Question about US Pool Scene

[ZeGerman]

Hi Guys over there. Greetings from Germany. I wonder how the pool scene in the US is organised - if its organised at all. Here in Germany we mostly play in clubs/teams against other clubs/teams. We have 7 various kinds of leagues from so called "Kreisliga" (really bad players) to the "Bundesliga" (really strong players, even Ortmann and other world class players play here). Thats a good organised form of competition - but on the other hand we dont have such an good organised form of competition for single players.

Here we only have a local tournament where the best 6-8 players qualifice for the next stage, the state championchips. We have 16 states, so the best 2-5 in every state (depends on how many players each state has) reach the German championchips. And thats all - here u can win the Title "Deutscher Meister" (German Champion) - hand shake and drive home ^^.

I know the VNEA championchips, i participated 2x back in 1995 and 1996 and it was really fun, but the level of play wasnt that high in my opinion. Do u have any other leagues in the US, do u determine (in dont know if thats the correct word) an American team champion or at least various state team champions ? Or do u Americans really just sitting in the pool hall and waiting for gambling ^^ ? No competitions like we have here in Germany ?

Apologize my bad english, its about 15 years since i left school. Im looking forward to some interesting answers...

 

[Masayoshi]

Hi Guys over there. Greetings from Germany. I wonder how the pool scene in the US is organised - if its organised at all. Here in Germany we mostly play in clubs/teams against other clubs/teams. We have 7 various kinds of leagues from so called "Kreisliga" (really bad players) to the "Bundesliga" (really strong players, even Ortmann and other world class players play here). Thats a good organised form of competition - but on the other hand we dont have such an good organised form of competition for single players.

Here we only have a local tournament where the best 6-8 players qualifice for the next stage, the state championchips. We have 16 states, so the best 2-5 in every state (depends on how many players each state has) reach the German championchips. And thats all - here u can win the Title "Deutscher Meister" (German Champion) - hand shake and drive home ^^.

I know the VNEA championchips, i participated 2x back in 1995 and 1996 and it was really fun, but the level of play wasnt that high in my opinion. Do u have any other leagues in the US, do u determine (in dont know if thats the correct word) an American team champion or at least various state team champions ? Or do u Americans really just sitting in the pool hall and waiting for gambling ^^ ? No competitions like we have here in Germany ?

Apologize my bad english, its about 15 years since i left school. Im looking forward to some interesting answers...

There are many leagues in the US, but none are all inclusive. In fact, most decent players avoid leagues altogether because they are catered to the "fun" crowd. Above that there are several tours here and there that provide medium sized tournaments for strong amateurs and pros, but nothing that would be considered "national".

Most players here start out gambling or playing in small weekly tournaments and work their way up to the bigger tournaments, the biggest of which is probably the US Open. The winner of the US Open could probably be considered our "national champion" although it is open to players from all parts of the world.

 

[ZeGerman]

Thx Masayoshi for ur reply. In the US, it seems its all about single player. I thought so, here in Germany its all about the team competition. As a amateur (and we all are here in Germany, except a handfull of semi-pros) u r forced to play in a team, a. to meet and play equivalent players in the league, according to ur skills and b. to play generally, coz the official single competition from the DBU (Deutsche Billard Union) is so marginal (3 tournaments) and we only have a handful of non-official tournaments from clubs or pool-halls that it is a must for any decent/good/strong players to play league. Its kinda funny, two big pool countries with contrary systems for the "mob" of pool-players.

 

[justadub]

And of course, as you can already see, you cannot be considered serious about pool here in the states if you dare play in a league... sheesh.

To the original point, sadly pool isn't terribly organized here in the states. At least as well as it could be, especially for the higher levels and pros. At least compared to what I read about in other parts of the world.