The mental game

mullyman

mullyman

Hung Like a Gnat!
Silver Member
This has probably been discussed up one side and down the other but I thought I'd throw my thoughts in on this.

In my opinion, once you get to a certain level of proficiency with a cue the mental game needs to be worked on. When I'm working with younger players here, whether that's playing sets with them or helping with their practice, I try to instill the importance of the mental game to them. I do everything I can to get them into the mental game as soon as I can. I'll give a few examples, and I apologise if this gets long winded.

1) I occasionally go to B and C class tournaments to watch the younger guys play. More often than not I see guys during warm up sessions setting up thin cut shots or long straight shots with the cueball on the rail or banks etc... One of the first things I teach a younger player is to stop that. When you're warming up for a tournament, or even for a practice session for that matter, set up easy shots that you are going to make. Do that until you get loosened up and then move on to shots that are just a little more difficult, but still easy to make. Whether you want to admit it or not the subconcious mind plays a huge part in how you play. If you're setting up really difficult shots and missing them your brain is only seeing the miss. Each miss is taking a chip out of your confidence. If you set up some easier shots and are the making the ball each ball that goes in is building on your confidence to making the ball. It's sad to watch someone get frustrated missing a ball that is a low percentage shot to begin with and then getting down on themselves thinking "I'm not shooting good today" or what have you. You have to be able to walk before you can run. Work your way up to those thin cuts or long rail shots. Jumping in straight away is billiards suicide if you ask me.

2) Playing a set with someone and missing an easy ball or easy position and then dwelling on it. The shot is over. No amount of thinking about it is going to bring it back. Sitting down and dwelling on the shot you just missed is only hurting you. If you're thinking about that shot there is no way you are able to concetrate on the shot coming up. Make a mental note of the missed ball or missed position, file it away and work on it later. This is easier said than done. One thing I try to do when I have a frustrating miss like that is to just clear my mind. I'll find a spot on the wall, or the chalk on the rail and just stare at it. You'd be amazed at how well that works.

3) Pool is a one man game. When your opponent is at the table there is nothing you can do. And vice versa. When it comes to your turn at the table focus on what needs to be done. I don't care if it's Efren Reyes sitting there. When you're at the table all his magic means squat. There is nothing he can do to stop you. Focus. Once again, if you're thinking about what will happen if you miss this shot then you are not concentrating on the job at hand and more often than not it's going to work against you. If you are concentrating and you miss, wow, too bad. Buf if you're bothering yourself on what's going to happen if you miss then you deserve to miss and lose the game.

4) Outside distractions. Noise, movement etc... Get over it. I think anyone that has run a rack of 9-ball can say "Wow, I wasn't really thinking about anything. I didn't really hear any noise around me." That's because something in your mind clicked and all of your focus was on what needed to be done. How do we tap into that? If I had the answer to that I'd have Bill Gates as my errand boy. Only thing you can really do is just try your best to close out the other things going on in the room. One thing I used to do before going into a big tournament is, this is going to sound weird, I'd sit down like 15 minutes before my match started and I'd have a needle and thread with me. A small eyed needle with a thicker thread. I actually carried this is my cue case. Anyway, I'd sit there and just thread that needle over and over until my name was called. The focus it takes to thread a small eyed needle is unreal. I would do that to get my mind focused on what I was doing. I never charted anything but I feel like doing that helped me clear my mind and helped me concentrate more.

Well, once again, I apologize for being so long winded. You never know though, someone may see some value in it. If it even helps just one person it was worth it.
MULLY
By the way, the mental game needs to be practiced just as much, or more than, the physical game.
 
mullyman said:
1) I occasionally go to B and C class tournaments to watch the younger guys play. More often than not I see guys during warm up sessions setting up thin cut shots or long straight shots with the cueball on the rail or banks etc... One of the first things I teach a younger player is to stop that. When you're warming up for a tournament, or even for a practice session for that matter, set up easy shots that you are going to make. Do that until you get loosened up and then move on to shots that are just a little more difficult, but still easy to make. Whether you want to admit it or not the subconcious mind plays a huge part in how you play. If you're setting up really difficult shots and missing them your brain is only seeing the miss. Each miss is taking a chip out of your confidence. If you set up some easier shots and are the making the ball each ball that goes in is building on your confidence to making the ball. It's sad to watch someone get frustrated missing a ball that is a low percentage shot to begin with and then getting down on themselves thinking "I'm not shooting good today" or what have you. You have to be able to walk before you can run. Work your way up to those thin cuts or long rail shots. Jumping in straight away is billiards suicide if you ask me.
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Good post.

I especially agree with this part. Whenever I see some of the league players practicing before their matches I see them warming up with some tough cut shots or very difficult bank shots. Like you said you need to start slow to get rolling. Besides three rail banks shots are fun but they don't win matches (not often anyways)

This this kind of reminds me of teaching me guitar students to warm up. You don't try to play as fast as you can when warming up, you play scales starting slooooooow and speed up a bit as you go. You gotta get your co-ordination working.
 
No Thoughts Allowed!!

The greatest golfers in the world practice mechanics on the driving range and play golf on the course. They stand behind the ball, see the shot they want to hit, go into their set up, take a couple of looks at the target and let er fly. They do not think .."okay, left arm straight, transfer weight back, turn hips etc etc etc." They think nothing. They've hit so many balls that they let their intuition and feel take charge.

Intuition and instinct - not thoughts.

Most of us have probably hit enough pool balls to know what is supposed to happen. We can stand behind our shot, see a little mental movie of what we want to happen, set up and then let er fly and probably have more success than we would ever suspect.

Thoughts can create tension and tension creates misses. We should get all our thinking done before we drop down into the set up.

Easier said than done and I, of all people, know that and wish I could do a better job of taking my own advice.

A book was published about 18 months ago called "Blink." Its main theme is to learn to more trust in intuition and instinct and not to try to think, analyze and control everything. It is well worth the read.

In fact - I'm going to read it again because I think too damn much while I'm playing!!!
 
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I sort of disagree with #2. Trying to ignore my mistakes makes me more frustrated. The only way I can address the frustration of missing a ball or position is by thinking what I could have done differently or will do differently next time I face a similar situation.

Likewise, I can't shut out my environment and the distractions in it. It's a weird feeling when I'm playing my best...it seems that instead of shutting out my environment, I INTEGRATE myself to it. I'm in synch and dancing with my environment to the same beat. In the chair, unless I'm taking a mental break and thinking about not much at all, I like to run out for my opponent and wish for the best possible challenge I can have.

But good post. Especially the issue of focusing on the job at hand. Related to that, I think the most important mental qualities are:

1) the ability to enjoy challenges;
2) focusing on process as opposed to results;
3) integrating to the environment and the people in it (sweators, opponent, etc.);
4) learning from mistakes;
5) surrender control (which is related, perhaps the same, as #2)

All that being said it's inevitable that sometimes billiards becomes frustrating and frightening. If it happens to Efren, it'll happen to us. Hopefully continued effort on the mental game will makes us take that frustrating or frightening experience and teach us something.

P.S. Since #5 is really a consequence or repeat of #2, I'll add the ability to forget all about Efren Reyes and playing your game and the table.
 
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lewdo26 said:
I sort of disagree with #2. Trying to ignore my mistakes makes me more frustrated. The only way I can address the frustration of missing a ball or position is by thinking what I could have done differently or will do differently next time I face a similar situation.
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Wow, I'm a little late with my reply here, haha, but what the heck. I just wanted to clarify that I'm not trying to say just forget about it and let it go. What I mean is make a note of it and then don't focus on that. Move forward to what you're going to do next. Personally, when I miss a shot I think about what happened, sit down, and then plan my next turn at the table....if it comes to me.....and I pray that my opponent doesn't move any balls around. HA!!
MULLY
 
mullyman said:
3) Pool is a one man game. When your opponent is at the table there is nothing you can do. And vice versa. When it comes to your turn at the table focus on what needs to be done. I don't care if it's Efren Reyes sitting there. When you're at the table all his magic means squat. There is nothing he can do to stop you. Focus. Once again, if you're thinking about what will happen if you miss this shot then you are not concentrating on the job at hand and more often than not it's going to work against you. If you are concentrating and you miss, wow, too bad. Buf if you're bothering yourself on what's going to happen if you miss then you deserve to miss and lose the game.
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I agree there is nothing you can do on the table when your opponent is there. So what should be done is working on your mental game while he/she is shooting. Have positive definite statements like I will beat him...versus.. I'm not going to lose. If you say I'm not going to lose the mind is going to concentrate on the word lose and you will lose. Do these while breathing in with your stomach. Breathing in calms your system as a whole so you don't act or think rashly. It also brings oxygen to your brain when you breathe. Also keep your eyes on the table in case your opponent cheats or just study the table to keep your mind into the pool game. Figure out what you would do on that shot. I find once the mind wanders its hard to concentrate on pool.
 
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