Table "blindness" during long sessions

Straightpool_99

I see dead balls
Silver Member
I've been playing a lot of pool lately, (having some time off) including some very long (8 hour+) sessions, and I've noticed a curious thing. Some problems keep cropping up after a few hours and do not go away.

The first is a tightening in the arm and partial breakdown in stroke mechanics, especially smoothness. I'm not sure if it is nerves or just fatigue or a combination of both? The second is a "blindness" to the available options on the table, especially in 8-ball and straight pool.

Do any of you experience the same phenomena? What do you do to combat them?
 
I experience the same thing over long sessions, or when playing after a day's work..
For me, my stance starts to breakdown with fatigue so I have to consciously keep my legs and shoulders "strong" to avoid slouching, which throws everything off. I find my eye patterns also get lazy and focus is just on the object ball or cue ball, instead of moving between both.

The "blindness" you talk about usually happens to me when I'm tired and become too lazy to look at all the options, but also sometimes when I'm playing well.
During a long session, sometimes I can let go of conscious thinking and fall into dead stroke and play at . When that happens though, I often leave things up to autopilot too much and end up with "tunnel vision" or "blindness", where my decision-making gets limited to the first thing my
mind sees, and then things go downhill from there.
 
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