The 2017 Summer/Fall Season will begin very soon.

The Organizational Meeting will be held at Shenanigans at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, July 12th. All teams that are interested in playing need to have a representative at the meeting. 

If you wish to have a team, you need to pay an initial deposit of 100,000 won at the meeting. You will also need to give the Executive Committee the name of your captain and his/her contact information, as well as the bar that will be hosting your team.

The total fees per team are 350,000 won. These must be paid by the 3rd week of the upcoming season.

The first week of matches for the season will be held on Wednesday, July 19th.

Please contact the Executive Committee prior to the meeting if you wish to register a team, so that we can have an idea of how many teams we will be having next season.

Thank you all!

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Written by Lenny Erickson

Category: News

Published: 05 July 2017

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Itaewon Pool League Members

I am your pool league president. I realize that I was not technically, or even remotely, elected as such. I was granted the right to be your pool league president, and I want to thank you for that. I also realize that I don't have the mandate of the league members, but I do have a solemn responsibility to you all.

I feel that I fell short in carrying out that responsibility regarding the A Division playoffs. And I would like to apologize for that.

As many of you may know, there was an unfortunate forfeit and disqualification in the Championship match of the A Division. It was brought to our attention during that match that one of the players was a ranked professional Korean billiards player. According to the Itaewon Pool League rules, this player was ineligible to play, and therefore the playoff match should have resulted in a forfeit.

Let's go back a week to the first of my mistakes as your president. During the quarterfinal playoff match between my team, the Boomtown Rats, and the disqualified team, one of the players on my team mentioned to me that the player in question was a professional. I was surprised to hear that, but my team told me not to raise the issue, because it would seem like a case of sour grapes and they felt that we should have won the match nonetheless. I decided not to raise the issue and wait until the season was over. At that point, I was planning to quietly investigate this and prevent the player from playing in the future, if the rumor proved to be true.

That was a mistake. And I wish to personally apologize to Scrooge Pub Wonky Dics for that. I should have stepped in at that moment to prevent further damage. I forgot my responsibility as president, and instead made that decision as a team captain and as a private individual. This apology goes out to the whole league, because my inaction jeopardized the integrity of the league.

After the final was played, there was some debate over what constitutes a professional player, and a lot of time was spent on trying to determine if, in fact, this player was a professional.

While this was unfolding on Thursday morning, I contacted the opposing captain, and that captain told me that they would accept the outcome of the match, although they felt that it was a problem that needed to be resolved for future seasons. The Executive Committee accepted that, and I contacted the captain of the disqualified team and awarded them the victory.

That was my second mistake. I once again forgot my role as your league president. In my mind, if the opposing team accepted the outcome, then the problem was resolved and peace was preserved and friendships league-wide were not destroyed.

Meanwhile, indisputable evidence was pouring in that the player indeed was a ranked professional, recognized by a major Korean billiards association. This evidence could not be dismissed.

The next morning, after yet another sleepless night, I contacted my harried Executive Committee and gave them the disheartening news that the decision needed to be reconsidered. We met one final time, and with the help of some very wise advisers, came to the conclusion that our first ruling was inconsistent with the rules and previous rulings. Many times in the past teams have forfeited playoff games due to playing players that had not met the minimum game requirement. One team was expelled from the playoffs because of intentionally losing matches in order to play in the Best of the Rest tournament. We then changed the ruling to a forfeit.

In summary, the Executive Committee did its job. It took a while, and mistakes were made along the way, but the right conclusion was reached, unfortunate as it may be.

Once again, I would like to apologize for my own part in all of this. I felt that my intentions were good, but in the end, my personal feelings should not come into play in making this type of decision. It doesn't matter if I agree with a particular rule or not, the rules are there for a reason. Rules can be amended, repealed or modified, but they cannot be ignored.

I will continue to serve you as president of the Itaewon Pool League, and I will endeavor to do so with more wisdom than I displayed on this occasion. If anyone has an issue that they would like to raise with the committee regarding this, please feel free to contact us.

Lenny Erickson

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Written by Lenny Erickson

Category: News

Published: 24 June 2017

Hits: 1531

On a much, much happier note, the B and C Divisions has champions that need to be recognized. They were hard-fought and well-deserved victories.

In B Division, the results are:

Champions: Scrooge Pub Marvelous

2nd Place: Bulldog Super Power

3rd Place: King Pub Seoul

In C Division, the results are:

Champions: JR Pub Black Hole

2nd Place: Dolce Vita Sweet Life

3rd Place: Fat Albert's Scandal

Well done to you all!

The banquet will be held on Friday, June 30 from 7:00 - 10:00 pm at the Crown Hotel.

There will be free food and booze and raffle prizes (including a prize of airfare and rental car in Chejudo, provided by JR Pub) and the 50/50 prize.

All league members who have played at least 3 separate matches will be admitted for free. Any players who have played less than 3 separate matches will be admitted for 15,000 won. All non-members will be admitted for 30,000 won.

I hope to see you there.

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Written by Lenny Erickson

Category: News

Published: 24 June 2017

Hits: 1445

Upon further review of new evidence brought to the committee, it is clear that a player on the Wolfhound Dark Horses is a registered professional. The rules are very clear that if a player is registered as a professional, that player is not eligible. The committee did not want to make any major decisions until concrete evidence was received.

The rules are also very clear that if an ineligible player plays in a playoff game, the player's team must forfeit the match. 

Therefore, the committee has no choice but to forfeit the match to the JR Pub Pinoy Mafia. JR Pub will now be recognized as the champions.

Because the player in question also played in other playoff games, it is the decision of the Executive Committee that the Wolfhound Dark Horses shall be disqualified from the entire playoffs.

Therefore, 1st Place will be awarded to JR Pub Pinoy Mafia, 2nd Place will be vacated this season, and 3rd Place will be awarded to Sin Bin Strokers.

We apologize for the delay and confusion in this matter. We have, as a committee, discussed this at great length, and this is our final and unanimous committee decision.

운영진에서 알려드립니다.
울프하운드의 선수 중 프로에 등록된 선수가 있었음이 확인 되었습니다.

운영진의 입장에서는 이 모든 상황에 대해 최대한 공정한 결정을 내리려 했으나, 새로운 증거가 제시된만큼 힘든 결정을 내리게 되었습니다. 

울프하운드와 JR Pub Pinoy Mafia의 챔피언쉽 게임은 물론  해당선수가 참여했던 모든게임은 기권으로 처리 될 것이며,  그에 의거해 A리그의 챔피언은 JR Pub Pinoy Mafia,  3등은 Sin Bin Strokers에게 주어집니다.
여러가지 상황으로 인해 공교롭게도 이번시즌 A리그의 2등은 없습니다.

이런 결정을 내리게되어 매우 유감스럽지만, 운영진도 힘든 결정을 내린만큼  너그러운 양해 부탁드립니다.

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Written by Lenny Erickson

Category: News

Published: 24 June 2017

Hits: 1166