1. Registration

1. Each season the league registration form will be shared with members by email and social media. The form will include details such as dates, fees, payment method etc.
2. The seasonal schedule is available here.

2. Divisions and Groups

1. Each league will be organized into divisions (e.g. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced).  Within each division players will be divided into groups, called pools, of roughly equal size (e.g. Group1, Group2, etc.).
2. The number of divisions and groups, and the assignment of players, will be decided by the league organizers based on the number of participants and their skill level.

3. League portal

1. The New York Cue Club league portal is online at https://leagues.nycueclub.com.
2. The email and phone number provided to the Court Reserve reservation system will be used by the league organizers to create an account on the portal.
3. A temporary password will be sent by email. You can also use the password reset feature to obtain your password.
4. The homepage of the current season of each league can be accessed by navigating to the portal homepage, and then to the appropriate Schedules & Standings section.

4. Schedule

1. A season runs for 13 or 14 weeks and has 2 phases: the regular season and playoffs.
2. The regular season will last 10 weeks. Players will be assigned weekly matches against other players in their group.
3. The regular season schedule will become available shortly after registration closes.
4. Each week, players are responsible for coordinating with their opponent to schedule their assigned match.
5. Players must try their best to play their match during the week it is scheduled. Players should not wait until the last weeks to complete many matches.
6. The playoffs will last 3 or 4 weeks. Playoffs are a seeded single elimination tournament.
7. The rules for qualification for the playoffs season with respect to the final standings of the regular season are available here.
8. The playoffs matches will be announced by the league organizers shortly after the regular season ends.

5. Table Reservations

1. Players must reserve a table on the Court Reserve system to play a league match.
2. The name of both players must be added to the reservation.
3. Select the reservation type “League match - 14.1” outside of Prime Time (3pm - 7pm). Select the reservation type "League match - 14.1 - PT" during Prime Time.
4. 3 hours is the appropriate length of a reservation for a straight pool league match.
5. By default, matches are to be played on a 4.50" pockets table. Both players must agree if a match is to be played on a table with other pockets sizes.

6. Handicap

1. Matches will be handicapped based on each player's rating according to the charts below.
2. Ratings remain fixed throughout the season unless an immediate adjustment is clearly needed.
3. For new players, the league organizers will make a best effort at determining ratings based on all available information.
4. At the end of each season, ratings will be updated based on players performance during both the most recent and prior seasons. As much as possible, this will be done objectively by a mathematical algorithm to make relative ratings of the NYCC players pool as accurate as possible. As the statistics will be limited for the first several seasons, the league directors reserve the right to adjust these new ratings as they deem appropriate.

7. Scoring

1. The scoring will be done on the tablet next to the table using the application Scoreboard Master.
2. It is the responsibility of both players to make sure the score is accurate after each game.
3. Immediately after the match has concluded it is the winning player’s responsibility to record the score in the league portal.
4. The reported score must include the handicap.
5. When using the scoring app several things should be kept in mind:
   1. Set the “Race to” setting to the number of points the higher ranked player needs.
   2. The match ends when the higher ranked player reaches that number or the lower player reaches the number of points he has been assigned.
   3. Because of limitations with the application used, the handicap SHOULD NOT be added to the score at the beginning of the match.  Instead the players must be mindful of the handicap.  The match ends when either player reaches their target score according to the handicap chart.
   4. It is the responsibility of the outgoing player to enter the result of the inning after each and every inning has ended, even after innings that resulted in no points scored or deducted. (examples: a legal safe, a miss on a legal shot).
   5. It is the responsibility of the incoming player to verify that the previous inning has been scored correctly by the outgoing player and that the application has the correct player currently at the table.

8. Standings

1. The standings within a group will be determined using the following criteria:
   1. Percentage of adjudicated matches won. (adjudicated matches = matches played + unplayed losses)
   2. Average ball differential: (total balls for - total balls against) for played matches.
   3. Head to head record.
2. By default, for all unplayed matches, both players will receive a loss. Unplayed losses count as adjudicated matches.
3. If a player feels he/she made a reasonable effort to make the match happen and that the responsibility for the match not happening relies heavily on the opponent, a 'no-contest' can be requested by the player for that match by sending an email to the league directors (leagues@nycueclub.com) 3-days before the end of the regular season at the latest. A 'no-contest' match does not count towards the standings, it is not considered an adjudicated match.
4. If a player has not played a certain number of matches by the beginning of a certain week in the season (example: 5 out of 8 matches by the beginning of week #9), he/she will not be allowed to request 'no-contests' later in the season.
5. If, at the end of the season, a player has more than a certain number of 'unplayed loss' attributed to his/her record, he/she will be ineligible for the playoffs season.

9. Rules

Matches are played in accordance with BCA/WPA rules found here.  The following rules are NYCC additions, changes, or clarifications:

Lagging

Lag for first break. Flipping for the break is acceptable if both players agree. The winner may take the break or make the opponent break.

Racking

1. Rack your own for the initial opening break and for the opening breaks that happen after a 3-foul penalty/re-rack.
2. Rack for your opponent for other normal re-racks.
3. When racking for the opponent, the player must make a reasonable effort to eliminate as many gaps as possible.
4. When the opponent racks, the player at the table is allowed to inspect the rack and, within reasonable limits, demand a tighter rack.

Balls accidentally touched

1. All balls foul if the stroke occurs. The balls that were touched are NOT put back in place.
2. If only one object ball is touched and the player does not proceed with the stroke, the player must inform his opponent of what happened. The opponent then has the choice to
   a) Leave the touched ball where it is.
   b) Put the ball back where it was.
   c) Let the player at the table put it back where it was.
3. If the cue ball is accidentally touched at any moment it is a foul. The balls that were touched are NOT put back in place.
4. If two or more object balls are disturbed, it is a foul. The balls that were touched are NOT put back in place.

Balls intentionally touched

1. Players should never catch the cue ball or an object ball as it is heading towards a pocket no matter how certain it is that it was going to be pocketed. Intentionally touching a ball that is moving as a result of normal play falls under WPA rule 6.17 b) Unsportsmanlike Conduct. If this happens, it is a standard 1 point foul, an additional 15 points penalty and the other player may place the caught ball anywhere on the table even if it is the cue ball.

Equipment

1. Jump cues are NOT allowed.
2. Template racks are NOT allowed.

Disagreement resolution

If a disagreement cannot be resolved and a league organizer is not present, the decision goes to the player at the table.

Special racking situations

Some end-of-rack situations where the last ball and the cue ball interfere require special consideration. Use the chart below to deal with such situations.