How do you handle pressure in a pool tournament when your down to the last shot and dont want to choke?

Question

Consider this sinerio. You just be all these world beater in this pool tournament. Your down to your last shot to win the tournament. Its a long shot and the cue ball is against the rail. Now the pool table looks so large and the balls look so small. You know that if you miss he wont. You real cant play defence. So its now or never. The pressure is on. You dont want to choke. What goes through your mind.

Answer 1

b4 ne game step outside n smoke a fattie  no pressure

Answer 2

Sure the shot is difficult with the cue ball in the worse spot and the shot is at the other end of the table --- you can't play a safety... you just have to rely on your skill and knowledge (time for all that practice to come in handy)....and visualize that ball that you're shooting at is going in the hole --- course if correct cue ball control had been used --- you wouldn't have been out of position. All that you can do is give it the best effort.

Answer 3

best thing is the boy scout motto.  be prepared.  prepare yourself mentally before hand and it will be much easier for you.

make it a habit, during your warmup before tournament, league or that "friendly" match, that the last thing you do before starting play is hit a dozen or so "money" balls in the pocket.  pick some  simple straight shots combined with some harder shots (not so hard they might be outside your skill set).  the purpose of this is to give you the confidence of seeing that 9 (or 8) fall in the pocket in a variety of situations.

and the next time you have that knot in the pit of your stomach and can't breath, and your ears are pounding; just think that you just sank this shot minutes ago...this same nine and how beautiful it was seeing it fall in.

good luck

Answer 4

Do not think about anything else but making the cue ball roll toward the target.  Do not think about why you want to win. Do not think about how good it will feel if you win. Do not think about how you will react if you win. And similarly  do not think about any of the negative thoughts like how your opponent will feel when you lose, etc. Just focus on rolling the cue toward the target.

Answer 5

I know theres a trick a lot of basketball players use when they're hitting those free throws in the last second.  They think of a song that they like, and sing it to themselves in their head.

Answer 6

i start to sing along to whatever song is playing. i dont sing loud, i lip sing to myself. that or i think of a song. helps clear whatever is around.

Answer 7

suck it up and think about other things

Answer 8

The best thing to do is pretend you are your favorite pro player..and visually picture the ball going into the pocket before you shoot it.Research has shown people who visually picture the ball being made before they shoot are more likely to make the shot.Every shot you shoot you shoot picture the path of the cue-ball and the ball dropping in the pocket,Its like making the shot before you shoot it!!

Answer 9

I play pool, with over 300 wins. This is a simple answer in theory, but very difficult to execute.

At the point of last shot, if u have the jitters, basically you are in trouble. The key is to ALREADY be calm and relaxed. This is a tough battle, played out during the whole match.

EVERY time you sit and your opponent is shooting there is only ONE thing you can do do improve your chances of winning. When you sit, you focus on breathing, back straight, relaxing. Focus on the table, not on ANYTHING else. Do not react to shots or comments.

With practice, you will be READY for that last shot.