Adapting to conditions

[ruby]

Hi all... Id love to hear what other people think of this and what you do to help yourself adapt.

Where I play we have a few different venues all with very different tables.

I practise at what we would call the best venue with the best tables in terms of consistency and "trueness". The other venues are all over the place with restretched cloth, big buckets for pockets, dead and inconsistent rails etc...

At the venue I play I play very very well but when I play at one of the other venues I really struggle to adapt to the playing conditions. This is really frustrating because our ranking events are played at all of the venues.

One problem I noticed last week when playing at one of these other venues is the throw of the white. At my venue I know how it throws so when playing shots with side, especially over distance I judge them literally perfectly. At this other venue the cloth is so thin the white doesnt throw much if at all and I miss these types of shots.

Anyway just wanted to hear some thoughts, suggestions etc!

[hotpot]

This is one of the biggest headaches for league players . I lost to a player away in a singles game that without trying to sound cocky i could have given 3 blacks start to home or neutral venue . I just could,nt get into the white as it was so heavy , even my stun shots were rolling on .

This is part of the challenge though and you have to try your best to adapt , ie if the pockets are really tight then you may be better off rolling the balls in rather than punching , or refusing certain shots up the rail that you,d normally take on ,

It all comes with experience . And the more you play on these tables the wiser you,ll become .

[hotpot]

This is one of the biggest headaches for league players . I lost to a player away in a singles game that without trying to sound cocky i could have given 3 blacks start to home or neutral venue . I just could,nt get into the white as it was so heavy , even my stun shots were rolling on .

This is part of the challenge though and you have to try your best to adapt , ie if the pockets are really tight then you may be better off rolling the balls in rather than punching , or refusing certain shots up the rail that you,d normally take on ,

It all comes with experience . The more you play on these tables the wiser you,ll become .

[MasterBreak147]

No matter how much i try i cannot adapt to a micky mouse cueball that will spin and fiz all over the place even when stunning so good question how does one adapt ?

[MattWilson]

Depending on how you're playing and your mental approach, adapting to varying conditions can be possible but also an absolute nightmare.

I've found away venues in my league where I've made back to back tons and then other times I can't make 20. Depends totally on frame of mind and confidence. But, you can adapt your game to give yourself a better chance of winning on these tables.

I tend to reign in my game a bit and concentrate on making 16s, 24s etc on away tables, trying not to be too expansive on them and that sometimes means not playing the "correct" shot in breakbuilding terms and just taking what you can get instead of giving yourself a chance to develop a frame-winning break. I rely more on good safety to force an opening whereas at home I feel confident of pumping in the long reds and making breaks playing open, attacking snooker.

It depends on each player individually though, but I've found each year I've got better at playing away from home and adapting my game accordingly. Giving 50 start to most players also plays with my head as even when you're on a 70 break, you're still "under it" with regards to winning the frame which is scandalous really, but such is the nature of a handicapped league.

MW