Once in a while, and always unexpectedly, I experience being in “dead stroke.” If you’re unfamiliar with this term, the most accurate definition I have found is from the BilliardsForum.info website. It defines dead stroke as:
Similar to playing on autopilot where a player is at peak playing level and is playing without any conscious effort or thought. Dead stroke is a sustained period of play where the specific player is in stroke. In simple terms, dead stroke is where a player is performing so flawlessly that he or she just cannot miss. To a player who is experiencing dead stroke, the game seems effortless.
Let’s break it down. Have you ever broke and ran without even attempting to play position but getting your cue ball perfectly in line for each shot? Something comes over you; almost like you’re having an out-of-body experience and you could feel the contact point with little to no effort. You just knew the ball was going into the hole, without even trying. “You cannot miss” and “the game seems effortless.” These are both things that we would love to experience all the time, right?
Well, not necessarily. The part of this definition that concerns me is, “similar to playing on autopilot.” This means that we enter a zone where something else takes over and we’re practically unconscious. Don’t get me wrong, its fun when it happens and I try to take full advantage of it when I experience it.
However, one of my least favorite things about experiencing dead stroke is that after it’s over, I don’t remember a thing. I can’t remember the super runs I made or how it felt when I made them. The other thing I find myself doing is getting careless. When you feel like you can make anything from anywhere, you forget that you should still try to play position. I find myself making the shots but getting into much more trouble.
Some instructors may disagree with this theory, but I believe there is a difference between “Dead Stroke” and simply being “In Stroke.” You see, when you’re in stroke, you’re well-prepared both mentally and physically. You are properly trained. You feel confident and decisive, yet you are not “playing without any conscious effort or thought.” You’re fully aware of your actions and executive each one deliberately.
Being in stroke is being in control. To me, that’s the difference between the two. Being in dead stroke is a “sustained period” that may come and go without warning. Being in stroke is managing your own actions and not being on autopilot. It means that even when the conditions are not ideal and your opponent is driving you bonkers, you maintain your sense of awareness and grind through it. You aren’t oblivious to it. You trust in your stroke and force yourself to stay down and follow through, no matter how uncomfortable you may feel.
Most importantly, you’re living and experiencing each shot. Don’t be on autopilot. Be in control.
dude, dead stroke is totally like auto pilot and it rocks! But it is as fleeting as a teeny bopper’s heart so I’m with you on this one. Here’s to conscience pool!
Great post Sam, what advice would you give to a player in order to maximise the possibility of dead stroke occurring?
Is there anything that can be done with routine etc… to maximise the chances of it occurring?
i once played a ring game and for over a hour i never missed a shot including several kick shots.too bad i wasn’t making balls on the break everytime.i still won pretty much every game in that time.i wouldn’t have known that i did it if someone hadn’t told me i hadn’t missed in over a hour.that is dead stoke to me.you don’t know it happened till its over
“In Stroke” + “Dead Stroke” = The Zone. Great post! Get the Stroke Zone book. It explains what it’s really made of and how to recreate it — stay in it longer. Kind of like being “in stroke” (having the sound fundamentals) and combining that with a “dead stroke” state (being ‘unconscious’). Check out Bebob Publishing for more details.
The ability to be “in dead stroke” is something I have been working on acquiring for the last year. I call this this the art of aiming without aiming.
Using the subconscious mind to play pool in auto pilot is the same technique that all of us use to drive or walk without having to micromanage how we do it.
Once you master the art of doing something with subconscious competence, there is no reason why (just like driving), you can’t choose how much control you have and how much is on autopilot.
this is the same thing as a runners high,or second wind but I have not had the fortune to see this in person as I have just started serious pool shooting and am (and always will be) a learner
Irish
Samm,
I enjoy reading your articles.
In your recent article titled, “Dead Stroke vs In Stroke”, one of your quotes is very close to my opening thoughts from a blog that i posted over a year ago. http://www.breakandrun.blogspot.com/
Most of this blog material are notes from a book that I started several years ago, but have not taken the time to finish.
Take a look at it whenever you get a chance.
Regards,
Billy Chilton
Houston, Texas
billychilton@comcast.net
I think that this dead stroke thing is highly overrated. I think that hypnotism to achieve a goal and to say things to promote oneself as if one is God is just evil and nothing good can come from it. “What good is it for a man to profit the world but to lost his own soul?”
I’ve experienced this high level of performance. It is difficult to describe. The Zen philosophy can shed some understanding on the mental state, that pool players refer to as, “being in dead stroke.” Golfers sometimes call it, “being in the zone.” It’s probably understood in a myriad of performance/creativity endeavors. Zen talks of a level of mental purity, deeply calm and relaxed where the body just performs quite effortlessly. It has to do with focus, relaxation and clearing of the mind. It’s an awesome feeling or experience but I’ve found it to be very fleeting. Whenever I’ve entered that extremely pure and calm level of performance, and just when I begin to feel the awareness of it all, that’s when it can vanish away in an instant. In fact, as soon as I attempt to feel or understand the experience, it suddenly is no more and I seemingly return back to my physical self. When people in the past have asked me what it feels like, I have at times described it as a feeling of being “one with the universe.”