What is the sweetest feeling when you play Pool?

AuntyDan

AuntyDan

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I was playing a few nights ago and made the shot diagrammed below. (We were playing 9 Ball but it would be just as applicable to 8 Ball I guess) I'd been playing fairly well all night when this position came up. I knew in theory the one-rail path was the lower percentage shot than going two rails around the corner and across the table, but it just felt right so I went for it. The cue ball rolled all the way down the table at perfect lag speed and just bumped the foot rail like it was giving it a tender kiss. (So technically it was a 2 rail shot I guess!)

I know it is not the most difficult or complex shot in the world, but it just all came together so nicely I didn't even want to make the 8 and 9. At that moment for me nothing else mattered; not the score or the opponent or the money, just the feeling of hitting a shot totally right. It was one of those feelings I file away and then bring out to enjoy whenever frustrations get me down.

What moments have you had like that playing Pool? Please share so we can all enjoy them.
 

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AuntyDan said:
I was playing a few nights ago and made the shot diagrammed below. (We were playing 9 Ball but it would be just as applicable to 8 Ball I guess) I'd been playing fairly well all night when this position came up. I knew in theory the one-rail path was the lower percentage shot than going two rails around the corner and across the table, but it just felt right so I went for it. The cue ball rolled all the way down the table at perfect lag speed and just bumped the foot rail like it was giving it a tender kiss. (So technically it was a 2 rail shot I guess!)

I know it is not the most difficult or complex shot in the world, but it just all came together so nicely I didn't even want to make the 8 and 9. At that moment for me nothing else mattered; not the score or the opponent or the money, just the feeling of hitting a shot totally right. It was one of those feelings I file away and then bring out to enjoy whenever frustrations get me down.

What moments have you had like that playing Pool? Please share so we can all enjoy them.
Click to expand...


i feel you exactly............when i am in dead stroke........nothing else matters..it's almost is if im not even shooting the balls..they are rolling in by themselves with perfect shape......

da 6
 
The one I'll never forget...

Back when I was just learning the wonderful game of 8-ball, I was looking at the following shot. I needed only to pocket the 1 and 2 balls and the 8.
START(
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%Pg7J4
)END
I had only been playing for a very short time and hadn't really tried to get serious about pool. The position I shot whitey to was NOT planned. It was strickly a hack getting lucky. I'm sure I was smiling from ear to ear when the cue ball stopped perfectly as such:
START(
%Ao4O0%BF4C8%HD8V4%Id6V6%JP9I8%KH2T5%L[8F9%MK8D8%NR4W9%OI1J5
%Pg7J4%Q[8_1%Us0Z2%Vo5O6%Wn7N0%Xh3J7%Yr5M9%Zo5N2%[I7D5%\C6F0
%]D3F4%^s2M5
)END

I wish I could say I planned the shape, but I can't. lol dumb luck
 
i love the feeling when you get in a game and theres alot of people watching and youre just killing the table. Last night i was in a 5 man 10 ball game shooting on the 4 7 and 10......and i got to the table with a spot shot on the 3 and i hit it and ran out with some tough clusters and a bank on the 7(money) to run out the rest and it was sweet. Everybody gets quiet and i heard one guy kind of murmur "oh shit scotts got this table". That whole feeling of being in stroke and youre running out like its nothing and the whole rail is glued on you. gotta love this game
 
The Sweetest

the sweetest feeling I had was in in a 64 man tournament to get in the top 16 already on the one loss side, hill-hill my break I snapped the 9 it was the greatest!!! felt like fast Eddie in the color of money when he went outside in Atlantic City.
 
when i'm playing well, and the tip seems to be performing very obiedently. and cheating the pocket is done on every shot, i'm not just pocketing balls, oh no, i'm playing to the correct side of the pockets, which means i'm fine tuned and in the positional zone, that's a feeling i love!
 
I get that sweet feeling when I'm shooting very relaxed and never have to use much force to move the cueball. I can draw the rock table length with half speed and spin those balls in while making the cueball dance around the table effortlessly. Also, shooting a table length straight in shot stopping the cueball dead after impact is very rewarding and usually builds up my confidence. Sometimes I get that sweet feeling when I sit down after leaving my opponent an impossible hook and his expression tells that he's in deep trouble. I can just relax in my chair and figure out how badly my perfect safety sinks in to my opponent :cool:
 
a few of us get together every week for 9-ball ring game, and it's kind of a good feeling when you hear someone ask "who let him out", and I haven't even shot the 2 ball yet.
 
for me it's the comraderie.

Yes, one of the sweetest feelings is being able to run out ro to know that your game is improving like it should; however, the BEST feeling for me is whne you've got that circle of friends that all love to play pool and you can sit around in the pool hall till 2:00 in the morning every night and throw jibs and jabs at each other playing ring nine or watching match ups or playing golf,(on a snooker table, not in a field), with money on it and it doesn't matter even if you lose, (of course you want to win).

To me that is what makes pool the greatest game ever played.

I miss that. I made five dollars an hour running my buddy's pool hall, and I would do it again if I could support my family on it.
 
Poolhalljunkie said:
the sweetest feeling I had was in in a 64 man tournament to get in the top 16 already on the one loss side, hill-hill my break I snapped the 9 it was the greatest!!! felt like fast Eddie in the color of money when he went outside in Atlantic City.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to "sour" your great memory of when that happened, but if you had broke and ran out wouldn't it have felt better? I've snapped in the 9 being on the hill before, and every time I feel slightly disappointed and a little embarassed. I don't like getting rewarded for luck, not even a single game. It shouldn't just be about winning, it should be about how you performed, win or lose. That's my solid opinion.
 
One of the sweetest moments happened to me last weekend....coming back from a 6-1 match in a race to 7 and on the hill snapping the 9 ball to win 7-6....adrenaline city! :cool:
 
In a tournament at Hard Times, I was in dead punch, and I hit this shot to win the match. Not the most difficult shot I ever faced, but the feeling I had once I knew I hit it good, was what playing this game is all about. I hit it with follow because the pockets are so tight at Hard Times and I felt that if I had used draw, the pocket wouldn't have accepted it. I also didn't like the angle, or lack of it, I should say, and I thought that even if I had made it with draw, I may have ended up right on top of the 9. After I made it, I heard someone in the crowd say, "Damn", but it was more like a, "Daaaaaamn", and thats what felt so good.
START(
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)END
Peace, John.
 
I also love the feeling of playing perfect pinpoint position (when it happens...lol). Just seeing the CB lag lazily to exactly where you wanted it with perfect speed is a beautiful thing.

It also fascinates me when I catch a stroke... the cue seems almost like a part of my body. It seems much lighter, there seems to be no muscle involvement on shots, and my back arm swings almost due to gravity alone. I fall into perfect alignment on shot after shot without thinking about it.

I can also relate to Mikko's post. Getting a real live draw on the CB without much speed at all... that's when you know you're really stroking the ball.

The above are a few things that make me love the game as much as I do.
 
Sweetest feelings ...

Not the 'sweetest' feelings, but certainly right up with it:

1) Ahead in a $1,000 set, 10-9 going to 11, with 60
people around the table in booths (Steak house back room),
couldn't get on the 9, left with a real tough bank with frozen
9 ball on foot end rail. If I miss, he's out, and will be
breaking the hill-to-hill game, and he is real good.
You think the bank will mess up and the cue ball
is a problem because of the angle. I decided to kick
the 9 ball in. I hit the shot perfect, the cue ball hits
the 9 perfect, and cuts in into the left foot corner for
the win of the match. Several high sidebets by spectators.
Almost all 60 people jump up, yelling, clapping, hooping
and hollaring like I had just won the Super Bowl. I will
never forget that feeling as long as I live.

2) 2 years ago, winning a good strong 32 player tournament,
one week later, winning the Kansas State BCA 8 ball championship,
then 2 months later, winning the Seniors Championship in Oklahoma City.

3) Being down badly against a better player, and coming
back to run out the set.

4) Making the 9 on the break with hill-to-hill.

5) Making any match 9 ball for $100 and up.
 
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I'm right-handed, but for some reason lately I can cut extremely fine left-handed (better than right-handed), when cutting to the left. I've won two big games recently with the same shot. My right eye has been giving me problems and my game has gone to hell, but I'm very confident of that particular shot and now take it rather than shooting right-handed. It is certainly a very sweet feeling in a period of otherwise dismal pool.
 
1/ when i found this forum

2/ when ill have my first pool cue ever (still to come, but i know i will be SOOOOOOOOOOOO happy)

3/ yesterday at my poolhall. been training my girl now for 2 weeks now (she has no experience AT all) and seeing her stand PERFECTLY. perfect alignment, perfect stroke, 90° arm bended when hitting the ball, no chicken wings, feet and corps in perfect balance, eyes concentrated as if her life was on the line. just doing everything i said for the past 2 weeks , exactly like i told her, without i having to tell her anymore DONT!! forget your chicken wings, DONt forget this. usually when i told her something, she was always reacting with BLALALALLALA ill just do it my way. but seems she really has been listening, and now she has one of the sexyest and perfect stands ive ever seen on a woman. even thought of taking a picture of it. i stopped playing for 30minuts, just to enjoy looking at her stands.

4/ 1 week ago, when i entered her barr where she works, and she was asking a guy if her scetch on how to bank a ball (mathematical schets) was right. never thought she'd be hooked to pool, thought it was just to make me feel better and show some interest in my passion, now she's as crazy almost as me about pool.

5/ I played my first pool game ever in 2001, when i joined a friend who was playing in a tournament. i didnt want to just sit down so i payed the entree fee and lost in first round 45-51 in 14-1 game , and 47-51 vs a woman.
when i started 4 months ago, i checked the top 5 players in my country on the site, and i saw this guy is the #3 in my country, and the woman was the #1 in my country. gave me a VERY nice feeling to know, at least i lost with a excelent score vs 2 of the best pro players. gave me a huge mental boost.

6/ being top 100 of my country next week if i can qualify after only 3 months op playing. (not yet sure, will be between 99 - 103 i think)

7/ first time i qualified for a final32.
had to win 21 frames, to pass. 5 other guys had 20 frames won. i was at 17 with one match to play (first to 5), but had to play vs the best qualifier, who hadnt lost a frame in the whole qualifyng. missed two 9balls in the jaws, and was losing 2-4. (total of only 19 frames. i came back with the best game i ever played , to lose the match 4-5, but total of 21 frames to pass) Other opponents where talking behind my back my opponent had made me win some frames, but it wasnt anything at all. i just runout 2 times in a row after the brake.
 
I get in the zone frequently (altho not enough!), but one time in a pro match against Darlene Stinson, I actually floated above the zone! I have never felt it since, but it was like I automatically KNEW everything was going to go no matter what I did, before I even shot the shot. I knew the match was mine. Even the couple times I got hooked and she won a game or 2, the feeling persisted. What is so different is that I did not have the intense concentration that excludes everything but the table and balls, that you have when you are in the zone, I felt like I was floating and was aware of the audience, the opponent, and even her friends sitting in the stands, but I was totally at peace. I made some absolutely crazy runouts that defy explanation, where I wasn't even going with the percentages.

I remember taking time to aim, but there was no pressure because I already knew it was going. But it wasn't like the confidence in practice where you just bang the balls around, knowing they are easy and will go - no, there was still that element of focus - cool, calm, composed collectedness of being in the zone.

I remember after it was over, so many people congratulating me and then wondering if I could carry that over to my next match, which of course, I didn't. I tried to maintain the same calmness, and I played well, may have even gotten in the zone, but it wasn't the same. I'll never forget that ethereal feeling. Now if someone close to me had just died or something, I could have said they were watching out for me, but I didn't and it was just bizarre!
 
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