Searching in Central IL

M

Myrtle_04

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Are there any tournaments South of Bloomington, IL?

I'm about an hour south of Champaign and it seems like anytime I hear about a tourney it's 3 or 4 hours away in chicago or a suburb west of chicago.

It's closer to go to St. Louis or Indianapolis. There has to be something closer that the northernmost 10% of IL.
 
Is it Ride the Rail or some thing like that on Verterans and 9 where Toys R Us and Scnucks Grocery store in Bloomington. They have to run tournaments once in a while. Bunch of tables and good food nice place. No 3 Cushion though. Also used to be home to one of the women National stars if not still.
 
If their are tournaments I don't hear about them. I have a few friends in Indianapolis that let me know about tourneys. I'm hoping I can get a few contacts on here to give me a heads up on tourneys in bloomington, champaign, STL, or even Decatur. I don't know if there are any south of me in places like Mt. Vernon, Marion, Metropolis, etc that are worth the drive. I like reading about tournaments in IL, I just wish I didn't see Chicago after every post I see on here. If anyone is seeing a thread that I don't feel free to post me a link.

Thanks for the help.
 
Myrtle,

I live in Bloomington, IL. Ride the Nine used to have a good tournament on Monday nights starting at 7pm. You might want to call on Mondays to see if it is up and running again. They say that they have to have 10 players to have a tournament. There is also a break pot that has reached $1000 many times. Hopefully things will pick up when it starts to get colder.

Ride The Nine
503 N. Prospect
Bloomington, IL
309-662-1009

In Champaign there is a tournament on Sundays at a place called Jupiters in downtown. It alternates between 8ball and 9ball and is handicapped. I'm not sure of the info but the person to contact is named Tom Gallagher.

I'm not sure about the Springfield area but if you contact the Starship Billiards they might be able to tell you if anything is going on. The same goes for Decatur and Starship. They were having tournaments last year.

You could also call the pool rooms and bars in Effingham. For some reason it sounds familiar that something went on down there during the winter months.

In the St. Louis area there is a Midwest 9ball Tour event the last weekend of the month. That is always a good tournament. It is being held at The Break in Cahokia, IL. Here is the link to the Midwest Tourhttp://www.9balltour.com

I hope that helps a little. If I come across anything else I will let you know.

Sarah
 
Thanks Sarah. I'm from Effingham actually. I talked to you in Las Vegas for a little while during the BCA National Tournament. There are a few tournaments hear in Effingham and Casey has a a couple big tournaments. Sounds like I'll be making some phone calls for tournaments this fall. So far I'm looking forward to the Barbox Tournament at Brickyard (Formerly the Midwest Classic) in Indianapolis which I believe is towards the end of October. Hopefully like you said I will get some more info as it gets colder.
 
Myrtle_04 said:
Are there any tournaments South of Bloomington, IL?

I'm about an hour south of Champaign and it seems like anytime I hear about a tourney it's 3 or 4 hours away in chicago or a suburb west of chicago.

It's closer to go to St. Louis or Indianapolis. There has to be something closer that the northernmost 10% of IL.
Click to expand...

Casey has a good tournament on Friday night and if you go there put your name on their mailing list. They have pretty decent tournaments once the pool season picks up.
 
Myrtle_04 said:
Are there any tournaments South of Bloomington, IL?

I'm about an hour south of Champaign and it seems like anytime I hear about a tourney it's 3 or 4 hours away in chicago or a suburb west of chicago.

It's closer to go to St. Louis or Indianapolis. There has to be something closer that the northernmost 10% of IL.
Click to expand...
I am not familiar with Illinois so I do not know where these cities are but you can try looking here at Inside English Online - Western or Southern regions.
http://www.insideenglish.net/


There a couple listed in Illinois here.
http://www.insideenglish.net/national%20section.htm
 
sde said:
I am not familiar with Illinois so I do not know where these cities are but you can try looking here at Inside English Online - Western or Southern regions.
http://www.insideenglish.net/


There a couple listed in Illinois here.
http://www.insideenglish.net/national%20section.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I looked it it and all the IL tourneys are in STL or Chicago suburbs with the exception of Centralia. I don't know what Gateway GAT is so I might have to call and see what that's about.
 
Gat

The GAT joined forces with the Viking 9-ball tour. I believe that there was an article on AZ about this joint venture. If not, check out the Maxim Billiards Magazine online. I know that the GAT had a stop in Centralia as well as several locations around St. Louis.

In the tournaments section of the forum there are typically good leads on tournaments in the Midwest. Without a doubt you will have to drive several hours for good events. I use to live in Marion, IL and currently live in Milwaukee. I relocate to St. Louis in two weeks. I will be playing in Cahokia at Break Billiards for the Midwest 9-ball Tour event.

I played in the last Brickyard Classic event in Indy. It was fun. There was a fair amount of variation from table to table though as far as rails and table speed on the Valley tables used for the tournament.

Also, there are tourneys down in Cape Girardeau which is probably a slightly further drive than St. Louis for you. I would say between AZ Billiards forums, Inside English, and Maxim, you will be up on all the major events.

I am really sad to see that the periodical "Ball In Hand" that used to circulate in St. Louis went under. Back in the late 90's, this was a publication that would list all of the local places to play, tournament announcements, tournament results with pictures, equipment vendors, columns, editorials, etc. It was GREAT. However, due to lack of funding and cost the person running it stopped the operation. When that was in circulation though, STL was pulling local tournaments at any level that would be over 128 players consistently. It sounds like now the tourneys are lucky to draw 60 to 70 players.

Patrick
 
Thanks patrick. It looks like i'm going to be driving to Indianapolis and STL if I want to watch or playing in bigger tournaments that just the weekly tourneys that get about 20-30 people on a good week. Thanks for the info and keep me posted if you hear anything new. I'll keep my eye on the tournament section.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top