Why do you play in your pool league?

Mikey Town

Mikey Town

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Is it for fun and relaxation?
Is it because you want (or need) to win?
Do you only have fun while you are winning, or are you able to have a good time with your friends/teammates regardless of the outcome of the matches?

I am in a BCA league with a few friends... It's bar box 8-ball, only 7 teams in the league. I joined so I could spend one night a week having some fun with a good group of friends. We are a fairly strong team that has a pretty good chance to win the league, but that doesn't mean all that much to me. Splitting $1500 between 5-6 people for a league win doesn't exactly get my "juices flowing," if you know what I mean. Over the course of 12 weeks, and after paying $10/week, it kind of turns into pocket change in the grand scheme of things.

I digress...

The reason that I bring up the question is because a couple of my teammates are really competitive (one more so than the other) and they place their main focus on winning. When this was brought up in conversation, I was told that "winning is fun" so when we win, they do have fun. I said something along the lines of "Anyone can have fun when they win, but your true character shows when you loose." I was then met with a very clever response of, "No it doesn't."

The thing is... these guys are pool players. For me, pool is what I do when I am not on the golf course, so it's not my primary competitive outlet. Maybe that is why we feel differently about this. However, if I loose on the golf course, I'm still able to have a good time, so maybe we just aren't on the same page when it comes to this.

I would love to get the forum's take on this and see why you all play in the pool leagues that you are a part of. Is winning really that important to you, or is it an added bonus to the good time you are already having?


Looking forward to your thoughts...
 
I enjoy playing pool under most any circumstances. The reason I like league pool is because it gives me the opportunity to enjoy the company of other players and to provide a yardstick by which I can measure my own ability. Winning is more satisfying than losing for me, but losing doesn't affect my mood. I am more affected by my mistakes and bad performance than by what my opponent does. I can always appreciate a good performance no matter who the performer is.
 
Someone once said that because I don't like barboxes I couldn't have any cueball control and would get owned on the little tables. I joined league only to prove the point that he was mistaken. Before that I had never played in it.

When I played I felt the competitive urge to win every single game. I didn't expect that, I thought I would be able to just relax and shoot some pool with friends but my division was full of drama, hate, and rivalries. Still, I enjoyed the atmosphere of it, well, the part of it that was about pool at any rate.

I'm taking this year off as of right now but I may change my mind and sub-in for friends if and when they need an extra player. It would be nice if I had more time for league but it's not at the forefront of my life right now.
 
It is both the competition, and the fun, for me.

I really enjoy myself on league night, we have a pretty good bunch of people that play here, and I enjoy my teammates a whole lot.

Still, I love the competition. I want to win, and am disappointed when we don't. I am usually far more upset when I lose, than my teammates, as I have my own expectations for myself. At the end of the night, if we don't win, I get over it rather quickly, but I do intend on trying to win.

I think I'm fortunate that our league here gets along with each other as well as we do. Are there flare ups occasionally, sure, but for the most part things go smoothly. It is a fun night out for me, regardless if we win or lose.
 
Fun

I like the competition and a night out of the house to drink beer and BS with my little brother and buddies. I had a couple buddies who wanted to stay in the doubles league because it paid out a little more. I told them if they were playing league for the payout, they were stupid. We spend exponentially more on drinks than what could be recouped from the payouts. It's for fun and competition.
 
I enjoy getting out and playing new people, but also you have to have weeks in to play most tournaments. So I strulggle through to qualify for tourneys.
 
I play league because I like to play pool but I also really like the competition. I dont get angry when I lose or do I get overly excited when I win.
 
I play to have fun but I do play to win. The league aspect of the APA in which I play is geared towards the armature player. But I will say people do play on a very serious side of pool and only want to loose and are bad looser. Its something we all have to deal with. It’s the sandbaggers in the league that change the dynamics of the game because they try and manipulate the system which intern changes the way people win and loose which effects if the game is supposed to be fun or competitively. APA BCA TAP what every you choose it's a good night out with people that is supposed to be your friends and a good night for all. We are not going to be professionals anytime soon so do the best you can with what you got and remember there are people out there who have big dreams and when those dreams are crushed by a lower ranked player people get upset.
 
My thoughts have been expressed here already. Fun, night with the guys (and gals), the competition, the tourneys, chances to get to Vegas. I play two nights a week and both are "in house" leagues. So, your in a place packed with your friends who all have the same interests as you. I don't get mad when I lose, really it's just more embarrassing. I only get mad when I play like a donkey.
 
I play pool league because I like the competition, and there are no pool halls around here, only bars. If I am going to play in a bar there might as well be rules involved.
 
I play because it gives me a chance to be with friends that I wouldn't normally see if we didn't play league. Don't get me wrong, we are highly competitive and have that in common. But we also have a fondness for one another that transcends the game. Of the 8 players on the team, 4 of us have tables at home. There is usually a game to be had on any given weekend at one of the houses.

The results speak for themselves. We have a yearly tournament at a large pool hall located about 50 miles away that is 32 teams and single elimination. Tough format. Best 3 of 5 matches handicapped. The last four years we have finished 3rd, 3rd, 2nd and won it this year. It is a grueling weekend that starts on Friday night and finishes late Sunday night. Is it worth it? You bet.

The core four of us also play other tournaments together and really enjoy doing so. League is a way for us to keep in stroke and to remind ourselves weekly why we do this...for the love of the game. With that in common, everything else just falls in to place.

Regards
 
I've always been a competitive person. I blew out knees playing football and baseball, I blew out ankles playing volleyball, so then I started playing pool. Only now can I admit that I'm in it purely for the girls
 
I used to love playing leagues, and have captained many a team. But have become disillusioned over the last several years by officials that will not enforce clear rule violations, will enforce made up rules to better their position in the division standings, and in general put their and their team's interest or agendas above that of the league as a whole.

In the last 10 years, I have watched a once vibrant women's league that had 3 divisions and over 30 4-6 women teams, dwindle to 3 teams league-wide last year. After last year's drama, I would be shocked to see a league at all this year. No one wants to play on this league anymore...far too much BS and back-stabbing.

I am toying with playing in a BCAPL 9-ball league this year, but am still undecided.

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 4
 
I've been playing pool for about 26 years (since I was maybe 16 or so), I have only been playing in a national league for less than 3 years, the last 3.

Several reasons, most leagues are travel leagues that play on crappy bar tables which I had no intrest in. The things I have heard about leagues was mostly about funny rules, cheating players, sandbagging, etc...

I started playing in the league I am in now because of my son, and also because I found a great room and league operator and league that I fit in with. The whole reason I even went to that new room was because the all ages room I played in with my son closed down and I searched for a junior league for him, found one that was the APA. After a year, the league operator dumped the APA due to low support for the juniors and other players and went to the USAPL league. The rules were called shot, no crap about marking a pocket, you don't even need to point to a pocket if it's obvious where you were playing it. Scorring was based on real rules, you win the game, you get the most points. Make one shot to sink the 9, you get 14 pts, loser gets 8 for the rest. In APA, you make the 9, you get 2 points. It's not straight pool.

That's what brought me into league play, plus I get to play wiht my son in the league in a Masters division which is invitation only so no a-holes get in (usually hehe), and it's pretty much all B players which means there is no watching two D- players bat 3 balls around the table for 30 minutes to finish a game.
 
I play in league because I enjoy playing pool. It is indeed a level of competition and I take it seriously, but it is also my one night a week I am allowed out late to have a few beers and socialize.
My other table is time is 2 hour sessions a couple days of the week and I try to have that time void of any socializing and just practice.
 
Thanks for all of the responses... please keep them coming!

I'm in the same boat as prewarhero. While I am playing league, I always give 100% and try to win. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't, but I don't let it spoil my mood either way... I still have a good time.

Our last league session, we were able to squeak out a win against a pretty good team. I think the final score was something like 151-146 (BCA 8-Ball). After the matches were all over, I heard one of my teammates saying that they weren't very happy about it because we should have won by more.

Heck... in my book, a win is a win... regardless of the margin. I get that total points count for season standings, but our primary goal (on the pool table) is to beat the team we are playing, right? We did that... but it still wasn't good enough.

I don't know... Maybe this team just isn't a good fit for me.
 
League is a social thing for me. It's nice to get a bunch of friends, who all live maybe 20-40 minutes away,
in one room so they can all shoot the shit and hang out and practice with each other.
And you make some new friends and meet many people in the league. You get on a first name basis
with pretty much every regular in that pool hall.

I don't care about the money at all, either the weekly fee or the chance to win prize money.
The weekly fee is so small that unless you're basically homeless and unemployed,
you shouldn't sweat it. I'm baffled by people who get an attitude over 8 or 10 dollars.
The session prize money is a long shot and not exactly life-changing so who cares?
And vegas sounds horribly overrated.

Having structured competition is good for me too. I don't really seek it out otherwise.
 
I always bring my best game so I suppose I play to win. That said, I look to have fun and get a chance to compete. I've always been a competitive person and those juices don't get flowing much anymore; this provides an outlet.

If you aren't enjoying the team you play on, look for another one. That may or may not solve the problem. It's rare that everyone on a team has the same set of values. I was fortunate enough to be part of one for about 5 years. When it dissolved, I missed it but the game lives on.

Brian in VA
 
I ask myself this not only every season, but every play night.

It comes down to both: 1. I really like my teammates, and 2. I really like annual summer vacations in Vegas for the BCA Nationals.

We're a strong team of seasoned tourney players in a league of mostly bar players who are only there for the laughs and the booze. And for the drama. The endless petty he said she said namedrop namedrop what's the rule on that pool is supposed to be fun let's call the Board we need another vote and we demand a rematch praise the league president you guys just don't know how to have fun freaking drama.

We found when we took a season off, though, that we just didn't get out together anymore. So we're back, doing it again.

If my team ever started in-fighting, or if the BCAPL Nationals changed to a date where I couldn't get to go, I'd quit league in a mobile minute.
 
I have a standing weekly pool night with a friend from work. Never the same place 2 weeks in a row, sometimes a quiet hall on some oversize 8 gold crowns, sometimes we play the big tables a few hours and then go mix it up on a bar box somewhere, sometimes just in my basement with my 9 footer. We get started about 5:00 pm and sometimes get kicked out when they close at 2:00 am. So we get at least 6 hours and up to 8 or 9 hours of pool in. No politics, no paperwork, no handicaps, no waiting around, no whining, no BS...just pool, beer and a cheeseburger...and maybe some tequila.

I have no real desire to join a league.
 
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