was in action last night and this happened

[actionplayer]

I was playing 2 weeks ago, and 4 of us regulars came up with a scotch doubles game 9 ball race to 5 for 50. harmless right? The opposition had the strongest and weakest player out of the 4. My partner and I are 2,3 respectively so I thought we were stealing. So much so that we gave them the 8 and the breaks

we got up to to 200 a man and we lost bad.
they were snapping the 8 swinging at the 8 or 9 every times and getting it etc (this is bar table)

we played the next week gave them the last 2 we lost again, couldnt figure it out
got worse when we down another 200 then they give us the breaks and we still lose

we played last night we got breaks again an we down 200, the breaks were not helping us the table broke bad we scratched or left the 1,9 combo or hooked.

we tried to get the last 2 instead of breaks. they stalled so we went screw it no weight just play even they said ok ...we beat them 5-1

then 5-2 5-2 getting us up 400

point being, getting weight really messed with us the psyche of it even tho small we were struggling with it, we would break too hard or too soft

when we played even we broke n ran least 2 out of the 5 racks we won

also scotch doubles is way more tougher especially when players aren't equal

you get cold and double guess yourself trying to leave partner perfect

interesting night glad we came out up

 

[miscrewed89]

Funny how that works...
I was playing a guy some one pocket, beating him 8-1, 8-0, 8-2 and so on. He asked for 9-7, I obliged, he wins first 2 games 7-0 and 7-1. I went to the restroom, gave myself a peptalk, then came back and trounced him again. The mental side of this game is crazy!

 

[actionplayer]

Funny how that works...
I was playing a guy some one pocket, beating him 8-1, 8-0, 8-2 and so on. He asked for 9-7, I obliged, he wins first 2 games 7-0 and 7-1. I went to the restroom, gave myself a peptalk, then came back and trounced him again. The mental side of this game is crazy!

absolutely, true. The mental side of the game I know is huge but actually utilizing it to your advantage is a different story. I struggled with getting weight in a position I dod not think I needed it and it messed me up

playing even i felt way more comfortable

it was like there was more pressure when i got wseight becasue I was expecting myself to win easily

 

[The Kiss]

Yeah the mental side can kill you at times . But a bar table can be the equalizer as well. IMO putting a weaker player with the strongest player playing doubles can make things very easy.

Strong player sets up the poor player every time and if the poor player can play decent postion strong player should leave him easy again.

On a 9 footer the poor player or the strong player may be faced with harder shots or the weaker player can't play area position.

Plus on a 7 footer if you make a ball or 2 on the break the out can never require a shot longer than 5 feet. Off the break making 1 ball means with the 8 or the last 2 you really only have to run 6/7 balls. 3 of which are shot by the weaker player genrally in makeable spots.

 

[maha]

what happens is many gamblers put too much faith in the results of a small sample of games. most likely you are closely matched and results were close to random.

 

[miscrewed89]

Another funny example of this mental aspect:
I'm talking to an old man in the poolroom while playing in a $5 8ball tournament. Never met him before, he said his name was Jerry. Long story short, we played some one pocket, I won. I found out the next day it was Jerry Brock. I wasn't supposed to win. Granted, he is old and not in the same form as he once was, BUT, he still plays very well and spots players who would have to give me a lot of weight. Had I known who he was before we played, #1) I probably wouldn't have played, #2) his reputation would have psyched me out.
Trying to understand this stuff is mind boggling to me! So much more to this game than fundamentals and mechanics!

 

[Jaden]

Yep scotch doubles can be double tough...

I was playing 2 weeks ago, and 4 of us regulars came up with a scotch doubles game 9 ball race to 5 for 50. harmless right? The opposition had the strongest and weakest player out of the 4. My partner and I are 2,3 respectively so I thought we were stealing. So much so that we gave them the 8 and the breaks

we got up to to 200 a man and we lost bad.
they were snapping the 8 swinging at the 8 or 9 every times and getting it etc (this is bar table)

we played the next week gave them the last 2 we lost again, couldnt figure it out
got worse when we down another 200 then they give us the breaks and we still lose

we played last night we got breaks again an we down 200, the breaks were not helping us the table broke bad we scratched or left the 1,9 combo or hooked.

we tried to get the last 2 instead of breaks. they stalled so we went screw it no weight just play even they said ok ...we beat them 5-1

then 5-2 5-2 getting us up 400

point being, getting weight really messed with us the psyche of it even tho small we were struggling with it, we would break too hard or too soft

when we played even we broke n ran least 2 out of the 5 racks we won

also scotch doubles is way more tougher especially when players aren't equal

you get cold and double guess yourself trying to leave partner perfect

interesting night glad we came out up

I just played in a scotch doubles tournament that tap put on, diamond bar box eightball.

It's just like you say. If you're playing with someone that's a different skill level, you can't play how you would normally. Instead of taking two medium difficulty shots, you have to take the hard shot with easy shape on the next ball.

There were a couple of times that we almost lost because of me having to take on harder shots and missing.

Jaden

 

[wahcheck]

the mental game is a mystery sometimes

My own experience with the mental game is similar; when I knew I was going up against a player way over my speed, I didn't play well at all..........

However, once I went to a strange pool hall and played cheap 9 ball sets against a stranger, I did real well and actually beat him out of a few bucks;
afterward, I asked if he played in USPPA tournaments (yes, this was a long time ago) and found that he had a much higher average than I did......I'm sure had I known that before we started I would have shot a lot worse and lost....

...and...my only gambling experience with scotch doubles did not end well;
my partner and I played against 2 brothers, and what was supposed to be a friendly game (5 bucks per man) started escalating between my partner and one of the brothers; the other brother and I just kept it "friendly' and didn't raise the bet.....Well, long story short, I ended up winning 10 bucks and my partner was owed $200.....the loser said he didn't have the dough and it ended up in a fight where my partner broke a cue stick over the guy's forehead....I had to pull the brother off my partner b/c he had him in a stranglehold and he might've choked him to death.........so much for "friendly" gambling......