There are a great many captains of American Poolplayers Association (APA) teams who want to have a winning team, but year after year it just doesn't seem to work out very often at all for them. They wonder to themselves why other teams win more often, but don't understand how they do it. If this describes you, then this book is just what you have been looking for.

If you shoot pool in the APA league just to have fun with friends, then that's a noble goal too, and I wish you well in your goals. But if you, like me, have more fun when you win then when you lose, then this book is for you. It's just more fun to win.

If you are a new captain, this book will jump-start your learning process. You won't have to learn by trial and error. If you're a well established captain with several years under your belt, you may still gain a few insights to help you win more often.

That's why I wrote this book. I believe there is a great need to help other captains learn what I have learned over a last few years to help them be winning captains too, with winning teams. It can be done. My teams did it.

But keep in mind that I am not affiliated with the APA, except that I play in their leagues. This book is the culmination of my own experiences as a winning captain in their league in my local area.

In it I say things about their Equalizer Handicap System that may or may not be correct. How the APA calculates the skill levels (S/L's) of their members must be a well-guarded secret for the enjoyment of their whole league. But everything I say about how handicaps are determined is common knowledge to any captain who simply pays attention. I have no inside information to share on how it actually works. I just have intelligent guesses based on my own calculations, and I've listened to

League Operators (LO's) when they explain certain things to me Although, even with correct information it is still practically impossible to know when your player's skill levels will be moved up or down. But the main reason winning captains need to have some idea about this is to know how to throw their players correctly, as I will explain.

While I have played in a league with anywhere from 30-50 teams in it, what I say will apply to leagues with fewer teams in it, as well as much larger ones. After all, no particular APA division will be larger than what the scoresheet allows, which is limited to 16 teams. One difference is that in much larger leagues the teams don't directly earn a berth to the Local Team Championships (LTC's), but rather to a playoff that determines who will play in LTC's. What I say will also apply to the Canadian Poolplayers Association (the CPA), and any other future ones, since they all play by the same rules.

As far as the specific rules for the APA goes, I will refer you to their Official Team Manual, which you can download from their website if you don't already have it. Just go to www.poolplayers.com. If you are not yet acquainted with the rules, then I suggest you read them before you continue reading what I have to say. If you know the rules it will make what I say to be understood much better.

Since I'll be saying a lot about our local APA league you may want to visit our website. Our league is called "The Northeastern Indiana APA," and the website is www.neiapa.com.