HANDICAP SYSTEMS FOR =====---------- (8) BALL
D.E.Clegg
SYSTEMS SYSTEMS SYSTEMS
I've never played APA because of the lousy handicap system. The system
I have enjoyed most for eight ball was in a SLAP (South Louisiana
Association of Pool) League run by a retired fellow who loves pool. The
system is similar to VNEA but with a couple of unique and equalizing
changes.
In VNEA rules you get one point per stripe or solid made plus 3 points
for the eight ball. Losers are awarded points as well in a loss. In a
game where I win and the opponent has three balls left the score is 10 to 4.
In SLAP league the loser gets 0 points and the winner one point for each of
his opponents balls left on the table and 2 points for the eight ball. In
the same scenario above where I win, and the opponent has 3 balls left, the
score is 5 to 0. A runnout leaving 7 of your opponents balls on the table
gives you a 9 to 0 win.
Now here are some slight differences between these system. First off,
the awarding of 3 points in VNEA vs 2 points in SLAP for the eight ball is
probably better! Players that can win consistantly are awarded extra
points. This means I have fewer points to 'sandbag' with later because my
opponent gets a bigger handicap added to his score. Keeping it close means
I have to try harder later on in the season.
In VNEA I always get 10 points for winning! It doesn't matter if I
win 10 to 0 or 10 to 7, my average doesn't tell me how well I played whether
I lose by a large or small margin. Right now I am a 9 handicap in VNEA. A
few weeks ago I shot really great pool and scored 40 of 40 points, running
out several times. Last week I shot 'like garbage' missing shots and going
down to the 8 ball on a couple of matches. I still scored 40 points! My
average doesn't show the difference in how I played. In SLAP I would have
made 36 points on the good night and about 12 points on the 'bad' night.
The 'better' more consistant player might have made 36 and 30 maybe and he
would have a rightfully higher average than me.
No system I know of stops all sandbagging. There is a slight
'mental' advantage to the SLAP league system. In VNEA I can sluff off
beating my opponent 10 to 7 vs 10 to 0 thereby raising his average. In SLAP
I win 2 to 0 instead of 9 to 0, lowering my average. Different
methods.....same affect. Now for the mental part! For some reason it's
easier to still score 10 points and remain at the top of the heap than it is
to drop my average on purpose and have others pass me by! It may help the
team out but I still have my pride and want to be at the top of the pile!
Teams still carried point averages that were used as handicaps, but
individuals had some incentives not to sandbag such as the 'TOP GUN' award
(which was nice jacket) or the top 30% players got ALL-STAR tee shirts and
were eligible for end of session tournaments. Penalties were given against
teams who showed evidence of sandbagging subject to the discretion of the
league director. (points were added to that teams average) Also if teams
tied for any position 'in the money', the higher averaged team got the money
and the lower team got bumped down to the next position. This couldn't stop
all sandbagging but it put a HUGE dent in it!
In summary the VNEA system compressed the top players scores at the
top and the bottom varied a lot, whereas SLAP compressed the losers (0's) at
the bottom with a greater (and truer) difference at the top of the stack. I
don't know about you but I want to see differences between the players
magnified at the top vs the bottom. Now if I can just take the best of both
systems and merge them, we could make the game more competitive and
interesting!
DARWIN 8^)
dec...@eatel.net
http://www.eatel.net/~declegg/billiard.htm
Ken Bour
I implemented the NPL handicapping system (developed by Jewett, modified by
Shepard) for our individual 8-ball league. It is working out famously and I
will have a full report at the end of the season (2 more weeks to go). We
have a real horse race with 5-6 people out of 15 players (including me)
contending for the top spot. It will all come down to the last couple of
games. You can't ask more of a handicapping system than that! Oh, and we
eliminated the sandbagging problem rather easily. We allocated 40% of the
prize money to the top 6 finishers in the regular season with the remaining
60% going to the top 6 finishers in the playoff. As near as I can tell,
everyone is trying hard to win every match.
If you want some of the details of this system, visit
http://www.erols.com/kbour and follow the billiard links.
Ken Bour
Sterling, VA
D.E.Clegg wrote in message <352b0...@news.eatel.net>...