Recent content by APA Operator

The word "random" is a misnomer. Any pattern can be the result of a "random" rack, and each pattern is equally likely. APA changed the wording in their rules from "random order" to "any order" years ago to eliminate silly arguments about whether the racker did it randomly. As Hu suggests, one...

Right. If the opponent loads the rack and the breaker tightens, you kill two birds with one stone.

Don't rack your own. If you're worried about loose racks, do this - opponent loads the rack - breaker tightens - opponent inspects if desired.

Well, I'm rubber and you're glue, so whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. I'm not very good at this. I typed that backwards the first time. Maybe I should have used "I know I am but what are you?" - no, wait, that doesn't look right either. I'm probably going to get beat...

That's all ANY spot is. Less "work" for the weaker player. I don't even understand the second part. It sounds like something you say when you're too flummoxed to make sense. The whole point of any handicap system is to compensate unequally, and what exactly is the "purpose of the game of...

Why do you need a spot to be competitive for money and they don't need a spot to be competitive in a league? That's all it is. It's handicapping based on points instead of games because games in 9-Ball is not a reliable reflection of the amount of "work" each player did. Only two for the nine...

I can tell you something like that could never happen in APA. Every team/player at the national events (team, singles, showdown) comes from some APA franchise, and APA has never had franchises in the UK. There's no way to get a team or player into the events any other way, and there never has...

Well, he was wrong. You should have said "No sir. You won that game, period, even in APA." It's right there in the game rules. Under "How to win a game", for 9-Ball it says "You legally pocket the 9-Ball." How winning a game affects the outcome of the match, or even the rating system, is...

Because it's not a handicap reflective of your accumulated skills and abilities, it's a rating comparing your performance with the rest of the players and games in the pool at any point in time. The number can change whenever the set of players or games changes, which is daily whether you play...

I don't think APA has ever denied that it's a business. I know I haven't. I would never do what I do if there wasn't something in it for me. But to our customers, it should be all about fun with friends and family, even the occasional stranger with whom you have something in common. If it's...

For the Showdown Series, it's more about rewarding our most loyal customers than it is about money. For Masters especially, the last thing APA wants is for players who play weekly and enjoy the product to be shut out of the Vegas Showdown events by someone who plays only occasionally, comes in...

Thank you for pointing out that that bullet point is out of place. Those bullets are about what happens when it's too late to call a foul, so the 9-Ball bullet point is totally irrelevant there (because there is no foul). I will make a suggestion to APA to move it to the 9-Ball bullet point at...

First of all, nobody, anywhere, is qualified for the 2026 World Pool Championships in Vegas. I suggest you read about World Qualifiers and qualified teams in the Official Team Manual and your area's local bylaws, both available from your Pool League app. There are also ways to lose...

You're right - I did misunderstand. Perhaps a better way to word that is like you just did, four misses to finish a rack. For reference, I always read "run a rack" as all in the same turn (isn't that how it's supposed to be read, hence the word "run"?).

I know plenty of APA 7/9's who can't run a rack in four tries, and most Fargo 300/350's I know have never run a rack. But I agree with the gist of your statement. When you start in any system, you go from "We know nothing about your play" to "This is all we know about your play". It takes a...