When Are You Playing Your Best Pool?

Sharivari

Sharivari

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I often remember days or matches where I was playing my best possible pool and ask myself what the actual difference was on that specific day. And it's always the little things, like being awake and fresh, feeling good, being hungry for playing pool, and just enjoying playing, that eventually lead to just letting everything happen automatically. In those moments, I am just deciding what outcome I want to have, and the rest is automatically done by my body.

I've tried to capture this in a video to help other players: youtu.be/Tfk8cRHmhTQ

But I also would love to hear from you: When you are playing your best possible pool - what's different?
 
Oikawa

Oikawa

Active member
When there's no pressure, and I am in an explorative state of mind, just trying crazy shots for the sake of it. I guess my mind knows there's nothing to be afraid of and no consequences, and therefore doesn't even consider what happens if I were to miss or chose the wrong shot, which subsequently makes my conscious mind less likely to sabotage my subconscious shot making ability.

As for actual matches or tournaments, apart from obvious external factors like sleep and hunger, I find being able to trust my fundamentals and still executing typical shots even though I feel the pressure and am perhaps in a fearful state of mind (from past experiences when the fundamentals didn't work) is the biggest one for me. Once you have played a few frames and see that your fundamentals work and are playing near to or at the same level as when you practice running racks, the nerves typically go away pretty quickly. However, if I start missing easy shots due to some part of my fundamentals being weak, it's a lost battle, and I just need to fix whatever that issue is before really being confident again. I guess once I've played long enough after having good fundamentals that no longer break, I will start to face new challenges in terms of my confidence :)
 
ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Sharivari said:
In those moments, I am just deciding what outcome I want to have, and the rest is automatically done by my body.
Click to expand...

This is probably the key. I am never playing my best pool when I am very mechanical building the shot. Exactly how many tips high or low I want, how much side, my game won't flow. If I just think the (edit, object ball) is going in that pocket and the cue ball is stopping here without trying to precisely control the spin and speed to get the results I want, my unconscious is free to direct my body without interference.

I call it different things, my verbal mind, my surface mind, my conscious mind, I am talking about the same thing. It is a must for learning many things but it is also slow and weak compared to your subconscious and unconscious. A mother seeing her child's life in danger often moves with speed and coordination to rival that of an olympic athlete. The conscious mind would still be defining what was needed while the unconscious has already recognized what was needed and acted.

The catch when wanting to use it in competition is that the unconscious can be on the spot or a bit stubborn to wake up. There are tricks to help and the zone is always closely allied with the unconscious.

The rolling three ball concept, always thinking three balls ahead, pulls us out of unconscious thought after every ball when we have to add the next ball to the chain. Planning the entire inning through the money ball or to a very good safety should happen before hitting the first ball. When we do this it is very possible for the entire inning to be one continuous action driven by our unconscious. When I am doing this, acting without conscious thought with my actions driven by my unconscious mind is when I play my best pool.

Hu
 
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gregcantrall

gregcantrall

Center Ball
Silver Member
Sharivari said:
I also would love to hear from you: When you are playing your best possible pool - what's different?
Click to expand...
The very first time was playing partners 8 ball against 2 bulldoger cowboys. It was last call and I was broke and found out we were playing for a six pack to go as I stepped to the break. I was courting my female partner and she had made the bet. I was able to find my best and my first win for money. So being backed into a corner would be my answer. The fight or flight mind set brings out my best. The artifical stimulants can have a similar effect. The players I knew that used drugs to get there, burned out quickly.
 
Rocket354

Rocket354

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Sharivari said:
But I also would love to hear from you: When you are playing your best possible pool - what's different?
Click to expand...
For me, it's all mental. When I'm relaxed and focused and my mind isn't racing about work issues or personal issues or my last couple misses or thinking about "if I only make this one shot then I can win the game!" or anything like that. I'm just evaluating the table, and executing the next shot as best I can, with no real emotion, no lingering on mistakes, just focus and confidence.

In my league we track innings at the table. I know I've played well when I get back to the group and our scorekeeper tries to confirm with me how many innings my game was and I honestly have to reply, "I have no clue."

So, concisely: a clear head.
 
Kid Dynomite

Kid Dynomite

Dennis (Michael) Wilson
Silver Member
No sleep
Been up all night
Tired as hell
Haven't eaten in 10 hours
Feet swollen
Glove soaking wet with sweat
Jukebox set to max
Drunk party of 4 on both neighboring tables.
Waitress brand new walking by the table all the time!
Smoke so thick I can barely see.
Table covered in god knows what!
Peanut gallery cheering against me!
Opponent sharking!

The above are all necessary for my best play!

Anything other than the above is subject to nightmares


Kd


Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
 
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Flakeandrun

Flakeandrun

Well-known member
Last night... cleaned up the store owner 7-0, an ex-Chinese-8 pro. Took confidence from a good weekends play (where I destroyed a friend of mine in 3 sets of 7 - final score 21-4 to me). So I started with my tail up, and a solid BnR to start the game. I had never beat the store owner before. Although coming close at 7-6 a couple of times. Was playing American-8. Had a couple of BnR early, and I could see my confidence was up, and his was down. Seeing another, better player, struggling, brings relatability, which goes alongside that lack of expectation of winning/care-free attitude of playing an acknowledged superior. I nearly gave a couple of frames away toward the end, as knowing I could win brought the pressure back. Pretty happy with my game... Will be brought down to earth as soon as I dog the next easy ball...
 
freds

freds

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For 9 ball - in a ring game.
A different mind set, or maybe lack thereof.
 
Flakeandrun

Flakeandrun

Well-known member
Oikawa said:
When there's no pressure, and I am in an explorative state of mind, just trying crazy shots for the sake of it. I guess my mind knows there's nothing to be afraid of and no consequences, and therefore doesn't even consider what happens if I were to miss or chose the wrong shot, which subsequently makes my conscious mind less likely to sabotage my subconscious shot making ability.

As for actual matches or tournaments, apart from obvious external factors like sleep and hunger, I find being able to trust my fundamentals and still executing typical shots even though I feel the pressure and am perhaps in a fearful state of mind (from past experiences when the fundamentals didn't work) is the biggest one for me. Once you have played a few frames and see that your fundamentals work and are playing near to or at the same level as when you practice running racks, the nerves typically go away pretty quickly. However, if I start missing easy shots due to some part of my fundamentals being weak, it's a lost battle, and I just need to fix whatever that issue is before really being confident again. I guess once I've played long enough after having good fundamentals that no longer break, I will start to face new challenges in terms of my confidence :)
Click to expand...
Honestly, my stomach, and being hungry affects me enormously. Besides nerves, I would say that is one of the biggest and most regularly noticed impairments on my play. Noticed often on long tournament days, or in long-sets with my friends for the days table tab.
 
S

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My take on practicer vs cash/tourney dog is, practicing is usually a solitary undertaking; all you and probably "all that" too.

Competition on the other hand involves at least one other mind interfering with your pristine reality.

What to do? Ask "champions' .
 
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