[POOL] Argonne Pool League Items

[Paul Hovland]

Probably too late to chime in, but here's my two cents anyway…

-I'd rather use the "practice" table for makeup matches, or to complete current week matches earlier.  Once all of the official matches are complete, all of the tables can be used for practice, which helps eliminate the problem of highly skilled players dominating a single practice table.

-Reducing handicaps would be at best a temporary fix, and one that disproportionately favors the high-handicap players.  A more effective strategy would be to adjust the handicap tables, if there's evidence that some range of handicaps is being disadvantaged by the current tables, or in order to come up with a new set of tables where the expected value of the number of games is reduced.  I would be loathe to do this, since a lot of careful analysis went into the current tables, and they seem to work well.

-I think that some monitoring of the pace of play of the 2:2 matches would be more effective than setting a hard upper limit of an hour.  I know that I and some other low handicap players can be somewhat deliberate in our pace.  Maybe bring out the egg timer for any matches where the first two games require more than 40 minutes?  Just making people aware of their pace should be enough….

Paul

On Feb 1, 2013, at 6:03 PM, Roger Sersted <rs1 at aps.anl.gov> wrote:

> 
> 
> John Valdes wrote:
>> From the League's Fearless Leader.  Any comments on any of the issues
>> raised in his email?  Speaking for myself:
>> 1) I don't mind the practice table being used as a "make-up" table, as
>>   I never use it for practice anyway.
> 
> I stopped using the practice table a long time ago.  It was always the winner keeps playing and loser goes back in line.  I'd end-up playing a 100+ handicap, get maybe 3 shots and I'm done.  Using it for make-up games is fine by me.
> 
>> 2) Likewise, I don't mind the length of matches, but I'm OK too with
>>   making them shorter.  I don't think reducing handicaps by 10% would
>>   make much of a difference, but I'm not opposed the suggestion.
> 
> The only effect this will have is in a few cases turn a 10:1 match into a 9:1.  I don't think it's that much of a difference in time/ratio.  However, if applied to an 8:1 going to 7:1, that, IMHO, is a significant advantage to the higher ranked player.
> 
>> 3) I don't like the idea of a 1 hr cap on 2:2 or 3:2 matches; they
>>   should go as long as needed.  Don't think any of our 2:2/3:2
>>   matches have gone (much) beyond 1 hr.
> 
> Bad idea.  This rarely happens and people should be allowed to play.
> 
> Roger S.
> 
> 
>> John
>> ----- Forwarded message from Kevin Beyer <beyer_k at aps.anl.gov> -----
>> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 16:54:44 -0600 (CST)
>> From: Kevin Beyer <beyer_k at aps.anl.gov>
>> Subject: Argonne Pool League Items
>> Hello, All,
>> A few people pointed out that there were some discrepancies with handicaps and/or wins for their teams.  I have gone through each and every score sheet, reviewed each and every match, and I have found where I made mistakes.  So, everything is now up to date and accurate.
>> All previous make up matches were completed last week.  Three new make up matches are now in need of completion from last week.
>> There has been a concern reported to me regarding matches taking too long and that the practice table is no longer a practice table, but rather a Make Up Match table.  I am open to suggestions as to how we can rectify this.
>> There has been a suggestion that all of the handicaps be reduced by 10%.  This may have the result of bumping people down by one bracket in the match tables.  Doing that might shorten the length of several matches.
>> There has been a suggestion that no 2:2, or 3:2, match should be allowed to run longer than 1 hour.
>> I welcome feedback for these issues.
>> Kevin
>> ----- End forwarded message -----