Talk:Billiard Congress of America

Competing groups
As far as I can tell, there are several competing organizations that govern pool playing in the United States. . I can't figure out the role of the Billiard Congress of America, and the fact that nobody else has bothered to do so suggests that this is really just an ad. -- ESP 23:14 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * That's a bit cynical. The BCA is the big cheese, with International Olympic Committee recognition (by way of being the North American World Pool-Billiard Association affiliate, and thereby also the N.Am. World Confederation of Billiard Sports affiliate), and have been the only organization publishing consistent rulebooks for several generations. There are various national and slightly international amateur leagues including the American Poolplayers Association, the Valley National Eight-ball Association with non-BCA rulesets but no authoritativeness outside their member players, and the recent pro-am league, the International Pool Tour, which is basically in the same boat.  There are also other organizations such as the Women's Professional Billiard Association which cooperate pretty well with the BCA and last I looked use the BCA's rules.  I.e., I don't see what the fuss is about. —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93;  ‹(-¿-)› 15:06, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Working on improvements
The pool world's organizations are ever changing. There is lots of discord and frequent splitting. The BCA is/was a legit player organization and is still an industry trade group with lots of clout and deserving of a Wikipedia entry. I'm familiar with their origins and recent changes and I am working on a revision for this page. -- User:LastBall 00:49 2 May 2006 (EST)
 * Certainly needs it! :-) —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93;  ‹(-¿-)› 15:06, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Proposed split
The BCA Open (and other notable BCA events) need separate articles. —  SMcCandlish  &#91;talk&#93; &#91;cont&#93; ‹(-¿-)› 15:06, 11 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I have removed the split request. There has been no discussion in the past year, the article is a stub and no suitable split article has been created. -- Alan Liefting ( talk ) - 22:32, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Contested info moved to talk

 * The organizations runs the annual BCA Open Nine-ball Championship. The winner can be considered to be the pool champion of the United States  in some sense.
 * Professional pool players do not have a well established association of their own, so the best players usually compete in the BCA open.

Please do not return this information to the article without a citation to support it.-- Birgitte SB  22:07, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

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Subtle Differences in Rules?
I would like to point out a subtle inaccuracy in regards to one of the statements made here.

""Both the BCAPL and USAPL (who share a rulebook) use BCA rules, with the addition of wheelchair rules, team play adaptations, and "Applied Rulings" from years of large-scale tournament administration.""

This isn't necessarily true. For instance, the determination of the first break is determined via lag in the BCA, which isn't necessarily the case in the BCAPL. For the BCA, whose rules can be easily accessed here, you can see that they require a lag, in section 1.2 of their general rules, to determine the first break. This appears to be the standard for eight ball as well. I don't know that the same can be said for the BCAPL Rules. In section 1-12 of their rulebook, it states that the rules covering a lag only apply if a lag is required by the event. This makes it seem like this aspect of the rules is optional. I can look for clarification elsewhere on this matter. But would like input from other users prior to looking into it, and making changes based on my findings.

From here, I'd like to reference the differences regarding fouls on the break. I normally play Eight Ball, which is why I've been referencing those rules as heavily as I have been. I will continue to do so for this example as well. For the BCA, as can be noted in section 3.3, subsection (h), regarding break shots, something like a scratch on the break would result in ball in hand behind the headstring. However, for the BCAPL, the rule as it applies to the same situation, (see section 2-3, subsection 4) states that one would be given ball in hand anywhere.

In my own opinion, these are notable differences in the way that each league operates and plays. These changes, though seemingly inconsequential to the average person, have significant bearing on the games being played. I'd argue that the rules could not be described as being the same. The leagues themselves obviously don't share a rulebook. That's why I'm able to cite rulebooks from each league. I'd like to make these changes, and would love to provide reasonable citations for every change I make. However, I'd like to garner information from the community prior to making the changes myself. More so, I'm looking to gather feedback as to how such changes should be phrased, if they are made.

I look forward to input from the community. -Poodle of Doom (talk) 20:35, 26 February 2018 (UTC)
 * That's part of "team play adaptations, and "Applied Rulings" from years of large-scale tournament administration". We should just document what these differences are.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  13:55, 5 August 2023 (UTC)