STRAIGHTSHOTS INTERLEAGUE REVIEWS
2013: LIMITED SUCCESS AS YAHOO POOL DECLINE GOES ON
With general activity throughout Yahoo Pool continuing to decline, it has not been surprising that Straightshots has been affected by reducing numbers and again activity has been a real struggle. Although the League has a backbone of dedicated members willing to play, tourneys have been few and far between on occasions which naturally has been very disappointing. SS seem to play in fits and spurts; sometimes AMU can be empty for most of the day but then a couple of hours of activity brings in a few tourneys. And, of course, the SS Cam Cup, with an innovative new format, has been vital in attracting players with a lot of games being reported as leagues which has helped activity immensely.
On the interleague front, the lack of activity in Y Pool generally has badly affected the competitions which used to run with such regularity. Gone are the days where an interleague can attract a dozen or more teams; with so many leagues fading away, there are fewer and fewer teams able to participate in inters, and this in turn has resulted in fewer competitions taking place. This has very much been the case throughout 2013, which saw the lowest number of interleagues run for many years. Therefore, it was always going to be impossible for SS to retain the success levels to which the League had grown accustomed.
In PRO 16 which attracted just eight teams, SS came third in one of the two groups with a record of 6–4, missing out on the play-offs. But in the PRO Tour, led by Shelle (_Michele33) SS excelled again (just as the League had done so many times in similar tourneys of this kind such as WPC Expo and UIC Swiss) and took the championship (for the third time) with 242 points, a good distance ahead of For The Win on 179 and Beer Ball Masters on 134.
In UIC 17, SS finished fourth but lost in the play-offs Prelim Final to eventual champions For The Win after eliminating Break And Run. Against FTW, player unavailability hampered SS's chances of pulling off a shock win and they had to default at 1–1 with only three players present. With few top quality players around, UIC 18 brought a season of struggle to SS and the weakened team finished in a lowly 7th place. In the Consolation Cup, SS reached the Final and were comfortably leading Deep Pockets by 3–1 only for extreme controversy to cause the match to be abandoned. This was due to severe manipulation and cheating by the opposition captain over a tape timer to gain a cheap win at any cost, and SS would not have anything to do with it. The League is above such dubious methods where a particular UIC admin was completely devoid of sportsmanship and common sense to the point where SS will not compete in UIC until this individual stands down or is removed.
In UIC Swiss, season 11 finished in a thrilling climax when Deadstrokes overtook SS in the final tournament which had to be delayed a week. DS won by a solitary point to 'steal' the championship away from SS who had led all season. The rules had been bent somewhat to suit DS causing the end of the season to be tinged in more controversy. Little compensation came in the form of the UIC Swiss Sportsmanship Award, well earned due to numerous sporting acts shown by SS players such as Shelle hosting and playing at the same time when nobody else would host –in fact, she had to host and play in the very final Australian tourney which gave DS their controversial win!
But with Swiss captain Marie (milly_molly03) and assisting Nigel (en_dk) in defiant mood, SS took it on the chin and came back roaring for Swiss season 12, storming into a lead which this time no other team could match, including DS who finished 30 points behind. It was a tremendous team effort considering the general decline in activity in AMU and Straightsthots deservedly claimed the League's 8th UIC Swiss championship success which made up for the disappointment of the previous season. Shelle became only the third SS player in 12 seasons to win the Swiss Individual title thanks to a season full of consistency, an excellent achievement and one of the highlights of the year without doubt.
In WPC 11, SS came third with a decent record of 10-4-4 (the middle figure being ties) and beat Freedom in the play-off prelim round before losing to For The Win narrowly in the semi-final. Another season of 4orce was played but SS did not fair so well and failed to make any progress towards the play-offs. In the only other interleague entered, which was a reformation of the ill-fated WPA for season 5, SS withdrew after 5 weeks due to cheating by Ashley (pumpkin_sauce), surely the worst ever organiser of any interleague competition. She started with 8 teams but finished with only 3 (her own team Freedom being one of them), the punishment for her ineptitude and dubious ways which led to teams withdrawing in protest.
So Straightshots ended the year with a total of only three trophies – of course, a big reduction compared to previous years but not such a dreadful return considering the limited number of competitions actually completed, in addition to the continuing struggle for activity.
2012: WORST ACTIVITY YEAR BRINGS LIMITED SUCCESS
Despite a most problematical year in All Mixed Up on the activity front, when sometimes the room was at a standstill with often no tourneys or very few being run at all, Straightshots still managed to secure six interleague successes. But this total was one less than in 2011 and the lowest tally since 2008.
Given that the League struggled to find enough players just to run a tourney or two on occasions, it was something of a miracle that teams could be raised to fulfil the interleague commitments. But somehow SS got by and at times the League seemed to be running primarily for the purposes of getting players eligible for the inters, not ideal but SS still had matches to play. On the less impressive side of things, towards the end of the year in 4orce, SS were runners-up in Season 3 in one of the groups and lost a semi-final play-off against Deadstrokes (who went on to win it), whilst in two seasons of WPC and PRO, the team did not fare well at all, happy just to get its fixtures played more than anything. Season 16 of UIC saw SS unable to complete a hat-trick of titles, finishing fourth and going out in the play-off semi-finals.
But now onto the successful side during 2012. In UIC, against the odds again, SS excelled and managed to grab a place in the Final in March 2012 after finishing fourth in the regular season – won by Sexy Poolerz - for the second competition running. In the Final, SS beat favourites SP by 2-1 to retain back-to-back titles. The victory gave SS their third UIC championship, having won the inaugural competition and also Season 14. To go hand in hand with that great UIC success, a revitalised SS stormed to the top of UIC Swiss for the first time in four seasons and won title number six, and, with Marie back to help run the team, went on to win Season 10 as well, making it an amazing seven UIC Swiss championships in ten competitions!
And in the first season of 4orce, SS qualified from their group and went on to take the prize at the first time of asking, with the Final taking place in February 2012. Also that month, SS won the PRO Tour championship for the second time, heading a table in front of favourites Freedom plus Deadstrokes and Break And Run. One other competition was won during the year, when in April SS won the WPA Sportsmanship Award.
All in all, the total tally of interleague success amounted to six trophies won during a difficult year for the league, hindered by major inactivity in All Mixed Up. The highlight of 2012 was undoubtedly retaining the UIC crown; during better times in AMU this was something that evaded SS for many a season so we can look back at the year with some kind of satisfaction despite the troubles the League had overall.
2011: A HARDER YEAR WITH FEWER POTS!
Matching what Straightshots had achieved in interleague success during 2010 was always going to be a tough ask indeed. Afterall, the League enjoyed its best ever interleague year, winning no less than 15 trophies and generally dominating the inters scene for the first time for a few years.
2011 started badly for SS in that many of the top players, who had been a part of the previous successful year, had left for numerous reasons. This left the League desperately short of the talent needed to continue progressing and it was inevitable that the trophies would dry up. SS faired poorly in a string of interleagues, including finishing bottom of the regular season groups in PRO and also being eliminated in WPC and WSOP as defending champions. Even UIC Swiss eluded a SS team which had managed to win the competition five seasons in a row previously – the best the League could muster was runners-up in Season 8 after finishing a disappointing third in Season 7. IPA Season 6 was another disappointment when SS led the regular season for most of the campaign only to slip narrowly into second behind PDZ by the finish. Then followed a defeat to FR in the play-off semi-finals.
However, SS still managed to win seven competitions during 2011, including the WSOP Season 3 Eastern Conference in March 2011. Two other trophies were the customary WPC Expo events in Seasons 8 and 9 (May and November respectively). And a further couple of successes were ‘consolation’ Plate wins in IPA Season 6 in July and WPA Season 2 towards the end of the year.
But the highlight of the year by a considerable margin was winning the UIC Season 14 Diamond Division play-offs. It was SS’s first success in the main UIC championship since the inaugural Season One in 2005, when Roy (judge) led SS to the ‘double’ (success in the regular season and play-offs). A runners-up spot in UIC Season 13 was the nearest SS had got to winning the Diamond play-offs. This time around in 2011, Canadian Jonathan (Drunk_Canuck and leafed_leaf) captained SS to an amazing win, having been out of the play-off positions for much of the season after a poor start. SS turned a losing season into shock success by winning the last six regular season matches to somehow leap-frog into fourth place. Then LPL and PFN were defeated in the toughest play-off route possible before hot favourites FR were overcome in the Grand Final in November 2011.
So not a vintage year for Straightshots in terms of interleague success but still better than most leagues. And being declared the new UIC champions certainly compensated for much of the frustration of missing out in previous competitions during the year.
2010: A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR SS-IL
SS ended the year by winning a record 15 interleague titles, FOUR more than the League won in 2009. This brought the overall tally since SS first started playing inters to exactly 50 competitions won, of which 26 have been captured in 2009 and 2010. That represents over 50% of all successes occuring over the past two years, a testimony of how well the League has progressed in interleagues since a lengthy period of mediocrity, when SS was just a team which made up the numbers for quite a few years.
Excluding the interleagues which started during 2010 but have yet to be completed, we will review the competitions alphabetically.
GIT: In the Global Interleague Trophy (GIT), SS took part in three seasons of during 2010. In GIT1, SS, captained by Nigel (en_dk), finished with a record of 9-5 and were runners-up in the regular season table to Freedom. In the play-off semi-final, SS beat Elite Pool Competitors 5-2 and faced Magic Pool in the Final, where a thrilling 5-4 victory gave SS the inaugural GIT title. With Nish as the new captain, GIT2 saw SS being unable to defend the crown, finishing 3rd in the regular season on 10-6 and going out to FR in the semi-final by 4-3. In the shortened GIT3, SS were second in Group A behind 8Ball Crushers and beat reigning champions Sexy Poolerz in the semi-final by 5-4. In the Final, now the best of three matches rather than a single match like GIT1, Freedom won the first match 5-3 but SS, with Shelle captaining, fought back to take matches 2 and 3 by 5-2 and 5-3, making it two GIT championships in three seasons.
IPA: SS did not enter the third season of the International Pool Association (IPA) after a big dispute in IPA2 but returned to IPA4, winning the Red Group season with a 9-0-1 record (the 0 being ties). In the semi-final play-offs, Pool Fiction were beaten 4-1, followed by a rematch with Magic Pool (who had contested the IPA1 Final against SS). Under the captaincy of Chris (tonzmaniac), SS were again victorious, winning 4-2 and 4-3. In IPA5, Nhan took over from Chris as captain and led SS to second in the regular season on 9-6-3, with too many ties costing the team the top place. But in the semi-final versus Sexy Poolerz, SS lost 4-2. Drew subsequently decided to call it a day with IPA and refused to let anyone continue it; altogether an unsatisfactory and selfish act by someone who has clearly lost the plot.
PRO: With the Pro Players Association (PRO) staging its second season since returning from the dead, SS took part for the first time in the 'modern' era and ended the campaign with some welcomed success. The team, under Ben (fhm_champion), won the Atlantic Conference but lost to eventual champions Latino Pool Legends. In the Pro Tour competition, a supplementary event in the mould of WPC Expo, SS took the title, giving the league two trophies in PRO10.
UIC: The year started with SS participating in the Universal Interleague Competition (UIC) season 11 Emerald Division and were the strongest team there, captained by Nigel. Despite an indifferent start, the team improved and finished with a 10-4 record, taking the regular season by beating the title contenders Ultimate Outlaws 5-0 in the penultimate fixture. In the Emerald play-offs, SS met regular season runners-up UO again and comfortably beat them 3-0, 3-0 to complete the 'double'. The subsequent promotion to the Diamond Division in UIC12 saw new captain Jonathan (Drunk_Canuck) take SS to the runners-up spot in the regular season with a 11-3 record. British Pool were defeated in the Diamond play-offs but again Latino Pool Legends proved to be too strong and SS had to be content with second place again.
UIC SWISS: Season 5 of the UIC Swiss resulted in another sustained challenge all season by SS, continuing to be well organised and relatively strong every week. Xtreme8ball provided stiff opposition, as did Ultimate Outlaws, and at one stage held a good lead over SS. But the defending champions saw them both off and took a fifth consecutive Swiss title by a decent margin at the end. With Nigel leaving SS to join ICA, SS did not fare so well in UIC Swiss 6 and could only muster third place. ICA broke the SS monopoly in UIC Swiss by taking the crown by one solitary point ahead of Deadstrokes, the final winning game of a long season coming from ex-SS inters player Nish!
WPC: SS had never done very well in the World Pool Association (WPC) and season 6 again saw the team struggle, finishing a disappointing 6th in the regular season, under Shelle. In the play-off quarter-finals, SS beat Deadstrokes 4-0 but lost to eventual champions Pool Fiction by a close 4-3. In WPC7, SS improved in the regular season, but too many draws gave them a 5-6-3 record and third place behind Pool Fiction and regular winners Freedom. Again with Shelle as captain, in the play-off semi-final, SS met defending champions Pool Fiction in a repeat of the season 6 encounter. But this time SS reversed the result and won 4-3 to reach the WPC 'World Cup' Final for the first time. 8Ball Crushers were the surprise opposition and they even won the first match 4-3; yet SS looked the stronger team and came back well in the next 2 matches, winning 4-2 and 4-0 and with it, the league's first main WPC title.
WPC CAM CUP: With Chris (ss_spursmad_ss) as captain of the WPC6 3v3 Cam Cup team, SS went all the way to the title, topping Group A on win ratio despite losing the opening match and beating Freedom in the Final. Defending the title with Pita (xsoubanhx) replacing Chris in charge, SS were second in Group A behind Pool Fiction in the WPC7 Cam Cup and achieved the same in the Super Six. After eliminating Freedom in the play-off semi-final, SS completed a hat-trick of second places behind PFN by losing the Final.
WPC EXPO: It's easy to sum up both season 6 and season 7 of the WPC Expo competition – pure domination by Straightshots! With Shelle again looking after things, SS virtually dominated for most of both seasons and powered to large margins by the end, ahead of Break And Run and Deadstrokes respectively. The season 7 success made it 5 Expo championships in succession.
WSOP: SS did not enter the inaugural season of the World Series of Pool (WSOP) but took part in season 2, captained by Pita, and finished third in a very tough East Division behind Latino Pool Legends and Pool Fiction. In the quarter-final, effectively 2nd v 3rd in the same group, SS surprised Pool Fiction by beating them 4-2, and then pulled off another shock scoreline by defeating favourites Latino Pool Legends by 4-3 in the semi-final, Jonathan beating Cameron in the exciting decider after SS had trailed 0-2 and virtually 0-3 but for a bad miss on the 8-ball. Back from the dead and through to the WSOP2 Final, SS met Deadstrokes who themselves had battled through unexpectedly. But SS were too strong for DS and took the WSOP title by 4-2 and 4-3 in the best of 3 matches Final.
So all in all, 2010 was a superbly successful year for Straightshots, winning 15 trophies (including one Sportsmanship award) out of the 22 competitions contested overall. A massive thanks to everyone who contributed towards this resoundingly vintage year!
2009: A MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR FOR SS-IL
The Straightshots Pool League has enjoyed its most successful year since first entering interleagues in 2003, winning no fewer than 11 competitions which beat the previous record in one year (8 trophies in 2005).
The SS involvement in interleagues in early 2009 was in IPA and WPC, both for the first time. Whilst SS excelled in IPA1, winning both the Regular Season championship (with a record of 11 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat) and then the Play-off title (beating Magic Pool 2-4, 4-2 and 4-2), the team didn't fare as well in WPC3, finishing 4th in the Regular Season and being quarter-finalists in the play-offs. In the supplementary inters, SS won both the WPC Expo (at the first attempt) and UIC Swiss (for the third season running). So, all in all, the year began well enough for SS, four trophies being won which was excellent.
In the mid-year interleagues, SS entered MLP for the first time for two seasons, plus IPA as defending champions and WPC. Participation into supplementary inters was doubled in size by entering the BLT (MLP's secondary event) and the MLP Yoda Cup, as well as the WPC Expo and UIC Swiss. And after MLP13 had been completed, SS took part in the newly-formed MLP Fives ( a 5v5 carry competition) and the MLP Masters Tour.
Despite not starting well in MLP, under the short-term captaincy of Mike (great_white_mike), SS recovered to take the American League by storm, surprising many people along the way. With Nicki (o0o_nicki_o0o) taking over as captain, SS won 10 and lost 4 of their programme and won the League's first MLP trophy since MLP2. SS also won the Yoda Cup, a tournament held over three weeks. More accolades followed with the American League Sportsmanship Award and then the Masters Tour which was played over 25 tournaments in 9 weeks.
In IPA2, SS held top place for much of the season, staying unbeaten for a meritable 13 weeks. But unavailability of key players towards the end – with all too many players letting down the team by not showing – brought a disappointing sequence of draws and losses (albeit only 2), which pushed the reigning champions from Regular Season title-contenders to merely a third place finish. In the play-offs, SS, hampered by a lack of eligible players, beat EPC 5-1 in the qualifiers but lost 4-3 to IPA1 runners-up MP, having had to concede game 6 when 3-2 up due to one particular player not showing.
There had been controversy in IPA2 when in a Regular Season match against MP, SS had a win reversed by IPA admin following a cammed match, even though the use of cam was not obligatory. SS's participation was soured in IPA because of the dubious decision-making which was enough to make SS leave the competition after the play-offs.
In WPC4, SS improved after a poor start to take 3rd place in the Regular Season to qualify for the play-offs again. But the team lost to Latino Pool Legends in the semi-final. However, another successful campaign in the WPC Expo competition saw SS retain the tile, by an impressive record-breaking margin.
Again SS dominated UIC Swiss during season 4 but Xtreme 8 Ball closed the gap enormously in the latter stages of the season to make it a thrilling finish. Fortunately, SS just about held on to take the title for the fourth season in a row thanks to winning the 'crunch' final UK tournament, which was the penultimate tourney of the season. It was the closest UIC Swiss climax during the competition's four season of existence.
In the Autumn of 2009, SS rejoined UIC for the first time since season 8, playing in the Emerald Division and holding second place at the end of the year, with a 6-2 record (being the only team to defeat division leaders Ultimate Outlaws). SS took part in WPC Expo for the third time and ended up completing the hat-trick of championships, seeing off runners-up LPL by 98 points.
SS entered the inaugural GIT interleague and, despite a poor start, are chasing a top four finish and possible crack at the play-offs. In WPC5, SS again had a good season and came fourth. In the quarter-final, the team defeated Xtreme 8 Ball and are due to meet Sexy Poolerz in the semi-final in January. In UIC Swiss, SS stand top again going into the New Year and are looking good for a close challenge for a fifth successive title.
So, all in all in terms of interleague competition, SS has had a great 2009, during which all of the SS captains have enjoyed success: Nicki in MLP, Nigel in IPA, Marie in UIC Swiss, and Shelle and Nish in WPC Expo. The template for continued success is in place as SS look towards 2010 with more achievements in mind. Some new players have come onboard and new captains appointed to sustain the SS challenge.
Looking ahead, SS will compete in IPA 4 and are looking at the new ITI (International Team Interleague) – SS's Shannon is Head Admin – as well. Many thanks to every SS player who has played a part in our success over the past twelve months. Long may it continue!
2009 SUMMARY
IPA 1 – CHAMPIONS (PLAY-OFF – WINNERS), IPA 2 – 3RD (PLAYOFF – SF); MLP 13 – AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS (PLAY-OFF – QF); WPC 3 – 4TH (PLAY-OFF – QF), WPC 4 – 3RD (PLAY-OFF – SF), WPC 5 – 4TH (PLAY-OFF – SF TO COME IN JANUARY); GIT 1 AND UIC 11 EXCLUDED (IN PROGRESS).
UIC SWISS 3 – CHAMPIONS, UIC SWISS 4 – CHAMPIONS; WPC EXPO 3 – CHAMPIONS, WPC EXPO 4 – CHAMPIONS, WPC EXPO 5 –CHAMPIONS). UIC SWISS 5 EXCLUDED (IN PROGRESS); MLP 13 YODA CUP – WINNERS, MLP 13 MASTERS TOUR – WINNERS, MLP 13 AMERICAN LEAGUE SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD – WINNERS.
