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Changes for 2007 2nd season

At the end of last season, the pool league committee met along with their advisors, to discuss the various issues and potential changes for the new season coming up. The following is the result of that meeting.

New season start
The new season is due to start on Wednesday 1st August with the preliminary Cup round, followed on Wednesday 8th August by the first round of the Cup

New division arrangement
Assuming teams that have committed to participating do so, there will be 5 divisions of 8 teams each in the new season. However, a change to last season is that the top 2 divisions will be of equal standing and divided and named by the type of table used. Essentially in Hua Hin, there are 2 types of pool table in use; the 'American style' table with large balls and pockets, and the ‘snooker style' table with smaller balls and pockets -these will be called Pool and Snooker tables respectively to differentiate them. Examples of the Pool tables are at Lucky Shot and Johnnie Walker, while typical examples of Snooker tables are at Jungle Juice and U-Turn. There are some tables that are slight hybrids such as P & P, but they are and will be defined by the size of ball and pocket (in the case of P & P as Pool).

Promotion and relegation
The two top divisions will not have any movement between them at the end of each season (unless the table is changed by the bar), but the division below (3rd) can promote into the relevant division based on type of table, This will be on a slightly ad hoc basis initially though as it will completely depend on the outcome of the 3rd Division, and it is possible that there will not be a team qualified to promote to one or other of the top leagues (for example if the top 4 places are occupied by teams all with one type of table). There will also be relegation and promotion between the other divisions, which will be 2 up 2 down. In all divisions, to cater for team dropouts a playoff system will be used to fill the empty places in a division – details of this will be published as and when it is necessary. In time it is hoped that it will be possible to divide the leagues all the way down by type of table so a proper promotion and relegation system can operate all the way though.

Reasons for change
The change is modelled on the highly successful Pattaya leagues. The reasons for this change are twofold: firstly, it is clear that under any match format, games on the Snooker tables take much longer, due to the snooker style type of play necessary; and secondly, players who regularly play on the Snooker tables have a clear advantage over those who regularly play on Pool tables, thus distorting the leagues to be (generally) top heavy with Snooker table teams.

Match formats
The change enables there to be a different match format for the Snooker tables to enable an earlier finish than is possible at present, while it is planned that the existing match format remains for the Pool table league, with a slight tweak making it 3 sets of 6 singles rather than 2 sets of 9. The match format for the Snooker table league will be the old 6 singles, 3 doubles, 6 singles format, and this will also apply to the 3rd, 4th and 5th divisions which will have a mixture of the two types of table. The knockout competitions, Cup and Shield, will adopt the Snooker match format, to ensure the matches are as short as possible.

Doubles
In an attempt to make the doubles more fun and inclusive, they will now be played with each player only playing one shot on each visit to the table; if a ball is potted on that shot then their partner plays the next shot and so on. If a ball is not potted, the next player in turn from the other doubles team plays their shot. Players will have to strictly rotate thus avoiding the situation where often two of the four players involved had only one or sometimes no shots during the game. Each doubles contest will be worth two points in the match.

Bonus points
The player bonus system is also being tweaked this season, so that a maximum of 2 bonus points are available – 1 for a 5 player team, and 2 for a 6 player team.

Individuals’ tournament
The end of season individual tournaments are being completely revamped, and more details will follow, but they will no longer be based on performance for a team throughout the season.

Game rules
There are no changes to the playing rules for the new season.

Bars/teams relocating
The issue of teams relocating, as in the case of Nervana, has never been clearly defined because each case so far has been different, and the need for a hard and fast rule seemed unnecessary as each case could be dealt with as they occurred. The rule for brand new teams is clear though, and that is that they always begin in the bottom division. However putting teams in the bottom league that have previously competed in a different venue but that are essentially the same team and with the same bar owner as before would be both ridiculous and also unfair on both that team and those competing with them. However the committee will continue to judge each case on its merits rather than making a blanket rule.

Divisional representatives
To ease the transition and to improve lines of communication permanently, each division has been allocated one or more representatives (see table below), whose main job will be the collection of score sheets and be a general contact person for their division; however, these individuals are not there to be hassled, argued with or asked to debate the finer points of the rules – they have just agreed to assist in the smooth running of the leagues. Any issues must be raised in the proper manner, which is either by email (huahinpoolleagues@yahoo.com) or a letter that can be handed in with score sheets. All communications are welcome, as it is in response to these that the current changes have been drawn up.

Divisional Representatives
Snooker Table Premier Division	Dave (Jungle Juice)
Premier Pool Table Division	Chris & Steve (JW Black)
Third Division	Osmo (Bamboo Grove) & Paul (Pink Flamingo)
Fourth Division	Tom
Fifth Division	To be assigned

If anyone wishes to volunteer to assist the league in this or any other way, please contact via email or through your divisional representative.

Communication
It is planned that this will be better and quicker in the new season, with simplified and easier to read information available in both hard copy and via email, as well as on the website. If you have not been contacted already, you will be soon, regarding how you wish to receive the weekly updates. In the future it is hoped that an official notice board will be available to all competing bars so information is displayed for anyone to see. If anyone wishes to become a sponsor and contribute towards the supply of such items, please contact the organisers.

Score sheets
New blank score sheets have been designed and will be distributed shortly, along with other necessary paperwork. Please discard all old versions of the 8-ball score sheets immediately to avoid any confusion. Although the individual competitions are being scrapped in their present format, it is still important that score sheets are filled in properly with the names of those competing written clearly in block capitals, as the match rules regarding the number of racks an individual can play still apply, and each captain must check throughout the match that these are being adhered to before signing the sheet. However because of the individual competition change, the only urgent information required after any match in the new season is the score, so this should be sent to the organisers within 24 hours via one of the following methods in order of preference:
SMS. The quickest method and inexpensive
E-mail. Checked most days.
Telephone. It may not be possible for the organisers to answer the telephone at all times.
Score sheet handed in. This is the slowest method, as the score sheets will only be collected from the pickup points on a weekly basis.
All score sheets still need to be handed in, but the time scale for this is within one week as long as the score has been sent in one of the above ways already.

Website and e-mail
As well as hard copies, all the information for the new season will be on the website, www.huahinpool.multiservers.com and for those who have opted to receive e-mail updates there will also be e-mails regarding the new season. If you wish to be added to the e-mail update list, please e-mail to huahinpoolleagues@yahoo.com from the address with which you wish to receive the updates to, with ‘ADD TO POOL MAILING LIST’ in the subject line and your name and team, along with a mobile number if possible, detailed in the mail message.

End of season presentations
These have been a problem every season in one way or another, with a number of factors complicating matters. As the league has grown the number of suitable venues has not; and although many thanks must be made to previous hosts of the presentations, none of the venues have ever quite fulfilled all the requirements. Particular thanks must go this year to Pink Flamingo, who stepped in at the last minute and have probably come closest to being the ideal venue We want to avoid this ‘last minute’ scenario in the future, so welcome any suggestions about both the venue and the organisation of the next (and future) presentation party. Equally if anyone knows of a potential sponsor for the event, such as a restaurant, hotel etc., then please contact us. Cost is obviously a key factor to consider.