APA 9 Ball Races

[RFranklin]

Actually what I am saying is there is a obvious imbalance if you can literally win every game and wind up losing the match. Now for fairness, the number of balls sunken is obviously important. But making the 9 is what the game has always been about. Sink the 9 and you win. Do this 6-7 games in a row and still lose the match in APA seems screwy.

I know the number of balls sunken counts but at least give more weight to the points value of the 9 ball. The underlying premise of the game is sink the 9 ball……on the break, your last shot or your only shot but sink the 9 ball and win.

APA should increase the significance of sinking the 9 by assigning the 9 ball a higher value than a object ball and only doubling it from 1 point to 2 points doesn’t recognize the importance of making the 9 ball which is the basis of 9 ball.

It’s not straight pool, which is the toughest game to play, but it sure isn’t 9 ball either. Pool was never intended to be easy
and the way social pool leagues like APA do it really becomes way too easy when played on little tables….not my cup of tea,

I would take being able to roll out over giving the 9 more significance. Nothing worse than finishing a break and run and next break leaves you kicking two rails, which you would never do in regular 9 ball. If you have a bad breaking night, you can break all night after making the 9 and still lose.

 

[APA Operator]

I would have thought that over the length of time APA has existed, there would have evolved a more
elite division that abided by the established rules of pool and with a team handicap of 30 and a max
player handicap of 7. It would allow you to assemble stronger players that could even field a team of
5 players all with a handicap of 6, or a few 7’s handicaps coupled with 5’s, etc. I think the competition
could be awesome and some great pool playing would ensue but not with the current APA structure.

You would have thought right, thirty years ago. It was called "Super 30" and worked exactly as you describe. It failed. Today's version is Masters, using a more popular format with no handicaps, "real" 9-Ball with push outs and jump cues and everything, and no skill level limit. But Masters is a niche format, as was Super 30. You can't build a business from just that. You're lucky if you can build one division. It's only a matter of time before a couple of stacked teams start dominating session after session and everyone else loses interest.