That horrible thing about pool!

L

laser2507

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was practising yesterday before a comp and felt really good mentally, hardly missing a thing. Shooting smooth and playing very well.
Then in the comp I missed everything, felt very awkward..cant really explain it... started to focus on stupid things like how many strokes before hititng the CB etc...

Why cant I play well in comps? It wasnt even the pressure, i didnt feel any! :-(:mad:
 
laser2507 said:
I was practising yesterday before a comp and felt really good mentally, hardly missing a thing. Shooting smooth and playing very well.
Then in the comp I missed everything, felt very awkward..cant really explain it... started to focus on stupid things like how many strokes before hititng the CB etc...

Why cant I play well in comps? It wasnt even the pressure, i didnt feel any! :-(:mad:
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There was pressure. You can say there wasnt but how else do you explain dogging it.
 
The more you play in competition the more aclimated to it you become. Soon it becomes a been thier done that mentality. Parts of your game will progress, others will not. You will have to pick out those weeknesses in your game and work on them one at a time. Sometimes a particular problem is remedied easy, other times not. Persistance is the key...
 
Ive felt pressure before, it just didnt seem the same... maybe thats even worse than knowing your under pressure...NOT knowing lol

Wish I could play my own game and stroke as smoothly as I do normally in practise. I must of played about 3 or 4 balls less than what I am, ended up losing the match 6-3, I was giving 4 balls out (ie 5-9) but I feel I should of won easily.
 
laser2507 said:
I was practising yesterday before a comp and felt really good mentally, hardly missing a thing. Shooting smooth and playing very well.
Then in the comp I missed everything, felt very awkward..cant really explain it... started to focus on stupid things like how many strokes before hititng the CB etc...

Why cant I play well in comps? It wasnt even the pressure, i didnt feel any! :-(:mad:
Click to expand...

It was the pressure that caused you to be distracted from playing your game. Instead you focused on "not making mistakes". Very different.

You need to improve your "tournament toughness".

There are many quality books on the subject out there. "Golf is not a game of Perfect" is one of my favorites. http://www.amazon.com/Golf-Is-Not-a...=pd_bbs_1/104-1839083-9179147?ie=UTF8&s=books

Continuing to put yourself in competative situations with players better than yourself (un-handicapped) will increase your toughness.
 
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i also feel like this about pool, going down stairs in my socks, and comfort clothes at home. I can shoot lights out but when i play in leagues i can't play how i do at home, maybe i should try playing with no shoes like how i practice at home LOL.
 
I think we've all encounter this before. I've had it before when I get into a funk, and start to think too much about stuff, expecially when I am missing easy shots.

Now I've had the opposite happen before too. once was a few months ago, I was practicing with the owner and she just killed me in a race to 7. I could hardly make 2 or 3 balls in a row. And then I played another kid and same thing happend.

Tournament time comes around that nite and i play'd very very good. And ended up taking first. And of course after the tourny was done me and the owner kinda laughed and both talked about how we had thought my nite was going to be short, since in practice i wasnt playing worth a crap.
 
I found two different trains of thought:

When you practice: you try to figure out how to get the cue ball in a certain place while making the ball.

When you compete: Make the ball, make the ball, make the ball.

See where it differs? If you practice how you play and vice versa you might do better. This may just be a personal account, but I think most people follow suit.

Please discuss this as I am battling it also on a daily basis. Thank you.
 
there must have been some pressure or maybe you were over-confident so you got careless without realizing it. I used to play in the monday's tournament at a local pool hall(but open class...like a Semi-Pro could play...with a certain amount of lives). I used to be under pressure but I started in FQSB and I won last monday because I was thinking ' its totally different than the REAL tournaments so I'll consider it as a practice'

consider your comp as practices...you against you!
 
I know what your all saying is very true. I wil check that book out as well, thanks Corey.

Its funny, Ive actually never played that well in the comps, but somehow managed now to get to a -9 (ratings from +2 to -9), but its not exactly a club full of skilled players, the the other club I go to I was a -7 3 years ago, the best player there was Steve Knight, he was -12.

Ive always known it was my mind that keeps me back, Ive been told I have good natural ability, if only my mind would follow suite.
 
I have struggled at different times with nerves and playing way below par. My problem was getting way amped up, or getting the adrenaline going. while reading "pleasures of small motions" I learned our emotions, or "fight flight" reaction is unconscious, so we have no initial control, but we can learn to deal with it. It was put there in us to deal with those life threatening situations in an instant without thinking about it. Pool is not life threatening (in most cases), but it does put us out of our comfort level. You ever drop a glass, and without thinking about it snag it out of mid air with perfect timing before it hits the ground!...that's part of what I"m saying about the unconscious control. We go into that mode and our big muscle groups are pumped ready to go, and our brain is single minded in survival.....none of which is real good for fine motor skills, and intricate thinking needed to play top notch pool.

So, what do we do?....well, here are a few thoughts from the book.

>exposure to the situation will dull the response in time.

>don't even try to "block it out" it won't just go away. When you sit back and calmly ask yourself what is really going on here, and what do I need to do to relax, you WILL start to settle.

>I suck at paraphrasing, so get the book!:D...it really does make good sense.

never let em see you sweat!, Gerry
 
I must get myself a copy of that book, sound interesting. Thanks Gerry for the words of thought there.

Ive always been quite a negative person, so maybe this rubs of when I play bad in pool....

But I do sometimes have a strange mood swing into the VERY happy state, and thats when Im so confident I play my best.
 
Just look at all the top level players/pros who have been eliminated from the IPt tournament.

If you watch them during practice they never miss and one wonders how they can ever lose.

It is just the nature of the beast (pool).

Then too, at home there are no consequences. You miss a shot nothing happens, you just shoot again. In a tournament you miss, you sit down and your opponent might run out, or leave you hooked, or turn an easy table into a mess.

Of course at home you are always subconsciously thinking of all the nice runs and shots you make. In a tournament you are constantly thinking of the stupid shots you make.

Jake
 
jjinfla said:
Just look at all the top level players/pros who have been eliminated from the IPt tournament.

If you watch them during practice they never miss and one wonders how they can ever lose.

It is just the nature of the beast (pool).

Then too, at home there are no consequences. You miss a shot nothing happens, you just shoot again. In a tournament you miss, you sit down and your opponent might run out, or leave you hooked, or turn an easy table into a mess.

Of course at home you are always subconsciously thinking of all the nice runs and shots you make. In a tournament you are constantly thinking of the stupid shots you make.

Jake
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maybe thats why Efren is the best!....he called gambling and pressure situations "his practice!" in an interview.....makes sense to me.

Gerry
 
I'm the opposite; I normally play much better during competition.

I also have competed hundreds of times, outside of the pool hall, in other competitive sports.

You have to understand yourself when you compete, that you focus differently. You may start worrying about stuff that has no bearing on your game. Sometimes you worry about the outcome of the shot, instead of the process.


That shot you took in practice is not the same shot you took in competition, but it is.
 
Gregg said:
I'm the opposite; I normally play much better during competition.

(snip)
Click to expand...

Me, too. The reason for my playing better in competition is because, when competing, I have a reason for playing. I have a goal, immediate and important. When practicing, my mind tends to wander and I take shots for granted, thus making more mistakes.

Jim Rohn says, 'reasons come first, answers come second.' So, based on his advice, maybe identifying your reason for competing and focusing on that would help you find your answer?

Jeff Livingston
 
It takes time to build confidence in tournament play. I started playing the game again a little over a year ago (20+ year layoff), my first 8 or 10 tournaments were excruciating. I had the skills but not the confidence to win. Over the course of about 6 months I built confidence by beating the best players in my world and began to understand their game. This past Sunday I beat one of the best players in my world 3 times in an 8-ball tourney, I left him with 7 balls on the table in the second game. I have confidence now that I can win any tournament I enter around here.

Play more tourneys and go after the big dogs in your area, don't shy away from them. You will build confidence each and every week.

BK
 
So I am not ALONE

Hey guys ,
Thanks for posting this one . I have been playing again for a little over a year and was going to quit my thursday night TAP session all together .So maybe instead of droping it I will pick up one more night as well and just play it all the way through . I think my deal was that I was expecting to play at the same level as some of the guys who have been playing competive pool every week for years and I have just been back at it for a short while ???Well one older wiser guy tells me to just keep shooting at em and eventually they will run LOL .....
 
Gerry said:
I have struggled at different times with nerves and playing way below par. My problem was getting way amped up, or getting the adrenaline going. while reading "pleasures of small motions" I learned our emotions, or "fight flight" reaction is unconscious, so we have no initial control, but we can learn to deal with it. It was put there in us to deal with those life threatening situations in an instant without thinking about it. Pool is not life threatening (in most cases), but it does put us out of our comfort level. You ever drop a glass, and without thinking about it snag it out of mid air with perfect timing before it hits the ground!...that's part of what I"m saying about the unconscious control. We go into that mode and our big muscle groups are pumped ready to go, and our brain is single minded in survival.....none of which is real good for fine motor skills, and intricate thinking needed to play top notch pool.

So, what do we do?....well, here are a few thoughts from the book.

>exposure to the situation will dull the response in time.

>don't even try to "block it out" it won't just go away. When you sit back and calmly ask yourself what is really going on here, and what do I need to do to relax, you WILL start to settle.

>I suck at paraphrasing, so get the book!:D...it really does make good sense.

never let em see you sweat!, Gerry
Click to expand...

So true! I like the analogy of a carburator he has in the book.
 
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