Golden Gate APA Pool League

Hours of Operation: Monday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Tuesday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Wednesday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Thursday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Friday 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Saturday Closed, Sunday Closed

Categories: Billiards

• Yahoo! User Reviews

1. 
   User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

   a Yahoo! Local User

   08/01/2007

   Not much fun-check other SF bar leagues instead: Here are the other bar-sponsored leagues in SF:
   http://www.sfpool.com San Francisco Tavern Pool Association (SFTPA) - a local non-profit league that has been in SF for 35 years $225 season.
   
   http://www.sfpapool.org/ (BCA league) A BCA-sanctioned league that has been in SF for over 30 years. I'm not certain of the cost, but I know it's in the league's bylaws on the site.
   
   I played in the local APA league in SF for many seasons, and my overall impression is that it is the worst of all the leagues currently operating in SF. The league has been in SF for only 4 years now, so it's the new kid on the block. Full dislosure: I was suspended from this league based on the accusation of cheating. There was absolutely no evidence presented to substantiate that claim. I will never play on this league again anywhere, and please read why other leagues in this city are better.
   
   The APA handicapping system doesn't work well, and when a team does well, people on other teams start accusing that team of cheating. Players with high handicaps are unfairly stacked against people who have very low handicaps. One scratch, and the lower-handicapped player is on the hill!
   
   I consider the APA to be closer to the Amway or McDonalds of pool leagues. It has high overhead for players ($6/week), and some of that money goes to a national office in St. Louis to pay for the franchise, instead of all of the money staying right here in SF.
   
   I've found the San Francisco Tavern Pool Association (SFTPA) to be the best league in SF: for the money, and for the fun. The SFTPA is also a non-profit pool league.
   
   Scorekeeping in the SFTPA is as easy as marking an x for the winner. Who wants to score a pool match like it's a baseball game (APA)? I want to have fun and meet other players, not perform complex administrative functions while having a beer or two and shooting...
   
   The only promise the APA gives is that 1 team out of all teams (30+) in a year of 3 seasons goes on to Las Vegas to play in a national team championship. You end up paying $6/person per week to play pool, which ends up being close to $1500 dollars a year! One other thing that bothered me about the APA, is that there is almost no down time between seasons. That's to keep the money coming in. I don't know about you, but I need some serious down-time at the end of a league season. I can't always be competing. It wears you out.
   
   The SFTPA (www.sfpool.com) is only $225/season, which adds up to $450 for a whole year of pool play. The SFTPA league has a free banquet, gives out free trophies (with your name on it!) to the top two teams in every division (there were at least 10 divisions last year), and gives out money in tournaments that are free to all eligible players. The APA, on the other hand, only gives out a plastic medal to the players who are on the first place team each season, then a 4" x 6" plaque to the division champ each season (no names on the individual player plaques), and a chance for teams to play in the city championship to determine the team that will represent SF in Las Vegas each year in the hot hot month of August!
   
   Any way you stack it, you're paying a lot of money for very long odds. I did, however, enjoy meeting the people on the APA. My problems have to do with the price and the structure.
   
   I will say that the BCA league in SF (sfpapool.org) also has a national office, so it's also a franchise league, but from what I see, the league's handicapping system is much fairer, and so is their board of directors.
   
   In the APA rule book, the local Board of Governors have no real power. Their responsibility is to help the league operator (the APA's thinly-veiled term for sole owner) and not to criticize him. Seriously! Read the book! Any decision appealed to the national office comes back with an unsigned vote of confidence for the local league's decision. In other words, the league is set up to

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2. 
   User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

   by hoolani

   02/26/2006

   good site very helpful: the site is very helpful would be nice if every score sheet for every match was also available to see how others faired that week

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