Why would you get 1 point per ball in an 8-ball league

[supergreenman]

Does it make sense that a Lower Rated team plays your team, and because of the handicapping they beat you barely. But then in the overall standings it doesn't matter at all, your team still got their points so you remain in 1st place.

Let's say you have 8 teams, in week 1, the top handicaps all play the lower 4 handicaps. Team 5 beats Team 1 with the handicap by 1 pt. Team 6 beats Team 2 with the handicap by 2 pts. Team 7 beats Team 3 and Team 8 beats Team 4.

In your standings all 4 of the top teams Lost their matches, but you will still rank them the top 4 teams and all the teams that won would still rate 5th-8th place.

1st Place, Team 1, Most Points, 0-1 record
2nd Place, Team 2, 2nd in Pts, 0-1 record
3rd Place, Team 3, 3rd in Pts, 0-1 record
4th Place, Team 4, 4th in Pts, 0-1 record
5th Place, Team 5, 5th in Pts, 1-0 record
6th Place, Team 6, 6th in Pts, 1-0 record
7th Place, Team 7, 7th in Pts, 1-0 record
8th Place, Team 8, 8th in Pts, 1-0 record

(I know this is a very extreme case, but it mathematically could happen this way.)

Imagine winning your first match and seeing that you are still in last place.

Actually this could never happen since handicaps are established by by averaging a players scores throughout the season. Your example shows basically 1 week in play.

Also, I think you may be understanding the system wrong, there is only 1 trip prize for the regular season. That is awarded to the team with the most points (not including handicap points). This would be the team that played best all year.(Why not reward the best)

After that is all said and done. Ranking of ALL of the other teams is done by round points. The top 3 teams (round points) at the end of the regular season are awarded a small cash prize.

AFTER that, there is a playoff with the teams being seated according to their ranking (by round points). This play off is for the remaining trips and cash.

This is a very fair system in my mind. It rewards the team that plays the best all year with a trip while giving everybody else a chance to win a trip in the playoffs. Those that don't win a trip win cash all the way down to the last place teams. (of course they don't win a lot)

 

[stuckart]

Also, I think you may be understanding the system wrong, there is only 1 trip prize for the regular season. That is awarded to the team with the most points (not including handicap points). This would be the team that played best all year.(Why not reward the best)

I hear what you are saying, It just appears that even after 20 weeks of play, the team that has the most points could have a 12-8 match record at the end of the season. Also, a team with lower handicap could have a 16-4 match record and still not be the top team because most of their wins came by handicap margin.

So who is the best team? The team that was rated higher, or the team that won the most matches?

 

[tucson9ball]

My point was that playing for points for making balls completely takes away from the game itself. If you are playing to not allow your opponent to make any balls, you are not playing good 8-ball. You run out or you lose.

And your system favors the higher rated teams. Why wouldn't the standings be based on most round points? That way lower teams would be able to win rounds whether it's based on handicap or not, and thus could actually advance in the standings. 'The team with the most points, not the most rounds gets 1st place' sounds like a scam to me.

Jerry,

What you have to keep in mind is that th league needs players to keep going. If the top team just constantly pummels the rest of the league, how many players will play the next season? The handicap gives the lower rated players a chance. The cream always rises to the top, no matter what handicap system is used, the better players will end up winning.
At Nationals in Vegas, it's a different story. The winners get the points. In Vegas a win is worth a point and a loss is no points.
I'm sure the APA is different except for their Masters division.

 

[stuckart]

Jerry,

What you have to keep in mind is that th league needs players to keep going. If the top team just constantly pummels the rest of the league, how many players will play the next season? The handicap gives the lower rated players a chance. The cream always rises to the top, no matter what handicap system is used, the better players will end up winning.
At Nationals in Vegas, it's a different story. The winners get the points. In Vegas a win is worth a point and a loss is no points.
I'm sure the APA is different except for their Masters division.

Oh, I completely understand that, and that is why I questioned the format of this one league. If it doesn't even matter what happens in 1 week of play, then what's the point. Why even handicap it if it doesn't count towards the total. The best team will always come out on top, even if they lose by the handicap every single week because they will have the most wins.

You will get players to return if they actually have a shot at doing something. If the lower rated team wins more rounds or the match against a higher rated player, then they should move up in the standings and the other team move down. Calculating the Standings by Match Wins first and then total wins second gives teams a chance to move up even if they are over-matched.

 

[SpiderWebComm]

I agree with the guy above. 8ball is about who wins the game. Winning by 1 ball or 7 balls means absolutely nothing. Pool leagues, imho, should track wins/losses only and then track avg innings per game as a tie-breaker. Giving a loser points because they made a few balls means nothing, imo.

If we're both on the 8ball and I win a game (where it's VERY strategic and there's a ton of clusters)--- the score should be 1-0, not 8-7. If I then break dry and leave a cosmo and someone then runs out--- it should be 1-1, not 15-8, their favor.

I think the scoring is designed to help out the lesser players and make league night more fun -- not necessarily "right." Better players might see a weakness in the layout and let a lesser player run his/her balls off purposefully.... that shouldn't be worth anything. Just my humble opinion.