Super Billiard Expo 2013

Overall I see this event as a big improvement over last year.

I think there are a few things that should be kept in mind:

1. The old Super Billiards Expo is history. The building has been completely changed. What was known as the SBE will never happen that way again. Having said that, it's time for us to show support for the event so we can see what the new Super Billiards Expo will be.

2. One of the reasons the Expo has been so successful is the part of the country it's held in. There are 25 million people within a half days drive. Over the last few years, I've been taking an informal survey and was completely surprised at how many people I talked to were just there for the day. The SBE needs to stay in the Northeast.

3. Allan and his crew had run this event for over 20 years out of the old location. Over time, it had to become second nature. They had run into all the problems and new what the solutions were. It will take a little time to get that experience with the new location. Give it a little time.

4. It seems like it would be easy to just find a new location with hotels and restaurants connected and such, but I for one don't know what the costs of those locations would be. I do believe that Allan Hopkins has more to lose than anyone if the SBE fails. If it were so easy to find a perfect place, then I'm sure he would have done so by now.

Trust me, as a vendor who spends a lot of money to get there, I have my gripes and complaints. While we do usually have profitable trips, it wouldn't take much for things to not turn out that way. I do, however, believe that Allan Hopkins will work out whatever bumps in the road that come up, and will turn this new era of the Super Billiards Expo into something that could rival or maybe even surpass the historic SBE.
 
RBC said:
... Allan and his crew had run this event for over 20 years out of the old location. ...
Click to expand...

This was the 21st edition of the Super Billiards Expo:

First year (1993) in Secaucus, NJ

18 years (1994-2011) in King of Prussia, PA

2012 in Oaks, PA

2013 in Edison, NJ​
 
I was thinking the same thing. lol Your not aloud to say anything on this forum unless it's full of butterfly's and rainbows. Don't knock a guy for having an opinion..give your own on why you liked the location.


PoolJunkie216 said:
Yes, because god forbid someone express a negative opinion about the great & will once again be popular game of pool.

Cue the sarcasm.....
Click to expand...
 
my 1st time at event, I agree the concrete floors sucked, hard on your feet from 8am til late at night. food in arena was terrible, no other options unless you had a car, and even then it wasnt close to find a place. it was basically a warehouse, very echo-eee inside, a lot of ambient noise you know. no table lights on bar tables, just the reg lights of arena, which really wasn't a factor, just different.
I got a philly steak n cheese and it looked like ground hamburger, and they just put 2 slices of cheese, not melted on it. pitiful! the pro arena seating sucked as well, 4 tier, with tables, no breaks between tables, you could only get in on each side and plenty of people had to get up to let you in, unless you climbed up back of bleachers. they only announced a few matches when i was there. plenty of vendors, that part was cool.
as far as the amateur events, I was in 2, the open and senior, I took a gamble that they wouldn't conflict in times. on the website it said if you made it too the final 8 in 2 events they would accomodate the matches to allow you to try and win both events. this was not a true statement and shouldn't have been posted because they wouldn't let you get to that point. reason being they scheduled final 32 in seniors and final 64 in open at the same time. the reason I know this is because I was in still in both tourny's at that point. they made me forfeit 1 of the events, my choice. lol really sucked to have to pick one event to forfeit! at that point they only had 16 matches in sr. and 32 matches in open. it could have been worked around. 1 match would have been held up each round forward from their had I kept winning. if this would have happened before this point, I had no problem forfeiting 1 event, I took a chance. but I think I was the only guy with this dilema, so it would have been nice to try and win both. so from that standpoint I was disappointed. the payouts were crazy in the open too. 5,000 for 1st, 2,000 for 2nd. big difference! willing to bet final 2 guys had a savor. lol sr. was 2,000 for 1st, 1,300 for 2nd. that seems right and not near as big a difference.
nice seeing a lot of people i hadn't in awhile, but I doubt I would go again, I'm sure you guys won't miss me! lmao
 
Let's share tips, so next year's stay would be more enjoyable.

I'm not from NJ, but I was able to find everything within 1-2 exits on 287. That's the exit right by Hilton Garden Inn (HGI), Sheraton, and Extended Stay intersection. Chain restaurants like Applebees, McDonalds, Dunkin, supermarkets, Costco, Costco gas, and Walmart are within 2-3 exits. Each exit is about 1 mile apart.

If you're staying at either Sheraton or HGI, then call the shuttle bus to take you back to the hotel. Harold's deli shares a parking lot with HGI, so its in walking distance. If you can finish a sandwich from Harold's and still complain that you're hungry, then I don't know what to say.
 
I ate at Harold's on Saturday and had the pastrami and it was phenomenal. It's physically impossible to eat the entire thing in one sitting so I had half then and the other half later at the Expo.
 
lukemindish said:
I think it's funny how people complain about the concrete floors. The flooring at valley forge was tile that was hard as a rock. This year was the first year in about four or five years that I haven't been able to go. But from everyone I talked to they all said it was an improvement from last year.

Maybe I'm a little bias but I think they should have the expo in downtown Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention center. http://www.pittsburghcc.com/ . It has tons of hotels all within walking distance and tons of restaurants as well. On top of that the building is top of the line. Probably out of Mr. Hopkins price range but I really think this would be a great place to have it. Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

Not to mention 3 pool rooms all within 15 min of each other right outside of the city. There is plenty of parking at the DLLC not to mention the lots within walking distance. Restaurants everywhere. To top it off, I'd only have a 30 min commute to the place.
Im sure the Econo-Lodge on 51 by Century III wouldn't know what to do with people that weren't renting their rooms by the hour.

Im with you. Bring it to the Burgh.
 
Haha. concrete floors

What do you think you are going to the Waldorf Astoria for a wedding?
To put carpet and in that size of an area would cost major dollars, it's not your 10x10 bedroom daddy put carpet in for you.
I was in the action area on sat night. Pill heads, coke heads, drunks, etc. running their mouth and very sloppy. (Not everyone) I saw a table with beer, soda, water and food get knocked over. I saw another guy spill a beer on a table out of that area at an exhibitor's booth that was closed.
Let's put wool carpet down and everyone is happy....hahahahaha
If you love pool and were on the Titanic while it was sinking, you wouldn't care if you were standing in dog crap to take the last shot of your life.
Complaints about the pro arena? If most of the complainers had to pay 10 bucks to watch they would go buy a pill. I heard people saying let's go watch the pros, it's free
 
schon267 said:
my 1st time at event, I agree the concrete floors sucked, hard on your feet from 8am til late at night. food in arena was terrible, no other options unless you had a car, and even then it wasnt close to find a place. it was basically a warehouse, very echo-eee inside, a lot of ambient noise you know. no table lights on bar tables, just the reg lights of arena, which really wasn't a factor, just different.
I got a philly steak n cheese and it looked like ground hamburger, and they just put 2 slices of cheese, not melted on it. pitiful! the pro arena seating sucked as well, 4 tier, with tables, no breaks between tables, you could only get in on each side and plenty of people had to get up to let you in, unless you climbed up back of bleachers. they only announced a few matches when i was there. plenty of vendors, that part was cool.
as far as the amateur events, I was in 2, the open and senior, I took a gamble that they wouldn't conflict in times. on the website it said if you made it too the final 8 in 2 events they would accomodate the matches to allow you to try and win both events. this was not a true statement and shouldn't have been posted because they wouldn't let you get to that point. reason being they scheduled final 32 in seniors and final 64 in open at the same time. the reason I know this is because I was in still in both tourny's at that point. they made me forfeit 1 of the events, my choice. lol really sucked to have to pick one event to forfeit! at that point they only had 16 matches in sr. and 32 matches in open. it could have been worked around. 1 match would have been held up each round forward from their had I kept winning. if this would have happened before this point, I had no problem forfeiting 1 event, I took a chance. but I think I was the only guy with this dilema, so it would have been nice to try and win both. so from that standpoint I was disappointed. the payouts were crazy in the open too. 5,000 for 1st, 2,000 for 2nd. big difference! willing to bet final 2 guys had a savor. lol sr. was 2,000 for 1st, 1,300 for 2nd. that seems right and not near as big a difference.
nice seeing a lot of people i hadn't in awhile, but I doubt I would go again, I'm sure you guys won't miss me! lmao
Click to expand...

Be careful Stevie you will Get crucified for having an opinion.
 
If you didn't like this venue, then I don't know what to tell you. I thought it was perfect. I had ZERO problem parking... and I came and went a lot. To watch the pros for free as you wished was awesome. I never once has a problem finding a place to sit. The food is the same food from the king of prussia location... I prefer to eat off site and the area has lots of options. There were lots of action tables and tournament tables opened up early for more action. I had ZERO problem lining up games. I really hope they keep this location.
 
Glad you enjoyed Harold's. The onsite food vendor prices was consistent with last year and VF prices. The italian sausage I had at the expo was less expensive than a hotdog I bought last year while watching the Mets.

BogeyFree said:
I ate at Harold's on Saturday and had the pastrami and it was phenomenal. It's physically impossible to eat the entire thing in one sitting so I had half then and the other half later at the Expo.
Click to expand...
 
ScottyDzntKnow said:
Be careful Stevie you will Get crucified for having an opinion.
Click to expand...

It is becoming apparent that to many here on AZB, the only valid opinion can be a negative one. Because if you don't express a negative opinion here, you are merely a suck-up, a$$-kisser. No no no, gotta bring everyone down, and then complain about those whose opinions differ from theirs, too.

See, it works both ways.

You can have an opinion and not get crucified. Usually happens when it's presented in a reasonable manner.

(Didn't go to the event, wish I could. Just tired of the same old negative crap.)
 
Last edited:
SmoothStroke said:
What do you think you are going to the Waldorf Astoria for a wedding?
To put carpet and in that size of an area would cost major dollars, it's not your 10x10 bedroom daddy put carpet in for you.
I was in the action area on sat night. Pill heads, coke heads, drunks, etc. running their mouth and very sloppy. (Not everyone) I saw a table with beer, soda, water and food get knocked over. I saw another guy spill a beer on a table out of that area at an exhibitor's booth that was closed.
Let's put wool carpet down and everyone is happy....hahahahaha
If you love pool and were on the Titanic while it was sinking, you wouldn't care if you were standing in dog crap to take the last shot of your life.
Complaints about the pro arena? If most of the complainers had to pay 10 bucks to watch they would go buy a pill. I heard people saying let's go watch the pros, it's free
Click to expand...

We had to go in every morning at 6 to clean all the tables. I tell you the mess was unreal. It was beer cans and trash every where. I just don't understand some of these guys. It was a trash can about every 100 feet or so and it seemed no one could use them. Our booth was beside the 14 to 1 tables and every morning we came in we had to spend 15 minutes to clean it up. I was told one time that was one of the reasons that the DDC had to move. The green room there was trashed so bad they had to replace the carpet every year and just got tired of it. I don't understand why it is so hard for people to clean up after them selfs. If this is the way they live I would hate to see some of their homes. This place was 100% better then last year and I think this is the new home of the Expo. Our hotel (Edison) sucked and we will never stay there again. That is the thing I miss the most. Being able to stay at the same place you play or have a booth is great. When you need a break just go back to the room and chill for a bit and all is well. That is the thing about having the best. When you have to change you never know how good you had it until its gone. It was a GREAT show for us and I am looking forward to next year. :thumbup::thumbup: Thanks Allen and crew for a great show :thumbup::thumbup:
 
justadub said:
It is becoming apparent that to many here on AZB, the only valid opinion van be a negative one. Because if you don't express a negative opinion here, you are merely a suck-up, a$$-kisser. No no no, gotta bring evryone down, and then complain about those whose opinions differ from theirs, too.

See, it works both ways.

You can have an opinion and not get crucified. Usually happens when it's presented in a reasonable manner.

(Didn't go to the event, wish I could. Just tired of the same old negative crap.)
Click to expand...

my point being is obviously he didn't like the venue and he's apparently not the only one. some people like it and some people didn't but it seems like if you have a negative opinion about your experience you're just some idiot who doesn't know anything about pool or have never been to a good pool tournament I just think you should be allowed to have your own opinion even though it differs from those whoI have no problem with the event. obviously if you don't like it just don't go backbut it is okay to have a negative outlook based on your experience
 
lukemindish said:
I think it's funny how people complain about the concrete floors. The flooring at valley forge was tile that was hard as a rock. This year was the first year in about four or five years that I haven't been able to go. But from everyone I talked to they all said it was an improvement from last year.

Maybe I'm a little bias but I think they should have the expo in downtown Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention center. http://www.pittsburghcc.com/ . It has tons of hotels all within walking distance and tons of restaurants as well. On top of that the building is top of the line. Probably out of Mr. Hopkins price range but I really think this would be a great place to have it. Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

Pittsburgh is a lot farther away from the major populations centers – NY, NJ, Philly. They’d lose a lot of day traffic. And night traffic.

I think Edison is a pretty good location. Dunno about the venue itself, I wasn’t there.

I watched it from a more convenient location – home. I hope they cut a good deal with insidepool.tv. Broadcasting rights are where the major sports teams make most of their money these days. And I’m sure there are plenty of people who, like me, didn’t bother to go because we knew we could watch it on our computers. I hope they found a way to capitalize on that and keep the show going in the future.
 
I think the new venue has a lot of positives.
The hotels were nearby.
It was all on one floor.
The vendor booths layout was better than any other venue so far.
There were no Casinos or other attractions nearby that take away from the show.
The bathrooms were maintained.
They came around and dumped the trash regularly.
The smoothies were great. (They were missing last year.)
For show food it was pretty decent. (I have been to a lot of shows and it gets much worse.)
The prices were fair for concessions at a show.
The pros were free to watch.
Those really long rows of tables were an impressive site.
The tournaments were run smoothly.
The total tolls I had to pay on the whole trip up and back totalled exactly one dollar. They were almost $40 getting in and out of Valley Forge.
Two suggestions for improvement:
Put carpet in the booth isles.
Enforce the vendor only parking until 11am everyday.
I had a good show and did good business there, so it was a successful show and I think Allen Hopkins did a great job for his first time at this new location.
 
ScottyDzntKnow said:
my point being is obviously he didn't like the venue and he's apparently not the only one. some people like it and some people didn't but it seems like if you have a negative opinion about your experience you're just some idiot who doesn't know anything about pool or have never been to a good pool tournament I just think you should be allowed to have your own opinion even though it differs from those whoI have no problem with the event. obviously if you don't like it just don't go backbut it is okay to have a negative outlook based on your experience
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no problem with someone saying they didn't like something - to each their own. My issue with the OP was how he stated it. He thought it was terrible and he was actually gloating about how he called it! I found it to be immature to put it mildly. He had all the reasons he didn't like it and said he knew it before it even happened.

Finding a place large enough to hold this event and all that it entails is very difficult when you tack on all the things people want (carpet, attached hotel, parking). Those things can be had in smaller venues that are not big enough to hold the event.

As for holding the event in other parts of the country, forget about it. The Expo will always be in the PA/NJ/NY area just as the DCC will always be close to Louisville.

As RBC pointed out, Hopkins has the most to lose if the expo is a disaster. The way some people have complained about it, it is as if they think Hopkins is making it crappy (for them) on purpose. Hopkins and ALL of their staff work insanely long hours doing their best to run the show as best as they can. Someone gloating about what a failure they think it was, is like a slap in the face to all involved that did the best with what they had to work with.
 
UrackmIcrackm said:
I have absolutely no problem with someone saying they didn't like something - to each their own. My issue with the OP was how he stated it. He thought it was terrible and he was actually gloating about how he called it! I found it to be immature to put it mildly. He had all the reasons he didn't like it and said he knew it before it even happened.

Finding a place large enough to hold this event and all that it entails is very difficult when you tack on all the things people want (carpet, attached hotel, parking). Those things can be had in smaller venues that are not big enough to hold the event.

As for holding the event in other parts of the country, forget about it. The Expo will always be in the PA/NJ/NY area just as the DCC will always be close to Louisville.

As RBC pointed out, Hopkins has the most to lose if the expo is a disaster. The way some people have complained about it, it is as if they think Hopkins is making it crappy (for them) on purpose. Hopkins and ALL of their staff work insanely long hours doing their best to run the show as best as they can. Someone gloating about what a failure they think it was, is like a slap in the face to all involved that did the best with what they had to work with.
Click to expand...

I wasn't posting about how the OP describe the expo I was posting about a comment I made to a friend of mine and somebody turned it against me.the comment my friend made was just simply stating that he didn't really like it and would not be going back he didn't tear it apart like the OP did. let's face it most of the venues that tournament are held at are not the best places but probably all they could get right to the pointI love going to Derby City but its expensive the food is expensive unless you go someplace nice and spend 15 for a hamburger but we're just kidding ourselves if we think that
Allen and Greg and other people like Barry Berman don't make a killing off at the pool tournament did they put on
 
King of Prussia was the nuts because the hotels were attached plus the restaurants...BUT...that place is gone.
The place last year sucked but you know what, I'd still go year after year if it were there.
I think Allen deserves credit because he evidently listened to the criticism and moved it again. I thought this year was just fine. Floors hurt my feet the first day but that was my fault. I wasn't wearing the right shoes. Second day I was just fine. The only thing I didn't like was that the pro arena was free. I would honestly rather pay and ensure a seat but not a big deal and certainly not a deal breaker for me. I'm already booking for next year.

Koop - SBE fan
 
I was there to play pool! Interestingly enough, there were several pro tournaments being held at the same time! Can you believe there were cues and billiard equipment being sold at the same time? All of this was under one roof?

Allen, thanks so much for giving all us pool players a place to play, have fun, buy some new toys, potentially make some money, meet new people and greet old friends. Nothing in life is perfect and this years event was no different. My feet hurt. My stomach gurgled. My eyes were sore from the bright lights. Got lost leaving the SBE for my motel room. Found myself 30 miles east instead of 8 miles south. Found my motel but couldn't figure out how to actually get into the parking lot. Having said all that, I'll see you next March!!! Or maybe November. If your plans come together for the eight ball event at the old venue, I'll be there. Make me entry number one!!!!

Lyn
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top