The main messages in the first video above can be summarized with five words with a snappy single-syllable acronym: Focus, Enjoy, Reset, Visualize, Inhale, Diagnose (FERVID). For more info, see: “Mental Game” (BD, April, 2020) and the mental game handout.
The most important advice concerning the mental game is:
- Have a consistent and purposeful pre-shot routine, being sure to visualize and plan successful execution of each shot before getting down.
- When down on a shot, don’t “pull the trigger” until the alignment and aim looks and feels perfect. Then, with a clear mind and still eyes, execute the stroke. There should be no uncertainty whatsoever just before or during the stroke. If there is, you should get up and re-start your pre-shot routine.
- Give every shot the respect it deserves in terms of attention and focus, even the “easy” shots.
- Quiet your mind while in your stance and during your stroke. If your mind is not quiet, get up and restart.
- Be confident and trusting in your skills and abilities, relying on well-practiced pre-shot routine and shot techniques.
- Work hard in practice to improve your skills, working on all important technique fundamentals and techniques. That will create more confidence.
- Take deep breaths when necessary to fight nerves or break tension.
- Learn from your mistakes and treat mistakes as opportunities to improve later in practice (working on weak skills or missed shots and positions during matches). Always do post-match analysis asking what went well, what needs works, and what is needed to improve. Don’t just be critical. Also praise your personal strengths.
- Be aware of, recognize, and deal with negative thinking and emotions, replace them with positive energy. Also replace negative self directions (e.g., “Don’t drop the elbow”) with positive ones (e.g., “Keep the elbow still). Remember: “You can’t don’t.” The sub-conscious mind that performs actions needs simple and positive action commands (e.g., “Keep still”) and will sometimes drop the negative words in a command (e.g., “Don’t) and just do the action word (e.g., “Drop”).
- Be aware of your mindset and use positive self talk to try to stay calm and in the moment, always focusing on the important task or shot at hand.
- Practice under pressure as much as possible (in leagues, tournaments, sparring, streamed online videos, challenge or gambling matches, etc.). The only way to become good under pressure is through a past history of successful experience under pressure.
- Make sure your practice is “deliberate” with with clear objectives in mind. Use drills designed to improve performance, making sure they always push you just beyond your skill level and comfort zone.
- Never give up, even if you are far behind in a match.
- Work to control only the stuff you can control. Don’t linger on stuff out of your control.
- Always remind yourself why you play pool (for the fun, social connections, relaxation, challenge, competition, etc.), and try to enjoy the game, even when things are not going well.
For more information, see Joe Waldron’s collection of articles dealing with the mental side of pool and Tom Ross’ collections of articles dealing with the mental side of pool.
The book “Pleasures of Small Motions: Mastering the Mental Game of Pocket Billiards” by Bob Fancher provides good coverage of the mental side of the game. Important messages from the book include:
- Focus on and enjoy process, and focus less on goals or outcomes.
- Do not try to deny your fears. Acknowledge and accept them, and do your best to address and manage them (e.g., by being aware and taking deep breaths).
The books “The Inner Game of Tennis” by Timothy Gallwey and “The New Toughness Training For Sports” by James Loehr also provide excellent coverage of the mental and emotional sides of conditioning and peak performance (in any sport, including billiards). See also: other good mental game books.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A BILLIARDS CHAMPION — THE DEEP BREAKDOWN (posted by Donny Branson on Facebook)
Most people talk about “talent” and “heart.” Champions are built on systems. Here’s the deeper truth behind what separates the elite from the average — and the exact path to building the same qualities yourself.
- GOAL SYSTEMS: The Champion’s Blueprint
Champions don’t “hope” to improve. They operate off measurable benchmarks:
- Shot accuracy across distances
- Positional control within specific landing zones
- Break outcomes (spread quality, ball count, cue-ball stability)
- Safety conversion rates
These are all quantifiable.
How you build it:
Write your numbers down. Track them weekly. Improvement becomes predictable when performance stops being a guess.
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- PATTERN PROCESSING: The Real Skill Behind Runouts
Elite players read the table like a map. Their brain identifies:
- The natural cue-ball lanes
- Cluster removal order
- Key balls
- Trouble balls
- End patterns
- Risk zones
This comes from trained visual-spatial processing — not guessing.
How you build it:
Run structured pattern drills. Start with 3-ball, then 5-ball, then 9-ball layouts that force pattern decisions. The brain adapts through repetition.
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- PRESSURE PHYSIOLOGY: Body Control = Cue Control
Champions keep their physiology stable under stress. Their heart rate stays lower, breathing stays controlled, and muscles stay loose — especially under heat.
When the body stays calm, the stroke stays clean.
How you build it:
Pressure training. Timed drills, scoreboard drills, punish-on-miss drills. You train your nervous system the same way you train your stroke.
⸻ - ROUTINE CONSISTENCY: The Stroke Anchor
The champion’s routine is a stabilizer. Same alignment. Same visual confirmation. Same warm-up strokes. Same final pause.
That consistency removes variables and reduces stroke variance.
How you build it:
Design ONE routine. Film yourself. Remove all extra movements. Repeat until it never changes — not in practice, not in competition, not under pressure.
⸻ - MISTAKE RESET: Zero Carryover
Champions have the shortest emotional half-life in the room.
Miss? Scratch? Bad roll? They process it fast and move forward instantly.
Carryover kills more players than mechanics ever will.
How you build it:
Run drills that force mistakes — then require immediate execution on the next shot. Resetting becomes automatic.
⸻ - ADAPTABILITY: The Universal Player Trait
Cloth speed changes. Rails bounce differently. Balls react differently. Opponents shift tempo.
Champions adapt quickly and correctly because they’ve logged thousands of variations.
How you build it:
Play everywhere. Different tables, speeds, chalks, balls, lighting. The more conditions you’ve seen, the faster your brain calibrates.
⸻ - WORKING MEMORY MANAGEMENT: The Real Mental Load
A runout isn’t “one shot at a time.” It’s multiple variables held in working memory:
- Speed
- Spin
- Angles
- Next target zones
- Escape routes
Champions hold all of it without overwhelming themselves.
How you build it:
Use multi-step drills where every shot sets up another forced requirement. You’re training the memory system that runs the entire game.
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- CONFIDENCE FROM PROOF, NOT HOPE
Champions don’t build confidence from emotion.
They build it from data:
- Their shot percentages
- Their break stats
- Their runout ratios
- Their video review
Confidence becomes a fact, not a feeling.
How you build it:
Document everything. Your numbers tell you what’s real and what needs work.
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- DELIBERATE PRACTICE: The Real Work Nobody Sees
Champions don’t “hit balls.”
They run targeted, weakness-focused sessions:
- Long-shot accuracy grids
- Draw distance controls
- Follow distance controls
- 1-rail / 2-rail / 3-rail kicking patterns
- Safety-to-return drills
This is the engine of skill building.
How you build it:
Identify your weakest link and attack it directly — every single time. Improvement becomes inevitable.
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- VISUAL LOCK-IN: Seeing the Shot the Same Way Every Time
Champions lock onto contact points with the same visual pattern:
- The line of aim
- The ghost-ball relation
- The cue alignment
- The cue-ball target point
No drift. No shifting. No guessing.
How you build it:
Run drills that force fixed visual focus — same contact point, same alignment, repeated until your vision becomes trained, not reactive.
⸻
Bottom Line
Champions aren’t built from talent, attitude, or emotion.
They’re built from:
systems, measurements, repetition, pressure training, table intelligence, and disciplined routines.
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