As a pool player, eventually you will hit a slump or a plateau. It happens as you are learning the game and developing your skills. It will happen when you have reached professional status. What do you do to pull yourself out of a slump?
When you are first starting out learning the game of pool, inevitably you will reach a point where your game will plateau. You have seen vast improvement from when you first picked up a cue, but you can't seem to get past a certain point. Maybe that point is running 5 balls in a row in a game of 8-ball or maybe it's being able to run 5 racks in a row of 9-ball. Eventually you will reach this point where it seems like your game just is not improving further. If you are a semi-pro or professional player, maybe you just can't seem to win tournaments where, considering the level of play, you should win. Or maybe you have won tournaments in the past and find yourself not winning them now. For whatever reason and level of play you find yourself, here are a few thoughts on getting yourself out of a slump or getting over that plateau.
First you have to assess your situation, since it will be different depending on your skill level. If you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player and find your skills have reached a point where they are not improving despite your hours of practice and steady play, consider these questions:
1. Am I practicing/playing with extreme focus? Watch the pros. They approach a shot with extreme focus, studying the shot as long as time will allow (or is acceptable if no shot clock). Not only are they aiming, but they are studying the table to see how to hit the cue ball, where it should travel, what balls might interfere, and where to best have the cue ball end up for not the next shot, but in a position so that the next shot will put them in a position to get good shape on the shot after that. In other words, they are playing 2 shots ahead in their minds. Once they have decided all this and are ready to shoot, they approach the cue ball with confidence and only focusing on hitting the cue ball precisely. I guarantee most all pros practice with extreme focus. Why practice to get better and just bang balls around without paying attention to what you are doing?
2. Am I distracted? There is a reason most professional pool tournaments are held in hotels and large convention centers with paid admission for spectators. A bar with drunk, skimpily dressed girls dancing around, people yelling or singing with the ear-splitting music, and smoke so thick you can barely see the other side of the room, isn't the greatest place to play your best. Playing professional level pool requires enormous amounts of concentration and even a small distraction can cause you to miss a shot or get out of position on the next shot. But not only distractions in the environment around you, but what in your life outside of the pool room might be causing a distraction?
3. Am I putting too much pressure or expectations on myself? Sometimes if you are just starting out playing pool or are at a place where you feel you should be playing a little better, you put too much pressure on yourself. You might be playing in tournaments where a handicap system is in place and you know you should be shooting a level higher, but can't quite seem to get there. Putting too much pressure on yourself or having too great of expectations will usually result in disappointment. While it is good to try and improve your game, you need to set reachable goals. By setting smaller goals, such as placing in the top 10 of a tournament instead of pressuring yourself to win or by beating all the lesser or equally handicapped players instead of getting upset when you don't beat the higher ranked players, will result in less frustration and improve your confidence.
4. Am I practicing/playing enough? If you don't practice or play pool often, how are you going to get better? You don't. Very few players can pick up a stick and play like the pros without spending hours upon hours at the pool table. Playing pool, in my opinion, is 90% mental, 10% skill. Think about it...a stick and a ball. It takes relatively little effort to swing the cue stick to strike the cue ball and after that point, it's up to the cue ball. So being able to make that cue ball go where you want is mostly mental. The mental ability comes with lots of practice, play, and competition.
So after you have asked yourself these questions, what can you do to get out of the slump and improve your game? I believe there are only 2 general ways to get past a slump or plateau.
The first is to take a break. Maybe you are playing and practicing nearly every day and competing in a lot of tournaments. You might be playing so much it's not fun anymore and you can't enjoy the game. Try taking a break for a few days or even a couple of weeks. I wouldn't take too much time off, just enough to give yourself a break so that when you decide to start playing again, you can enjoy it and not feel like it's a struggle or put that pressure on yourself to improve.
The second way is to practice or play more with high levels of concentration. Set up some shots that have been giving you trouble, practice them with lots of concentration and become confident at making them. Compete in tournaments or play against someone who is a higher level than you. Learning by competing is a good way to see if you are improving and it also teaches you to play under pressure of competition. Don't get frustrated by losing or not reaching a higher level, but try to take something positive away from every time at the table. Learn by watching the higher level players, remember certain shots or mistakes and add those to memory. Playing a high level of pool is about confidence and ability which will come with focused practice and competition.
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