APA Unmarked Pocket Cost my Rackess, then the Match

[westcoast]

It is very rare that it isn't obvious what pocket a player is attempting to pocket a ball in. I would think that the vast majority of the time that somebody calls a player out on this rule it is very clear what the intention was.

 

[Celophanewrap]

Is there a certain lag decorum I'm unaware of? Serious question.

I doubt it. This (to me) is part of being able to read your opponent. The look on their face,
the way they approach the table, do they offer or respond to a hand shake, are they breathing
hard or do they have white knuckles, do they respond to small talk or a "good luck", do you feel
like you might be in mortal danger because they're holding a stick and standing right nest to you,
you know, stuff like that.

After you've determined that they are a Grade A Ass-Hat, you likely won't care what they
do, but they still have the mark-your-pocket-rule on their side, so do you.

You don't have to show them much respect, but you do have to follow the rules, and
remember - there is not a rule that says you must shake their hand after you candy bar
their rude ass. You may not want to touch them, don't feel like you have to. The hand
shake is a show of sportsmanship and respect. You may not have been shown any
during the match. You may want to let them know their behavior was unacceptable,
I personally believe ignoring them after the beating you just gave them is the best way

 

[kevoka]

But in The APA it didn't take long to learn that not everyone has the courtesy to be out in public and to that end not everyone we play is a
gentleman or gentle-woman.

It is a little better than any random barroom game.

Some are fun and a good time. Others, not so much.

 

[JC]

The American Poolplayers Association is the largest amateur league in the United States. Their rules have to be explicitly clear to make it easy for members to follow and avoid needless disputes.

Because on average, their players are drunk. :wink:

JC

 

[Celophanewrap]

It is a little better than any random barroom game.

Some are fun and a good time. Others, not so much.

Oh, absolutely. I've made some great friends and we have a great time. We drink and
laugh together and play pool, but sadly some people we just have to ignore.
Sometimes they come around, sometimes not

 

[JessEm]

Don't lag your ball before the other player is down on the shot to lag their own ball, make sure you are as far over to your side of the table as you comfortably can be to give them room. just kind of stuff you probably already do.

That makes sense. Thanks.

 

[Chili Palmer]

I doubt it. This (to me) is part of being able to read your opponent. The look on their face,
the way they approach the table, do they offer or respond to a hand shake, are they breathing
hard or do they have white knuckles, do they respond to small talk or a "good luck", do you feel
like you might be in mortal danger because they're holding a stick and standing right nest to you,
you know, stuff like that.

After you've determined that they are a Grade A Ass-Hat, you likely won't care what they
do, but they still have the mark-your-pocket-rule on their side, so do you.

You don't have to show them much respect, but you do have to follow the rules, and
remember - there is not a rule that says you must shake their hand after you candy bar
their rude ass. You may not want to touch them, don't feel like you have to. The hand
shake is a show of sportsmanship and respect. You may not have been shown any
during the match. You may want to let them know their behavior was unacceptable,
I personally believe ignoring them after the beating you just gave them is the best way

Agreed. I played a guy in an APA tournament that rotated 8 and 9 ball, he qualified for the tournament by playing 8 ball. He complained at the very beginning that 8B is all he ever plays and he doesn't understand why he has to play 9B, I politely explained this is how the tournament was promoted and this is how it's played (I didn't even get rude and say "if you didn't like 9B then you shouldn't have played"). After listening to him complain for the first two racks I just shut up and beat played. I beat him 5-0 and I heard him mumble something about me being an ass-hole. I just walked away, never shook his hand and didn't even acknowledge he existed.

 

[JessEm]

I doubt it. This (to me) is part of being able to read your opponent. The look on their face,
the way they approach the table, do they offer or respond to a hand shake, are they breathing
hard or do they have white knuckles, do they respond to small talk or a "good luck", do you feel
like you might be in mortal danger because they're holding a stick and standing right nest to you,
you know, stuff like that.

After you've determined that they are a Grade A Ass-Hat, you likely won't care what they
do, but they still have the mark-your-pocket-rule on their side, so do you.

You don't have to show them much respect, but you do have to follow the rules, and
remember - there is not a rule that says you must shake their hand after you candy bar
their rude ass. You may not want to touch them, don't feel like you have to. The hand
shake is a show of sportsmanship and respect. You may not have been shown any
during the match. You may want to let them know their behavior was unacceptable,
I personally believe ignoring them after the beating you just gave them is the best way

I like it. A lot of the same stuff you look for before ANY competition... My experience hasn't quite evolved enough to "worry about" anyone else yet lol. I did start to look at more things last match though, so it'll get there... :thumbup:

 

[us820]

Yes, and those weak players learn to play pool and join other leagues or start playing in tournaments and eventually our sport grows.

And if you don't like inning adders - run the table?

You're an idiot.

I do run the table.Thats why I’m a 7.I never lay down and In not making somebody lose a game because they didn’t put their bean bag frog on the table.With that I would like to play a 5 who is really a 5,but instead I spot them 3-5 because they don’t score safeties on their sheets or literally add innings and purposely lose once the season is in the crapper.Any smart 7 is a 6.If you don’t see that you are blind.There is a subset of apa guys that just bang balls of the rails on drunk night to have the active ratings for the local tourneys and nobody seems to care they cash nonstop and never move up.

It is great to be able to play with a girlfriend or casual friend player that are not skilled and have them have another similarily skilled player to play against so they can learn the game and gain experience


And its comical marking the 8 when they let you mash balls at random the entire rack.Ive been shit outed on by so many players its not even funny.

 

[sixpack]

Don't lag your ball before the other player is down on the shot to lag their own ball, make sure you are as far over to your side of the table as you comfortably can be to give them room. just kind of stuff you probably already do.

I usually want them to break so I wait until they have lagged, then shoot my ball into theirs which is an automatic loss of lag. Funny how pissed off they get.

 

[JessEm]

...not making somebody lose a game because they didn’t put their bean bag frog on the table...

"Hillarious" spelled wrong is exactly 10 characters.

 

[Racky BallBoa]

Even tho I don't understand how a simple, obvious and often stated rule can be unfair...indulge us.

How could you penalize the offender differently than loss of game, after the 8-ball has gone in? Spot it, and give ball-in-hand? That opens up a whole world of issues, much more complicated than the very simple, "loss of game if you don't do this, so don't do it."

Please elaborate with specifics, what issues? Spotting the 8 ball, and giving the opponent ball-in-hand seems like a pretty simple and straight forward and appropriate penalty alternative to me.

 

[trob]

So he takes the game more seriously then you and that makes him a bad person? I never give a shit how my opponent acts. Play slow, play fast , don’t talk , don’t stop talking....doesn’t matter I just play how I play.

Not to a lot of 'em. You'd think that the mere possibility of a trip to Vegas was the Holy Grail to many a league player...something akin to winning a World Pool title.

I've seen league players bear down so hard playing a match that it took all the fun out of it for me. I played another SL6 one night and experienced this. Made a few friendly comments between some racks and never got a peep out of him. I guess you can't expect to glean any fun from a player that's got his "game face" on. And this was just regular weeknight APA league.

Oh yeah....I racklessed that stiff a**hole that night. After the match he didn't shake my hand and had his cues put up and was out of the bar in less than two minutes. I hope he's learned to mellow out some since that match.

Maniac

 

[trob]

After reading 11 pages of this I’m bettting the same people that our complaining about getting called for not marking thier pocket are the same people that think players should call fouls on themselves when you missed it or weren’t paying attention. Sound’s like it’s more of a I don’t want to take personal responsibility problem then pool rules problem.

 

[Maniac]

After reading 11 pages of this I’m bettting the same people that our complaining about getting called for not marking thier pocket are the same people that think players should call fouls on themselves when you missed it or weren’t paying attention. Sound’s like it’s more of a I don’t want to take personal responsibility problem then pool rules problem.

On the other end of the spectrum... I'm betting the people that insist a pocket be marked for an obvious shot and wouldn't call a foul on themselves if their opponent missed it (for whatever reason) are the kind of people that would take a game of Monopoly too seriously because of their inner necessity to win to retain the feeling of superiority over everyone else.

Just sayin'.

Maniac (my last post in this thread)

 

[jimmyco]

I am betting as this comes up primarily in APA, VNEA and other team league scenarios, some people feel a greater obligation to their team than their own conscience.

This is a selfless individual.

 

[justadub]

Please elaborate with specifics, what issues? Spotting the 8 ball, and giving the opponent ball-in-hand seems like a pretty simple and straight forward and appropriate penalty alternative to me.

So what do you do in rooms that use coin-op tables?

So what do you do about other balls that were on the table that may have been moved by the 8 or by the cue ball? There is no practical way to spot them, as well...

There's two issues, right off the top of my head. Given time, we could come up with a plethora of potential-but-occurring instances that you could run into.

Or...you could just mark the silly pocket. And worry about other stuff.

 

[Racky BallBoa]

So what do you do in rooms that use coin-op tables?

So what do you do about other balls that were on the table that may have been moved by the 8 or by the cue ball? There is no practical way to spot them, as well...

There's two issues, right off the top of my head. Given time, we could come up with a plethora of potential-but-occurring instances that you could run into.

Or...you could just mark the silly pocket. And worry about other stuff.

I never realized that some APA regulated leagues used coin-op tables, so I guess that would be a valid issue. I can hardly remember the last time I played on a coin-op table, maybe back in the 1970s once or twice. The second issue is really a non-issue, all balls moved by the 8 or cue ball should just simply remain where they are located. Like I mentioned before, I'm all for just marking the silly pocket, its just the severity of the penalty for not marking the pocket that I'm not ok with.

 

[justadub]

I never realized that some APA regulated leagues used coin-op tables, so I guess that would be a valid issue. I can hardly remember the last time I played on a coin-op table, maybe back in the 1970s once or twice. The second issue is really a non-issue, all balls moved by the 8 or cue ball should just simply remain where they are located. Like I mentioned before, I'm all for just marking the silly pocket, its just the severity of the penalty for not marking the pocket that I'm not ok with.

The flip side of that is that if the penalty is so stiff, why don't people pay more attention to the rule?

I realize we're all just arguing semantics here...it beats work, certainly

 

[YOLO]

I don't see why people are dogging the opponent. Everyone knew the rules, someone didn't follow them and got called on it. When I lose to nobody else's fault but my own, I own it. Would I have done it? Probably not. Was it legit? Sure sounds like it.