What to do when you're playing bad?

[andy carson]

put the cue awayand have a few ales instead

[svendh]

put the cue awayand have a few ales instead

Now that's the best practice

[Byrom]

I wouldn't be out of that snooker room until I could clear the colours. Lock the door and say "I'm not leaving this room until I clear the colours". Then get on with it.

Oh I agree with this we all have bad days but always try to leave on a good high I think this is the best advice in practice from a player clear in his focus on improvement - if you get in the habit of doing this you are setting yourself a positive goal saying to the game you wont beat me.

Depends what makes you play bad -

Here are a few things that effect my game

Being tired
Being ill
Having too much other stuff on my mind - life and all its woes

With these things I cant play at my best no matter what - though I would still always refer to tedisbill's advice here too.

The other times I play bad

When I cant see the line or angle of the shot - some days you just can't see the shots - weird
Lack of focus or just don't feel right and up for it.

I have a few tricks that help me that might be unusual - both in a match and in practice - Usually when I play bad I realise that I am just over thinking it - letting this and that go though my head in regards to sighting and technique - to correct this I try emptying my mind of all that nonsense and try and settle into a comfy rhythm playing more by feel and instinct - this part gets stronger the more balls into a break I am. My habit of humming a repetitive tune to myself - not out loud but just something to help me focus on playing to a rhythm helps. Also I find it helps to focus not just on the line of the shot but also imagine the angle of deflection for the white and marry the two together and my potting comes back quick fashion.

Also when the other guy is at the table I map it - plotting the points my opponent will break down or come unstuck and I watch the white - waiting for the point he does break down then I am ready to jump in and carry on.
If I play a bad shot I just move on but if I feel I am loosing focus or angry with myself I have an unusual thing that helps - might sound strange but I took a bit of advice from a member on here - rimmer - and I now chalk my cue with the opposite hand - my left - this takes more concentration to do and takes my mind of things - don't know why it works but it seems to help my concentration improve the next time I am at the table.

Also on a bad day I find it helps not to push the boat out and instead put in a few more good safety shots - until a better chance appears to make me feel a bit better.

[jwinsor]

choke up on the cue, shorten back stroke and try to play through

[lesedwards]

Thanks for all the good advice. Concentration I think is my biggest issue. I hit shots without even thinking about the outcome just figuring the cue ball will end up good but that does not work. Snowy day here today so it's practice time again, going to get out my disk and play the colours. I still blame my last table as it was so tough to pot a ball there was no thought on position and after a year of this I have developed some bad habbits.

[Terry Davidson]

I don't know if this will help or not but it's certainly helping me. I have noticed over the past few YEARS that I have stopped punching through the cueball and I don't know whether this is due to age or stupidity or whatever.

So here's what I started to do...I start by shooting the spots and all I concentrate on is driving the grip hand through to the chest. I do that about 10 times and then I set up the balls for a regular frame and again all I do is concentrate on accelerating the cue right to where the back of the grip hand hits the chest and I find when I revert to trying to play a normal frame I seem to be potting everything, I mean really stupid shots that I wouldn't go for in a match in a million years.

Now mind you this is solo practice on my own table but I find doing this preliminary exercise really gets the cue arm going. The other thing I've changed is I've really loosened up my grip to where it's REALLY loose and initially I felt like I had no control over the cue but I was punching through consistently and I was potting everything I tried and eventually the overly loose grip became my normal grip.

When I'm potting everything I do mean everything. I will place a ball about 1/4" off the side cushion and 3ft from the top pocket and put the cueball in baulk so it's a 3/4-ball pot and punch it in and screw back for a blue ball or a pink into the same pocket. I would say I'm making about 70% of these shots now.

The one thing I can't say is I've not used this in a match yet due to the holiday break and my first tourney will be on the 18th so I will see how it goes there. I will get some time to warm up and that is what I'm going to do, just concentrate on driving the cue through to the end accelerating all the way. If you try this remember to keep the grip nice and relaxed and do not tighten it until well after the strike.

[lesedwards]

Thanks Terry, I will work on that today. We should get a few games tomorrow after our meeting. Looking forward to both.

[Leo]

I don't know if this will help or not but it's certainly helping me. I have noticed over the past few YEARS that I have stopped punching through the cueball and I don't know whether this is due to age or stupidity or whatever.

So here's what I started to do...I start by shooting the spots and all I concentrate on is driving the grip hand through to the chest. I do that about 10 times and then I set up the balls for a regular frame and again all I do is concentrate on accelerating the cue right to where the back of the grip hand hits the chest and I find when I revert to trying to play a normal frame I seem to be potting everything, I mean really stupid shots that I wouldn't go for in a match in a million years.

Now mind you this is solo practice on my own table but I find doing this preliminary exercise really gets the cue arm going. The other thing I've changed is I've really loosened up my grip to where it's REALLY loose and initially I felt like I had no control over the cue but I was punching through consistently and I was potting everything I tried and eventually the overly loose grip became my normal grip.

When I'm potting everything I do mean everything. I will place a ball about 1/4" off the side cushion and 3ft from the top pocket and put the cueball in baulk so it's a 3/4-ball pot and punch it in and screw back for a blue ball or a pink into the same pocket. I would say I'm making about 70% of these shots now.

The one thing I can't say is I've not used this in a match yet due to the holiday break and my first tourney will be on the 18th so I will see how it goes there. I will get some time to warm up and that is what I'm going to do, just concentrate on driving the cue through to the end accelerating all the way. If you try this remember to keep the grip nice and relaxed and do not tighten it until well after the strike.

You seem a decent player Terry and you've obviously held a cue in your hand a few years but do you not think all the technical jargon often gets in the way of your progress or anyone else's. I mean when I play I couldn't even explain through speaking let alone writing how i pot the balls.

[Byrom]

You seem a decent player Terry and you've obviously held a cue in your hand a few years but do you not think all the technical jargon often gets in the way of your progress or anyone else's. I mean when I play I couldn't even explain through speaking let alone writing how i pot the balls.

plus one to this very good point Leo

[pottr]

I haven't read the entirety of the thread so it may have been suggested...

When I am playing bad or in a rut, I have a tried and tested method that's quite simple and it usually gets me playing acceptable in no time.

I go for absolutely nothing other than what's guaranteed. I take on nothing risky unless forced to and I play safety after safety. It kind of takes the pressure off me to score and knock balls in if all I'm thinking of is not leaving anything easy...

So in effect, all I am doing is playing extremely high percentage shots... '95% plus' success rate shots.

For me, that works most of the time and on the occasions it does not, I simply pack up playing for the day...
Some days, the well is dry and you have to wait for it to rain.

[lesedwards]

I haven't read the entirety of the thread so it may have been suggested...

When I am playing bad or in a rut, I have a tried and tested method that's quite simple and it usually gets me playing acceptable in no time.

I go for absolutely nothing other than what's guaranteed. I take on nothing risky unless forced to and I play safety after safety. It kind of takes the pressure off me to score and knock balls in if all I'm thinking of is not leaving anything easy...

So in effect, all I am doing is playing extremely high percentage shots... '95% plus' success rate shots.

For me, that works most of the time and on the occasions it does not, I simply pack up playing for the day...
Some days, the well is dry and you have to wait for it to rain.

Not for me. My potting us real good when I just throw the balls on the table but don't give me a routine, a fun game or a serious match because I look I have never played before. I have a couple videos coming shortly. 1/2 hour if runing the colours. I hit to the blue a couple times and once to the black which I missed but watch me just pot balls for fun.

[pottr]

I think here's where the levels thing comes into it Les...

I don't even think about potting at my standard. It's a given that I'm gonna pot everything I line up to. If I'm playing bad it's coz I start playing for inches instead of areas. Start holding for blacks instead of going up for baulk and playing cannons instead of playing shots for nothing.

If I'm playing really really well, all those things come off... But if I'm playing normal, then they're out of my reach to play like that, but I can still be effective if I contain myself a touch and think my shots through with a bit more clarity.

Doesn't matter how poor I'm playing... If I spread the balls across the table and my soul goal is to knock em in... I'd have more of a challenge playing solitaire.

I was just trying to explain what I do to get my mind right when I'm not happy with how I'm playing.

[itsnoteasy]

Pottr, so I take it when you play there is no thinking about technique at all, included in that is getting online dropping down etc etc. I know you are doing it but I take it your routine is so ingrained you just do it automatically, is this why the pros will say they don't really know what they are doing while they are doing it, they have gone way past the "thinking" stage of how to play.
I would add, I feel I'm at the stage now where I don't have to think about grip ,cueing straight etc etc, but I still have to work hard to get my cue and my head online.

[pottr]

I don't work on technique at all during frames or exercises like the line up and set splits etc...
If I want to work on something, I'll just knock a couple of unmissables into the corner or something?

Where do I want the white..? How many points are left..? How many do I need to win? Only thoughts worth having.

Occasionally I'll remind myself to not be lazy and fetch a mini butt or rest instead of stretching.

[jrc750]

When you play the colours you have to get reasonable position, but just potting random reds you are not actually playing for a particular ball (by the look of it) that's the difference