So over the weekend I played in the local regional tournament with my team.  In the first round we where down 5 to 3 going into the 4th match.  Our guy won so it brought it to 6 points to 5 points with them having a one point lead.  I got put up against another 6 in a sudden death match.  It was first time playing sudden death with this new point system so the first game was worth 2 points, next game was worth 1 point, and if needs be final game is worth a point.  So I had to win the first game for me to have a chance to play the second game for the win. So I won the first game giving us a point advantage which meant he had to win this next game to bring it to a third game.  It was a good battle and I was able to win both games.  One thing that I noticed was that I was nervous but shooting well.  So to be able to still be able to focus and shoot well even when nervous is a good step in getting your game to be more consistent.

Next Round

Next round we play a team and after the 4th match we are tied up at 5 to 5.  So they put me up again and I play a 5. I feel different for this game. I am not nervous at all and don't have any jitters.  It was almost like I lose the edge or the drive to win and it showed in my shooting.  Missing shots by inches or not playing the safe correctly.  Also didn't help that I let the slow play get to me as the others persons play should have no effect on your game.  But taking 1-2 minutes per shot no matter the shot is too long when there is clearly a time limit set in these higher level tournament.  Afterwards I thought that I just lost my drive or want to win in that last match.  I ended up loosing to him 4 to 1.

After thought

So how do we as players drive through that feeling of being off or not feeling the win? Feeling comfortable in some instances can be good but in this instance I just felt like I lost something and was not in the game. Need to work on the fundamentals of my game so that when my brain is feeling off my muscles have no problem just taking over and doing what is necessary to shoot well.  I mean that is the reason why we practice isn't it.  To allow the muscles and the brain to remember what they are doing when you are at the table.  So that is where I am at with my game, I need to make time to practice more and make sure I am keeping to the fundamentals that I have learned and been using for most of my pool career.