West midlands super team ?

[scouse3465]

Just clocked that basically Walsall and birmingham have merged. Thought it a bit strange to merge the winners who consistantly get the most runners with a team that finished 6th. Was looking forward to playin this and feels like we handicaped already. So the winning team gets boosted by all the players from another division 1 team. Thought point of merging teams was to make it more competive not just help out Walsall ??
Or was this just done because a lot of the walsall team was from birmingham anyway last year?

[AMRN]

Not sure about Walsall players numbers Steve - although they won it last year, they had less regular players that play every week than some other teams.... they just ran deep consistently.

Birmingham on the other hand just couldn"t get enough players to make any sort of challenge - we only had 4 or 5 regulars. With the way the league competition has shaped up over the past couple of years, it"s simply not possible to get any chance of success with a team of only 4 or 5 players.

Birmingham and Walsall are a stone"s throw from each other, so any new players eligible to join Bham would also be eligible to join Walsall... but the more attractive proposition to these people was clearly Walsall due to the realistic chance of success compared to Bham"s minimal chances.... this meant it was nigh on impossible to recruit new players and improve the situation for Bham.

[scouse3465]

I didnt play much last year as sunday bad night for me so not sure on number s but told walsall had a lot of players with a few from birmingham but thats gone now and can understand putting brum and walsall together but looks like they going to have such an advantage purely from numbers game. Merging teams was to make it more competive i believed this will not make it so.

[cincicrappykid]

A BIT LIKE THE PReMIERSHIP THEN !!!!!

[PantsMan]

Yet again the old myth about Walsall winning due to numbers comes up. Take a look at the top points scorers and Walsall had 7 out of the top 20 (Birmingham had 1 - Ant). Our top players were constantly scoring top points and that"s why we won the league. There are teams with more players than us but there points were spread out amongst many players.

The last game of the season there were 55 players. Only 8 of those were from Walsall and we went on to beat teams with more players. We may have lot of players signed up but it"s the core team that plays every week and scores the points.

[scouse3465]

Yet again the old myth about Walsall winning due to numbers comes up. Take a look at the top points scorers and Walsall had 7 out of the top 20 (Birmingham had 1 - Ant). Our top players were constantly scoring top points and that"s why we won the league. There are teams with more players than us but there points were spread out amongst many players.

The last game of the season there were 55 players. Only 8 of those were from Walsall and we went on to beat teams with more players. We may have lot of players signed up but it"s the core team that plays every week and scores the points.

fair enough if it aint numbers as i said didnt play many of these last yr so aint sure . But to join 2 teams who finished 1st and 6th and all others in 1st div stay same. Only just noticed they joined and think its a bit wrong to make the best team last year better. At the end of the day it would be the same as disolving liverpool / manchester and callin it north west. And am sure few others too

[Chipaccrual]

This is nothing to do with numbers, or making a "super" team.  There is little distinction between those players that live in Walsall and those that live in Birmingham.  In fact, a lot of people would argue that they are one in the same catchment area as far as the APAT online league goes.  This therefore made logical sense to create the West Midlands Poker club, as a lot of the Birmingham players were suggesting that they would play for Walsall, as it was just as close to their home.

Liverpool and Manchester is a different situation.  There are two distinct catchment areas within two large cities.  Very few players are going to suggest that they could have joined either when it comes to the league.

We always knew when the clubs were setup based on casino locations, not all clubs would generate large numbers, but with the shut down of both Bolton and Blackpool, I would expect both Liverpool and Manchester to pick up some players aswell.

[Marty719]

All Ireland joint team ftw...

[Swinebag]

Have to say that Walsall are a superb team and thoroughly deserved their two titles. If the league was decided on points won divided by players playing, they would have probably won by a bigger margin.

I would expect both Liverpool and Manchester to pick up some players aswell.

well one of ours has joined swansea and another has joined WMPC.

[scouse3465]

Surely players from your team cant change Rob and just to go in the super team ??
The point i was making though is walsall and birmingham had 2 decent teams and although a few players from birmingham played for walsall last year if they had moved to their closest team the league would be much tighter this year and would prob be much more interest in. But now most players will join west midlands and they will basically play off between themselves for the 4 seats. I hope this is not the case and i will be trying for liverpool both getting new players and encouraging them to play. I really think this is going to kill the league but really hope it does not. If it does i think there may be ways to amend it i.e. a certain amount of players nominated to only be allowed to score team points but obviously anyone can play and at end of each league top however many are then the nominated players. This would then negate any teams having a massive advantage by having so many more players(would still have advantage because more players to pick from). I was thinking 10 - 15 players each team. All players would still qualify for team shares etc and if were not in top 15 say, would then fight to get in top 15 for next league .

Good idea or shall i just stop moaning lol

[Chipaccrual]

Players can"t just join any team they like, it should always be their local team.  Sometimes this is a grey area, and there are a few exceptions whereby players have joined their "hometown" club.

Let"s just remember this is a fun community league.  Yes we add some great added value seats, but it is supposed to be a fun league.

Scoring system will be updated this year, and this should help the issue over volume teams having a perceived advantage.

[nyerun]

Players can"t just join any team they like, it should always be their local team.  Sometimes this is a grey area, and there are a few exceptions whereby players have joined their "hometown" club.

Let"s just remember this is a fun community league.  Yes we add some great added value seats, but it is supposed to be a fun league.

This is how I took the rule, as 12 months ago I"d have still said "I"m from Wrexham" now i say "I live in Aberystwyth" and as I stay here christmas, easter, summer I have gone to what is now in my mind my local team. If I ever moved back to Wrexham permanently though I"d count Manchester as my local city as it"s where I"d normally go if i had to go to a big city!

[ian.ski309]

Players can"t just join any team they like,

There are a number of players who have done exactly that, some of them have valid reasons admittedly.

...it should always be their local team.

If there was another column in the Player Directory for "Town/City of residence" and people were honest about it, there would be uproar. Like you say Lee, it"s supposed to be a bit of fun but once you factor in the competitive edge and testosterone (and oestrogen   ), the "fun" aspect has become secondary to some.

[mal666]

Might have to make it Counties next season.

[PantsMan]

Good idea or shall i just stop moaning lol

Stop moaning and get some better players.