Apa
- Thread starter Mikey8717
- Start date
Congratulations on winning your first match.
As a first time player into the APA system league system, it will take at least 10 matches before your skill level is 'stabilized'. Meaning, don't be surprised it it fluctuates widely.
So play hard, play clean, and enjoy yourself!
As a first time player into the APA system league system, it will take at least 10 matches before your skill level is 'stabilized'. Meaning, don't be surprised it it fluctuates widely.
So play hard, play clean, and enjoy yourself!
Mikey,
Congratulations on your first win. YOU will only get out of the APA what YOU put in. Have fun!!!! Good will happen as well as bad. Don't worry about all the APA negativity from this forum. Enjoy the games and the people you'll meet. That is what it's all about!
Lyn
i've played APA for almost 2 years now, and i have nothing bad to say really about the league itself. the people running our section...totally different story. but the league format is solid. does it favor the weaker player? yes. but as a better player, i just look at that as an extra challenge and play harder. like several have said...you'll get out of it what you put in. find yourself a team you enjoy playing with, keep plenty of lower handicaps on it, and you'll be fine. have fun and congrats on the first W.
thanks for the replies. I am really liking the object of playing somebody random and someone that i didn't know. the goal is to study how others play and take what i think works and make it my own. i am really having fun with it. for some reason something clicked the other day it was like i could control the cue ball too.
Banks
Banned
I started playing by joining an apa team in January of 2005. Since then, i checked my history and it looks as though ive only taken off about a session and a half. I've got so much going on right now that I'll be taking the summer off from apa. Most of my friends can be directly or indirectly attributed to joining the apa. (I moved to Portland not long before with a company relocating.) I just like playing, know tons of good people on all sorts of teams and totally enjoy seeing a low rated player do something that makes their day. Beer and whiskey are just a bonus.
We need more threads around here talking about the positives. I'm joining an APA league this week, and I almost didn't do it because of all the negative feedback and threads about sandbagging, etc.
Chops,
Beg to differ with you. Nothing I enjoy more than playing either an APA 2 or 3. They have NO SHOT to beat me. Might beat myself but they can not! In nearly 15 sessions, I've lost to ONE 2. My first session before I understood the "scratch on the eight" rule. Since then, nearly all my losses were in Regional or National competition against other 7's. The APA format favors the strongest not the weakest. JMHO.
Incidentally, our league also has a LO who does not do their best for the league. Only them self. No MVP. No Top Gun. No Masters. No favorable payouts.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's what YOU do to contribute to your APA experience!
Lyn
lynn i think you are the exception ...every high level player i know says they hate playing low level players.
as for your comment ...you are exactly right about getting out of it what you put in it
i guess i am one of the lucky ones as far as lo's go. sure he has pissed me off a couple of times over the 4 years i have been playing but as the saying goes...you can not please all the people all the time. truth fully i would hate to be an lo because it is a thankless job. .
as for mvp's and all that other stuff...we have all that and more. we even get free patches.:grin-square:
as far as masters goes ...yea we have that and i play even though i am only a 5. i think the reason my lo lets me play is because he can not get enough 7's.
we only have 8 teams in masters and play 2 matches every 2 weeks.
both 8 and 9 ball open is very popular here and scotch doubles is catching on. we only have 4 womens teams here and our lo went ahead and sent the 1st place team to vegas out of pocket even though you are required to have at least 10 teams in order to qualify. that right there earned my respect for our lo.
i don't think people are aware of all the formats apa offers.
jr masters....got a team lined up for this if it ever gets off the ground here. seems like most people would rather play handicapped than straight up even.
i don;t know any thing about these here formats but if any one on here knows please share with us. i can not find any info on the website.
8 ball super 23
8 ball super 30
9 ball super 30.
lynn i think you are the exception ...every high level player i know says they hate playing low level players.
as for your comment ...you are exactly right about getting out of it what you put in it
i guess i am one of the lucky ones as far as lo's go. sure he has pissed me off a couple of times over the 4 years i have been playing but as the saying goes...you can not please all the people all the time. truth fully i would hate to be an lo because it is a thankless job. .
as for mvp's and all that other stuff...we have all that and more. we even get free patches.:grin-square:
as far as masters goes ...yea we have that and i play even though i am only a 5. i think the reason my lo lets me play is because he can not get enough 7's.
we only have 8 teams in masters and play 2 matches every 2 weeks.
both 8 and 9 ball open is very popular here and scotch doubles is catching on. we only have 4 womens teams here and our lo went ahead and sent the 1st place team to vegas out of pocket even though you are required to have at least 10 teams in order to qualify. that right there earned my respect for our lo.
i don't think people are aware of all the formats apa offers.
jr masters....got a team lined up for this if it ever gets off the ground here. seems like most people would rather play handicapped than straight up even.
i don;t know any thing about these here formats but if any one on here knows please share with us. i can not find any info on the website.
8 ball super 23
8 ball super 30
9 ball super 30.
Lo,
You know I enjoy just playing pool. I'm also a perfectionist in a game where perfection is impossible! Playing a 2 or 3 is an exercise in all aspects of the game. Playing safe instead of trying stupid run outs. Running out when ever possible. Working to make the eight on the break. Working on the break itself. On and on. If I allow a 2 or 3 to win one game, They're on the hill. My team can only gain two points. My opponent gets one. Don't like that. My goal is three points every match. Sorry, just my way of focusing! Need to do that at 70 +.
Lyn
Lyn,
You sound like a player in my local poolhall who plays at shortstop speed. He bragged to me that he did not lose a single match to a player SL 6 or lower for 2 years, when he was a SL 7 in the APA. The handicaps at his skill level works in his favor.
For those who don't play APA, APA 8-ball is a league marketed to beginners and intermediates. SL 7 is the apex skill level in APA 8-ball. In my neck of the woods, I've seen players who are C+s in 9-ball ranked as SL 7s.
In 8-ball, imagine a SL 7 (who is a C+, playing the 9-ball ghost) playing another SL 7 (who is A+, or Open) even up! This is where I think the 'appeal' to higher skilled players, you don't need to sandbag playing another SL 7! As long as pay your dues, follow the rules, and don't be a PITA for your league operator, there is no reason why a player reaching 'professional caliber' can not continue playing in the APA.
A common team strategy I've seen is match up player by level, unless its not possible; SL3 vs SL3, SL7 vs SL7. This is how some teams keep their players from rising too quickly.
You're right about league operators. If there is no competition, then the league operator has no incentive to offer. For example, when the new owners of Bergen County took over, they had to offer APA 9-ball, and Masters because of the strong league systems in neighboring New York City; Amsterdam, Society, Megabucks, & NAPA. I heard Long Island APA franchisee offer cash tournaments to compete with the in houses leagues.
You sound like a player in my local poolhall who plays at shortstop speed. He bragged to me that he did not lose a single match to a player SL 6 or lower for 2 years, when he was a SL 7 in the APA. The handicaps at his skill level works in his favor.
For those who don't play APA, APA 8-ball is a league marketed to beginners and intermediates. SL 7 is the apex skill level in APA 8-ball. In my neck of the woods, I've seen players who are C+s in 9-ball ranked as SL 7s.
In 8-ball, imagine a SL 7 (who is a C+, playing the 9-ball ghost) playing another SL 7 (who is A+, or Open) even up! This is where I think the 'appeal' to higher skilled players, you don't need to sandbag playing another SL 7! As long as pay your dues, follow the rules, and don't be a PITA for your league operator, there is no reason why a player reaching 'professional caliber' can not continue playing in the APA.
A common team strategy I've seen is match up player by level, unless its not possible; SL3 vs SL3, SL7 vs SL7. This is how some teams keep their players from rising too quickly.
You're right about league operators. If there is no competition, then the league operator has no incentive to offer. For example, when the new owners of Bergen County took over, they had to offer APA 9-ball, and Masters because of the strong league systems in neighboring New York City; Amsterdam, Society, Megabucks, & NAPA. I heard Long Island APA franchisee offer cash tournaments to compete with the in houses leagues.
As evidenced by all the comments so far I think it's easy to see that a lot of the APA function differs by region. It looks like parts of New York have LO's that players might consider "questionable" while Memphis has a petty good League Operator that treats the players right and takes care of the business.
Personally, the LO here and I haven't and don't always see eye to eye but they have all my respect and the LO here does an excellent job. The league is well run and fair. Our LO is always available if we should have questions but they mostly stay out of the way. The LO does NOT have a team and is not on a team, I think that part is paramount in running a fair league.
Our LO is smart enough to know that a pretty sizable chunk of the local player population is a bunch of whining babies that always think they are over ranked and everyone else is sand bagging and another sizable chunk are common sense player that play fair and contribute to the league. I believe that our LO also knows that a good portion of the common sense players show some leadership and set a positive example and the league, for the most part, will police itself.
When the LO or the staff need to be involved they are, but their participation is never forced or shoved down our throats and the LO allows most of the issues to be worked out on their own among the players. There is no Board of Governors, no Player Counsel or anything like that. It's just a given that we're all adults and expected to act as such and conduct ourselves accordingly. I think that there is nothing that pisses off our LO than when they have to get involved in some petty bullshit that should have never been an issue in the first place.
Back in my early days I would complain that we were treated unfairly and I whined like a spoiled child, but it was put this way to me once: "Just what is it that makes you think you are so important that I would take time to single out your stats and and adjust your status just to make you mad?" I felt so stupid afterwards.
Our LO has geographically a fairly large area and likely upwards of at least a few thousand players and they were absolutely right, no one player is that important. In a population that size there are going to be mistakes made, a player might slip through the cracks, there may be a software malfunction or something but the chances that the LO has done something intentionally is minuscule and I will defend my LO's integrity to anyone that want to have that discussion.
It's some years later, (23 APA years, to be exact), we have had one LO during that time and I can say confidently that we have all been treated fairly. It took me getting out to to my first NTC back in the mid 90's and getting around the country and talking to some other player from other parts of the country to realize that we have absolute gold in our LO.
I think if some of the folks that complain so much would maybe take a look from a slightly different perspective they might be surprised to find that the LO isn't the evil soul that they think the LO is. Like any other community, the LO community likely has it's bad element, but more often than not the LO is just trying to operate a business and to treat their clients and customers poorly and unfairly just wouldn't do, it's bad business.
Personally, the LO here and I haven't and don't always see eye to eye but they have all my respect and the LO here does an excellent job. The league is well run and fair. Our LO is always available if we should have questions but they mostly stay out of the way. The LO does NOT have a team and is not on a team, I think that part is paramount in running a fair league.
Our LO is smart enough to know that a pretty sizable chunk of the local player population is a bunch of whining babies that always think they are over ranked and everyone else is sand bagging and another sizable chunk are common sense player that play fair and contribute to the league. I believe that our LO also knows that a good portion of the common sense players show some leadership and set a positive example and the league, for the most part, will police itself.
When the LO or the staff need to be involved they are, but their participation is never forced or shoved down our throats and the LO allows most of the issues to be worked out on their own among the players. There is no Board of Governors, no Player Counsel or anything like that. It's just a given that we're all adults and expected to act as such and conduct ourselves accordingly. I think that there is nothing that pisses off our LO than when they have to get involved in some petty bullshit that should have never been an issue in the first place.
Back in my early days I would complain that we were treated unfairly and I whined like a spoiled child, but it was put this way to me once: "Just what is it that makes you think you are so important that I would take time to single out your stats and and adjust your status just to make you mad?" I felt so stupid afterwards.
Our LO has geographically a fairly large area and likely upwards of at least a few thousand players and they were absolutely right, no one player is that important. In a population that size there are going to be mistakes made, a player might slip through the cracks, there may be a software malfunction or something but the chances that the LO has done something intentionally is minuscule and I will defend my LO's integrity to anyone that want to have that discussion.
It's some years later, (23 APA years, to be exact), we have had one LO during that time and I can say confidently that we have all been treated fairly. It took me getting out to to my first NTC back in the mid 90's and getting around the country and talking to some other player from other parts of the country to realize that we have absolute gold in our LO.
I think if some of the folks that complain so much would maybe take a look from a slightly different perspective they might be surprised to find that the LO isn't the evil soul that they think the LO is. Like any other community, the LO community likely has it's bad element, but more often than not the LO is just trying to operate a business and to treat their clients and customers poorly and unfairly just wouldn't do, it's bad business.
if a lot more people had your attitude i do not think people would encounter as much drama as they do in league.
great post as usual celophane.
i do beg to differ about lo's playing on a team though .in just apa that is..i do agree with lo's not playing on teams in any other league though.
until this session here where i joined another team i played on a team with my lo for 3 years. he also plays on some other teams but i am not sure how many.
i think playing with or against an lo gives every one the oportunity to see that an lo is human just like every one else. it also gives an lo the opportunity to spot sand baggers by playing in or observing matches on a weekly basis.
Well all in all I like APA league it's a good time I joined two teams one on Mondays and the other on Wednesdays. I really do have allot of fun with them. You know I would never sandbag another player just to keep my skill level low. The goal for me to to learn new things and play the best I can and have fun. Hell I want to play the high level players because that makes me play that much harder. It also gives me a chance to steal some ideas and shots that they may use against me. I enjoy any game I can get. I don't fully understand all of the noise about APA but I know I will learn it quick. I am sure some one somewhere has sandbagged a sandbagger hahaha I would like to watch that match for a little so I can laugh. But I do get enjoyment just watching a match and talking about what I would do and what is or will happen. Ok this banger is out of here. Besides every body is doing it hahaha
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I agree, some LO's have earned the trust of the APA community they manage and if they wish to they should definitely play. However, as many posts involving the APA might suggest, some LO's are not seen as trustworthy and being involved directly in a match as a player might suggest an element of impropriety. Your LO is obviously beyond reproach and it sounds like they join in and share the fun. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that your LO has bought the team a round from time to time. My LO carries that same status as far as I'm concerned. I do like the fact that my LO doesn't participate as a player, it really removes all doubt and serves as a reminder that the LO is first an administrator and this is a business, but there is a very human side to it as well.