how are ya'll doing in league ?
- Thread starter lorider
- Start date
Yes, but that is because they were not started at their known skill level, not that they were actually lower level and improved to max out. Of course an A player that they put in as a C player will quickly go up, should go up in like a week soon as someone realizes how they play. Or better yet, manually put them in at their known skill level as it should be proper to do so you are not giving them an unfair advantage while they are under-raked. Sure it's the same for all players, but it's not fair. A 3 that starts as a 3 and a 7 that starts as a 3 are not on equal footing, and that is what the whole point of handicaps is. Anyone that just states "that is what the system did" would be the person that held the door open for the guy wearing a mask with a bloody axe that said "well, I did not know he was going to chop up those girls when I let him in, it's not my fault everyone is dead, I was just being nice and held the door open".
The APA for some reason decided to start my son as a 3 in 9 ball, and he was a nearly 600 Fargo player that everyone knew was a 600 Fargo player that should have been an 8 or a 9. Most leagues remind me of this movie scene, at the start they seem all impressive, then at the end...
Last edited:
Yea, if you were already a 7 when you started that would happen, not if you were actually at the skill level of a lower player.
Handicap numbers mean absolutely nothing, the actual skill is what counts. You may want to identify as a 4, but if you have the skill of a 7, you are a 7, or whatever level you were. It's like saying "well I went from 30th in the state in track and field to 1st, soon as I became a woman" LOL. The skill did not change, only how it's ranked was. I don't trust any handicap level unless it's the max you can be, then I won't have any issues with playing them at that level.
What I mean is that a player who is an actual 5/5 would not jump up 2 and 4 skill levels in one session, or even two. Once someone hits that 5 level, advancement is quite a bit tougher, and you often have to unlearn some bad habits to break through to the highest two levels.
Last edited:
Still losing but playing well with just one mistake being the deciding factor last two matches
Played a 7 who's well established 630.
Was making balls in my way to breaking hill hill and got a crazy scratch and ended up losing 5-2
Never had so much fun being a loser
Played a 7 who's well established 630.
Was making balls in my way to breaking hill hill and got a crazy scratch and ended up losing 5-2
Never had so much fun being a loser
Haven’t played organized league in over a decade. Played APA (7/8) and some TAP for a few years from 2009-2012. Really play mostly 14.1 and a little 1P.
Joined an 8B APA team this year. Fortunate to be 3-0 after going hill-hill against a 7 and a 6. Beat a five 5-1. We are lucky enough to play on 9ft Diamonds. Having fun - just enjoying the social aspect.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Joined an 8B APA team this year. Fortunate to be 3-0 after going hill-hill against a 7 and a 6. Beat a five 5-1. We are lucky enough to play on 9ft Diamonds. Having fun - just enjoying the social aspect.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Agreed, hopefully all is well with him
While I understand your point, completely, I also understand why its done the way it is here. Our LO has a pretty wide geographical coverage area, hundreds of miles from one end to the other. Currently has 26 different divisions. There is no practical way for him to be able to be in most of those rooms, most of the time. So how can any new person be fairly judged as to what skill level they should start as?
Yes, you could conceivably set up some sort of committee of advanced players across the state, but even that becomes subjective, and not convenient in any sort of fashion. If someone is to be assessed a beginning skill level, it needs to be consistently assigned. At the very least, having them all start at the same level (SL3 currently) is consistent. They obviously won't be at that level for long. We've become accustomed to it, and chuckle when it happens, which isn't very often. My current team captain is an SL7, and was playing on a different team when he started APA. I got to play him when he was at SL5, and was looking forward to it, wanting to keep him from a shutout. I did
He did get to SL7 before the end of the session.Making the best of a difficult situation, one that doesn't happen often. I like having them in our league, and I think most players here agree, we're a better stronger league, having better stronger players in it. If this is what we have to do, its fine.
Rusty in Montana
Well-known member
Yesterday we had a bye so we played a make up game I gave away my first two games then won my last two as a team when I left we were ahead of them .
I can't wait until the Dr's quit taking off extra body parts so I can quit hurting while I'm waiting on them ha ha
I can't wait until the Dr's quit taking off extra body parts so I can quit hurting while I'm waiting on them ha ha
Players from the immediate are the new player is in would know how good the player is, as is the team they are joining. Usually, it's like a shark feeding frenzy when a known good player starts APA since the teams know they will be low ranked and have easy wins for a while. Often the goal is to keep that player as low ranked as possible through sandbagging well into the future due to starting out low. I personally know of 3 such players just in my area of like a 20 mile radius. In a normal local tournament, I play them pretty even (because the people running them know how they play), in league I need to spot them several games. If you start a good player at their actual skill level, none of that happens.
Also locking players to a skill level is a good idea, so no one can ever be more than one rank bellow the max they reached, unless there is some actual medical issue that prevents them from playing properly. My TAP league has a whole team of players that were all 1-3 ranks lower than they were a session ago. 3 levels of skill in a single session, that is just silly, a 6 to a 3, just because they lost a bit.
All of that may very well be true. That still doesn't provide a better answer in terms of practicality. Sure, I knew my guy was gonna be an SL7 once the dust settled. But who am I? One guy. The next guy might have thought SL6. And the local players in other divisions might very well have assigned a different Skill Level. The only way for it to equitable for everyone in the territory is for the LO to be the one arbiter of what Skill Level should be. OR just let the system sort it out. At the very least it is consistent for everyone.
I understand TAP can change pretty frequently, or so the folks that play TAP here locally tell me. I don't have the time to play in that league in addition to the two nights that I play APA. When TAP was getting started here locally, a lot of "the better players" (heh) instisted that they were switching to TAP cuz the handicapping was better. Funny, many of them came back over time, and I hear plenty of stories of people who I know how well they play, having a rediculously low Skill Level in TAP. Its just funny, to me. Its not a knock on that league, a good friend of mine runs it, used to play on one of my teams. My chuckle is that any large system like these aren't foolproof, and funnier to see people crap on APA in favor of that system, when its flawed, as well.
Last edited:
Helped the last place team out the first place team down to third last night with one game to go on the season lol. My second
5-0 in 3 weeks with a break and run to put me back in the top 3 break n runners of the league , something I can feel good about atleast ending the season on a good streak
5-0 in 3 weeks with a break and run to put me back in the top 3 break n runners of the league , something I can feel good about atleast ending the season on a good streak
I sent him a text to ask how he’s doing. We’ll see.
He’s fine. Just texted me back.