I believe it has to do with the team skill cap level and it's incentive to build new teams once the team members improve enough. It's difficult to field a team under the cap.
If they switched to FR there wouldn't be any reason to lumpify the ratings. Just use it directly and cap the team average at 520 or whatever. But I don't see the APA ever abandoning the system that got them to where they are.
From what you have posted- play 14.1
SL 7 is the terminal handicap in APA 8-ball. Meaning, they can't raise you any higher in that format. In some parts of the country, it takes as little as C+ to become SL 6, and B to become a SL 7. I heard he best way to sandbag is play even up as SL 7. This is according to a local shortstop, Fargo 690 told me he didn't lose a single match in APA 8-ball for two years.
"Standard 7" is a pretty easily recognized skill level if you've been in APA for a while. These players are FR 525-575. The handicap actually applies to them in terms of creating a relatively fair match, and they are only a little less susceptible to losses than the average SL 3s, for example (usually with around a 55-60% win rate if they've been in league long enough).
I thought 7 was the cap. Which makes no sense to me, as I’ve seen 7’s who couldn’t hardly play and some could drill my nuts to the wall. It appeared to me to be flawed unless it was just limited to bangers up to C+ barbox players. For that seemed fine-which is 90% of the players?
At 675 FR, you would almost certainly be the best player on a given APA night in most pool rooms. From what I've seen, most players 650 and up tend to either drop APA or only play sporadically (and often on a lark of sorts). It's pretty rare to see a highly active APA player who is approaching 700 FR, although they do exist.
That makes sense to me.
Ye, +1 on league being no fun for no man's land guys. But I've picked up a handful of league 7s to play on their practice days, even some stronger 6s with a spot, and that is much more enjoyable for me than either being dead money in a proper players' room or slumming it in leagues playing beginners and mostly sitting around eating and drinking while teammates play.
Playing no man’s land speed sucks.
I just checked the Fargo rankings of the higher level players we see in our league, and we have three guys who play in our league who are in the 650 range. (Not all three at the same time, they sometimes play a session if it fits into their schedules). We also have a few in the low 600's. But we are also pretty remote, so that may account for having them playing in our leagues here. There is an active TAP league here as well, so there may very well be a few more in that range playing league around here.
(just kidding, I love it when i get to play one of them... the goal is to not get my a$$ kicked too completely)
I have had a 7 on my team since I started it 6 years ago. The SL7 I had the first three years was around a 560 FR. He won the majority of his matches, but when I was an SL-5 the 5-3 race was hard for him to outrun. It was literally a toss up on any given set. THIS is what APA handicapping is meant to do.I just checked the Fargo rankings of the higher level players we see in our league, and we have three guys who play in our league who are in the 650 range. (Not all three at the same time, they sometimes play a session if it fits into their schedules). We also have a few in the low 600's. But we are also pretty remote, so that may account for having them playing in our leagues here. There is an active TAP league here as well, so there may very well be a few more in that range playing league around here.
I for one am glad to have them in our league, its great for lower-level players to see some guys at that level play. Of course, I may very well have to play one of them on Thursday night, in the championship match for the session, so I might not be quite as excited about it that night
I am an SL5, and there are a couple of 7's that I give a challenge in that 5-3 race you speak about. Including one I stole against one of the guys that is now in the 650 range, a couple years before he got quite that far. (He was still pretty darned good then, but nowhere near as good as he is nowadays.) Its always a badge of honor to sneak one against those guys, any of the 7's, tho its mostly just a case of feeling good about not getting smoked
I just checked the Fargo rankings of the higher level players we see in our league, and we have three guys who play in our league who are in the 650 range. (Not all three at the same time, they sometimes play a session if it fits into their schedules). We also have a few in the low 600's. But we are also pretty remote, so that may account for having them playing in our leagues here. There is an active TAP league here as well, so there may very well be a few more in that range playing league around here.
I for one am glad to have them in our league, its great for lower-level players to see some guys at that level play. Of course, I may very well have to play one of them on Thursday night, in the championship match for the session, so I might not be quite as excited about it that night
SL7 IS the cap in APA 8-ball, a game marketed at beginners/intermediates and mostly played on barboxes. When APA 9-ball came out, they bumped up the ceiling to SL 9 to make the match-ups against higher skilled players more fair. For those who boast they're too good for APA 8-ball, suggest trying APA Masters.
That's where probably a lot of us are at. Too damn good for the league and not good enough for the tour. I tried a league/team years ago and hated it. Way to much bitching amongst all teams with their team mates. I capped out in both 8 ball and 9 ball. I'm not sandbagging I just want to win. I don't give a crap about the money, I just want to play good competitive pool.
