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**gtjohnnymac1965** · 26 January 2011, 10:32 PM

Hello Luke

You cannot really do anything about luck or running of the balls etc. As I said to my Son only yesterday when he was complaining about the very same thing. You can do absolutely nothing about a fluked pot or safety shot.. fact! Thats just the run of the balls. What you really have to do is hold up your hand , say sorry, and then REALLY take advantage of the luck you've just been blessed with.
Of course, when on the receiving end, just take a good old breath, count to ten etc and realise that it will soon be your turn to benefit (law of averages and all that!).
Not to sound condesending but as you get older you become a little more tolerent of all the bad luck and so on that conspires against you within a frame of our great and bloody frustrating game.
Keep on plugging away and dont let it affect your game. Remember this is not really a physical sport, being strong mentally will help you no end.

**sh1234** · 26 January 2011, 10:34 PM

I think you will only improve if you start to realise that you only lost because you made mistakes. If you blame bad luck when you lose you will never have any reason to try and rectify (in practice) any mistake which you made in the game.

**Luke Hooper** · 26 January 2011, 10:35 PM

thank you...i realise theres nothing i could do, and i sort of managed to keep my frustration under control, i played some really good safety shots even to the point i thought, yeah, i wouldnt like to be put in this position a number of a times, and he would catch a red far to thick and alas, still leave nothing! lol

nevermind, sometimes i feel like this game will be the death of me!!! hahah

**Luke Hooper** · 26 January 2011, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by sh1234 View Post

I think you will only improve if you start to realise that you only lost because you made mistakes. If you blame bad luck when you lose you will never have any reason to try and rectify (in practice) any mistake which you made in the game.

your probably right...but what was the most annoying thing was when playing a good shot, my opponent didnt play such a good shot and managed to get away with it everytime...

lol nevermind, next year ill come back and win the division above trophy instead! (assuming we get promoted this year, currently sitting second 3 pts behind leaders with 2 games in hand, a possible 8 points) so hopefully, ill just concentrate on that now...

*sigh*

**Gerry Armstrong** · 26 January 2011, 10:40 PM

I never apologise for flukes and I never get upset when the other guy gets them. The reason I never apologise is I'd be lying cos I wudn't mean it!!

I'm actually pleased that even though I made a mistake I got lucky so no point in pretending otherwise.

It's all part of the game.

**themayorofflair** · 26 January 2011, 11:01 PM

I have found individuals of Indian origin to be extremely flukey. Was you opponent of Indian origin per chance ?

Maybe he was even an Alien. They are extremely lucky too, I think it has something to do with a gravity differential between their home planet & earth ?

Sorry to hear that you lost dude, put it down to experience & try & remember where YOU could have improved personally (missed chances, poor safety etc) as you can do nothing about poor run but can work on your game to ensure that you minimise it's implications.

On a personal positive note I played my handicap quarter final against the dude that claimed home advantage & gave him one hell of a whooping (oh how he deserved it) !

Match should have been aggregate over two frames but after knocking in a 23, a 25 & then a 33 clearance in the first frame I found myself 98-6 up & my opponent decided not to even bother playing the second. Poetic justice !

See you tomorrow night for our league match. Keep your chin up.

**Luke Hooper** · 26 January 2011, 11:11 PM

haha yes dude! how could you of guessed!...

both me and sachin played very poorly i have to admit, but at least my reason for playing poorly is i did not really get a shot to go at the entire time and somehow i still managed to force a black ball game in the deciding frame lol...

if he doesnt go on and win this tournament now ive told him im going to kick him in the nuts!!! haha im gutted i lost but these things happen...unfortunately i didnt really get an opening, neither did he to be fair but that was down to me actually getting the safety shots right for a change!!

next year mate! we will all be in all of the competitions next year (theres about 6) and i was going to sort out a triples event with me you and sach next year too ill talk to you about it tomorrow dude..

congratulations on whooping your dude thats good going mate! he definitely deserved it! come on TMOF!

i think the only one opportunity i could of improved on in the whole game was in the beginning of the second frame (which was a frame i won anyway) but i missed a realtively easy red, was a slight cut back to a blind pocket but definitely shouldof potted it...

oh well, now i will just concentrate on the league games and making sure we win the league! lol

**gtjohnnymac1965** · 26 January 2011, 11:13 PM

Must agree there with you Gerry. Never really mean sorry as such, just a matter of etiquette as you know. What you really want to do is say "thank f*** for that" and laugh your b******s off!!

**northerner** · 27 January 2011, 01:04 AM

When an opppnent flukes one I'm not too bothered. It provides the perfect excuse if you lose and thus removes pressure, and in any case, it has to be better to see a fluke than to see your opponent do what he intended and hit the middle of the pocket.

**renniwevarb** · 27 January 2011, 04:02 AM

Originally Posted by Gerry Armstrong View Post

I never apologise for flukes and I never get upset when the other guy gets them. The reason I never apologise is I'd be lying cos I wudn't mean it!!

I'm actually pleased that even though I made a mistake I got lucky so no point in pretending otherwise.

It's all part of the game.

Well I guess it's not how sorry we feel about the fluke. Rather the sorry actually means: "Sorry for letting you feel whichever way you feel about this fluke, but there is nothing I can do about it but to take advantage of it, it's up to you to reconcile the fact that this is part of the game."

Originally Posted by northerner View Post

When an opppnent flukes one I'm not too bothered. It provides the perfect excuse if you lose and thus removes pressure, and in any case, it has to be better to see a fluke than to see your opponent do what he intended and hit the middle of the pocket.

Interesting way to look at it! Good mental strategy, shall try to apply it and toughen up my mind

**ace man** · 27 January 2011, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by Luke Hooper View Post

what can you do against people who keep fluking shots? like he obviously didnt play for them as he apologised everytime and it even got to the point where he missed 4 pots in the middle of a little 22 break and they still managed to make there way around the table and drop in a different pocket!

i know 22 is not eactly a big break, but by the time he was finished he managed to leave everything safe and all colours on cushions and i found myself like 30 points behind with nothing to go at! i carried on knuckling down and pulled it back to a black ball game, which, yes, you guessed it, he missed hte pocket he went for, it jawed and went in the middle pocket instead. LOL

so frustrating! someone help me please!

I think you did very well to even get to final black ball situation. Many would fall apart and lose by 40 points. Some days you can afford only 5 or 6 errors, while your opponent get away with about 30 bad misses and awful execution of safeties that turn out great for him.

I was in a similar situation last weekend. It was the final of our national level tournament. My opponent wasn't fluking shots at all, he was simply going for shots of such difficulty that even Ronnie in full flow would refuse, no safety option at all. Crazy shots with no clear logic behind them at all. He made most of them, especially at critical times. I wanted to vomit by my chair, that's how sick I felt. But I still chose to applaud him because he did go for them and they were not flukes. In the end I lost 3:2. Yes, it wasn't my day, but I need to take a look at bigger picture. My whole game level simply isn't good enough, I'm way too vulnerable and can lose to just about anybody who's on a bit of a run.

**sprogbasket** · 27 January 2011, 11:32 AM

...in many ways this highlights the uniqueness of the sport - you can do nothing when your opponent is at the table.

This mean of course that they can do nothing when you are there - so you must focus upon only the things which are under your control.

That means you play your best snooker and whatever else happens live with it.

It can be frustrating when your opponent wins by fluke but ...unless you play at top professional levels then you will have had chances to win either prior to or after the fluke, which you squandered.

The bigger issue is "How to remain focussed and committed when you opponent is getting the run?".

There are two ways :

1. Do not watch your opponent whilst they are at the table.

Not ideal because you can sometimes learn a lot from watching others play, particularly in match scenario. Also you may want on input if a foul is committed etc

2. Approach every shot as if the shot before never happened and as if you are playing a practice set up - with an open mind and a positive mental attitude.

I personally imagine that the balls have been set up as the table lies and I have placed the cue ball by hand to it's current position...then play your best stroke from there.

Also when practising it is sometimes very useful to imagine you are playing an opponent , so that if you do miss you are leaving a "hatful" on.

I believe it is all about mental attitude.

Concentrate on what you can control accept that which you can't.

**magicman** · 27 January 2011, 11:54 AM

As others have commented Luke, there is no definitive way to cope with flukes, and some people are luckier than others. Flukes tend to happen when players miss by quite a margin, so console yourself that even when you miss you're still getting closer than others! Just concentrate on your play as this is the only thing in your control.

The Castle club are holding a small comp starting 10am Sun morning if you and the mayor of flair fancy it.

**Terry Davidson** · 27 January 2011, 12:55 PM

I think we should have a 'moaner's string on here' and since Luke has started it off somewhat, I'll put in my contribution.

Last night was our regular 6-red handicapped in Kitchener. I had to give my first opponent 20 points start (equivalent to 50 on a full rack). First frame, flukes a snooker and then has a 20 break putting him 40 up with 1 red left and black and pink safe on the cushion.

Second frame I break, cueball comes to about 1in off baulk cushion behind the green with one red sticking out. This 20 handicap punches in the red and breaks out the black and puts it over the pocket and runs 23. He has 43 and putts the black safe to the side cushion.

Last frame, FINALLY, I get in but break down in the 30's, have a safety exchange and I get to blue ball is my game ball. I play safe on the blue and he cuts it into the yellow pocket along the cushion from the area of the pink spot but hits it too hard and has no pink position (thank GOD!), Attempts a double to the middle on the pink and SNOOKERS me behind the black, yet another fluke!). I hit the pink but leave it on and he runs out to win 3-0.

As everyone says, there's nothing you can do but at least I can moan and get it out of my system.

I HATE HANDICAPPED TOURNAMENTS!!!!!!!!!!!! (ESPECIALLY 6-red ones)

Terry

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