Why Your Skill Doesn’t Matter in Matches - Just in Practice

[SSP]

I struggled with choking for years. I decided that I needed to create the same condition somehow in practice that I was under in tournaments. I came up with this idea. I made a wager in my mind that if I didn’t run fifty balls in, say, ten attempts, I would send a contribution to some political organization that I detested. I would pick one I really, really hated, and I did pick one. The first time I tried it, I failed. At home I sat down at my desk to write the check. I simply couldn’t do it. I confess. I have welshed on a bet.

Steve Cook said he couldn’t practice pool because his practice stroke was completely different from his tournament stroke. He had to get into the first round for his tournament stroke to appear.

I think it also matters how long you have been playing, if you have been playing at least 20 years CONTINUALLY you probably are not working on your stroke, I was away from the game for about 10 years and I am just STARTING to feel comfortable with my stroke after 4 years, It’s like night and day from just starting over again and better than before, I'm working on postioning and landing on the right side of the cueball now and consistency.

 

[tim913]

You need to be able to play under pressure. Usually that means gambling …. BUT that doesn’t mean you have to play for money.

I remember a place my friends and I would play that had live bands on the weekend and a dance floor. The bet? Whoever lost had to approach the ugliest girl in the room, picked by the winner, and ask them to dance. Seems silly now but that was a LOT of pressure then!