Shot Clock In League Play??

sbpoolleague · Apr 29, 2016

Has any league operator successfully introduced a shot clock into league play? If so how did you do it?

We have a lot of teams averaging 16 min per game of 8-ball, when 10 is the ideal. Matches that should be over at 9:30 go past 11pm and everyone involved gets pissed.

Looking for any strategy that will speed up play. Thanks.

Chris

Black Cat 5791 · Apr 29, 2016

Well truthfully it's not up to the LO, all you can do is provide the structure and guidelines. It's up to the Division Reps & Team Captains to enforce those rules and guidelines regardless of what they may be. Plenty of people complain about issues but don't want to ultimately be the bad guy when it comes to enforcement.

~Black Cat~

bad_hit · Apr 29, 2016

Is it the actual games taking 16 minutes or is it people going outside to smoke, chatting, bathroom breaks during the game, etc.

Usually speeding up the players actually getting to the table and starting matches helps, and breaks happen between matches not during.

Also - are you sure they're actually starting league night on time?

philly · Apr 29, 2016

sbpoolleague said:
Has any league operator successfully introduced a shot clock into league play? If so how did you do it?

We have a lot of teams averaging 16 min per game of 8-ball, when 10 is the ideal. Matches that should be over at 9:30 go past 11pm and everyone involved gets pissed.

Looking for any strategy that will speed up play. Thanks.

Chris

16 minutes for a game of 8 ball? You need a shot clock.

Bob Jewett · Apr 29, 2016

sbpoolleague said:
Has any league operator successfully introduced a shot clock into league play? If so how did you do it?

We have a lot of teams averaging 16 min per game of 8-ball, when 10 is the ideal. Matches that should be over at 9:30 go past 11pm and everyone involved gets pissed.

Looking for any strategy that will speed up play. Thanks.

Chris

Get a chess clock. There have been threads on this and an article or two.

BRussell · Apr 29, 2016

In our (BCA sanctioned) league, you can choose to put someone on the clock if they play slow. In my experience this is not the way to go. It just promotes bad feelings because it's seen as a punishment, with either the slow player being so slow that they make everyone else angry, or the player calling for a shot clock being an a-hole and doing it just to shark, or (usually) both. IMO if you're going to do it it has to be there all the time, but I've never seen a league do that.

Scott Lee · Apr 29, 2016

Matt...APA has had a standard shot clock rule in effect for many years...60 seconds, which is plenty of time. :grin:

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

BRussell said:
In our (BCA sanctioned) league, you can choose to put someone on the clock if they play slow. In my experience this is not the way to go. It just promotes bad feelings because it's seen as a punishment, with either the slow player being so slow that they make everyone else angry, or the player calling for a shot clock being an a-hole and doing it just to shark, or (usually) both. IMO if you're going to do it it has to be there all the time, but I've never seen a league do that.

flyrv9 · Apr 29, 2016

One thing we did to speed things up (with 4 player teams) was to use two tables. Agreed to by everyone beforehand of course.

Shooter08 · Apr 29, 2016

Have not read any posts, but I wish there was a shot clock! No reason for pool leagues to take so long unless your just trying to find the bar. You can do that after playing if you want, and yes I like my drinks as much as the next guy. It shouldn't take 3 minutes to attempt a bank shot.

Brian in VA · May 2, 2016

I ran a BCAPL league for a decade or so with a one minute per shot rule. Each packet received an inexpensive kitchen timer that I bought from eBay in bulk along with instructions to use it.

My rule was any team could ask the other to be put on the shot clock but both players had to go on it. (One guy on my team insisted he wanted to be on the clock as a way to get the other team to do it and not sound like an a-hole.)

The result was that the shot clocks were rarely used as the threat usually kept people on time. There were at least 2 teams every session that were horribly slow and when they played each other, I would talk to them and say, "Don't make me put you guys on the clock, myself but I will if X games aren't completed by X time." That usually worked.

I love the idea of chess clocks. Looks like they sell for as little as $10 online.....

Brian in VA

u12armresl · May 2, 2016

Lots of leagues wont let you use 2 tables until after 10pm because they want to keep you at the host location spending money.

flyrv9 said:
One thing we did to speed things up (with 4 player teams) was to use two tables. Agreed to by everyone beforehand of course.

fastone371 · May 2, 2016

I wish all leagues and tournaments had shot clocks.

BRussell · May 2, 2016

Scott Lee said:
Matt...APA has had a standard shot clock rule in effect for many years...60 seconds, which is plenty of time. :grin:

Scott Lee

http://poolknowledge.com

They don't use a clock though, right?

sbpoolleague · May 2, 2016

Scott Lee said:
APA has had a standard shot clock rule in effect for many years...60 seconds

Do you have a link to that rule? I have seen shot clocks talked about in the rules of some individual APA leagues, but I have never seen an official APA guideline for use of a shot clock.

BCAPL uses a 45-second clock if necessary.

Poolhall60561 · May 2, 2016

I am thinking of peanalizing both teams if matches are not complete within 2 hours. That would be 120 minutes to complete 10 games of 5-8 ball, 5-9 ball. 2 man partners. Its usually the same team that causes the slow play, but shot clock and reason are a pain to administer. We play 5 point per game so maybe I would penalize 10 points, 5 per team, out the the total 50 for slow play.

Blaine B. · May 2, 2016

Local VNEA has an exaggerated slow play rule. First one is a warning, then you are on a shot clock of 60 seconds for the rest of that match or it's a foul.
Does the sped up play affect player development?

sbpoolleague · May 2, 2016

Blaine B. said:
Local VNEA has an exaggerated slow play rule. First one is a warning, then you are on a shot clock of 60 seconds for the rest of that match or it's a foul.
Does the sped up play affect player development?

This might work well in an in-house league or a tourney that has referees. But what about a traveling league where players ref themselves?

Blaine B. · May 2, 2016

sbpoolleague said:
This might work well in an in-house league or a tourney that has referees. But what about a traveling league where players ref themselves?

It's on the players, like any other rule. Everybody's got a smart phone with a stopwatch on it.

Bob Jewett · May 2, 2016

sbpoolleague said:
This might work well in an in-house league or a tourney that has referees. But what about a traveling league where players ref themselves?

A chess clock takes care of those problems and eliminates other problems with the traditional pool shot clock.

sbpoolleague · May 2, 2016

Bob Jewett said:
A chess clock takes care of those problems and eliminates other problems with the traditional pool shot clock.

Ok I'm intrigued about the chess clock. Have you ever used one in league play? Do the players touch the clock or are teammates designated as clock keepers? What time to you start a player out at? 10 min, 12 min, 15 min?

I know I have been involved in safety battles in which neither player took a long time shooting, but we played a bunch of safeties and the game took 30 minutes. If a chess clock were used in this case, both players would have run out of time, but obviously one would have done so first. In this case, do you think it would be fair to have one winner and one loser? Maybe each team could be given one or two 5-minute extensions to their chess clock per match.

I can see this as a solution, however I would really like to hear from someone who has actually used it on the pool table.

Shot Clock In League Play??

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