How Do I Become a Better Loser?

[itsnoteasy]

Fact is I have never lost a game I should have won, and never won a game I should have lost. I either wasted all the chances given to me,and he took his, or he wasted all the chances I gave to him and I took mine.

[culraven]

Fact is I have never lost a game I should have won, and never won a game I should have lost. I either wasted all the chances given to me,and he took his, or he wasted all the chances I gave to him and I took mine.

What about when you've given a 30 start to a century plus player because they have only just joined your league and start on scratch?

[Csmith]

I believe if you want to be a winner, losing has to bother you at least a little bit. When my match is over and I've lost I'll compliment my opponent, shake they're hand and tell them they were a pleasure to play. Once I'm out of sight I'll pout for the rest of the day/weekend/week. It must suck to live with me after a bad tournament while I mope around for the next few days.

Nothing wrong with hating to lose, but it's important to outwardly be a good sport about it. I don't think it's fake, there is no reason to take it out on my opponent or anyone around since I lost because I didn't play well enough. It's my fault. And honestly, I don't want to give my opponents more of a reason to want to beat me than they already have .

I don't like it when players degrade their opponents or talk at length about how lucky they are. Outside of it being unsportsmanlike, I think it's good for the ego to be complimentary. They beat you didn't they? So they must have played well! Whereas if everyone who wins against you sucks, what does that say about your game if you are always losing to bad players?

Just some food for thought and some things I've picked up over the years.

[itsnoteasy]

What about when you've given a 30 start to a century plus player because they have only just joined your league and start on scratch?

Well I definitely didn't deserve to win that game lol. He should be asked his standard before he gets to play,and if it's obvious he's lied ,booted out.

[spike]

Yes. Bite your tongue and compliment your opponent. It'll make you a better person in the long run.

That's not so easy if you keep on losing to the same opponent.

[andy carson]

think hes not beat you hes beat the table, take a similar mindset to golf, if you get beat, they have played the course better than you, with snooker, they have just played the table better than you...

obviously its not true but its a good way to think, and then go have a pint or three and sulk.

[itsnoteasy]

win or lose genuinely doesn't bother me, how I play is all that matters, if I knock in a fifty or sixty and he knocks in more ,I'm not bothered ,I played as well as I could and he played better , if I miss loads of chances and can't make a ten break, I'm not bothered I lost because I deserved to. Same with winning, fifty break, happy how I played ,winning is just a by product of my performance. Can't make a ten break and win ,REALLY not happy ,who wants to win a game like that, it's just awful( bearing in mind these are most of my games lol).

[epons300]

If your better than the other opponent , don't ask how he beat you,he didn't in theory you never turned up lost. So to answer your question shake his hand and say well done , if in theory you should and could beat him 95% of the time , don't make him feel bad for his one good run or lucky frame .just remember without some of the lesser players actually playing knowing they will lose ,your league and competitions would be smaller

[vmax4steve]

Have penis extension surgery and walk away from your losses knowing you have ten inches between your legs, and despite him puffing up his chest and strutting around, his missus wants to shag you.

[jdub]

Played in a small 9 ball tournament yesterday. It's double elimination format, and usually if I lose my first or second match, I start getting down on myself. Then once I'm on the loser's bracket, I tend to play well under speed.

Thanks to some of the advice in this thread I managed to maintain my composure after receiving my first loss in the 3rd match. Then went on to get 3rd place after running into the best player in the tournament. I was down 2-0 in a race to 3. Missed a pretty easy shot to the corner, and left the shot on for my opponent. I simply walked straight over to him, shook his hand, and thanked him for the match.

Work in progress...

[jonny66]

Race to 3 in 9-ball is a joke, and not a particularly funny one.

[Shockerz]

I've been working with my brother this year as he isn't a very good loser; cue banging, constant muttering and red faced misery at the point of losing.

As things happen (e'g bad shot) we've been concentrating on a blank mind in matches (almost emotionless) as negative thoughts busy your mind too much and affect him when he gets an opportunity.

Also been trying to get him to understand why he loses matches rather than just booing and moaning about it and then repeating the same mistakes (he's stopped going for tv shots this year and improved his safety so ends up getting in the balls more when the opponent messes up his good safety shot.

He's not all the way there but massively improved and this year we won the lge pairs and he won the individuals for the first time and also the lge so not as much blood split glaring at opponents and bad feeling.

I think people just need to recognise their triggers as the bad emotions normally start way before the actual loss.

Terry Griffiths mentions in his book that he really struggled to win when first turning pro as carried losses and game losing shots in his mind for months as there were very few tournaments; when he learned to lose and get past it, he then started to win as he was looking forward not backward.

[ghost121]

Whenever I watch snooker, and the match is over, the losing player always extends his hand to the winner. In post match interviews, they almost always have great things to say about their opponent. While I don't throw tantrums, I can definitely be a sore loser at times. I am very competitive and hate losing, so when I do lose, I feel like it's always because I didn't play to my standard.

Maybe it's deeper than that, but I'm no psychologist.

Anyone have any suggestions on how I can improve in this area?

If you don't play to your standard and you lose then your standard is lower than you think it is. This game isn't about you at your best, it's about the standard you most often play at. So having lost, it's about taking personal responsibility. If I lose a tight frame to a pink or black ball fluke it's because I didn't score enough points before to prevent that possibility.

[ghost121]

win or lose genuinely doesn't bother me, how I play is all that matters, if I knock in a fifty or sixty and he knocks in more ,I'm not bothered ,I played as well as I could and he played better , if I miss loads of chances and can't make a ten break, I'm not bothered I lost because I deserved to. Same with winning, fifty break, happy how I played ,winning is just a by product of my performance. Can't make a ten break and win ,REALLY not happy ,who wants to win a game like that, it's just awful( bearing in mind these are most of my games lol).

Exactly how I feel. How I play is what matters to me.

[mikeyd100]

Same as I try to be.... most of the time anyway