[jagg]

I was just wondering if occasionally anyone else suffers from mental fatigue when shooting pool. I really enjoy playing the game and have alot of fun doing it. However I've gotten a reputation around here as a good pool player. ( I personally think my game needs alot of improvement.) But getting that reputation consequently people are always challenging me to play. And are always expecting me to shoot good. However there is times when I just don't want to take the time to concentrate on the layout of the table, And if I make the shot great, and if I don't oh well. I don't worry about it, I'm just shooting to have fun. But if the other person happens to beat me then everyone is surprised and can't believe it. I try to explain to them that I'm just shooting for fun, but they still rib me about it. And I'm not using it as an excuse, but there is times when I really do just want to shoot for fun. So first of all I wonder if anyone else has had this problem, and secondly maybe I should just not go out on those nights. But it seems like everyday someone at my work wants to go out and play me. I have worked very ###### my game and it has got alot better ( still not great) But I worked on it because I enjoy the game and wanted to get better. However, I guess I did not realize all the other stuff that goes along with it. So any advice anyone has as to how to over come the mental fatigue would be greatly appreciated.

[FASTLARRY]

MENTAL THE MIND GAME. PROBE THE OPPONENT.

Published in 4 magazines on 8-13-95, REV I, 8-2-05 published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, rsb, btt, isp by Fast Larry Guninger, CR, all rights reserved. 5 pages.

My old college tennis coach used to tell me, always change a losing game. My Tennis game was based on power not speed. Generally my power game worked. I like to over power you so I did not have to run. I could run, but I could not out run these little guys and that was their game strength.

If I came out with my power game and the opponent out powered me and I lost 6-0 when the 2nd set began I would not come back at him with power again. To do so would just insure I lose the 2nd set and be out in a 3 set match. I would change my losing game into something different, any thing but repeat what just lost. I sought to confuse him to get him off of his rhythm. I would slow down the pace and hit a lot of soft big looping top spins he could not power back at me. I would feed him chops and junk balls.

In Tennis you have the luxury of being able to alter the ball he gets to hit. You also have 3 sets to play. If you drop set one you are still alive and can win sets 2 & 3 and victory. In the finals you have 5 sets. You could lose the first two and still come back to win. There is time to make adjustments. Now we have so many pool tournaments where we play one set to 7, single elimination or on the UPT a set to 10, 2 sets. Lose twice you are gone. There is less time for adjustment in pool than in tennis.

I would like to see pool copy the tennis format of set play. In the semi’s have a race to 10, first to win 2 sets advances. You would have to win 20 games. In the finals have a race to 12 and first to win 3 sets wins the tournament. You would have to win 36 games.

I see on TV them playing a race to 5, this is a sad joke. Why not just flip a coin and save the air time. Wonder Dog can win that event. Some of you boys match up and play each other for hours, sometimes all night for a little cash. Even if you are only playing for the time or for he haw, here are some tips that might help.

In the early going you may not want to look too good. Perhaps you want to set him up later and then raise the bet, the standard pool hustle. Now is the time to see what he does in certain situations. You certainly do not want to put all of your top moves on him now. Try just refusing to make the one ball. Hang it, dog it every time. You have to really put on a good act about what a choking dog you are blowing a straight in shot. Talk about the new meds your doctor has you on has you all screwed up.

You really want to see what this guy can do. Can he get out from the one and run 8 balls. How often can he do that? Can he do it 5 out of 10, or 1 out of 10? You want to study his game. Feed him banks and study what his skill level is. Feed him long cuts and see what he does. Can he bank? Can he cut long? You are looking for a weakness and most players have one. They have that one shot they stink at.

Is he a shooter or a safety player? If he is a shooter will he take the bait and shoot at every 10% shot you feed him.

The key piece of data is I want to chart him and know can he run out from the 1, the 2, the 3 or 4, or the 5, the 6. Every one I play has this number and I keep a book on everyone. If I have to drop a set gambling to find this out, no problem. It is an investment, and my ROI comes back later. So I keep feeding him the one and I see how far he gets. If he keeps running out and burning me I stop doing this. If he keeps running from the one and misses on the 5 or 6 leaving me a simple 3 ball out then I continue to allow him to just hang himself with his own stupidity. I’ll keep that game plan going on all night long until he wises up and adjusts. The truth is, most pool players can not run out consistently from the 5 and almost none from the 4. The truth is most club and league players can run 4 fookin balls at 9 ball with any consistency. Your opponent’s great weakness is he does not know this and his ego is driving his game. He thinks he is much better than he really is.

I break 9 ball from the D, or from that same area with my cue on the head rail, not the left long rail. It gives me a better spread and more run out tables. If I don’t make a corner ball and leave a perfect spread and run out table so what. Where is this turkey going? Answer, to the 6 and then he shoots his self in his own foot and hands me a Cruise out. The more simple run out tables I feed the guy the more games I am now winning. It’s like robbing rug rats of their candy on the play ground. Their ought to be a law against what I do to these guys.

Ball runners like an open table so they can show off on and they hate congestion. If the guy is burning me there I will switch over to a long rail break and on purpose break them poorly to feed him the table he hates. Shooters hate a game that slows or bogs down because it frustrates them. So guess what I feed them? If they guys plays real fast and loose, I begin to slow down and move around the table like Buddy Hall and not like Mosconi in a fast trot. A slow game upsets many players. I am not really sharking the guy, just trying to throw him off his rhythm and for many that is all I need to beat a superior opponent who is better than me. This is called simple gamesmanship. Pulling my hanky and blowing my nose when he is pulling the trigger in his view is sharking.

Many shooters hate a lot of safety play and ducking. If he shows this dislike, he just ordered more of that up for himself. Pool players need to be more like Poker players and not telegraph their emotions or feelings to the opponent who can then use that against them. I can feed you a break I do that God can not run out from. I don’t like to play this way but if that is the only way to beat this guy here we go.

Being an old 14.1 player moving around a lot of congestion and playing a lot of safes is to my advantage. The older wiser player does this a lot to the young inexperienced hot shot who can make any shot on the table but has an empty brain with no common sense. Patience and treachery is the only way older guys came over come youth.

Once I have him totally frustrated and going mentally nuts where his brain is toast, I will change my game plan again. I will now come out and go on all out offense and try to string some racks on him which then finished the guy off and put him away at the end. The lesson is don’t have just one game plan. Like a football quarterback, have many plans of attack. Pick the one they least expect. When they expect a long pass into the end zone you hit them with a quarter back sneak. Keep them off balance. When you see the smart opponent adjust, change again. Find their weakness.

I had this one guy I could not beat, old Joe. This guy was great. He had all the moves, shots and experience. He was 10 years older than me and that extra 10 years of game experience he had did not help me a bit. He did not make mistakes and he would put you away. I would play even with the guy in tournaments and at the end of the set where crunch time happens the guy would run 2 or 3 racks and out on me every time. I kept going down in the chair. You could see it coming. His eyes would go into little slits, snake eyes. He would quit talking and go into this deep trance. His concentration would become total. He was falling into the deep zone.

One time when he did this I asked a simple question from my chair. Joe, why did you shoot that 5 with draw, when you should have followed around 3 rails instead, that was the proper shot. Bam, he stops, pulls up and walks over to me and goes into a full dissertation of why he performed the proper shot and why I was wrong. He went back to his shot, missed and I ran 2 racks and out and beat him for the first time. I did not care how he hit the shot all I wanted was to wake the guy up and out of his trance and it worked. Did I shark him, yes, but that was the only way to beat this guy. He had the choice to simply ignore me and not answer and just run out and then answer the question when he sat down. I found a weakness and I used it. I slept like a baby that night. Pool has a lot of gray areas you play around in.

Without being in the zone they guy could not close you out. I pulled this on him over and over and he never ever beat me again. He then went around to everyone telling them I was the better player. This was not true, he was, I just found a way to beat him and then own him. After a while I had him so mentally brain fooked he stopped even trying to beat me and he would just lay down like a dog and let me run all over him.

When you are playing and your opponent asks you a question or begins to talk to you do not answer or even listen to what he is saying. Ignore him totally. When you’re run ends and you are in your chair and he’s is over the ball shooting you say hey, what was that question you asked me, I can answer it now. Jabber all you want now, he drew first blood.

I used to play Minnesota Fats and Omaha Fat when I was young. Both of them never shut up. Their mouths were running constantly. That would drive me nuts and that was their con. I went up to fatty once and said I’ll play you a set for a C note but you have to agree to one thing. He said what is it you want my boy, a spot, don’t talk about my little dog spot that got ran over by a greyhound bus in front of my house, it brings tears to my eyes, ah yes. I went no fat man, I don’t want no spot, I’ll play you straight up, but, you have to agree you can not say a single word. If you do, you forfeit the match and the C note. He would not play and passed up the game.

Fatty would not play a losing game. He had to control the game and you or he did not get on the dance floor. Learn to play smart and to constantly be making adjustments. Never continue to play a losing game. If you are losing, change your game, do something fast, do anything, you just might get lucky and turn a defeat into a victory.
Come chat with me live at www.poolchat.net which used to be called www.billiards-pool.net THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL “Fast Larry” Guninger offers clinics and video taped lessons. Web site www.fastlarrypool.com POOL LESSONS FROM A GRAND MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR, BILLIARDS EXPERT AND FORMER ARTISTIC WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609. Larry plays on five pro pool tours. His tour 9 ball cards are: the UPA, the men’s main tour; the Florida 9 ball tour, SE pro 9 ball tour, the Senior Tour and the APTSA (Artistic Pool and Trick Shot Association.
Fax 770-381-1916 POOL QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND FREE INSTRUCTION IS ON www.poolchat.net In the ask the pros forum.“Fast Larry” Guninger and Wonder Dog, trick shot shows and entertainment.
Email fastlarry@bellsouth.net fast larry at bell south dot net.
DVD’s.http://www.fastlarrypool.com/dvdseries_trickshots1_trailer.htm
May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose.
Either lead me, follow me or get the hell out of my way. Do one of the three please. Come celebrate the wonder of this beautiful game with me and become a student of it.
Be my friend, walk my way, flow with what I teach you and you will soar like the Eagle into levels of excellence you never dreamed possible. Play be feel, not by systems, do not make a simple game complicated. Go with what you know, go with what is natural.
"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen." In the words of Vince Lombardi, "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened."
Rack em sausage, Go play fast and loose. Ride em hard, put em up wet, leave the ladies smiling. Live free, die well with your boots on owing no man nothing. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. In time, it’s all dust in the wind anyway. Don’t take your self, or anything too serious, just be happy and healthy. Laughter good whiskey and song is the best medicine. If you have a library, a garden, a good woman and a barrel of Scotch, you have all you need. Be sure to take the time, to smell the flowers along the way. Aristole said “ Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Die happy and you lived a good life. God bless American, the land of the free and of the brave.

[FASTLARRY]

FOCUS

4 Pages, 8-30-99, rev I, 1-30-05, Rev 1-9-07, CR, Fast Larry Guninger all rights reserved. Published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, btt, rsb.

This is one of the big ones. It is one of the inside secrets to success. The problem is every one tells you to focus. Nobody tells you how to. First you have to know what it is:
Definitions of focus:
• the concentration of attention or energy on something; "the focus of activity shifted to molecular biology"; "he had no direction in his life"
• maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system; "in focus"; "out of focus"
• maximum clarity or distinctness of an idea; "the controversy brought clearly into focus an important difference of opinion"
• concentrate: direct one's attention on something; "Please focus on your studies and not on your hobbies"
• a central point or locus of an infection in an organism; "the focus of infection"
• cause to converge on or toward a central point; "Focus the light on this image"
• stress: special emphasis attached to something; "the stress was more on accuracy than on speed"
• concentrate,: bring into focus or alignment; to converge or cause to converge; of ideas or emotions
Pin asked FL:
A couple of nights ago I was playing some pool, and noticed a problem:
At first, I was playing well, with good precision. Then I hit a bad patch, where I had very poor control over where the CB and OB were finishing, and found I was getting frustrated. After a little while, things turned around again and I got back on track.
During that bad spell, I found myself getting frustrated by my inability to do what I wanted with the CB or OB. I know this isn't a good response, and will just make problems worse. However, I knew I was capable of so much better, and desperately wanted to do something to 'fix' my play and start shooting well again.
When this kind of slump happens, do you tend to think that there's something you can do to fix yourself, or do you just try to relax, keep doing what you always do, and accept your poor form until things start working again?
Also, any tips for avoiding getting frustrated by your own bad performance?


FL RESPONDS:
You have to realize you are an athlete. You must now train and perform like one. Your mind lost its concentration and began to wander and went out to go play. You needed to sit down, close you eyes and bitch slap your cpu. You say, wake up and pay attention. You just whack your self like some nun in a Catholic school comes up and whacks your wrist hard when she see’s you staring at the little hottie sitting next to you and not focusing on the black board.

You needed to meditate for a minute and regain your focus. When you come back to the table you now have put on a set of blinder on both sides of your eyes, like they put on a race horse. You imagine them to be on you. You can now not see anything around you. All you can now see is the table and the shot before you. You now have total focus and are one with the shot.

A clear sober mind can focus, one filled with drugs or booze can not. Play sober.

You must be well rested with 8 hours sleep to be able to focus. If you did not get proper rest that night then take a nap before your match.

Never get thirsty. Be sure you have drunk 8 full glasses of water by 4PM. When you feel thirsty it’s already too late and you are dehydrated. That can allow the mind to shut down and lose focus. Always have a bottle of water or Gatorade by your table and be drinking it during your competition. Before your competition eat a couple of bananas and take a potassium pill. Athletes need to replace the fluids they lose through sweat to fully recover from exercise. The easiest way to do this is to consume a sports drink, as sports drinks have flavor to encourage drinking and contain electrolytes, such as sodium and potassium to maintain fluid balance in the body. For instance, if an athlete drinks plain water and does not eat any salty foods for the two hours after exercise, a significant portion (25 to 50 percent) of what they drink will be excreted as urine. However when an athlete dehydrates with a drink that contains both sodium and potassium at the proper levels, then 65 to 80 percent of the fluid is retained by the body, helping to better rehydrate the player.

The brain can focus best when its cool and 72 degrees is best. I have been in a lot of pool halls where when I came in it was 72 and when the crowd fills up the place it can quickly become 88 degrees. The brain simply loses its ability to focus and the mind gets sloppy and fogy. You must cool your self off like in the hot sun. Go get a bar towel and ask them to fill it full of ice and head to a quite corner and put it on your head. If its winter time go out side with out a coat until you begin to shake. If its summer, go out to your car and turn on the AC vents into your face. You must find a way to lower your body temperature. Begin taking off excess clothes. If you have a hat on, it comes off. This is so important I carry a small temperature and humidity gauge with me.

You must have eaten lightly to be able to focus. A hungry dog hunts best but don’t be starved. You can focus when digesting heavy food. Sometimes the right very light snack before you play is good. Soup is always good with crackers. Tuna is brain food.
What to Eat
Carbohydrates
Muscle glycogen is the predominant fuel for energy during exercise? As carbohydrate (glucose) is the primary source of muscle glycogen, it is the most efficient source of energy for the body and should make up approximately 60 percent of an athlete's diet. Depending on the size of the athlete, that could amount to anywhere between 300 to more than 600 grams of carbohydrate each day. Carbohydrate-rich foods include whole-grain breads, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables and sports drinks.
A carbohydrate snack consumed within 30 minutes after the competition or practice will allow the body to start the recovery process faster. In addition, players need to consume a carbohydrate-rich meal within two hours after the recovery snack. This ensures that the muscles continue to load with carbohydrate energy. For most athletes, that means eating a meal soon after they get home from competition or practice.
Protein
Protein also plays an important role in recovering from exercise. Although carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for muscles, consuming a small amount of protein shortly before or after exercise may help the body recover from exercise in a different way, by stimulating muscle repair and growth. This is backed by research that found that adding protein to the recovery snack does not enhance the muscle's ability to store energy, but instead, this extra protein is used by the muscles to rebuild after exercise.
Note that it does not take large amounts of protein to get these results. In fact, when athletes eat a combination of carbohydrates and protein post-exercise, the carbohydrates are used to refill the muscles with fuel, while the protein is used to help build and repair muscle tissue.
Recovery Foods
Here's a sample of healthy foods to help athletes recover from exercise:
• Sports drinks, like Gatorade Thirst Quencher
• Granola, energy or breakfast bars
• Bagels with peanut butter
• Sub sandwiches
• Crackers and cheese
• Burritos
• Fresh fruit like apples, bananas, oranges, grapes
• Vegetables such as carrots and celery
• Fruit smoothies (prepackaged)
• Rice cakes or trail mix
• Chocolate milk and Animal crackers

WOMEN WEAKNEN THE KNEES: Are you watching the little tennie booper who just came in and is playing across the room. Aren’t those hooters nice, so firm and high, and that cute tattoo on her back and look at that belly button and bare hips. Bozo, how are you going to focus and play fookin pool with your dick and tongue rock hard? Stop looking at that jail bait and don’t even look in her direction again. Focus on the game and dropping the bum you are playing. After you win then buy a beer and go sit down next to her table and ogle all you want.

Did the juke box just come on and begin playing rap crap at the same DB level of the space shuttle launch. You need quite to focus and concentrate. Here is where you new meditation skills come into play. You can program all that crap out so you barely hear it or you can put on ear phones to drown it out with soft relaxing music that allows you to focus. Learn how to use self hypnosis to control and eliminate many of the distractions now taking you down and out of the winners circle. Get trained by a professional in this field. I have.

Usually a pool player gets hit with several of the above and he later wonders why he lost his concentration. He lost it because the conditions controlled him. He did not control what was going on around him.

People in the past have ran Marathons where they had it won with a big lead and then gave up and collapsed because they did not know where the finish line was. Many were within blocks of the line and fell down and gave up. The point is you must see the finish line. When you do you get a 2nd wind. You bite down hard on the bit and you explode to break the tape and run for the roses. When you set your goals they can not be too high where the finish lines cannot be seen or are out of reach. One simple goal after another one is what you want with each one climbing up the stairs of success. You must focus on each one until it is accomplished or that thing mastered. The greatest two things a champion pool player has are focus and extreme concentration.

You establish a clear view of the table and the entire run out just lays out for you. You concentrate on each shot, one at a time. If you do not keep this focus on just one shot at a time you can overload your senses with too much input which can be fatal. You must stay calm and keep your emotions on an even keel. Get too excited and allow your emotions to run wild and your brain has a fail safe mechanism to keep you from frying circuits or wires. It just shuts your ass down. Turns you off when you go into sensory overload. You just stand there and stare and are frozen like a statue because you do not have a clue what to do because you do not realize all input has been turned off. Nothing is coming in and all lines are not cut. Focus is on the task at hand and all this other extraneous stuff going on around you is now blocked out and ignored. Tight focus on just the shot. See the shot. Be one with the shot. See nothing else, hear nothing else.

Any good coach is always telling you to focus when you begin to play bad and flake mentally out. Play with a totally empty brain and shut off your monkey brain that chatters to you. Until you can do that focus is impossible.

Every time you go to a pool table feel like you enter a battle field and you must as a warrior fight a good fight and vanquish the enemy. You must have total focus on just that. All outside distractions must be silenced and you must slip into the zone for pure focus to take place.

Just see the shot and develop snake eyes where your vision tightens and your vision narrows just before you shoot. You must learn how to meditate and there are plenty of books and CD’s and DVD’s at the library to teach you that. The Dalai Lama who is a very busy man and in demand more than a rock star spends 5 to 6 hours a day with his eyes closed in deep meditation. If he can find time to do this, so can you.



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May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between
us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May
the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. "Fastus Maximus. " Latin for
"I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did
do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don't believe it,
C'est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run
out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose.

[FASTLARRY]

CONCENTRATION

3 Pages 6-30-03, rev 3-22-05,CR, Fast Larry Guninger all righrts reserved. Published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, btt.

Originally posted on the net.
Hi fast Larry. I am thrilled with my playing in general. I play close to pro level, especially in 8-ball where I believe I could beat any pro on earth, here's my question, lately when I’m on the 8-ball if I’m not straight in and perfectly easily close, I usually miss, cause I believe I’m upset with myself in conjunction with left brain thinking, help me how can I say, so what? So I’m not perfect, and continue on? Thanks.

Yes I fully understand, the Chinese call the left brain, monkey brain, it just has to be silenced. It jabbers at your like a monkey. All voices must be silenced. You must play with a total empty brain with no thought just by feel. Just order it to shut up and leave you alone. You all know I have been writing a book and it's only one third finished. I hope to have it out by mid summer and when it is, it will be ground breaking. It will change how all of you think and play to win. It is on this subject. All of your questions will be solved.

When you miss an easy shot, you have lost focus and concentration. In the future I will teach you how to go in and out of the deep zone at will and missing in the zone is then not possible. I asked Mike Sigel to tell me in one sentence or paragraph what set him apart from the others, what allowed him to win 100 events and end up ranked in the top 5 of all time. He said I can answer that in one word for you. CONCENTRATION.

Willie Hoppe the greatest cueist of all time in his 1925 book listed 30 lessons, lesson one was: CONCENTRATION. That is why at the higher levels of this game it becomes all mental and pool becomes like chess. It is mental Chess, planning many moves far ahead and holding tight focus on each move at hand.

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chess master Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)

Pool is chess on wheels, pool at the highest level and every one who's played there totally agrees it is 90% mental once the basics and the stroke are grooved. Pool to me is nothing but chess which is why I play Cribbage and Rotation all of the time and try to avoid 9 ball. The only sport that requires more thinking, focus, advanced planning and concentration is chess, nothing else comes close to pool. Golf does not even come close, tennis does. Become a student of the game and seek pool excellence.

You must first develop physical endurance so your body does not tire. This you can do in a gym. When I get ready for a tour or event I play 8 hrs a day to be sure my body is strong and will not tire and drag my mind down with it.

I then practice seeing how long I can play holding pure concentration and if possible in the zone. On each session I try to extend this. Normally this is two hours for me and my maximum is 2 l/2 hrs. When my mind begins to wander and I lose my focus I stop and take a break.

Come chat with me live at www.poolchat.net which used to be called www.billiards-pool.net THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL “Fast Larry” Guninger offers clinics and video taped lessons. Web site www.fastlarrypool.com
POOL LESSONS FROM A GRAND MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR, BILLIARDS EXPERT AND FORMER ARTISTIC WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609.
Fax 770-381-1916 POOL QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND FREE INSTRUCTION IS ON www.poolchat.net In the ask the pros forum.
“Fast Larry” Guninger and Wonder Dog, trick shot shows and entertainment.
Email fastlarry@bellsouth.net fast larry at bell south dot net.
DVD’s.http://www.fastlarrypool.com/dvdseries_trickshots1_trailer.htm

May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose.
Either lead me, follow me or get the hell out of my way. Do one of the three please. Come celebrate the wonder of this beautiful game with me and become a student of it. Be my friend, walk my way, flow with what I teach you and you will soar like the Eagle into levels of excellence you never dreamed possible.
"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen." In the words of Vince Lombardi, "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened."
Rack em sausage, Go play fast and loose. Ride em hard, put em up wet, leave the ladies smiling. Live free, die well with your boots on owing no man nothing. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. In time, it’s all dust in the wind anyway. Don’t take your self, or anything else, too serious, just be happy and healthy. Laughter good whiskey and song is the best medicine. Be sure to take the time, to smell the flowers along the way. “FL”

[jagg]

FASTLARRY, on Nov 13 2007, 06:06 PM, said:

CONCENTRATION

3 Pages 6-30-03, rev 3-22-05,CR, Fast Larry Guninger all righrts reserved. Published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, btt.

Originally posted on the net.
Hi fast Larry. I am thrilled with my playing in general. I play close to pro level, especially in 8-ball where I believe I could beat any pro on earth, here's my question, lately when I’m on the 8-ball if I’m not straight in and perfectly easily close, I usually miss, cause I believe I’m upset with myself in conjunction with left brain thinking, help me how can I say, so what? So I’m not perfect, and continue on? Thanks.

Yes I fully understand, the Chinese call the left brain, monkey brain, it just has to be silenced. It jabbers at your like a monkey. All voices must be silenced. You must play with a total empty brain with no thought just by feel. Just order it to shut up and leave you alone. You all know I have been writing a book and it's only one third finished. I hope to have it out by mid summer and when it is, it will be ground breaking. It will change how all of you think and play to win. It is on this subject. All of your questions will be solved.

When you miss an easy shot, you have lost focus and concentration. In the future I will teach you how to go in and out of the deep zone at will and missing in the zone is then not possible. I asked Mike Sigel to tell me in one sentence or paragraph what set him apart from the others, what allowed him to win 100 events and end up ranked in the top 5 of all time. He said I can answer that in one word for you. CONCENTRATION.

Willie Hoppe the greatest cueist of all time in his 1925 book listed 30 lessons, lesson one was: CONCENTRATION. That is why at the higher levels of this game it becomes all mental and pool becomes like chess. It is mental Chess, planning many moves far ahead and holding tight focus on each move at hand.

"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."
- Chess master Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower (1887-1956)

Pool is chess on wheels, pool at the highest level and every one who's played there totally agrees it is 90% mental once the basics and the stroke are grooved. Pool to me is nothing but chess which is why I play Cribbage and Rotation all of the time and try to avoid 9 ball. The only sport that requires more thinking, focus, advanced planning and concentration is chess, nothing else comes close to pool. Golf does not even come close, tennis does. Become a student of the game and seek pool excellence.

You must first develop physical endurance so your body does not tire. This you can do in a gym. When I get ready for a tour or event I play 8 hrs a day to be sure my body is strong and will not tire and drag my mind down with it.

I then practice seeing how long I can play holding pure concentration and if possible in the zone. On each session I try to extend this. Normally this is two hours for me and my maximum is 2 l/2 hrs. When my mind begins to wander and I lose my focus I stop and take a break.

Come chat with me live at www.poolchat.net which used to be called www.billiards-pool.net THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL “Fast Larry” Guninger offers clinics and video taped lessons. Web site www.fastlarrypool.com
POOL LESSONS FROM A GRAND MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR, BILLIARDS EXPERT AND FORMER ARTISTIC WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609.
Fax 770-381-1916 POOL QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND FREE INSTRUCTION IS ON www.poolchat.net In the ask the pros forum.
“Fast Larry” Guninger and Wonder Dog, trick shot shows and entertainment.
Email fastlarry@bellsouth.net fast larry at bell south dot net.
DVD’s.http://www.fastlarrypool.com/dvdseries_trickshots1_trailer.htm

May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose.
Either lead me, follow me or get the **** out of my way. Do one of the three please. Come celebrate the wonder of this beautiful game with me and become a student of it. Be my friend, walk my way, flow with what I teach you and you will soar like the Eagle into levels of excellence you never dreamed possible.
"Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen." In the words of Vince Lombardi, "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened."
Rack em sausage, Go play fast and loose. Ride em hard, put em up wet, leave the ladies smiling. Live free, die well with your boots on owing no man nothing. May you be in heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead. In time, it’s all dust in the wind anyway. Don’t take your self, or anything else, too serious, just be happy and healthy. Laughter good whiskey and song is the best medicine. Be sure to take the time, to smell the flowers along the way. “FL”

Thanks FL. But I guess my real question is, is there ever times when you feel really burnt out on pool, just don't feel like really playing your best? At those times is it best to just take a few days off, or just try and fight through it?

[FASTLARRY]

jagg, on Nov 13 2007, 10:31 PM, said:

Thanks FL. But I guess my real question is, is there ever times when you feel really burnt out on pool, just don't feel like really playing your best? At those times is it best to just take a few days off, or just try and fight through it?

SLUMP HOW TO SOLVE IT.

4 Pages 10-31-04 CR, Fast Larry Guninger all rights reserved. Bpn, czm, upp, rsb.
Every one will some day fall into a bad slump. Read this and you will know what to do when that day comes which it will. Nobody escapes the slump, not even Tiger Woods. A player writes Fast an email:

First let me say you are being very gracious to spend the time it must take to respond to all us "wanna be's" and I thank you. Now, my dilemma. For the past three weeks I have been unable to make more than 3-4 balls in a row (sometimes less); balls that used to be routine stuff. I am an avid recreational player but I like to play low wager ring games and do most weekends. My APA rating is 7 level and I typically can beat 70% of the other area 7's. Usually I win a little too as much as $150. We play on a Diamond 41/2x9 w/pro cut pockets. The past 3 weeks I have lost every weekend and I don't have any idea why. It's to the point that I "dread" my turn to shoot, especially if the ball is pocketable. Any ideas, suggestions? Background: I started playing when I was 49 and now am 59. Thanks,Doug

FL RESPONDS:

First take off for 2 weeks and do not play, just rest, then sell your cue and take up bowling or checkers in the park.
OK, bad joke, back to work here.

Allow me say I was once an APA 7 and that is the leagues highest rating. I always rated 7’s in 3 sub categories, 1’s, God cant beat, 2’s, run outs and 3’s, out in two innings like a clock and run a rack now and then.
You are telling me you are a 2nd level 7. To take up the game as a senior citizen and achieve that rank and skill level may I say that is simply remarkable and outstanding? I did the same thing. This is rare. We old people must stick together, the kids don’t think we can play and that’s the beauty of this wonderful sport. You can be playing it well up into your 80’s if your health and body holds up. Fatty, Mosconi, Daly were all out touring well into their 80’s.

You are telling me you are now playing like an APA 4 and don’t have a clue why. They are all now beating on you like you are their rented Mexican mule. You were playing hotter than a brand new Puerto Rican credit card and now you’re cold as ice. You are folding faster than a blue light Kmart special $3 card table. Do I now give you a fair run down of your current situation which is know as being double screwed. You are locked into a Hungarian mortal lock of which you cannot escape. This is only one level from being triple screwed of which there is no cure from. Run, hide, and don’t play anybody any more until you figure out what is going on. There are times in life to give up, go to bed, pull the covers over your head and go into a fetal position and just sleep it off. This occurs from over play and getting bored and burning out. A single basic can erode and go bad and then take 2 other basics out of line with it.

You are obviously in bad paralysis by analysis and your brain is now scrambled eggs. You do not have a friggen clue. All you are doing is creating severe emotional damage and will destroy your confidence. That confidence knowing you will run out on these lower ranked players is what makes you what you are. Beating them makes them what they are, losers you dominate. Lose that, you are toast. Lose that and you are looking for a big cliff to drive your caddy off of via Thelma and Louise, Geronimo. Now getting beat by these guys makes life no longer worth living, I understand. Before you harm your self, chill. It happens to us all. It will happen to you again. Here is how you handle it. Do not panic. Go get lousy drunk. Take up golf or tennis for the next two weeks. Lose your pool cue, give it to your wife and tell her to hide it.

You are in what is called a slump and it strikes and happens to all athletes in every sport. This occurs usually from over play or sloppy practice and bad play habits. It also occurs from reading the science freaks and geeks board articles. If you have visited any of these boys there was what did you in. You begin to play at a lower level and miss more and that feeds on its self and soon becomes a run away loser monster on your hands. Soon you are leaking oil, then you blow a head gasket and it can become nothing more than a run away train wreck.

You must now lay your cue down, lock it up where you cant get at it and do not hit a ball for at least a week. Do not return to the table until you are hungry to play again. If the desire is not there, then lay the cue down for two weeks.
Just tell your team you injured your thumb and can’t play, problem solved. You want to come back to the game with a rested mind that now sees things from a new perspective.
After you’re forced temporary exile and you come back and play for 3 days and if your game does not come back on then your problem is deeper and now requires some serious work and overhaul. Lay your cue down again and find somebody like me, who is a master level instructor and who can tear down a pro and put him back together again. You don’t need a beginner teacher; you need a finisher, a high level man. Find somebody with deep serious experience. There are many who can do this and if you ask around you may find one close to you.

If not, then fly into Atlanta or buy me a ticket to come to you and I’ll spend all day long and have you back on track. There are many high end finishers like me who can get you back on your feet.
If you do get with me then the worst cases is it might take two days to cure your problem but usually a one day session does the trick.

Doug pool is like a car engine with 8 cylinders, pull out one spark plug and it runs sluggish, pull out 2 and now run on 6 and it runs like crap, that’s you. When I get those 2 plugs back firing again you are back running out again. A car needs a good tune up now and then, so does a pool player. If you have never had a top pro put each one of your basics on film and study them with you then you are long over due to do this and that is probably what caused your collapse. If you do not understand exactly how your game works, when you begin to lose it, you then don’t know how to fix it. It is like dominos; once they begin to fall they just keep kicking over one after another. Once you begin to fix problems, they come back up in reverse direction.

It is so much like Dominos, let one basic begin to degrade and get sloppy, it takes out one or two more with it and the dominos begin to fall, one taking out the next one behind it. If I get that main flaw corrected, the other dominos fall back into line. Most of the time Doug you have one or two major basics of your stance/swing that are no longer in line or working as they should. I am very good at finding these things quick and fixing them. I know what to look for and I constantly catch things the other instructor miss or overlook. At that, I am the guru. I can’t tell you how many student who have came into me after taking lessons from the top 5 in the game and major swing flaws were missed by these so called experts. If I told you their names you would fall over dead. It then became apparent, I am looking for these flaws and catching them and others are not. I am running film back and watching you play frame by frame with the student looking on and most of these so called experts are not even using a camera to teach with.

I have my head down deep into the engine looking for problems while the other teachers are pontificating on how much they know. You don’t want to be preached to; you just want your swing fixed and that is what I do. Please, allow me to apologize in advance here, I am not boasting, just trying to explain what people like me do for people like you.

Any teacher can teach a beginner, but in your case, you need what they call in Tennis or Golf a top guru finisher. He’s the last guy you go to. Never take an advanced level problem to a beginner teacher. Take it to advanced level teachers. He can take you to any level you choose to aim for. He has all of your answers. He becomes your final teacher, your sensei. You seek now a Grand Master.
There are a couple of dozen of them out there, finding the real ones from the pretenders is the challenge.

Get with this guy and get your game on film so you both can see on the camera replays what your basics now look like and we both agree what is in tune and what is not. We must now retune your head. You have now lost confidence in your stroke and it to repeat and work. We give you a new stroke; you must now rebuild that confidence once more. I would want you to leave and again don’t play anyone for a week. Just do drills. Most of the classic 14.1 drills I use and are in books. I have some really cool advanced stuff also I can turn you on to. After a week of doing drills over and over, you should have that new retuned swing working where you feel great about it.
Dozens of these drills are not up on www.billiards-pool.net and can be found in the Ask the pros forum. At the top of the main page, go into the tutorials, there I am in the process of putting up over 300 instructions articles, enough to fill 3 books and will answer any question you could possibly have. They are going into the encyclopedia of pool section.

Now begin play with your self, just play you, nobody else. Stay away from any competition until you begin to break and run out and are getting out in two innings on a regular basis like you used to. Once you know your game is back up to where it was before and a little stronger which it would be from me, then seek out soft competition. Go to places where nobody knows you.

Pick out easy meat. Play for beers, table time, even he haw, what you want to reestablish is winning and running out on weaker opponents. You must restore your confidence in you and only winning can do that.

Just ramp back up step at a time until you feel good, then rejoin your previous league competition and gambling at higher levels with the best players. Remember in pool, everywhere I go, I find several people that are virtually unbeatable. They beat me, they beat Archer. You catch a couple of these guys they can really beat up your confidence. Fatty told me a long time ago, pool is winning, losing, winning and losing. You never get so good you don’t lose. Match up well and you will win the majority of your encounters. If you lose and you played your best solid game, don’t spend one minute worrying about that. The best golfers in the world have 52 tourneys a year to play in and it takes them 100 events until they finally win for the first time. Then they are lucky to win once a year and twice are a golden year. They lose 51 times to win once. You have to be a real mental optimist to handle such odds.

Maybe your winning expectations you put on your self were too high which put heat on you to win and that added pressure helped you to play down and began this downward cycle. Just go play, have fun, put no heat on your self to win and learn to just let the wins happen and do not dread losing, every one loses. 75% of the time Tiger Woods plays he loses also. Losing is not something to dread, it’s just a fact of life you must accept and get used to and no longer fight. In pool usually the harder you try to win the more you shoot your self in the foot. Just get that old fast and loose thing going again and go out and just free wheel on these guys. Pool is a feel game and it must be played that way. You lost the feel, you are now trying to under stand it and play it mechanically. You sir, if you are doing this then you are doomed. You must play with an empty mind with no conscious thought, just see feel pots, it is that simple. Visualize the shots falling, the game can really go no deeper than that my friend. You are now in Paralysis by Analysis. Stop thinking, just go shoot pool dude.

Once your basics are solid, your swing repeats and you have total confidence in it, then the game at your level becomes 90% mental. I am writing a book on this subject and it’s one third finished. I plan to have it out by early summer. This book will solve all problems like you are having.

I have a practice method and sorry I can’t give it out over the board simply because it is too long and complicated but I will begin filming it on DVD and soon you can acquire it and begin using its methods. I simply use your mind like it is your desk top cpu.
I reformat your hard drive so it’s clean and has nothing on it, we erase all bad data and input and install nothing but clean and perfect new shots. It takes 3 months of work by you once you learn the method but it turn you into a pro level run out monster. This method works and as you can imagine I keep it very much under wraps. It is called the 6 P’s practice method, perfect practice, produces a pure perfect performance.

I go to the Masters Golf tourney in Augusta ever year and on the range are the top 25 golfers on earth out there with their teachers on the eve of the event actually getting lessons. You would say why does a master need a lesson. The actual lesson they are getting is what a beginner gets. All these pros work on is maintaining perfect basics so they then do not have to ever think about any part of their swing and they can now just see, feel, visualize and make the swing naturally. How many times have you had your basics checked by a pro like me and why do you think they stay in place and never degrade. Just watching ball bangers and their swings can screw you up. Never watch these people play, never. Be polite, watch the wall and they won’t know. Go home and put in a tape and watch Sigel or Buddy Hall play and get a perfect image of what you want in your game which helps to erase the entire ball banging league crap you just took in.

My prescription to you RX is rest, one to two weeks, then find a top notch swing doctor and get your game filmed. If he does not work with a camera, he is not that high level person you seek. Get a tune up, do drills, play your self back into confidence and as a winner. This will work; it does on everyone I run it on. You must accept you have a lot of work to do to pull out of this and restoring confidence in you is the key. If the guy you found does not fix and repair you and move you up a notch, your last option is to find you way into Atlanta and to me.
I will not let you leave town until I take care of you. I give a money back guarantee; if I don’t achieve what you come for you pay me nothing.
99% of my lessons succeed and people leave happy. I will stay there all day long if necessary to achieve that. I do not watch the clock like a lawyer or a doctor. I only want you to leave happy.

THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL WWW.FASTLARRYPOOL.COM
POOL LESSONS FROM A MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR AND WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609
POOL QUESTIONS AND FREE INSTRUCTION IS ON
WWW.BILLIARDS-POOL.NET in the ask the pros forum.
“Fast Larry” Guninger and Wonder Dog, trick shot shows and entertainment.
WWW.FASTLARRY@BELLSOUTH.NET www dot fastlarry at bellsouth dot net

May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “Fastus Maximus. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. "

[FASTLARRY]

SLUMP How to escape from one.

2-25-04, Rev I, 1-23-05, 4 pages, CR, Fast Larry Guninger all rights reserved. Published in DC, bpn, czm, upp, ppt, flp, btt.

A player writes Fast an email:
First let me say you are being very gracious to spend the time it must take to respond to all us "wanna be's" and I thank you. Now, my dilemma. For the past three weeks I have been unable to make more than 3-4 balls in a row (sometimes less); balls that used to be routine stuff. I am an avid recreational player but I like to play low wager ring games and do most weekends. My APA rating is 7 level and I typically can beat 70% of the other area 7's. Usually I win a little to as much as $150. We play on a Diamond 41/2x9 w/pro cut pockets. The past 3 weeks I have lost every weekend and I don't have any idea why. It's to the point that I "dread" my turn to shoot, especially if the ball is pocketable. Any ideas, suggestions? Background: I started playing when I was 49 and now am 59.
Thanks,
Doug

FL RESPONDS: First off let me say I was once an APA 7 and that is the leagues highest rating. I always rated 7’s in 3 sub categories, 1’s, God cant beat, 2’s, run outs and 3’s, out in two innings like a clock and run a rack now and then.
You are telling me you are a 2nd level 7. To take up the game as a senior citizen and achieve that rank and skill level may I say that is simply remarkable and outstanding? We old people must stick together, the kids don’t think we can play and that’s the beauty of this wonderful sport. You can be playing it well up into your 80’s if your health and body holds up. Fatty, Mosconi, Daly were all out touring well into their 80’s.

You are telling me you are now playing like an apa 4 and don’t have a clue why. They are all now beating on you like you are their rented Mexican mule. You were playing hotter than a brand new Puerto Rican credit card and now you’re cold as ice. You are folding faster than a blue light Kmart special $3 card table. You cannot blop your baloney with out miss cueing, do I now give you a fair run down of your current situation which is know as being double screwed. You are locked into a Hungarian mortal lock of which you cannot escape. This is only one level from being triple screwed of which there is no cure from. Run, hide, and don’t play anybody any more until you figure out what is going on. There are times in life to give up, go to bed, pull the covers over your head and go into a fetal position and just sleep it off. You are obviously in bad paralysis by analysis and your brain is now scrambled eggs. You do not have a friggen clue. All you are doing is creating severe emotional damage and this will destroy your confidence.

That confidence knowing you will run out on these lower ranked players is what makes you; you, and makes them what they are, losers you dominate. Lose that, you are toast. Lose that and you are looking for a big cliff to drive your caddy off of via Thelma and Louise, Geronimo. Getting beat by these guys makes life no longer worth living, I understand. Before you harm your self, chill. It happens to us all. It will happen to you again. Here is how you handle it. Do not panic. Go get lousy drunk. Take up golf or tennis for the next two weeks.

You are in what is called a slump and it strikes and happens to all athletes in every sport. This occurs usually from over play or sloppy practice and bad play habits. It also occurs from reading Capelle, Byrne or Jewett. If you have visited any of this three there was what did you in. You begin to play at a lower level and miss more and that feeds on its self and soon becomes a run away loser monster on your hands. Soon you are leaking oil, then you blow a head gasket and it can become nothing more than a run away train wreck.

You must now lay your cue down, lock it up where you cant get at it and do not hit a ball for at least a week. Do not return to the table until you are hungry to play again. If the desire is not there, then lay the cue down for two weeks.
Just tell your team you injured your thumb and can’t play, problem solved. You want to come back to the game with a rested mind that now sees things from a new perspective.
After your forced temporary exile and you come back and play for 3 days and if your game does not come back on then your problem is deeper and now requires some serious work and overhaul. Lay your cue down again and find somebody like me, who is a master level instructor and who can tear down a pro and put him back together again. You don’t need a beginner teacher; you need a finisher, a high level man. Find somebody with deep serious experience. There are many who can do this and if you ask around you may find one close to you.

If not, then fly into Atlanta or buy me a ticket to come to you and I’ll spend all day long and have you back on track. You can send me your email saying here’s my phone number, call me up when you tour nearby and eventually I will get to you. I keep all of these contacts in folders and I do call to set these up.
If you do get with me then the worst cases is it might take two days to cure your problem but usually a one day session does the trick.

Doug pool is like a car engine, pull out one spark plug and it runs sluggish, pull out 2 and now run on 6 and it runs like crap, that’s you. When I get those 2 plugs back firing again you are back running out again. A car needs a good tune up now and then, so does a pool player. If you have never had a top pro put each one of your basics on film and study them with you then you are long over due to do this and that is probably what caused your collapse. If you do not understand exactly how your game works, when you begin to lose it, you then don’t know how to fix it. It is like dominos; once they begin to fall they just keep kicking over one after another. Once you begin to fix problems, they come back up in reverse direction.

It is so much like Dominos, let one basic begin to degrade and get sloppy, it takes out one or two more with it and the dominos begin to fall, one taking out the next one behind it. If I get that main flaw corrected, the other dominos fall back into line. Most of the time Doug you have one or two major basics of your stance/swing that are no longer in line or working as they should. I am very good at finding these things quick and fixing them. I know what to look for and I constantly catch things the other instructor miss or overlook. At that, I am the guru.

I have my head down deep into the engine looking for problems while the other teachers are pontificating on how much they know. You don’t want to be preached to; you just want your swing fixed that is what I do. Please, allow me to apologize in advance here, I am not trying to brag. Any teacher can teach a beginner, but in your case, you need what they call in Tennis or Golf a top guru finisher. He’s the last guy you go to. Never take an advanced level problem to a beginner teacher. Take it to advanced level teachers. He can take you to any level you choose to aim for. He has all of your answers. He becomes your final teacher, your sensei. You seek now a Grand Master.
There are a couple of dozen of them out there, finding the real ones from the pretenders is the challenge.

Get with this guy and get your game on film so you both can see on the camera replays what your basics now look like and we both agree what is in tune and what is not. We must now retune your head. You have now lost confidence in your stroke and it to repeat and work. We give you a new stroke; you must now rebuild that confidence once more. I would want you to leave and again don’t play anyone for a week. Just do drills. Most of the classic 14.1 drills I use and are in books. I have some really cool advanced stuff also I can turn you on to. After a week of doing drills over and over, you should have that new retuned swing working where you feel great about it.

Now begin play with your self, just play you, nobody else. Stay away from any competition until you begin to break and run out and are getting out in two innings on a regular basis like you used to. Once you know your game is back up to where it was before and a little stronger which it would be from me, then seek out soft competition.

Pick out easy meat. Play for beers, table time, even he haw, what you want to reestablish is winning and running out on weaker opponents. You must restore your confidence in you and only winning can do that.

Just ramp back up step at a time until you feel good, then rejoin your previous league competition and gambling at higher levels with the best players. Remember in pool, everywhere I go, I find several people that are virtually unbeatable. They beat me, they beat Archer. You catch a couple of these guys they can really beat up your confidence. Fatty told me a long time ago, pool is winning, losing, winning and losing. You never get so good you don’t lose. Match up well and you will win the majority of your encounters. If you lose and you played your best solid game, don’t spend one minute worrying about that. The best golfers in the world have 52 tourneys a year to play in and it takes them 100 events until they finally win for the first time. Then they are lucky to win once a year and twice are a golden year. They lose 51 times to win once. You have to be a real mental optimist to handle such odds.

Maybe your winning expectations you put on your self were too high which put heat on you to win and that added pressure helped you to play down and began this downward cycle. Just go play, have fun, put no heat on your self to win and learn to just let the wins happen and do not dread losing, every one loses. 85% of the time Tiger Woods plays he loses also. Losing is not something to dread, it’s just a fact of life you must accept and get used to and no longer fight. In pool usually the harder you try to win the more you shoot your self in the foot. Just get that old fast and loose thing going again and go out and just free wheel on these guys. Pool is a feel game and it must be played that way. You lost the feel, you are now trying to under stand it and play it mechanically. You sir, if you are doing this then you are doomed. You must play with an empty mind with no conscious thought, just see feel pots, it is that simple. Visualize the shots falling, the game can really go no deeper than that my friend.

Once your basics are solid, your swing repeats and you have total confidence in it, then the game at your level becomes 90% mental. I am writing a book on this subject and it’s one third finished. I plan to have it out by early summer. This book will solve all problems like you are having.

I have a practice method and sorry I can’t give it out over the board simply because it is too long and complicated but I will begin filming it on DVD and soon you can acquire it and begin using its methods. I simply use your mind like it is your desk top cpu, I reformat your hard drive so it’s clean and has nothing on it, we erase all bad data and input and install nothing but clean and perfect new shots. It takes 3 months of work by you once you learn the method but it turn you into a pro level run out monster. This method works and as you can imagine I keep it very much under wraps. It is called the 6 P’s practice method, perfect practice, produces a pure perfect performance.

My prescription to you RX is rest, one to two weeks, then find a top notch swing doctor and get your game filmed. If he does not work with a camera, he is not that high level person you seek. Get a tune up, do drills, play your self back into confidence and as a winner. This will work; it does on everyone I run it on. You must accept you have a lot of work to do to pull out of this and restoring confidence in you is the key. If the guy you found does not fix and repair you and move you up a notch, your last option is to find you way into Atlanta and to me. I will not let you leave town until I take care of you. I give a money back guarantee; if I don’t you pay me nothing. I only have about two lessons a year fail. This is a klutz who can not walk and talk at the same time and cannot follow simple directions. These I want to send to a beginner teacher who has more time and patience than me.
The 2nd is a jerk that knows it all and only wants to be taught what he already knows. I send him to some big name TV star so he can brag about hanging with the guy. He gets what he deserves with this guy which is ripped off and taught nothing of value.
99% of my lessons succeed and people leave happy. I will stay there all day long if necessary to achieve that. I do not watch the clock like a lawyer or a doctor. I only want to have you succeed and leave happy.

THE POWER SOURCE POOL SCHOOL “Fast Larry” Guninger
web site www.fastlarrypool.com
POOL LESSONS FROM A MASTER LEVEL INSTRUCTOR AND WORLD CHAMPION. 770-381-6609, fax 770-381-1916
POOL QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND FREE INSTRUCTION IS ON
www.billiards-pool.net In the ask the pros forum.
“Fast Larry” Guninger and Wonder Dog, trick shot shows and entertainment.
Email fastlarry@bellsouth.net fast larry at bell south dot net

May God bless and peace be with you. May there now be peace between us. If you are a real pool player, then fast truly loves you. May the wind be always on your back and all 9 balls fall.
VENI VIDI VICI, OMNIA VINCIT AMOR. “Fastus Maximus. “ Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered, love conquerors all. Yes I really did do it all and you can believe it, or not. If you don’t believe it, C’est La Vie. " Shoot straight, innovate, never give up, just run out on the other guy then there is no way for you to lose. “ Winners make things happen, Losers let things happen.

[FASTLARRY]

PoolSleuth, on Nov 15 2007, 12:05 AM, said:

If one is about to WADE through all this INFORMATION, and put it to use they will be a better player...

Some do, and when their game goes up, they next come see me in person. It opens new parts and doors they did not realize existed.

[The_Woim]

Lots of details and lots to ponder.

The Woim

[JoeS]

I end up reading through this article every so often, and I swear I seem to find myself playing better every time. It's such a huge part of the game and is way too often overlooked.

[FASTLARRY]

JoeS, on Nov 16 2007, 08:25 PM, said:

I end up reading through this article every so often, and I swear I seem to find myself playing better every time. It's such a huge part of the game and is way too often overlooked.

Ya no joe, I put them up over and over to the new ones coming it will catch them, but reading one of these once isn't enough, you have to read it 8 times, for it to totally sink in. The ones who do this, tell me they go to new levels of understanding and play.

[Pin]

In response to the original question, I'd also add this:

As I understand it, your problem is this: You don't want to play seriously, but you don't like losing and being ribbed about it by your friends.


If you want to improve and become a consistently supurb player, Fast's information is important in getting you there.

If you're happy to enjoy the game and strive to improve only on your own terms, then that might mean sometimes you play a less serious game, where you just shoot balls.
That's fine, the main reason we play pool is to have fun. I'd suggest that you should use two clearly distinct 'gears' of play - one competitive, tactical, your A game - the other just casual, shooting balls and having fun.
So long as you can put your B game away, and make sure that the casual style is kept distinct from your normal high level game, so when you use the latter, you're still making good decisions and concentrating, it shouldn't harm your A game.

The ribbing:
It comes with the territory - being a good player, people get very interested when an underdog beats you.
Don't worry about it. If you're not going around bragging about your game, it shouldn't be a negative reflection on you - you've not claimed to play like a pro, so there's no 'comeback' when your results don't live up to that.
Besides which, if it's from your friends, it should be good natured joking around.
Also, it's a big complement - these guys see you as almost untouchable, so it's a big thing that one of them has managed to steal a win from you. It sounds like they respect you a lot at heart.


So if you want to kick back and have fun, go for it. And when they get excited about beating you, smile to yourself, shake ther hand and buy them a drink

[FASTLARRY]

Pin, on Nov 19 2007, 12:14 PM, said:

In response to the original question, I'd also add this:

As I understand it, your problem is this: You don't want to play seriously, but you don't like losing and being ribbed about it by your friends.


If you want to improve and become a consistently supurb player, Fast's information is important in getting you there.

If you're happy to enjoy the game and strive to improve only on your own terms, then that might mean sometimes you play a less serious game, where you just shoot balls.
That's fine, the main reason we play pool is to have fun. I'd suggest that you should use two clearly distinct 'gears' of play - one competitive, tactical, your A game - the other just casual, shooting balls and having fun.
So long as you can put your B game away, and make sure that the casual style is kept distinct from your normal high level game, so when you use the latter, you're still making good decisions and concentrating, it shouldn't harm your A game.

The ribbing:
It comes with the territory - being a good player, people get very interested when an underdog beats you.
Don't worry about it. If you're not going around bragging about your game, it shouldn't be a negative reflection on you - you've not claimed to play like a pro, so there's no 'comeback' when your results don't live up to that.
Besides which, if it's from your friends, it should be good natured joking around.
Also, it's a big complement - these guys see you as almost untouchable, so it's a big thing that one of them has managed to steal a win from you. It sounds like they respect you a lot at heart.


So if you want to kick back and have fun, go for it. And when they get excited about beating you, smile to yourself, shake ther hand and buy them a drink

EXCELLENT POST, I DONT HAVE AN A-B-C GAME, WHERE I LAY DOWN SO OTHERS CAN WIN. THEY DONT GET TO WIN, ALL THEY DO IS GET TO LOSE. IF THEY COMPLAIN, THEN I GIVE THEM A SPOT, PLAY MR & MRS, spot them balls, play one handed, but I never lay down, that hurts your game.

[jagg]

So after my original post on here 2 weeks ago. I have continued to shoot pool almost every night. Only on a little more casual level. Just going out with the idea of just playing around and if I win great and if not, no biggie. Well in hindsight, this was not a good idea. And the reason it was not a good idea is I found that as the nights went on I was getting worse at playing pool. And for a couple of days I couldn't figure out why. Even when I decided I was going to play more serious my game still was not up to par. So after thinking about it I think I have figured out my mistake. And that is that by taking the casual approach. Not only did it hurt me because I got into some bad habits, but mostly it hurt my confidence. I began to question almost every shot I was taking. So in hindsight I think the best approach to take when you find your self in a mental state that you really don't want to play serious pool. Is to take some time off. Do like FL said, go fishing, golfing, or whatever just don't pick up a stick until you are ready to play your best game. Other wise if you try and play through it, it will only hurt your confidence. Which like FL said once you have the basics mastered, 90% of the game is mental.