[The8reader]

any tricks to not play the person and at there level. but to play at your level and above all the time. i am confident in my pool game, so just need some more idea's i guess... thanks

[Tony_in_MD]

Great topic, and a tough one to answer.

Humans are basically lazy in the fact that we tend to do the minimum to get by.

You cannot totally ignore your opponent, you must observe them for weaknesses that you can file away and capitalize on at some point in the match, that said when playing a weaker opponent, you cannot afford to play lazy because you are thinking that they have no chance.

What I do is set goals for myself if I am matched up with a weaker opponent, I focus on those goals, in order to not get trapped into lazy play.

Looking forward to hearing from other on this.

[FranCrimi]

Originally Posted by The8reader

any tricks to not play the person and at there level. but to play at your level and above all the time. i am confident in my pool game, so just need some more idea's i guess... thanks

How old are you?

[The8reader]

i like the plan of setting goals. what kind of goals do you set? it just gets me, i played the hall owner the other day and beat him 2 out of the 3 games we played. he quit when i beat him the last two. i shot lights out. then played some scrub and couldent make a shot to save my life. i know its all mental, so anything will help..


For the record i am old enough to know better, and just young enough to play 8 hours straight.. every day. I also work 48 hours a week. so that should give you some idea. thankx for the posts'

[PGHteacher]

Well this is an absolutely fantastic question with lots of answers. Most would probably dispense some not too worthwhile over simplistic advice like “play your game” or “forget your opponent”. Well most of us can’t and this is a big psychological problem that at some point should be addressed, we spend so much time trying to beat “the guy who is better or on par with us” that when it comes time to just put away the little guy; we fail. I can’t even tell you how many times I have failed to do so.

Originally Posted by Tony_in_MD

Humans are basically lazy in the fact that we tend to do the minimum to get by.

This is a big one.

Originally Posted by Tony_in_MD

….when playing a weaker opponent, you cannot afford to play lazy because you are thinking that they have no chance.

Yes; this line of thought gets a lot of “weaker player wins” in fact I would say 50%, maybe more.

Originally Posted by Tony_in_MD

What I do is set goals for myself if I am matched up with a weaker opponent, I focus on those goals, in order to not get trapped into lazy play.

Excellent suggestion; I will try this.

How I have dealt with this is not too different from the normal work I am doing to improve as a player. Focus on your technical knowledge and fundamental knowledge of the game. This is harder for “feel” players than it is “technical” players. I do make the distinction.

For the 1st 12-15 yrs I played this game I thought that if one knew enough about the science of the game and with enough practice you could beat (just about) anyone. Well I look back and realize how much work on the mental game I missed out on with this misguided thought process. I have some regret and embarrassment with regards to that but life and pool go on, besides that line of thought is what propelled me to amass the technical knowledge that I do have today; so it isn’t a total loss.

Josh Waitzkin: chess player (the guy the movie searching for Bobby Fischer is based on) gives some great advice in his chess course that applies to pool as well. PRESENCE is the key; in other words living in the moment and not the future or past.

Another thing is identification of all the psychological aspects of the situation at hand and how and why they are affecting your game. Dave Sapolis talks a lot about this in his articles, I suggest you read them.

http://www.easypooltutor.com/article...-articles.html

Generally speaking as one gets older this problem decreases (not always by any means) that is probably why Fran asked how old you were, I don’t think it was meant to “say” anything about you or be derogatory. Sometimes we get some stuff in our minds and we don’t even realize that it is affecting our game because this stuff is happening on a subconscious level and is affecting the very decisions that we are making; even something as simple as shot choice, and sometimes this is with players that are better than we are also not just players below us in skill level; just to take 2 quick examples (remember I am saying that these thoughts are not occurring to us as “self talk” but are ideas that we are not consciously aware of that are making us make choices, feel poorly and disrupting our “normal play”)

#1: an opponent that is obviously at least a handicap below us; maybe more “Man if I play this safe I am going to look like an unskilled slob and just take the easy win against a guy who couldn’t beat me with a gun if I had a knife, and what if he gets lucky? My team/people around me would laugh/cry”

#2: an opponent that is a handicap above us, or more; “Man if I miss this shot he is out game, set, match”

And I could come up with at least 10 more for each real fast. What you are talking about is one of the life long studies in this game and there are more qualified people to answer it than I am. I am sure still working on this aspect of my game and I think most of us beg-pro will always be, Good luck and I am right there learning with you, still searching for a “trick” to it? Please, please, please let me know if you ever find one.

[Tony_in_MD]

Depending upon the situation examples of my goals are:

NEVER leave the table without creating a problem for the other player to solve.

Stay within my given abilities

Establish my rhythm and stay in it.

Focus and follow my PSR

ID the simplest patterns and execute them

Don't carry baggage from one game (or shot ) to another another poster described this as staying in the moment. This has been the toughest thing for me to do, and in over 20 years of playing this game, I am still working on that.

Originally Posted by The8reader

i like the plan of setting goals. what kind of goals do you set? it just gets me, i played the hall owner the other day and beat him 2 out of the 3 games we played. he quit when i beat him the last two. i shot lights out. then played some scrub and couldent make a shot to save my life. i know its all mental, so anything will help..


For the record i am old enough to know better, and just young enough to play 8 hours straight.. every day. I also work 48 hours a week. so that should give you some idea. thankx for the posts'

[FranCrimi]

Originally Posted by The8reader

i like the plan of setting goals. what kind of goals do you set? it just gets me, i played the hall owner the other day and beat him 2 out of the 3 games we played. he quit when i beat him the last two. i shot lights out. then played some scrub and couldent make a shot to save my life. i know its all mental, so anything will help..


For the record i am old enough to know better, and just young enough to play 8 hours straight.. every day. I also work 48 hours a week. so that should give you some idea. thankx for the posts'

Well, I'm not old enough to know better and I've been playing this game over 30 years and can still play 8 hours straight so I guess you're older than me.

First of all, people are not scrubs. Learn to respect your opponent and you will play better. What I mean by that is that you dictate to yourself how you will play even before the match starts just by how you perceive your opponent's speed. If you know you're about to play a tough player, you fight hard from the start. If you think you're playing someone weak, you slack-off. That's a common mistake you should teach yourself never to make again.

About how to play the table and not the player: There's nothing wrong with playing the player. For example: there's nothing wrong with knowing that you're opponent is a lousy banker. Then when faced with a safety decision, maybe you can leave him a bank. That's playing the player. What's wrong with that? What you don't want to do, however, is take chances you wouldn't ordinarily take just because you perceive your opponent to be weak. You still have to play smart. Taking unnecessary chances is dumb.

Don't feel that beating a lesser player has less meaning than beating a stronger player. Always remember, a win is a win. That's what it all comes down to.

[bbb]

the goal for me when im in a "match" is to win
that means try to play my best with high percentage shot selections
ie when to shoot and when to play safe
if i do that i should give me the best chance to win
if i lose the other player was better that day
the other player doesnt figure into the equation except for safety decisions like fran said

[The8reader]

Great information and francrimi sorry I was defensive on what you asked. I am 25. This was a ton of great information. I do a lot of the same things and now I have some others I can try. How do you deal with sharks then?? EXP: slow playing, talking or being an earl Strickland type player.. I handle them much better then I handle a person that has less knowledge of the game then me. I am good at blocking them out; to bad I can’t block out others haha..

[Sandbag'nIt]

Pool is not like golf where you can play strictly the table or course. In golf you just play the course. In pool, against a weak player you can make moves that you would never make against a strong player. You can break open clusters, leave a wide open table, and dare a weak player to run out and usually they won't. The opposite would be true against a strong player.

[bbb]

i am being serious with this recomendation
take a yoga class and learn some meditation/breathing techniques
it gets you to focus on the here and now
when someone tries to shark you youcan observe it and smile to yourself knowing if he has to resort to that you got him beat
because your focus is the layout presented in front of you
the rest is like a horse with blinders on'there is no distraction

[TheThaiger]

Originally Posted by bbb

i am being serious with this recomendation
take a yoga class and learn some meditation/breathing techniques
it gets you to focus on the here and now
when someone tries to shark you youcan observe it and smile to yourself knowing if he has to resort to that you got him beat
because your focus is the layout presented in front of you
the rest is like a horse with blinders on'there is no distraction

Assuming you're very lazy, how long would you have to do yoga to get some benefit?

[michael4]

(not a pool instructor, but playing down (or up) to the opposition is a common problem in ALL sports and a natural human event)

Bottom line, you have to trick your mind into thinking every game is equally important, and you have to start believing it and playing like it.

some possible mind tricks:

1) even if you are not playing the "good player", tell yourself the good player is watching you closely, so in a way you are still playing against the good player.

2) make it harder on yourself, instead of just winning a game of 8 ball against the weaker player, make it a very important goal that you have to beat him with 4 of his balls still on the table, and if you dont, you lose.

3) before every shot, focus and trick yourself into beleiving/visualizing that you are playing someone better than you (someone other than who you are playing), and therefore you must play your best or lose. if you cant do this, then start with an assumption that they just won the lottery this morning, and its their lucky day, and they are about to get super lucky on you (again, if you miss, you lose)

4) imagine some reason to really dislike this weaker player, like he just ran over your dog....crush him and make him pay for that....

5) imagine you are on TV and being filmed...ie play good for the camera

6) think back to times in the past when you WERE fired up when playing the weak player, what was it that worked for you? try to remember what it was and add it to your game all the time..

7) imagine that this guy really thinks he can beat you, show him why he is wrong!

[bbb]

Originally Posted by michael4

(

7) imagine that this guy really thinks he can beat you, show him why he is wrong!

this could work for alot of players

[bbb]

Originally Posted by TheThaiger

Assuming you're very lazy, how long would you have to do yoga to get some benefit?

learning deep breathing techniques
is not difficult for the lazy ones
not as hard as the poses
but if you are a lazy one you may not use/practice it enough to help