I'll admit it. I play slow. It's not a sharking or gamesmanship thing. I'm just trying to play the best that I can, every time that I go to the table.
Over the past few months I've completely changed my stance, grip, stroke, personal eye pattern, method of aiming, developed an honest-to-goodness pre-shot routine........you name it. I'm also consciously trying to pick out the best pattern to run the balls, instead of just shooting one ball to get on the next one with no regard to the overall table. I'm even weighing safety options.
So, needless to say, I've got a lot going on in my head. It's becoming more natural now, but I still have a long ways to go. It really started towards the end of the Tunica event in July, as I got some great advice from a couple of top-flight players. One player basically said (and I'm only slightly paraphrasing), "If you're going to be a great player, act like a great player. Watch what they do. Incorporate what works for you from what works for them. Study bridges, grips and strokes. Develop a professional-looking approach to the game. Amateurs don't study the pro's nearly enough.......". So, I'm doing my best to do that.
Here's the catch. I was already slower than almost everyone in my local pool room. Now I'm even slower. Or so they're starting to loudly hint. A few weeks ago, a friend/fellow player was studying everyone in the room and writing down how many seconds it took each player to shoot, whether they made it or not and if they got out of position. He wasn't pointing fingers at me, he did it for every player. It was more for his own personal study, but I noticed what he was doing and coaxed the info out of him.
The best players in the room were taking an average of 8-15 seconds to shoot the majority of their shots. The middle-of-the-road players were maybe twice that amount of time. The 2 lowest "rated" players in the room were the slowest. I'm one of them. I was taking about 45 seconds for most of my shots. Sometimes it was right at the minute mark. Altho, that was my outlier. Most of the other players had similar outlier times. It's just that their easy-to-average shots were coming much quicker. Each player definitely had their own rhythmn and pace of play.
The better players were tending to shoot quicker on average. However, on difficult shots, they did slow down quite a bit. With regards to MY play, I was much more consistent time-wise for each shot. Even my difficult shots didn't take THAT much longer than an average shot for me. I feel as tho it's because I'm trying hard to treat every shot with respect. The easiest of shots can be completely dogged or mis-played to get out of position.
I've been playing there for a year and a half and I honestly feel like I'm a much better player than when I started. I literally walked in the first day off of a 15 year hiatus from the game. I don't feel that most of the other players in the room have gotten that much better at all during that time.......and some are pretty stagnant in their game. A couple have picked up a bit. Then again, almost all of them are better than I am (or at least they win more often, I should say), so I've had more ground to make up. I'm starting to win more matches, but I'm still making crucial mistakes occasionally that are costing me games, as well. I suppose that's part of the learning curve and I try to identify those situations and work on them.
I'm just getting a lot of this off of my chest, so not sure if anyone here has any advice, constructive criticism, etc. I like every single one of the regular guys in our pool room and I hate to think that I'm "slowly" becoming the odd man out, because I'm holding up games. I don't want to stop playing there. No one has done more than joke at me about it in passing, but I think we all know that this is what happens at first, in the hopes that I'll get the hint.
I'm not comfortable playing quicker. I'm just not. And in my defense, what's the hurry? Really? Pool is a "hurry up and wait" kinda game anyway, in my opinion. And I don't have a problem with that. I'm there to compete, but I'm also there to relax. I've absolutely faced players slower than myself. I just zoned out and let them do their thing till it was my turn.
On a side note......I did a little study of my own last week. The other players tended to player quicker amongst themselves. When it came to playing me, THEY slowed down. Maybe it's my style of play that unconsiously does that to them. I was counting 30 seconds to a minute between shots for them on many, many occasions. I also don't have the skill to run out as often as they do, so I do play safes and 2-way shots at times that they wouldn't. Of course some of that happens because I'm not as good of a position player as they are. That increases overall game times. I don't think they realize how slow they CAN play at times compared to others.
Also, since Tunica, I've been buying quite a few Accu-Stats videos. Studyin' the pro's as I was advised. A lot of them really play pretty methodically, which is what I'm attempting to do.
Should I consciously try to speed up my play a bit and hope I can adjust to it? Should I put myself on an internal shot clock? Is this normal when an amateur changes so many things about their game? Should I keep on keepin' on and let my pace be what it is?
Or am I "that guy" that you all dread playing?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Over the past few months I've completely changed my stance, grip, stroke, personal eye pattern, method of aiming, developed an honest-to-goodness pre-shot routine........you name it. I'm also consciously trying to pick out the best pattern to run the balls, instead of just shooting one ball to get on the next one with no regard to the overall table. I'm even weighing safety options.
So, needless to say, I've got a lot going on in my head. It's becoming more natural now, but I still have a long ways to go. It really started towards the end of the Tunica event in July, as I got some great advice from a couple of top-flight players. One player basically said (and I'm only slightly paraphrasing), "If you're going to be a great player, act like a great player. Watch what they do. Incorporate what works for you from what works for them. Study bridges, grips and strokes. Develop a professional-looking approach to the game. Amateurs don't study the pro's nearly enough.......". So, I'm doing my best to do that.
Here's the catch. I was already slower than almost everyone in my local pool room. Now I'm even slower. Or so they're starting to loudly hint. A few weeks ago, a friend/fellow player was studying everyone in the room and writing down how many seconds it took each player to shoot, whether they made it or not and if they got out of position. He wasn't pointing fingers at me, he did it for every player. It was more for his own personal study, but I noticed what he was doing and coaxed the info out of him.
The best players in the room were taking an average of 8-15 seconds to shoot the majority of their shots. The middle-of-the-road players were maybe twice that amount of time. The 2 lowest "rated" players in the room were the slowest. I'm one of them. I was taking about 45 seconds for most of my shots. Sometimes it was right at the minute mark. Altho, that was my outlier. Most of the other players had similar outlier times. It's just that their easy-to-average shots were coming much quicker. Each player definitely had their own rhythmn and pace of play.
The better players were tending to shoot quicker on average. However, on difficult shots, they did slow down quite a bit. With regards to MY play, I was much more consistent time-wise for each shot. Even my difficult shots didn't take THAT much longer than an average shot for me. I feel as tho it's because I'm trying hard to treat every shot with respect. The easiest of shots can be completely dogged or mis-played to get out of position.
I've been playing there for a year and a half and I honestly feel like I'm a much better player than when I started. I literally walked in the first day off of a 15 year hiatus from the game. I don't feel that most of the other players in the room have gotten that much better at all during that time.......and some are pretty stagnant in their game. A couple have picked up a bit. Then again, almost all of them are better than I am (or at least they win more often, I should say), so I've had more ground to make up. I'm starting to win more matches, but I'm still making crucial mistakes occasionally that are costing me games, as well. I suppose that's part of the learning curve and I try to identify those situations and work on them.
I'm just getting a lot of this off of my chest, so not sure if anyone here has any advice, constructive criticism, etc. I like every single one of the regular guys in our pool room and I hate to think that I'm "slowly" becoming the odd man out, because I'm holding up games. I don't want to stop playing there. No one has done more than joke at me about it in passing, but I think we all know that this is what happens at first, in the hopes that I'll get the hint.
I'm not comfortable playing quicker. I'm just not. And in my defense, what's the hurry? Really? Pool is a "hurry up and wait" kinda game anyway, in my opinion. And I don't have a problem with that. I'm there to compete, but I'm also there to relax. I've absolutely faced players slower than myself. I just zoned out and let them do their thing till it was my turn.
On a side note......I did a little study of my own last week. The other players tended to player quicker amongst themselves. When it came to playing me, THEY slowed down. Maybe it's my style of play that unconsiously does that to them. I was counting 30 seconds to a minute between shots for them on many, many occasions. I also don't have the skill to run out as often as they do, so I do play safes and 2-way shots at times that they wouldn't. Of course some of that happens because I'm not as good of a position player as they are. That increases overall game times. I don't think they realize how slow they CAN play at times compared to others.
Also, since Tunica, I've been buying quite a few Accu-Stats videos. Studyin' the pro's as I was advised. A lot of them really play pretty methodically, which is what I'm attempting to do.
Should I consciously try to speed up my play a bit and hope I can adjust to it? Should I put myself on an internal shot clock? Is this normal when an amateur changes so many things about their game? Should I keep on keepin' on and let my pace be what it is?
Or am I "that guy" that you all dread playing?
Any comments would be appreciated.
