The Season

 

All games will be played on Tuesday evenings at 8:00pm.  Each team plays against all others in the league once – half of the games will be played at the team’s sponsor, the other half are away games.  Competing teams play ten games in two Rounds of five.  Results are recorded for team play and individuals with prizes awarded for both categories.

At the end of the season, the four teams with the Highest Averages will compete in a two-round playoff to determine the League Champions. If there is a tie for the fourth position, whichever team had won in head-to-head matches in the regular season will advance.  If the teams are still tied, then total wins in three tie-breaking games will decide. The tie-breaking weeks are weeks  6, 9 and 12.

The Individual Championship has three Rounds and is comprised of eight players: four with the Most Total Wins placed first - and four with the Highest Averages;  not including those already placed.  Ties will be broken based on total wins in the tie-breaking games listed above.  Individuals in the playoffs are not allowed to ask for assistance or coaching and no one is to assist them in any manner.

Total Wins includes Wins by Default.  Averages do not include games won by default. 

Substitutes are not permitted in the playoffs.  In order to play in the Individual Playoffs,  a player must have played a minimum of half of the games during the regular season.  To be eligible to play on a team in the Team Playoffs,  a player must have played a minimum of 12 games during the regular season. 

The Teams' Semi-Finals and Individuals' Quarter and Semi-Finals are played on the Tuesday following the end of the regular season.  Teams play one round for the best of ten games.  Individuals play two rounds of the best-of-three.

The Final games are played on the Tuesday following the Semi-Finals.  The two final Teams play best-of-ten games.  The two final individual players play best-of-five.

In the event of a tie between teams, the winner will be determined by one "Sudden Death" game.  Each Captain will choose which player will participate in the tie-breaker.  In sudden death games and individual matches competing players “lag for the break”: shoot an Object ball from the Head String against the Foot rail.  The player whose ball comes to rest closest to the Head Rail (without hitting a side rail) will break. In individual playoff matches, the break alternates after the lag.

The location of the Championship games will be announced. Playoff brackets will be seeded 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3.  Teams with the better average in the regular season will be considered “home teams”.  See Playoffs for brackets and seeding.

 

Teams and Players

Each team must have at least five members and as many as eight.  All team members must play exclusively for one team in the League.  One member will serve as team Captain; a second may be appointed Acting Captain for cases when the former is unavailable.  The Captain will set the line-up, monitor all games, advise players, enforce League rules and sign the Weekly Lineup forms for both teams and report results.

To reduce the number of possible forfeitures, each team may name one Substitute player during the season.  The Substitute may take the place of any member for one night only.  A Substitute may not be a member of any other team, but may play for any team once - except in the playoffs.  The substitute rule will be enforced beginning in week 4 of the season, so captains may make adjustments to team rosters in the first three weeks.

Final team rosters must be submitted to the League President by the third week.  Permanent Replacements may be permitted any time during the Season if members find they are not able to complete the season.  Captains must inform the President of the replacement before the new player participates.

Regular Season Format

The League schedule alternates when games are played "Home" and "Away" by each team.

Tables should be closed to non-members at least one hour prior to game time to allow both teams time to practice.  Players should enter their names on the board as they would when playing at any other time.

Each week, opposing teams (Visitors vs. Home) play two Rounds of five games.  The team Captains select their members to play one game per Round.  In Round #1, the Home Captain fills the team's lineup first.  In Round #2, the Visiting Captain goes first.

For all games in Round #1, the Home player racks and the Visiting player breaks.  Players should be ready to play when their games begin.  If a player is not immediately available to play in the order of the lineup, then the next game will be played and the skipped game will play at the end of the Round.  If the original player is still not available, then the Captain may name another team member to play in his stead — if he had not already played.

In Round #2, the Visiting player racks and the Home player breaks.  All rules from the previous paragraphs apply.

A Substitute may also be played if the team had not already used one during the season.  In lieu of Substitutes, if after a five-minute wait, the original player is still not available,  then the game is forfeited.  Forfeited games are not considered Lost; they are simply not played.  The opposing team and player get a Win-by-Default - which counts in the Total Wins but not in the Averages

Substitutes are players who are not listed as a member of any other team.  A substitute may play for any team once (that is, up to two games in one evening). A substitute may fill-in for different teams during the season, but only once for any one team.     It is the responsibility of the Captains to know whether their teams had used a once-a-season Substitute.  If the team uses a second Substitute, those games will be marked as Lost.  This rule is applied beginning in week 4. 

If both teams are short a player, the Captains must match the absent players against each other.  Therefore, there will be four real games played and the last will be skipped.  There cannot be a forfeiture by both teams.

Rescheduling : If a team is unable to play at the scheduled time or location, the Captains may determine an alternate time and place to play those games. Please notify the President in such event.  In the event of a hurricane or other emergencies, the League President may postpone or cancel scheduled games. If a team's sponsor goes out of business, closes for remodeling, etc., it is the team's captain responsibility to make arrangements with another venue to complete the season and notify the League President of the change.  The President must approve of any such changes.  The new venue must agree to abide with League procedures and the change must not disrupt other teams in the League.  If the team cannot find a new suitable venue for its remaining home games, those scheduled home games will be subject to the "failed" team procedure below.   

Failed teams:  Teams that fail to have at least three players present for two consecutive weeks, or fail to have at least three players present for any four weeks during the season, will be considered "failed" and removed from the league.  If a team "fails" before half of the scheduled games are played, the results for that team as well as the results of any opposing teams and players will be removed from the records. If a team "fails" in the second half of the season, the failed team's results are removed from the records -- any opposing teams' and players' results will remain in the records, and any future opponents will be given 10 wins by default (the captain will decide how to allocate the individual wins by default among that team's players).  Sponsors of failed teams will not be able to sponsor a team in the league for the following two seasons -- this sanction may be waived at the League President's discretion.

Home  |  Standings  |  Sponsors  |  Schedule  |  Season  |  Rules  |  Playoffs