Tournament players being nasty to winners...

Billy_Bob

Billy_Bob

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As my game has improved and I have won more and more games, I have encountered my share of nastiness from other players at tournaments. It can get vicious!

I kind of look at this as "paying your dues". Perhaps a bit of hazing or whatever. But I have somehow managed to get past this nonsense.

Recently I have been coaching a friend - well actually out and out teaching him how to win. Prior to my doing this, I warned him that it would get nasty when he started winning games.

He is starting to win a lot more games, and is beginning to get all sorts of flack from the other players.

He told me he is not going to play in such and so tournament anymore because of problems he had with someone there. (Note he has been getting into the money quite a bit lately.)

I told him that this is *exactly* what they want - for him to not play in the tournament. I was not at the tournament, but apparently someone was sharking him - trying to make him mad to throw his game off. It seems he played better than ever in his angry mood. I told him they won't try that again if he plays better when mad! [This is a banger tournament he is playing in BTW.]

I said that whoever is winning, they will try to ban from the tournament, tick them off, shark them prior to the tournament or match, etc. And that he should ignore their antics and continue to play in this tournament. Not get so upset by all of this. (He is quite upset.) And I reminded him that I told him this would happen.

He is about 30 years old. (I'm older and more mellow/relaxed about these things.) He is not one to "ignore" conflicts of this nature. He seems to have an uncontrollable urge to jump right into the fray and give anyone and everyone a piece of his mind. He reminds me of myself when I was younger. I could not keep my trap shut.

Any advice for my friend?

Perhaps he should just learn on his own - do a bit of growing up. However I hate to see him not play in the tournament because of this. I can take him to advanced player tournaments where the players are better behaved, but they cream him there and he goes two and out. Wrecks his confidence. I think he should get quite a few wins under his belt at the banger tournaments before moving on to the more advanced tournaments.

Comments? Suggestions?
 
Their crying and abuse of him is proof that he is getting to them on the table... He should learn to love this feedback because it means that he has put them into a world of suffering... which is great to do to opponents!

The more upset they get, the calmer he should get... because he should know that his game is the burr under their saddles.... and he is riding them hard!
 
I think you came close to answering it. That's what they want. Not so much for you not to play in the tournament, but to get in your head. If that's their intention, then by overcoming the distraction and learning how to ignore the antics, you will get a leg up over your opponent and they'll have to rely on their skills alone. I find that the more obnoxious the player is, the less skill they have. They use their behavior to compensate for their lack of skill.
 
I don't win too many tournaments, but I do tend to knock off a few good players that get that way with me.

I just smile alot. When they get like this, I say something like, "it's just a game, it doesn't really mean anything," and then just keep on smiling. Showing that this is a little thing in life and that it doesn't bother me, makes them stop wasting their breath on me. This works well for me and resolves it quickly.
 
I didn't experienced this type of thing when I began playing again and started winning. It may be because when I started playing again I held back a little and socialized with the better players. Pool players talk to each other and I was the new guy in town so to speak, I took it slow and now they show respect for my game. If you walk into a new place and only play the game you get scrutinized to death, socialize with the players and they feel less threatened. If they feel they know you a little bit they will most certainly cut you some slack. You will establish a reputation one way or another, I chose to take my time and establish a beneficial reputation.

This is just my experience and may not work for your friend.
 
Great response so far. There sure is a lot of experience here on AZ.

Ignoring, or more accurately, TRYING to ignore others' behavior doesn't work. It's like trying to NOT think of a pink elephant.

Better, is to integrate others' actions. What I mean by this is to hear it, see it, and then have a place in your mind where you can place all their crap temporarily. Blackjack mentioned putting in the wastebasket of your mind where it can be taken out to the trash bin later on. Don't react to it yet. Do that later. For now, integrate it honestly.

This means that you let them continue with their sharkings, but you use that behavior against them in the long run. Actually, they are using their behavior against themselves when you react this way, so the damage goes where it belongs, to them.

My favorite response to losers such as these guys is to simply ask them: "You sharking me for a reason...care to share it with us?" That always puts the problem back on them, exactly where it belongs as they STARTED it.

Show your student ing. #34 & #35 for more.

Jeff Livingston
 
Pool is a bloodsport take no prisoners. That being said, I find most players to be better behaved after the tournament is over.

Tell him to let it go, like water off a ducks back.

I personally get a kick out of it when I run across players like that. Victory is much sweeter then.

I also make a point of remembering them too, and make sure I try extra hard against them next time, there's nothing better than humiliating a poor loser by leaving all thier balls on the table.:p
 
There is ...

an inherited and ingrained 'rank and file' within the Pool community, and when you ruffle that rank and file, even the best of players will resort to sharking
methods to 'put you in your place'.. I used to ignore it mostly, and just smirk a little, and do my talking on the table. Seems that used to get to them the most. I do speak up if it is very flagrant and obvious though now, letting them know they are pulling anything over on me. There are some players that have 'shark' like habits that are really 'tension relievers' for them, like talking incessantly even while they shoot, or constantly making comments to the railbirds as they shoot or inbetween shots. Sometimes they may not even be aware of what they are doing.

I will give you an example, and this one is on me. I was sitting in a chair at a table beside the Pool table playing a good friend of mine in a tournament. I am just slightly better than him, but a lot better if he ends getting drunk, which he has been known to do before the clock strikes midnight. I missed, and he had the 6 ball, 7, and 9 left. Looked easy enough to me, but his line of sight on the 6 was directly towards me uptable in the corner. I simply thought he was out, and started to reach into my front pocket to get quarters for the next game, and he shot, but
he pulled the cueball too hard with low left, and the cueball went downtable in the middle and cozied up right behind the 9 ball, hooked on
the 7 ball. He said I was 'sharking' him, but that WAS NOT my intentions, and I had to stop and think about what he was talking about, because
reaching to get quarters for the next game is just an unconscious habit
sometimes, BUT I did see his point, especially with me in the line of sight.
No matter what I said, I could not convince him that it was just an unconscious habit of mine. It still bothers me, because his friendship is much more important to me.
 
As long as people play pool, there will always be sharking and woofing. Try woofing back since he's beating them. Let them put their money where their mouth is.
 
Snapshot9 said:
an inherited and ingrained 'rank and file' within the Pool community, and when you ruffle that rank and file, even the best of players will resort to sharking
methods to 'put you in your place'.. I used to ignore it mostly, and just smirk a little, and do my talking on the table. Seems that used to get to them the most. I do speak up if it is very flagrant and obvious though now, letting them know they are pulling anything over on me. There are some players that have 'shark' like habits that are really 'tension relievers' for them, like talking incessantly even while they shoot, or constantly making comments to the railbirds as they shoot or inbetween shots. Sometimes they may not even be aware of what they are doing.

I will give you an example, and this one is on me. I was sitting in a chair at a table beside the Pool table playing a good friend of mine in a tournament. I am just slightly better than him, but a lot better if he ends getting drunk, which he has been known to do before the clock strikes midnight. I missed, and he had the 6 ball, 7, and 9 left. Looked easy enough to me, but his line of sight on the 6 was directly towards me uptable in the corner. I simply thought he was out, and started to reach into my front pocket to get quarters for the next game, and he shot, but
he pulled the cueball too hard with low left, and the cueball went downtable in the middle and cozied up right behind the 9 ball, hooked on
the 7 ball. He said I was 'sharking' him, but that WAS NOT my intentions, and I had to stop and think about what he was talking about, because
reaching to get quarters for the next game is just an unconscious habit
sometimes, BUT I did see his point, especially with me in the line of sight.
No matter what I said, I could not convince him that it was just an unconscious habit of mine. It still bothers me, because his friendship is much more important to me.
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Billybob, this one belongs in the 8-ball bar rules thread...the ol' jingle the quarters trick...how could we have forgotten that one?!?

Jeff Livingston
 
I'll agree with some of the other posters - the best way to deal with it is to smile and act like it doesn't bother you. It's not just in pool that such situations arise. The quicker these guys figure out that it's not going to work on you, the quicker they'll give up.
 
"A polished stone doesn't remain dirty even after being cast in the mud"

Be above those idiots and let their remarks and nasty behavior let you smile while you beat them. After a while they will realize that crap doesn't work and most likely will try to become your friend. At which point you can tell them to kiss your ass.
 
Just tell your friend to laugh at these guys, because they are just jealous of his success.

I have never had someone get really nasty with me, but I have had a few unhappy losers. One got even more upset, when he wanted to gamble with me and I told him, I don't gamble. I just play for fun. :D
 
Rich R. said:
Just tell your friend to laugh at these guys, because they are just jealous of his success.

I have never had someone get really nasty with me, but I have had a few unhappy losers. One got even more upset, when he wanted to gamble with me and I told him, I don't gamble. I just play for fun. :D
Click to expand...

That's funny. I told this guy I beat last night that wanted to gamble that "I would never take advantage of a lessor player on a pool table."

He didn't much like that.
 
supergreenman said:
That's funny. I told this guy I beat last night that wanted to gamble that "I would never take advantage of a lessor player on a pool table."

He didn't much like that.
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Oh man! I love that one... he will stew about that until the day he dies! Niiiiiccccceeee!

I can't wait to be good enough to use that!
 
I've only had someone shark me once in a tournament, and he was well known for doing it. He started with the endless foot shaking, coughing during my stroke, cue tapping, and chuckling when I got bad shape. So after 5 games of this I stood up from a shot and said "Does my game really scare you so much that you have to keep sharking me?" The place went silent, I guess I said it louder than I thought. He said nothing, I went back to the match.

I never get into crap with people, I worked where we were playing, so when I said something everyone knew something was wrong. He stopped the sharking for the most part.

Don't EVER let someone shark you. You have to set limits to what you will put up with, or everyone that sharks will do it to you endlessly. Also, there is no "ignoring it til later" You paid your entry, or made a game, and you have every right to play unsharked as the next guy.

Gerry
 
Tell your friend to make the problems with the other players his problem. In other words, he needs to learn to win in spite of what others are doing. He needs to look at this as an opportunity to learn to focus more on his game and less on his opponents or anyone else for that matter.

You can't expect everyone in the world to behave as you'd like them to. The only thing any of us can control is ourselves. Find a way to deal with external issues within yourself and eventually you will reap the benefits, not the jerks trying to mess you up.
 
BillyKoda said:
I didn't experienced this type of thing when I began playing again and started winning. It may be because when I started playing again I held back a little and socialized with the better players. Pool players talk to each other and I was the new guy in town so to speak, I took it slow and now they show respect for my game. If you walk into a new place and only play the game you get scrutinized to death, socialize with the players and they feel less threatened. If they feel they know you a little bit they will most certainly cut you some slack. You will establish a reputation one way or another, I chose to take my time and establish a beneficial reputation.

This is just my experience and may not work for your friend.
Click to expand...

I agree with Billy here. If I found topics of conversation that were "common ground topics" the going was easy in those tournaments. Serveral others I didn't really talk to anyone.

They resented me in these. It got so bad at one tournament that after I lost the king of the hill match I had to play TWO players out of the losers bracket to get back to playing the king of the hill!:confused:

I was shown the bracket and it was hand written in pencil. Tried to reason, tried to complain, and tried to lose my games I was so mad.

I won the tournament anyway and never went back to it. (It didnt help the guy that was king of the hill was good friends with the guy running the thing.)
 
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Maybe...:cool: isn't it because you're not a local. He, your protegy isn't. He's a pool player. A serious pool player and they're bar room players. You can't blame them but should move on to where serious pool players play. It isn't fun for other players at the bar to play your kid so theres trouble. He's in the wrong place. But it is a good learning curve because different forms of sharking occur at every level. The nature of the beast. :cool:
 
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only one thing worse than a bad loser,,,,,,,,,,,,,a bad winner,,,,,,,,,,,,,tell em it was a good or lucky night and blow it off. some ppl play better than others,,,,,duh
 
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