The Washington State Snooker League - Season 4
By Dave Daly and Mike Dominguez
On September 16th, OX Billiards kicked off season 4 of the Washington State Snooker League (WSL S4). The season runs every Saturday, from 10am to 6pm, and will conclude on December 16th. The league brings together members from OX Billiards in Seattle, Empire Billiards in Bellevue as well as other snooker enthusiasts in the area.
The league remains very popular after a quick respite. The WSL’s goal was to have 18 players sign up. It is fantastic to see a full field this season, with a mix of 11 returning players and 7 new players - including 2 woman players. The WSL envisions growth in other parts of Washington State, and having a full field in the past 3 out of four seasons is a good sign.
The WSL S4 Handicapped League
The WSL S4 is a handicapped league. All previous seasons have been non-handicapped. Meaning, all players, regardless of experience had to play without a point advantage. With such a variety of player experience and standards, a handicap system has become critical to the ongoing health of the league.
One major purpose of the WSL is to grow snooker in Seattle and America. If more experienced players whoop up on beginners every week, it is no fun for the newcomer. That experience could be detrimental to the growth of snooker.
For experienced players, the a handicapped league provides a more competitive environment and tests readiness for competitive tournaments like The Seattle Snooker Open and the USSA Nationals. For less experienced players it provides incentives and motivation to play well with an opportunity to win more matches, keeping matches competitive, and learning from the more experienced players.
Handicap systems can be dubious, but the WSL monitors the weekly results for any needed adjustments. Early indications are that the handicaps are working well, as many of the frames and matches were close finishes that came down to the final pink or black. In matches during pervious seasons, there were far more blowouts when the match was uneven in skill level.
The WSL S4 Format
The WSL is a round robin format, where all players play each other once over the course of the season. The matches between players are best of 3 frames. The winner of the WSL S4 will be the person who has the highest frame differential (frames won vs frames lost) overall. We are guaranteed a new league winner this season since previous winners, CC Yoo and Angus Lieu did not enter. The top two finishers of WSL S4 wins a paid spot into the Seattle Snooker Open 2024.
WSL S4 League Director - Dave Daly
While Mike is out of town through next year, Dave Daly is the WSL S4 League Director. Dave is an example of how OX Billiards has a great team and amazing support for snooker. He has designed the season schedule for every WSL season so far and coordinates, monitors the match schedules, match results, league standings as well as players’ handicaps. Dave also developed the scoring app on the WSL website so players can easily add their match scores.
Visit WashingtonSnooker.com website for all information associated with the league, including league rules, match schedule and submitting the results/scores after each match has been completed.