Sharking: How to deal with it

[VIProfessor]

Thanks for all the response. I really like a lot that you have said Renard making sure you don't let the irritation build up and controlled breathing to help you relax. Good points but in throwing the thread out there I was also hoping to hear some of the ways people have sharked others I think there is many ways other than physical sharking I.E. Questioning the score etc.
thanks to everyone who chimed in and I hope we can get some more feedback on this. Philw

Here's one: A guy that I used to play (the one out of Florida who robbed Scooter at the DCC) had one that worked very well. If you're in the middle of putting a package on him he'll say, usually after the second or third rack, "Keep it up!" Of course, this gets you thinking about how many racks you've run or hope to run, instead of just playing your game. I confess that this subtle shark move ended more than a few of my innings at the table.

Edit: Oh, did I forget to mention the bathroom break move? I'm sure that other posters can write a dissertation on this classic move!

 

[renard]

Thanks for all the response. I really like a lot that you have said Renard making sure you don't let the irritation build up and controlled breathing to help you relax. Good points but in throwing the thread out there I was also hoping to hear some of the ways people have sharked others I think there is many ways other than physical sharking I.E. Questioning the score etc.
thanks to everyone who chimed in and I hope we can get some more feedback on this. Philw

Ok, I guess I added my $.02 on how to deal with it. I'll give you a couple of sharks that happened to me. Both of these opponents played very good...

League play, two games left to decide who gets a free trip to the Sandusky tournament. My opponent tries to run out and fails. He makes a shot and bumps one of his balls to form a cluster of 3 of his balls. He gets himself behind the eight ball as well. He can barely see the edge of one of the clustered balls and elects to play safe. The cueball hits the eight ball on the way in to hit his ball. I, call a foul and he calls me everything in the book in spades. A bystander happens to be the only one watching the game at the time. The bystander says, "It hit the eightball it's a foul." This is quickly dismissed by my opponent. Twenty minutes later I have ball in hand after averting what I thought would be a fist fight.

My opponent is still cussing a blue streak about how I'm cheating. If I win I practically ice it for our team but the layout is congested. My heart is beating fast like I just ran a quarter mile and I'm trying to take my time and put it all behind me. I run all of my balls off except the last one. Position is impossible for a straight in shot so I play for the bank in the side. I don't get perfect but it's makeable.

My opponent then stops play telling me to hold on and talks about a protest.
After the opponents team decides not to. I start stalling, he starts cussing, the TD is called over he is told to stop or forfeit the game. Not another peep out of him.

I miss the bank, he gets his breakout and wins. Our last player is up. With my ball count added he only needs to make four balls. He makes 3 and dogs a straight in shot. End of story, we didn't go to Sandusky...

Shark #2

My opponent decides I'm a banger. He nicknames me "Banger." I have never seen this guy before in my life. This is after he studied the standing sheet and saw I was one of the top players. (One of my teammates told me.) He talks it up, and I have to play him 3 times. I am running out and shooting the eightball. As I am down on my shot practice stoking he yells, "Foul, foul, foul..." He was serious, everyone else is like

"You hit the cueball with your stick!" No...I didn't. Five minutes of jawing later I sink the eight to complete my runout. Now I have to play him again immediately after the last fiasco. It's his break and he is still pissed over the last game and grabs the cueball deciding to hold up play. His team reasons with him but to no avail. They ask for the cueball to let another match play instead. He will not give it up. They chase him around the pool table, corner him; and take it!!! He then says, "OK I'll play, I'm alright now!"

He attempts to break but miscues... so I get to break and tell him to rack 'em. He says, "Break your own." I didn't give it any thought of breaking my own rack, but when I did it was a slug rack. The chase around the table had moved the balls as they bumped the table. Now I'm a Cheater and a Banger!

Now he's talking of kicking someones a$$. I handle it well and win. Last game I break dry, and he runs off all but his last ball. He plays a very good safe using his ball and the eight. I have to kick two rails leaning/ stretching over the table. He is in my face and on top of the shot. (Along with 3 other people two teammates and one opponent.)

I call a ball make a good hit but do not make a ball. A pregnant silence after the balls stop rolling then, you guessed it; he calls foul. He says his 14 ball moved. (The truth is he didn't like the leave.) His own players tell him to shoot. He masse's the ball with a great shot and gets out.

Aggressive animosity by both players. One probably affected me. The other didn't...

 

[stolz2]

I like useing the "good shot shark" cause you can always play dumb if they call you on it.

You basically tell them good shot after every shot they make...even if its an easy shot. If they miss dont say it its too obvious. Give it few games and it really starts to bug.

Mack

Can you recognize when someone is deliberately sharking you and how do you deal with it? What are some ways you have been sharked?
Philw

 

[skins]

I like useing the "good shot shark" cause you can always play dumb if they call you on it.

You basically tell them good shot after every shot they make...even if its an easy shot. If they miss dont say it its too obvious. Give it few games and it really starts to bug.

Mack

i had a guy do that to me once and after each time i would stop and walk over to him and tell him ALL the things i did wrong on the shot, how i thought i could have done it better, asked him for his advise and then continued my game. a few of the racks took at least 20 min. after i think the 5th rack he stopped. somtimes when sharked, RE-SHARK!

 

[acedotcom]

Here's how I deal with it:

A Nit With No Name
by Ace

Bounce your cue against the floor.
It only makes me bear down more.
Laugh out loud, sneeze, snort and snore -
Let loose your entire repertoire.
You can sigh and moan and curse your luck.
My pov? You dogged the duck.
And when you see I'm on the hill,
Recommence your sharking drill.
Too bad, these moves won't help you none.
It’s clear by now the battle’s won.
No doubt, you nit - you're done, done, done.

 

[philw]

Sharking

Good posts. That's some of the things I was thinking about. Trying to get into your head to take your focus away from the game. I think a common shark is to ask someone is that the correct score. For example say you're playing 9ball race to seven and the score is 5,4 you your opponent says are you sure you have five games. This is enough to make you think about the 9balls you have sunk and maybe begin questioning yourself. I try not to be a victim but sometimes it's tough some people are rlentless in their b.s.. Or maybe they do the same score thing but say are you sure you don't have six games? Same result it gets you thinking about counting instead of playing and winning. The worst example of sharking I've personally witnessed happened at a n 9ball tourney in the mid eighties in St. Charles,Illinois Grady Mathews was playing Danny Jones Grady was down on a shot and Danny was sitting directly in his line of aim and leaning out his chair waving his cuestick wildly and laughing hysterically. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. These were pros, Grady became so unhinged he broke down his cue and quit the match. That is what I call blatant sharking
and I know I wasn't the only spectator to see it. That kind of stuff gives pool a black eye. Philw

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

Here are some of my experiences about sharking and how I dealt with those.

Shark #1. My opponent was in front of my line of shot. dancing to the beat of one of Shania Twain's songs. I forgot the title but I think that was the same song that Shania sang during the SuperBowl some years ago. I tell you it was really funny stuff. As I was both enjoying playing the game and enjoying a comical performance. though how much I was laughing back then, it didn't distract me since I was enjoying the game pretty much despite I was down 3 games. I went on to win.

Shark #2. My opponent and some of his supporters were jeering at me at every shot I took. instead of getting distracted, I got even more focused and treat it was nothing. This time I was ahead and still won inspite of the massive sharking going on.

The thing is, whenever I play, I only see myself, the balls and the table. anything else was non-existent. as if I was playing alone. what also contributed to this kind of focus is how I enjoy playing. trust me, as long as you treat a money game as a fun game, at most times than not, the pressure disappears. At the end of the day, you'll be the one who's laughing.


Some Suggestions on how to deal with sharks who argues a foul call.

* Ask for a referee to monitor the match
* Maintain your cool and shark him as well. If he shoots a ball, call it a foul immediately eventhough it's not. disagree with him about his shot until you eat much time arguing about his shot that he losses his focus. Sharking him will make him realize that you are on him also.
* If he insists on his turn after saying foul, just keep on shooting on the next ball. do not argue to what he says and keep your silence.
* If he takes the cue ball, take the rest of the balls on the table or shot them with other object balls, do not argue and keep silent.

I'll tell you, those kind of sharks will be whining like a couple of biatches all night long.

 

[Adanac67]

I had this piece of crap who sharked me for years. One night he sharked me and cost me the tournament. I called him a wimp right in front of his woman and he wanted to take me out. I suggested he grow some balls and play me some sets. I beat him for all he had in his wallet that night and was never so focused. I took a negative and reversed it. Since that day I have never lost to this ***** and as soon as he sees me in the room his eyes hit the floor.

The bottom line is that if you can find a way to get yourself focused and just beat the asshole, it will never be a problem. The key is to find a way to get focused.

 

[Jack Madden]

You need to learn how to play through the shark. Once people learn something affects you it becomes an epidemic everybody will be doing it to you. Mental tuffness is a major part of the game. Learning to lose is easy to do we all go through it we first start playing. Learning to win under all conditions is acquired through experience. By the way Chris the room where you got sharked by owner stay away bad spot.
Pinocchio

tap tap tap

Also need to play through smoke, irritating noise, lights, no lights, drunks, and those so pretty or not so pretty girls if you play in the bars. There is a good player here in MT that says he went to a tournament in Vegas, someone said something about sharking. MT guy said he didn't know anything about sharking since he learned to play through drunks bumping him, girls hanging on him, twangy country music being played so loud he couldn't hear a thing and the smoke and lighting so bad his eyes stung. Maybe a little exaggeration but you get the idea.

 

[ajrack]

Losing

Have you ever noticed that the guy losing, is the one who notices the sharking!! (OR) That the guy who complains the most, is the one who DOES the sharking..at other times!!

NOTE* a good shark story>>> Two good players were playing a $100 set / race to 10 / nine ball. The player ahead only needed the last 4 balls to win the set. The other player (who needed 3 games ) asked him if he "inhaled or exhaled " when he hit the cue ball. The shooting player missed a fairly easy shot by a mile and the incoming player ran the last 3 racks !!!!!!