APA Unmarked Pocket Cost my Rackess, then the Match

Just happened to me once. 6-2 race in a top gun tourney. I had an end rail cut that was tough so I didn't want to risk coming off and catching one of hers and scratching. bumped it at the pocket to wait it out and it went right back to the same cut.......4 times. Forgot to mark it the fourth and of course it wiggled in. She jumped out of the chair and called the foul. Played her son in the next round and I was less than pleasant. 5-0 with 3 bnr in 3 innings.

RFranklin said:

Just happened to me once. 6-2 race in a top gun tourney. I had an end rail cut that was tough so I didn't want to risk coming off and catching one of hers and scratching. bumped it at the pocket to wait it out and it went right back to the same cut.......4 times. Forgot to mark it the fourth and of course it wiggled in. She jumped out of the chair and called the foul. Played her son in the next round and I was less than pleasant. 5-0 with 3 bnr in 3 innings.

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That'll teach them .:grin-square:

u12armresl said:

A rule is rule. What you are doing is circumventing the rules.

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No, he's not. This rule was re-worded in the latest edition of the team manual. It now says it's a loss if you don't mark the pocket and your opponent calls loss of game. That gives the opponent the opportunity to do the right thing. This change was made specifically for the "A rule is a rule" people.

heresy said:

I’m sure you know, but in case anyone else doesn’t the max is race to 5 unless a team puts a 2 or 3 up against a 7. Then they’re 2-7 or 2-6 races, respectively. Teams have tried that on me a couple times lately.

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Yes, I forgot about those scenarios. They can be fun!

RFranklin said:

Just happened to me once. 6-2 race in a top gun tourney. I had an end rail cut that was tough so I didn't want to risk coming off and catching one of hers and scratching. bumped it at the pocket to wait it out and it went right back to the same cut.......4 times. Forgot to mark it the fourth and of course it wiggled in. She jumped out of the chair and called the foul. Played her son in the next round and I was less than pleasant. 5-0 with 3 bnr in 3 innings.

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Imagine how many matches you'd win if you just imagined that every opponent was her son/daughter.

Mr Slate said:

I don't know about other places but around here we can't use a piece of chalk to mark the pocket, it must be something else. I use my phone. :wink:

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The reason for this is because a conniving opponent could walk up and take the chalk (if just the chalk and not a chalk holder) off the table before you shoot.

lorider said:

I have over 1500 matches in apa and have seen this move pulled a total of 3 times so its not like its a common occurrence. It did tick me off each time but there are some people who will try to get a win anyway they can..

Like others have said...... A lot of people around here will agree to just call pocket ....not call on obvious shots....even concede the 8 on an obvious easy shot. Dub brings up a good point....never fail to mark it and you will.never be called on it.

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Funny, I have about 60 APA matches and have had it called on me 4 times. Just last week it happened again.

The reason I forgot each time is I have run the table, and have set up for a simple straight in short shot on the eight.

Deep in the groove, I will just pluck it in.

Yes, yes yes I should learn.

sixpack said:

Imagine how many matches you'd win if you just imagined that every opponent was her son/daughter.

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True story. Sometimes I have trouble focusi......squirrel......what was I saying?

Recently my sister, an apa 4, played a 3. He fouled at one point. She called him on it. Two of his team-mates concurred and told him he fouled. He said he didn't and kept shooting and won, putting him on the hill. Last game he had an obvious shot on the 8 and did not mark. We pointed it out to him but did not call him on it (I never would), but it gave us the opportunity for US AND his teammates to strongly suggest he stop being an asshole in the future, as he could face consequences for it tit for tat against a different team.

Calling someone out for not marking an obvious pocket is just plain shameful IMO.

bioactive said:

Recently my sister, an apa 4, played a 3. He fouled at one point. She called him on it. Two of his team-mates concurred and told him he fouled. He said he didn't and kept shooting and won, putting him on the hill. Last game he had an obvious shot on the 8 and did not mark. We pointed it out to him but did not call him on it (I never would), but it gave us the opportunity for US AND his teammates to strongly suggest he stop being an asshole in the future, as he could face consequences for it tit for tat against a different team.

Calling someone out for not marking an obvious pocket is just plain shameful IMO.

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Two of those times it was called on me....the third was on one of my players. I told this story before but I think its fitting to tell it again in this thread.

My 6 was playing 8 ball vs another 6 and it was hill-hill with my player on the 8 ball. He takes his cue and points towards the corner pocket in which the 8 was almost straight in about 6 inches from the pocket. I was watching him pointing at the pocket and then he looked at his opponent who had his back to him but had turned his head slightly around to look at the table and then quickly turned his head back away from the table..i thought wtf ? but i had to mark down a point for the opposing player who was playing 9 ball on the adjacent table.

We play 8 and 9 at the same time and I was keeping score on 9 ball so my head is spinning back and forth between the two tables lol.

So my player pointed again at the corner pocket and proceeds to pocket the 8. As soon as it fell ....guess his opponent heard it fall he spins back around and says ...you lost you did not mark the pocket.

Now I am a pretty laid back guy but I went off like a rocket. I yelled...wtf do you mean he lost ? The opponent said he did not mark the pocket. I replied ...neither one of you marked the pocket for the last 8 racks and nothing was said. I said my player pointed at the pocket just like both of you have dome the entire match and you want to make a b. s . call like that. He replied well that's the rule. I said I know damn well what the rule is and neither one of you followed it the last 8 racks. He says well now I am enforcing the rule. I said well if you want to pull a b s move like that to win a match I will give it to you. This happened in the second match of the night btw.

Come the beginning of the 4 th match their captain tells me he needs a replay the 5 th round in both 8 and 9 ball because they are shorthanded. I thought wtf ? You defended your player on that b s call and now you are asking me to allow you to replay both 8 and 9 ball in the last round ? Wtf ? next ? You want me to just bend over and let you shove it in without any lube ? I did not say anything...i just sat there thinking while the 4 th round was going on..

Come 5 th round their captain proclaims he is throwing that same 6 who pulled that move for the last 9 ball match.. I replied ...no you ain't. He says ...well who do you want me to throw . I reply...nobody cause you are going to forfeit it and the last 8 ball also. well chit hit the fan with every one on that team yelling and complaining I could not do that. I said ...yea I can and its a done deal. One guy says ..i thought we were friends....i said I thought so too until that b s move. He replied...well its a rule. I said yea so I have ya'll that match. Now the rule here is you can replay if i allow it and I aint allowing it.

Well the captain gets on the phone with the league operator and another guy goes and hunts up the division rep and brings her back. So i explain to her why I made the call I did. She says ....that just ain't like you. You have always went out of your way to be fair to everyone . I said yea and I will continue to be that way ....unless some one tries to screw me over like they did. So in the end they won a match by throwing a rule at me and they lost 2 matches when I threw the rule book right back in their face.

A few days later I run into the league operator and that particular night came up. When i told him what they pulled he said that they never told him that but he figured they must have really pissed me off to not let them replay and he started laughing.

I was playing in the state tournament and I broke and ran out, back when it was pretty rare for me to do so.

Yep you guessed it, I didn't mark the pocket and he called it and I lost. It hurt me because it was VERY rare for me to have break and run. I ended up losing the match too.


Its just a game.


Ken

RFranklin said:

True story. Sometimes I have trouble focusi......squirrel......what was I saying?

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Yep. After a similar incident I got the idea to be really angry or hate everyone I played against. I wanted to beat them so bad they would quit pool and their kids would quit pool. lol. I wouldn't talk to them other than the required 'good luck' and handshake.

I did it for two tournaments - won both of them - but it wasn't any fun for me.

Now I'm just happy and try to beat everyone and if not I don't sweat it. I probably play better now than I did then anyway. I sure as heck enjoy it more.

Ken_4fun said:

I was playing in the state tournament and I broke and ran out, back when it was pretty rare for me to do so.

Yep you guessed it, I didn't mark the pocket and he called it and I lost. It hurt me because it was VERY rare for me to have break and run. I ended up losing the match too.


Its just a game.


Ken

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It happened last week?

j/k Lesson learned.

JessEm said:

I agree with everyone who says "just get in the habit" because once you're outside your league, it might bite you. Especially if you're in a groove.

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What's a groove??? :thud:

Maniac

Maniac said:

What's a groove??? :thud:

Maniac

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Here is a tasty little groove for ya. :thumbup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJsCTkS05Hk

RiverCity said:

Here is a tasty little groove for ya. :thumbup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJsCTkS05Hk

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Rick James....they don't make 'em like that anymore!

Maniac

I would never accept a victory if my opponent forgot to mark the pocket on an obvious shot. There is no pride in that at all. Quite frankly I’d feel embarrassed to accept it

Well, I've only played APA maybe 2 seasons, and as a good 7 (who occasionally blanked other "regular" 7s) I always had a target on my back, so I got used to playing under a microscope, and making sure to cover all the bases.

I can see how, not being accustomed to having opponents sharkeye every single shot, one could be caught by surprise.

As a better player, these sorts of shenanigans are the main reason I moved to BCA. Better competition, more sportsmanship.. "Steel sharpens steel", and all that.

This scenario does remind me of an interesting scenario back when I was in the Army, stationed in Germany, around 2000. I was playing in a pool tournament at the large rec center near Mannheim, and in the first or second round, I played a woman. Women automatically got 2 games on the wire in a race to 5.

My female opponent was a decent player and managed to get 2 games legitimately, and when I had pocketed the 9 ball in my 5th game, I went over to shake her hand. With a flat look on her face, she said "You only have 4 games." I looked at her with a look of shock on my face that she was pulling this, and then proceeded to describe all 5 winning layouts/combos/caroms/etc.

After I finished, she said, "You only have 4 games." Her fellow, who was sitting there watching the match, took her side. As usual at that time, my wife was THERE, but had gotten bored and wandered off, leaving me no backup. I knew that in the end, it would be their word against mine.

I got pissed, and said "Whatever", and had her rack again. I lost my focus and ran down to one of the last 3/4 balls, and missed a shot, and she won.

Now, I am REALLY pissed. I cut through the rest of the field with a vengeance (including a good player that I played at my last duty station, who knew me only before my game took a huge leap) and got back to the finals.

Where I played a different woman. The USAREUR woman's champ from the year before. And I had to spot her 2 games per set and had to beat her 2 sets. I gave no f*cks, and beat her back to back sets 5-2, 5-3, spot included. The only rack she won she attempted to play a bank shot on the 1 in the corner and banked it so short it comboed in the 9, lol. I feel bad about it now, but I kinda held her responsible for the sins of her sex in that particular tournament.

I never saw either of the women again, and did end up winning a few more tournaments while in Germany.

Long story short... Anger can sometimes immediately zero in your focus. Thought it can be emotionally draining over a longer/tougher tournament.