Anthony Beeler
The Mental Side of Pool: How to Play Better Without Changing Your Stroke ANTHONY BEELER
The mental game of pool is often overlooked. It’s a lot more fun to practice running balls than it is to work on your concentration skills. Like most sports, the mental side of pool has a huge impact on how you play.
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ave you ever been beaten by someone who has a terrible stroke? Perhaps their superior mental game skills were a contributing factor leading to your demise. Let’s have a look at some things you can work on that will improve your performance without changing your stroke.
First, I recommend that you create a game plan. This is quite fun once you know how to do it. Think of it as studying before a big test, but it’s for pool, not history. You would never take a test without studying, right? Well, those times you did study I bet you got a better grade.
Creating a game plan is all about exposing your opponent’s weakness areas and highlighting your strengths. If he isn’t very good at strategy, then you will want to use sound defense to outmaneuver him. In 8-Ball, break off the side cushion and hit the second ball. This will create more clusters and will turn each game into more of a strategic affair. You may even have to block the pocket a few times to keep your opponent off-balance and create openings for yourself. In 9-Ball you should slow down and play the percentages on every single shot. No matter what game you play, always use the P.A.S.S. formula to make good decisions: P - Look for POTENTIAL PROBLEMS. A - Determining the ANGLE you have on your current shot. S - Determine what SPEED the shot needs to be struck with. S - Determine what SPIN you need for desired position on you next shot.
8 | Billiards Buzz • December 2021
