the three step process to making a successful shot.

Step 1 is pre-shot routine. Identify the shot and look it from a standing position. Hold your cue in the same spot always and approach the table and settle into your stroke the same way each time. By the time you've settled, your mind is registering this shot. Don't look around. Don't think of anything except the speed of your stroke because YOUR MIND HAS ALREADY AIMED FOR YOU!

Step 2 is the shot. If you make it, good. If you miss, that's okay too providing you stroked in a proper steady manner.

Step 3 is post shot routine and that's a simple matter of staying down on the shot. Focus temporarily on what went right and what went wrong.

These are the three steps to each and every shot. Sure, you'll move from shot to shot in a slower more methodical manner but that too will improve your game and REDUCE THOSE NERVES.

Take the next two or three weeks and practice what I've just said. You'll be improving your game from where you are to where you want to go.

Sounds hokey but break down that shot routine!

The Woim
 
I lost all that when I started playing money games. That might be something you already do though. Nothing will get you more used to pressure than playing money games. Oh, and what everyone else said.
 
SlickRick-Love your avatar, that pic is so majestic and beautifull.

Thanks to all who have posted so far.

The Woim-I do have a pre-shot routine, and post shot routine(staying down until ball pocketed or missed). I had focused on getting the fundamentals right from the start, when I first started playing. I have played on and off for about 10 years, I read all I can and watched all the instructional videos I have had the chance to.

I'm sure I just need to focus on staying relaxed and not thinking about anything exept unless it has to do with the shot, layout and my stroke.
 
This may not sound like the most positive of concepts, but I just enter tournaments with a brutally realistic idea of where I stand, my likelihood of winning or placing, etc. If you're up against stiff competition and don't expect to win the thing, the lower expectations might help you settle down. I know some people say "that's bad because it teaches him to have low expectations and think negatively about his odds of winning"... but sometimes coming in first doesn't have to be the goal. If you're a B in a field of A's and the best you can reasonably hope for is third, then you shouldn't feel like you're dogging yourself to try for 'just' third. If you enter every match like it's life or death and you're playing strictly for first, then you'll just be jittery and get yourself down when a superior player takes you out.



I try shoot casually with the mindset that if I screw up, miss, and lose... well, I already expected I'd get into the loser's bracket at some point.
Except in very small local tournaments, then I get a bit nervous because I feel like I'm expected to win and I really have screwed up if I don't.
 
a9ballbr8k said:
Just before and during the first part of tourneys I get so nervous and cannot calm down. Takes a toll on those touch shots and slow played safeties. I try slow breathing, and it kinda works. The nervousness goes away when I lose my first match in a double elimination tourney. After I lose my first match, I seem to not care and play better. Any suggestions?
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More protein before the tournament, less sugar, caffeine, speed, and carbohydrates. Eat protein snacks at the table, like peanuts.

If you are nervous always admit it to yourself, don't try to pretend you are not. You should be a little nervous.

Always focus on where your tip is going during the shot and the speed it needs. This helps keep you from trying to steer the balls. If you don't know where it should go, you should be very nervous.

unknownpro
 
I've found I do better when I don't build up my expectations of my game. This started a few weeks ago when I had about 5 minutes notice of a mini tourney starting. I was asked if I was in & said "Sure, why not?" Rather than getting myself psyched up I thought "Let's just have fun & see what happens." I tied for 1st. Won the next week & had a few good finishes in other tourneys since then.

I just seem to be more relaxed about playing now. Part of that is my attitude but I think getting better results has helped too!:D
 
I have to agree...2 beers do wonders for the jitters! But only 2 to get started, and as the tourney goes on...maybe one more to get really loose. It has never let me down!
...After 3 beers, your only asking to get beat by a nobody. Then you'll just blame on us here on AZ!!! LOL!
-West
 
Funny thing

I have always been a money player. I made it 'over the hump' playing for money, but when I started playing tournaments and in league, I started to feel the 'pressure' more.

In leagues because all of my team was counting on me, not just myself,and I did not want to let them down. In tournaments because you just got 2 chances. It wasn't like you could lose for an hour or two, and come back to come out a winner in a session.

I was used to matching up and playing for hours and hours, holding up through the tide changing back and forth of a money match, not the 2 strikes and you're out of tournaments.

It took some getting used to, but I did get over it in pretty short order thanks to the techniques I used when I got 'over the hump' in money matches. It is a matter of self-discipline and inner control, and everything you do to maintain it, and your mistakes should 'piss' you off. Because it they don't, and you get used to them, you will never be any better.

When you approach a competition, you want to feel 'competent' in every way possible, and give it your very best shot.
 
Here's one to consider. It may sound wacky, but it works for me when I get those butterflies.

First of all, I think the worse thing you can do is to try to ignore the feeling. Rather acknowledge it, welcome it and think of it as the tingling that brings the power to win.

Consciously remind yourself that your opponent has this feeling but he has yet to embrace it as you have and while it is giving you strength, it is making him weak.

I also do this with those inner voices we get. Rather than trying to fight the confusion, I view the inner voice as my best friend. Someone trying to help me the best they can.

When I hear that voice, I'll stop. Get up, and listen to it. Discuss the inner self's thoughts amongst myself, so to speak. :)

I'm big on believing the mental side of this game is more influencing than the physical side.

In whatever way works for you, make positives out of what you are now interpreting as a negative. Don't fight the feelings, make them work for you.

While I'm rambling, I also do this with players who try to shark me while I'm shooting. You know, like wiggle their foot or move their stick from side to side while you are down on a shot right in their line of vision.

I see these sharks and (don't laugh) think of them as power hearts, (like in a video game) Now, this opponent has just sealed his fate by giving me super strength to make the tough shot. :) This works much better than trying to ignore it.
 
Well its getting a little better. I was in a huge tourney last weekend. Some people were watching my first match. My first game was horrible. I couldn't calm down and was missing easy shots. Second game I calmed down quite a bit. He left me almost hooked in the pocket on my shot on the eight. I slow rolled it and cut it into the other corner on the opposite end of the table but barely, I mean barely, scratched in the other corner. I lost my first match 3-2. If I could have calmed myself down sooner I would have won my first match with me 3 and him 2 but oh well. It's getting better. Thanks for the input guys.
 
Just to add to what Woim said...routines are key but to really help settle down I have developed a personal daily routine based on advice from professional golfers.

I put out my attire for the tournament the day before and ensure all is clean and pressed. Check the shoes. Have directions, if required, and keep them with your cues so everything is together and will not be forgotten. Go to bed at your regular time.

In the morning, wake at your regular time during the work week, assuming you have a 9-5 type of job, and have a light breakfast low in grease and high in vitamins. Have no more than one cup of coffee.

Enjoy the drive to the tournament and think positive thoughts about the day not related to pool.

Have a set pre-tournament practice routine. Select a drill or drills you like and will be good to help warm up and develop confidence and feel for the tables.

10 minutes before the event starts leave the table and take a break. Go to the washroom, freshen up, and relax. At this point the only time you have thought about the tournament was registration.

Now enter your match without a bias of who the projected winner should be. It's you. Now focus on breathing slow and comfortably, shake hands, win the lag, and focus on every part of your pre-shot routine. By staying focused on your routine you will not have time for any other kind of thought that can create nervous anxiety.

Just my thoughts.

PS: read the book, Pleasure of Small Motions. Awesome.
 
Everything everyone is telling you here is true and it all works if it changes your focus. Right now you're focusing on being nervous and it's like a runaway train in your mind, the more you think about it the worse it gets. That's why breathing, positive imagery, routines, etc. can all work because they take your mind off of the nervousness. Just like when you lose that first match, you said your next match you'll likely win or at least play better because your focus isn't on nerves it's on being angry that you lost. Sometimes for me it's a simple as going to the restroom washing my hands and just taking a look at my self in the mirror. Hang in there, keep plugging along and you'll find that one thing that works for you that you'll be able to draw on whenever those feeling come up.
 
Hate to give free knowledge away, but...

Take a beta blocker. It'll be impossible to get nervous after one of those.

I learned that info years ago from giving large speeches. Go to your Dr. and tell him/her you give speeches for work and ask for Propananol.

1 Hour before you gamble or play in a tournament - nerves will be a thing of the past.

- Forget preshot routine
- Forget positive thoughts
- Forget a beer

Lock it up. That way, if you dog it--- it's because you played bad, not because you're nervous.

What I'm saying here isn't illegal or immoral. People use beta blockers all the time - mostly older people w/ bad hearts or professionals who give extemporaneous speeches in front of larger audiences (politicians, etc.).

I believe Nick Price won a British Open taking these.

Nothing like walking on the first tee with 10k people staring at you, and you couldn't get nervous if you wanted to.

Your welcome pool-world for the life changing knowledge.

:)
Dave
 
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