The Psychology of Losing - Tricks, Traps & Sharks
Subtitle: Protect yourself from Ruthless Gamesmanship!
Publisher: Billiard Gods Productions
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Santa Clara, CA USA
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 176
ISBN-13: 9780979345449
Description: The concept of bending an opponent's mind ("sharking") has been around a long time. These have been used in nature since the beginnings of the food chain. It is so pervasive in the world that Sun Tsu incorporated it in his "The Art of War", and that was 2,500 years ago. Do you think that there were no psychological sharking tricks and traps going on at the first Olympics? These were the guys who came up with the Trojan Horse - an ultimate shark if ever there was one.

Sharking can be so subtle that you can question whether someone is affecting your way of thinking. If you spend too much time debating about it, you can assume that someone saying "hello" is a shark attempt (and it might be). Paranoia is one of the health risks of seriously studying competitive psychology.

There are opponents who use subterfuges that are crass, low-class, and obvious to the extreme. Many players think that what distracts them must also distract you. If they've been hit with a sledge hammer attack and it distracted them from their game, they in turn blindly believe that to be the "gold standard" of psychological attacks.
Table of contents: label: Acknowledgements
title: iv; label: Preface
title: v; label: Head to Head Sports
title: v; label: In Turn Sports
title: vi; label: Work & Personal life
title: vi; label: WELCOME
title: 1; label: PRIMARY SHARKING TRICKS & TRAPS
title: 4; label: Accusations
title: 4; label: Alzheimer's
title: 6; label: Attention Deficit Disorder
title: 8; label: Back & Forth
title: 10; label: Bad Shooting
title: 12; label: Bellyacher
title: 14; label: Bigmouth
title: 16; label: Boring
title: 18; label: Call Every Shot
title: 20; label: Celebration
title: 22; label: Cell Phone
title: 24; label: Clothes & Accessories
title: 26; label: Compliments
title: 28; label: Consoling
title: 30; label: Cripple Yourself
title: 32; label: Drinks in Turn
title: 34; label: Emotional Opposites
title: 36; label: Equipment Envy
title: 38; label: Fundamental Errors
title: 40; label: Gayness
title: 42; label: Generation Gap
title: 44; label: Health Queries
title: 46; label: Helpfulness
title: 48; label: How & Why
title: 50; label: Ignoring
title: 52; label: Injuries
title: 54; label: Insults
title: 56; label: Invisible Friend
title: 58; label: Jokes
title: 60; label: Jump Starting
title: 62; label: Late to Begin
title: 64; label: Lingering
title: 66; label: Listening
title: 68; label: Lucky Me
title: 70; label: Mental Intimidation
title: 72; label: Missing Ball
title: 74; label: Musical Talents
title: 76; label: Nit Picking
title: 78; label: Noises
title: 80; label: Odd Habits
title: 82; label: Old Geezer
title: 84; label: Partner Divorce
title: 86; label: Politics
title: 88; label: Powder & Chalk
title: 90; label: Practical Joker
title: 92; label: Propositions
title: 94; label: Put-downs
title: 96; label: Random Sharking
title: 98; label: Rules Expert
title: 100; label: Self-delusional
title: 102; label: Self-doubt
title: 104; label: Sex Appeal
title: 106; label: Shark Yourself
title: 108; label: Shockers
title: 110; label: Slow Racker
title: 112; label: Slow Shooter
title: 114; label: Smoking
title: 116; label: Stand By Me
title: 118; label: Stick Whisperer
title: 120; label: Stories
title: 122; label: Sympathy
title: 124; label: Table Critic
title: 126; label: Team Tricks
title: 128; label: Cheerleader
title: 128; label: Annoying Voice
title: 129; label: Temper Tantrum
title: 130; label: Thinker
title: 132; label: Time-outs
title: 134; label: Tragedy
title: 136; label: Waiting to play
title: 138; label: Waive the Penalty
title: 140; label: Walking Stick
title: 142; label: Warming Up
title: 144; label: MINOR SHARKING TRICKS & TRAPS
title: 146; label: Advance Notice
title: 146; label: Am I in your way?
title: 147; label: Annoyances
title: 148; label: Concession
title: 151; label: Leading Questions
title: 152; label: Mixed Doubles
title: 153; label: My stick is better
title: 154; label: Nagger
title: 155; label: Overused Words
title: 156; label: Self Talker
title: 157; label: Start and Stop
title: 158; label: The Gang is All Here
title: 159; label: Waffler
title: 160; label: Some Final Words
title: 161; label: ADDITIONAL NOTES
title: 162; label: Definitions
title: 162; label: About Hustlers & Gamesmanship
title: 163; label: Expert Researching
title: 165