APA skill level question

[Group Therapy]

I play APA 8-ball Tues and Thurs night. However, I am considered a different skill level on the different nights. Has anyone seen this before? It seems really odd to me. Do I suck worse on Thursdays so I am a lower skill level? Same number of matches played, same number of wins. I just thought this was odd.

 

[cfrandy]

The APA handicap system does nor work so it really doesn't matter what your skill level is on any particular day! It simply encourages sandbagging! I wouldn't worry to much about your skill level, just go with what they give you and have fun!
BTW, there are other leagues out there where you won't have to wait 3 hours for your turn at the table. Check out the BCA and VNEA.

 

[Shaky1]

I play APA 8-ball Tues and Thurs night. However, I am considered a different skill level on the different nights. Has anyone seen this before? It seems really odd to me. Do I suck worse on Thursdays so I am a lower skill level? Same number of matches played, same number of wins. I just thought this was odd.

The only time I have heard that was if you played 8 ball on 1 night and 9 ball on another.
Is your membership number the same?
Maybe the record keeping isn't that good where you play. One night's league might be behind ?

 

[Group Therapy]

Tried it before

Yes, I have played BCA before and really enjoyed it. The slop rule in AnyPocketA-hole seems to help out my opponent way more often.

I have found it difficult to find openings for BCA teams around here. Pretty sure my team is moving over to TAP next session though.

It's not so much that I am worried about my ranking. I could honestly careless. just seems silly that it is different depending on which night I am shooting. I thought that all of my stats went to the APA to figure out my SL, guess I was mistaken.

 

[Shaky1]

The APA handicap system does nor work so it really doesn't matter what your skill level is on any particular day! It simply encourages sandbagging! I wouldn't worry to much about your skill level, just go with what they give you and have fun!
BTW, there are other leagues out there where you won't have to wait 3 hours for your turn at the table. Check out the BCA and VNEA.

It doesn't work if you don't mark safes. If you do it stops the sandbagging.
Anytime a ball was not made for a reason, it's marked as a safe. You can tell when this happens. A lot of teams don't mark it, so the sandbaggers will have a feast.

 

[Shaky1]

If you let your skill level 2 or 3 keep score, they don't mark many or any safes unless you tell them to. They don't know usually. That is a sandbaggers dream scorekeeper.

 

[Group Therapy]

Same Number

I do have the same membership number for both nights. Its funny that you mentioned the safes.
On my Tues night team our capt is really bad about not marking safety plays. The week before I moved up on Tues. I had played several safes. The opposing team marked them all and my capt didn't mark any. I didn't realize this at the time. Following week, I had moved up in SL and there was a little nasty note saying that we needed to mark our safeties. So maybe you are on to something and that is the whole reason for the different rankings, but I would've thought that I would go up on Thurs night too.

 

[Shaky1]

It's all about "intent". Did the shooter try to make the ball, or did he just try to block the pocket? Block pocket = safe. Did he miss and intentionally leave the cue up table to avoid breaking a cluster at the other end? Safe.
The more safes you mark, the less innings there really are in a game.
Let me keep score and everybody will be a 7 sooner or later ( just kidding)
If I can't go down, you're coming up!

 

[mattb]

The APA handicap system does nor work so it really doesn't matter what your skill level is on any particular day! It simply encourages sandbagging! I wouldn't worry to much about your skill level, just go with what they give you and have fun!
BTW, there are other leagues out there where you won't have to wait 3 hours for your turn at the table. Check out the BCA and VNEA.

Tap, tap, tap. We have an in house league here that works very well and the owner can fix the sandbaggers by bumping them up manually.

 

[quadrary]

I play APA 8-ball Tues and Thurs night. However, I am considered a different skill level on the different nights. Has anyone seen this before? It seems really odd to me. Do I suck worse on Thursdays so I am a lower skill level? Same number of matches played, same number of wins. I just thought this was odd.

this happens frequently if you play multiple nights nut usually gets evened out the next week.

 

[TreJ]

Thats another reason the APA is so goofy, as a captin you dont want to sit there all night and study each shot to determine intent to pocket or not, I want to play on the practice table, go get a beverage ect. So being a beginers league you sometimes have to let other teammates score. You cant help it if they miss some def. marks here and there. This happened to us and to LO sent us all nasty letters calling us cheaters and sandbaggers. Most every one has moved on to other leagues.

 

[StuartK35]

It's all about "intent". Did the shooter try to make the ball, or did he just try to block the pocket? Block pocket = safe. Did he miss and intentionally leave the cue up table to avoid breaking a cluster at the other end? Safe.
The more safes you mark, the less innings there really are in a game.
Let me keep score and everybody will be a 7 sooner or later ( just kidding)
If I can't go down, you're coming up!

Yes, I get very frustrated about the safety issue. I hate when a lower Sl player is keeping score for me or on the other team and I have to constantly answer the question "Was that a defense"? So, in order to prevent this I just let them know that I'm getting ready to play safe. I've told all of the players on my team to do this as well so there is no arguing over it at the end of the match....it's pretty simple. I play BCA and APA. I like the safety rules better in BCA but I enjoy playing in APA regardless of the negative comments that are always being said about it. It's a good league when it's ran correctly.

 

[Group Therapy]

the results

The week we got the little nasty gram, telling us that we weren't being fair. I started making it perfectly clear when i played safe. I just say "mark it" sometime before I even shoot. My capt is a lower sl than I, so I don't believe he was intentionally "cheatin".

 

[cfrandy]

Yes, I get very frustrated about the safety issue. I hate when a lower Sl player is keeping score for me or on the other team and I have to constantly answer the question "Was that a defense"? So, in order to prevent this I just let them know that I'm getting ready to play safe. I've told all of the players on my team to do this as well so there is no arguing over it at the end of the match....it's pretty simple. I play BCA and APA. I like the safety rules better in BCA but I enjoy playing in APA regardless of the negative comments that are always being said about it. It's a good league when it's ran correctly.

I have yet to see it run correctly. Look, if the handicap system worked...why do they have the 23-rule? One 7, one 6, one 5, one 4, and one 3 = 25! So what do you think the 7 and 6 will do - sandbag! A good shooter can easily miss a shot and leave a lessor player snookered. If you shoot to pocket the ball, it's NOT a safety! I was a 7 on APA and was rarely allowed to play...even when our team went to finals. Also, you could be the 1st place team in standings, even undefeated, and NOT receive a dime in payoffs. In our area APA is the most expensive league to play in...$20 to start, $7/nite, $8/person travel fund. It's a "good league"...for league operators!
VNEA costs $15 to start, $6/nite and the 1st place team in standings takes home about $1400.
No limit on team handicap. However, we have a permanent 9 & 10 list. Too many 9's and 10's on your team and you could be penalized in score!
That's the way a league should operate!

 

[Cornerman]

I play APA 8-ball Tues and Thurs night. However, I am considered a different skill level on the different nights. Has anyone seen this before? It seems really odd to me. Do I suck worse on Thursdays so I am a lower skill level? Same number of matches played, same number of wins. I just thought this was odd.

It happens. And yes, you suck worse on Thursdays or the table you normally play on is harder or the competition is tougher on Thursdays.

If the division reps don't combine scores from your other nights, this can happen. If you play in two different APA areas (like, you live on the line between two League Operator areas), this can happen.

Theoretically, even if you play a scoresheet-tournament, that should go to your match status history as well. Theoretically.

 

[stumpie71]

I play APA 8-ball Tues and Thurs night. However, I am considered a different skill level on the different nights. Has anyone seen this before? It seems really odd to me. Do I suck worse on Thursdays so I am a lower skill level? Same number of matches played, same number of wins. I just thought this was odd.

If your skill level is borderline then yes you can see a difference between different nights. Because the LO's are not doing all the paperwork from different nights at the same time you will see this with borderline players.

Example Tue s/l 5 win, Thurs s/l 5 win. Tuesdays score puts you down to a 4 so now you are a 4 on Tuesday. After your scores for Thursday are figured in (Tuesday's are in system) several days later you go back to a 5. This can happen both ways Tuesday to Thursday and Thursday to Tuesday.

 

[lorider]

i play in 3 apa divisions. i was raised in 1 and it was 2-3 weeks before i was raised in the other 2.

i assume it took that long to review all the scoresheets from each division.

 

[Banks]

If your skill level is borderline then yes you can see a difference between different nights. Because the LO's are not doing all the paperwork from different nights at the same time you will see this with borderline players.

Example Tue s/l 5 win, Thurs s/l 5 win. Tuesdays score puts you down to a 4 so now you are a 4 on Tuesday. After your scores for Thursday are figured in (Tuesday's are in system) several days later you go back to a 5. This can happen both ways Tuesday to Thursday and Thursday to Tuesday.

i play in 3 apa divisions. i was raised in 1 and it was 2-3 weeks before i was raised in the other 2.

i assume it took that long to review all the scoresheets from each division.

What they said.. it depends on the timing of the scoresheets being entered.

 

[Shaky1]

I have yet to see it run correctly. Look, if the handicap system worked...why do they have the 23-rule? One 7, one 6, one 5, one 4, and one 3 = 25! So what do you think the 7 and 6 will do - sandbag! A good shooter can easily miss a shot and leave a lessor player snookered. If you shoot to pocket the ball, it's NOT a safety! I was a 7 on APA and was rarely allowed to play...even when our team went to finals. Also, you could be the 1st place team in standings, even undefeated, and NOT receive a dime in payoffs. In our area APA is the most expensive league to play in...$20 to start, $7/nite, $8/person travel fund. It's a "good league"...for league operators!
VNEA costs $15 to start, $6/nite and the 1st place team in standings takes home about $1400.
No limit on team handicap. However, we have a permanent 9 & 10 list. Too many 9's and 10's on your team and you could be penalized in score!
That's the way a league should operate!

Around here the only way a 7 (in 8 ball)is going down is if he loses for about a year straight! If then!
If the 7 was a sandbagger, he would be a 3.
It does no good to sandbag as a higher level player! Why? Because you are allowing a lower leveled player to have more innings. This will keep the opponent at a lower skill level.
Here it is 25 a year plus 11 bucks a night. We don't have a travel fee!
What is a travel fee?

 

[cfrandy]

Around here the only way a 7 (in 8 ball)is going down is if he loses for about a year straight! If then!
If the 7 was a sandbagger, he would be a 3.
It does no good to sandbag as a higher level player! Why? Because you are allowing a lower leveled player to have more innings. This will keep the opponent at a lower skill level.
Here it is 25 a year plus 11 bucks a night. We don't have a travel fee!
What is a travel fee?

The travel fee is the extra $4 your paying! Someone just told me it's $25 here now too!