how are ya'll doing in league ?

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

I would be kind of interested in joining a league, but I'm not interested in a team. Is there a singles league? I was in the APA about 20 years ago. I was a 7 in 8-ball and a 9 in 9-ball. I checked in the APA and I didn't see anything and I don't show up in the database either.

Well if you haven’t been playing, league can be good. At least you’ll get to know some of the money players that way. And others around your speed. If you are a serious player and like to play for something it really takes a while when you get put up against lesser skilled players. At least it did for me. Let’s just say right now I am a 6/6 and after league I can hang with a lot of the 7/9’s. Been working on playing better when money isn’t on the line. Usually I just play to whoever’s speed I’m playing. Can’t help it. I came up in a different pool culture from today.

I’ll just call my fiancé-Kim from now on. Kim and I are sick of league. So next session we are starting our own team. We are going to work it a bit differently than our captains work it. APA is supposed to be fun. Our team and some others we see are way too serious about getting to Vegas.

We are just starting a team that wants to maybe have some drinks and have fun. We aren’t going to worry much about rank and if we get to the playoffs-everyone plays. Even if that means the handicaps only add to 18 or 20 in a match.

We play in a dj league. It’s a much better format from just 8 or just 9 because everyone on the 8 person team gets at least one match a session.

Btw. I’m not a real big team guy either, but when the captain throws the same players every match in the playoffs it pisses me off. Even if I’m one of them. I got in an argument with him about it in our finals.

 

[Maniac]

I’ll just call my fiancé-Kim from now on. Kim and I are sick of league. So next session we are starting our own team. We are going to work it a bit differently than our captains work it. APA is supposed to be fun. Our team and some others we see are way too serious about getting to Vegas.

We are just starting a team that wants to maybe have some drinks and have fun. We aren’t going to worry much about rank and if we get to the playoffs-everyone plays. Even if that means the handicaps only add to 18 or 20 in a match.

Btw. I’m not a real big team guy either, but when the captain throws the same players every match in the playoffs it pisses me off. Even if I’m one of them. I got in an argument with him about it in our finals.

First paragraph....I feel your pain! My wife and I don't even care if we make the playoffs or not. We play league for the sole purpose of getting out of the house, meeting people and having a drink or two. If we wanna go to Vegas, we'll book a flight and go there ourselves. Never had the desire to go there anyway.

Second paragraph....when I captained teams, it was a hard and fast rule that I had that no team member sat two weeks in a row. If they didn't play on a league night, they knew they were gonna play the next week, providing they showed up. Sometimes this made it easy for me to tell a member or two that they didn't have to show up on that night, IF they didn't want to. My teammates appreciated that.

Last paragraph.... I'm not a real big team guy either. Don't care for the rah-rah attitude, whooping and hollering some players like to do. My goal on league night is not to win or lose, but rather to shoot to my known abilities. If I shoot good and lose, I'm okay with that. If I shoot not-so-good and win I'm not thrilled about that win. If I shoot bad and lose, then I am not happy. Not because I lost, but because I didn't shoot to my ability. When I win a match, I look my opponent in the eye, shake his/her hand and tell them they shot well (even if they didn't).

I would like to play on your team if we weren't so far separated by mileage. You sound like my kind of captain!

Good luck with your new team!

Maniac

 

[dquarasr]

Last paragraph.... I'm not a real big team guy either. Don't care for the rah-rah attitude, whooping and hollering some players like to do. My goal on league night is not to win or lose, but rather to shoot to my known abilities. If I shoot good and lose, I'm okay with that. If I shoot not-so-good and win I'm not thrilled about that win. If I shoot bad and lose, then I am not happy. Not because I lost, but because I didn't shoot to my ability. When I win a match, I look my opponent in the eye, shake his/her hand and tell them they shot well (even if they didn't).

Exactly. I like winning but I like shooting well more.

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

Anyone have any advice on Vegas? To make it a better experience. Some of us will be going in next few weeks. Things like does your whole team have to be at each match?

One more thing. You can lose and still go up. They dropped me to a 6 in 9 last week. I lost. Now I’m back up to a 7.

 

[lorider]

Inwent to my first night of bcapl and was really looking forward to it. Excited actually. The league operator had put the team together that i was playing on and had to spoil it by having named me captain of out team. Damn..

He and i go way back in apa and usapl.

So its 3 man teams and you play one match. You lag and the winner breaks and also chooses the format. 8. .9 ..or 10 ball. I was surprised to see my fargo rate had dropped from 490 to 466 despite not having played any fargo rated matches in 5-6 years.

I wound up playing last due to the way the matchups went and they threw a 400 at me. Only reason this kid is a 400 was due to being new to fargo rate. I had watched him playing their 499 on the adjacent table before we started and this kid was winning his share of racks so i knew i had a tough match ahead of me. I keep calling him kid because he don't look a day over 21.

I win the lag and of couse choose 8 ball. I break and make a solid. I chose to shoot a combo on stripes to start off. I ran down to the 8 but the cue ball had stopped 3 inches short of a clean shot in the side pocket. 3 inches kept me from a break and run to start off. Gotta love open table after the break . That would have never happened under apa rules. So i sunk the 8 on the next time at the table.

Shorten this up some. So we go back and forth after that and its me 5 and him 3 in a 6 -4 race. I miss my last ball trying to get position on the 8 and he runs out. He said he was lucky and was quite surprised i missed. I said yea i was just as worried about position on the 8 as i was about pocketing the ball. He said thats what he thought after getting over being surprised i missed.

During the match i had been eyeing his cue because i noticed a brass ferrule and a thin shaft and a tip that could not have been any more than a 8th inch tall. I asked if i could look at it and when he handed it to me i said thats a snooker cue ! He grinned and said yea. I asked the shaft diameter and he said 8.5. This kid was accurate as hell with that setup.

It was a tough match and i hate beating myself but at the same time i enjoyed the hell out of that tough match even though i lost.

Looking forward to my apa singles match today although its against probly the strongest 7/9 in league.

 

[dquarasr]

Played Wednesday APA league, 9-ball first, a 5/6 (38-46) match. I was getting crushed, even though my opponent wasn't shooting as well as I know him to be able to shoot. I clawed my way back into the match. Toward the end, I was down 30-43; he needed three balls, I needed 8.

The penultimate rack, I won 7-2; we were 37-45. So I get to break. I gotta give the guy credit: he could have given me a slug rack, but he gave me a beautiful one, nice and tight. I made the wing ball and also the 9, so I eeked out a one-ball win in 9.

Later in the night (double jeopardy), the only players left for 8-ball were myself, a 5, and a 2, a 5-2 race. I handily won the first three racks almost running out twice. Fourth rack, I was worried about scratching on the 8, so I slow-rolled the CB. The 8 ended up DEEP on the shelf in a corner, but did not fall.

Next shot, she hooks me in the other corner on the same short rail, so I played a table-length, up and back, kick. As many times I could possibly hit that shot, I bet 95 out of 100 I'd either miss the 8 entirely or hit it in but not straight on. Of course, in the match, I hit it perfectly dead on. And since I was playing a kick, I could not stun the CB. It hit the 8, which fell in, and of course, the CB followed the 8 in. I was worried that would happen. In hindsight, since she was a 2 and the chances of her running out her remaining 5 balls was pretty slim, I should have simply given her BIH. So it was 3-hill.

Luckily, I won the next two racks. The 8-ball I hung in the pocket in the fourth rack cost me a rackless shutout. Oh, well, I shouldn't complain. At least I didn't fold and lose the match being in a 2-1 race after being up 3-1.

 

[justadub]

Played what was probably my best match in a very, very long time a week ago, beat an SL6, a good friend of mine, 18-2. Played free and loose, and didn't overthink things. (My opponent buying me drinks may have contributed to the free and loose part.) He and I always have a fun time when we play. Somehow it feels like I win the majority of the time, which is strange cuz I think he's a better player than I, but everyone has an opponent that they don't match up as well against, I suppose...

The following Tuesday at 8-ball, I played another SL6, and thought that after my previous match, perhaps I had turned the corner. First rack he breaks dry, and I run down the 8, and just missed that. It went downhill from there, and he smoked me 5-1, my only win came from him scratching on the 8 once. (Crazy bounce, no one saw it coming.)

Two days later, I'm back at 9-ball, and I face the same opponent I had just lost to days earlier. He was making most of the balls, but i kept plugging. It certainly felt like he had to be WAY ahead of me. I'm one who doesn't like to know the 9-ball score, if at all possible, till near the very end. I would seemingly make a couple balls per rack, he got the 9 virtually every time. Surprised the hell out of me when they told me I needed 6 and he needed 11. I managed to get out and redeem myself against him, at least.

Hopefully next week I find that formula for not overthinking things, again...

 

[lorider]

Well i just finished my apa singles division match vs probly the strongest 7/9 we have.

It went about like i expected. Well actually i was surprised i made as many points as i did in 9 ball. Lost 75 -21.

Lost 8 ball 5-0 in a 5-3 race.

Really not looking forward to tommorow night double jeapordy. Probably only have 3 players again and consequently i will be frustrated and play like crap.

 

[Maniac]

Well i just finished my apa singles division match vs probly the strongest 7/9 we have.

It went about like i expected. Well actually i was surprised i made as many points as i did in 9 ball. Lost 75 -21.

Lost 8 ball 5-0 in a 5-3 race.

Really not looking forward to tommorow night double jeapordy. Probably only have 3 players again and consequently i will be frustrated and play like crap.

You're still playing in 3 leagues and are the captain on 2 of those teams. I thought you were gonna cut back some?

You spend a lot of time behind scoresheets and figuring out the matchups. It's gotta be taking somewhat of a toll on your game, me knowing that you're pretty close to my age. You should try to ask some of your teammates if they wouldn't mind being the captain. That way, you could show up for league and be in a more relaxed state-of-mind.

Just a suggestion. And I'm only suggesting this because there was a time when I was the captain of 3 league teams, and when I quit being the captain on 2 of them, my game got better to the point that I went up in skill level in both 8 and 9-ball.

Maniac

 

[lorider]

You are pretty much spit on maniac. I have belueved for a while the headaches of my sunday double jeapordy team have affected my level of play. There is no denying when times are good my game is good and when times are bad my game goes in the pooper.

The thing is i have been captain on sunday night for 12 years and really want to keep it going. Over time i have noticed many players want to play and leave and not share in scorekeeping. Compounded by the fact that over the past year many are not reliable to show up every week. Dont know why its been trending that way.

I really love the singles division . no headaches about tram mates not showing or having to meet handicaps.

Maybe too early to tell but i dont think being captain of the bcapl team will be as much of a headache as apa.

Only 3 of us and the other 2 guys seem as commited as i am. Scorekeeping is a whole lot easier being as its online and only keep win or loss. I do know that my first match in bcapl was the most enjoyable night i have had in a while despite losing my match. I played better most of my match than i have played in a long time.

If i or my league operator dont come up with 4 players in the next couple of weeks i am more than likely folding my team and just join a team in order to stay eligible for singles.

It seems like every one has the play and leave mentality. When the bcapl lo noticed i elected to play last he said he was surprised that i didnt choose to play first and leave. I told him i matched us up according to how the other team threw and even if i had played first i am always there until the end.

 

[dquarasr]

You are pretty much spit on maniac. I have belueved for a while the headaches of my sunday double jeapordy team have affected my level of play. There is no denying when times are good my game is good and when times are bad my game goes in the pooper.

The thing is i have been captain on sunday night for 12 years and really want to keep it going. Over time i have noticed many players want to play and leave and not share in scorekeeping. Compounded by the fact that over the past year many are not reliable to show up every week. Dont know why its been trending that way.

I really love the singles division . no headaches about tram mates not showing or having to meet handicaps.

Maybe too early to tell but i dont think being captain of the bcapl team will be as much of a headache as apa.

Only 3 of us and the other 2 guys seem as commited as i am. Scorekeeping is a whole lot easier being as its online and only keep win or loss. I do know that my first match in bcapl was the most enjoyable night i have had in a while despite losing my match. I played better most of my match than i have played in a long time.

If i or my league operator dont come up with 4 players in the next couple of weeks i am more than likely folding my team and just join a team in order to stay eligible for singles.

It seems like every one has the play and leave mentality. When the bcapl lo noticed i elected to play last he said he was surprised that i didnt choose to play first and leave. I told him i matched us up according to how the other team threw and even if i had played first i am always there until the end.

This.

I was captain in the spring. I resolved to skip summer. Yeah, right. But I was miserable. Same issue. Chained to a chair scoring, putting up with uncommitted team members.

The last straw was a guy who wanted to play 8 only but we were short for 9. At 10:10 or so I asked him to play. He said he had to get up early to work. I told him we’d forfeit. He reluctantly agreed to play.

I asked for his $10 and he became livid. “ YOU asked ME to play.”

His match was over at around 10:50.

At midnight he was still swilling Budweiser at the bar with his GF.

Summer I became just a team member. Of course when the captain cannot be there, yes, I do it. So far about 5 or 6 times this session.

For sure I won’t play fall. Gonna try BCA. APA is fine when it’s a good team and is great for more casual play but I’d like to get better and I think I’ll learn more playing better opponents.

I’ll probably cave again, though.

 

[lorider]

Well we only had 3 including me last night as i suspected would happen. So being in a sour mood my game went south as expected alao.

I played 2 different 5's in 9 ball and lost both. I have no idea what the scores were.

Played a 7 in 8 ball and he was up 4-0 and on the hill before i decided to get it together a lil bit. Just couldnt stomach him shutting me out and i won the 5th rack. . i broke dry the 6th rack and he ran the table. Well a 5-1 loss is a lil better than a 5-0 loss. I guess

I text my lo and said if they didnt help find at least 4 players i was folding the team. Getting tired of paying out of pocket fir forfeits every week. Being captain its my reaponsibility to make sure all weekly fees are paid regardless if matches are played or not and you dang sure won't find people to help pay for matches they didnt play.

 

[dquarasr]

Well we only had 3 including me last night as i suspected would happen. So being in a sour mood my game went south as expected alao.

I played 2 different 5's in 9 ball and lost both. I have no idea what the scores were.

Played a 7 in 8 ball and he was up 4-0 and on the hill before i decided to get it together a lil bit. Just couldnt stomach him shutting me out and i won the 5th rack. . i broke dry the 6th rack and he ran the table. Well a 5-1 loss is a lil better than a 5-0 loss. I guess

I text my lo and said if they didnt help find at least 4 players i was folding the team. Getting tired of paying out of pocket fir forfeits every week. Being captain its my reaponsibility to make sure all weekly fees are paid regardless if matches are played or not and you dang sure won't find people to help pay for matches they didnt play.

I disagree with captains being expected to pay for unplayed matches especially where players are recruited and assigned by LOs.

Show me 1) where it was explained to you (it wasn’t to me) this the case and 2) you signed a contract agreeing to it, especially then LOs make a revenue stream.

I am not unsympathetic to the plight of LOs but this part of being captain bugs me.

 

[lorider]

I understand your reasining.

Let me clarify what our rule is. It states all weekly fees are due every week regardless if any matches are played or not. It does not specifically state the captain is soley respinsible.
Failure to pay could result in several penalties

Firfeiture if binus points. Not allowed to play in playoffs or higher. Not sure how teue but have heard it could even result in all team players barred from playing in apa until the team fees are settled.

However ...you know how pool players are . most will refuse to help pay for matches that they have not played. I have gotten help from certain players from time to time.

The captain is responsible for collecting fees and making sure the scoresheets are filled out correctly. Maybe its just me but i am going to make sure my teams obligations are fullfilled whether my team mates help or not.

 

[lorider]

Btw.. None of my players were added by the lo.

Want to know how cheap pool players are. ?

I have encountered times when having replays that the person that replayed refused to pay for the extra match they played. Their reasoning. They are only required to play once and feel they should not have to pay for playing a second match ...especially if they didnt volunteer to play it. Rules state that opposing captains select who on your team is the one who plays twice.

I did have a team that some would pitch in to help pay for the replay.

 

[Ģüśţāṿ]

Anyone have any advice on Vegas? To make it a better experience. Some of us will be going in next few weeks. Things like does your whole team have to be at each match?

One more thing. You can lose and still go up. They dropped me to a 6 in 9 last week. I lost. Now I’m back up to a 7.

Go to Vegas to enjoy Vegas, consider pool secondary and you'll have much more fun. Staying at the hotel when the trounament is gets way too crowded, so I recommend staying anywhere on the Monorail line.....the longest ride you'll have is 20 minutes staying at the end of the strip.

The whole team should try to be present for each match, but as long as you have 5 people available, you're good. Some will ask for ID's at the start to verify all team members, but not all teams do that.

If you want to play in the minis, you need to get in line at least 15 minutes before the time becomes available. The 6-9 skill level group has the least amount of available minis, so they go really fast. I wish they would post more of these events, and they're usually at crappy times too. You may be able to hang with the 7/9 in your area, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can do the same in Vegas. Many of the Masters players will be there, and some Fargos are up to 750! Not saying you can't do it, but you'd better bring your A game!

 

[Willowbrook Wolfy]

Go to Vegas to enjoy Vegas, consider pool secondary and you'll have much more fun. Staying at the hotel when the trounament is gets way too crowded, so I recommend staying anywhere on the Monorail line.....the longest ride you'll have is 20 minutes staying at the end of the strip.

The whole team should try to be present for each match, but as long as you have 5 people available, you're good. Some will ask for ID's at the start to verify all team members, but not all teams do that.

If you want to play in the minis, you need to get in line at least 15 minutes before the time becomes available. The 6-9 skill level group has the least amount of available minis, so they go really fast. I wish they would post more of these events, and they're usually at crappy times too. You may be able to hang with the 7/9 in your area, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can do the same in Vegas. Many of the Masters players will be there, and some Fargos are up to 750! Not saying you can't do it, but you'd better bring your A game!

Thanks for the advice Gustav. If I get moved to a 7 in 8 this week my captain already said I won’t play much in Vegas. Our team has become top heavy. One 2 one 3. The rest of us are 5 and up.

Sounds like there will be some tough minis out there too by what you said. Weird times are good for me. Working nights, I don’t usually go to sleep until 6am

 

[justadub]

Btw.. None of my players were added by the lo.

Want to know how cheap pool players are. ?

I have encountered times when having replays that the person that replayed refused to pay for the extra match they played. Their reasoning. They are only required to play once and feel they should not have to pay for playing a second match ...especially if they didnt volunteer to play it. Rules state that opposing captains select who on your team is the one who plays twice.

I did have a team that some would pitch in to help pay for the replay.

I hate that crap.

Its understood with any team that I've been a part of that the players that played that week split paying for any unplayed of forfeited matches. If we do a Ghost Player and someone plays twice, we still divide the weekly dues by 4, that Ghost player doesn't pay for both matches that week.

My suggestion is to establish some sort of team rules about this crap and make sure everyone is agreed, before the session starts. I realize that may not be possible, but its how I would try and handle it.

Good luck

 

[boogieman]

Shot really well tonight. 8 Ball singles, 4 man teams. Ball count. Got 35/40 points, so I won 3, lost 1 (where I got 5 balls in). Our team won. We had to spot the other team 16 points (balls) and ended up winning 7 points ahead of this. Really hard match as the other team are all good players, but just getting sanctioned.

I had a great time, had fun, stuff felt right, good stance, seeing the balls well, cue ball was being a good boy for once. Made a few mistakes but that's reality for ya. The game I lost I had 2 stripes and the 8 on the table. They were laid out in such a way that I had a very difficult shot, but if made I had stop shot shape from next ball to the 8. I missed so slight, it caught the paint on another ball and missed the pocket by a tiny bit. Of course I had perfect shape to finish the rack... had the stripe dropped.

My wife is also playing in this league on another team. Their team was playing a VERY strong team. She played really good and had a lot of fun but lost her matches. She made them work like hell for the wins though, no slouch and shes a very smart safety/two way player. Those guys are monsters and she made them work hard to win. Pretty good for her second league day! Last week she won 2/4 games and got quite a few balls on the other games.

I'm really happy to see how much she's enjoying playing, it's been over a decade since we played league together.

 

[dquarasr]

Played in the local APA "Movin' On Up" 8-ball tournament today.

Drew another 5 first match. Felt really good. Went rackless, 4-0. My opponent didn't get to break out her pocket marker.

Played another 5, 4-4 race. Fell out of stroke. Started missing CB right. Was down 3-1. Figured out what I was doing wrong, clawed my way back to hill-hill, but ultimately, a few bad rolls did me in. Speed control kills me. I've been working on avoiding crossing the shot line and maneuvering into the shot line, but there were a few shots I couldn't avoid crossing the line.

On the loser's side, played a 6, won 4-3 in a 4-5 race. We both had problems breaking. Nearly all the racks were cluster-fests. Lots of maneuvering and lots of safeties. But overall, I was feeling pretty good again.

I ended up playing the SL5 I beat in the first match. This time she was a couple of balls better per rack than our first match, I was a couple worse. Payback is hell. She went rackless on me this time, 0-4, so that was it.

I was happy with how I played. Didn't embarrass myself, and finally got comfortable over extended playing time. I typically start out well and get worse. With the exception of my first loss where I tightened up a little, for the first time I was able to stay pretty loose, so I'll consider this a learning experience.

It was nice playing singles, not having to worry about matchups, chained to my chair keeping score and chasing players. I think next session I'll join a doubles league with a good teammate with whom I have a good rapport. He's up for it, so we might try it. Only problem is that it's 8-ball on 7-foot tables. I prefer 8- or 9-foot (yes, I know about Vegas.) Either that or try a BCA league against better players and learn pressure. Need to think about it.