APA regional ratings

[Bluewolf]

Originally posted by super Dave in 3 ball thread:

[/QUOTE]Jake, with all due respect, you have a pretty weak APA division. This last session, I had 3 break and runs myself (one eightball and two nineball), and I 'm only a 5. A streaky 5, but a 5. I was broke and run out on (kewl grammar!) more times than I care to remember (literally, because I don't dwell upon losses). Probably another 3 times. My teammate, a 4, got a BR patch in nineball and it seemed there was a patch in the envelope for the other team every other week or so.

Not to change the subject here, but that's why some teams get to the Nationals in Vegas and get slam-dunked by the first team they play. There's so much subjectivity in the APA rankings that a 5 in my division would probably be a 7 in yours. My team is strong, the same team in 8-ball and 9-ball, in a strong division. We've gone to Vegas twice in the last three years and haven't reached the money round. Someone buzz-cutted us both times.

Anyways, back to your oginginally scheduled topic. [/B][/QUOTE]

I have seen this so true. Someone on another thread was complaining about what their sl5 could not do and if this person was accurate, I know we have sl3s that can do these things. When I was an sl2 and went to poolschool, I ran into an sl4 from another area. Well I was just a beginner but I could pot easy shots like short ones,and could usually do 3 in a row if the shape was easy, while she was lucky to get in one easy ball in a row.

I have run into people who said they were sl6-sl7 in their league and they would have gotten beaten in a dead even race by 50% of our sl4's.

There does seem to be a lot of variation in different leagues and in different geographical areas. People are frequently evaluating themselves against other pool players online based on this sl thing, a mistake I used to make. The more I hear from people from different leagues and areas, the more I think this is a mistake.

Even within my league, if I think of myself in terms of that sl,it can keep me from going up by putting myself in a box. There are so many aspects of what a person can do at the table and what they need to focus on to improve, that seems a better way to evaluate skill. JMHO.

Laura

 

[SuperDave]

The reason I think it's such a subjective system (at least in application) is that the most radical differences show up at the lower skill levels. It's been my experience at Regional and National levels that once one reaches SL5 (8-ball), things even out a little bit. Then again, the difference between a 5 and a 7 amounts to nothing but consistency. A 6 and above is a threat to run table whenever they pick up a stick, the only difference between them being how often they do just that.

In my division, a nineball match between two 8's (every team in my division has at least a SL8) is going to be at or under 10 innings, unless the safes get out of hand. As a 5, I rarely need more than 10 innings to reach 38, and some of my matches against good players go less than 10 innings.

And, like I said, we got our butts handed to us in Vegas twice (twice each time, considering the loser's bracket) by teams who were impossibly strong iin the SL2-4 area.

I think the LO's are so personally-motivated to see good results in Vegas that they tend to handicap with that in mind. For an opposite example, our LO had a team in the 9-ball finals this year (they finished 2nd). It was the first time they ever had a team in the top 10, if I recall, and I guess they run probably 25 Divisions. I consider our ratings to be pretty much spot-on with the APA's written guidelines. It's just too bad that we seem to be a rare case.

 

[Micktmason]

it will always be like that, some people skirt the rules and or break them. also, how do you define a defensive shot? opponent breaks with high balls, has nothing to shoot, my turn I miss but block a pocket, next turn I run out. was the first shot a defensive shot? can't prove it. I gained an inning and gave myself a better chance to win, I stay a 6, and 7's have to spot me a game when I am just as good or better than them. The smarter players often stay 5's or 6's because they play a 2 for 1 shot instead of some hero win or lose shot. it is the nature of a handicap leagues that some will use the rules to their advantage, not necessarily breaking them either

 

[9BALL_GHOST]

as an APA player myself in a totally different area than where i originally joined the APA, i have noticed that a big difference in this area than before is defense shots marked and not marked. this also has an effect on skill level ratings and in so areas shots are marked and in others they arent marked so this is another reason that people will seem to be under rated from area to area and especially in Nationals.

 

[jjinfla]

Laura, You are a 5 now? Way to go girl. Last I heard you were still a 1. Quite an improvement.

You are probably right in that we just have a weak division. Either that or there are more sandbaggers here than I first thought. LOL.

But then there are not very many really good pool players right around here. Got to go to Orlando or Tampa. There are a few but they are getting old and do not play much anymore.

Jake

 

[Ken in CT]

Jake,
I don't think Laura said she was a 5. I think that part of the post was a quote from Super Dave.

Based on her performance in the three ball exercise I believe she must be at least a 6 now.
Ken

 

[efirkey]

About 7 years ago my team from New Hampshire went to the finals of the APA 8 ball diivision in Las vegas. We won a couple of matches and then quickly exited. Well I stuck around to watch the finals of the whole event and was amazed by the quality of play by a girl skill ranked 2. She ran one rack and played 3 or 4 high quality safes that were as good as any skill ranked 7 could do. I had never seen a 2 play this well ever. Is it any coincidence this team made it to the finals? I think not.