It’s Physiology, Not Pool Psychology

When To Tell Pool Psychology To Disappear

Relax, relax, relax! Being told the pool psychology treatment of “relax” at the pool table makes me rather tense!

Besides, is it not true that athletes perform superbly when keyed up, filled with the body’s homemade adrenaline?

I will say this, if your heart is pumping fast due to competition, gambling at pool, or perhaps you are just excited to be playing pool rather than filling time at work or school, it’s okay to tense in concentration. Study a pro’s face when he or she competes on television and they seem downright constipated. There is one anatomical feature you have that must be relaxed at the table, though… your shooting hand as it makes the back and forward strokes over the shot.

This is no time for pool psychology, this is time to stroke smooth and straight. How does it feel to stroke through the ball with a relaxed, tensionless arm? On many strokes (not all), e.g., when you use what I call the classic billiards stroke for such as a medium-speed stroke taken from near the middle of the table, you don’t feel the cue ball at all through impact when hitting center ball or above.

In other words, the stroke is like butter, and the cue stick is buttered and sliding through the cue ball and along my hand.

A deeply concentrated mind does not mean the body is tense in pool. And certainly the cue is still to be clasped lightly. Think 1 or 2 on a scale of 10, 10 being the firmest grip. Pool experts, with yours truly no exception, rarely go above 2 for a shot, even 1 1/2.

An added bonus is to play without strain is to play longer than most with less effort. My mind gets tired concentrating at the table long before my body cannot make the shot.

• Direction and Motion Of The Shooting Hand
• How To Perform The Classic Billiards Stroke
• Key Shot Where You Don’t Want To Use The Classic Stroke
• Pool Psychology That Does Work
• How To Fix Your Straight Strokes So They Go Straighter

Billiards photo (c) Matt Sherman, licensed to About.com, Inc.