Man oh man, where should I begin. Some serious trashing going on in this thread. First of all, unless you've done it you have no idea the amount of work that goes into producing an event like this. NO IDEA! I could write pages telling all the details, but I won't even attempt that now. My hat is off to Cindy and Charlie and their staff for pulling it off and making this such a momentous event. Pool needs more events like this and more promoters who will go the extra mile to make it happen. I didn't agree with Makabenta and Raya Sports for being slow to pay the players, but I commend them for their efforts as well. Being a pool promoter is a labor of love. Making money is not easy in this racket. If Dragon has found a way to make money promoting pool, then God bless them is all I have to say.
In the Round Robin stages we played short races it's true. But each player got to play the other five players in their group, so there was quite a bit of play to get thru to the Knockout stages. By the way, a Race To Five in Ten Ball is not as short as it sounds. Most matches took an hour or more. I would compare these races with a Race To Seven in 9-Ball (Derby City anyone?). Half the field got thru to the Knockout stages and here the matches are Race To Eight and longer in the Quarterfinals, Semis and Finals.
I personally inspected every tournament table, and got the (very experienced) Puyat mechanics to fix certain things that I found not acceptable. A Puyat mechanic was on duty throughout the tourney. He brushed tables between matches and checked table levels every morning. True they are not Gold Crowns or Diamonds, but they are better than some tables I have seen at other events. I would give them a rating of B-, passable but not great. They are rolling true, the rails are consistent and the balls are cleaned daily. Some of our refs are better than others. It will always be that way. Overall I'm happy with them though. They aren't amateurs, most being long time players over here. I have watched every ref in action, and I'm comfortable with their ability. The refs are getting the calls right and that's what matters to me. If a ref was truly bad, I would know about it, QUICK!
We have had one forfeited match, by the Russian lady. Her match was scheduled for 5 PM, and we began calling her at 5:20 to let her know she was next up. At 5:25 we called the match and she had fifteen minutes to appear. She did finally come into the arena at 6 PM, twenty minutes too late. She said she thought the matches were delayed until 6 PM because of the rain affected table. Nothing like this was ever said. I know because I was the one making announcements. What I said was that there would be some delays in playing matches because one table was out of commission and we would play the matches on an available table basis. She was never scheduled to play on the rain affected table either. Her big mistake was leaving the arena and going over to where the TV matches were being played. She couldn't hear the announcements from there. When she told me where she had been, I asked her why she didn't stay in the Sky Dome and wait for me to call her match. She thought someone was going to call her and let her know when she was up to play. Bottom line, she learned a good lesson she will never forget. Don't depend on anyone else to look out for you. They may get distracted or side tracked (what happened here).
What I am very aware of is that we are communicating in English and these women are from all over the globe and many don't understand our announcements. It behooves them to check with tourney staff if they are unsure and the more experienced ladies do that (the Taiwan players ask me about everything). Having someone translate is also very helpful. I felt bad for her but there was nothing I could do at that point. The match was over.
One more thing, the $75,000 is not a bad prize in Women's pool and the 20K on top is serious money. Say what you want about Dragon (I particularly don't like all the below the belt punches), but they ALWAYS pay off and right away! That puts them ahead of a lot of current promoters. There were many other top women who were invited to this event who didn't attend for one reason or another. Several were kept away by their various federations. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. More pool politics I guess. Whoever wins will be a deserving champion. There are many quality players left.
By the way, I met Shanelle Loraine for the first time here. She is a lovely person, very intelligent with a glowing personality. She knows her game is not on a par with the best players, not even close. But she is willing to do what it takes to get there. She has a lot of determination to be a good player. I remember when Jennifer Baretta first came on tour. She was derided for being a pretty face and not much else. She sure showed them! P.S. Shanelle won her match with Hubrtova, a top player from Europe, firing in the Ten Ball from distance. The girl has heart, she just needs many hours of practice. I believe if she sticks with it, she will continue to improve.
Feel free to respond pro or con. I have to go do my thing now.
In the Round Robin stages we played short races it's true. But each player got to play the other five players in their group, so there was quite a bit of play to get thru to the Knockout stages. By the way, a Race To Five in Ten Ball is not as short as it sounds. Most matches took an hour or more. I would compare these races with a Race To Seven in 9-Ball (Derby City anyone?). Half the field got thru to the Knockout stages and here the matches are Race To Eight and longer in the Quarterfinals, Semis and Finals.
I personally inspected every tournament table, and got the (very experienced) Puyat mechanics to fix certain things that I found not acceptable. A Puyat mechanic was on duty throughout the tourney. He brushed tables between matches and checked table levels every morning. True they are not Gold Crowns or Diamonds, but they are better than some tables I have seen at other events. I would give them a rating of B-, passable but not great. They are rolling true, the rails are consistent and the balls are cleaned daily. Some of our refs are better than others. It will always be that way. Overall I'm happy with them though. They aren't amateurs, most being long time players over here. I have watched every ref in action, and I'm comfortable with their ability. The refs are getting the calls right and that's what matters to me. If a ref was truly bad, I would know about it, QUICK!
We have had one forfeited match, by the Russian lady. Her match was scheduled for 5 PM, and we began calling her at 5:20 to let her know she was next up. At 5:25 we called the match and she had fifteen minutes to appear. She did finally come into the arena at 6 PM, twenty minutes too late. She said she thought the matches were delayed until 6 PM because of the rain affected table. Nothing like this was ever said. I know because I was the one making announcements. What I said was that there would be some delays in playing matches because one table was out of commission and we would play the matches on an available table basis. She was never scheduled to play on the rain affected table either. Her big mistake was leaving the arena and going over to where the TV matches were being played. She couldn't hear the announcements from there. When she told me where she had been, I asked her why she didn't stay in the Sky Dome and wait for me to call her match. She thought someone was going to call her and let her know when she was up to play. Bottom line, she learned a good lesson she will never forget. Don't depend on anyone else to look out for you. They may get distracted or side tracked (what happened here).
What I am very aware of is that we are communicating in English and these women are from all over the globe and many don't understand our announcements. It behooves them to check with tourney staff if they are unsure and the more experienced ladies do that (the Taiwan players ask me about everything). Having someone translate is also very helpful. I felt bad for her but there was nothing I could do at that point. The match was over.
One more thing, the $75,000 is not a bad prize in Women's pool and the 20K on top is serious money. Say what you want about Dragon (I particularly don't like all the below the belt punches), but they ALWAYS pay off and right away! That puts them ahead of a lot of current promoters. There were many other top women who were invited to this event who didn't attend for one reason or another. Several were kept away by their various federations. Don't ask me why. I have no idea. More pool politics I guess. Whoever wins will be a deserving champion. There are many quality players left.
By the way, I met Shanelle Loraine for the first time here. She is a lovely person, very intelligent with a glowing personality. She knows her game is not on a par with the best players, not even close. But she is willing to do what it takes to get there. She has a lot of determination to be a good player. I remember when Jennifer Baretta first came on tour. She was derided for being a pretty face and not much else. She sure showed them! P.S. Shanelle won her match with Hubrtova, a top player from Europe, firing in the Ten Ball from distance. The girl has heart, she just needs many hours of practice. I believe if she sticks with it, she will continue to improve.
Feel free to respond pro or con. I have to go do my thing now.
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