The Tokyo Hustlers Pool League is an amateur beer league based out of Shibuya Tokyo, Japan.
From our meager beginnings in 2020 with 8 seed teams and the vision of an American native, the league is expected to grow exponentially with each new season. Currently with 8 teams the THPL has a roster of over 300 players with a diverse mixture of local Japanese and ex-pats from all corners of the globe. All games in this league are played on full sized 9ft. tables, no bar box coin-ops. Over the years the cue sticks have gotten more expensive and the competition more heated.
Still in the end it’s all about having a good time on a Wednesday night.
Just some background of the division setups in the past. The 4 division setup (prior to the present skill based divisions) was for the purpose of having regular season division champions (more than 1). There was a point of view expressed early in the league that people felt it important to have more than 1 team have an opportunity to receive recognition for the regular season. Thus, multiple divisions were utilized. Don’t know if there is still a similar thought among the membership. Changing from the old division setup to the skill based setup did not significantly alter this distribution of recognition.
One reason for going to the skill based division setup was based on the thought by some that teams would play more teams with similar level of players giving fewer lopsided match results.
Any change that will keep and get more teams and people in the league is good.
