Lately, I have received many questions about the Singles Program offerred by the APA. For those of you who know nothing about it, let me start at the end ... which is a $300,000.00+ National Singles Championship (NSC) event, where (7) Champions are crowned, held each year in May at the Riviera Hotel & Casino, in Las Vegas. (How's that for an introduction!!) Now, you ask, how do I get there?

To put it as simply as possible .. you win a "Board" and you advance to a "Regional". There are (2) Regionals each year, so you have (2) "Windows" of Opportunity to advance to Las Vegas.

What is a "BOARD"?

There are a couple of ways that a "Board" is run.

Play on a Board is the same as League Play ... meaning the Games Must Win Chart is used, just like League Play. If a 6 plays a 5 (8B) the race is 5-4. In 9B, it's a race to your ball count.

(1) 8 Players get together and play (3) rounds, down to a winner. Each player puts up $15.00 to play on the Board and the actual Board and the score sheets are turned in to the League Office, along with the $120.00 collected. (The score sheets, the Board and the money goes directly to St. Louis, by the way). One player advances to a Regional from this Board.

(2) 16 players get together and play a full Double Elimination event and (5) players get qualified on this type of Board. Each player puts up $32.00 to play on this Board, which is called a "Splash Board". The (5) actual Boards and all the score sheets are turned in to the League Office, along with the $512.00 collected. (The League Office adds $88.00 to this amount and forwards the $600.00 to St. Louis.) Five players advance to a Regional from this Board.

What is a Regional?

A Regional event is where all players in the Region that have won a Board get together and play for the right to advance to Las Vegas. You will be put on a Board at the Regional, along with 15 other players .. the winner of that Board advances to Las Vegas. Your Board of 16 players will contain only players with (as close as is possible) the same Internal Skill Level as yours. A skill Level goes from .99 - .01 internally. There are (2) Windows of Opportunity to advance to Las Vegas.

What is a Window?

Window One is from January 1st to June 15th each year.
Window Two is from June 16th to November 30th each year.
There is no Qualifying in December.

If you win a Board any time from Jan. 1 - June 15 ... you advance to the Window One Regional, held in October.

If you win a Board any time from June 16 - Nov.30 ... you advance to the Window Two Regional, held in March.

All winners from the October (or Fall) Regional and
all winners from the March (or Spring) Regional
advance to Las Vegas in May for the NSC!

As you can see ... each player has (2) opportunities a year to play in a Regional and advance to Las Vegas. If you participate in the Fall Regional, held in October and fail to advance to Las Vegas, you still have until November 30th, to win another Board and advance to the Spring Regional.

Travel to Las Vegas is (almost) free. You find and pay for your own trip there and back. The APA pays for your room at the Riviera. When you get there, and register for the NSC, you will be paid $300.00 for your travel expenses, no questions asked as to your exact cost. If you found travel for (let's say) $250.00, you actually made $50.00, however, if your travel cost you (for example) $350.00, you lost $50.00 on the deal.

The APA's National Singles Championships are for both 8Ball and 9Ball and are held at the same time. Just like at our Regionals, there are 8Ball only rounds and 9Ball only rounds, so you can compete in both events without worrying about a 'table conflict'. There are (7) National Champions crowned:

8B 2-3;
8B 4 only;
8B 5 only;
8B 6-7;
9B 1-3;
9B 4-5; and
9B 6-9.

Each 8B National Champion wins $15,000, and each 9B National Champion wins $10,000 ... however ... everyone that participates in the NSC in Las Vegas is paid cash at the event - even last place! (The cash difference is because of the number of participating 8B teams vs. the number of participating 9B teams competing each week in League play, around the APA). As you can see, a 2 or a 3 can win as much as a 6 or a 7 and only play players within their own Skill Level!

Each month, we schedule Singles Qualifiers at Bank Shot Bar & Grill, in Laurel, Maryland. The type of Boards that are run depend on the number of players that attend and asked what they want to do ... Splash or Regular. There is no limit as to the number of Boards you play on each year, attempting to Qualify. Once you get qualified, there would be no reason to try again (unless it's in the 'other' format), because each player can only hold one place on a Board (in each format - 8B or 9B) at the Regional.

A couple of times a year, we hold a "Special Qualifying Day". It's called our $100.00 Guarantee Day. Each player puts up $100.00 in the morning, before they play on their 1st Board of the day. We will put you on a Board with only (4) other players. Win twice on that Board and you are qualified! Lose and we put you on another (4) player Board. This continues all day until either you get qualified ~or~ we return your $100.00.

To play on an 8B Board, you must ...
.. be on an active 8B Team ...
.. and have a minimum of 10 actual League Play scores in that format.

To play on a 9B Board, you must ....
.. be on an active 9B Team ...
.. and have a minimum of 10 actual League Play scores in that format.

In either case, you MUST PRESENT a State, Government or Military Issued Picture ID to participate.

In addition to our monthly scheduled qualifiers, several of our players hold qualifiers at their Home Location. If you would like to run a singles qualifier, call the League Office (410) 439-9400 and we will send you the Board(s) and the score sheets that you need for the event, along with instructions. A qualifier board can be run in virtually any manner you want to run it. For example: All 8B Skill Level 4's; or 8B 2's, 3's and 4's only; or Ladies Only; or 9B 6's and above only; or all Skill Levels or .. or .. you get the point. However, when you attend a Regional, or the National event, they are Skill Level dependent, as shown above in the list of National Champions.

We have had (2) National Champions! In 1997, William (Jackie Robinson) Morton won and in 2007, Jada Monroe won! Will you be our next National Singles Champion?

There ain't no way, unless you play!


Now, go find a Board and get yourself qualified and join the fun!

So, there you have it .. the APA's National Singles Program!