I think that it's easy to overthink this situation in the heat of the moment. I used to try ignoring it, but that never worked. Eventually I got all pent up and missed a ball. Then I started confronting or engaging with the shark, and the first times I'd be pretty angry and tell'em what I thought about them sharking me. I suppose that after a while I had gotten all that fear and frustration from getting sharked out of my system. Now it's fun when a guy comes woofin at me...it's a game. You know, you dont HAVE TO gamble with the guy. Maybe, as BlackBalled likes to say, the juice ain't worth the squeeze.
Yeah, i think i played into his bs too much, wasn't ready for it at the moment. Unfortunately, the advise i got was a day after the sharking, as i wanted to focus on that weakness in my mental game after losing a straight race to a person i would probably give a 2-3 game spot to. I was going back and fourth with him and playing into it without knowing it. He wasn't flustered cause he was deliberately messing with me and not getting insulted but it felt like i was being bullied in high school, as i wasn't doing anything while he was shooting and was just trying to defend myself while it was my turn, which i realize now probably got me even more flustered and is exactly what he wanted. Lesson learned, going to try and be a rock next time. This guy is in town for another two months and i challenged him to a straight race. Not sure if he will even accept, cause everyone in the pool hall fortunately defended me to him, saying i would wreck him in a fair match. We will see though, will post the updates to the shark off conclusion if he has the stones to play me again.