Personally, my good friend Sam Sheer (Spiderman)was the onewho first asked me to join his team at JR Pub in the Spring of 2012. I had already been in Korea for 5 years, but never had an accomodating schedule to join the league. Around that timeI had been hanging around JR Pub testing my skill on the table, and thoroughly drinking the nights away (which had nothing to do at all with getting over a breakup).I had known of the existence of the pool league, but didn't know any details or actual players. Well, finally my Wednesday nights opened up and I ran into this short but very friendlyPakistani man. Sam, being the keen scout that he is and knowing how to appeal to vanity, said "you're a good player, join my team," and it was decided then that I'd become a Rising Star. Little did I know or suspect that we would end up winning the championship that season (my first). I've been playing in IPL ever since and I enjoy (nearly) every minute of it.How about the rest of you?

No other responses, really?Lenny I want to year from you!Jeff Potter!Dominic!Share the history. It could be passed on for generations!

I did but had to delete it cause someone was crying about it.

Well Paul I did see this thread before but thought no one would really give a damn about why I joined the league, but since you called me out, I will have to answer.I moved to Itaewon from Suwon in early 2003. One of the first bars I went to in Itaewon was woodstock because of the live music. I have been playing pool since I was a kid and I noticed that there were an inordinate amount of good pool players in there all the time. I started playing with them (BJ Moon, Shim, Mr. Woo, Sang Il Park, Tom, Jerry Park) and after originally scoffing at the thought that this little kid could play with them, they noticed that I was decent. I learned about the league and started coming in on Wednesdays to watch the matches. One Wednesday they were short of players and asked me to fill in. For the remainder of the season, I was a kind of sub, playing usually 1, sometimes 2 games. That's it. Not too exciting. It was nice to win the championship in my first season though!

I'd been playing a lot of pool at RAndy's bar in Imun-dong (Northeast Seoul) a couple years ago and there met these guys named Ralph and Andy... and even Paul and Matt. They all were very willing to coach me and helped me improve my game. Ralph sold me a pretty decent cue stick and that sort of pushed me over the edge to be "serious" about the game... If my memory doesn't fail me, he was the captain of the then "Bless U" team... and he was the one who invited me to play on his team the following season... he said he'd have to ask the new captain-to-be for the winter/spring season of 2013 (Lenny) if it would be okay. Lenny was kind enough to give me a chance. That's how I started.
My first season I was awful, a bundle of nerves. But the neat thing about playing on the Shenanigans Boomtown Rats is that nobody ever blamed me for dropping games. I'd get a slap on the back, or a "that was a tough table..." etc. I kept at it, even if my first season I only improved to a whopping 1617.
I couldn't play the second season because of my work schedule but I was able to go all in this season. This year every player on the team has improved, and I along with them. And although I'm the only active player not at 1800 or above, (1785 currently) I'm sure I"ll get better and better as time goes by. Big thanks to the league and to the guys who gave me a chance. Cheers.