My experience playing and watching the local CPA (APA) matches the above exactly. The only teams that manage to stay together are there to drink and couldn't care less about improving their games. Of course there are the accusations of sandbagging as well. I know it does go on a individual player level, but haven't heard of a team as a whole employing the tactic.
Goodbye APA, it's been fun...
- Thread starter KingCarom
- Start date
Well sure.. the lo needs to bring other bars in for sure.
PoolIsScience
New member
APA is and always will be a money making scheme. It grosses over $70 million in profit every year, yet will not go public and be traded. Why you ask, because they know it's a crock of sh*t. I have literally begged to be moved up and was told it was the rate of matches I play aka I need to play more than one night. So essentially the more I pay I can move up. No thanks. I beat 7s, 8s and 9s all while being belittled and talked sh*t to about how my skill level is so low and shouldn't be. I've called, emailed local and national. I even offered to play owners of the leagues to no avail.
No more APA for me, I'd rather be solo anyways.
No more APA for me, I'd rather be solo anyways.
Iwishiwasrich
Active member
I read uglier...
Iwishiwasrich
Active member
You sir are a unicorn. In my 35 years playing leagues, APA,TAP,VNEA,BCA,ACS and tournaments I have never heard 1 person complain that their handicap was too low...
PoolIsScience
New member
Well that's because I am ranked low. If I can control CB, know patterns, hit kicks and banks, beat levels 5-9 by landslides...I'd say a 4 is under ranked. I was a 5 for 30 mins, scores were entered for another league night that I won on and was dropped back to a 4. I've literally went undefeated and I've completely threw a whole session and STILL a 4. Looking around the whole league in different cities, there's over 100 4s, 43 5s, 34 6s, 19 7s, 13 8s and under 10 9s.
So yes, I complained to be moved up and no, I wasn't. Therefore, I'll quit and get a Fargo rate and actually compete with people and not sandbagging trash. My game is my game and won't be constrained to whatever some "ranking system" says I am.
Sounds like you would LOVE playing in my league. One guy started out as a SL4 and within about 5 weeks was a SL8! You know what he did next. Right, he quit and no one has seen him playing anywhere around here. You would be a SL9 with no chance of ever dropping. Now remember, this is after the LO started the BS about needing a minimum of 10 matches to change skill levels. It would be intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer that the LO wanted him gone.
PoolIsScience
New member
Ours rotates off of "best of 20" and "20 matches to secure a skill level" where I'm at currently. Either way, doesn't matter, I'm done with the dramatical BS. I don't understand how people can play in APA for 20 years and actually "enjoy" it. All it's done is slow me down and get cussed at, yelled at, belittled all because of a ranking I asked to be moved up numerous times. Rules say I can asked to be moved up, I did and they didn't so, I'll just leave. Sad part is this league owner I'm friendly with and they asked me to leave my other to join. They failed me over and over so it's best to cut ties.
Yeah I think a 25 limit would be better, in that case for every player you have above a 5, you would need one below a 5. 5 also is about where people will max out unless they put in some work outside of league nights so it's a good natural cap for those "friends and family" teams.
Sign up for some local singles boards and get the Vegas trip out of it.
I played APA one season/session back in 1997. I hated it and would never do it again. Most folks are there to drink, socialize and have fun. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those reasons. If you are competitive or so serious as to want other folks to improve because that's what you want, you should quit. Go to individual tournaments or gamble. APA does as what it is designed. No sense in trying to change it into something it is not. Just go a different path on your own.
PoolIsScience
New member
Yeah if we ever had singles boards I would, but we don't. Once a year at best.
dquarasr
Registered
I joined APA around 2020, after I moved to Central Florida. It was fun - for a while. It served me well to introduce me to competitive pool.
But team drama chased me away: from teammates who feign "I don't know how to keep score" forcing the "few" on the team who do know how to be chained to their chairs, to teammates who you have to go look for at the bar (if you even know they are there) to play their match, to chasing teammates to collect their measly $10 match fee, to literally being the only one there at the 7pm start time - for a double jeopardy team where both 8- and 9-ball are played in the same night, to being the only one left to keep score for the last couple of matches, to the absolute drunkenness of some players, to, well, you get the idea.
The key to APA is being on a good, cohesive team. They are hard to find.
So, I'm now getting my @$$ handed to me playing BCA handicapped straight pool league. Two matches so far, two losses, the second loss even more humiliating than the first loss, but that's how you get better . . . . .
I may return to APA if I can find a good, solid team. I had some offers for the summer session, but when I got moved up to SL6, there was no longer room for me due to the SL cap.
But team drama chased me away: from teammates who feign "I don't know how to keep score" forcing the "few" on the team who do know how to be chained to their chairs, to teammates who you have to go look for at the bar (if you even know they are there) to play their match, to chasing teammates to collect their measly $10 match fee, to literally being the only one there at the 7pm start time - for a double jeopardy team where both 8- and 9-ball are played in the same night, to being the only one left to keep score for the last couple of matches, to the absolute drunkenness of some players, to, well, you get the idea.
The key to APA is being on a good, cohesive team. They are hard to find.
So, I'm now getting my @$$ handed to me playing BCA handicapped straight pool league. Two matches so far, two losses, the second loss even more humiliating than the first loss, but that's how you get better . . . . .
I may return to APA if I can find a good, solid team. I had some offers for the summer session, but when I got moved up to SL6, there was no longer room for me due to the SL cap.
It appears that the APA in your area has failed you. That doesn't mean it's that way everywhere. Is it a shame, certainly.
To your comment about playing 20 years and actually enjoying it, well I'm not to the 20 year mark yet, but I think this is my 15th year, and I like it just fine. Do I agree with everything my LO does, no, but I can usually understand where he is coming from when he does so. I have managed a business myself, so I tend to try and take the long view and try to understand the big picture, if I can. Many times there are things at play that affect other things, and making changes can affect far more than one would think. And I realize that not every LO is the same. Here, its run reasonably well, in my opinion. Is it for everyone? No. But it serves its purpose for a great many of us.
Good luck to you, in finding something that suits you better. I'm sure it's out there, somewhere. There are lots of options.
Iwishiwasrich
Active member
I wasn't knocking you or making fun. Just saying most people in your situation would milk it for all its worth and bitch about other people being rated too low. There are people in the APA that lose every league match so they can stay a 4,5,or 6 just to milk the tournament scene that they have in my area for under skill level 6 only. I quit apa 15 years ago because it is a pyramid scheme.
PoolIsScience
New member
Lol I know and I know players that your talking about that do this. Myself, I can't stand throwing matches on purpose. I did it for a session just to see if anything changed and it didn't. I tried this last session to win as much as I could and my team couldn't pull it together to help. So with all aspects put into play, I was throwing money down the drain for zero reason. I can save all that weekly money into a bucket and just go to Vegas and play Minis if I wanted.
PoolIsScience
New member
This is repetitive from the APA. Two completely different parts of the state, same outcome. This one started different and then became the same thing. All in all it's a push by National to get into as many bars for as many nights so that the Operator doesn't lose their league. It's pitiful on APAs part and shows it's about money not about the actual whole reason it was started in the first place. They got greedy and push that they're the best league. Well no they're not. Best league would be a house league and every bar, pool hall, college whoever, should all have one. The hall I play at was supposed to have 2 nights of TAP, until the APA operator heard about it and made it another double Jeopardy night for 6 whopping teams. All because they have failed repeatedly to maintain at certain locations. There's no need to cram this broken system down my throat and we all should have options and it not be a monopoly of just APA.
Rant over
Again, it's not cool, where you are.This is repetitive from the APA. Two completely different parts of the state, same outcome. This one started different and then became the same thing. All in all it's a push by National to get into as many bars for as many nights so that the Operator doesn't lose their league. It's pitiful on APAs part and shows it's about money not about the actual whole reason it was started in the first place. They got greedy and push that they're the best league. Well no they're not. Best league would be a house league and every bar, pool hall, college whoever, should all have one. The hall I play at was supposed to have 2 nights of TAP, until the APA operator heard about it and made it another double Jeopardy night for 6 whopping teams. All because they have failed repeatedly to maintain at certain locations. There's no need to cram this broken system down my throat and we all should have options and it not be a monopoly of just APA.
Rant over
We have two nights of APA here, and two nights of TAP here. Many players play both. TAP is in the same venues as APA in a few places around our LO's territory here.
So yes, maybe in the places you've played, its predatory. Maybe it's not run respectfully, or ethically.
But that doesn't mean it's that way everywhere. Again, good luck finding something that works well for you.
Anyone who beat me in APA legit beat me lol my Captain warned me when I was an 8 for a session that if I wasn’t careful I would be a 9. I looked at him and said I didn’t play this game for over 20 years working hard to get better to lay down for a fucking pool league
Gross and Profit are two different things. lol