More people are coming out for pool leagues in Estevan, as evidenced by the busier nights for pool at the city’s bars.
“It was about two years ago… I always bumped into the same people but they were never in a league,” said Dave Dayman, local pool organizer.
There are two leagues in town on Monday nights and Tuesday nights and the ranking is a little bit different for each league. Monday has a five-person team with fluke shots and Tuesday is a four-person team with called shots.
“The best part about the Tuesday night league is that if you show up to play, you play against each of the other four members of the team, where in the Monday night league you play against one person,” Dayman said. “Over the course of the whole season, you get to play against everyone in the whole league. We have 16 teams in the league now, and we’ve got a couple more teams that want to get started again.”
Participation is the key for the success of the league, Dayman feels, and the 16-18 teams will be busy through the weeks of the season.
The Tuesday night league has mixed teams, men’s teams and women’s teams.
“The competition is getting better and it’s real close,” he said. “You get a skill level and your average on balls sunk against teams played, and against games won.”
The statistics are one reason why the league has become as popular as it is.
“But the biggest part is it’s one night to get out with your buddies and have a fun night,” Dayman said. “You play pool for two or three hours is all it takes for 15 matches or 16 games, and then you can stay and play if you want or go home. Everyone that’s in it is having a lot of fun. That’s the biggest part.”
They play at local bars like The Beef, the Tap House, Gibby’s, the legion branch and the Elks Hall. The schedule determines where they’ll play.
“Everybody plays on each table twice in town,” Dayman said. “We’ll be using nine tables, come January.”
The new teams start out as just a bunch of friends who want to get together and play.
“It’s more fun than competitive even if your opponent is a little bit better than you,” he said. “It’s a good atmosphere and it gets a little bit competitive at times…. all the top four teams are within 10 points at the end of 15 weeks.”
Teams play under Billiard Congress of America rules but are not a BCA league. If they were, that could lead a team from the area to go to Las Vegas for championships.
“Everybody’s happy with it being a cash league,” Dayman said. “There are a few teams, and those are the really competitive teams, but for the most part the majority of our teams are for fun.”
There are a lot of skilled, talented players in Estevan, Dayman said.
“The majority decided they didn’t want to opt for that chance to go to (Las) Vegas, they just wanted to play pool,” he said. “It’s a simple cash league and we pay back about 85 per cent of the funds taken in.”
Some of the other costs go to the bars for the use of their tables.
They have a full 16 teams for the year but can add teams in January if the demand keeps rising. But individuals are also encouraged, if they don’t have a team, to join the list of spares for teams that occasionally can’t field full four-person units.
“Somebody who doesn’t want to be committed to playing every Tuesday night can just… wait for a phone call and maybe play twice a month,” Dayman said. “Sometimes when players do get on a team, they can get on full-time.”
There’s a list of about 15 right now, he said. Anyone interested in joining can text or call Dayman at 306-421-1397.
“We’d like to have more teams because it makes it more fun.”
