Question about sandbagging in the Apa...

Guapo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Can you still be considered a sandbagger if you're leading your division in points for top gun?

Isn't a sandbagger someone that loses on purpose to keep their SL low? You have to win more than most to lead in top gun points....

"Asking for a friend".

Sincerely, SL 4.

Don't laugh. I aspire to be a 7 eventually. "I" as in my friend haha.
 

jburkm002

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I true sandbagger is someone who can win when told to but stay under the radar. Keep their innings up. Win big one week and keep it close the next. Win without appearing to be better than they are.
 

jburkm002

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I forget what Top Gun was exactly. Pretty much means your doing better than everyone else. So yeah you or they might deserve to go up.
 

$TAKE HOR$E

champagne - campaign
Silver Member
Someone on here said their league has no sandbaggers...astounding to say the least.

I always thought it was the people who barricaded the levies from water 😱
 

poolhustler

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm an reverse Sandbagger. I'm an APA 6 but I should be a 4.

If you wanna play some cheap, let me know... ;)

I'm in SGV too....
 

DirtyJersey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Can you still be considered a sandbagger if you're leading your division in points for top gun?

Isn't a sandbagger someone that loses on purpose to keep their SL low? You have to win more than most to lead in top gun points....

"Asking for a friend".

Sincerely, SL 4.

Don't laugh. I aspire to be a 7 eventually. "I" as in my friend haha.

The answer is a resounding yes! I have many a top gun trophies (none intentional) and do nothing but sandbag. It's what leagues such as yours were designed for. It's just the caliber of most local players is so bad 1 can pad innings and still have a high win %.:shrug:
 

Culinarytracker

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
We had the opposite problem in our summer APA league.
The whole league is rather strong, and there was only one team that didn't have a very hard time keeping the team together because of the max handicap rule.
 

DelaWho???

Banger McCue
Silver Member
Can you still be considered a sandbagger if you're leading your division in points for top gun?

Isn't a sandbagger someone that loses on purpose to keep their SL low? You have to win more than most to lead in top gun points....

"Asking for a friend".

Sincerely, SL 4.

Don't laugh. I aspire to be a 7 eventually. "I" as in my friend haha.

Top Gun point accumulated per win are the handicap of your opponent. Beat a 4 you get 4 top gun points. It doesn't matter if you beat them on the hill or shut them out the top gun points remain the same. How the match was played (# of innings, safetys etc) determines handicap, so yes you can sand bag and be top gun.

:cool:
 

lorider

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
a true sandbagger does not like winning top gun due to not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

a lot of variables come into play in order to win top gun.


the 2 major factors besides how well you play are how often you play and how often you match up with the same level as you or higher levels. and how often you win.

take me for example.

when i 1st joined apa i was always chose to play the higher handicaps because i was the best player on the team even though i was a 3. yea that team sucked lol. i won top gun as a 3 my 1st session.

same thing when i became a 4 . won top gun 3 sessions in a row.

moved to a 5 and won top gun.

i started my own team and have not won top gun since.

why ? because i dont play every week due to i got a couple players that have higher handicaps then i do.

for 2 years i was the best player on my team but that did not get me anywhere. i started my own team and picked up 2 better players and we made vegas this past year.
 

whammo57

Kim Walker
Silver Member
sand bagger

The new 3 point system along with 6 matches required to be eligible to play in any play off has shut down most of the sand baggers in the local APA league........... Of course, there are still some that play that game......... I know who they are and call them cheaters to their faces................

My 8 person team has a schedule that only requires 5 players to show up each week. We don't play make ups, we don't over post, and we will not allow a player to play twice, even though it is allowed if both captains agree......... We piss people off but we are in first place because we all play to win every single game we play.

Kim
 

StraightPoolIU

Brent
Silver Member
I always wondered what Top Gun was when I saw people mention it on here. Now I realize that our league calls it MVP for some reason instead of Top Gun. I suppose that's good because I now have Danger Zone stuck in by head as a result of doing nothing more than reading this thread. But I digress. The OPs original question was can you still be a sandbagger if you're leading your division in Top Gun/MVP points. Yes. One could still pad enough innings to stay in the bracket of SL below their true level giving them opportunities for easy wins.

However, I will say a couple of things. I've been on these forums much longer than I've actually played in the APA. Consequently I was under the impression that sandbagging was omnipresent and made for a horrible experience. I'm pleased to say as of the present that really hasn't been my experience. Sure I'm sure there are some doing it, but in our division at least I don't really remember seeing anyone play against our team that I didn't think was honestly giving the best effort they could. I'm sure it still happens, but it's not as much of a downer as I thought it'd be. As far as myself goes my personality type just doesn't lend itself to sandbagging. When I'm at the table I want to run out every friggin time no matter what and shut out my opponent. Ye olde brain just doesn't operate any other way.
 

RRfireblade

Grammer Are For Stupids
Silver Member
Sandbagging is not playing to your true ability.

Therefore your HC is well below what it should be, placing you against players of lesser skill.

You should beating these players easily which will make it very easy to make it look close. Since APA figures handicap NOT based purely on win/loss but primarily by the specific details of the match, winning and awards are not related in any way.

This is also why the APA format is so over run with sandbagging.
 

JBB2388

Banger Extraordinaire
Silver Member
Top Gun standings haven't been available in my APA 8ball league this session for some reason. The league operator has not gotten back to the team captain as to why yet. Last session I finished 4th in TG and it was based on win %, not points.
 

justadub

Rattling corners nightly
Silver Member
I always wondered what Top Gun was when I saw people mention it on here. Now I realize that our league calls it MVP for some reason instead of Top Gun. I suppose that's good because I now have Danger Zone stuck in by head as a result of doing nothing more than reading this thread. But I digress. The OPs original question was can you still be a sandbagger if you're leading your division in Top Gun/MVP points. Yes. One could still pad enough innings to stay in the bracket of SL below their true level giving them opportunities for easy wins.

However, I will say a couple of things. I've been on these forums much longer than I've actually played in the APA. Consequently I was under the impression that sandbagging was omnipresent and made for a horrible experience. I'm pleased to say as of the present that really hasn't been my experience. Sure I'm sure there are some doing it, but in our division at least I don't really remember seeing anyone play against our team that I didn't think was honestly giving the best effort they could. I'm sure it still happens, but it's not as much of a downer as I thought it'd be. As far as myself goes my personality type just doesn't lend itself to sandbagging. When I'm at the table I want to run out every friggin time no matter what and shut out my opponent. Ye olde brain just doesn't operate any other way.

Your experience is similar to mine. And I expect most areas.

It's easy and fun to cry "sandbagger". And I'm sure there are plenty of them. Just not so many as folks like to believe.
 

CreeDo

Fargo Rating 597
Silver Member
Is the question "Am I a sandbagger" or "would I be considered a sandbagger"?

There's a slight difference.

The first one is asking "what is the reality?"
The second one is asking "how will other people perceive me?"

How other people perceive you doesn't have much impact on the reality.
If you are intentionally playing worse than you could, you're a sandbagger.
What awards you get (or don't get) are irrelevant.

But is it possible people might see you as a sandbagger, despite an honest effort
to play at 'full speed'? From my experience, the answer to that is almost always yes.
Almost anyone can get falsely accused of sandbagging, except 9's / 7's.

99% of the time this is just the loser making a lame excuse,
or someone who doesn't get how pool works, crying about things they don't understand.
Very rarely is the person accused of sandbagging, actually missing on purpose
and trying to rack up innings. I know many of you consider it naive to believe that.

For the record, it's possible to win and to sandbag. APA rankings are heavily based
on the number of innings. In fact that might be the ONLY important thing.
I believe a league operator told me once:
"it's possible for a 7 to get beat by a 6 a hundred times and never go down".

So yes, you can get top gun and still sandbag, but taking far more innings to win
the matches than you should have.
 
Top