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Hierovision

Hierovision

Dios mio, man.
Silver Member
Pretend you're coming up as a pool player and improving steadily/significantly. You're playing in an APA league right now, and are extremely frustrated with the sandbagging and slop shots yet still have lots of fun with your teammates. You're not TOO attached to them, but a couple of them are awesome people to hang out with. You have the opportunity to play in some non-handicapped $15-25 entry house tournies instead that pay out $3-5,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It's one or the other... play in tournaments once a week for $15-25 and get a lot better, quicker by playing higher caliber players, or pay $9 and play with that team in APA matches once a week and deal with the BS of APA to hang out with the team.

APA with good people or tournaments to get better faster? :confused:
 
I left the APA because I saw myself advancing quicker through other methods. To each their own.
 
Hierovision said:
Pretend you're coming up as a pool player and improving steadily/significantly. You're playing in an APA league right now, and are extremely frustrated with the sandbagging and slop shots yet still have lots of fun with your teammates. You're not TOO attached to them, but a couple of them are awesome people to hang out with. You have the opportunity to play in some non-handicapped $15-25 entry house tournies instead that pay out $3-5,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It's one or the other... play in tournaments once a week for $15-25 and get a lot better, quicker by playing higher caliber players, or pay $9 and play with that team in APA matches once a week and deal with the BS of APA to hang out with the team.

APA with good people or tournaments to get better faster? :confused:
Click to expand...

I think you've answered you're own question. If the only thing keeping you on the team is a couple of the people, then its time to leave because you'll constantly feel like you're being held back.
 
If there's anything that I've found out through my short time living and loving pool its that really good players bring out the best in you. If you are a competitive player (which I know you are) the chance of losing to someone would only light a fire under you and bring out your best game. I'd play the touneys honestly... they sound more fun and exciting.



ALSO:

Check your work e-mail nub.
 
Hierovision said:
Pretend you're coming up as a pool player and improving steadily/significantly. You're playing in an APA league right now, and are extremely frustrated with the sandbagging and slop shots yet still have lots of fun with your teammates. You're not TOO attached to them, but a couple of them are awesome people to hang out with. You have the opportunity to play in some non-handicapped $15-25 entry house tournies instead that pay out $3-5,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It's one or the other... play in tournaments once a week for $15-25 and get a lot better, quicker by playing higher caliber players, or pay $9 and play with that team in APA matches once a week and deal with the BS of APA to hang out with the team.

APA with good people or tournaments to get better faster? :confused:
Click to expand...

Sorry but you must be on crack. If you think you may have the slightest chance of winning $3000 and it will improve your game, and only cost a couple of bucks more, WHAT THE F. If the guys on the team see this as well they should say WHAT THE F and do the tournament as well. And if they're good guys, they should throw you of the team and push you into the tournment.

Sorry, but if you can winn that much and put up so little, then the answer is right in front of you,

Hey where is this room???

Pete
 
Hierovision said:
You have the opportunity to play in some non-handicapped $15-25 entry house tournies instead that pay out $3-5,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. :
Click to expand...
Where is this room at that pays out $3-5,000 for $15-25 entry fee? Enquiring minds want to know.

George
 
I think you should do what makes you happy, or maybe hang out with the players that you like on another night of the week. Start your own team on another night and get them to come with you so you can also play the $15-25 tourneys. After my APA team won a trip to Vegas for the 2nd year in a row I told them I was leaving the team when we got back. Of course they tried to pressure me into playing but I stood firm on my decision. They are all wonderful people too.

Last week was the first week in 3 years that I did not have one league night to go to. BCA was over, ACS finished up, quit APA, and didn't join a county fun league team because it takes too long (20 weeks plus playoffs for 6 weeks). It was nice. Now I am just waiting for my playing cue to get back from being refinished and I can start tourneys again.
 
George said:
Where is this room at that pays out $3-5,000 for $15-25 entry fee? Enquiring minds want to know.

George
Click to expand...

Thats $3 - $5000....pretty much every room does that. :D :D
 
It's Q-Masters by the way. And I think it might be 1st-5th split the $$ now that I think about it. 32 person field for the smaller ones and 64 for the bigger payouts without handicaps. I hate handicaps!

Pete, I thought a lot of places did $3,000 or thereabouts? :D
I'm just weighing the fun I have with the team with the money I could be winning.. and I think I would have more fun performing well by myself and possibly winning $ than performing poorly with a team lol. I think I'm going to go with the tournaments. The thought of $ keeps my mind off the shot too, so I can let my body shoot... which means shooting a lot better.
 
I think leagues are good at first along with playing in local money tournaments too.

And APA is good because they allow coaching. If you can get on a team with a master level player and get coaching from that player, you can learn quite a few tricks! You can also get on a team with someone who gives you the wrong advice and hurts your game.

So far as leagues go, I now feel "been there done that!"

And so far as local money tournaments go, I have always felt that these help my game the most. I quickly improve if I play in several of these a week. No telling who you will play in these tournaments. The competition if fierce. The players are better. And I always have more fun at these tournaments than I do when playing in league matches.

Also at local money tournaments there is always that "one player" who beats you everytime. It is fun to work for months or years to win against that player "just once". Then do it again. Suddenly you find yourself being able to win against that "one player" most of the time and you wonder what the big deal was. Fun, fun fun!
 
I am in a similar spot. I play on two APA teams, one of which I have been captain for the last two years. I also regularly play in a non handicapped 8ball tournament every Wednesday. $10 round robin, 100% payout. Great deal for three hours or more of pool. It can be grueling though. Last tournament lasted more than five hours! Managed to win once, came in second a bunch.

I was thinking about quitting the league thing altogether until recently when one of the women on the team I captain finally won her first match ever. Seeing her so happy made the whole thing all worthwhile. It's a moment she'll remember for the rest of her life. She stuck with it and finally got one. It was just really cool to see it happen.

League is what you make it. Being a captain keeps the situation fun for me, and I hope, the rest of the team. Does league help my playing? No, but it is gratifying in other ways.

Besides, there are more women in league than in tournaments! :D
 
I'm married, and I agree about league being what you make it. BUT, there's only so much I can do to make it fun for myself. It's not much fun when I'm playing a 2 as a 5 and the 2 should be a 5. I played OK that match, which should be good enough to handle a real 2... etc. etc.

So me being married, and me not having much fun playing league... I think I'm going to try out tournaments. If I don't have much fun I'll try out another league team, but I think it will be lots of fun and very exciting to play in tournaments.
 
Tournaments ...

League is okay IF you are on the right league, APA is not my idea of the right league. Something like the BCA advanced league is my idea of the right league, and even if you have aspirations of going to Vegas together,
having 2 to 3 'weak sisters' on the team will prevent you from going very far. The best performers in Vegas are the steady money players, and the ones that play $200-$2,000 per set, not $5 or $10 a game.

I like tournaments better myself because:
1) You get to pick and choose when you want to play.
2) You see many players at all of the tournaments, and make friends.
3) If you are good, it pays better than league.
4) You can make plans to go play at a tournament in nearby cities. (within 250 miles usually). And I usually pal up with a Pool buddy to those
tournaments to help on expenses. Plus the exposure to other players at those tournaments on a regional basis instead of just local.
5) If you get worn down or just want a break, you won't have weekly
league that you have to go to.
6) You will not have near as much BS to put up with, mostly from beginners asking rules all the time, taking time outs all the time, spending too much time to play 1 game, and petty stuff so much.
7) There is no sandbagging in tournaments.
8) All the tournaments are NOT handicapped, so you have a mixture of both.
9) You will become known faster in the tournament world than league.
10) You will see different women when playing tournaments because they are at different places.
11) The competition.
 
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Once again, don't care about other women but those other 10 are great reasons to ditch the APA. Maybe I can convince the others to start playing tournaments with me. Well one of them plays well enough... the other isn't that great of a player, but he's an awesome dude :p
 
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Hierovision said:
Pretend you're coming up as a pool player and improving steadily/significantly. You're playing in an APA league right now, and are extremely frustrated with the sandbagging ...
Click to expand...
If you are improving like you say you are, why are you sandbagging? I don't understand why people do this if they are trying to reach their full potential. Sandbagging is for people who are afraid to play at a higher level. If you or whoever is improving at a steady rate, why not up your game and play at that higher spot. Although I really feel that playing 8ball in the APA is not challenging, 9ball is a whole other story. Making 65 or 75 points in 9ball is not an easy thing if your opponent is going to 20. If you feel 8ball is too easy try playing in the 9ball league without sandbagging to reach an SL9 level. That in itself can improve your gameplay.
 
PoolFool said:
If you are improving like you say you are, why are you sandbagging?
Click to expand...

I don't think he was saying that he was sandbagging, just that others do.
 
Hierovision said:
Pretend you're coming up as a pool player and improving steadily/significantly. You're playing in an APA league right now, and are extremely frustrated with the sandbagging and slop shots yet still have lots of fun with your teammates. You're not TOO attached to them, but a couple of them are awesome people to hang out with. You have the opportunity to play in some non-handicapped $15-25 entry house tournies instead that pay out $3-5,000 for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. It's one or the other... play in tournaments once a week for $15-25 and get a lot better, quicker by playing higher caliber players, or pay $9 and play with that team in APA matches once a week and deal with the BS of APA to hang out with the team.

APA with good people or tournaments to get better faster? :confused:
Click to expand...

Nobody has mentioned that when you join a team you have made a commitment for a season. If you were my friend and ditched the team to play tournaments before the season was over I'd be pretty choked at you.

A season isn't that long of a time to wait, finish out the year then go play tournaments till the cows come home. I've never had a problem balancing team play and tournament play, of course I'm not married so I can pretty much make my own schedule, but I'd never ditch my team just because the grass was greener at the tournament across town.

JMO

SGM
 
PKM said:
I don't think he was saying that he was sandbagging, just that others do.
Click to expand...
It's understandable that perhaps he wasn't the one sandbagging. But when you think about it, there are players who sandbag all the time in any tournament you play in. Unfortunately, there are Sandbaggers out there just looking for an edge instead of really improving on their game. I'm sorry if I sounded a little bitter but when I hear about sandbagging my eyes turn red and I get tunnel vision. I have been burned by sandbaggers in the past where I was giving up way too much weight in a few tourny's where a handfull of the players there should have been playing me even.
 
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