How they Rollin?

one pocket guy · Jun 10, 2015

I was in a brutal partners game yesterday. My partner is the poolroom owner who plays pretty sporty and we match up well with the other team occasionally. It was a night mare . You know the deal. They miss your hooked by total accident or when you make a great shot no following shot due a bad roll. I told you about my partners ability to let you know it was happening to him too. My question to you guys: Tom, Hacker, Ghost, Bill etc is . How do you deal with it? Is there a way to slow this down or reverse the way the balls are rolling against you? Or do you just play another day? Just wondering what you guys do in this situation. Thanks in advance, Todd

Mkbtank · Jun 10, 2015

How they Rollin?

Good question, Todd. I usually try to play through it but it does seem to last for a whole session when this does happen. I'm curious to see what the Wise men have to say.

onepockethacker · Jun 10, 2015

Unfortunately just like Newman told Cruise..." the balls roll funny for everyone kid" It sucks when your on the receiving end of it though LOL There are 2 ways to deal with it..

1. The first you can focus too much on the rolls and start pointing them out as you prep yourself for clear a path for a definite loss. You can use the rolls as your excuse for why you lost.. Like George C Scott told Newman.. Easiest thing in the world to do is LOSE when you have an excuse.

2. The second way is you say to yourself these rolls aren't going to keep going against me all night ( and who knows maybe they will) you have to stay in the positive frame of mind. You bear down and you never let your opponent see that the rolls are getting to you. That will only pump up your opponent and make your task that much harder. By staying positive you are giving yourself a CHANCE for good things to happen and the rolls to change. If you start being negative I can GUARANTEE you the rolls will continue to go against you and your play will also suffer. In that negative frame of mind though you won't notice your poor play but instead the " bad rolls" will stand out to you. By keeping good composure when the rolls are going against you it can have an affect on your opponents game. He might start saying to himself.." man this guy is getting brutal bad rolls and he doesn't rattle like most players do, this guy is going to be tough to beat" that little scenario might throw him off his game and bring yours back.

The bottom line is you have to stay focused and say **** THE ROLLS im going to beat this SOB despite them. It is funny though just like poker players.. we remember every bad beat and bad roll but the times we get lucky don't stand out as much do they

and also when we are playing good those "bad rolls" don't seem to show up as much do they?

P.S. Phil Capelles mind for pool which I recommended the other day to everyone focuses on these type of things as well as other mental parts of the game.

LSJohn · Jun 10, 2015

Mkbtank said:
I'm curious to see what the Wise men have to say.

Well, I generally try.....

Huh?

Oh.

onepockethacker · Jun 10, 2015

I wanted to add a quick story about the rolls and staying positive instead of negative and how you give yourself a chance to win.

17 or 18 years ago I was playing a 9 ball match and the rolls were going against me and my play was suffering. I was in the negative frame of mind focusing on the bad rolls. It was like 7 to 6 him going to 9. I was shooting a 9 ball a real thin cut in the corner. I over cut it and it hit the side rail point of the pocket then the end rail point of the pocket and popped out 2 inches from the hole on the side rail. When I shot my cue ball was going up and down the table by the side rail. The cue ball was still rolling but my opponent was going to have a tap in 9 ball. So being in that " negative frame of mind" I raked the 9 ball in the pocket... WELLLLLL don't you just know that the cue ball as it was coming back down table toward the 9 ball, as it slowed up by the side pocket the cue ball rolled off a little and rolled up on the side pocket tit!! He would have been totally frozen and had to have kicked 2 rails at the 9 ball to make it and I would have given him 20% percent chance of making it.
The point of the story is if I would have stayed in the positive I wouldn't of raked the 9 ball and probably would have won the set. My roll showed up but I didn't give myself a chance to accept it.

LSJohn · Jun 10, 2015

I don't believe in telekinesis. I don't think your attitude or any part of your thoughts can change the way the balls roll.

The connection may not be obvious, but this relates to one of the BIG ONES in my philosophy: In all things it is far more productive to think/focus on "What do I do from here" than on "How did I get here."

"Son-of-a-bitch, it happened again" is in the past and will hurt your stroke; "Where would I like to put him and can I get there?" is keeping you in the present and giving you the best chance to execute.

A bad roll can either be an excuse to lose or a chance to remind yourself how tough-minded you are. (Helluva lot easier for me to say it than to consistently do it, but at least I know what my goal is.)

petie · Jun 10, 2015

I used to play a guy daily who would piss and moan and go on and on over every little thing--rolls, misses, conditions, etc. The thing is, he would do it after it had happened to him which meant that he was no longer at the table; I was. It was a huge shark to me the longer it went on. So I gave it a lot of thought. One thing I realized is that his pissing and moaning gave outlet to and enabled his mistakes thereby perpetuating them. Instead of trying to solve them, he was justifying them. One day I told him I was sick of hearing about every little injustice in his world and to not talk while I was shooting. I also said, "Express yourself with your shooting--not with your crying." It made a big difference to the positive in his game.

Its the same thing in Bull Riding. I used to watch it all the time. Donny Gay, ex-world champion bull rider was the expert commentator during this phase of my life. He would critique every ride--especially when the cowboy got bucked off. One of his favorite sayings was, "He took his eye off the bull and started looking for a soft spot on the ground where he could land. When you do that, you will surely land there." Very appropriate for pool players who are looking for sympathy and justifying losing.

one pocket guy · Jun 10, 2015

Thanks for the responses. Keep them coming. Yes I have learned over the years to try to do as Hacker described,(it used to kill me) and I stayed positive the whole session hence being 6 games stuck instead of 4. My question was not mental but physical such as take a few minutes break and clean balls or use different strategy to move balls differently.

androd · Jun 10, 2015

Coffee in the morning, cocaine afternoons
You talk about the weather and you grin about the rooms
Phone calls long distance to tell how you've been
You forget about the losses, you exaggerate the wins

Jeff sparks · Jun 10, 2015

onepockethacker said:
Unfortunately just like Newman told Cruise..." the balls roll funny for everyone kid" It sucks when your on the receiving end of it though LOL There are 2 ways to deal with it..

1. The first you can focus too much on the rolls and start pointing them out as you prep yourself for clear a path for a definite loss. You can use the rolls as your excuse for why you lost.. Like George C Scott told Newman.. Easiest thing in the world to do is LOSE when you have an excuse.

2. The second way is you say to yourself these rolls aren't going to keep going against me all night ( and who knows maybe they will) you have to stay in the positive frame of mind. You bear down and you never let your opponent see that the rolls are getting to you. That will only pump up your opponent and make your task that much harder. By staying positive you are giving yourself a CHANCE for good things to happen and the rolls to change. If you start being negative I can GUARANTEE you the rolls will continue to go against you and your play will also suffer. In that negative frame of mind though you won't notice your poor play but instead the " bad rolls" will stand out to you. By keeping good composure when the rolls are going against you it can have an affect on your opponents game. He might start saying to himself.." man this guy is getting brutal bad rolls and he doesn't rattle like most players do, this guy is going to be tough to beat" that little scenario might throw him off his game and bring yours back.

The bottom line is you have to stay focused and say **** THE ROLLS im going to beat this SOB despite them. It is funny though just like poker players.. we remember every bad beat and bad roll but the times we get lucky don't stand out as much do they and also when we are playing good those "bad rolls" don't seem to show up as much do they?

P.S. Phil Capelles mind for pool which I recommended the other day to everyone focuses on these type of things as well as other mental parts of the game.

Exactly, well said!

wincardona · Jun 10, 2015

one pocket guy said:
I was in a brutal partners game yesterday. My partner is the poolroom owner who plays pretty sporty and we match up well with the other team occasionally. It was a night mare . You know the deal. They miss your hooked by total accident or when you make a great shot no following shot due a bad roll. I told you about my partners ability to let you know it was happening to him too. My question to you guys: Tom, Hacker, Ghost, Bill etc is . How do you deal with it? Is there a way to slow this down or reverse the way the balls are rolling against you? Or do you just play another day? Just wondering what you guys do in this situation. Thanks in advance, Todd

Quitting should not be an option if you expect to continue to get the action you like, providing you like the action. Now if you're in a bad situation then quitting would be the right thing to do but only you can make that decision.

When playing against people, as opposed to playing against..say a computer, you are sending messages to your opponent, not only on the type of gamble you are giving him but the degree of entertainment as well. You say that you're in a good game but the rolls are going against you, I want to say you need a hug but I wont.:sorry Quitting leads to more problems then losing to players that you enjoy playing with for what ever reasons you have for playing with them.

Just like Artie would say..STICK AND STAY AND MAKE THEM PAY.

Dr. Bill

one pocket guy · Jun 10, 2015

Thank you for the advice Dr. Bill. We didn't quit they did. One of the players had to go to work and we all understood. I only said thanks for the advise because in the distant past I did pull up to quick after 2 or 3 games too avoid a big loss. And I used to have that rep. I never saw it like you described.

baby huey · Jun 10, 2015

If you are in an even game then just deal with it. Rolls are like life, sometimes good and sometimes bad but if you really think about it, it's pretty cool to just be able to play and have fun at the same time. If you are not having fun then quit and never play again………

LSJohn · Jun 10, 2015

Jeff sparks said:
Exactly, well said!

Do you agree with this:

"If you start being negative I can GUARANTEE you the rolls will continue to go against you and your play will also suffer."

A lot of people think this way, and they could be right, but I can't go for any mystical, Karmic, supernatural physical influence on the rest of the world caused by what's going on in my head.

Frank Almanza · Jun 10, 2015

For me, I appreciate it when I get good rolls but I expect them the same as when the rolls go against me.
I take the bad rolls in stride and don't allow them to change how I feel inside. Not something I get emotional about. However if there is an over abundance of things going against me then maybe it's time to change what I'm doing and try to maybe play a simpler game. Sometimes when I'm playing too good I will take a few more chances than normal. Maybe it's me that's creating the unfortunate luck that is going against me.
Most will say that when I'm playing bad, losing, and things are going against me, you would never know it by my actions. Stay calm and just weather the storm. Things always even out.

Jeff sparks · Jun 10, 2015

LSJohn said:
Do you agree with this:

"If you start being negative I can GUARANTEE you the rolls will continue to go against you and your play will also suffer."

A lot of people think this way, and they could be right, but I can't go for any mystical, Karmic, supernatural physical influence on the rest of the world caused by what's going on in my head.

I do agree wholeheartedly with the part " and your play will also suffer."
If you cannot get your head in the right place, doing anything or playing anything that requires skill, then your play will suffer.

Being in a foul mood and harboring ill feelings about "Bad Rolls" cannot possibly effect future events. But somehow it does, or seems to, I have no reasonable explanation for this hypothesis, I've just lived a long time and witnessed it happen over and over, to me and countless other people. Negativity seems to breed bad luck.

No one truly knows the power of a human mind, thousands of books have been written on the power of positive thinking. When I'm in a good mood and happy that particular day, it's rare when something doesn't go my way. I always have better results when gambling at anything, if I'm happy. When I'm pissed at whatever, or can't refocus on the task at hand, I invariably have poor results, bad rolls, or as in my case, bad beats.

Cory in dc · Jun 10, 2015

one pocket guy said:
I was in a brutal partners game yesterday. My partner is the poolroom owner who plays pretty sporty and we match up well with the other team occasionally. It was a night mare . You know the deal. They miss your hooked by total accident or when you make a great shot no following shot due a bad roll. I told you about my partners ability to let you know it was happening to him too. My question to you guys: Tom, Hacker, Ghost, Bill etc is . How do you deal with it? Is there a way to slow this down or reverse the way the balls are rolling against you? Or do you just play another day? Just wondering what you guys do in this situation. Thanks in advance, Todd

Raise the bet!

LSJohn · Jun 10, 2015

Jeff sparks said:
I do agree wholeheartedly with the part " and your play will also suffer."

If you cannot get your head in the right place, doing anything or playing anything that requires skill, then your play will suffer.

Yes, no doubt about that part.

Being in a foul mood and harboring ill feelings about "Bad Rolls" cannot possibly effect future events. But somehow it does, or seems to

Yeah, I can't believe it really does, but I can't deny "seems to." I speculate that it has something to do with how mood affects perceptions, but I'm not gonna stomp my foot and declare there's not something very real about it.

androd · Jun 10, 2015

I was playing the young man from Colombia, I got a terribly unlucky roll, it kept me from running a few balls or out.
I never thought of it again till I read your thread.
I'm a very lucky player and most I play call me "Lucky Devil" That's because when I get lucky that's what I call myself.
If you keep score always count the good rolls.
They're the ones I notice most.
Rod.
P.S. I don't subscribe to the break even theory, When someone keeps getting bad rolls, I tell them "you must have mistreated someone in your life"

I think some people are luckier doing some things than others.

NH Steve · Jun 11, 2015

I guess have a local reputation for being "lucky" way more than my share apparently. I encourage that kind of viewpoint, lol. Some of it is just the normal luck that theoretically does even out, but some of it might be that I play some kinds of shots that they just would not ever think to play, and when they work out hell yeah they look lucky and sometimes they are, lol.

How they Rollin?

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