Update on the Des Moines pool scene

Good tournament Mikey. I enjoyed it a lot. The format was good...a bit long but good. I loved the rules...as mentioned, took out a lot of the luck. I guess I'm glad I got knocked out after the third round. 12 hours sounds like a lot of time on the floor. Even with only four tables, you didn't get much time to relax...playing most of the time.

I'll be back for more tourture in the future. There was some players in that tournament.

Thanks a bunch...Ken
 
WOW -- sounds like things went well.

Maybe next time Mikey -- although the 12 hours seems a bit crazy.

Any potential the Big Dog putting in more Diamond 9's??
 
Okay. I thought I posted yesterday but apparently I just typed it out and did not hit the post button. Let’s just say I was pretty darn tired on Sunday and did not leave the house.

About the Ten Ball tournament I felt like the rules were very good. I liked the strategy different people employed during the tournament. It was way too long though. In fact longer than I ever want to deal with again. There were in fact 19 players that came out and tested their mettle. I know sometimes the leaves were in between on misses and sometimes people gave it back to a player and ended up losing the rack. The rules are meant to favor the guy who is playing better. So if a shot is missed and the leave is tough for you, but you think they can handle it if you give it back, that’s life. Jon Brown was hill-hill in a match and a guy made him shoot the ten ball again right after Jon missed it, well it was a thin cut but Jon made it this time, next time I think the guy won’t pass that shot back!!!

About the length of the tournament. We got from 19 players to the final 2 in 27 matches. If it were double elimination there would have been 34 matches to get their plus more wait time. I am thinking that the early stages of these tournaments are a bit lengthy and maybe once it gets down to the final 8 or so the race can increase a little bit. So for the next One pocket tournament expect race to 2 until we get down to 8 players. For the ten ball tournament it will be a race to 5 until we get down to 8 players. This is the only thing I can think to do for my sanity on a Saturday. Either that or we move to single elimination with no option to rebuy. These tournaments will not go past midnight anymore!!!

I also think I may have to cap these tourneys off at 16 players. End of the day we only have 4 big tables that people want to shoot on. Due to this fact a 16 player field may be maximum capacity for these one day tourneys. I’m looking for suggestions and/or help in getting these things finished before midnight. An earlier start time could also help out but I think anything starting too much before 3 or 4 PM you are cutting out anyone who works Saturday mornings or who is traveling to the tournament, which was at least 7 of our 19 players. So yeah, very open to suggestions right now.

Tourney Results:

Break Contest Winner: Anthony Gideon - $125

Ten Ball Tourney:
1st/2nd (split): Somphet T. and Jon Brown - $525
3rd: Gary DeCarlo - $100
4th: Mike Athens - $50

Thanks for coming out guys and good shooting! It was nice to see some out of town support. For the most part everyone was a gentleman for most of the day. A few isolated arguments but nothing major. Thanks to Big Dogs for adding a $100 and letting us use the tables for that long of a period of time.
 
If you shorten the race for part of the tournament, do it for a number of rounds like 2 or 3 instead of number of people remaining.


I heard Jason and Jesse would be playing today.
 
hmm. Sounds fun. I'd love to sweat some of that. wonder if they will meet up this weekend in CR?

Maybe more likely in Davenport in a couple weeks.
 
deadstroke7 said:
hmm. Sounds fun. I'd love to sweat some of that. wonder if they will meet up this weekend in CR?

Maybe more likely in Davenport in a couple weeks.
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I doubt it. White Diamond bar table tourney is same time as Davenport and 1st there is usually around 12k.
 
I would love to some 1pkt...maybe the weekend before davenport. I would be dead money, but i don't care. If this goes off, count me in.
 
Not sure about the singles and other team events, but Richardsons team took 5/6th in the masters team event.
 
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I have to say congrats to Worm's team for double dipping for the win!! Also, congrats to Jamie Fenton for taking home the Master's singles 8-ball!!

I have to say that VNEA ran one of the poorest tournaments I've ever been a part of. I would have to write a full page about how bad the whole event was ran. Starting times, finishing times, and payouts are just a few of the complaints I heard from open, intermediate, and master's players. It's really too bad!

It was great to see the Des Moines support of the tournament though! Just goes to show that Des Moines really is a great pool community. Keep it up everyone!!

Also we went to the Corner Pocket to watch a little action match between Whitey and Dustin. While we were there, Jason Chance played Troy Sauers some one pocket. I took half of Troy's action, and to my surprise Troy beat Jason 4-2. I really thought Troy played well under the pressure of playing the one pocket king of Des Moines! I can't go into the details of the $, but maybe the pressure got to Jason. I guess you had to be there:)
 
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Big Dog said:
I have to say congrats to Worm's team for double dipping for the win!! Also, congrats to Jamie Fenton for taking home the Master's singles 8-ball!!

I have to say that VNEA ran one of the poorest tournaments I've ever been a part of. I would have to write a full page about how bad the whole event was ran. Starting times, finishing times, and payouts are just a few of the complaints I heard from open, intermediate, and master's players. It's really too bad!

It was great to see the Des Moines support of the tournament though! Just goes to show that Des Moines really is a great pool community. Keep it up everyone!!

Also we went to the Corner Pocket to watch a little action match between Whitey and Dustin. While we were there, Jason Chance played Troy Sauers some one pocket. I took half of Troy's action, and to my surprise Troy beat Jason 4-2. I really thought Troy played well under the pressure of playing the one pocket king of Des Moines! I can't go into the details of the $, but maybe the pressure got to Jason. I guess you had to be there:)
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Please tell me it's a different Troy Sowers than the one I know. Valley tournament is run really badly but Des Moines did pretty well. We had high finishers in every division of everything.
 
Big Dog said:
I have to say congrats to Worm's team for double dipping for the win!! Also, congrats to Jamie Fenton for taking home the Master's singles 8-ball!!

I have to say that VNEA ran one of the poorest tournaments I've ever been a part of. I would have to write a full page about how bad the whole event was ran. Starting times, finishing times, and payouts are just a few of the complaints I heard from open, intermediate, and master's players. It's really too bad!
Click to expand...

Good to hear DM had a good showing. Now to show up and do well in a couple weeks.:thumbup:

Payouts -- I guess I don't ever get one, so not as concerned.:sad:

I do agree with the time problems. I realize that a new venue, set up, etc. is part of the equation, but we waited around 6+ hours because "your up next" syndrome. We finally finagled some dinner time and caught the end of the UNI game, so that helped. Irregardless, they just needed a bit of realism and an ability to keep things moving. Playing at 2 am and again at 8 am is sick, when we didn't need too.

Maybe IOMA has just outgrown any and all venues other than Hy-Vee hall? More tables may have helped alleviate some of the issues they had. Not sure -- but I would be curious to know if they had as many tables as in Waterloo. Didn't seem like they made much headway in that department. All the tables were well placed. I never seemed to have any space issues as we have had in Waterloo before...

One thing I enjoy about the ISPA is that when the time on your chart says 10, be there at 9:55 and you can play at 10. Not you can play whenever we can fit you in, so just stand around.

FWIW, JMO
 
Best statement from a tournament director this weekend: Telling my girlfriend's team (4 players) that they had to play their next match on 4 tables to speed things up.
 
I personally didn't think the IOMA was as bad as in past year...of course, maybe that's because I could go home between matches lol. I've always disliked the 'sit around and wait' for you next match because they don't use a time schedule. That's the biggest advantage to the ISPA tournament...you know when you're playing and if you can sneak off for a bite to eat or nap, you know you won't be forfieted out until the posted time.

As usual, the races were a joke. A race to 3 or 2 for a $45 entry fee State Championship Tournament stinks. Those races are fit for Saturday night local bar roon $10 entry tournaments...not a 'State Championship' Tournament. (BTW...ISPA races: not less that 5).

Oh well, it was in my back yard so I had to attend.

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, congratulations to MikeB in the Master 9 ball. That was a really good finals match between you and Craig. It finally boiled down to a mistake by Craig. What a great match by both players. Either one could have took it off. And how about that lag!!!!:eek:

Looking forward to seeing you all in Davenport. See if you all can fair as well there. It could happen.

L8R...Ken

BTW...they had about 20 more table this year that last.
 
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