League play: good news and bad news

Gregg said:
I agree with every assessment you make here.

You are not being mean spirited, just forthcoming with facts.

I have long stopped correcting people on MBs about misinformation and bar leagues.

Just a few days ago, a long thread about APA and jumped balls was posted, and everyone was saying how you are allowed to jump balls in the APA leagues.

The information is clearly posted on page seven of the Official APA 8 and 9 ball Rules Booklet (You know, the one that every new player gets with their annual membership card) that it is a foul to "intentionally" jump a ball, and is NOT allowed. http://www.poolplayers.com/8-9-ball-Rules.pdf

This thread was over two pages, with everyone agreeing that you are allowed to jump a ball, with nobody mentioning the clearly stated rule. I just said forget it. Hopefully they got it figured out by now.

I'm not trying to re-hash another thread, but the only APA rule I could find concerning jumps is this one:

APA said:
It is a foul to jump a cue ball over another ball by purposely miscuing it up in the air. Accidental miscuing is not a foul unless other rules in this section are violated.

This rule makes "scoop" shots illegal, but I don't see anything in it making normal jump shots illegal. This is rule e. in the "ball in hand" section for both 8-ball and 9-ball.

-djb
 
I've never heard of the all-jumping-is-illegal rule, either. I've done it in league play and one of my teammates, who's the king at jumping with a normal playing stick, does it fairly frequently.

That rule clearly states it's illegal when "intentionally miscueing". Not when you're intentionally trying for a clean jump.
 
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I think leagues are a great way to get into playing in a more competetive setting without being too intimidating for the uninitiated player.

I augment my league play with weekly shoots and tournaments, because that is where the competition requires that you step your game up...or you won't last long. It is also where you will begin to encounter tactics such as 'sharking'.

During a full season for me, playing in both an 8 and a 9 Ball league, and adding another 15 hours a week, on average, for the tournaments and shoots....I am playing roughly 25-30 hours a week.

I just keep plugging away at it.:)

Lisa
 
I play in the APA (though I'm not really sure why. I hate it) but this is how I see it:

95% of the people who sandbag or encourage sandbagging end up handicapping themselves in the longrun. These people already think that they know all there is to know about the game so they focus more on losing than they do on getting better... because in their minds, they are already the best! In the meantime, the rest of the world plays the game and actually does learn more and improve. Then, when the time comes for you to face off against a sandbagger say, in a playoff match, when he is bringing his 'A' game to the table, its actually laughable because they don't stand a chance in hell!
 
Gregg said:
Just a few days ago, a long thread about APA and jumped balls was posted, and everyone was saying how you are allowed to jump balls in the APA leagues.

The information is clearly posted on page seven of the Official APA 8 and 9 ball Rules Booklet (You know, the one that every new player gets with their annual membership card) that it is a foul to "intentionally" jump a ball, and is NOT allowed. http://www.poolplayers.com/8-9-ball-Rules.pdf
One of the problems is the "Local area rules" that APA League Operators are allowed to institute. Although the official rules are used in Vegas, there are several national rules that are optional to the Local League Operator. Since people that post on the board come from everywhere, there will be disagreement on rules because the Local Leagues may have instituted a different "local" rule.

Here in MD, it is legal to jump a ball in APA; however, it is not legal to use a jump cue. As long as you utilize your playing cue, jumping is legal.
 
sandbagging... f that!

alstl said:
The good news is that one year after I bought my first cue I'm a lot better than I was. So good in fact that now I have to dump games in the league to keep my handicap from getting to high and help out the team. I realize that's the way it is in the league but it ain't a lot of fun.

That is EXACTLY why i don't play on a league. I get asked all the time and my response is the same EVERY TIME! "No thanks, i want to play my game and don't want to try and lose a game."
 
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