First Place after Six Weeks of Spring Session

Actually we were in first after five weeks, but there were three teams tied for that honor. We played one of the teams this week, the second time we have faced them this APA Spring session. This team came in first during the recently concluded Fall session, a solid 10 points or more above the second place team.

We met the second week of this session and managed to take 3 of 5 matches and I was hoping, though not expecting (since we where visiting their location and shooting on their tables), to match that score and go one point up in the standings. Well, they had an off night and our team was clicking. We took 5 of the 5 matches to go five points up in the standings! (This was our second 5-0 week this session, after an easy match against a new team last week.)

So, if the third first place team took all five of their matches against whoever they were playing there would be a two-way tie for first. After the match I dropped by the Brass Rail to drop off the score sheet and weekly dues. Low and behold, the other team was playing there against one of the better teams in the league. The other first place team dropped 4 of 5, so we are currently alone in first place. Of course, next week we just happen to play against the team that took four matches against a strong team, so we'll see what happens. It is only six weeks into a seventeen week schedule, but it feels real good to be in first.

I managed to catch the last match at the Brass Rail. The match had two S/L 6s in a race to five wins for the match. Ryan, captain of the other team that was tied for first before the evening began, took a 3-2 lead and broke for the sixth game. The 8-ball went in on the break, unfortunately the cue ball ended up halfway across the venue. Match was now 3-3 with Peter breaking. Peter broke and ran the table, match 4-3 Peter. Ryan won the next game, so it came down to the last possible game, which Peter took to take the point. All in all a great match.

On a personal level, during my match against an S/L 3 who normally wins quite often, I played fairly lousy pool. We had already won four matches, so there was some pressure to win for the sweep. Sue managed a good run to get to the 8-ball, but unfortunately (for her) scratched on her shot. I managed to take the next two games on my own merit to win the match, but it was hardly my best shooting.

I have (jinx) managed to win my first four matches this session against a 5, 6, 2 and 3 in that order. After winning against the 6 I had a suspicion that my S/L might go up, but when I looked at the roster the next match my S/L dropped to a 3! Wow, it was a blow to my ego, but having a 3 on the roster actually makes it easier to match up players and keep the S/L total for the match to 23 or less.

Hope you have a great week shooting pool or enjoying your favorite activity.

A Quick Overview of the APA

The American Poolplayers Association (APA) bills itself as the governing body of amateur pool. I can not say one way or the other, but I can vouch for their slogan "Have Fun, Meet People, Play Pool." Over the past 13 months I have been doing all three. If you enjoy playing pool and want to try a more "competitive" and organized environment I recommend it.

To make playing more competitive for all levels and fun for all the APA has a system for handicapping players based upon their record in the league. The more matches you play the more accurate your Skill Level (S/L) should become.

In APA 8-ball leagues the Skill Levels range from a low of 2 to a high of 7. Players new to APA will start off with an S/L that the majority of players of the same gender play at: men start at an S/L of 4 and women start at 3.

Each team has a roster of five to eight players and five players on the team shoot in a given match. The team standings depend upon how many of the five matches your team wins each week.

So, each week your team plays another team in the league, which normally has six to twelve teams. Each of the five players shooting on a given night plays a match against a player on the other team. The number of games a player needs to win in order to take the individual match depends upon his or her S/L and that of his/her opponent. For example, I had been playing at an S/L of 4 and my opponent was an S/L 6. I needed 3 games to win the match (and a point for the team) and he needed 5 games to win the match.

One final APA rule before I end this post. The APA has a S/L limit of 23 for each team during a match. In other words, the total of the five players who play on a given night for your team can not exceed 23 points. Let's say that a team only had five players show up for a match and their skill levels were 7, 7, 6, 6 and 4. On this night they could send up a maximum of four players with skill levels of 7, 6, 6 and 4 for a total of 23 S/L points. If the other team was able to field five players with an S/L total of 23 or less they would win the fifth match by forfeit.

For more info on the APA go to: http://www.poolplayers.com/

Why am I doing this???

Well, there are some neat and unique pool-related blogs floating around. There's OMGWTF and Fast Mikie for starters. FastMikie has some excellent tips and videos on playing the game and getting in quality practice time, and OMGWTF is just a pool junkie.

I am approaching this blog from the prospective of a long-time pool shooter who has been playing APA league pool for about a year. I started APA play on January 22, 2008 - I remember the date distinctly for two reasons: 1) I had been at Side Pockets consuming brews and shooting pool for about five hours consuming large glasses of Samuel Adams and shooting pool at a work-related "team" meeting when some members of a team that was playing that night asked if I wanted to join their team, and 2) it was three or more hours later when my match started. By then I was ready to call it a night and it showed in my shooting.

For the last three sessions - including this one that started several weeks ago - I have been the team's captain. While this is an honor (that apparently no one else on the team wants) it is frustrating and nerve racking. Frustrating in getting players to show and trying to match them to opposing players in hopes of attaining the most wins for the evening. Nerve racking in watching the matches take place and seeing shots missed that during practice the player would normally make without thinking about it.

This blog will follow my efforts to play better, smarter pool and to lead the team on to victory. Also I will cover some of the rules and tribulations of playing in an APA league.

The team I joined and now coach has Slop Shots as its name, which may have been appropriate when it was founded many years ago, but now seems a bit demeaning considering the infrequency of sloppy shots we make.

Anywho, the first session I was on the team I ended up winning half of the matches the team won and got to play in the Top Gun tournament as a level 3. Actually, half way through my match against a level 5 player the League Operator got on the PA system and announced that I was moved to a level 4. Not that it mattered - I won one game and lost the match. One consolation was that the guy that beat me ended up coming in first place.

The team placed last in the league of 11 teams that first session, around 18 points behind the 10th place team. The Summer 2008 session we missed first place by one point, came in second place in the Summer playoffs and qualified for the Local Team Championship so we were all psyched!

More later ...