I must have been told this over a thousand times by non pool players… “I suck at pool, but after I’ve had a couple drinks I play really good!” LOL this is funny right? I call it the two beer threshold… any less and they are still not that good, any more beer and they get dramatically worse.
For those of you who may drink on occasion, have you ever noticed how beer affects your pool game? What I always say when people tell me this is “yeah that’s because you are more relaxed and not worried about the outcome so much.” Even non pool players feel pressure to perform when they play. They are surrounded by friends probably, everyone eyeballing what they are doing, and of course they don’t want to look bad, so they get tense. They try too hard to control what little ability they have. But then all of a sudden after two beers, they could care less what their friends think, they act (stroke) with more confidence, and all of a sudden start making balls in from everywhere.
Now, as a pool player, I’m not recommending that you go out and drink a couple of beers everytime you play. What I am recommending is that you make a decision not to care what other people think, relax, and to play with confidence. Add a little beer to your stroke without drinking any beer.
One way to do this is practice playing some speed pool by yourself. This will force you to act on instinct and trust your gut feelings, then once you slow down, you will have that knowledge of yourself doing some cool things just shooting from the hip. Another thing you can do is play while imagining your whole body has turned into a wet noodle, lol. Really, just relax every muscle in your body, and in turn your stroke should become slippery smooth and relaxed with a very long and straight follow through. Then, this will carry over into your more “focused and controlled” game and stroke. Loosen up baby!
You can be a two beer champion… without the beer!
Thanks and see you soon…
Max Eberle
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