We play each other in the game site lobby's  Ladder Room  in an open challenge system. It's not hard to get the hang of playing open challenges. Let's look at how to find game and what to do to make it a league-rated Ladder Match.

If you set up  a table in the game lobby, they will come. Surely they will come. If you set that game table up in the ladder room, those that come have an interest in playing a rated game. We call rated games ladder matches.

You can taunt players in the game room lobby-chat but remember to use decorum. You can challenge right there in the lobby-chat as well. You can contact players on LivVe pager or Yahoo pager and challenge them. You can post at the Texas42Club Yahoo Group or on the message forum at the ladder.

You may only make a challenge Before any game. Decide amongst you what the Table's game settings will be, how many games will be played in the match, and that the opponents are registered on the club's ladders before accepting or making a challenge. You may partner with another player for as many matches as you like, but no player may play a league rated ladder-match against anyone more than once per day.

Your rank will climb halfway between yours and higher-ranks you defeat. Losses to lower-ranking players will not affect your rank but will lower your stats. The only time losing to a lower ranked player will lower your rank is when playing an opponent whose rank is the rung just below yours. In that case, they will assume your rank and vice versa.

You are required to use a player name that all of which will fit in your game's player name on the table. This is a ladder rule at all MyLeagues. It makes it easier for vanquished opponents to be able to report their loss to you. They can just highlight and copy your name easily so they can just paste your player name into the appropriate box using the  league's Report Loss tool . If you do not know how to highlight and copy using your mouse then "paste" those contents into a text field, there is a link for cut n paste that will make life much simpler to know that.

About Challenges:

Not everyone can play you at the time you make a challenge. You may ask if there is a time you can play them later, but please do not badger other players for game. Find another player to challenge.

Everyone wants to play the highest rank players because it moves them up the ladder more ranks should they lose to you. The top ranked players get lots of challenges. There are players they want a shot at too. Keep it friendly, few players will try to dodge games once they reach the top.

Once you reach the top, remember, You played to get there. Now stay there and play. You should continue to play as often as you did before reaching #1 on the ladder.

Top 10 players should all play the rank just below them before playing an up game if they are available to play (a game against one or more players that are ranked higher than you is an up game).  Once you play an up game, you should play a down game no matter what rank you are at. Don't let up-games and down games confuse you. The main thing here is don't dodge the players just below you in rank and whenever possible, you should play the next ranked player up from you before playing higher ranks.

Leap-Frogging means a player leaped past another in rank by winning a match against a player enough higher in rank to move them up ahead of players ranked in between the two. This is going to happen. Sometimes you leap and sometimes you get leaped. The ladder is fluid. Players move up and down in rank rapidly and often. The ladder favors those that play more often.

Be familiar with ladder rules. There is a  rules tab is on all of the ladders' main page's nav-bar.