Who has played on Auto-Pilot ? ?

Walt Frazier

Walt Frazier

Banned
By a show of hands,I'd like to know who amongst us has had the pleasure of playing on virtual"auto-pilot"..You know,when everything slows down(almost like a movie)and you are in perfect rhythm,free-flowing,smooth- stroking and the game just FEELS so easy to you..You can not miss;your position play is almost Efren-like..But,even if you do get out-of-line,you still pocket the ball with ease and run out..

The key difference between someone who plays my speed(decent short-stop) and a champion is that the champion lives in this zone or "auto-pilot"and he's always dialed in;whereas I get in dead-stroke every now and then..

What Non-champion here has played on "auto-pilot" ?:D
 
Green pool...

Sounds like you are talking about something Willie Munson used to call "green pool". Every table looks like you can run out anything.
It's great when that happens, wish I could do it more often!
 
one time i ended up pulling an all nighter........i went to bed about 430 am, couldnt sleep, so i just got up and kept going with my day. Well that evening about 630 i went in to play pool, and i was a complete zombie, figured id shoot like crap but i was supposed to meet some friends there. I got in a ring game and ran a 5pack, completely out of it, just making everything and lauging the whole time cuz i was punchy. I "woke-up" when i realised id run the last 5 racks and i missed lmao
 
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I have that feeling more often than I used to. The slower I stroke and try to make it one motion the better play. I come into a greater focus after a couple of hours and find myself playing better shape and pocketing balls one right after another. What a feeling!!!!!

Gary
 
I have

One time at a State Tournament at Eric's Billiards in Austin. 1995 or 1996, when I could barely play!

It felt great.

Melinda
 
Yeah, a few times. The whole room, including people near the table are nothing more than a blur. The only thing in focus is the table and you don't think about the shot, because it automatic. You know if you shoot the shot it goes. Then the guy in the chair remembers he has to be somewhere else and leaves. :(
 
i was fortunate enough to hit that gear monday night, was playing a buddy of mine who is only slightly under me, we werent playing for anything, just trying to stay in stroke. we played about 50 games or so an i think he might have won about 4. i was running out from all over. it was fun
 
Walt Frazier said:
By a show of hands,I'd like to know who amongst us has had the pleasure of playing on virtual"auto-pilot"..You know,when everything slows down(almost like a movie)and you are in perfect rhythm,free-flowing,smooth- stroking and the game just FEELS so easy to you..You can not miss;your position play is almost Efren-like..But,even if you do get out-of-line,you still pocket the ball with ease and run out..

The key difference between someone who plays my speed(decent short-stop) and a champion is that the champion lives in this zone or "auto-pilot"and he's always dialed in;whereas I get in dead-stroke every now and then..

What Non-champion here has played on "auto-pilot" ?:D
Click to expand...

In the old days, we called this "being in dead stroke". It was a state of mind, where you no longer had to think about the shots. You just got down and automatically knew how to hit the ball. Everything looked and felt easy. All good players have experienced this feeling, some for longer periods of time than others.

I think Buddy was in dead stroke for over 20 years and Earl for 15. Same for Sigel and Mizerak. In fact all the top players had three speeds. They either played Good, Better or Best. The really great players did not have bad days at Pool.
 
Dead Stroke! My thoughts exactly.

Waddya mean "in the old days". We called it that as recently as 20 years ago! :eek:

It should be noted, however, that you don't "decide" to get into Dead Stroke. It can not be forced, and most players will try to replicate the conditions in which they were last in Dead Stroke - mind set, food, sleeping, warm-up routine, etc., etc., in a vain attempt to get "in it again", but to no avail.

It is a state of mind, and for the pool player it's a state of bliss. You don't miss anything; everything you want to do...just happens. Perfectly. Effortlessly.

Bob Fancher suggests that you can slowly (over years) train your mind to enter this state more easily, though no one - anywhere - can just flip a switch and get into Dead Stroke.

It is Nirvana. Utopia. Shangri-La.

But elusive? You bet your sweet azz.

-von

jay helfert said:
In the old days, we called this "being in dead stroke". It was a state of mind, where you no longer had to think about the shots. You just got down and automatically knew how to hit the ball. Everything looked and felt easy. All good players have experienced this feeling, some for longer periods of time than others.

I think Buddy was in dead stroke for over 20 years and Earl for 15. Same for Sigel and Mizerak. In fact all the top players had three speeds. They either played Good, Better or Best. The really great players did not have bad days at Pool.
Click to expand...
 
VonRhett said:
Dead Stroke! My thoughts exactly.

Waddya mean "in the old days". We called it that as recently as 20 years ago! :eek:

It should be noted, however, that you don't "decide" to get into Dead Stroke. It can not be forced, and most players will try to replicate the conditions in which they were last in Dead Stroke - mind set, food, sleeping, warm-up routine, etc., etc., in a vain attempt to get "in it again", but to no avail.

It is a state of mind, and for the pool player it's a state of bliss. You don't miss anything; everything you want to do...just happens. Perfectly. Effortlessly.

Bob Fancher suggests that you can slowly (over years) train your mind to enter this state more easily, though no one - anywhere - can just flip a switch and get into Dead Stroke.

It is Nirvana. Utopia. Shangri-La.

But elusive? You bet your sweet azz.

-von
Click to expand...

Thanks Rhett. For a pool player this state of mind is better than sex.
 
the zone

The zone is what I call that state. You are seeing and thinking with a clarity that makes everything on the table easy. The thinking is subconscious, you aren't thinking in words, you need a solution and it is at your fingertips.

I have been there playing pool, once fairly often. I have been there shooting rifle and pistol competition too, it makes you an absolute monster with a rifle. However, the one activity where I reached the zone every time was racing circle track cars. I achieved the zone every time I climbed behind the wheel. When you consider it, most of us don't think about how to drive on the road, speed up, slow down, dodge that pothole, correct to keep the vehicle in the lane, we just do these things.

When we are at the table and we see the shot we have to make and where we have to put the cue ball for the next shot at a glance and everything else is automatic, we are in the zone. When that lasts for game after game it is pure magic.

Hu
 
If I was more motivated, I would spend some time working on self-hypnosis to find that zone more often. It would help to eliminate the clutter of extraneous thoughts that interfere with focusing totally on the game.
 
I've done it maybe twice. It was weird. I broke and it was like everything else in the room was gone. It was dead quiet to me, and all of a sudden I was shooting the 9 for the win. Once I got down on the 9, I realized that I just ran 8 balls in a seemingly effortless manner. It was really freaky in a way to be quite honest.
 
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