Is anyone here going to White Diamonds in 2 weeks for the 9-ball tournament? If so, maybe you can watch me for a few minutes and tell me if I'm taking too long to shoot or not.
Soooooo, I'm a slow player.........
- Thread starter fathomblue
- Start date
Sounds to me like over thinking it.
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.
There are some good players who are slow but in your case you are a poor player who plays slow. I suspect the reason is because you have too much stuff on your mind. At some point in time all of that stuff like stance, grip, stroke, aiming system etc has to be natural and not something you think about on every shot.
You probably just need to hit more balls so it all becomes automatic.
To OP
as long as your paying for the time, I don't care how long you take..
If I'm splitting the cost..then I would be heckling you the hole time to
move on..but I'd be nice about it.
many here have given you much to concider..if you have
a friend left to play with,have him put you on the clock while you play.
if time runs out..he gets ball in hand..sooner or later
you'll speed up..or you'll spend the day racking..
as long as your paying for the time, I don't care how long you take..
If I'm splitting the cost..then I would be heckling you the hole time to
move on..but I'd be nice about it.
many here have given you much to concider..if you have
a friend left to play with,have him put you on the clock while you play.
if time runs out..he gets ball in hand..sooner or later
you'll speed up..or you'll spend the day racking..
Hehe....I knew when I wrote that, that I was full of sh1t. I wish, along with everyone else here probably, that I was a hunt and pecker on the keyboard. Fast typer can equal blowhard.
its not you, its me.
Like all others here I hated slow play, I hated when a player takes forever to recognize an obvious pattern or shot. I mean why would any player will take more than a minute with two ball run out with ball-in-hand ?
But, now I have realized that its just one of those things that i need to learn to deal with. If my opponent is shooting slow its not his problem, its my problem. I have to be mentally strong for not be annoyed by his/her slow play.
Look at Ralf here (watch?v=HgFiqgwcazM, its a youtube link). And now I ask everyone who wrote in this thread that they will never play with a slow player, won't they play with Ralf ? Won't they like to brag about how they played with a pro player once even though he shoots slow ?
If I am playing a slow player for big money, and I know I can beat him but at the end he ends up winning cuz he got into my head then who's fault is that ? I know the bottom line is i got beaten, and i need to deal with it. What's the point of *****ing about how slow my opponent played ?
Now, I am not saying that I like to see a day when every one is taking 2 min. to shoot a shot, no. But, I think its not rightful to look down or complain too much about players who are slow.
Like all others here I hated slow play, I hated when a player takes forever to recognize an obvious pattern or shot. I mean why would any player will take more than a minute with two ball run out with ball-in-hand ?
But, now I have realized that its just one of those things that i need to learn to deal with. If my opponent is shooting slow its not his problem, its my problem. I have to be mentally strong for not be annoyed by his/her slow play.
Look at Ralf here (watch?v=HgFiqgwcazM, its a youtube link). And now I ask everyone who wrote in this thread that they will never play with a slow player, won't they play with Ralf ? Won't they like to brag about how they played with a pro player once even though he shoots slow ?
If I am playing a slow player for big money, and I know I can beat him but at the end he ends up winning cuz he got into my head then who's fault is that ? I know the bottom line is i got beaten, and i need to deal with it. What's the point of *****ing about how slow my opponent played ?
Now, I am not saying that I like to see a day when every one is taking 2 min. to shoot a shot, no. But, I think its not rightful to look down or complain too much about players who are slow.
Banks
Banned
Not all of us look down or complain too much about them.. some of us just don't play with them again. It's like having that guy that likes to tell a story between every shot. What's the difference? Either way, I want to be playing, not twiddling my thumbs.
If you take too long in bed, the girl's not gonna be thrilled.
If you take too long to do your work, your boss is not gonna be thrilled.
If you take too long to get me my food at a restaurant, I won't be thrilled.
How is pool suddenly exempt from there being a thing as too slow?
A few years back, I went into the bar to see a very talkative player at the table, so I was kinda trying to decide what to do. He tells me to go ahead and put my quarters up, it's a doubles game and there is only one more set up. Well, 40 minutes later it was time for that next set.. seriously, have some respect for people around you. Play like a tortoise all you want when it's just you..
I agree that players needs to be aware of what's going on around 'em. But, a guy like OP who knows he plays slow and knows he might be annoying other players with his play, what should he do ? Should he just quit playing pool cuz he plays slow ? One time I heard two AA players played 8 ball race to 5 and it took nearly 2-3 hours. Everyone was talking about it, cuz its not what pool is suppose to be. Anyone out there who plans to play pool for quite some time should be ready to deal with slow play. Cuz, once in a while you will have to play with that "slow" player and you will have to deal with it.
I don't mind if a player plays slow but if the guy has 3balls
on the table with ball in hand and takes him 10min to runout,
then he's trying to upset you or he's just a idiot.
I played a pro in tournament who I was beating a started that slow
play shit and it really started pissing me off.
At one point in the match I asked him if he was retarded?I almost got
DQ'ed and thrown out of the event but thankfully the TD thought the
guy was a flake also.
on the table with ball in hand and takes him 10min to runout,
then he's trying to upset you or he's just a idiot.
I played a pro in tournament who I was beating a started that slow
play shit and it really started pissing me off.
At one point in the match I asked him if he was retarded?I almost got
DQ'ed and thrown out of the event but thankfully the TD thought the
guy was a flake also.
I haven't read most responses so I'm sure this has been said but... I was a VERY deliberate player too up until a several months ago and I was playing in a tournament and got on a nice roll and after I couple of matches I noticed I was playing MUCH quicker.
Since then I've been trying to keep my pace of play up to a hair quicker than "normal" and I've been playing better than I've ever played.
I feel as though when the pace of play is up I keep a rhythm going and shoot better. For people trying to pick up their pace, I think an important thing to remember is still go through your preshot routine cause I've found it easier to "one-stroke" some easy shots and miss altogether or miss easy shape.
Best of Luck
<----I've been THAT guy
Since then I've been trying to keep my pace of play up to a hair quicker than "normal" and I've been playing better than I've ever played.
I feel as though when the pace of play is up I keep a rhythm going and shoot better. For people trying to pick up their pace, I think an important thing to remember is still go through your preshot routine cause I've found it easier to "one-stroke" some easy shots and miss altogether or miss easy shape.
Best of Luck
<----I've been THAT guy
I probably wouldn't run it out.
do you see where your problem ball is?
I don't like the 9 or 14, but they could be moved.
The 8 isn't very good either, although the 10 could be used for it, but it's risky.
I'd also like to know much of the side pocket the 3 is blocking.
The 8 isn't very good either, although the 10 could be used for it, but it's risky.
I'd also like to know much of the side pocket the 3 is blocking.