APA 8 Ball???

brandoncook26

brandoncook26

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Talked to someone at the poolroom last night who plays on the APA 8 ball league. She said that it is a slop league, meaning all you have to do is hit a ball in your group and if you make any of your balls you can continue your inning. The only ball you have to call is the eight.

Is this true? Does anyone who plays this format like it. I have never played 8 ball that is not call pocket. To me, that kind of takes some of the skill out of it. What do you think?
 
Yes it's true. APA 8ball is the lowest of the low when it comes to pool rules.
 
poolhustla61508 said:
Yes thats true. IMO the worst rule is you have what you make on the break rather than open table.
Click to expand...

That sounds like they are trying to appeal to the bar/banger crowd. The only time I see people play take what you make on the break is when they really can't play. I've never seen a skilled player not play open table after the break.
 
The league is called the American Poolplayers Association. It should be called the Amateur Poolplayers Association. The rules you heard are indeed correct. This league is not built for serious poolplayers. It is designed to attract new people to the game. The best example I can show you is what is called the "23" rule. The total s/l of team can not exceed 23 in a given match. Which means it is for beginners. Five players are allowed to play in a night. That means 5 players of a s/l of "4" can play as a team. Five players of s/l "5" can NOT play in a match. The APA penalizes better poolplayers by increasing your S/l number to create more teams which creates more revenue for them. I played in the APA over 10 years and have recently decided to quit. I was a "7"...



Chris
 
I took a +20 year hiatus from pool and when I came back the first thing I noticed was how much the rules of 8-ball changed in the interim.

You should check out BCA's World Standardized Rules (WSR) for 8-ball, you need not call ball and pocket (if obvious), and still retain a choice if you make a ball on the break.

brandoncook26 said:
Talked to someone at the poolroom last night who plays on the APA 8 ball league. She said that it is a slop league, meaning all you have to do is hit a ball in your group and if you make any of your balls you can continue your inning. The only ball you have to call is the eight.

Is this true? Does anyone who plays this format like it. I have never played 8 ball that is not call pocket. To me, that kind of takes some of the skill out of it. What do you think?
Click to expand...
 
And here we go again............

Yes, it is a bar league, and it is for beginners, primarily. That is why the rules are the way they are, and the reason there is a 23-rule. If you are "better" than all of that, by all means go play somewhere else, in a smaller league that caters to the higher caliber player.

We beginners understand that. It's the "better" players that keep trying to make it into something it isn't designed to be.
 
brandoncook26 said:
Talked to someone at the poolroom last night who plays on the APA 8 ball league. She said that it is a slop league, meaning all you have to do is hit a ball in your group and if you make any of your balls you can continue your inning. The only ball you have to call is the eight.

Is this true? Does anyone who plays this format like it. I have never played 8 ball that is not call pocket. To me, that kind of takes some of the skill out of it. What do you think?
Click to expand...

Not really true. All of my slop shots are calculated and planned. It takes a lot of skill to do that. Love it when I miss a hanger but end up slopping in another ball. Even my opponents are amazed as they all want to see me do it again. Then I may continue to run a few more balls by slopping them in. All of this helps when I then "miss" and really lock up the CB for a great safe and it doesn't get marked as a safety. Those previous slop shots help to set up my sandbagging.

What is there not to like about slop?:shrug::winknudge:
 
the one that bugs me the most is the complete absence of calling a double hit in our APA league. The LO in Miami plays that if two balls are close together, as long as you jack up its no foul. We were in cities and lo an behold the cueball ends up near but not froze to a ball. We call over the LO, the guy jacks up and then fires with the cueball and object both moving away from the shot at equal speed.

GOOD HIT the LO says.

:mad:
 
justadub said:
And here we go again............

Yes, it is a bar league, and it is for beginners, primarily. That is why the rules are the way they are, and the reason there is a 23-rule. If you are "better" than all of that, by all means go play somewhere else, in a smaller league that caters to the higher caliber player.

We beginners understand that. It's the "better" players that keep trying to make it into something it isn't designed to be.
Click to expand...

Whoa, chill out there :) Sounds like I have struck a sore spot. I am not saying anyone is better, I just didn't know it was a rule.

I am aware of the 23 rule, but I have never seen a slop rule in 8 ball in an organized league, only in bar rules. Everyone knows what the APA is, and I am fine with it. If someone doesn't like it, don't play. I was simply stating I was surprised the rules in 8 ball were as such.

Sorry if I tugged on your heart strings. No worries.
 
poolhustla61508 said:
Yes thats true. IMO the worst rule is you have what you make on the break rather than open table.
Click to expand...

Actually in money games I would prefer to play by the rule "you got what you make on the break". If I'm the better eight ball player you will have to beat me playing eight ball and not a game of just run the balls. Which is why just a fair player can run racks with open after the break rules.

Open table after the break takes a lot of the eight ball skills out of the game and just becomes a who has the better break. IMO this is the worse rule in eight ball and introduced just to speed the game up a bit.

With the "you got what you make" rules if you make a solid and they are in difficult positions for the run out, you will need eight ball skills to win that game, knowing when to abort the run, breakout shots, combos, safeties, and many other various moves that come with eight ball.

I've spent many years developing my eight game and now with the open table rule after the break a lot of these skills have become useless. This rule is not as old as many think it is.

However I do like the call pocket rule versus slop.
 
Last edited:
My thoughts

Like it has been said before, it's a way to get people playing pool that may otherwise not play at all in league. It helps to gain confidence that you can make a ball and possibly win the game. It's the only way I got my wife into the game. She can make some shots just fine, but slop in others, but in the meantime she is learning the game and gaining confidence. After a while maybe she will join a more strict league.
 
justadub said:
And here we go again............

Yes, it is a bar league, and it is for beginners, primarily. That is why the rules are the way they are, and the reason there is a 23-rule. If you are "better" than all of that, by all means go play somewhere else, in a smaller league that caters to the higher caliber player.

We beginners understand that. It's the "better" players that keep trying to make it into something it isn't designed to be.
Click to expand...

If your a player who has no real interest in getting really good..you like to play and want to hang out with your buds and drink some beers. This is the league for you...if not look else where. I don't have a problem with that...not everyone is addicted to the game like we are.
 
Last edited:
Guys its a bar league. Pure and simple. And I hate to tell you but for bar owners, BCA teams don't bring in much money. The matches are over in 2 hours or less, all mostly serious players that don't spend a lot in the bar. I play both leagues and have fun at both. But the difference is tremendous. APA matches usually last 3 1/2 or 4 hours and usually several buckets of beer are involved. Vastly different from the 12 Dr. Peppers that the bar owner sells when the BCA is playing.

One way is not better than the other. But the APA is what it is. The rules are in place for beginners. Most rank and file APA players couldnt make a BCA roster and be competitive. Its a great place for beginners to learn and play in competition.
 
brandoncook26 said:
Whoa, chill out there :) Sounds like I have struck a sore spot. I am not saying anyone is better, I just didn't know it was a rule.

I am aware of the 23 rule, but I have never seen a slop rule in 8 ball in an organized league, only in bar rules. Everyone knows what the APA is, and I am fine with it. If someone doesn't like it, don't play. I was simply stating I was surprised the rules in 8 ball were as such.

Sorry if I tugged on your heart strings. No worries.
Click to expand...

No worries here, either. My heartstrings are fully intact, and in place. ;)

When I say "better" players, I mean that sincerely. Those who are serious players shouldn't worry about a league like APA, because it certainly isn't designed for that level of play. I hope someday to be one of those "better" players. I hope that I am good enough one day that the level of competition in my local APA league isn't enough for me. And I mean that sincerely, once again.

I simply get tired of (and somewhat amused by) folks trying to change the APA to suit their desires, when it is obviously a wild success. Like it or not, if you know the rules going in, it shouldn't be a problem. And for the record, in most of the matches I see that aren't between brand-new SL2's and SL3's, I see very little slop. And I mean that. Does it happen, yes, occasionally, with the real beginners. When it happens with anyone SL4 and above there is usually a chuckle, and a shaking of the head (by both players) and life goes on. As for the slop in the SL2-SL3 matches, well... if you didn't count'em they'd probably play all night. This too helps to make it an easier, more enjoyable experience for everyone concerned.

As for the oft-decried 23 rule, well it is what it is. I'm not going down that road again, it's been covered. Enough to say if the players are too good, move on to bigger and better things. It brings more people into the league. Like it, or not.

And one last thing, to you Trob. I am as addicted as anyone here. OK, probably as much as most anyone here. I spend WAY too much time here, reading everything and anything. I would rather be at the hall, playing and practicing, but silly little inconveniences like job, wife and kids keep getting in the way of my pool playing. :o Just because I'm happy playing APA doesn't mean I am into pool any less than you or anyone else. I am also out in the middle of nowhere (actually, way to the east of the middle of nowhere) and would have no other option save for the occasional small bar tournament. I know of several other people who play APA and are really INTO it. The assumption that we're just into it to hang out and drink beer is not (completely) accurate. Many players in my league don't drink at all, or at least not during matches. Once again the anti-APA brush paints a very broad picture, one that is not completely accurate and becomes a stereotype.

There. Done. Satisfied my "carrying the APA banner" as Maniac once accused me of. :D Over and out!
 
The call-shot rule (or the absence of it) really doesn't make all that huge an impact on the game. And if the APA did adopt call-shot, I think that would increase the number of arguments.

The take-what-you-make rule kinda sucks, but it does make break-and-runs somewhat harder to come by, which makes quite a difference between a weak 7 and a strong 7. A weak 7 will run out a lot more with open table rules than with take-what-you-make, and so the strong 7 will have a greater advantage with take-what-you-make. For a 7 against a 4, though, a 4 won't run out that much either way, so take-what-you-make actually hinders the 7 more.

-Andrew
 
uwate said:
the one that bugs me the most is the complete absence of calling a double hit in our APA league. The LO in Miami plays that if two balls are close together, as long as you jack up its no foul. We were in cities and lo an behold the cueball ends up near but not froze to a ball. We call over the LO, the guy jacks up and then fires with the cueball and object both moving away from the shot at equal speed.

GOOD HIT the LO says.

:mad:
Click to expand...

There is a lot of inconsistency regarding this in the APA. At the team championships in Vegas one year, I asked a couple of referees this question and received different answers.

One gave me the example you used and said if you jack up there is no foul. One told me there was no push rule in the APA so it didn't matter how you shoot it. One said there was a push rule if the balls weren't frozen and he judged it by the speed of the cue ball.

:shrug: I'm don't even bother calling pushes anymore, because it always creates so much confusion that it isn't worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top