Pool players had their game faces on Thursday night at Porter Creek Billiards as teams in the Whitehorse 8-ball League squared off for the first time of the 2008-09 season.

Thursday was an organizational night for the league, but despite no points counting for the season, team members still gave it their all in preparation for next week's opener.

Entering into its fourth season, the Whitehorse 8-ball League has doubled the amount of teams that it finished with in 2007.

The eight teams total is an all time high for the pool league, which has league organizer and Porter Creek Billiards owner Richard Gartner excited about the upcoming season.

"This is going to be a good year, I believe, because we have so many teams," he said. "It's just a good social night, there is very rarely any kind of hassles here. It's a family type atmosphere."

The billiards league regular season runs from mid-October to around the end of April.

League rules include a call shot game format, which requires players to successfully identify the pocket they intend to sink a particular ball into. As long as the ball is sunk in the correctly called pocket it counts, regardless of any type of deflections or banks.

Other league rules include ball in hand after a scratch, with the exception of the break.

Players are also required to hit a rail with at least one ball with every shot, unless a ball is pocketed, which is considered the equivalent to making contact with a rail. If a player fails to hit a rail or sink a shot it counts as ball in hand for his or her opponent.

The league features teams of at least four members and no more than six. The games will be played Thursday and will include four players on one team playing in individual competition against four members of another squad.

The opposing team members play three games, keeping track of the points break down in each contest.

Players are awarded one point for each ball that is sunk and three additional points for pocketing the 8-ball for a maximum of 10. Members play 12 games every week.

Gartner said the points system featured during the regular season is used to set up team handicaps for the four-week playoff in May, which helps level out the playing field.

The handicap breakdowns includes awarding a squad that finishes with less overall points than its opponent with a 50 per cent difference of the total amount. If one team had 10 fewer points than its opponent, they would start off with five points in the match up.

The same point system, with the addition of the handicaps, apply in the playoffs and at the conclusion of the four-weeks the team with the most points is declared the winner.

The league also has a spare list, which at the moment has two people on it. Gartner said the league hopes increase the number of spares over the next few weeks to around five or six.

There is also the chance that spares can become regular players if a member on one team drops out during the course of the season.

This season, the league is not allowing a player to fill in for a team unless he or she is either one of the six official members on a squad or on the spare list.

Gartner said individuals that are interested in becoming a spare can contact him at 393-2799 to get their name on the list.

League registration costs $10, which covers both the cost of the tables as well as the funds to send the winner of this year's playoffs to either Saskatchewan or Alberta this summer for a regional competition.

Registering a team for regionals requires a minimum of 20 players in the league.

Gartner said some of the future plans for the league include increasing the teams to 10 or 12, which would give him the option of setting up a second night of competition.

Lisa Abel is participating in the league for the first time this season. Abel, who has been playing pool since she was about 13, but only sporadically in the last 10 years, said she was asked to join about a month ago by friends of hers.

"Usually I play sports in the summer and in the winter there is not too much to do and I like playing pool, so I figured I would give it a shot."

Abel said she was pleased with how she was doing her first night.

"It's not going too bad actually," she said. "I figured I would do a lot worse, but I am doing good. Once I pay attention and actually focus it's not so bad."

She said she doesn't have any expectations for her first season.

"I do it for fun, more than winning," Abel said. "I am not a sore loser. I just really hope it's a lot of fun this year and I look forward to playing."