Slow Players

When you come to the table you have a static situation. the table is laid out the way it is it's not going to change unless you take an action as opposed to say tennis or hockey or football where you have to make a reaction. So in other words you're playing against yourself not your opponent.

It shouldn't matter how long your opponent takes to shoot, what matters is when you bend down to make the shot.

It doesn't matter what has happened before you came to the table, unless you're in the right frame of mind to make your shots you're going to lose.

That's your resposiblity. Slow play shouldn't be an issue, if it is...... you're the only one to blame if your game is off because of it.

Make the best of what you're given. BTW it usually takes me about 20 seconds to shoot unless faced with a difficult shot then I try to keep it under a minute. you shouldn't need longer than that. on the other hand if I know slow play effects my opponents game, I don't think I'd have a problem taking a little longer making my shots. And I don't think it's unethical or poor sportsmanship.

A person can choose to be upset by it or choose not too. But it's thier choice.

hmmm..... Zen and the art of pool?
 
If a player is slow and good then i don't mind so much.
But if he's slow and terrible then it's another matter...
 
The Bamboozler said:
I played a guy who took 43 strokes, got up, took another 35 and missed the ball. That episode almost made me quit pool.
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I really do understand wanting to quit.
I was the TD at an event in Texas and Brian Jones and John Hager were plaing for 3rd place.
Brian took App. 50 strokes at the break shot and stood up. He did it a 2nd time and stood up, looked over at me and sort of smiled. He then walked over to me and said,"I can't help it."
I asked, "what's the problem?" He then says, "I just can't let go"!
Then i put him on the clock. It is sort of funny now, but it wasn't at the time.
 
PoolSleuth said:
I am one of those “Slow Player” that likes to walk over and look a shots over from all angles.

I take my time as I want to understand my shot, next shot, where I need to hit the Cue Ball for position for next shot.

I play often with a guy who tries to rush me, and I just ignore him.

Maybe I take 30-40 SECONDS Maximum between shots. I do not feel I am taking an unreasonable amount of time.
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Poolsleuth - there are many much slower than yourself. It used to drive me nuts having to play really slow players (1-2 minutes per shot), so I started avoiding them. It doesn't bother me to play matches with them, simply because I've seen these slow players take better players out of their game, and I won't let that happen. But in practice, they can go find another slug.
 
runscott said:
Poolsleuth - there are many much slower than yourself. It used to drive me nuts having to play really slow players (1-2 minutes per shot), so I started avoiding them. It doesn't bother me to play matches with them, simply because I've seen these slow players take better players out of their game, and I won't let that happen. But in practice, they can go find another slug.
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Completely agree. There is one guy that does this intentionally just to try and take me off my game. Now I just laugh at him OUT lOUD every time he tries to do it. It was blatant to. Like he would miss a shot and stand there for literally 30 seconds shaking his head. I told him if u miss shaking ur head won't make it go in. Sit down and stop the games.
 
slow players don't bother me at all, well can't say that i don't care if they take their time to shoot if they are good you know, and they actually make the damn ball, but if they take all that time and miss the shot by a mile then i am like what the hell, all that got damn time just to miss lol. I know a few slow players i could be one at times when i am concentrated on my game of if there is big stakes on the line.
 
i had a episode similar to this happen during the summer on a league nite. the team we was playing put up a girl against me who was a SL2.

Well seriously on every shot, didnt matter if it was straight in or a slight angle or cut, she would litterally take about 2minutes. And GOD forbid she took a timeout, there went another 5minutes lol. I think the match lasted nearly a hour, with her taking up most of the time.

And then after the match, one of my teammates who has played in leagues for yrs, she was telling me about a girl in town, who literally took over 50 strokes before hitting the CB, and she only knew this cuz she started counting the strokes one day, during a APA tournament.

I am kinda one of those speed shooters, expecially if i get in the zone, i just take a couple strokes and fire, and then normally get set on my next shot about the same time, the CB stops.

dave
 
han said:
If a player is slow and good then i don't mind so much.
But if he's slow and terrible then it's another matter...
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I think I know who you're talking about lol
 
I am on the litespeed end of the spectrum, I have finished race to 5 matches in less than 15 minutes, ask the Houseman, He'll tell you. Then he get's pissed cause the table time is too cheap! Seriously, one weekly tournament I was in deadpop, and got "Bernie", very slow player, nice guy, wayslow. I went over to the chart to see how the brackets went. Then I walked back to Bernie and shook his hand on a great match (we did'nt even flip for the break yet!) He's like WTF?, I said Bern, I'm playing great, but I can't stand playing you with the snail pace. I went through the 1 loss side and had to play him in the finals!!!!...........I offered to plit the money before we started the match,but he felt like playing, So I won, good match, but I had nowhere to go. I would also walk away from the table when it was his turn. Go to the bathroom, walk around in back, then someone would tell me he was done, and I'd go back.....I figured it threw him off as much as his slow play got me....

You gotta be careful though, I was labeled as "bothered by slow play" so when I was matching up, guys would slow down to throw me off. Mostly it got them outta stroke.....Gerry
 
Gerry said:
I am on the litespeed end of the spectrum, I have finished race to 5 matches in less than 15 minutes, ask the Houseman, He'll tell you. Then he get's pissed cause the table time is too cheap! Seriously, one weekly tournament I was in deadpop, and got "Bernie", very slow player, nice guy, wayslow. I went over to the chart to see how the brackets went. Then I walked back to Bernie and shook his hand on a great match (we did'nt even flip for the break yet!) He's like WTF?, I said Bern, I'm playing great, but I can't stand playing you with the snail pace. I went through the 1 loss side and had to play him in the finals!!!!...........I offered to plit the money before we started the match,but he felt like playing, So I won, good match, but I had nowhere to go. I would also walk away from the table when it was his turn. Go to the bathroom, walk around in back, then someone would tell me he was done, and I'd go back.....I figured it threw him off as much as his slow play got me....

You gotta be careful though, I was labeled as "bothered by slow play" so when I was matching up, guys would slow down to throw me off. Mostly it got them outta stroke.....Gerry
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HOW slow was this guy? I can understand walking away if he's taking like 5 minutes per shot, but if it's only a minute or two, even though that is very slow, you should be able to deal with that without being so rude.
 
LastTwo said:
HOW slow was this guy? I can understand walking away if he's taking like 5 minutes per shot, but if it's only a minute or two, even though that is very slow, you should be able to deal with that without being so rude.
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Rude?.....who was rude?.....I nicely told him the truth, I paid my entry money, and it's MY choice to play or not, or to sit by the table when he shoots OR not. EVERYONE complained about how slow he was, I'm the only one that ever did anything about it! He was also my golf partner in tournamnets, but not a slow golfer.....deal with that........
 
In my experiance the people who generally complain about slow play are the players who refuse to give there opponent due respect, did it ever occur to you that you maybe delaying his shots because of your (lack of) manners.
 
ironman said:
I really do understand wanting to quit.
I was the TD at an event in Texas and Brian Jones and John Hager were plaing for 3rd place.
Brian took App. 50 strokes at the break shot and stood up. He did it a 2nd time and stood up, looked over at me and sort of smiled. He then walked over to me and said,"I can't help it."
I asked, "what's the problem?" He then says, "I just can't let go"!
Then i put him on the clock. It is sort of funny now, but it wasn't at the time.
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I am a pretty fast shooter, but about 2 years ago, I started doing that 50 stroke thing where you just can't let go on the break. I found out later golfers get it. It's called the yips. Since then, I have found a few people with the same problem. Now, I do this weird one stroke break. I am giving up accuracy, but I'm not sure how to correct it.

Dan Louie takes forever to let go, but it's because he never shoots until he knows it's going.

There is another guy I have played that uses a walker. It is just painful watching him shuffle around and try to walk. It is agonizing if he has to go check his angle, get down on his shot and then walk back around to look at his spot again. And Lord bless him if he has to go find a bridge or some chalk. He has to drag that walker everywhere around and he is panting, so that when he misses, you can still hear him over your shoulder. :(
 
kyle said:
In my experiance the people who generally complain about slow play are the players who refuse to give there opponent due respect, did it ever occur to you that you maybe delaying his shots because of your (lack of) manners.
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No, because I'm a great person to play! I shut up when I'm in the chair, I don't wiggle around or try to shark. If you make a good runout, I'll say so, If you beat me , I shake your hand, pay you, and say great game. Talk about manners, if your in a tournament, and "1" player is complained about.....who's got the "manners" issue? everyone else?, or the 1 playing at a snails pace?

Why?....have you been labeled......slow....?
 
There is a player in our 8ball pool league (UK so 6 and 7ft tables) who routinely participates in frames lasting over an hour, I remember watchinghim play a doubles game in which he and his partner kept repeating the same shot, after they had played this shot 3 times they then stopped to discuss the shot for literally 10 minutes (as a spectator I was timing it, no time limit in my league) before playing the exact same shot, in the end his own doubles partner ended up losing the plot after the match had reached 1hr 45min.

I spoke to my father who used to play in the league and he told me that when he and his doubles partner were scheduled to play that player they both took in sleeping bags and laid them out on the floor, apparently this had the desired effect and the match was not only short but was won by my father and his doubles partner.
 
This is an interesting thread.

I think some players play slow knowing it bothers their opponents. Not all slow players, of course, but some are very aware of it and eat up the fact it's bothering their opponent.

I used to play a lot slower until after a discussion with one of my friends about maintaining rhythm helped me speed up my game. Since that time, I am now trying to take more strokes because even though I was making my decisions faster while looking over the table, I wasn't taking my time when I was over the ball. So, I now take less time looking at the table and more strokes than I used to and I have noticed I pocket more balls. Amazing. :)

I tend to agree with supergreenman - you should try to not let it bother you if your opponent plays slow. It's a great mental toughness arsenal to add to your game.

Here's an example. Most matches don't normally get put on the shot clock until after a certain amount of time - which could be up to 40 minutes depending on the rules of that particular tournament. I witnessed a very unfortunate thing last year. This top ranking female was playing a slow player who is another top ranking female and it was a Sunday morning winner's side match. The tournament winner would win a WPBA Qualifier.

Well, the slow player was taking her time as usual and for some reason her opponent kept turning around and looking at us, the tournament directors. It was very unfortunate that she kept looking at us, trying to get us to notice her opponent's slow play. In my opinion, she should have been focusing on HER match, not on us. We were very much aware of her opponent's slow play and were keeping an eye on it, but until a certain amount of time has passed, we don't put a match on the clock. So, this player wasted a lot of time and energy being upset at her opponent's slow play and trying to get us to do something about it (all the while never leaving her chair). By the time we put the match on the clock, which we promptly did at 40 minutes, it was too late and the slow player was too many games ahead for her opponent to catch up.

I remember telling the other tournament director that the player should quit looking at us and play her game. It was wasted negative energy in my opinion and didn't even involve her playing in her match. How can you focus on winning games if you are so upset about something you can't do anything about?

By the way, the slow player ended up playing another slow player later in the tournament (another match put on the clock) and one of them won. ha!

Here are our rules: if a match does not have 7 games total at 40 minutes, we put that match on the clock. The WPBA rules state: "...if a match is progressing slowly when half the allotted time is expired, a shot clock will be put in place. Slow progress is defined as a match which fewer than 8 games total have been completed or neither player has won at least 7 games in a race to nine."

-Melinda
 
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