how are ya'll doing in league ?

jokrswylde said:

Well good news and bad from last night. The good news is we played the 2nd place team in our division and only lost 8-7. I am getting a better read on my players and matching them up in good matches.

The bad news is, my losing streak continues. It is getting to be like deja vu every match. Last night I played a 5 that I should have beat. Get to the hill and catch a hanger on the 8 ball for the loss. At this point I ain't sure whether to laugh or cry. I had an off night last night, but somehow I've got to figure out how to finish a match.

I will just keep plugging away. I still like the idea of matching myself up against their strongest player, because I think playing 5's and 6's will pay off in the long run. Oh well, I guess on the bright side, as a 4 who is 0 and 3 on the season, maybe I can sneak up on some people.

Click to expand...

I see mkindsv beat me to.what I was going to say after reading your post. I see you are just like me in throwing yourself against the other teams best. One of the benefits of being a captain....actually its just about the only benefit lol. Some times I make the mistake of throwing myself blind and the other team may dump a low player on me.

A piece of advice if I may. Play every shot the same. Focus no matter if its an easy or hard shot.....no matter if its the first shot of the rack or the money ball.

I realize its easier said that done as I occasionally am guilty of taking a shot for granted of thinking negative on a hard shot or the money ball. If you can stay focused the same on every shot the wins will come .

us820 said:

Well,I'll give an example.My 2 is playing another 2.Their 2 is just awful.My 2 is on the 8 after what seems 15 minutes with the other player only having pocketed 1 ball.The only was to lose is to scratch.The cue ball is dead center middle of the table and the eight is near the rail a diamond off the side pocket.She wants to cut it in the corner.I tell her a safety that frees the ball up better for next time as the risk of scratching is too high being pounded across the table missing both sides.She refuses and says she's feeling it.The thin cut shot is horribly missed and almost scratches in both sides and she is oblivious to how she almost pissed away a near guaranteed win.Especially with 2s needing only 1 win to get the 1 point as opposed to an easy 3-0.

Click to expand...

I dont concern myself too much about s/l 1's and 2's level of play. They are a necessary evil to keep a team of decent players under the handicap limit. I never call time out on them during regular session and they realize that playoffs or higher are when its time to get serious and are receptive to time outs .

3's and 4's that dont want time outs called and are not receptive to my advice is what gets me frustrated. 1's and 2's realize they don't know much about the game and seem more receptive to coaching. 3's and 4's that have been playing a while start thinking they know more and are better shooters than they really are.

Nothing worse than ....what did you call time out for ? You messed up my rhythm ! They can't accept the fact that the mistake I see them about to make is gonna bring whatever rhythm they thought they had to a screeching halt.

Like you I changed my tactic of calling time outs and wait for them fo cal a time except for playoffs or higher in order to keep my blood pressure down lol

They just refuse to accept the fact its easier for me to call a.time out and prevent them from making a mistake than it is for me to wait until they call a time out after getting them selves into a pickle and me having to come up with am efren type shot to get them out of it.

Being captain of 2 teams...one for 7 years and the other for 2 years has given me plenty of experience with dealing with all.kinds of attitudes regarding coaching lol.

Jimmorrison said:

Need some ideas. I play in two leagues. One I dominate, the other, I am cannon fodder. This is a reflection of the skill levels in these two groups. The bad thing is my level of play has been horrible against the better group. If I were just shooting average, I'd be doing ok. How to get comfortable when moving up? How to just play the table? Who has faced this and what did you do?

Click to expand...

I am not gonna try.to.give you advice since I am in the same boat as you but will give you my thoughts.

I fluctuate between a 5 and 6 in apa and capable of beating any one in league any given night.... And just as capable of losing lol.

I also play masters. Toughest format there is. I have outright won some matches again stronger opponents and consider it a moral victory if i win a rack or 2 against some of them lol.

I just got through playing tap for one session and sadly it folded. Tap seemed to have the strongest field of players overall. Not because it had more stronger players...which it did but the absence of lower level players ...such as apa 2's -4's . Real tough league due to short races and high level players. Lost some I should have won and won some every one said I did not have a chance in hell of winning.

Also play usapl. Probably the most challenging league to get a win in due to the scoring system. It seems like a lower level player can win just as easily as a higher level due to the fact they place all the emphasis on making the money ball under their scoring system. I only have a half dozen matches in this league and have not played any real strong players yet so my perspective may be skewed.

In summary.. I believe some what in the saying in order to get better you need to play better players. Like i said ...some what because being some ones rack boy can be pretty dejecting to the point you don't learn anything.

What keeps.me going against better players is the realization that they are better players for a reason and as such if I learn some thing each time I lose to them then ita not a total loss.. If that makes any sense lol

jokrswylde said:

Well the skunk is off! A couple things happened since my last update. First , I picked up two new players, a 5 and a 7...the 7 plays very sporty and has been just hanging around the bar on Mondays trying to get a few racks on the 9 footers. turns out he is on another team in a different city, but comes to our home bar just to play on the big tables.

I didn't play last week due to unforeseen circumstances, but the team won our first match of the session. Awesome.

Last night we played the team third in our division that brought in four 5's and a 3. It was a big relief having the 7 and 5 on my team, so I didn't feel like I had to put the pressure on myself of playing their strongest. We only lost one match, and ended up winning 8-4. I ended up beating my guy 3-1 and just missed out on going Rackless.

So now our record stands at 2-3, but we have beaten two of the top teams in our division and lost to the division leader 8-7...and we will get to play them again. Hoping we can get a wildcard in to tri cups since we joined the session 4 weeks into the season.

Click to expand...

Congrats to you and your team. Hopefully the 7 and established 5 can work with you guys and give you some pointers. You brought up tri cups. Let me tell you this......it is imperative you keep up with how many matches every one plays. The last thing you want to hear when you go to tri cups is that one of your players is ineligible due to not having enough matches during the session.

I have not posted any results the last couple weeks because I have cut back playing . just got burnt out playing 4 nights a week. Tap has folded....i think. We have not played tap the last 3 weeks due to a couple teams quit and the lo is trying to reorganize.

I was going to take Thursday 9 ball off but half the team also was not showing for various reasons and being the captain I felt I had to go. Well it did not turn out too good. Lost 15-5 to a 6 .

I did play in our captain / co captain tournament this past weekend only because my Sunday co captain kept bugging me for the last 2 months to play in it with him. He had never played in one before so I relented.

We did darn good good until all the alcohol he was drinking caught up with him. Believe me....i gave him shit about it when I saw it affecting him. Let me clarify this though. He was not too drunk......just giddy. Walking around with a funny grin and had to keep calling him when it was his turn to shoot. He was jaw jacking with any one who would listen.

Another thing that frustrated me was that this place was a non smoking venue. I smoke but I can wait until my match is over to go outside. A lot of opponents couldn't. I got slightly upset a few times when its some ones turn to shoot and they are out side .

Proud of how I played considering the crap I had to deal with. Used to that sort of stuff affected my level of play but not on this day. My mental toughness is still a work in progress though lol.

Mkindsv said:

League went ok good this week...our entire team lost 9 ball, spectacularly, I lost to a three, my best 6 lost to a four (that basically broke and ran four straight...dude was a six last session and somehow is a 4 now) my 5 lost to another 4 rackless (this 4 was also a 6 last session) the other two matches kinda went the same way.

In eight ball, they obviously all thought their handicaps were too high..we won 3-2, the same guy that aced my six lost to our worst player, I beat their 5 rackless missing only four balls the whole match, three of them in the first game, then my solid four pulled out a squeaker.

I usually am not concerned with sandbagging, because it is a pretty competitive league, but last night was ridiculous. The team we were playing just got back from nationals and they were not the least bit trying to hide their sandbagging goals, so much as to say on several occasions, that a team just cannot compete at nationals as 5-6-7's, kinda disgusting if you ask me, but maybe they are right,

I honestly will not be able to justify remaining a 6 in eight and 9 ball if many of the best players in the league are sandbagging down to being threes and fours.Which is hard for me, because I am trying to do my best every single time out...arrrggghh, what to do, what to do.

Click to expand...

I have never seen a written rule concerning this but i have been told that its again the rules to drop 2 levels.. Its never been done in my area in the 7 years I have been playing apa. Also....in our area you are locked in at whatever handicap you are at at the nationals. What i mean is that you can go up but never drop below that level.

That issue has been an ongoing complaint I have had with my lo concerning a 3 on my team. She has regressed considerably due to back problems but my lo said she is locked in as a 3 due to that was what she was when we went to Vegas.

Its gotten to the point where I have been considering his using her to dump on the other teams best player. Her last 2 matches were an 18-2 loss vs a 2 and a 19-1 loss vs a 3. My team can barely offset losses like that.

After taking a week and a half off from league I decided to get back to playing.

Sunday night double jeapordy. Played another 5 in 8 ball and won 4-1. Played a 4 in 9 ball and lost 18-2 .didnt have my head in the match due to team issues and i decided I am folding this team after the session is over.

Monday night usapl. I am rated 483 and faced a 490...i think. The race was him 60 and me 50. I won every rack and it wasn't even close . I won 56-16. I believe its my best 8 ball game in a long time.

Played the same guy in 9 ball with me going to 67 and him 69. I guess that 8 ball loss put a fire in his azz and it became a real battle between us. I made an efren like shot he makes one. I make a lock down safe he makes one. I miss an was shot he misses one lol. When the dust settled I had won 4 racks and he had won 4. I scored 71 and he scored 71. I won the match due to only needing 67 to his 69. It was a helluva battle and I loved every minute of it.

Tonight during the 45 minute ride home I reflected on my play the last 2 nights and concluded my suspicions lately are more than likely correct. The issues I have been facing as captain with no shows and broke ass players has been affecting my game and my love for pool.

Last night I told my co captain of my Thursday team I was folding that team also. After talking for a while we came to an agreement. He will take over as captain and I will continue playing on that team. We will see how it works out.