The Maze

[Cane]

First, I'm not picking on ANYONE with this story, but it came to mind when I was talking to someone this past weekend and told it to them, so I thought it would be appropriate here. It was told to me by a gentleman that was teaching an aspect of this game we all love and I was "over analyzing" what was going on. OK, here's the story...

You have a roach, a rat, a pool player and a maze. First you put the roach in the maze. Amazing... even though he has the smallest brain, it only takes him about 3 seconds to escape the maze. Next, put the rat in the maze. Hmmmm... bigger brain, yet he can't beat the roaches time... it takes him a full 10 seconds to escape the maze. Now, let's put the pool player in the maze... 3 seconds pass, then 10, then a minute, then 10 minutes, then an hour... he's lost!!! The one with the largest and most advanced brain can't get out of the maze. See, he's looking for the hardest way out. That's a trap that we, as pool players, often fall into.

Why was the roach and rat more capable than the pool player? Maybe because since their brains are so underdeveloped, they don't try to "think" their way out. They just view the situation and act as simply as possible... kind of like shooting a stop shot to get postion instead of shooting high inside and going three rails to the same spot.

Analysis is something we should reserve for our practice time... when it comes time to play, maybe we should be more like the roach and JUST DO IT!

Well, maybe a stupid story, but I thought it was funny, and I, by the way, have spent a LOT of time lost in the maze... /ccboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Later,
Bob

[bluey2king]

Good point!!! I was watching a young kid play maybe 10 yrs old He was damn good, beating a lot of the leauge players. I noticed he just just shot the next shot (very well) he wasn't thinking at all just shoot nice and straight stop shots. I think we can wear ourself down and out by over thinking every shot. At least I do thinking that there is a betterway than the way I see in front of me.

[Drop1]

Glad you are back. Marlin fishing in October and November,off Barra de Navidad catch and release only. Spray the maze with Black Flag,and check the roach latter.

[Jude_Rosenstock]

Take note: Every roach on the planet has action! I'll give them all weight and we can play ANY pool game they want! Oh, and if they get killed in the process of shooting a ball (run-over, perhaps), I still get paid!

[littleCajun]

Cane,
Funny you should post this, I was just watching a video by Buddy Hall called how do I win from here. And he made a comment that stuck in my head.

"When your in trouble, think easy"

falls right in line with your story

[poolturtle]

This is a good post. Reminds me of the old KISS saying (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Oddly, I'm reading Pleasure of Small Motions, and to a degree, he says the same thing. Don't overthink the table, just play.

I went out last night with some friends and ended up holding the table most of the night. Not saying that to brag, it's just that I intentionally tried to not overthink the table. I just played whatever pattern came to mind first.

It amazed me how easily I won some of the games, as far as runs go. I didn't do any break-and-runouts, but the patterns just seemed to jump out at me.

The coolest part is I won enough in small money games to pay for the night! So I drank for free AND got a free pool lesson! /ccboard/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[sack316]

guilty as sin right here. I can't tell you how many times I've used the phrase, "man, I just messed up that easy run out, trying to make the cue ball do too much!"
I've gotten better at trying to keep it as simple as possible, but sometimes I just get too into trying to play the perfect shape rather than just taking a little tougher next shot to get to the same goal in a less risky way.
But then again, I don't know that I'll ever be able to resist the call of doing something that makes someone else go "wow, how the *** did you do that?".... but sometimes that turns into "wow, how the *** did you mess that up?"