Adapting your game

[Stunrunthru]

I'm 33years old and have been playing Snooker for 20+ years. My game has very much been modelled on Stephen Hendry and I would describe myself as an aggressive break builder and potter with a reasonable safety game.

however in recent years after marriage, kids, more responsible job etc, I have gone from playing for 3-4 hours per day to playing for just 1-3 hours per week or sometimes 1-3 hours per fortnight.

therefore the breaks are not flowing as they used to and the long potting is no longer what it was.

I have lost most of my league matches this season and 99% of these have been lost on the last few colours.

A similar thing happened last week.

I have a Hendry type mentality with my shot selection. During my game the other night I was around 20 points behind with 7-8 reds left and I tried to roll one in to the middle pocket dead weight to hold for the pink from under the cushion. I knew if I missed I would leave 3 or 4 easy reds on but I still tried the shot and missed.

After losing my frame I was speaking to one of my team mates and said I would have to adapt my game and refuse risky shots that I would have played and pot a few years ago when I practiced a lot.

Has anyone else had to adapt their game in recent years?

[Belloz22]

the problem i find with league games and friendly club games is that most league games are one frame..... and in reality you only need to make one mistake in a one frame game to get punished and lose the match, espically against consistently good players. Now i have a similar problem, i am considered one the best players in my club, but when it comes to league games, i dont perform the same, but this is for different reasons....

what i would recommend is treat the whole frame as a game of percentages - if you are not 80% sure of the pot, dont play it...... you need to judge your current form and adapt to suit it. In the back of your mind you will always think i aint playing as much, im missing more shots etc..... so you need to apply this to league games. This is especially important if you are playing good players who you will know will punish you in a frame.

So as i said, treat it as a game of percentages..... and play to your CURRENT strengths

[brettski]

The biggest change I'd had is since I had laser eye surgury, now I can reley on my long potting and I'm having to relearn the close game as funny as it sounds. Really made progress lately with my cueing action. I look forward to being able to adapt it, a new challange.