On a BAD cueing day, what is the best way to "comeback"?

[JLiang91]

Some days you just cue damn well and potting everything, but some days just couldn't pot the easiest ball on the table. ow do you guys overcome this? or how is the best way to overcome this?

Also sometimes when you get a table but the condition is not there will you get "turn off"?

[guernseygooner]

Some days you just cue damn well and potting everything, but some days just couldn't pot the easiest ball on the table. ow do you guys overcome this? or how is the best way to overcome this?

The Holy Grail of snooker my friend

[cyberheater]

Some days you just cue damn well and potting everything, but some days just couldn't pot the easiest ball on the table. ow do you guys overcome this? or how is the best way to overcome this?

When you find out please let me know.

I was playing the other day and potting like a demon. Making lots of 20's and 30 breaks and basically playing at the top of my ability. I didn't need to think about technique. I just saw the potting angle, worked out where I wanted to white to end up and effortlessly potted the ball. Even on long shots. No hesitation, no fear, just flow.

On my bad days. I'm examining every part of my game and potting even simple balls is a struggle. I have no idea how to force myself into flow mode. I wish I did.

[Byrom]

Some days you just cue damn well and potting everything, but some days just couldn't pot the easiest ball on the table. ow do you guys overcome this? or how is the best way to overcome this?

Also sometimes when you get a table but the condition is not there will you get "turn off"?

Various things help me - I can switch to safety mode ala Mark Selby and grind it out a bit until the confidence comes back - usually after with me its after an easy chance to get me going - so I try and create one - rather than push the boat out going for everything,

Brush it off and move on no-one can play snooker perfectly it is not achievable and the better players are the ones that learn how to cope with frustration and disappointment - two wicked girls that haunt a players thought pattern -

I just don't alter anything at first - trying instead to stick to my usual pre shot routine and try and carry on just playing the right shot - if that does not work after a while and the frame s are slipping away I speed up give myself less chance to doubt anything.

What works for one might not work for another - but the thing that I tried to do are usually the opposite of what these coaches say - because basically they might point to something technical and try and change it - where as if you have had the big breaks before then you can obviously play so I don't think its anything technical at all - its more mindset - I try not to correct anything technical and if anything like this comes into my head I play and I try to free my mind from this kind of nonsense and hum repetitive tune in my mind.

Sometimes though you can just have a bad trot - it just happens - not everything is technical sometimes you just have to accept you cant play if you are tired or if you have other things on your mind.

[alabadi]

i think when you are playing bad , you doubt everything and this is what makes it worse.

when playing well you are not thinking about stance , cue action or anything else you just play the shot. but when playing badly your thinking am i lined up correctly , is my grip tight , is my stance ok... so in effect you are thinking about everything other than what you should really be doing and this causes doubt and anxiety and even the easiest pot seems diffecult.

i was playing doubles yesterday and not playing well at all, i know it was doubles and not ideal but even when i had a few chances i messed up. this continued to frustrate me all night and then the last frame i was playing a single and just stopped thinking and played with no care , i just picked out my spot and walked in paying no attention where my feet were , bridge hand was, how i was gripping the cue. just got down and played it.

it turned out i played my best all night potted a few balls and duely won that frame.

snooker is all about confidence, and this comes from hours and hours of practice. you need to be confident your stance is right, confident you have selected the correct line of aim to send the cueball to the target, confident about your grip, confident that you will pot.

any doubt in any of these you will start to analyse it while on the shot and this will cause conflict which inevitably will lead to poor play.

a coach once told me if you have 1% doubt you will miss the pot.

[pottr]

I get this more often than I care for.

Just set the line-up and bash away til you regain your timing

[Maverick54]

Some days you just cue damn well and potting everything, but some days just couldn't pot the easiest ball on the table. ow do you guys overcome this? or how is the best way to overcome this?

Also sometimes when you get a table but the condition is not there will you get "turn off"?

Just keep snookering the bugger and playing safe. As your oponent gets frustrated and starts whacking at everything on the table your confidence builds and with a smug smirk on your face you begin to pick of the easy shots again

[cueman]

I get this more often than I care for.

Just set the line-up and bash away til you regain your timing

Yep, its the only way to sort out your game. Sometimes you aren't really doing anything technically that wrong but confidence only has to be knocked slightly and doubt creeps in, you grip the cue too tight or don't cue through the ball properly and you miss an easy shot.

Trouble is if you are playing in a match or against someone, you can't just do a line up, you need to play through it and try and get your game back. Snooker is mentally so tough at times, for me its the most challenging sport mentally.

[ace man]

You're just going to have to play through it I'm afraid. There's no real quick fix. Your game will return at some point. If it's not too late and you haven't already lost the match, you may be wondering what on Earth were you doing on the table for these past X hours? Why couldn't you play like that from the beginning?
No real answer there. Just remember that snooker is bloddy difficult and anyone can sometimes look like complete clown out there, even very accomplished players.

[Byrom]

Yep, its the only way to sort out your game. Sometimes you aren't really doing anything technically that wrong but confidence only has to be knocked slightly and doubt creeps in, you grip the cue too tight or don't cue through the ball properly and you miss an easy shot.

Trouble is if you are playing in a match or against someone, you can't just do a line up, you need to play through it and try and get your game back. Snooker is mentally so tough at times, for me its the most challenging sport mentally.

Plus 1 to that

[Ramon]

Just keep snookering the bugger and playing safe. As your oponent gets frustrated and starts whacking at everything on the table your confidence builds and with a smug smirk on your face you begin to pick of the easy shots again

lol, this is a good one,,, +10

[JLiang91]

Hey guys, just read through the whole thread, I am gonna try the method Alabadi recommended. Seems like I keep changing my stance when im "off".. might be the very big problem! So actually most of us is experencing this!

[george31]

Using golf as an analogy,in a lesson I once had,I asked about my incossitancy from one round to the next,he said part of my problem was the over analysis of my swing when things were'nt going right,and trying to make changes to my swing whilst I was playing.He advised me once I played my shot good or bad to forget it and move on to my next.I would imagine snooker would be the same,dwelling on missed shots isnt going to help.The above post mentions hes stance seems to be off,he would be better off making on changes at the practise table,rather than whilst playing.

[davcab92]

I was playing badly lately and my confidence was going downhill these past months. Then I decided to shorten my backswing to have more control over the cue and I immediately saw great improvement in my potting and cueball control, I realized this automatically made me accelerate through the cueball which gave me better control of the white and a more positive cue action (rather than having a long backswing and decelerating through the ball). So now I got my confidence back and gradually I am lengthening my backswing with more control on shots that require more power (deep screws and forcing stuns). So this would be something I would try if I were cueing badly on a certain day.

[Fairuz]

Let me share abit of my experiance..
The main reason why sometime we playing good and bad was is the feeling.. most coach or shark player will say fit in mentally & psycology, i use to belive before that i have no luck in winning any game and talent to play at all in snooker game until 3years ago one guy from the club who not that good in potting or positioning but very strong in mental power, he teach me how to flick that coin and recover from the struggle. Its all about the mind and practice, let say like this when young age your mother give you a spoon to eat, and that time you are still struggle to hold the spoon and feed yourself with it, right, then later you grow older u using that spoon/fork/knive to feed your self like nothing and dont even notice it was at your hand, but your eye still need to see what you are doing.. the same goes to snooker.. you must been wandering you have training for years and you are doing so good at practice table but when come to match with other person you start to suck with it, even loosing to ***** guy in club who not even playing that often. Think again what wrong when that happen.. you start to realise that most player who training allot they actually create thinking that im a good player so in game they take it to hard in mind, try to remember potting spot and line, then stance, then hand positions, look at tip contact, grip, speed and all of that actually give load to your brain and nerve. Human always make mistake and the funny part our brain to small to adapt so much focus, so my advice just try to relax only focus on your Ball potting spot and the rest just let it flow naturally (this is what we call Sub-Conscious Skill it grow better when you practice more).. if you struggle you need to feel the table and the cue.. try with the lowest speed at beginning and slowly working it up.. just focus on what happen on match attack or defending plan on your side but not on your knowledge or disipline when you do in training like cueing, stand or how to do it properly..

regards;
fairuz