This destroys my Pool game⧸my ninth sit-down (free Pool lessons)

Hello, pool players. I gotta expand on my last video that I did where it was a sit-down video and I talked about the three key points to getting better at this game. Well, I wanna talk to you about what I've gone through here in this last, about a week and a half. You know, I came off that tournament win and I was feeling pretty good about it because prior to that, probably for four or five weeks, I was shooting great, absolutely fantastic. Now, sometimes life gets in the way and I have so many irons in the fire that I don't tend to get enough sleep. And I wanted to cover this because I think it's, for sure I know this, for me, it's a killer. I got three hours of sleep about a week ago and I went out to play. I have my Mondays, it's a big day. I play at a place called the Ironwell here in Grand Rapids and then I also go to a place called The Point. And we shoot there and it's me and a lady that I've been working with, with her and her game. And then from there, I go to my Monday night hangout where we shoot King of the Hill. And that day, I wasn't feeling really good with my game. I mean, I was like missing shots I typically didn't miss. And, but there again, remember, I had been on three hours of sleep. Now, when I woke up, I had my coffee, I woke up, I felt pretty good. I thought I could handle playing pool for sure, but it shocked me. I wasn't, I probably was shooting 100 points less than my Fargo really is. And just, it was frustrating. And, but I should know better because I've been doing this now long enough, almost four years, to where I've recognized through self-awareness, the things that go wrong within my billiard stroke, with other facets of the game. But being sleep deprived is a big, big deal for me. So that evening, I went on up to our King of the Hill hangout and I shot terrible. I really did. I got beat by some players that there's no way I should have lost to. And it was me, it was my fault. You know, give them full credit. They played great, I didn't play great. And when I came home, I said, I need to assess this. I need to work on this. So first thing I noticed was, man, I was dead tired. By the end of the day that day, after that three hours of sleep the night before, I couldn't even hardly talk and walk straight. So I knew that had to be it. So that night I got a good night's sleep and then I got to the practice table the next day and I started practicing. And believe it or not, I was rusty right away. So some of that carried over, even though I had my rest. Because I kinda, and this is something I think that can happen to you, and that's why I wanted to cover this. I think when I was lazy, because I was tired, I was shooting, you know, like instinctually, but I wasn't implementing good sound fundamentals. So when I got back on the table and I first struggled, I said, ooh, wait a minute here. I actually videotaped myself as well to see what was going on. And I was noticing that my backstroke was too quick. Once again, just from that day before, I wasn't thinking because I was so tired, I was going quick. So I slowed that down and I started to make shots. I started to run many balls in a row. And it was like, geez, how could I not have just picked right up on that and carried that over, during that day when I was so tired? Well, it was because my mind was just in a fog. I was just tired. And if you'll notice that when I take my notes after a match, I had put on my last one, in fact, I'll show it right now, you'll see that I put down focus. And when I come to the back of the cue ball and I do my feathers, and I do my feathers, I stop at the back of the cue ball and I collect all of my thoughts to making a good, smooth transition pull stroke. I wanna clear all clutter out of my head. Now, when I was tired, it was like I wasn't doing that. I mean, I look back on it through my notes and it was like, wow, I was just not even thinking. It requires so much concentration, this game. And if we're tired, it's just going to bleed right off onto our performance. So my recommendation for you guys, especially if you're going into a tournament and if you're someone like of my age, I just turned 69 years old and I think I just require a bit more sleep. It's one of the reasons why I'll tell you this, that I really don't play in the big tournaments. Those big tournaments that can run 14, 16, 20 hours, there's no way, absolutely no way that I could probably survive through that. If I kept winning, of course, it goes longer and longer and I give great credit to those players that can handle that because I just know me and I just don't think I can keep my concentration level up that high at the age I am and I don't know what to say about it. I'm just being honest with myself. Now, have I tested myself? Yes, I have. I have done one of those longer tournaments and did finish just one position out of the money, but it was 14 hours that that thing lasted and I was exhausted by the end of that. There again, being tired and the game at pool, it takes so much focus and concentration. I think this is why these pro players are so good. They're able to condition themselves to find that level that they need to concentrate and keep that level every time they get down on the shot. They're able to somehow bring that into their mind and just totally focus and I think a lot of us mortals, we don't have that capability. I guess that's the best way I can put it, but I just thought I'd put this short video together and just talk about this because it's so important, I think, to get our rest. The other thing I've been doing, I've been working out lately too and that's probably made me tired as well. That requires you to have more sleep as a result, but I just wanted to have better cardio and at my age, I'm trying to take care of my body, right, so and I've always been one to work out. I used to be into weight training and everything like that, seriously into it and once you're into that and to that degree I was in, it's a lifestyle and I eat clean and everything else, so that'll help me in my game as I grow older and I get better at the game. I'm planning on getting better than where I'm at today and I think it has a lot to do with staying physically healthy as well. So now, I wanna cover something here. If you're here now, at the end of this video, it was a little long there, I wanna share something with you. You see the shirt that I have on? Well, I picked up some shirts and I'm going to do a giveaway. So I'm thinking about how I'm gonna do this and I think I'm gonna involve you guys where if you leave a comment on my videos, I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna count everyone in a specific time period. I think I'm gonna do 30 days. So usually in 30 days, I have three, four, maybe five videos, no less than three, but maybe five videos and if you guys comment on those videos within that time frame that I'm going to announce, I'm gonna write your name down, keep it in a hat. I'm gonna do a drawing and I'm going to give away one of these shirts and on the back, it's gonna say The Pool Student Channel. I won't have a name on it. Here, I've got Ron, The Pool Student Channel, but that's an older shirt. It won't be that way. It's just going to be clear like this. I've had a lot of compliments on this shirt when I've wore it to tournaments and people were like, where'd you get that shirt? That's cool, you know, and stuff like that. So if you like this, you could be a winner to one of these shirts. Now, the thing is, it's gonna be a pretty easy one to win, I think, because typically I have about 1,000 in a 30-day period, about 1,000 comments by you guys. So there'll be 1,000 names that I'll be pulling from. So I might even do this. I'll let you guys know in an upcoming video, but I think I'm gonna give away maybe two shirts. So I'll have the person that has made the most comments and then I'm gonna have just everybody that's made comments that go into a hat as well. So the one that, of all the comments, the one that has the most, then I'll give a shirt away to that person. So hope that makes sense. But anyway, I'll announce that. What else I wanna cover? Pretty much it. You guys have any questions or comments? I'd like to hear from you guys, too. How do you guys handle yourselves being sleep-deprived? I know there's some of you guys that are gamblers and I know you guys have played 20 hours straight. I mean, I've heard some crazy stories about you guys, but I bet you have a way to deal with that. And I'm curious to know, because maybe it'll help me in my game and maybe it'll help other viewers read the comments. That would be great. So I just wanted to share that and I wanna show you another video. So if you wanna watch another informative video, watch this one right here. And until next time, like I always say, keep on practicing.