What makes a good league?

sharandrew

sharandrew

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What type of things do people like about a league. The features, events,style, trophies, payback, formats, tournaments benifits, prizes.??

What do other leagues do that people like?? i want your comments
 
sharandrew said:
What type of things do people like about a league. The features, events,style, trophies, payback, formats, tournaments benifits, prizes.??

What do other leagues do that people like?? i want your comments
Click to expand...
NO SANDBAGGING!!!! In order to keep this under control, the league operator(s) MUST be available to watch teams play throughout the season. If it's handicapped, it must be a reasonable HCP system and have a method to compute the numbers, not just be decided if a player wins/loses and if the operator thinks they should be higher or lower.

Just my 2 cents,
Zim
 
sharandrew said:
What type of things do people like about a league. The features, events,style, trophies, payback, formats, tournaments benifits, prizes.??

What do other leagues do that people like?? i want your comments
Click to expand...

I can tell you why I'm thinking about quitting league play.

Most leagues I think have satifatory formats and prizes and such. Some different than others, so you pick the one or more in your area that you like. What upsets me most, to the point of really getting upset is getting robbed. I guess I slow roll balls too much. On a 7 foot table, playing 8-ball you are working in close quarters, playing some very tight and precise position. I've got a plan, slow roll one to get perfect position to set up the rest of the run and BANG. Either the object ball rolls off and hangs or the que rolls off. You see the table gets moved every Friday and Saturday night for dancing or hasn't been leveled in two years or the rails haven't been replaced in 15 years and are dead. etc. etc.

I want to play in a league that has a requirement on the condition of the table.

JR
 
Good People Make A Good League

Did you ever bowl on a league? They got BLOOD BOWLERS. They spend 2 hours going over the score sheet to find a one pin mistake, even though they lost by 30 pins. There are a lot of people in pool leagues like that. I won't play with them. I am lucky, I work four evenings a week and I go eat crabs on the 5th. This keeps me away from the nits. I play pool on the weekends.
One pocket on Saturdays and in the basement on Sundays with whoever wants to come by. My wife also likes to play. If I can't just have fun, I don't want to play. So I have fun.
Purdman :cool:
 
A few thoughts

1) spectacular national event to look forward to through out the year. Makes for good conversation telling war stories from previous years and anticipating the upcoming event. Having a pro event at the nationals gives the opportunity to sweat some matches that some people would not get a chance to otherwise.

2) Keep matches short, the league I play in is 3 person teams so it works out to 9 games total. That usually gets over in say an hour or hour and a half. Some other leagues have 4 person teams which is 16 games total. That can go pretty late and many people need to work the next morning.

3) A league that has teams that will be solid for the entire season. There just is no good way to deal with teams that forfeit. That is unfair to all the teams in the league.

4) A good mix of men and women. A good handicap system encourages this.

5) I find when the prize money is mostly distributed based on personal wins at the end of the year as opposed to say sending a first place team to the nationals discourages stacking a “dream team” that sucks up most of the money for a trip. The down side to that is there is no dream team to represent your local league in the nationals.

6) A group of people that want to have fun!

7) a solid national organization.


Cheers
 
what makes a good league

breakup said:
A few thoughts

1) spectacular national event to look forward to through out the year. Makes for good conversation telling war stories from previous years and anticipating the upcoming event. Having a pro event at the nationals gives the opportunity to sweat some matches that some people would not get a chance to otherwise.

2) Keep matches short, the league I play in is 3 person teams so it works out to 9 games total. That usually gets over in say an hour or hour and a half. Some other leagues have 4 person teams which is 16 games total. That can go pretty late and many people need to work the next morning.

3) A league that has teams that will be solid for the entire season. There just is no good way to deal with teams that forfeit. That is unfair to all the teams in the league.

4) A good mix of men and women. A good handicap system encourages this.

5) I find when the prize money is mostly distributed based on personal wins at the end of the year as opposed to say sending a first place team to the nationals discourages stacking a “dream team” that sucks up most of the money for a trip. The down side to that is there is no dream team to represent your local league in the nationals.

6) A group of people that want to have fun!

7) a solid national organization.


Cheers
Click to expand...


good handicap system seems to be a common thread

looking for the best (FAIR) 8 ball handicap system

do you have any?


thanks
 
i think the handicap system is most important ! the league i play in seems to have a good mix of players.it runs 4 nights a week durring the winter.monday night is a 'c' league basicaly for beginners and not so serious players.last winter tues. night was set up for BCA members who where more qualifed and interested in playing in national events. wed. night is a 'b' league and is compromised of more qualified players but is more of a fun night.thurs evening is a 'draft' league that draws a good mix of mostly 'b' players that are drafted by the most qualified players and makes for a very competetive night.except for tues. the other nights run a handicap system that the convener has developed and seems very fair and ,i might add ,is continually fine tuned.the convener seems to have a real handle on things, even though he has his hands full, it runs very smoothly in my opinion.the proof is in the pudding. the top place teams rarely (if ever)have won the playoffs. it's a real crap shoot !!!!!
 
Camaraderie is important. I also like to have league payouts on the final night of the league season.
 
League

A system I have been using...
4 player teams/everyone plays everyone once/ there could be a tie!...thats good!/ team matches race to 8...if a tie happens, a playoff is needed..two players are selected BEFORE the entire match begins...a player can only be listed on the Playoff spot no more than 49% of the matches between the teams(this means that your best player cannot play in all of the matches tied!)
My payoff 's...$6 per week fee...$2 goes to individual player games won...$2 goes to trophies/etc. .... $1 goes to a special players playoff tourney at the end of the season at the "PAYOFF PARTY"...
...and $1 goes toward drawings for prizes at the payoff party!
here's another thing...the teams beginning the next season are "SEEDED" ...since most teams have the same players every season, the top 6 teams go into the same division, then the next six are seeded..then the next. etc. this way the worst teams in the league
have a chance at getting two teams in the playoffs every two years!
...probably more info than you wanted....
 
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sharandrew said:
What type of things do people like about a league. The features, events,style, trophies, payback, formats, tournaments benifits, prizes.??

What do other leagues do that people like?? i want your comments
Click to expand...

We have events, awards tournaments just for the league members. We also have a services network where people who need something done, electric,plumming,baby sitting etc... members are encouraged to uses other members for these services....
 
sharandrew said:
What type of things do people like about a league. The features, events,style, trophies, payback, formats, tournaments benifits, prizes.??

What do other leagues do that people like?? i want your comments
Click to expand...

League is for fun, a little competition and seeing friends for me. Comraderie is part of that too. The sandbagging is not a real big issue for me. It just means I have to try harder to win.

I guess I have only two or three complaints:

Sometimes it is very late before a person gets to play.

In APA, a person does not typically get to play very many games, which makes it a very short race, as opposed to NH, where you get to race to 7 or more or 5 in the loser's bracket. Even two 7s only race to 5 in league play.

In BCA, here, you get to play five games, but it is play one, sit, play another, which is not much better IMO, just different.

I would like to do away with the coachings, except for sl2s who are just learning to play. LOL

If it were my decision, I would like to see longer races (except for sl2s) and a little better organization so that the play does not have to go so late.

But then, I am not in charge, so just try to take things as they are and enjoy the situation.

The NH events are there if I want to compete in them, so really, have no right to complain much,at least where I live.

Laura
 
One thing the league did in our area, was give away a brand new Nissan truck. All league members from the past year had a chance (ticket) and the winner was selected last week.

Rick
 
-Play on two or more tables (Some leagues insist on playing on only one table so you are there longer and the business makes more money on food/drinks. These are profit oriented leagues - 12 or 1 PM on a week night is too late...).

-Play every player on the opposing team (round robin).

-Good handicap system which does not encourage sandbagging.

My experience with APA - no telling if I will lose or win looking at a player's skill level. I have seen some skill level 2's (low) who could give Effrin a run for his money! (Sandbaggers...)

My experience with BCA - it is usually predictable that I will win against a lower skill level, and lose against a higher skill level. (The stats are accurate.)

I think it is best to play in *all* different leagues in your area once, just so you know what is good/bad.
 
leagues

First and foremost ... so everyone can have fun ... is a

1) Good handicap system ... remembering that lower handicaps have a greater margin for improvement than higher handicapped players (they have pretty well reached the peak of their game). I have played many leagues, and the league with the most discernable scoring system is the fairest, and in my opinion, that is the BCA system, from 1 to 60 for 4 player teams, and 1 to 75 for 5 player teams is the fairest. The subtle differences are recognized, whereas in APA (1 to 7) or Valley (1 to 13) those subtle differences are not recognized so much.
There is a big difference between a Valley 8.1 and a 8.4 but both are an 8 handicap, but in BCA one might be a 40 and the other a 44. I have seen 10's or 11's in Valley spot other 10's or 11's the 7 ball playing 9 ball in money games, and that should not be the case if it is a fair handicapping system. Of course, you always have sandbagging where the best player wins, just not with a big score, so he can keep his handicap down.

I think that the best 1 stop tell all barometer for a skill level would be a player's 10 ball average with at least 2 sessions under his belt. With the rating system going up to 300, like bowling, and with playing time under his belt, it shows the overall skill and problem solving abilities of the player by his rating, i.e., a 180, or 224, or a 258, or a 276.

Personally, I rate players 1 to 12 with one decimal place for 9 ball, with 12 being Efren Reyes. If I hit upon 2 players both being a 10.4, for instance, I then try to go to a second decimal place in order to determine which of the two is the better player, i.e., joe is a 10.42, tommy is 10.48, therefore bet on Tommy to win, and might be decided by something like Tommy breaks better and has a 1 ball shot more times than Joe, or Tommy is more accurate with 2 and 3 rail banks than Joe is. Some guys are better tournament players than money players, but I believe the skill rating for money is the truest rating.



2) The payback ... New players like trophies, seasoned players do not (they already have 2 big boxes of them stored away somewhere). Everyone likes to get their league money back or more at payback though ... The top players in the league count on making money by playing league, especially if they are not employed. We need leagues with substantial paybacks, so the 'SemiPro' level of player can be recognized and rewarded in the USA.

I now play in a 'Classic' league, which is BCA sanctioned, and the league sponsor, Southrock Billiards in Wichita, Ks., has a mid-session tournament after 7 weeks where they put up $1900 of their own money for the tournament, and 1st place takes home $1,000 (4 player team). Plus they have an end of session tournament where 1st place takes home $500. These are in addition to the normal league payouts, which 1st place takes $550 to $700 home for league play. The handicaps range from 1 to 60, and any team can win. 90% handicap system between difference of team handicaps. The mid and end of session tournaments are played over a weekend.

Going to Nationals is fun and exciting, but most teams that go do not have a chance at placing, and it just serves them to find out just how good some teams are, and there are a lot of good teams at Nationals. You can not go to Nationals with a mediocre team and expect to do well, it won't happen. You have to be good, not just for your town but really good, and play very solid, every member, for you to have a chance at placing decently in the National tournament. No one enjoys spending $600-$1,500 per person going to Nationals only to go 2 and out ...
 
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