Many Factors - The Danielson Series, Aug 2017

Danielson and I didn't really get to talk that much right after he finished playing in his August tournament. With 123 players, I was extremely busy and really didn't get a chance to delve into why he didn't have a better tournament this time (he went two and out). I actually joked with him and asked, “Did the Danielson Series project add some extra pressure to you?” LOL. Luckily he said no.

The only other thing I caught was he said the tournament tables were different from the table he was gambling on.  Uh, what?  Hmmm….. So I immediately came to the pre-conclusion that that was probably the main reason he might have had a difficult time finishing well this time.

I already mentioned how Danielson is in a pretty cool situation where he will be reflecting more about his matches than most players because of this project.  

So, I asked him, after that weekend, “Why didn’t you play your best?”

He had been thinking about the question for a couple weeks and then he gave me four possible reasons lol.

1. He was gambling during his wait time and he never really got in the tournament mindset. “When it was time for my match, maybe I was preoccupied with my gambling match upstairs.”
2. He wasn’t comfortable.  Not in his shirt (he was hot) and not with his table assignments (he felt the table locations were kinda tight).  “I just didn’t feel right.”
3. He might have been overly confident in his two matches.  “Maybe I just didn't give my opponents the proper respect.. and I lost.”
4. He thinks maybe he plays better when he brings in extra money at work - so, he feels he plays with less pressure those times. "The 3 months that I cashed in a row were my best months so far this year money-wise...so I'm thinking the connection for me is when things are good outside of pool, then I play well. I'm just going by the numbers."

So, let’s break each of these down from personal experiences and my pool journey:

1. This to me is a big factor why Danielson didn’t play his best in the tournament.  It's actually perfectly okay to gamble during a tournament, but what we have to realize is: if the table you are gambling on is much different than the table you are going to be competing on in the tournament, are we seasoned enough to be able to switch tables effectively?  Further, Danielson said himself he was preoccupied with his gambling match, therefore how could he be playing his best in his tournament match if he's not focused completely on the game in front of him?
2. This is a crucial one:  If you are not comfortable, it's very difficult to play well.  One of the best ways to overcome this is to be prepared for the unprepared. In other words, if you think it might be hot or cold bring a lighter shirt or maybe a sweater.  However, I've talked a million times about how we play our best when we're comfortable.  If we think it's too hot, we need to do something about it - go into the bathroom and splash your face, drink cold water, things like that.  However, I think because Danielson was preoccupied with the gambling match, whether he was comfortable or not he wasn't reflecting early like we talked about in July to be able to provide solutions to his uncomfortableness. As for the location of the table - not letting things we can't control get to us is HUGE. Acceptance is the solution.
3. When one is overly confident in a match, it's actually very tough to overcome. Again, this is one of those situations where you have to figure out right away what is going on early. And if you're overly confident that means you're not playing your best and maybe you’re not giving the match the attention it deserves because you think you're automatically supposed to beat your opponent.  Always give 110% to defeat your opponent, instead of presuming you're suppose to win.
4. Danielson's last possible reason I actually don't agree with lol. He thinks this is the main reason why he didn't finish well in his August tournament. But he's a statitistics guy, "I find it odd that my really good money months I placed well and average months I didn't." However in my opinion, because he isn't playing pool to pay bills and does not live paycheck-to-paycheck, he shouldn't have pressure in regards to making money in a tourney. I think it's just a coincidence that the months that he got “in the money” in tournaments he also happened to earn extra money at work.  To be fair, we all do tend to feel better and play with less pressure in general when things are going well at home and on the job.  However, because he's not trying to make a living playing in tournaments, I feel this one is just timing/coincidence.

The bottom line to all of these possible factors is this:  Did you play your best each shot?  I think Danielson was distracted by a lot of factors and wasn't able to truly play his best this time.  And that's okay!  We are all going to have tournament experiences where we don't play our best every shot and are distracted by many things. It's a great learning experience, actually. Just means an opportunity of great reflectioning to think about for his next tourney.  All part of the journey!