I am going to use an example that hang the 9 has alluded to that makes it rough playing low handicaps in usapl. Say you are a 550 and are playing a 225. The points race in 9 ball will be you 75 and your opponent 28. Since each rack is worth 14 points that means you have to win 6 games to tour opponents 2.
Lets say tour opponent wins the lag or flip...whichever you prefer and he makes the 9 on the break. He already has half the points he needs to win the match. You win the next 6 in a row which means you won 6-1. however ....during those 6 racks your opponent managed to score 24 points.
The points total is you 84....your opponents total is 38. Your opponent wins the match due to the fact he scored 10 points over his required total and you scored 9 over.
Confusing huh ? Not really .. Unlike apa where you atop she you reach your required points you have to finish the last rack in usapl a d there have been many matches where the loser had reached his required points first in the last rack o ly to lose the match due to his opponent making the 9 .
I forgot to mention the biggest factor in the points race between apa and usapl.
In apa you can break and run 8 balls and your opponent makes the 9 and you win the rack 8-2. In usapl the score would be you 8...your opponent 14. the money ball is worth 14 points . Any other balls you made that rack is irrelevant and your opponent gets 1 point for each ball.hw made that rack.
But again....points made are irrelevant ....fargo just scores the match...you 6...your opponent 1.
The USAPL example is a bit off, if both players are on the hill, the player winning the hill hill game wins even if the other player gets to their points needed first. So if player A needs 30 and is at 29 the rack before, player B needs 60 and is at 50, if A makes the first 8 balls but misses the 9, player B makes it, B wins because he/she won the hill hill game. Now if player B was NOT on the hill and Player A made a point, then the match would be over after the rack. My area USAPL league is run with no wins on the break and called 9 ball.
One thing I do like and at the same time like about the USAPL scoring is that it forces the better players to play at least at their normal level. You can't go easy on someone because they will chip away at their points and one mistake late in the game will cost you the match. It counts points like a real match would, winning means a lot. APA game winning ball is 2 points. I could let the other guy make every game winning ball and still win if you outplay him the rack.
I don't like it because I don't that one mistake is worthy of losing a match over. I think if you beat someone 5-1 in games that would be good enough to win, instead you play someone that needs 24 or 30 points to your 50 or 60, you miss or scratch on the game winner, and they are on the hill after making one ball. In addition to that, since you need to win a bunch of games, they have several games in which to possibly make a few balls, especially in 8 ball. Normal 8 ball you can win at any point really, you may need to wait for clusters to get broken up, the opponent to do something risky in their run, then take over and win. In handicap points based 8 ball, all those balls you are letting the other player shoot in count for their win. They can win with never winning a single game.
