Any non franchise league affiliated operators here?

Positively Ralf

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
any here? my local pool hall is in need of a league besides the apa. they have about 26 9 footers which could be in better shape but there is a good player base that comes by. one of my former leagues played there but left do to the fact the owner and manager do not care at all and only worry about the bangers who come by to drink beer and smoke hookah.

i guess what im asking is any one here runs an in house league as a third party not affiliated with the apa, bca or other leagues. what kinds of problems can occur doing something like this?

any suggestions are welcomed. I'm really considering doing this as long as I get some good so und advice.
 
hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
any here? my local pool hall is in need of a league besides the apa. they have about 26 9 footers which could be in better shape but there is a good player base that comes by. one of my former leagues played there but left do to the fact the owner and manager do not care at all and only worry about the bangers who come by to drink beer and smoke hookah.

i guess what im asking is any one here runs an in house league as a third party not affiliated with the apa, bca or other leagues. what kinds of problems can occur doing something like this?

any suggestions are welcomed. I'm really considering doing this as long as I get some good so und advice.
Click to expand...

If you have an honest person that won't steal money from the league and someone the players respect and can handle disputes over handicaps and knows a fair rule set, that is the guy.

Really only two problems I see, book-keeping (who paid what, what goes to players, what matches were completed, etc..) and the rule set and handicapping. Of course there is also scheduling around other leagues, events, coordinating with the pool hall when is a good time for the league to take over the place, if there will be a charge paid to the room from the league fees or if the room donates the room due to food/drink income when league players are there, but that is part of the book-keeping.

I would suggest plugging the league into the Fargo system. The players may already have a Fargo rating, if not it is pretty easy to sort out where they start from known skill levels and the Fargo system already has a built-in handicap you can use.
 
sbpoolleague

sbpoolleague

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why wouldn't you want to affiliate with a national organization?

Take the BCAPL for example. All that is required to join is $15 per person per year. For that you get:
- An online app (LMS = League Management System) where you can generate schedules, enter score sheets, display team and individual standings, and a lot more
- Automatic integration into the Fargo rating system
- The ability to compete in the BCAPL World Championships in Las Vegas, as well as dozens of other BCAPL regional events

The amount of work that would be required for you to compile, maintain, and distribute your own league stats would far exceed what is required for you use the BCAPL online software.

For a measly $15 per person per year, I say that is a good deal and a big time saver for you.
 
Positively Ralf

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sbpoolleague said:
Why wouldn't you want to affiliate with a national organization?

Take the BCAPL for example. All that is required to join is $15 per person per year. For that you get:
- An online app (LMS = League Management System) where you can generate schedules, enter score sheets, display team and individual standings, and a lot more
- Automatic integration into the Fargo rating system
- The ability to compete in the BCAPL World Championships in Las Vegas, as well as dozens of other BCAPL regional events

The amount of work that would be required for you to compile, maintain, and distribute your own league stats would far exceed what is required for you use the BCAPL online software.

For a measly $15 per person per year, I say that is a good deal and a big time saver for you.
Click to expand...

You know, I was thinking of doing that. The problem is that it seems those leagues require you to play in bar tables. I know the majority of the players who come to my local hall and they much rather prefer singles 9 ball. There doesn't seem to be an option to be sanctioned if you have players who are only interested in that format. Or is it because I'm not looking in the right place of the websites?

I was looking at places like the BCAPL, ACS, TAP and the other well known ones. Can't say I see options for big table singles 9 ball. Help me out if you can.
 
hang-the-9

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
You know, I was thinking of doing that. The problem is that it seems those leagues require you to play in bar tables. I know the majority of the players who come to my local hall and they much rather prefer singles 9 ball. There doesn't seem to be an option to be sanctioned if you have players who are only interested in that format. Or is it because I'm not looking in the right place of the websites?

I was looking at places like the BCAPL, ACS, TAP and the other well known ones. Can't say I see options for big table singles 9 ball. Help me out if you can.
Click to expand...

I don't know of a league that "requires" bar tables, I have played in TAP, USAPL and know several APA leagues that play on 9 footers. I know that the USAPL league will let you basically pick your own format to play in your area. Our local USAPL has several league types, non travel leagues on 9 footers, womens only, Masters, 10 ball, 9 ball, 8 ball, multi play nights with 8 and 9 ball in one night or 8 and 10 ball, we even had a one pocket and straight pool league that was sanctioned by the main league offices.
 
sbpoolleague

sbpoolleague

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
You know, I was thinking of doing that. The problem is that it seems those leagues require you to play in bar tables. I know the majority of the players who come to my local hall and they much rather prefer singles 9 ball. There doesn't seem to be an option to be sanctioned if you have players who are only interested in that format. Or is it because I'm not looking in the right place of the websites?

I was looking at places like the BCAPL, ACS, TAP and the other well known ones. Can't say I see options for big table singles 9 ball. Help me out if you can.
Click to expand...

While all of the major amateur organizations play their national championships on 7ft tables, none require a table size for regular league play. Play on 7, 8, or 9 footers. It's all good.
 
justadub

justadub

Rattling corners nightly
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
You know, I was thinking of doing that. The problem is that it seems those leagues require you to play in bar tables. I know the majority of the players who come to my local hall and they much rather prefer singles 9 ball. There doesn't seem to be an option to be sanctioned if you have players who are only interested in that format. Or is it because I'm not looking in the right place of the websites?

I was looking at places like the BCAPL, ACS, TAP and the other well known ones. Can't say I see options for big table singles 9 ball. Help me out if you can.
Click to expand...

Like the others have noted, we play APA on 9-footers, Diamonds even :p Table size isn't regulated.

Do I umderstand from the end of your post that you're looking for this to be a Singles league, not team? That might affect your choices as far as a national league system, and may make an in-house solution more attractive. Tho likely A LOT more work for someone, and that "someone" needs to be a person that you all trust. Not a simple thing, I'm afraid... Good luck on your quest.
 
mikepage

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
justadub said:
Like the others have noted, we play APA on 9-footers, Diamonds even :p Table size isn't regulated.

Do I umderstand from the end of your post that you're looking for this to be a Singles league, not team? That might affect your choices as far as a national league system, and may make an in-house solution more attractive. Tho likely A LOT more work for someone, and that "someone" needs to be a person that you all trust. Not a simple thing, I'm afraid... Good luck on your quest.
Click to expand...

We are doing an interesting singles 10-Ball league format. It is new to us, and we are not very far in. As you can see the players range in rating from 410 to 723.

To the question is it handicapped or unhandicapped, the answer is yes ;-)
Every match has 3 points up for grabs, and the winner of a straight-up race to 7 earns one point. The other two points depend on the match score. There is an expectation based on the rating difference. Say that is 7 to 4.

If the score is exactly 7 to 4, the two players split the other two points.

Lower player gets past 4, he gets both
Lower player held below 4, higher player gets both

It gives a partial leveling and keeps drama in the matches. In any case, a format like this is fine for BCAPL
 

Attachments

  • 10-ballleague.png
    10-ballleague.png
    67.7 KB · Views: 143
Last edited:
ctyhntr

ctyhntr

RIP Kelly
Silver Member
Westchester isn't too far from New York City, and I would suggest you take a trip to check things out. In NYC, you have in-house leagues at Amsterdam, Society, and other independents such as Tony Robles NAPL and Vincent Morris' Megabucks leagues. In your own backyard, you have quite a few different league formats and handicap models that you can compare.

If you want to see a first class 9-ball league, then check out Team 9-ball at Amsterdam. That league is both BCA and ACS sanctioned. Amsterdam was one of the first rooms in the country to start offering leagues. Amsterdam has 6 nights of leagues. Their straight pool league has over 90 players this season. Our own Steve Kurtz, aka The Commish has 54 in his league at Bayshore.

I'm not sure where you get the misconception that BCA sanctioned leagues are required to play on barboxes. This would be news to all the leagues I referenced above.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Positively Ralf said:
... i guess what im asking is any one here runs an in house league as a third party not affiliated with the apa, bca or other leagues. what kinds of problems can occur doing something like this? ...
Click to expand...
I've run in-house leagues on and off since about 1980.

Problems? There are a few;).

The players whine about handicaps. You forget who paid already if you're tired and you end up short at the end of the night. If you set up a round-robin format, a third of the players drop out after finishing four nights of play.

You have to call close shots and Old Zeke just can't get it into his head that a double hit is a foul. That player who is whining about the handicaps is unwilling to listen to your explanation and continues to whine and claims he is not complaining.

The person who was holding the prize fund has somehow been robbed and the money's gone. The room owner says you can't have more than three tables even though twelve league players have shown up for matches. And you have to use the tables that have the oldest cloth. The players whine about the prize fund distribution.

You run the league for free and get tired of doing it and the person who you trained to take over does a really lousy job. It's hard to set a handicap for a new player and you have to explain to them on the fourth week why they just went up two levels. Players sandbag (if the system allows it) and other players resent it. The sandbaggers resent it when you adjust their rating.

You like to play and you try to play on league night but keep getting distracted by admin tasks. The players don't know the rules and don't care to learn them and they want to play by the rules they learned at the Boys' Club or from their Uncle Zeke.

The difference between a pool player and a puppy is that a puppy will stop whining in six weeks. Actually, it's only one player in ten that whines, but that's what you hear. Most of the players don't complain most of the time even if they have cause.

Those are a few just off the top of my head.

My recommendation: Go with the BCAPL if their allowed formats will work for you. Get your players into FargoRate. Set it up so they can play in Vegas if they want to.

Encourage your players to support the room by buying food/snacks/drinks if the room sells them. A major complaint of room owners is that league players never spend a dime. Sometimes that's even true but room owners can also be whiners.

If you have cash prizes, pay as many players as possible at least a little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top