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/