I joined my first APA league last night

N

NeZ

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
A few weeks ago I posted some questions regarding APA leagues because I was thinking of joining up.

Well, it was the start of a new session last night and a friend and I went up to the bar to check it out. We didn't have a team so we had to see if there were any teams looking for players.

This league is taking place in Chicago at a bar that's got 6 pretty nice tables. It sounds like there are 5 or 6 teams that play at this particular location.

There was only one team that was considering adding new players so we talked with them for a bit and we all agreed to join up. They already had 5players, so now we'll have 7.

I won't play every week but it'll work out nicely because with 7 people we can be more flexible with schedule conflicts, etc. This team has been playing for a year or so now so they're pretty familiar with the league. They seemed like nice enough folks, we got along well, so I'm sure we'll be able to have some fun playing.

I've never played in a league before so I'm not sure how I'll do. I guess I start out as a SL4. I have no idea what my actual APA level will end up at.

I'm looking forward to my first match. Hopefully, it'll be next Monday.
 
NeZ said:
A few weeks ago I posted some questions regarding APA leagues because I was thinking of joining up.

Well, it was the start of a new session last night and a friend and I went up to the bar to check it out. We didn't have a team so we had to see if there were any teams looking for players.

This league is taking place in Chicago at a bar that's got 6 pretty nice tables. It sounds like there are 5 or 6 teams that play at this particular location.

There was only one team that was considering adding new players so we talked with them for a bit and we all agreed to join up. They already had 5players, so now we'll have 7.

I won't play every week but it'll work out nicely because with 7 people we can be more flexible with schedule conflicts, etc. This team has been playing for a year or so now so they're pretty familiar with the league. They seemed like nice enough folks, we got along well, so I'm sure we'll be able to have some fun playing.

I've never played in a league before so I'm not sure how I'll do. I guess I start out as a SL4. I have no idea what my actual APA level will end up at.

I'm looking forward to my first match. Hopefully, it'll be next Monday.
Click to expand...

Do you ever break and run racks of 8-ball? If not, what would you consider a good run for you off the break? If so, assuming you make a ball, what's the probability you'll run out a given rack of 8-ball from the break?

From that, we could probably give you a good idea of what your skill level should be.

-Andrew
 
my experience with apa

yeah when i first joined the apa about 6 years ago i was excited and
it was fun until they demanded i lose games on purpose and when my handicap got to big i could no longer compete with all the sandbaggers in the league then they laughed at me behind my back! hes not a 6 i wouldnt have him on my team he would be better as a five. then all the bickering with different teams about handicaps and you cheated! i eventually got tired of the apa!
other than you get to meet new people and places. that was the main beneifit that i got from it all. in the apa you get rewarded for having the best cheating team period! and after you go through all of those nights of fighting and paying 6 dollars to lose a match from time to time its still not guaranteed to go all the way. and if you do people dont respect you because they know you cheated its all a big shame the apa!
 
Andrew Manning said:
Do you ever break and run racks of 8-ball? If not, what would you consider a good run for you off the break? If so, assuming you make a ball, what's the probability you'll run out a given rack of 8-ball from the break?

From that, we could probably give you a good idea of what your skill level should be.

-Andrew
Click to expand...

I mainly play nine ball. I have broke and run out in 8-ball but it's by no means a regular occurance. The probability of running a rack after making one on the break is probably 1 in 50 or less. I haven't done it very often.

I can usually make pretty good runs of several balls though.
 
johnrp2005 said:
yeah when i first joined the apa about 6 years ago i was excited and
it was fun until they demanded i lose games on purpose and when my handicap got to big i could no longer compete with all the sandbaggers in the league then they laughed at me behind my back! hes not a 6 i wouldnt have him on my team he would be better as a five. then all the bickering with different teams about handicaps and you cheated! i eventually got tired of the apa!
other than you get to meet new people and places. that was the main beneifit that i got from it all. in the apa you get rewarded for having the best cheating team period! and after you go through all of those nights of fighting and paying 6 dollars to lose a match from time to time its still not guaranteed to go all the way. and if you do people dont respect you because they know you cheated its all a big shame the apa!
Click to expand...

The team I joined up with is pretty laid back. There's 3 girls and two guys. None of them are great pool players and they're out mainly to have fun.

I guess all the teams that will be playing at the bar where I'll be are returning and apparently they're all pretty low key without as much of the sandbagging you see some places, but I'm sure it still happens often enough.
 
The name rings a bell...

You should name your team the Corner Pocket Refugees!

Don't obsess over the handicap system (like a few) and you'll have fun. It's too simple to be perfect. Eat, drink, and fire away!
 
NeZ said:
I've never played in a league before so I'm not sure how I'll do. I guess I start out as a SL4. I have no idea what my actual APA level will end up at.

I'm looking forward to my first match. Hopefully, it'll be next Monday.
Click to expand...

You will start out as a 3. All incoming players (male) begin as 3's, and are moved up as their true skill shows up on the table. NEVER EVER let anyone try to convince you to miss shots or lose games on purpose. Any teams that play that way do not deserve, nor want you as a player. Play your best, and enjoy yourself. Your real skill level will show up in the system around the 5th or 6th time you play...by the 10th at the most.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
hey guys,im from canada and everytime i hear about the apa im hearing bad stuff,like sandbagging,or losing your games on purpose so your ranking wont go higher,ive played in b.c.a for 10 years and its straight forward ,you play against people of your same calliber.of 10 years we have won triips to vegas so all is good,im just confussed why people play in apa if its nothing but b.s..please someone explain
 
NeZ said:
I've never played in a league before so I'm not sure how I'll do. I guess I start out as a SL4. I have no idea what my actual APA level will end up at.

I'm looking forward to my first match. Hopefully, it'll be next Monday.
Click to expand...

Well, have fun, playing on those "little joke,toy,piece of shit,ego helping ,non skill required things we call bar tables!!"

Oh, I'm just kidding. That seems like something a so-called "pro" would say, doesn't it? Heh heh!

Russ
 
Scott Lee said:
You will start out as a 3. All incoming players (male) begin as 3's, and are moved up as their true skill shows up on the table. NEVER EVER let anyone try to convince you to miss shots or lose games on purpose. Any teams that play that way do not deserve, nor want you as a player. Play your best, and enjoy yourself. Your real skill level will show up in the system around the 5th or 6th time you play...by the 10th at the most.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Ahem, new ranked APA males come in as SL4s, new females come in as SL3s.

Trust me. Here is a score sheet with the info. right in the middle of the page: http://www.poolplayers.com/pdf/8ballscoresheet.pdf
 
Scott Lee said:
You will start out as a 3. All incoming players (male) begin as 3's, and are moved up as their true skill shows up on the table. NEVER EVER let anyone try to convince you to miss shots or lose games on purpose. Any teams that play that way do not deserve, nor want you as a player. Play your best, and enjoy yourself. Your real skill level will show up in the system around the 5th or 6th time you play...by the 10th at the most.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

Yeah, Gregg is right. Oh man! Scott! This is the first time I think, I can't believe it, that I think you might be wrong!

I can't handle this! I'm jumping off the Sears Tower....


...as soon as I finish this rack.

Only a former student should be allowed to be such a smartass.:D
 
I stand corrected! LOL I guess things changed since I was an APA LO 12+ years ago! Used to be guys were 3's and gals were 2's...:rolleyes: :D Oh...and I've wrong lots of times. I'm certainly not too big to admit it!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
jimmy-leggs said:
hey guys,im from canada and everytime i hear about the apa im hearing bad stuff,like sandbagging,or losing your games on purpose so your ranking wont go higher,ive played in b.c.a for 10 years and its straight forward ,you play against people of your same calliber.of 10 years we have won triips to vegas so all is good,im just confussed why people play in apa if its nothing but b.s..please someone explain
Click to expand...

I played in the APA for the first time in the last session and just started my fall session last night. It is my first foray into league play and I gotta say, I'm not to thrilled with some of the things going on. The aforementioned sandbagging (which is just entirely to easy to pull off) is prevalent. The rules state that you can complain/report any suspicion of sandbagging, but for the three and a half months I was watching it come off, nobody ever complained or reported it (including me). I figured if you said something to some of the people doing it (most of them were somewhat younger than me), you would probably end up in a fight, and it ain't worth all that. The first match my wife, a beginning pool player to say the least, played in, she went in as a SL3. She played a guy who was also a SL3. He broke, made a ball, and proceeded to run his next six balls. Then he tanked a very makeable 8-ball. My wife, who was not only a little nervous, was not potting her balls very well. But this dude managed to miss the eight-ball about five or six times until my wife only had two balls left to shoot at. Then he went on and finished what he could have finished about six shots earlier. Then in the next game he missed a bunch of makeable shots until he finally won. I guess he used the first game for getting a "read" on my wife's skill level. After my wife's match was over, I saw this guy shooting another player on his team on another table and he was very skilled and knowledgeable in the art of "juicing" the ball and kick shots. A SL3??? I don't think so.
Then there is way too much controversy about the coaching rules. There are just too many little nit-picking rules concerning who can and can't coach another player, and how time-outs are used and how many you get (lower skill level players are allowed more time-outs than the others). It could all be settled by making the incoming match player designate who his/her coach will be before the match starts.
I'm not going to get into all the little troublesome nuances here, but these are some of the ones that stick in my craw the most. I'm still having fun with it all, but in the future I make seek a league with stricter guidelines for skill levels (BCA comes to mind here).

Maniac
 
Do teams sandbag?

Sure. But for who? For what? Are they getting to the playoffs? Cities? Las Vegas?

I doubt it.

Most of the people in my area shoot for fun, and fun is playing as well as possible, every time.
 
I really think sandbagging is largely a "local" thing in a sense - meaning, the more sandbagging goes on in a given area, and the more NEW people come into that league, the more likely those new folks are going to start sandbagging (whether on their own or due to their teammates urging them to), and the cycle continues.

And if a given area has prevalent sandbagging, I'd have to think the LO there either a) is completely unaware, as no one is telling them about it - they're going by the scoresheets, or b) ARE aware of it and choose not to do anything about it, hoping their teams do well in Vegas.

Sandbagging isn't a global APA thing - in the league I've played in for the past 3.5 years, I can honestly say that there is no sandbagging, or at least, if there IS, it's so subtle and rare that I haven't noticed it. Looking back at my own skills when I was a 4, a 5, and now a strong 6, everyone I've played and watched, their SLs in comparison to my own and others in the league have been pretty accurate.

That said, it's teams in my area who are going to suffer when they go to Vegas, and meet up against the heavy-sandbagging teams.
 
My APA Experience

I enjoy playing in the APA. I dislike the slop counts rule, but aside from that, it has given me an opportunity to play a wide variety of players. Some of them way better than me and some who were no problem to beat. I found during my first session I was beating myself more that my opponents. By that I mean letting nerves get to me missing shots I normally make, things like that. You do start as an SL4 but if you lose your first match they make you an SL3. That's how it went for me. I tried my best to win, but it was brand new, I didn't really know any of my teammates, and I felt like I was under a microscope. Consequently I lost the match.

I'm playing in a Monday and a Tuesday league now, and I'm having a lot of fun. I've met a ton of cool people and have found out about other good places to play, tourneys, and have gotten some great tips from some really good players (better than me anyway). I went to a regional qualifier as a 3 and won (beating a 4, 5, and 7) a shot at Vegas first weekend in Oct. at Fast Eddies in Alexandria VA. 21 people in my bracket with 2 tickets to Vegas, and I think I have a great chance to get one of them.

I have heard a few rumblings of sandbagging or throwing matches, but it isn't prevailent or in the norm. I don't worry about what my handicap is or the other guys for that matter. I go out to win and I play my best every time. I won't lay down for anybody, and no one has asked me to. It is the team captain's job to manage your handicap. He does this by deciding who you play. If he wants to keep you an SL4 he should play you against people he thinks you can't beat. After that it's in your hands.

Right now the APA is the only league available to me. It's a fun night out and it has definitely helped me to dramatically improve my game.

McCue Banger McCue
 
Da Poet said:
You should name your team the Corner Pocket Refugees!

Don't obsess over the handicap system (like a few) and you'll have fun. It's too simple to be perfect. Eat, drink, and fire away!
Click to expand...

That is the key to ENJOYing the APA. If you get screwed because somebody is sandbagging big deal. It is nice to get to Vegas, but it isn't like anyone should consider it the crowning acheivement of their lives. Go in there to enjoy the game of pool and screw the fools who get all worked up over their handicap relative to their opponents handicap. And if your team doesn't want you if you're handicap rises too much, find another team.
The team I'm on didn't play over the summer and won't play in the fall. Frankly I miss the APA even though I'm in 2 other non-APA leagues.
 
I have fun in the APA,
But alas I am afraid that with regionals comming up that I will get bumped again. Played my match last night against a pretty strong SL5 and we played 7 games in 14 innings.
 
I always smile that the people who complain about the APA's "slop rule" are the poorest players whom slop benefits most. The top players hardly ever slop in a shot, so it makes no difference to them.
 
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