How on earth to be consistent

[winphenom]

Without good advice, tons and tons of hard hours practicing, good sparring partners and focus will not get you anywhere. Just ask Judd Trump and Liang now and you will get the answers.

[ace man]

High quality time at the table combined with reasonable or even a little quantity surely beats poor quality time combined with massive quantity. Of course, nothing beats high quality table time combined with high quantity, but very few have ever done that.
But it is not only the practise that's important for improvement. I think you also need to treat snooker as a sport, rather than as a pub leisure time.
A lot of my club mates take frequent and long smoke breaks, have beers, type on their phone...etc...especially if the going gets tough. Not a problem for social players, but some aspiring players who should know better also have that sort of approach. That is never going to work.

[Ramon]

In practice or in match play I can have flurries of excellent play (for me) then it's gone by the same mysterious way it came. How to capture it, retain it? That's the great mystery for me.. I've tried everything, pre-shot routines, mantras etc which work for a couple of minutes, then vanish along with the passages of good play. One thing I do know is that when I'm playing well the 'why' thoughts never enter my head - it just flows. But I can't summon that up at will. How to think the unthinking excellence? That's the great unanswered question.

TBH, That's kind of a answer to your question and the main part of the solution to your problem.

Do much , think less !!
practice alot. But Never think about what you did during the practice nor what kind of breaks you made.
Easier said than done, though.
I've never seen a player with 100 percent consistency !
I hope you enjoy your game and wish you a lots of decent breaks .

[GeordieDS]

TBH, That's kind of a answer to your question and the main part of the solution to your problem.

Do much , think less !!
practice alot. But Never think about what you did during the practice nor what kind of breaks you made.
Easier said than done, though.
I've never seen a player with 100 percent consistency !
I hope you enjoy your game and wish you a lots of decent breaks .

Welcome back Ramon, you've been a miss

[alabadi]

there are a lot of good arguments in this thread, however i would like to just clarify how i see consistency.

as mentioned on here no one plays at their best all the time, even the best players in the world don't, however for me consistent isn't playing at your best all the time but maintaining a standard of play over a period of time where the level doesn't dip below a certain point.

that's what i want in my game. i want to be able to play to a standard that i believe i can, not necessary my best but good enough for me to come away from the table feeling i played OK (win or lose).
and as time goes by and i improve this level will then probably increase . so to put all this into something tangible , lets say at my best i can knock in four or five 20+ breaks and the odd 30+ break playing 7 frames.

when i am not at my best i would make two or three 20+ breaks and no 30+ . at least this would be satisfying . what wouldn't is coming away not making one 20+ break and my best was a low teen.

i don't know if the OP means it this way or wants to be consistently playing at his best. because i am with others its almost impossible to play at ones best all the time.

expectation is the mother of dissapointment

[Ramon]

Welcome back Ramon, you've been a miss

Thanks my friend . U're kind .

[Big Splash!]

Thanks my friend . U're kind .

GET IN RAMON!

Can I close my campaign now? lol

*Thanks Deano, you ain't bad for a mod (cough, spit, splutter).*

[DeanH]

(cough, spit, splutter)

You should see a doctor about that!

:wink:

[Big Splash!]

You should see a doctor about that!

:wink:

He said there were no pills to eradicate mod disease. Yes, he also said there were no pills to cope with splashback either. arf arf

[DeanH]

He said there were no pills to eradicate mod disease. Yes, he also said there were no pills to cope with splashback either. arf arf

injections, not pills!
:wink:

[Big Splash!]

injections, not pills!
:wink:

For two of them, yes. But you ain't that bad.

[winphenom]

Welcome back all you great contributing folks. I hope its a good everlasting sign. While it is terrific to be back and posting again, it would be far more marvellous if everyone stays focussed and maintain the discipline to remain inside. Lets just concentrate on making the forum better and helping others. Abstain from unkind and stinging remarks and simply ignore those remarks that are directed at you. After all, this is just keyboard typing talk only so it shouldn't hurt you unless you are *$@&*#........... so please exercise restrain and maintain a positive mind. Welcome back and good wishes to all. Cheers.

[ace man]

there are a lot of good arguments in this thread, however i would like to just clarify how i see consistency.

as mentioned on here no one plays at their best all the time, even the best players in the world don't, however for me consistent isn't playing at your best all the time but maintaining a standard of play over a period of time where the level doesn't dip below a certain point.

that's what i want in my game. i want to be able to play to a standard that i believe i can, not necessary my best but good enough for me to come away from the table feeling i played OK (win or lose).
and as time goes by and i improve this level will then probably increase . so to put all this into something tangible , lets say at my best i can knock in four or five 20+ breaks and the odd 30+ break playing 7 frames.

when i am not at my best i would make two or three 20+ breaks and no 30+ . at least this would be satisfying . what wouldn't is coming away not making one 20+ break and my best was a low teen.

i don't know if the OP means it this way or wants to be consistently playing at his best. because i am with others its almost impossible to play at ones best all the time.

expectation is the mother of dissapointment

I wouldn't get too concerned with actual numbers. For example, three 4 ball breaks of 12, 14 and 16 coupled with well executed safeties inflict far more damage than getting a 50+ and then missing a routine black of the spot.
You mention 7 frames. Ok, I would expect to beat a significantly weaker opponent easily. It would be nice to score big, but 7:0 frame score in my favour is a priority. If I lose a few frames against much weaker guys, than that's disappointing, regardless of breaks scored.
I'm trying to build a solid all round game, with good safeties and everything. It isn't only about potting. Even if I'm playing the worst guy in the club, I try to play the right shot.

[Big Splash!]

Welcome back all you great contributing folks. I hope its a good everlasting sign. While it is terrific to be back and posting again, it would be far more marvellous if everyone stays focussed and maintain the discipline to remain inside. Lets just concentrate on making the forum better and helping others. Abstain from unkind and stinging remarks and simply ignore those remarks that are directed at you. After all, this is just keyboard typing talk only so it shouldn't hurt you unless you are *$@&*#........... so please exercise restrain and maintain a positive mind. Welcome back and good wishes to all. Cheers.

You're not allowed to use non-characters in strings that could be telepathically decoded into swear words mate, let alone type swear words that are turned into asterisks by the tsf filter. No, I'm not joking. But you probably knew that already...........hmmmm

[vmax4steve]

Welcome back all you great contributing folks. I hope its a good everlasting sign. While it is terrific to be back and posting again, it would be far more marvellous if everyone stays focussed and maintain the discipline to remain inside. Lets just concentrate on making the forum better and helping others. Abstain from unkind and stinging remarks and simply ignore those remarks that are directed at you. After all, this is just keyboard typing talk only so it shouldn't hurt you unless you are *$@&*#........... so please exercise restrain and maintain a positive mind. Welcome back and good wishes to all. Cheers.

I've just discovered the 'ignore' button helps tremendously, like he never came back