The fragility of "good pool playing"

Gerry said:
I think it's because you have "the nice guy" curse!:D

You started playing great, and felt bad for the other guy causing you to let up and get out of sorts. I had trouble with this before because I wanted other people to have fun shooting too, then I read a few books on competition and your emotions. Some people never have trouble destroying an opponent no matter what speed they play. Others like me want to win but not at the expense of the other guy feeling bad or getting upset so to speak. It's a nasty circle, especially in tournaments!

Then the ideas clicked that I should play my hardest no matter what. If I start stalling I'm taking an experience away from my opponent. Maybe I pound on them and they decide to practice harder making them a better player. Maybe they quit and become GREAT at something else. I guess stalling is really lying to the other player making them think they are something different then they really are which is NOT what I want to do.

It may sound harsh, but when I want to let up I always think of Mosconi doing all those exhibitions and just running out on EVERYONE no matter what.
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My problem is that I play drunk too much, make 2 whole balls in a row, get overconfident, and suck ass.

Which leads me to drink... talk about nasty circle.
:p
 
LeagueShirts said:
How many of you have read "The pleasures of small motions"? Improved my game overnight!

http://www.amazon.com/Pleasures-Small-Motions-Mastering-Billiards/dp/1585745391
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Great thread!! Yes, I read it. Didn't do a thing for me and I know I'm not the only one. "The Inner Game of Tennis" helped me a lot, years ago. I've meant to read both books again, but what with school, graduation, and now looking for a job, I haven't gotten around to it yet.
I've experienced most of the things mentioned and probably more, if I thought about it for a while.
 
Self-Sharking

My game would improve immensely if I could just turn off the chatter between my ears. In those rare instances when I'm in the zone, I'm oblivious to everything except the task at hand. When I indulge in critical thoughts and reactions about myself, the other players, the noise across the room, my lousy luck, I shark myself. I know it, but can't help it. The mind doesn't always follow orders.

Some of you may have read the book "Flowers for Algernon," which was made into a movie named "Charly" years ago. The narrator is a mentally challenged man who volunteers for experimental surgery to make him smart. The surgery works. [Spoiler Alert] The narrator becomes a genius, and then some. Unfortunately, the effects of the operation begin to wear off. The narrator slowly recedes back to his prior mental state, aware all the time that he was once brilliant.

Ever feel that way at the pool table?
 
Carl said:
My game would improve immensely if I could just turn off the chatter between my ears. In those rare instances when I'm in the zone, I'm oblivious to everything except the task at hand. When I indulge in critical thoughts and reactions about myself, the other players, the noise across the room, my lousy luck, I shark myself. I know it, but can't help it. The mind doesn't always follow orders.

Some of you may have read the book "Flowers for Algernon," which was made into a movie named "Charly" years ago. The narrator is a mentally challenged man who volunteers for experimental surgery to make him smart. The surgery works. [Spoiler Alert] The narrator becomes a genius, and then some. Unfortunately, the effects of the operation begin to wear off. The narrator slowly recedes back to his prior mental state, aware all the time that he was once brilliant.

Ever feel that way at the pool table?
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Funny, I first read that story (Flowers for Algernon) in 6th grade, and I've re-read it several times since, but it never occurred to me to draw parallels to my pool game. It's actually a really good analogy; nothing is more excruciating than to be totally aware of your former abilities (even it was just a few hours ago when you were in the zone) and be totally unable to make them work anymore.

-Andrew
 
I agree with everything I've read so far. Great thread!

The only thing I'd like to add is that I think it's easy to accidently adjust our intensity levels based on things we can't control. In turn we unconsiously adjust our process.

The ideal thing is to approach every turn with the same dispassion as you would a hand of cards. Sometimes you get good cards, sometimes not, but that doesn't change the process. In pool sometimes your opponent is going to play well, sometimes not, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes the spread is good, sometimes not. The trick it seems is to only think about the things you can control and set your expectations within those things.

But it ain't easy! lol :D
 
The other day I was playiing one-pocket with a guy whom I have played often and who plays about my speed. In the first two games we played, I made no real errors and missed no shots. The game felt easy as I coasted to an 8 to minus 1 win and an 8-0 win. The third game was going along about like the first two, when I mentally "let up" and quit really bearing down on my shots. Maybe I wanted to prolong the session and feared that my opponent might pull up if he got too frustrated, but for what ever reason, I just started playing with a "casual" attitude and missed a couple of shots that I should have made. Suddenly, the shots no longer looked easy. When I tried to recapture my earlier level of performance, I found myself getting tense and coming up off of shots.


Sounds like what I call the "involuntary stall" and is something I've struggled with over the years too. A lot of great responses have mentioned the PSR (pre shot routine) which is primary, but I'm assuming you have that down. You really do a great job of self evaluating and it looks totally clear from the outside (wouldn't it be great if we could all view ourselves and our actions through this lens? :)) that your subconscious was in a struggle to decide if you wanted it to "let up" and defaulted to that setting in the absense of any contrary instructions. The biggest clue is when you said "who plays about my speed", but you were crushing him (congrats:D ). Then when the ship was sinking, all you were concentrating on was bailing water. I wish I could self diagnose this when it happens to me:eek: The great news is now you KNOW that you CAN crush him! Go get 'em!!

I guess the main thing I'm trying to get to is that the "PSR" needs to start with the present, not the past, not the future, not the score, no negativity ... only that ball in that hole (or spot). That's my goal anyway.
I play great pool in my mind! :D

A couple of good reads that I have been trying to translate to my pool game and life :rolleyes: are "The secret" about the laws of attraction...a quick and easy read, and "A New Earth" about ego and other things ....a more intense and longer read. They both have a lot of bearing on this, but are NOT books about pool. Check 'em out if you like to read. Kind of 'new age' but well worth the effort.

This is my first post. Sorry if it doesn't come out correctly.

td
 
>>The other day I was playiing one-pocket with a guy whom I have played often and who plays about my speed. In the first two games we played, I made no real errors and missed no shots. The game felt easy as I coasted to an 8 to minus 1 win and an 8-0 win. The third game was going along about like the first two, when I mentally "let up" and quit really bearing down on my shots. Maybe I wanted to prolong the session and feared that my opponent might pull up if he got too frustrated, but for what ever reason, I just started playing with a "casual" attitude and missed a couple of shots that I should have made. Suddenly, the shots no longer looked easy. When I tried to recapture my earlier level of performance, I found myself getting tense and coming up off of shots. <<


Sounds like what I call the "involuntary stall" and is something I've struggled with over the years too. A lot of great responses have mentioned the PSR (pre shot routine) which is primary, but I'm assuming you have that down. You really do a great job of self evaluating and it looks totally clear from the outside (wouldn't it be great if we could all view ourselves and our actions through this lens? :)) that your subconscious was in a struggle to decide if you wanted it to "let up" and defaulted to that setting in the absense of any contrary instructions. The biggest clue is when you said "who plays about my speed", but you were crushing him (congrats:D ). Then when the ship was sinking, all you were concentrating on was bailing water. I wish I could self diagnose this when it happens to me:eek: The great news is now you KNOW that you CAN crush him! Go get 'em!!

I guess the main thing I'm trying to get to is that the "PSR" needs to start with the present, not the past, not the future, not the score, no negativity ... only that ball in that hole (or spot). That's my goal anyway.
I play great pool in my mind! :D

A couple of good reads that I have been trying to translate to my pool game and life :rolleyes: are "The secret" about the laws of attraction...a quick and easy read, and "A New Earth" about ego and other things ....a more intense and longer read. They both have a lot of bearing on this, but are NOT books about pool. Check 'em out if you like to read. Kind of 'new age' but well worth the effort.

This is my first post. Sorry if it doesn't come out correctly.

td
 
Tom In Cincy said:
;) Bill,

One Pocket is much quicker than 14.1, but can get into a 'bunt' contest and become less than 'exciting' and cause mental 'anguish'

Most 14.1 players have already experienced what you are describing IMO...
One of my practice drills that was expained to me many years ago is very simple.

Throw 15 balls out on the table and make sure there is nothing TIED up or on the rail or just make them all easy shots.

Start out with ball in hand and anytime you get out of position take ball in hand to make sure you keep pocking with success. The drill is to expose you to 'simple' pool. shoot, make a ball, shoot, make a ball, shoot.... boring pool? not if you end pocketing more than 100 balls... that is just a little over 6 racks.

Pocketing all these simple shots will get your mine aclimated to the routine state of pool. You will get use to this 'lull' in your game and will be better prepaired in future 'lulls' to play through.

Anyway, it has worked for me... ;)
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Wow. I'm gonna try this. Thanks.
 
Played in two tournaments in the past two weeks... second place in both, 8ball, first didn't lose a game until the championship, second lost two on the way... Both times it wasn't the miss's that bothered me it was the nervous anxiety... Both players who finished first played extremely slow and ran tables... should someone figure out a way to keep "the zone" going I would sure be interested... great thread...
 
Here's a thought for you

After reading all the posts in this thread, I want to thank those of you who made thoughtful and useful replies. Some good stuff in many of those replies!

What I didn't mention in my original post was that somehow I recovered from my collapse to win the last three games of the session. I'll bet that you, like me, have RARELY been able to make a comeback once your game heads down the toilet. In the session I have been talking about, I had what turned out to be a useful thought after losing about 5 games in a row and falling into a state of low confidence and tension. It occured to me that I had a chance to do something I have rarely down; namely, turn around a pool playing collapse. It was sort of pleasant to think that enduring a collapse and falling behind in a session gives you an opportunity to accomplish something that usually eludes you. I decided that I would make a strong effort to focus on my mechanics, mostly on staying down and still on my final stroke. I made a few shots and felt my confidence starting to come back. Finally, when I got back to even the score of the session, my opponent started to unscrew his stick, but I suggested that we play one more game so that one of us would at least win table time. I won that last game rather handily.:)
 
Craig Fales said:
What happened is you got bored. It happens to me and you get sloppy and uncaring in your play. A spot adjustment keeps it interesting and a challenge.
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Maybe not bored as much as simply losing one's motivation for playing, imho.

Once the reason for playing has been satisfied (deadstroke, in this case) then the mind says, "why bother doing more?" and discontinues its work.

I think the solution is to expand one's goals before playing and affirm those so the mind won't give up until that goal is reached.

And goal-setting experts say that just before one reaches his goal, he should set another, higher goal, so the momentum won't wane.

My first shot ingredient is to integrate my bigger goals with this specific shot, with the proper attitude. I have made this automatic by repetition, but it still requires conscious tweaking of course.

fwiw,

Jeff Livingston

EDIT: I just read your last post, Bill, and that is the perfect example of what I was trying to say here.
 
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Look what happened to Shane vs Alex! He lost something like 46 to 20 after being ahead by 22. Now THAT'S a let down.
 
JimS said:
Look what happened to Shane vs Alex! He lost something like 46 to 20 after being ahead by 22. Now THAT'S a let down.
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"ahead by 22" - "lost something like 46 to 20" Math problem here?:D
 
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