We often hear rumors of things we have said or things we do, and it’s quite often a surprise to us…as the rumors are not necessarily true. Sometimes they are partially correct but just like the game “Whisper Down the Lane”, the truth gets altered as it is passed along. Sometimes the statements are indeed true, but more often than not, they are false. We wanted to take a moment to debunk a few of the most common myths spread…

* It doesn’t matter that our innings don’t match, Marni will just “average out” the inning count.

MEH-While innings don’t NEED to match, they should. If not, we DO NOT average them…we cannot tell you how we handle them but rest assured, we do not average them. So ya’all can stop padding innings.

* I didn’t win, the other player lost by scratching on the 8-it shouldn’t count as a win!

Well, it does-BUT, your opponent scratching or putting the 8 in out of turn/early is ALL taken into account when entering scores. This, among many other reasons, is why we still enter the scores manually.

* If I mark defense for my player, it will “subtract” an inning.

KINDA-While this is somewhat true, marking a defense does not have an immediate cause/effect. Marking defense gives us a better picture of how the match was played. It is also the best line of defense (pun intended) against “sandbagging” or a player who is attempting to run up innings.

* It doesn’t matter how long a match goes, the office can’t see that anyway.

WRONGO-the score sheet report we receive of your evening’s match not only includes a breakdown of every inning, defense, time out, score etc…we can see start and finish time of the evening, each match AND if we drop in LIVE, we can watch how long each player takes per turn.

* I’m going to call Marni/Doc and tell them that you’re sandbagging or to tell them what you did!

MOSTLY FALSE… while we get a lot of calls and texts weekly, you would be surprised at how few of them are actually about SLs or to “tattle” about a specific player or event.

* As long as I keep the match close, I cant “go up”.

FALSE AGAIN- as we stated earlier, we can see EVERYTHING, so if you are trying to “coast” through a match with just making it to the hill or getting to 8 points in 9 ball, we see that. In addition, there have been instances where players SL have increased on a loss…it CAN happen!

* I “went up” after having ONE good game.

Survey says….NOPE. While one game may have “pushed” your SL up, it is a series of good matches that put your SL at the top of the “bubble” to begin with.

* Their winning percentage is over 50%, they HAVE to be raised a SL.

NOT NECESSARILY- As we have told you all, time and time again, IT ISN’T IF YOU WIN OR LOSE, ITS HOWYOU WIN OR LOSE. For example, some 3s remain 3s for years because when they win, they win at the SL of a 3. They can have a great game here or there, but they can also have a terrible one. Your win percentage is a very SMALL aspect of your SL.

* If I just lose all of my matches, I will drop.

BIG FAT LIAR (and a cheater, but that’s for another post)- Absolutely not! The system reads HOW you win and lose, with your wins being far more prominent in the calculation of your SL. If the system focused in on your losses, EVERYONE would tank and be a 3 or 4…

* “Marni said”…

If you believe this, then you also believed that Ross and Rachel were on a break! 8 times out of 10, the person DID NOT EVEN SPEAK to Marni, let alone hear her say something. If you want the CORRECT and accurate response to something, ask Marni yourself…please do not believe what you are being told (unless from a division rep or Doc, LOL).

* DOC RAISED MY SL!

THE PRICE IS WRONG, BOB! Doc does skill level reviews on a weekly basis to keep an eye on play, but if you think he is sitting behind his desk with his “finger on the button”, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, he keeps a very detailed log of his sl findings and reviews players week after week.

* I Googled/AI’d the rule and this is what it said so it must be the rule!

Well, bless your heart…NO! Google and AI take bits and pieces of rules and put them together to give you a GENERALIZED answer. Ya know where you can find all of the rules in one handy-dandy location…THE APA RULE BOOK! It’s in the same place you find the scores, handicaps, standings etc…Oh, and the same place you used to search Google and AI-YOUR PHONE! Just tap the 3 little lines in the top left corner of your APA PoolPlayers app, choose “rules” in the menu and-TADA!

The moral of the story is-don't believe everything you hear!