When do you know you are ready to step up?

K

Ky Boy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been playing pool on and off all my life. Mostly 8 ball and 9 ball on 4x8 tables locally. I have traveled to other places and faired ok. But how do you know when you are ready to take your game to the next level. Or rather is there a measuring device that you can use to know if you are ready to take on tougher competition.

How do you know without just jumping in and getting run over? Or can you?

Gary
 
Since you are from Eastern Kentucky, make a trip to Louisville. There are plenty of players here that will let you know real quick how you play. A ton of unknown talent in this town...makes me sick. :)
 
Get on a league locally, this will benefit you by making friends that play pool in turn having people better than you to play with.
 
Ky Boy said:
I have been playing pool on and off all my life. Mostly 8 ball and 9 ball on 4x8 tables locally. I have traveled to other places and faired ok. But how do you know when you are ready to take your game to the next level. Or rather is there a measuring device that you can use to know if you are ready to take on tougher competition.

How do you know without just jumping in and getting run over? Or can you?

Gary
Click to expand...

Is it worth $200 for you to find out...If not, you're not ready yet.

If so, fill up your car with gas, put the rest in your pocket, drive to a place 100-200 miles away and gamble small stakes ($5/game) or so, as long as you can. If you run out of money, drive home. If you don't run out of money, stop at sizzler, then drive home.

Seriously, this will give you a good idea of how you like action and where you stand in relation to unknown players. You might catch a world beater and be toasted, or you might catch someone who isn't and have a good game. Either way, I suspect you'll find the answer within yourself.

Cheers,
~rc
 
My .02 cents

you don't step up playing $5 a game, sorry, and you don't go in cold without watching and analyzing your potential opponents game.

You have to feel good about yiour game, every aspect of it, from breaking, shooting, kicking, jump shots, etc..

You pick someone that usually spots you the wild 8 ball, and play them even,
$100 a set. If you lose $2-300, you have learned a good lesson, that your game isn't as strong as you thought, so adjust your thinking when evaluating yourself, or yiou under evaluated your opponent, or both. This lesson may save you much more in the future. If you come out ahead, you have taken a small step up, and you are ready for some more. If you lose $100, you are close, but not quite there.

Now, if you are one of these guys that couldn't beat a real player without a brain transplant, then forget the whole thing. Referring to players that make the wrong decisions at the wrong time, and never learn a thing or two. Real good players don't want to gamble, they just want your money, and they usually are a percentage player.
 
Well to me it sounds like you are ready, cuz your asking about it. So your looking at our answer's and comparing them with what your thinking.

Here's a couple things to do. Find a couple of weekly tournaments that are within reasonable driving range. And goto them and play. Generally if your playing anything decent, and win a few matches someone will want to gamble.

Unless your just rolling over everyone.

Also, Like someone mention'd go gamble with someone who you'd normally get the 8ball from, and play them even. And When they ask about how much you want to play per set, bet 5$ to 10$ more per set than what your normally use to playing for. Or like if you say 10$ and they say 20, come back and say 25.
 
Im originally from eastern KY, and I can tell you, one of the best towns in your immediate are to go to is Huntington WV. There used to be a couple of nice pool halls there. Classics is still open, and House of Billiards, which is going by TJs now I guess. Great rooms, some good players there. Play a couple of the weekly tournaments first to see how you match up before you go making money games though.
There is also a guy named Duke that as far as I know is still playing tournaments in that area.
Chuck
 
Snapshot9 said:
you don't step up playing $5 a game, sorry, and you don't go in cold without watching and analyzing your potential opponents game.

You have to feel good about yiour game, every aspect of it, from breaking, shooting, kicking, jump shots, etc..

You pick someone that usually spots you the wild 8 ball, and play them even,
$100 a set. If you lose $2-300, you have learned a good lesson, that your game isn't as strong as you thought, so adjust your thinking when evaluating yourself, or yiou under evaluated your opponent, or both. This lesson may save you much more in the future. If you come out ahead, you have taken a small step up, and you are ready for some more. If you lose $100, you are close, but not quite there.

Now, if you are one of these guys that couldn't beat a real player without a brain transplant, then forget the whole thing. Referring to players that make the wrong decisions at the wrong time, and never learn a thing or two. Real good players don't want to gamble, they just want your money, and they usually are a percentage player.
Click to expand...

Playing $100 sets is STEPPING UP, not finding out if you're ready to step up. The OP was on the fence about whether or not he's ready to step up. The fact that he posed the question made me think he's not ready for $100 sets.

I think you do go in cold. This is a test. How better to find out how you react to a tough situation?

Other than that I agree with everything you said.

RC
 
You have got quite a few suggestions to go out and gamble. That isn't necessarily the only way. Local tournaments will give you a pretty good idea of where your game is. If you want to test the waters in one of the regional tours, go for it. The level of play is usually higher, and you may find yourself matched up against some of the best around. Drawing the likes of Dalton, Varner, Moore, Watson and others will quickly let you see where you stand. And it won't cost you your bankroll. Tournaments let you play against the best...and for only 30 or 40 bucks, it's a pretty good bargin.
Steve
 
Ready to step up?

You'll know your ready to step up when you stop asking yourself, "am I ready to step up?"

Seriously, if you are the top dog in your area, it's time to test the waters outside those boundries.
 
pooltchr said:
You have got quite a few suggestions to go out and gamble. That isn't necessarily the only way. Local tournaments will give you a pretty good idea of where your game is.
Click to expand...

RIGHT...I had to laugh out loud. I think that you are just the sort of guy a lot of players WANT to start gambling.

Just try this for a quick and dirty reality check.

Just roll 6 balls out on the table. Adjust them so there are no 2 balls close together and no ball blocks the path to any other ball's closest pocket...make a real COSMO.

Take ball in hand and run out. I think you might be shocked at how low your runout percentage will be. A "B" player will run out only about 70% of the time but they think they can run out 100% because the layout is SO EASY.

And I can tell you in advance why you will fail on certain attempts. But if you decide to do this, just see how many racks out of 20 you can run and report back. BE HONEST!!!

Make a note of why you failed on the racks to don't run.

Before you disclose that, just post your % and let me guess as to why you missed some.

Finally, if you are not running 18 out of 20 KEEP YOUR MONEY IN YOUR POCKET because you have no chance against a top "road player"...even with a huge spot.

Regards,
Jim
 
I think you are on the right track just asking questions. IF you are not sure of your abilities, then get out there and test yourself in an unknown area. No reason to play for $100 or anything WAY out of your comfort level, or to play world beaters. Just ask the guy behind the counter if anyone wants to play some relatively cheap, and be honest about your abilities.

When you do set up a game theres no reason to bet TOO HIGH!, but a little out of your comfort zone is a good thing, then you will create a "new" comfort zone. If it were me, which it has been.....I like to play "ahead" sets instead of by the game , or sets. Reason being you can stretch out an ahead set with a player out of your league to get more seasoning per session. Say you play $100 race to 7, you could lose 7/4 in no time. If you play 7 ahead, or even 5 ahead for the same $100....you could play for hours on the same money.

Gerry
 
plshrk22 said:
Get on a league locally, this will benefit you by making friends that play pool in turn having people better than you to play with.
Click to expand...

and if in your league there are people better than you then no you're not ready to step up.

When you're ready to step up you can be down 5-1 in a race to 7 and know you can snap off 6 in a row at any given time, knowing that you still have control of the table, and being happy that anyone is playing you because you should be destroying them.

When you get that mindset then you can rock some people.. but if you have doubts then keep chuggin along little train and dont deviate from your current track.
 
Ther are some pretty good suggestions here. All of which I will try and see how I come out. Ther are not many tournaments going on around here and certainly not any leagues either within driving distance. It seems gambling is the only way to step up and truely measure yourself. Thanks for all the suggestions. If anyone else has any please feel free to comment as well.


Gary
 
sixpack said:
Is it worth $200 for you to find out...If not, you're not ready yet.

If so, fill up your car with gas, put the rest in your pocket, drive to a place 100-200 miles away and gamble small stakes ($5/game) or so, as long as you can. If you run out of money, drive home. If you don't run out of money, stop at sizzler, then drive home.

Seriously, this will give you a good idea of how you like action and where you stand in relation to unknown players. You might catch a world beater and be toasted, or you might catch someone who isn't and have a good game. Either way, I suspect you'll find the answer within yourself.

Cheers,
~rc
Click to expand...

I think this is good advice. Gambling brings focus to your game, and you need to start small $5 a rack and work your way up. If you play for too much it begins to bring the focus on the stakes. I can't think about stakes when I play, only about rollin' balls. If you do well you can bump it up $20 a rack. Whatever you can afford to lose is my rule. If I can afford to lose I don't think about stakes, just rollin colored balls in holes, and the white one around the table. I find it hard to play my best If I don't gamble, it's just practice.
 
Actually I gamble quite often. Up to $20 a game but rarely over that. Mostly because the oppurtunity doesn't present itself very often. I agree that there has been some good advice given here but I still would like some other opinions. No offense to everyone that offered it but would like to here some more. I have taken all of them to heart and will work with the suggestions provided.

I think maybe the best thing for me is to step out into the unknown and beyond my comfort zone. I am my own worst enemy too being that I have too many irons in the fire and can't find time for a day trip to test myself against others. But the day is coming I can feel it.


Gary
 
When you are easily winning most of your games/tournaments, then it is time to find tougher players and tournaments.

Or when you are almost embarrassed to be playing in a tournament because the players are so bad and it is "no contest" for you to win.

Around my area, there are various places to play and a wide range of skill levels. The skill levels will range from mostly beginner to mostly pro.

So some places will have mostly beginners playing. Others mostly better players. Others mostly very good players, etc.

Same with tournaments. Some tournaments have mostly beginners/bangers. Then others have mostly pretty good players. Others have all very good players. Then pro tournaments.

With tournaments, usually the higher the entry fee, the better the players.

I have the most fun if I am not quite able to get into the money. Then this is a challenge. I want to come back next week and try again. If I am always able to win, then it gets boring. I'm not trying to improve. No reason to improve...
 
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