14.1 LEAGUE - Frederick, Maryland

J

Jim Dolski

New member
Want to play Straight Pool (14.1)? Spots available for serious players of all levels in the handicap Richard T. Riggie, Sr Straight Pool League at All Star Billiards in Frederick, Maryland. We had a successful 1st session with 26 players and want to keep it going with new area talent.

The 2nd session of this league is scheduled for 9 Sept 2007 thru 6 Jan 2008. All matches are scheduled for Sundays at Noon ? some flexibility is allowed.

This is an in-house league with bracketed, handicapped, head-to-head match play format. No coaches ? no teams. You play within your handicap peer group. Based on league size you will play 14 to 16 matches versus opponents in your bracket. Loser pays table time at a nominal flat rate.

The registration fee for this session is $100 which must be paid prior to 4 Sept. All fees go into the prize fund and the house will add $500. Prize fund distribution includes point money (wins), position money (in bracket), high run (in bracket), and League-End Tournament finish. Prize fund is distributed at the League-End Tournament in January 2008.

Contact Jim Dolski by e-mail (dolskij@comcast.net) or 301-252-1226 direct for more information and to sign up.
 
Jim, I have some questions and comments

Jim Dolski said:
This is an in-house league with bracketed, handicapped, head-to-head match play format. No coaches ? no teams. You play within your handicap peer group. Based on league size you will play 14 to 16 matches versus opponents in your bracket. Loser pays table time at a nominal flat rate.

The registration fee for this session is $100 which must be paid prior to 4 Sept. All fees go into the prize fund and the house will add $500. Prize fund distribution includes point money (wins), position money (in bracket), high run (in bracket), and League-End Tournament finish. Prize fund is distributed at the League-End Tournament in January 2008.

Contact Jim Dolski by e-mail (dolskij@comcast.net) or 301-252-1226 direct for more information and to sign up.
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Jim, good luck with your straight pool league! It's great that the house will add $500!! In our league, they give us a couple drink chips at the beginning of the season and at Christmas!

I started a straight pool league over 20 years ago and it's handicapped with 20 or so players and it's still going good. I have some questions for you if you don't mind answering. I was wondering if you adjust the handicap after the player plays a match or so? If it's bracketed and the matches are between players in that bracket, is there a handicap then? Do you have caps (hi and low limits) on the handicaps? What is the typical race in the head-to-head match?

I like the idea of paying the fee upfront and looser pays the tabletime. We didn't do that but made them pay a fee every week if they play or not for whatever the reason. I'm glad to see you tryihg to promote a league and straight pool! It's not easy and I wish you great success for your effort.

Curly
 
Jim Dolski said:
Want to play Straight Pool (14.1)? Spots available for serious players of all levels in the handicap Richard T. Riggie, Sr Straight Pool League at All Star Billiards in Frederick, Maryland. We had a successful 1st session with 26 players and want to keep it going with new area talent.

The 2nd session of this league is scheduled for 9 Sept 2007 thru 6 Jan 2008. All matches are scheduled for Sundays at Noon ? some flexibility is allowed.

This is an in-house league with bracketed, handicapped, head-to-head match play format. No coaches ? no teams. You play within your handicap peer group. Based on league size you will play 14 to 16 matches versus opponents in your bracket. Loser pays table time at a nominal flat rate.

The registration fee for this session is $100 which must be paid prior to 4 Sept. All fees go into the prize fund and the house will add $500. Prize fund distribution includes point money (wins), position money (in bracket), high run (in bracket), and League-End Tournament finish. Prize fund is distributed at the League-End Tournament in January 2008.

Contact Jim Dolski by e-mail (dolskij@comcast.net) or 301-252-1226 direct for more information and to sign up.
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i might be interested if frederick is not all that far from me. will do a mapquest and get back to you. think it would be a good game for me to learn.
 
9balllvr said:
i might be interested if frederick is not all that far from me. will do a mapquest and get back to you. think it would be a good game for me to learn.
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It should take you a little less than an hour, each way, depending how much you push the limit.
 
We had 26 players start and 21 end for out first session which ended in early May. Many played out of curiousity and I suspect they will not repeat because it is a challenging game. I'm hoping we can pick up some experienced players in our A Group to make it more competitive and we certainly want less experienced players to get in and mix it up. Answers to questions follow:

In starting the league last January (2007) we had the good fortune that 2 of us that played in Peter Burrows' Willie Mosconi League at Bill and Billies in Arnold, Maryland. We wanted to keep the handicaps in our league as consistent as we could with the handicaps in that league. So we initially established a handicapping scheme based on relative pocket billiard skills at 9-ball and 8-ball and we had one good player who was willing to play practice matches and otherwise give good instruction to novices. Handicaps were not adjusted for the first couple of weeks but after that they were evaluated every week and adjusted accordingly in 5 ball increments.

Everyone who played had a handicap which initially placed them in one of the 4 brackets; i.e., 24 players ranked in order by ascending handicap makes up 4 groups of 6. One A Group player had a handicap of 140 ball and the lowest A Group player had a handicap of 80 balls. When they played, the race was 140 to 80 balls. Our lowest handcap was was in the D Group at 40 balls and generally the D Group races were in the range of 40 to 50 balls. We would really like to pick up some good A Group players that could run 30 balls or more.

No limits on handicaps. We try to make it fair. Our rule of thumb is that the handicaps are good if a players can win (or loose) half of their matches. It was hard the 1st session to make that happen, especially when we have one player who is at least 40 ball better than the next player down.

At my age and disposition, I have no patience to run people down to collect money every week. I want to spend my time playing.

I hope this answers your questions. Its not a problem on this end if you have additional questions or comments.
 
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Thanks Jim

For answering my questions! You answered them completely! It takes alot of effort to organize a league let alone run it like you're doing! Kudos to you!!

We don't have the bracket system in our league but it's very similar to what you have. We adjust after every match with 3 balls and capped it at 120 and 40. If the player wins, his race increases 3 and the other player reduces by 3. We started out giving the new player a handicap that we thought was fair and since it's adjusted after each match, it's amazing how it levels out. The players aren't bogged down in writing or entering innings, safeties etc on a form, it's just who won or lost. We use a bowling schedule that has the number of players and tables in a chart for the weekly schedule.

We also play a race in 9-ball right after the straight pool match with the same opponent but the handicaps are kept seperately and the system is different. The handicap is games on the wire and no balls (like the 8 or whatever). It's capped at 12 and 5 and adjusted every two times the player plays. If he wins both, he goes up one and vice-versa. If he splits, it stays the same for his next two matches and then he's re-evaluated. If you miss a match, it doesn't affect the handicap but they still pay dues.

Standings are kept seperate for each the staight and 9-ball divisions. It adds some excitement and we also have a pot for who makes the 9 on the break in the least break attempts in the match. If no-one makes the 9 in 4 breaks, the pot rolls over the next week. The break pot is voluntary and is $2 a week per player.

As you can see, we play alot of pool on one night! That's why we have the caps. Most matches are over in 3-4 hours. It takes 3 people on a committee to run this league. #1 does the schedule (fills out cards each week for the match and keeps records for the handicap adjustments..(he's an accountant!). #2 collects the dues each week. #3 collects the fee for the 9-ball on the break pot.

This league took awhile to develop into what it is today. At the same house is another league that is different and is based on 2 players on a team. They play partners and it's more for inexperienced players. Our league is pretty competetive. I estimate that about half of the players are capable of running over 30 balls in their match.

Curly
 
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