SHARK Tactics
- Thread starter Gregg
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Jimmy M. said:
Either one of them that are in the post above should both be on a subconcious level. Out of line of sight (still peripheral vision) but looking into there eyes and or rail to rail shouldn't be noticed by the opponent.
It's like one of those things, you ever had somebody staring at you (behind you) and you could kinda "feel it?" Same principal?
DJ
Well there are a great many different things you can list about this subject. Personally a few things that come to mind..
I also do the stare thing.. but chances are... the times your trying to stare down your opponent your in such a mood that your probably losing the match because your playing badly, and you want to turn the game around off of the table, because you arent doing so on the table. But if you so happen to be seated 180' your opponent, directly in front of their vision, then it doesnt hurt to give them a glare.
Also, something subtle ive been doing lately.. i always chalk my cue after i miss a shot, kind of like a reflection second, where i can analyze why im having to sit down. So as im walking to my chair, if its on the way, i will place the chalk in their field of vision, preferably right next to the pocket their aiming at. Dont know whether it works or not, just something i started doing.
Also, i knew a good A player who really was affected by "chalk down" people. He HATED it when people would do that, place the chalk facing down on the table. He often talked about playing people in tournaments and whatnot who did this, and talked about how mad it made him. So this is another subtle tactic you can use.
Also, if your already winning, and you start noticing someone is on tilt.. you can slow down your game a bit, this will do the finishing touch, especially in a money game, where if your down, time is key, like my friend says "time is money". If you take an extra 5 seconds or so on the shot, lining things up with your cue, or checking meticulous things, like the 3rd/4th ball in your runout, it can severly shark your opponent. normally when people are down in a match, they make the mistake of trying to play "faster" for some reason, trying to make up for their losing position. If you take extra time, this will interrupt that, and it makes them really angry.
Also i know some people, myself included, hate REALLY slow players. So if your in a sticky situation, and want to do this, i guess go ahead, but chances are if you took 5 minutes/shot when playing me, it would be our last set
.
Theres also so many verbal ways to shark your opponent, but these are so obvious and dirty, i wouldnt recommend using your vocabulary to win a pool game. Trying to shark an opponent with words is particularly annoying.
One thing to kinda throw someone off is to get the rack for them after u win a game, as to remind them that they lost and its their time to rack. I think this one is pretty funny.
Also if you want to SURELY shark your opponent buy them a betmore-ready-rack
I also do the stare thing.. but chances are... the times your trying to stare down your opponent your in such a mood that your probably losing the match because your playing badly, and you want to turn the game around off of the table, because you arent doing so on the table. But if you so happen to be seated 180' your opponent, directly in front of their vision, then it doesnt hurt to give them a glare.
Also, something subtle ive been doing lately.. i always chalk my cue after i miss a shot, kind of like a reflection second, where i can analyze why im having to sit down. So as im walking to my chair, if its on the way, i will place the chalk in their field of vision, preferably right next to the pocket their aiming at. Dont know whether it works or not, just something i started doing.
Also, i knew a good A player who really was affected by "chalk down" people. He HATED it when people would do that, place the chalk facing down on the table. He often talked about playing people in tournaments and whatnot who did this, and talked about how mad it made him. So this is another subtle tactic you can use.
Also, if your already winning, and you start noticing someone is on tilt.. you can slow down your game a bit, this will do the finishing touch, especially in a money game, where if your down, time is key, like my friend says "time is money". If you take an extra 5 seconds or so on the shot, lining things up with your cue, or checking meticulous things, like the 3rd/4th ball in your runout, it can severly shark your opponent. normally when people are down in a match, they make the mistake of trying to play "faster" for some reason, trying to make up for their losing position. If you take extra time, this will interrupt that, and it makes them really angry.
Also i know some people, myself included, hate REALLY slow players. So if your in a sticky situation, and want to do this, i guess go ahead, but chances are if you took 5 minutes/shot when playing me, it would be our last set
.Theres also so many verbal ways to shark your opponent, but these are so obvious and dirty, i wouldnt recommend using your vocabulary to win a pool game. Trying to shark an opponent with words is particularly annoying.
One thing to kinda throw someone off is to get the rack for them after u win a game, as to remind them that they lost and its their time to rack. I think this one is pretty funny.
Also if you want to SURELY shark your opponent buy them a betmore-ready-rack
Gregg said:
I would have to ask again, how are you guys getting sharked that you don't know about it until it's too late? Explain one of these shark tactics to me. If I have some guy "staring into my eyes" while I'm down on the ball I'm just going to think he's a wang lover, but I doubt it would cause me to play bad since I know I'm not into the wang and I'm not interested.
If I have some guy puffing air at the pocket while I'm playing I probably wouldn't notice it and I'm pretty certain it wouldn't cause me to miss anything. About the only way I'd think that could affect me is that I might fall over laughing my ass off if I did notice. 
I'm sorry. Maybe I'm setting myself up to "be sharked" some time, but I just don't believe that I could successfully be sharked and have no idea what happened. The whole idea behind a shark move is to distract your opponent or do something that would cause them to miss a ball or just play bad in general. These jedi mind tricks sound really cool, but I don't think they have much practical use. Who knows though? Next time I draw some Filipino world-beater in a big tournament, maybe I'll stare into his eyes and snap him off!
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PlynSets said:
Also, information in the periphery is still processed by the subconscious. Then again we take in something like 3,000,000,000* bits of information a second but only process 300,000*.
*Numbers are from my recollection which is often flawed but the jist is that we process several about 3-4 orders of magnitude less information than we take in.
Here's a question, at what point does Playing the mental game become "sharking?" and vice versa?
There's lots of aspects to the mental game of pool.. If you think it's just you and the balls then your not human. LOL
I was playing an A awhile back outgunned and gambling.. and long story short I drilled his ass all day long for the $$. I Broke and ran the 1st rack (put a little fear in him) and after that I hooked him a few more times then I should've and he knew it. Him getting up to the table and never having anything to shoot at etc. etc. Finally wore him down, he claims "You get all the rolls etc.. etc."
My response "Yep, today's my lucky day.. Tomorrow will be different."
But it won't, I got his # all day long.. Statistically he's a better player then me, he can run more balls but I'd say our safes are on par.. But I'll whoop his ass everytime we play from here on out garaunteed. He self destructed once, and I'll bet I can get him to do it again, and again and again until he quits.
He'll file it under "I'm better then him, but he's lucky" but ultimately in my opinion "mental" is part of the game, and if used effectively can be deadly. Even making lower ranked players heads up with slightly higher.
DJ
There's lots of aspects to the mental game of pool.. If you think it's just you and the balls then your not human. LOL
I was playing an A awhile back outgunned and gambling.. and long story short I drilled his ass all day long for the $$. I Broke and ran the 1st rack (put a little fear in him) and after that I hooked him a few more times then I should've and he knew it. Him getting up to the table and never having anything to shoot at etc. etc. Finally wore him down, he claims "You get all the rolls etc.. etc."
My response "Yep, today's my lucky day.. Tomorrow will be different."
But it won't, I got his # all day long.. Statistically he's a better player then me, he can run more balls but I'd say our safes are on par.. But I'll whoop his ass everytime we play from here on out garaunteed. He self destructed once, and I'll bet I can get him to do it again, and again and again until he quits.
He'll file it under "I'm better then him, but he's lucky" but ultimately in my opinion "mental" is part of the game, and if used effectively can be deadly. Even making lower ranked players heads up with slightly higher.
DJ
Some we use in our "friendly" ring game...
"If that pocket had been about two balls wider... you STILL would've missed"
for someone that's slow playing "Take a few more minutes to talk yourself outta making it" or get out your checkbook and look at the calender in it and say "Day two on the shot clock". (we have one of our regulars, 2 Finger Louie, that looks over straight in shots for 30 seconds... banks... well, go order a burger and fries while he's studying a bank)
Our slow player, 2 finger Louie, has a birth defect called ectrodactyly, or Lobster claw syndrome, where he had only two digits on each hand and each foot. The other night he was stretched out over the table standing on one leg and shot, one of the guys called a foul, saying "He didn't have a whole foot on the floor" (Louie has a great sense of humor IF you know him well)
Act like you're paying absolutely NO attention to what's going on at the table.
A guy misses and leaves you a shot, say "I'll sell my spot after "so and so" for a hundred".
Someone leaves you a dead carom or combo on a money ball, "Hell, I'd have to practice for a week to miss that!"
Player leaves you a couple of easy outs, "Geez, I gotta remember to put you on my Christmas List!"
Now, this is all in our twice a week ring game between friends, and we shark the hell out of each other. It's just part of our fun. Tournaments, all of us just sit down and shut up and let the other guy shoot, but not in these cheap ring games. They're all about fun and the sharking and woofing is part of it.
Bob
"If that pocket had been about two balls wider... you STILL would've missed"
for someone that's slow playing "Take a few more minutes to talk yourself outta making it" or get out your checkbook and look at the calender in it and say "Day two on the shot clock". (we have one of our regulars, 2 Finger Louie, that looks over straight in shots for 30 seconds... banks... well, go order a burger and fries while he's studying a bank)
Our slow player, 2 finger Louie, has a birth defect called ectrodactyly, or Lobster claw syndrome, where he had only two digits on each hand and each foot. The other night he was stretched out over the table standing on one leg and shot, one of the guys called a foul, saying "He didn't have a whole foot on the floor" (Louie has a great sense of humor IF you know him well)
Act like you're paying absolutely NO attention to what's going on at the table.
A guy misses and leaves you a shot, say "I'll sell my spot after "so and so" for a hundred".
Someone leaves you a dead carom or combo on a money ball, "Hell, I'd have to practice for a week to miss that!"
Player leaves you a couple of easy outs, "Geez, I gotta remember to put you on my Christmas List!"
Now, this is all in our twice a week ring game between friends, and we shark the hell out of each other. It's just part of our fun. Tournaments, all of us just sit down and shut up and let the other guy shoot, but not in these cheap ring games. They're all about fun and the sharking and woofing is part of it.
Bob
ooh ooh!
I won my singles they threw me into this year inadvertantly (b3-I should be in a) so I played A anyways. during my match with a local (idiot) who is considered a "decent" player, he's moving around, jingling change in his pocket, chalking while I'm playing- and this is all why I'm shooting, or trying to! finally I just gave it away missing easy balls. if someone has to do this kind of stuff to win, they have NO reason to even be ON the table at any time. next year, I'm going to talk to Warner's (they run this tournament) and request somewhere to sit down and not have all the riff-raff standing as close to the playing area. if he's sitting next year, he's going home a loser. if I had no distractions this year, I would have crushed him, but some people have to do whatever they can to discourage you during shots. maybe I should have tried to concentrate on the balls instead of him and the table, but what's done is done. I won my main singles anyways and everyone knows why I lost to him. his actions just cost him more than he thought.
I won my singles they threw me into this year inadvertantly (b3-I should be in a) so I played A anyways. during my match with a local (idiot) who is considered a "decent" player, he's moving around, jingling change in his pocket, chalking while I'm playing- and this is all why I'm shooting, or trying to! finally I just gave it away missing easy balls. if someone has to do this kind of stuff to win, they have NO reason to even be ON the table at any time. next year, I'm going to talk to Warner's (they run this tournament) and request somewhere to sit down and not have all the riff-raff standing as close to the playing area. if he's sitting next year, he's going home a loser. if I had no distractions this year, I would have crushed him, but some people have to do whatever they can to discourage you during shots. maybe I should have tried to concentrate on the balls instead of him and the table, but what's done is done. I won my main singles anyways and everyone knows why I lost to him. his actions just cost him more than he thought.
zeeder said:
Or how paranoid someone might be. Or, after a loss, someone is looking for a reason they lost other than they just got beat. "I got sharked" is a good reason when you're looking to soothe your ego. Trust me. I am a pool player here. I have enough excuses that my ego never has to worry about a thing. If anyone here is running out of excuses and needs a good one just let me know.
prolecat said:I also do the stare thing.. but chances are... the times your trying to stare down your opponent your in such a mood that your probably losing the match because your playing badly, and you want to turn the game around off of the table, because you arent doing so on the table. But if you so happen to be seated 180' your opponent, directly in front of their vision, then it doesnt hurt to give them a glare.
Also, if your already winning, and you start noticing someone is on tilt.. you can slow down your game a bit, this will do the finishing touch, especially in a money game, where if your down, time is key, like my friend says "time is money". If you take an extra 5 seconds or so on the shot, lining things up with your cue, or checking meticulous things, like the 3rd/4th ball in your runout, it can severly shark your opponent. normally when people are down in a match, they make the mistake of trying to play "faster" for some reason, trying to make up for their losing position. If you take extra time, this will interrupt that, and it makes them really angry.
Also i know some people, myself included, hate REALLY slow players. So if your in a sticky situation, and want to do this, i guess go ahead, but chances are if you took 5 minutes/shot when playing me, it would be our last set
betmore-ready-rack
Affecting the tempo of the game is A HUGE ONE.. This can also be done subtly where as the other player won't notice. If your getting your ass handed to you and you want something to change you can slow the game down (via time per shot / safeties.. avg time per game etc..) Just do it enough to throw them off balance and then get back into rhythm.
DJ
Jimmy M. said:Or how paranoid someone might be. Or, after a loss, someone is looking for a reason they lost other than they just got beat. "I got sharked" is a good reason when you're looking to soothe your ego. Trust me. I am a pool player here. I have enough excuses that my ego never has to worry about a thing. If anyone here is running out of excuses and needs a good one just let me know.
My point wasn't making excuses for losing.. It's doing subtle (yet legal) things to do when your an underdog in a match to win. I don't make excuses for losing.
I usually say "want to do it again?" DJ
Thus the jk(just kidding)Flex said:
PlynSets said:
Right! Take a break... go to the restroom... get cleaned up like Fats in The Hustler....
Oh! And I forgot about the "Spit Cross Pocket Confoundment Method"... That is when a guy makes a spit "X" across the pocket you are shooting at... Usually trying to pocket the 8-ball or 9-ball...
Works great in ring games, but tends to get messy when overused....
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BillYards said:
Most the guys I play with wouldn't allow you to take a break in the middle of a set.. LOL Sometimes though if both people smoke you can take a cigarette break or something.
I've seen sets going one way, and then take a complete reversal once both players walk away from the table or a minute or two. Personally if I got someone in a vice then I'll squeeze em until the end of the set then go smoke. One of the most huge sharking tactics if your playing a lesser player with a spot, if they want one.. Give them a "tip" LOL.. Once they get into the student teacher mindset, they never win.. I know guys that I used to help out, that have gone away and come back to be much stronger players then me, but they can't seem to get past that ole student teacher thing. Can't win to save there life.
DJ
sharked
I was in alton last year for the midwest nineball tourney and the guy i was playing told me that the rack was crooked and its wasnt he told me like 5 times, i was getting angry and then i finally told him to rack it then. I should of asked him if he was afraid of a kid or if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I lost the match because thats what i thought about the whole match.
I was in alton last year for the midwest nineball tourney and the guy i was playing told me that the rack was crooked and its wasnt he told me like 5 times, i was getting angry and then i finally told him to rack it then. I should of asked him if he was afraid of a kid or if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I lost the match because thats what i thought about the whole match.