A successful 4th event with "No Conflict Rules"

Paul Schofield

Paul Schofield

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Recently, I ran my fourth regional Nine-Ball Tournament with the “No Conflict Rules”. Fifty players showed up from five states. The event was race to 7 and double elimination. It was concluded comfortably in one day. This tournament moved along quickly. The event was absent all the pattern racking, rack manipulating, rack checking, re-racking and all the rest of the maladies that typically bog down tournaments.

I had twenty volunteer score keepers. I asked each volunteer to report to me any comments made by the players about the rules. There were no complaints, or negative remarks. As a matter of fact, there were no reported comments at all. I interpret this to mean that the rules were not a distraction and the players could just play their game. This is good.

Half way through the tournament, a tournament director from Cleveland (and player) came to me and said “I think some of the players are bothered by having to spin the rack. I only know of one player here that pattern racks. It seems over the top to require everyone to follow this process.” I began quizzing the players. I could not find anyone who did not normally pattern rack at some level as a part of their strategy (this was half way through the event). Some players focus on the placement of the 2-ball and others pattern rack the entire rack! I ended pattern racking for my event altogether. Pattern racking is the ignored elephant in the room. What a contrast. Forum posters mock and pound away at the “Random Racking Process” while I receive emails and private messages thanking me for exposing the treachery.

A handful of players came to me in private and said that they could see what I was doing and said that it actually worked. It was fast, fun, fair, and put an end to the conflict and wasted time.

I will run my fifth event with the “No Conflict Rules” on February 26th. I promise you, if you come to Erie and participate in this event, you will have a unique experience. It is well worth the trip. It is a vacation! My room, customers, and employees are friendly hosts. Gold Crown Billiards, Andy’s Ale House & Grill, and the Bullfrog Bar are clean and kept. Our events are community efforts.

"No Conflict Rules": http://www.goldcrownbilliardseriepa.com/noconflict.html
Fall Tournament Results: http://www.goldcrownbilliardseriepa.com/tristate.html

Runner-up Shayne Morrow and Winner Jerry Crowe:
 

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Congrats on another successful tournament!!

I'm getting a bowl of popcorn just in case :)
 
I have to give you props for running tournaments and giving payers venues in which to come out and test their skills. I also respect your decisions on how to run your tournaments. It's your show so it's your rules. I hope every one you decide to fill sports a full field and you can continue having them until you are old and gray. Anyone that's keeping the ball rolling in this economy should be thanked by everyone in the industry.

While I respect your decision on "No Conflict Rules" I think the genie is already out of the bottle. The pro's are learning new skills and the old dogs who won't learn new tricks are trying to keep from getting beat by things they don't understand yet or figuring out ways to keep them from coming into play.

The following is an excerpt from Thorsten's personal blog.
_____________________________________________________________
Thoughts:

The rack your own has become very popular these days. It has one advantage (only if winning on the break isn’t possible) – there is less arguing about a bad rack. “The player racks his own destiny”.

However, it also adds a couple more skills to the game.
The knowledge and skill to give yourself a good rack, to “read it right” and the ability to reproduce the same break over and over again.

The translation:
The player who knows where certain balls have to be touching, where to leave the gaps and HOW to manage to get them the same every time, has a huuuuuge advantage over a player who “just does his best” at racking.

Years ago players would just rack the balls somehow, trying to get them frozen and hit them with superhuman power to get a good spread.

Today’s break specialists are smart and skillful ball rackers

I guess that’s the games natural evolution and we pros have to be open minded and be willing to learn all the tricks in order to compete. The ignorant ones who “just break” might not get the necessary result and more chair time.
____________________________________________________________

You can deny evolution but you cannot turn back it's tides...
 
Good going, Paul. Looks like your rules work well and are worth further exploration elsewhere. Now, if you'd only do away with those calcuttas you'd really have nice tournaments (but maybe smaller). :D
 
The Renfro said:
...

The following is an excerpt from Thorsten's personal blog.
_____________________________________________________________
Thoughts:... The player who knows where certain balls have to be touching, where to leave the gaps and HOW to manage to get them the same every time, has a huuuuuge advantage over a player who “just does his best” at racking. ...
____________________________________________________________

You can deny evolution but you cannot turn back it's tides...
Click to expand...

For the recent All Japan Championship, Thorsten wrote in his blog: "we used a new template thats permanently put on the cloth" ...

Does that gizmo turn back the tides?
 
The Renfro said:
_____________________________________________________________

The following is an excerpt from Thorsten's personal blog.

Thoughts:

The rack your own has become very popular these days. It has one advantage (only if winning on the break isn’t possible) – there is less arguing about a bad rack. “The player racks his own destiny”.

However, it also adds a couple more skills to the game.
The knowledge and skill to give yourself a good rack, to “read it right” and the ability to reproduce the same break over and over again.

The translation:
The player who knows where certain balls have to be touching, where to leave the gaps and HOW to manage to get them the same every time, has a huuuuuge advantage over a player who “just does his best” at racking.

Years ago players would just rack the balls somehow, trying to get them frozen and hit them with superhuman power to get a good spread.

Today’s break specialists are smart and skillful ball rackers

I guess that’s the games natural evolution and we pros have to be open minded and be willing to learn all the tricks in order to compete. The ignorant ones who “just break” might not get the necessary result and more chair time.
____________________________________________________________
Click to expand...

This all becomes moot under the "No Conflict Rules". Here is what matters: 1. Hit the balls with force 2. Get a good spread on the balls 3. Control the cue ball 4. Control the 1 ball. That's it. This other stuff creates distrust, slows things down, becomes repetitive, and ruins the game.
 
AtLarge said:
For the recent All Japan Championship, Thorsten wrote in his blog: "we used a new template thats permanently put on the cloth" ...

Does that gizmo turn back the tides?
Click to expand...


Essentially it's a variation of the Magic Rack. While it may eliminate rigging gaps into the rack, it won't get rid of pattern racking.
 
Good job Paul. I have taken great lengths to make sure everything is fair and no one can cheat in my business and the employees get along a lot better because of it. I can really appreciate what you are doing.
 
Paul Schofield said:
This all becomes moot under the "No Conflict Rules". Here is what matters: 1. Hit the balls with force 2. Get a good spread on the balls 3. Control the cue ball 4. Control the 1 ball. That's it. This other stuff creates distrust, slows things down, becomes repetitive, and ruins the game.
Click to expand...

It will never work!;)
Change scare Dean.
Dean smash.
 
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