Do you have an APA Masters league in your area?

J

justinb386

Banned
I just noticed the APA Masters Program league poster at the top of the AZ forum main site (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5JzdYQ4pXo), and I think it looks very interesting.

No handi caps means that you can put together the strongest 5 players (or however many players) that you can find on a team (that is, if they are not already on another masters team already).

But I imagine in order for this type of league to be very successful in any certain city, then that city must have a very large pool scene, with a lot of very strong pool players in it.

I imagine that cities like Greensboro NC, and other cities have these Masters APA leagues going on, but I am curious about cities that have enough pool players for a league like this to be very successful?

I would love to try to get on a Masters league team. Sounds like a lot of fun. No more having to wait hours for the 2's and 3's to finish their matches up (sorry, but that is just too boring to have to sit through), and no more captains asking you to throw off keep your rating at a certain number.

I love the idea of a no handi cap league, but I am just very curious where these Masters leagues are going really strong at.

I am not even sure if I am good enough to be picked to be on a Masters APA league team, but would love to be considered.

Just curious where (what cities) these Masters leagues are going strong at, so please name your city and how long your Masters league has been active, and how it is currently doing?

Thanks
 
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4 players per team. 3 shoot a night. You don't need a large amount of players and they don't need to be "good" enough. We have 4's that play "masters".
 
I do not play on it, but I am pretty sure there is one in St. Louis.

I do not consider St. Louis to have a big pool scene, however, you will find at least 1 valley table in pretty much any bar you walk in the surrounding area of the city. I can't tell you of any place downtown that has a table, but don't frequent them. Cue and Cushion is the only pool hall I know of within 15 minutes of the airport, but there are probably another one or 2 somewhere.
 
If you're unhappy with the league offerings in your area, then you need to bring that up with your APA league operator. Each territory is run as an independent franchise.

For example, Bergen county APA in NJ offers
8-Ball Doubles, 8-Ball Ladies, 8-Ball Open, 8-Ball Super30, 9-Ball Doubles, 9-Ball Open, 9-Ball Super 30, Masters, while across the river Manhattan APA only offers 8-ball and 9-ball.

You can look up APA territories here, and see what the APA offers in your area.
http://www.poolplayers.com/locator/

Also, don't neglect the in-house leagues. My local poolhall has a strong competitive Team 9-ball league. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the strongest league in the area, if not the toughest.

YMMV
 
Strokers in Palm Harbor, FL (gulf coast, near Tampa) has APA masters and an in-house straight pool league. Both take place on Mondays.

There are other pool halls in this area who do APA masters as well.

Frankly, I think pool is really thriving here.
 
We don't have a Masters division here. Here we get some teams get together and play a qualifying tournament and enter that winning team in the NTC.
 
we have masters here in memphis and i curently play in it as a s/l 5. there are a few more 5's but most of the players are a 6 and up.

i 1st played masters as a s/l 4 2 years ago for a few weeks but had to drop out after a few weeks due to a change in work schedule.

i started back playing masters last session as a s/l 5 and managed to muster a 50 % win record . last session we played every 2 weeks.

this session we dropped down to playing once a month but we play 2 matches against other teams. i think we have 12 teams.... not sure.

although our area has quite a few strong players masters is not very popular for several reasons....according to several people i have talked to.

number 1 reason not very many strong players play masters. you have to be on a handicapped roster to play masters......at least in our area.

number 1 reason the average league player does not play......they do not want to play the strong players even up.

number 1 reason sandbaggers do not play.....they are afraid their handicap will go up......yes...i have been told that. :(

i can tell you ...playing mastwers the last 2 sessions has really improved my game...especially in 9 ball. my win % in 9 ball is 71% this session with quite a few wins over 6's and higher. i went undefeatd in a 9 ball regional qualifier 2 weeks ago knocking out a 7 and an 8. i beat a 9 last sunday night in league.

after starting off a lil slow i have won 10 straight 9 ball matches and have only lost 1 8 ball match this past month.

i owe it all to masters.
 
Masters

Austin can't seem to keep one going so players from the ntc qualifying teams put make a shift team or two together since they will be there. Most are 7/9's. Unfortunately my regular team has been knocked out of city in the finals two years in a row and haven't played ntc.
 
justinb386 said:
I just noticed the APA Masters Program league poster at the top of the AZ forum main site (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5JzdYQ4pXo), and I think it looks very interesting.

No handi caps means that you can put together the strongest 5 players (or however many players) that you can find on a team (that is, if they are not already on another masters team already).

But I imagine in order for this type of league to be very successful in any certain city, then that city must have a very large pool scene, with a lot of very strong pool players in it.

I imagine that cities like Greensboro NC, and other cities have these Masters APA leagues going on, but I am curious about cities that have enough pool players for a league like this to be very successful?

I would love to try to get on a Masters league team. Sounds like a lot of fun. No more having to wait hours for the 2's and 3's to finish their matches up (sorry, but that is just too boring to have to sit through), and no more captains asking you to throw off keep your rating at a certain number.

I love the idea of a no handi cap league, but I am just very curious where these Masters leagues are going really strong at.

I am not even sure if I am good enough to be picked to be on a Masters APA league team, but would love to be considered.

Just curious where (what cities) these Masters leagues are going strong at, so please name your city and how long your Masters league has been active, and how it is currently doing?

Thanks
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:




I prefer the TAP League handicap league so all my friends are able to play and compete.




:love:




.
 
the apa also offers a format called...mini masters.

its exactly the same as masters but limited to s/l 4-5 players.

our lo has attempted to initiate that format here but no one seems interested. i have a team commited if it ever gets off the ground. i guess our area is saturated with too many divisions already.
 
Our league has a masters division here on the Va. Peninsula. We play two matches every third Wed. We currently have 16 teams.
 
Thanks for the replies. So, in order to play in the Masters APA league, you need to have a current handi cap on a regular APA league team? That is what it sounds like to me, from some of the replies above. I can see why it is not very popular now. Also, why would you even need a handi cap to play in a Masters league? I thought that I understood (from the commercial) that all players play even. So what is the point in having a handi cap? Thanks for the info.
 
jaetee said:
Strokers in Palm Harbor, FL (gulf coast, near Tampa) has APA masters and an in-house straight pool league. Both take place on Mondays.

There are other pool halls in this area who do APA masters as well.

Frankly, I think pool is really thriving here.
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I played in a some 9 ball tournaments at Strokers way back in the late 90's (at least I think that was the name of the place, that was located in Palm Harbor). That area seemed to have a really great pool scene going on back then. Many very strong players. I imagine that the pool scene (in that area) has not changed much. That was a really nice pool room. I remember they had a monthly deal you could get. It was unlimited pool before like 5 pm for $30 (if I remember correctly). Might have been $50.
 
justinb386 said:
Thanks for the replies. So, in order to play in the Masters APA league, you need to have a current handi cap on a regular APA league team? That is what it sounds like to me, from some of the replies above. I can see why it is not very popular now. Also, why would you even need a handi cap to play in a Masters league? I thought that I understood (from the commercial) that all players play even. So what is the point in having a handi cap? Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

That must be a local requirement. Here, you cannot participate in some events, like singles, if you do not have a handicap, but you can play masters without one. About half of the players in masters are either local A or master level. Then there are some weaker 7s, maybe 6s and a group of 4s and 5s now and then. Last division i played in was that way and iirc the others are about the same. I was surprised in Vegas when one team told us about qualifying by just having a single tournament or being picked or something. Mini masters sounds like it would be fun for those levels.
 
Banks said:
That must be a local requirement. Here, you cannot participate in some events, like singles, if you do not have a handicap, but you can play masters without one. About half of the players in masters are either local A or master level. Then there are some weaker 7s, maybe 6s and a group of 4s and 5s now and then. Last division i played in was that way and iirc the others are about the same. I was surprised in Vegas when one team told us about qualifying by just having a single tournament or being picked or something. Mini masters sounds like it would be fun for those levels.
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Im a -3, I would like to sign up for 9 ball.
 
APA Masters

APA Masters play with 3 players on each team with each playing a race to 7. You play up to 5 games of 8 ball and up to 8 games of 9 ball. Whoever wins the lag can decide to break or which game to play first. You only mark who wins each game and if they had a break and run. No other scoring is required. This is a great way to play in tournament conditions racing to 7. In my area there are some weaker players who play to get better. I highly recommend playing in APA Masters to get better and practice tournament conditions.

I have been playing APA Masters in the Portland, OR are for about 9 years. Its a great way to play since their is no handicap. You have to win a regional tournament to go to Las Vegas. If you win a Regional the League Operator will give the team some money to offset your costs. The team I am on have been to Las Vegas 5 or 6 times. However if you local APA team doesn't have a Masters League the Local Operator can send any 4 players they want to Las Vegas. Each League Operator has at least one spot for Las Vegas. The last time I played in Las Vegas about half the teams were hand pick (no Masters league) to go to Las Vegas. Its very difficult to play against the hand pick teams since they send the best 3 or 4 players in their area to go to Las Vegas.

One more thing. Anybody can play except for Pros and their is no skill level needed.
 
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The local APA league I used to play in started Masters a few years ago. At first it was just qualifying tournaments in which the first (and sometimes second place) team qualified for the national tournament. I was a 7 in 8 ball and 8 in 9 ball when I played for a team in the tournaments and we placed third at least twice. After the qualifying tournaments increased interest, the LO held monthly matches in which there were two team matches in one day.
Masters play in my area eventually got a lot of criticism from lesser skilled players. In this league, there is a huge gap between the skill levels and the best players in our league would join together and basically run over everyone and won a trip to Vegas for the Masters national tournament for 2 or 3 straight years. In response, our LO put stipulations in place which only allowed one player who was not playing in regular league on each team. The top team still won and the LO added another rule in which you could only have two SL7s on one team. IMO these changes weakened the teams which went to Vegas to the point where they could not compete with the non-handicapped teams from all over the country.
Our LO also started a junior Masters division in which you could have a team with only one SL7 and lower ranked players. This was more popular and I believe he held a money tournament for the junior Masters league.
 
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