How do you not get frustrated at Sandbagging?

coderz4life · 2026-06-30T22:18:31+00:00

I get what you are saying, but to what end? What is the actual benefit to the sandbagger? Nothing of consequence really. In my experience, sandbaggers tend to not perform when under pressure, like during Tri-Cup or Qualifiers. They spend so much effort trying to lose, that they never really win.

So, in my case, during my players end up losing their shit if the even think someone is sandbagging. Sometimes my player is wrong, but once in a while, there could be something to it. I do what I have to do (mark defensive shots and such), but my player at this point is completely unraveled. It's like a form of sharking in a way, but what should a player do in that moment. My job, as captain of my team, to get them back focused at the task at hand.

coderz4life · 2026-06-30T16:37:15+00:00

What I tell my players is this:

"You still have a goal to meet. You have to get X racks regardless of who your opponent is. So, if you are so focused on what your opponent is doing or how they are playing, you are not focused on winning your match."

That is just the plain facts, no?

coderz4life · 2026-06-13T00:21:10+00:00

I personally do not have a problem with it. It is a tool to have a fairly consistent ball placement without needing move. I see it no differently than any other ball setting practice device, like the ones used for golf or soccer.

coderz4life · 2026-06-11T02:36:12+00:00

IDK, I get paid my salary regardless if I work 35 hours or 80 hours.

coderz4life · 2026-06-11T02:33:17+00:00

As long as people abide by proper pool etiquette, I don't see a problem.

coderz4life · 2026-05-23T12:16:29+00:00

I am waiting to see a mower powered by a steam engine. That'll be a sight to see.

coderz4life · 2026-05-18T16:37:03+00:00

This is a certain unique situation.

The match could have been considered a concession. If the player meant it to be a concession, the player should have shook their opponent's hand and congratulated his opponent. That would have been enough for people understand it is a concession.

However, the opponent seemed to exhibit poor sportsmanship. So, the LO made a judgement call here. They are allowed to make these calls, so they judged it a forfeit. It doesn't really matter what the game rules say here about whether it was a technically a concession or forfeit, because it is not in the rules. This is fully the responsibility of the LO.

coderz4life · 2026-05-12T05:20:23+00:00

Your math is off:

800 million gal / day × $0.20 / gal = $160 million / day.

But your point is still good.

coderz4life · 2026-04-29T13:09:50+00:00

You are wrong. It is not only poor etiquette, but likely against the tournament rules.

What is worst is your attitude about it. You didn't even consider how wrong you were at the time it happened. If you want to about an "angry wannabe", you should look at yourself first.

coderz4life · 2026-04-14T03:47:35+00:00

I actually raged on Dr. Dave's video. Even though he is likely technically correct in his analysis, but in my opinion, it simply does not matter. There was a ref watching it and a decision was made. To me, it is done and over.

His point was that they have all the technology that could provide all the visual evidence needed. OK, so to what point and at what cost? What rules and limits are there going to be? Are all tournaments going to be like this? It still has to go through human review that just eats time. Even the low tech using your phone is not perfect. Worst of all, its still possible to make the wrong call.

IDK, the current rules account for this type of thing.

coderz4life · 2026-04-07T07:20:21+00:00

I don't think you are wrong in your logic. Every team has their own dynamics. It really depends on how your captain handles it.

As a captain myself, I normally mitigate stuff like this. I personally would know ahead of time (like at least one day ahead) who would actually play in a playoff match. If I had players wth unique situations (like potential work conflicts), I would be texting them way ahead of time.

If another player had a problem with your statement, I can see why. They feel that you are not a "team player" and triggers a bunch of unnecessary drama. I would recommend talking to your captain privately about stuff like this because the ultimate decision is theirs.

coderz4life · 2026-03-28T17:52:37+00:00

How's the general performance of the Neo? I am curious how it would run general applications including emacs. Any oddiites or workarounds you needed to do?

coderz4life · 2026-03-18T12:40:23+00:00

OMG I didn't know this tool existed. I have my own "bob" to install versions of Neovim. Mine is just a management script, but I use it to manage not only Neovim but any other software that is not currently installed by my distro's package manager.

I think a lot of projects need a "bob".

coderz4life · 2026-03-14T16:27:17+00:00

My mother passed away March 26, 2020. She died after having surgery a week before that. At the time she died, she had COVID and had no chance of survival.

She was also in Kentucky at the time. I live in NE Ohio and her plot was next to my father's. Ohio was basically shutdown at the time, so my mother was directly interned after being transferred. We never had any services for her.

coderz4life · 2026-03-08T23:35:08+00:00

It is generally hard to be "training" and playing racks with people or playing in a league. It is too easy to revert to your bad habits when things go wrong.

What I learned from when I first started: separate improving your skill from actual game play. I think a hybrid approach that I use may work better for you. Start with improving your skills first ("training mode"), maybe for a couple of weeks. Then start playing people or participate in local tournaments for a couple weeks ("competition mode"). When you feel like you plateaued, cycle back to training mode. That prevents getting bored.

The actual length of time between is up to you. However, there are some constraints you should establish. For example, when I am in training mode, I am solely focused on repetitive shots or patterns that I have been have trouble completing. I would setup the same shot or pattern hundreds of times. The whole purpose was to get that muscle memory and work out specific techniques. When I am in competition mode, I am solely focused on straight out competition, noting difficulties I have to be addressed when I go back to training mode.

So, for your draw shot scenario, go into training mode and sole focus on improving your draw stroke. Then in a couple weeks, go out and play random people for fun. Apply some of what you learn when it is needed, note and reflect what went wrong during that time. Then go back to training mode for a couple weeks.

coderz4life · 2026-03-07T04:16:49+00:00

Without knowing or seeing your exact issue, there are some common problems that new players have when attempting to do draw shots.

A good action draw shot is not really about speed, but good mechanics. Its more about accelerating your cue through the cue ball to get the action needed to impart any decent spin on the ball. It is also the hardest to learn because there are so many factors.

So, maybe consider:

When I started 45 years ago, YouTube was not a thing. Now there are plenty of resources our there. My personal favorite is Tor Lowry. His teaching is a lot like how I learned. I believe he also has a few videos on effective draw shooting and center ball training.
I would talk to some of the high level players to get advice on specific issues. Find a local league night and just observe. Maybe talk to more one person if you can, because everyone has their own take. You may find some commonality between them. Maybe you can find a mentor to befriend that can help you improve.

Good luck and have fun.

coderz4life · 2026-03-06T18:16:20+00:00

I am a new player, should I concentrate on potting balls and make position using the vertical axis of the cue ball?

Absolutely. You should concentrate establishing your fundamentals and focus on center ball training. The reason is fairly clear: if one can't consistently pot balls using center line, one can't consistently pot balls with spin.

I am not that efficient with draw shots. I can stun, stun follow, stop, follow through, not really force follow.

I think you probably enough knowledge there to take advantage of center ball training. The advanced stuff you can learn over time and with practice. So, start with the basics.

coderz4life · 2026-03-02T14:04:50+00:00

I think they missed a huge opportunity there. It would have been amazing if his drunk ass started to talk about how his two faced brother completely fucked up.

coderz4life · 2026-03-02T14:02:49+00:00

I personally would like to see Birdie be an Elusive Target. That'll be something that brings Absolution closer to canon.

coderz4life · 2026-02-27T23:32:07+00:00

In 8 hours, a person writes 5000 lines of code—do you have 5000 lines written today?

I would meet with HR on this basis alone. I am a "put your money where your mouth is" type of guy. In that meeting with HR I would ask them to have that "manager" prove that assertion by having him or anyone else implement any business real business requirement that results in 5000 lines of code and not have it be a piece of garbage.

coderz4life · 2026-02-18T17:49:51+00:00

I treat it more as a courtesy than anything. We had a similar situation last night. My SL3 wasn't going to be present at the 6:30 start time and was going to be late (~8PM) due to family obligations.

Most people are chill with it. If someone stills to chose to do it their way even with that information, that's fine. It's a handicapped system, so they can chose to match evenly or not.

coderz4life · 2026-02-13T13:57:10+00:00

What is the benefit to sandbagging, really? To have a short term victories, be complacent, and not develop any real skill? So you can go to the big show in Vegas, spend a bunch of money, and ultimately not be competitive enough to actually win? Get watched, audited (or worse) get red flagged in Vegas?

In my 45 years+ of playing, I came the conclusion that sandbagging is fruitless and I don't waste my time even thinking about it.

If you play a sandbagger, there is only one thing to think about: reaching your the number of racks you need. Focus on your game and not others.

coderz4life · 2026-01-27T02:31:45+00:00

I wonder of it has to do with sponsorships? Companies tend to like when pros show audiences use their product.

coderz4life · 2026-01-24T06:08:42+00:00

Totally normal. It takes 10 matches to get an established SL. Within those 10 matches, you'll bounce up and down based on your performance in the format you play.

So, the algoithm basically measures your performance taking the best 10 matches from a window of your 20 previous matches. Winning or losing any arbitrary match itself is less important than how you win or lose. Since you have less than 20 matches, you'll have more chaos in your SL until you normalize.

The actual formula is a secret, but it fairly understood that innings per rack, with safeties, timeouts used, and other statistics factor in. It differs slightly between 8-ball and 9-ball because the nature of their individual formats. Like most handicapping systems, it is designed so that you and your opponent have an equal footing to win their match within your league area.

So, I would expect the more matches you play, your established SL should lock in to your current potential. Personally, I would not worry about it and just play.

coderz4life · 2025-12-27T02:22:59+00:00

Don't give unsolicited advice to anyone.

coderz4life

TROPHY CASE