A Race to 2 is this a real tournament???

nbll01

nbll01

Albrecht Custom Cues
Silver Member
I just wanted to get some others opinions? I played in a tournament like this last night and just thought it was kinda lame. A race to 2 on the winners and losers side barbox 8 ball oh and the 8 dont count on the break. Seems to me you gotta get pretty lucky to stay alive with this format.........Dave
 
better than just one game double elemination. Ive taken 1st in plenty of those and I prefer the race to two.
 
nbll01 said:
I just wanted to get some others opinions? I played in a tournament like this last night and just thought it was kinda lame. A race to 2 on the winners and losers side barbox 8 ball oh and the 8 dont count on the break. Seems to me you gotta get pretty lucky to stay alive with this format.........Dave
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That's not a real tournament at all. To me, anything less than a race to 7 is not a good tournament.
 
I got knocked out of a single-game, single-elimination tournament by a close friend. He broke and ran. I never even got to the table.

The really bad part was that I drove over 60 miles to get there. :angry:
 
nbll01 said:
I just wanted to get some others opinions? I played in a tournament like this last night and just thought it was kinda lame. A race to 2 on the winners and losers side barbox 8 ball oh and the 8 dont count on the break. Seems to me you gotta get pretty lucky to stay alive with this format.........Dave
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I don't think it is a real tournament. I think any 8 -ball tournament that is handicapped should be a minimum race to 3.

BVal
 
Race to two

Quite frankly this type of tournament is good practice. What better way to practice "getting the jump" on your opponent. You also practice coming back if they win the first one to be on the hill first.

I think that the strategy on these tournaments should be to be patient and play smart. That is how I play in single elimination tournaments or handicapped tournaments where I believe that those "lower" ranked players can runout.

Typically these are cheap tournaments and good practice. Technically, anyone can win them. However, the truly better player will typically prevail...at least the better player that day!

I have played in many of these. The much tougher are those that are single elimination and handicapped. I played in one of those this past weekend and those are monster tournaments to win. Talk about pressure to play perfect or damn close to it!!!
 
2 Game races

It's funny. I tried setting up a tournament a couple of weekends ago. Playing races to 7 winners/5 Losers on 9' Diamonds. I got 5 players total. Advertised a 1 game 8 ball tourney and got 12. A new friend of mine said it clear as day. Tourney's like that die to quick because the best players win 99.9% of the time. Lowers need to know they have a shot and anyone, and I mean anyone, can win one game of 8 ball. Lowers don't want to learn the hard way like many of us did, donating to learn what it takes to be better, they just want to cash.

I agree with you that a real tourney is a longer race, but that won't satisfy the masses.
 
Weeknight tournament, short race, most likely low entry...sounds like a good tournament to me. I wouldn't expect a much longer race for a week night tournament, especially with 8-Ball, remember, most people work early the next day. If your local players are like some I've seen around here, a race to 2 may still be lengthy in game play. If it was a weekend day event, I would expect a longer race.

Like Patrick53212 said, it gives you experience to really bear down and make every game count. Different tournaments will give you different kinds of mental experience and knowledge of varied game play, this is one for focus and playing cold (short races, even if back to back, don't really give you time to get warmed up and in-stroke).
 
i play in an 8-ball barbox thats race to 1 bar rules. it sucks, but its a bar and generally easy money.
 
usually the better players find a way to win

socks said:
i play in an 8-ball barbox thats race to 1 bar rules. it sucks, but its a bar and generally easy money.
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Super short races spread things out a little wider and make for some matches where David beats Goliath but most of the time one of the top few players still wins. To make things a little more interesting I am just fine with paying one or two places in these events too.

Of course I am very unlikely to attend one of these events unless it is local or just an add on to a trip I am already taking.

Hu
 
Typically those type of tournaments have a small buy-in and the short race is due to limited time on a week night....they have their place IMHO....
 
nbll01 said:
I just wanted to get some others opinions? I played in a tournament like this last night and just thought it was kinda lame. A race to 2 on the winners and losers side barbox 8 ball oh and the 8 dont count on the break. Seems to me you gotta get pretty lucky to stay alive with this format.........Dave
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Dave I do not know if you ever played in JIMBOS Bar in Glendale AZ when you were in the Valley, but thy have an 8 Ball Tournament ever Tuesday that get 30-40 players every week.

Race to 1, Double Elimination.;)
 
There's a race to two round robin weekly at Chris's that's been going on for a long time, and three years ago, I was an APA 4. lol At the time, most of the gamblers at Chris's never bothered to play in it, but one slow night, Mexican Paul decides to play and I beat him 2-0. Man was he pissed! For like 5 months when he would see me he would say "Lucky!" with absolute contempt.

Gotta love those short races!

I think he's still pissed off about it. :D
 
All the Army tournaments i played in are race to two formats with the eight being spotted on the break on bar boxes and for good reason becuse alot of the dudes i smash up cant run more that 2 balls.
 
In the Accu-stats game show, played at this year's Derby City Classic, the nine-ball races were to one. The event, which featured the many of the most elite pros in attendance, was a lot of fun.
 
Hi
here in germany,we have once or twice tournaments a year in the southwest,9 ball,race to 1 but you plays everybody in this tournament.Much more fun!
 
I like them for a Friday night. I have played in countless amounts of them and they make for easy money (usually) and a fairly quick tourney. The only real downside is that a better player can be beaten at anytime in a single or double elim battle (if I win the flip you might not get to shoot). The same goes on the other side, I have been in the chair watching as my opponent ran the two racks and I didn't get to play. Oh well, might as well pitch coins. Where as a longer race non handicapped (the better guy usually will win), the shorties are a bit more even. They are usually good for a draw.
 
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