fingers said:
Hello, I believe Jose said he had about 16 players that confirmed they would show up! Not all of them were pros. I wanted to play to help support Jose and to support the guy that won the free entry!! I felt it was good for the sport! As for putting up $350 to play against these monsters, I felt it would be a great experience! I have been playing alot for the last 2 years against these top players and I can tell you one thing....THEY ALL MISS!!! I have had tournament wins over Mike Davis, Frankie Hernandez, Shin Park, Earl Strickland, George San Soucci, Jeromy Sossei and Steve Lillis just to name a few. The only way to get better is to step up and GO FOR IT!!! You have to play the greatest players to become a great player. These players CAN be beat! Have confidance in your game and don't be afraid to step it up!! You might not be the favorite but don't count yourself out!!
The last time I played Shin Park in a tourny I beat him 9 to 1!!!
I was and still am pissed that so many players said "I'll be there" and then they didn't show!! I would not have made the 6 hr round trip to play just those 3 players for $350, but because I was there and I would have spent the money anyway I said LETS GO FOR IT!!!
I don't want to cause any waves here as i really do understand where you are coming from.
BUT, There are a lot of different factors that go into a tournament decision. Especially, when the entry fee is $350.
First off, regardless of how many people say they are going to be there, your always gonna have some people who just say they will show up, just so they won't be bothered about it again. Then they can blame car trouble, or bad sleep or use whatever excuse they want when they don't show.
Then you have your legitimate reasons.
I for one, won't play in a tournament if that tournament means me getting up early in the morning, unless i get a fantastic nights sleep. If it was a messed up sleep, then it really serves no purpose for me to even try as i will be tired the entire day and fire everything into the rail. I know i'm not alone, as i know plenty of people who won't play if they don't FEEL right, for whatever reason.
Seeing as this qualifier was most likely going to draw out some top talent who didn't feel like ponying up the full $5000, your really hard pressed to get people who want to donate to their cause if there are no prizes for 2nd 3rd and 4th place so that they could take their shot and got paid for not winning.
I mean i know the pool world has its fair share of degenerate gambling junkies, but still, i don't know any of them that just want to GIVE their money away. If they know they can't win, why bother. It's not like your talking about the local $10 tournament. Your talking $350. That's 35 weeks of local tournaments where you CAN say, get up there and go for it cause it's only $10.
Plus, let us not forget, that there are a lot of top talented pool players, who don't have 2 nickels to rub together. So if they can't find someone who is willing to put them in, its not going to happen for them.
And finally. Pool, for $350 bucks, is a BUSINESS decision. People aren't going to want to play unless they have a reasonable chance to cash, and since this was most likely a winner take all tournament, is someone who is not in dead punch who has to weigh all the factors into it really gonna want to cough up the money?
Not everyone has your desire and ambition to compete.
I mean, it's nice that you had the drive/desire to go and take a shot, but you can't be pissed off if others didn't feel the same way.
