This shark is designed to slowly develop a strong sense of irritation and frustration. The pool hustler calls out every single ball action about every single shot - in excruciating detail. Continue reading
Somewhere, someplace, maybe in an alternate universe, there is a book entitled "The Correct Behavior of Bad Sportsmanship". If there was such a book, there would be a section that talks about proper behavior of a player when his competitor suffers a massive reversal of fortune. In that section would be recommendations for proper decorum of competitors, spectators, and friends. These gamesmanship responses to the player's tragedy would range from unsympathetic observations to expressions of heartfelt sorrow for the poor suffering victim. Continue reading
To apply this duplicity, the hustler either suffers or fakes the suffering of some physical limitation that restricts body movement. The goal is to get you to take him less seriously as a competitor. If you fall for this trick, you even slack off on your usual game intensity. Continue reading
This pool shark combines some delaying tactics with the game of hide and seek thrown in. The hustler only needs to use this a couple times during a match to throw your game focus off kilter. It is rarely the only shark being used against you. But, piled on top of other distractions, it can be one more nail in the coffin of your loss. Continue reading
A good hustler can take this shark and become inventive. It is very effective when used in circumstances where there is almost no verbal communications between players. That limitation eliminates most of the sharks that require some sort of conversation. It’s hard to declare these as hustling attempts. And many of these might actually be habits, rather than a sharking effort. That doesn’t mean the effects (your reduced abilities to compete) don’t happen. Continue reading
In pool halls across the planet, most (about 60-65%) of the players are of the male gender. There is always the normal competitive spirit that occurs between two opponents. When the dynamics of opposite sexed players are added, it becomes much easier to be a railbird rather than be deeply mired in the close competitive environment of the pool table. Continue reading
A shocker shark is any activity designed to destroy your game focus and make it difficult to recover any ability to play effectively. It does this with an action that is a complete surprise. It can be a shock to your sensibilities or to your nervous system. It can even go so far as to be a dangerous threat to life and limb. At its more intense levels, this is a gross violation of the spirit and idea of sports. The lesser shockers often fall within the spectrum of juvenile horseplay. Continue reading
This is another delaying shark that is often observed in pool. To implement this effort, the hustler simply slows down his basic shooting routine. Used by a master gamesman, it becomes less a game of pool and more of a game of Patience. This tactic stretches out the amount of time that he is in control of the table – which extends the time you spend sitting down. Continue reading
This is a distraction effort that extends the concept of horse whispering, dog whispering, and pizza whispering, and the always popular money whispering. A “ring whisperer” version of this can be observed as a major character trait of Golum, the character in the Hobbit. This can be used continuously through the match or applied only during tense and difficult playing situations. Continue reading
It's hard to believe that this pool shark actually works so effectively. The trick is simple and straight-forward. The pool hustler apparently decides to give you an unexpected gift. It starts when you have committed some kind of foul. It might be an accidental touch or movement of an object ball, or a similar accidental tip to ball touch or hand/clothing touch to the cue ball. The foul must occur during the shot setup and before a complete stroke is made. Continue reading
.
.
The weekly newsletter gives you ALL the posts for the previous week!!