GBWBC's Weekly 8-ball League

How it works:  Teams of 4 players compete against each other in a series of 1-on-1 games. More

What's an alternate?  Can't commit to the entire season? Alternates are needed to substitute for regular players who are absent on occasion; alternates play for free.

Who may join:   Anyone who identifies as a woman may join. Beginners welcome!

Details: How the League Works

A pool league is composed of a set of teams that compete against each other during a weekly season. Our season will run for about 10 weeks. Teams can be composed of any number of players; we will attempt to form 8-12 teams of four players each. Because it's inevitable that a player will occasionally have to miss a night of league play, each team will also need to rely on alternates who are available to substitute in the event that a regular player is absent.

Every pool league has its own unique properties, but generally, here's how it works. Let's assume there are four teams in our league, called Team Alpha, Team Beta, Team Omega, and Team Sigma. Each team has four players (Alpha-1, Alpha-2, etc.). On each league night, all players on all four teams show up to play. A schedule determines which teams are competing against each other that night. For example, one night, Alpha team plays Beta, while Omega team plays Sigma. Play proceeds in rounds, such that every player on Team Alpha plays every other player from Team Beta once that evening (likewise, every player on Team Omega plays every other player on team Sigma that night). So, in ROUND ONE:

Alpha-1 plays Beta-1

Alpha-2 plays Beta-2

Alpha-3 plays Beta-3

Alpha-4 plays Beta-4

In ROUND TWO, each player on Team Alpha plays against a different player from Team Beta:

Alpha-1 plays Beta-2

Alpha-2 plays Beta-3

Alpha-3 plays Beta-4

Alpha-4 plays Beta-1

and so on, until Alpha-1 has played every player on Team Beta once. (Confused? Don't worry, we'll help you get the hang of it. Basically, there are four rounds of play with each player competing in a game each round.)   TOP

Scoring

It's not just whether you win or lose a game! Each game is scored and recorded on a scoresheet as follows: Every ball in your group (solid or striped) that you sink earns you one point. Winning the game is worth 2 points. Thus, if you sink all 7 of your balls, then legally sink the 8-ball, you earn 8 points, plus 2 for the win, for a total of 10 points. The losing player gets a score for that game equal to the number of her group of balls pocketed. Thus, the maximum score that the losing player can earn is 7 (all 7 of her balls were pocketed, but she failed to sink the 8-ball before her opponent).

Your team gets points based on the number of points earned by each player per round. For example, suppose the scores at the end of ROUND ONE were like this:

Alpha-1: 6 pts  Beta-1: 10 pts

Alpha-2: 10 pts  Beta-2: 5 pts

Alpha-3: 10 pts  Beta-3: 7 pts

Alpha-1: 3 pts  Beta-4: 10 pts

In this example, two Team Alpha players won their ROUND ONE games (Alpha-2 and Alpha-3), and two Team Beta players won their ROUND ONE games (Beta-1 and Beta-4). But the total team scores at the end of ROUND ONE are: Team Alpha (6 + 10 + 10 + 3) = 29 points;  Team Beta (10 + 5 + 7 + 10) = 32 points. Thus, Team Beta gets credit for winning ROUND ONE because their team total is higher than Team Alpha's team total. ROUND TWO starts next with player Alpha-1 pitted against Beta-2, Alpha-2 playing Beta-3, etc. (Again, don't worry if you're lost. It's much easier to learn this as you go than to learn it by reading a website. We'll learn it together.) Team standings are ultimately determined by accumulating rounds won. At the end of ten weeks the team with the best record is declared league champion.

The reason that scoring is so important is this: it's possible to lose games even if you are technically a stronger player. Likewise, it's possible to win games even if you are technically a weaker player. Keeping track of the number of balls you sunk, in addition to the number of games you've won, allows the league to assign every player an "average," and every team a "handicap." A handicap is a method to ensure that the stronger teams are not placed at too great an advantage over the weaker teams. Because skill level in pool can vary widely, a handicapping system is critical to making sure that play remains "fair." Now, every system of assigning handicapping is different from league to league. We'll use a system that is fairly simple. In fact, you don't have to worry about how your handicap is actually calculated (we'll teach you if you want to know); all you have to understand is how the handicap affects play. Read on!  TOP

How handicapping works

There are many different handicapping systems. The one we'll use works by dividing a player's total number of points by the number of weeks played, to compute each player's average. If Susan scored 10pts, 5pts, 7pts, and 7pts in her games during week one (total = 29) and 7pts, 10pts, 10pts, and 10pts in games on week two (total = 37), then her average is (29 + 37) divided by 2 weeks or 65 divided by 2 = 32.5. This is rounded up to 33. In contrast, suppose that Deb's average after two weeks is 31. Each player's average tells you their relative strength against one another. Players' averages are used to compute an overall Team Handicap. The first time Team Handicaps are applied is after two weeks' of league play (or 8 games per player). A team with a stronger Total Average (a higher handicap) "gives" the weaker team a small number of automatic points per round. This means that the stronger team must work harder to win a round from a weaker team. Why is this fair? This team handicapping system works by balancing two factors: the level of challenge a team experiences vs. the level of frustration a team experiences. No one likes to lose all the time (and often, an easy win is less satisfactory than a hard-fought win). If weaker teams had no chance at all against a stronger team, players would quickly drop out of the league--leaving the stronger teams with no league at all.   TOP

League Calendar 2008

All events held at the Boston Billiard Club.   Directions & Important Parking Info

All teams play each night with warmup from 6-6:45pm; Games begin promptly at 6:45pm; Alternates welcome to attend as spectators or to play informal "pickup" games if not playing as a substitute.

Jan 9th  Mandatory League Info & Exhibition Night

Jan 16th  Week One

Jan 23rd   Week Two

Jan 30th   Week Three (Handicapping first applied this week)

Feb 6th  Week Four

Feb 13th  Week Five

Feb 20th   Week Six

Feb 27th  Week Seven

Mar 5th  Week Eight

Mar 12th  Week Nine

Mar 19th  Week Ten

Mar 26th  Week Eleven

April 6th  Trophies & Award Ceremony

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League Standings 2008: FINAL

Team Standings are determined first by % of possible Round Points won; Ties are broken by % of Total Points and then by % of Games won.

Congratulations to Shar Mac, winner of the Top Gun award with an overall shooting percentage of 95%

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