Slow play

onepocketron said:
I think in many instances those that are so undecided and take forever to pull the trigger are "mind fu#king" themselves. Let em play slow cause more than not, I'm gonna get back to the table.
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Agreed. I've almost never run across a super slow player than can get out consistently.
 
This has been discussed before. One of my partners has had health issues. He'll freeze up at times and need a little nudge to snap out of it. When I played in leagues there was a team that almost everyone hated to play. While everyone else was done at 8:15 - 8:30 if you were playing them you were lucky to be done at 9 pm or later.

I've never called someone out for slow playing; I'll just refuse to play them outside of leagues. As to someone blowing up over slow play, too bad, so sad. Have him join a one pocket league. He'll have a friggin stroke.
 
GideonF said:
I'm not sure of the format of your league, but the problem with slow play is that it inconveniences everyone on both teams. I've played teams where one slow player can slow down the whole evening's pace by 30 to 45 minutes - and for no reason.

And, as has previously mentioned, in many cases slow play can be a "move".

I think ALL competitive pool (including leagues) should have the ability to impose a shot clock. Even if it's 60 seconds between shots and an extension.

Gideon
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I'd love for a shot clock like that to become standard. Use a phone app, set it on the rail and have it count down to 60. If it buzzes before you shoot or take an extension, it's a foul. Tap the screen after you shoot to restart the clock for the next player. Maybe it could start to click or something 10 sec before it beeps so you know you have to shoot.

Slow playing is bad enough in leagues and amateur tournaments, but it's awful for spectators in pro tournaments, if we ever want people to be interested in watching.
 
Fast Play

I was in with a notoriously slow player who is also a very good player. We come
out a few sets winner, and the guy he was playing is raising all kinds of Hell
about being slow played. My partner fires right back " Don't give me that crap
you have been Fast playing all night, I started to quit you winner for pulling that
sh--." . Well this is guy is dumbfounded, standing there with his mouth open,
didn't know what the Hell to think. My partner takes the up money winks at me
and we walk away leaving this guy scratching his head. Yes, it is a move sometimes
But it is hard to do if that is not kind of your normal pace.
jack
 
I have played tournaments with a 30 sec shot clock and have had no issues with being rushed. However, that requires timers for each table. I do not mind someone taking time when confronted with a difficult circumstance or is methodical in their approach as long as I see them trying to resolve what confronts them without them over analyzing each shot.. So, I do like the idea that if someone seems to be taking what seems to me a exorbitant amount of time that I can call the clock and put that specific table on a 30 sec clock or whatever time frame has been established. I only play with one person on occasion who is exceptionally slow. I guess I am lucky.

Al
 
I play really fast.

Not sure if it is that I can almost immediately read most table patterns from 35+ years of experience. Especially in 9ball... there are almost never decisions to be made other than play safe/go for it. The pattern should be obvious to anyone with experience. 8ball... little slower/deliberate, but still should only to be thinking at the beginning of the game/turn or if you get yourself out of line.

I played a few sets the other night with another local fast player... We played with a 10 second shot clock, no timeouts. It really didn't change our percentage of running out/getting out at all. First race I won 7-5 in about 20 minutes (9ball)

I despise slow play and feel sorry for anyone that has to do it to play well.
 
Poolhall60561 said:
Over the set, anything over 10 minutes a game is to long.
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10 minutes average per game of 8-ball is a perfect expectation for good players. Fargo 500+.

I have found that allowing 12 minutes per game for lower ranked players is a more realistic expectation. Anything over that and I try and speed them up.

This helps with scheduling tournaments.
 
BRussell said:
I'd love for a shot clock like that to become standard. Use a phone app, set it on the rail and have it count down to 60. If it buzzes before you shoot or take an extension, it's a foul. Tap the screen after you shoot to restart the clock for the next player. Maybe it could start to click or something 10 sec before it beeps so you know you have to shoot.

Slow playing is bad enough in leagues and amateur tournaments, but it's awful for spectators in pro tournaments, if we ever want people to be interested in watching.
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If ANYONE has successfully implemented a shot clock in league play that actually works, I'd like to hear. I'm talking a league with some heavy drinkers and a few hotheads. A league with no referee; players ref their own games. A league that plays in in bars that are very noisy.
 
Slow play doesn't bother me, usually if they play that slow they aren't very good anyways.
What does bother me is a guy who gets down to shoot and strokes like 20-30 times before pulling the trigger. In the back of my mind I keep thinking *this will be it, he's going to shoot*, but NO! 10 strokes later he finally shoots. I find myself leaning toward the table in anticipation...lol
 
sbpoolleague said:
If ANYONE has successfully implemented a shot clock in league play that actually works, I'd like to hear. I'm talking a league with some heavy drinkers and a few hotheads. A league with no referee; players ref their own games. A league that plays in in bars that are very noisy.
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Has it ever been tried?
 
I was in a APA master's league and had a match going and the opponent was so slow that I asked their captain if the rules allowed me to help them make a decision on what ball to shot next! :eek: the answer of course was "NO"! I don't think that went over too well but for them to walk around the table 2 or 3 times each friggin shot is just too much! :mad:
 
sbpoolleague said:
10 minutes average per game of 8-ball is a perfect expectation for good players. Fargo 500+.

I have found that allowing 12 minutes per game for lower ranked players is a more realistic expectation. Anything over that and I try and speed them up.

This helps with scheduling tournaments.
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10 mins/game....I'd hit myself in the mouth with a hammer.
Jason
 
Its either a move or the player has no idea what they are doing. And AZ is filled with players that don't what they are doing.

For the life of me I cannot figure out why somebody wants to sit all night watching terrible players play pool. Everybody comes on here saying they play 6 hrs/week league(2 nights) - no you don't! You sit and watch mostly bad play for 4 hrs or more, then play bad yourselves for 2 hrs or more. That does not equall 6hrs + of pool! Actually more like 1hr of play time if your opponent is equal.

People call it being deliberate lol. it isn't rocket science. You either drop on the shot correctly or you don't. Taking 30 strokes to pull the trigger just means you have a serious flaw in your alignment and 1,000 strokes aren't going to help you.

Yes, I hate slow play. I'm there to play pool, not sit in a chair watching terrible play.

What baffles me even more is why there is no Pro tour, with millions of league players watching terrible play 2+hrs/night, you would think they would love to watch people that can actually play, but no, not a chance. I guess it's cause they already know everything. Lmao

I will tell you how I really feel later
Jason
 
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There are some players that are just genuinely slow, they are slow thinkers and whereas I might consider the path and the one or two balls it may realistically effect, the slow thinkers over think everything. They might consider every ball, the possibility of what might happen if the cue ball does this or that and the effect on every other ball whether or not it's a realistic possibility. Then there are the slow players that are really trying to get their inner shark on and pissed you off. I don't mind them so much, I can give it right back. I don't know anybody that can slow down a game the way I can. Of course they complain and I let them know I was only playing their game and I'll speed up when they do. On league night, if it happens I'll let the captains know they should start the next match on another table 'cause we're gonna be a while. Slow play generally doesn't violate any rules, but it can be annoying. If it's being done to me I'm certainly not above it
 
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This is how I feel every time.

~Black Cat~ :cool:
 
Slow players are time hogs --- whether they're doing it intentionally or just plain insecure, it's wrong --- particularly if they're doing it in organized competition.

In any organized event, there's an expected time frame. Depending on the event, the time frame could be very specific or just a range, but regardless, people who are known slow players should not compete in organized events until they learn how to pick up the pace.
 
We have one of those around here... it's like he's on stage & it's his turn to act. He looks here & then 180 degrees from that direction, touches a few diamonds & then, and then & then he might shoot. But he pays for his turn to shoot while we pay too...
 
I don't play with slow players and I avoid them even from my social circle. No Law requires me to tolerate them.
 
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