Slow play

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.

Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

Excellent post.

And I'll add one more thing in support of 'selective' slow play, in particular, regarding all of the bashing that went on here of the long games that took place in the recent seniors tournament - and this is something that wasn't mentioned.

Those last 4 players left weren't playing in a casual regional tournament where first place paid $400.00. They were playing matches where several thousand dollars were hanging in the balance. In that case, you're allowed, and wise, to be much more circumspect when choosing your shot and/or plan of attack.

Old School

Nicely put. And when you're matched up with your local rival, take all the time you need to strive for your best performance. Look 'em over until the answer comes to you and then do your best to perform. If your rival is willing to put up with your process, then you have a match made in heaven.

But the context for these recent discussions about the pace of play is not about the pursuit of bliss in a one on one match up, but have been held to deal with the problem that arises when one man's bliss (or two or three reverie seekers) undermines the timing of a tournament and turns it into an endurance match for the players (and the spectators) that cannot be completed within the time allotted for play, or at least by a reasonable hour.


In those chess matches where you took half an hour to make a move, unless your time clock was set for many hours, the luxury you gave yourself in that thirty minutes likely cost you the game when your clock ran out. If I was gambling with someone who took thirty minutes to make a move, I'd quit the game.

arthur bacon said:

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.

Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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An opinion well stated and worthy of respect. It is not, however, my way of seeking maximum pleasure.

I admire near-perfection achieved by others, but justification for its pursuit has its limits when chasing it on others' time; when one plays more slowly than others in a double elimination tournament, it is taking time from many people to satisfy one's own wants. Seems rude to me in that specific context.

(When pursuing perfection in one pocket, keep your eyes peeled for windmills in the mist.)

I don't think we can come together on this, Arthur, and that's OK. The rewards we each seek are too different. Never the twain, etc.

Regarding what I bold-faced above: Choosing 90% of one's shots within 60 seconds hardly condemns one to mediocrity.

Well written Arthur, but not realistic imo...

One pocket is a great pool game, the best imo, and wanting to honor it by striving for perfection on every shot is a noble pursuit, it’s just not realistic in a multi person environment...

Tournament one pocket played within a 3 day time capsule requires timely shot selection by all participants... Not of course on every single shot, but within reason...

Common sense would indicate that by taking a long time to select a shot, more often than not, takes time away from others and forces the tournament to run long... sorry, but the word inconsiderate comes to mind... Surely the people who “look em over” religiously, realize that they are the bane of all the other players...

Doing the very best we possibly can in anything we pursue throughout our entire lifetime is exactly what we should do, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of others...

Extended time consumption by any individual on a regular basis in tournament one pocket can only be deemed as either thoughtless, or inconsiderate...


Solution;
Add a day, and let em play...

arthur bacon said:

...
Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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Nice post. Welcome to another "Arthur" on the forum. And yet another Arthur (Bodendorfer), who hasn't posted in awhile, would agree with your points..

Art "Doc" Tripp

arthur bacon said:

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.

Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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Most great players play with rhythm, there are exceptions,Jack Nicklaus,
Buddy Hall,etc.
A great many (I believe) slow players do it as a shark.

Quite---- It isn't church.
Respectful-------- you're talking about how you are treated, not how you torture your opponent.
I play Look'em over guys occasionally since I'm old and enjoy the rest.
I couldn't do it when younger.
You voiced your opinion, now I've voiced mine.
Welcome to the site Arthur.

the slower a player plays the more he has to bet to get a game with me and the bigger the edge i am going to have.

any reason a person spoils it for the rest is good enough reason to ask him not to come.

20 seconds is plenty for a complete shot for almost all your shots. a few take one minute. anymore and often and they should lose their turn with a penalty.

and if in a tournament you have a ref or a director. he is supposed to run the tournament. its his job to keep it on time.

if someone is too slow he is told to play much faster or have his entry returned if early on and not invited back. if later on then he is penalized with fouls after a warning.
it is really simple to fix.

arthur bacon said:

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.

Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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Welcome! I see your logic, but each of the things you list could be lessened by being too fast or too slow. Especially if 31 other people have to wait for you to finish. The Lord's Prayer is 73 words long; you'd have some empty pews if a preacher took five minutes to get through that. I'd put him on a prayer clock.

Slowness

Slowness

Well, stupidly, I wasn’t thinking of a large One Pocket tournament where, I agree wholeheartedly that one cannot throw a spanner in the works by glacial play. I apologize for my lack of clarity in this. I agree with some comments, that respect for the tournament and others is paramount. I would welcome clocks both in tourney play and recreational/money play. I know exactly what some of you are feeling vis a vis slow play. About 8 of us had a small chess group and one guy, a rocket scientist actually (Raytheon) would take forever on EVERY move. We had to put the dude on a clock. As far as taking half an hour for one move however; sometimes in a complex middle game, with an hour left on the clock one might go in for a “big think” and figure out a winning plan, say the next ten moves, from which, after that each move is already known. Sac, sac, sac. . .mate. Chess pieces don’t get bumped around so it works; every shot in pool moves a few balls to different places of course so the analogy is weak. :sorry

This is a good question. There is a reason pretty much anything in life needs to be sped up: to create watchable content or experiences. Hollywood can charge the big bucks and hold people's attention for two hours, but they need to spend millions, sometimes per second on content, to hold viewer attention that long.

Let me just be frank, one pocket is completely unwatchable. For avergage pool fans it is not even in the ballpark of watchable. It is crazy because the more you sniff around and find the actual truth, a lot of one pocket is even unwatchable for hardcore one pocket fans and players! This is not a popular thing to say, but it is the truth. This means it has got to speed up and or be more exciting. That does not mean you need to speed up your Sunday five a game ritual, but the game needs to be sped up in general. I wrote a post I will copy below as to why I feel this is the case.

"I have got more to say about this speed topic. I do not care what field you are in!! I am a photographer. I could take an entire day to make a SINGLE photo and I would be happy. Guess what though, my clients would not be. In fact, I move as fast as humanly possible for even the most discerning clients, and frankly the faster you go the more they love you. The key is figuring ways to get 90-95% of the quality in 10% of the time. And it is possible, believe me, because of the old law of diminishing returns when you spend a long time on something.

I will tell you what, if you are a one pocket player and do not think speed is important, go into the kitchen of a world class chef one day. Let me know what you see. You think you are going to see a chef plating and cooking dishes in slow motion to fine and exacting standards? They are doing stuff that should take minutes in seconds, and doing it well. Why, because their customers/clients demand it! Not because they want to.

"Clients" in the pool world, as fas as I am concerned, are fans (or potential fans). I don't believe the avergae one pocket enthusiast even thinks of this. They only think of themselves.... sure, I could take a day to make a photo, a chef could take an hour to plate a few dishes... but we may go bust. Oh, bust is exactly where one pocket has been for ages. What a coincidence."

There is also this notion to consider that faster play could actually increase player accuracy and performance. I believe I have heard in the past tv nine ball events with shot clocks got higher accustat ratings. Whatever the case, there probably is not much hard data on this, but I think we do need to consider that fast play could actually favor higher quality and better play. There are even sayings in the pool world backing this up: think too long, think too wrong, for example.

arthur bacon said:

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.


Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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Look at the online videos of well known one pocket players. They rarely take over 2 to 2 1/2 hours in a race to 3 or 4. Players that do this for a living. So why should it take an amateur that has played for years (if not decades) forever to play a race to 3. There is no rationale or excuse.

arthur bacon said:

I am a slow player. The reason I play slowly is out of respect for the game. Should I hurry through a Mozart sonata, The Lord’s Prayer or the Grand Canyon? I have a good friend who is a speed-reader (remember Evylin Woods?) and highly respected PhD scholar at a prestige university; but he has ZERO appreciation for poetry much less beautiful prose. How could he, when all he is looking for are phrases and key words.

So, what is the hurry? (I can understand that in a week-night Nine-ball tourney one should not play glacially when everybody has to work the next day; but we are talking about 1-hole,) Secondly, I used to play chess seriously and sometimes we might think through a move for half an hour even when we are on the clock. I understand how a good player might “see” the layout and the right pattern to play right from the break but most of us have to think through the multiple options.

Somebody said something that I interpreted as pejorative about “perfection”. The ONLY reason to play pool is to strive for perfection. I suggest watching Free Solo as a metaphor for a lot of the things we do in life; do it as if your life depends on it. Mediocrity should be relegated to bar pool, friends and alcohol. But 1-hole pool in a serious venue should be quiet, slow, contemplative and respectful of one’s opponent striving to be the best that he/she can be on that given day. Hitting some phenolic spheres around with a beautifully hand made instrument on a piece of metamorphic rock covered with worsted blue cloth governed by Newton’s three laws of motion is one of the most exquisite experiences invented by an otherwise reckless, violent homo sapien brain. Embrace the slowness.

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It's disrespectful to play slowly. It means you don't care about your opponent or the time you are spending on a shot. I don't know anyone who plays slowly to achieve perfection. You find the best shot you can execute and you go. It's like being late for an appointment. It is disrespectful and selfish.

Slow play

LSJohn said:

...Choosing 90% of one's shots within 60 seconds hardly condemns one to mediocrity.

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Agreed. IMO, most of the time it’s more in how well you execute the shot you choose...

Joe is aggressive and he plays fast, (in case you were wondering). I find myself trying to keep up, and that is always a serious mistake for me. My bad.