Darren Appleton's post on FB about the pro division at SBE

accdealer said:
anybody who is concerned with prize money, the good of the sport, etc should simply stay home rather than attend any event that Hopkins is involved in. Grady told me years ago that allen impeded the progress of mens pro pool because he was to too concerned about what was in it for him. all of this shouldn't have really been an issue for Darren, there have been numerous posts and buzz around the pool world over the years about the amateur and pro payouts at the SBE. and, quite frankly, he should just be happy that there is a large event literally minutes from his home. a lot of the guys had to travel from great distances to play, which in turn incurred a lot of expenses.

bottom line is, the SBE happens every year and the payouts aren't getting markedly better with time. bottom line is that you lose your right to ***** the moment you pony up your entry fee. if you want to play some pool, maybe win enough to cover your expenses, meet up with friends from far and check out the latest and greatest shit from the vendors, the SBE is for you. if you're someone who likes to keep track of the Calcutta money to see how much the house is raking, you might as well save your money and stay home.

having said all of that, I thought the one pocket event payouts were ridiculous.

2k-1st, 1500-2nd, 1250, etc while the last paid spot was like 1k? why even bother playing, once everyone's in the money, they should just wack it up and hit the action tables.

any way you look at it, hat's off to allen for finding a way to make the one thing in life he truly loves into a profitable business. right or wrong, you can't fault a guy for making a living doing what he loves, for better of for worse.
Click to expand...

You hit it right on the head in my opinion. It'd be nice to see higher payouts, and the pros certainly deserve it. I hate seeing people prey on the desperate. But it's free-market in true form here. By signing up for the tournament, the pros are accepting the payout situation. The only way to say it's not fine is not to play. Let's put the blame where it belongs.

PS: I wonder how many hours per year Allen devotes to putting on that show? I bet it's alot. And he shoulders all the risk if something goes terribly wrong. And do we really expect a former professional pool player & gambler to NOT try to maximize his profit? Birds of a feather.
 
Anyone thinking they are a Pro at this game needs help

Excepting snookers.
Also they are subject to get broke off by so many money players as they go around the planet it isn't funny. Kind of like John Schmidt and Bobby Hunter coming in town and getting beat 6 games straight playing partners snooker for $1200. They were not playing the best players either.
They were going to show us something I guess.
Showed us how to loose.
Pool has gotten so easy to play on this cloth that any dog can have his day.
Darren, get a Job. Said the same thing to John Schmidt.
My dad told me the same thing.
I listened.
The only thing Pro about a touring Pro is the name on the card.
Nick Serdula
PS;
Screw fast cloth
 
Did I miss something? Did Darren lose to a "non-pro" or something? How could he not want every entry fee paying feeble player in the universe entered?

And there are so few "Pro" pool players IMO. How many Pro speed players make 100% of their living from the game, teaching, winnings, sponsors etc.? Are there 25 Pros like that in the U.S.?

I'm not dumping on anyone, but we all should maybe forget the negative whining and someone tell me what they REALLY liked about the Expo this year? Heres mine....My 3C teacher, and good buddy Cigar Dave beat Mazin Shooni a short challenge game of 3 cushion and won a nice Hanbat Carom cue! Now THAT is a cool positive thing from the Expo...

your turn!

G.
 
Darkridder said:
Cut it down to 250$... Imagine all the action then.
Click to expand...

actually yeah, the one pocket tournament was just shy of a 250 entry fee, and included a 4 day pass. if I was planning to go to the expo, I would get in that tournament in a heartbeat. play at least 2 sets of one pocket and cover your entry into the expo for 4 days? what a bargain.
 
I wonder how many professional baseball players (minor leagues that are making $1500 a month in single A ball) would turn down a chance to win some money in a baseball game against the local amateur baseball league ?

He'd jump out of his cleats to take that easy action. :thumbup:
 
Here is a link to Daz's comments. He clarified in the comments that amateur players is not his complaint, it's lack of money, no stream, no certification, and slop 10-ball rules.

He also said he heard the Expo was offered a chance to stream for free but declined to drive traffic to appear, not sit home. Hard to believe many local people would sit home if there was a stream.

https://www.facebook.com/darrendynamiteappleton?fref=ts
 
Someone please name me ONE so called American professional tournament where the vast majority of the players weren't shortstops like me? Or worse!!! We dead money players are the life of pro pool. If Daz doesn't like it, he should jump on a plane and go home to the tough action. Sorry, JMHO.

Lyn
 
Get 8 top pros to put up 2k each and seed them into a 32 player field. Charge non pros 1000 to play them 9 games to 7 double elimination. $40,000 in entries. Payout top 3 spots. 1st 20k, 2nd 10k, 3rd 5 k. Something like this would get people talking.

These pros are alienating the only fringe fan base they will ever have. League players can't name 5 pro players. Once nobody cares what they do or say it's over. It's getting to that point. Comments like Appleton s are just one more nail in the coffin.
 
As difficult as money is to make in pool, pros should welcome non-pros with open arms into their tournaments.
 
I got a good job thanks :-)

nick serdula said:
Excepting snookers.
Also they are subject to get broke off by so many money players as they go around the planet it isn't funny. Kind of like John Schmidt and Bobby Hunter coming in town and getting beat 6 games straight playing partners snooker for $1200. They were not playing the best players either.
They were going to show us something I guess.
Showed us how to loose.
Pool has gotten so easy to play on this cloth that any dog can have his day.
Darren, get a Job. Said the same thing to John Schmidt.
My dad told me the same thing.
I listened.
The only thing Pro about a touring Pro is the name on the card.
Nick Serdula

PS;
Screw fast cloth
Click to expand...

Thanks for advice .:-)

but I'm more than happy with my 150k + a year job I've had for past 8 years.

Darren Appleton.:wink:
 
daz can go **** himself... He should be happy there is even an event for them lol. The amateur event had 980 players and paid 5K for first.... that is terrible money.

But no lie, must suck to have to beat out 32 players to make 10K
 
most of you missing the point..

What I'm saying the event supposed to be a prestigious professional event or was in years gone past..
But sadly last two years its gone backwards weaker fields and no added money which as meant more amateurs in the field than professionals. no live stream because they wanted a lot of money for it to be live streamed.And i know somebody that offered to live stream it for free.but SBE Wanted 10k from them. for me the paying public come to watch professionals play, Yes from the last 16 players the standard was professional level.

the rules were bad 10ball slop is not 10ball,prize money no good/alot of players don't stick to dress code/ plus other things .

its become a small tournament thats lost its prestige shame :-(. in the past was good with top field and good payouts and professionally organized.

I used to enjoy playing remember first year i played 2009 was great event.. now i don't look forward to playing in that event anymore...The social side good with all the booths but not the playing.

The tournament unless change should Rename the event the (Diamond Open Championship ) the Way it is now "Professional Players Championship' should be dumped because nothing professional about the event what so ever.

End of the day all the Proper Professionals agree with me and i just talking on all the pros behalf..The ones that don't agree with me are not wired up right.

Darren appleton.
 
2strong4u said:
So what Appleton is saying is he can't beat top amateurs. He should can it. Sounds like a guy making excuses for not winning.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about?? Appleton is a world champion, there's nobody he can't beat in a tournament.
 
filluptieu said:
daz can go **** himself... He should be happy there is even an event for them lol. The amateur event had 980 players and paid 5K for first.... that is terrible money.

But no lie, must suck to have to beat out 32 players to make 10K
Click to expand...

64 players actually.. :-)

The whole event pro event/open/ladies event etc etc all bad value for money..

I not a sore loser i actually didn't care about losing at the weekend. I didn't have any motivation to play but i went for sponsorship reasons and i live around the corner. if i at to fly there i wouldn't be there thats for sure.. Especially playing for peanuts.

But i did make money but thats not my point.. But you obviously don't get it so best leave it to the experts.:)

Darren
 
say what you want, anyone can speak their mind, and hopkins does and should make money, he was the smart one to put it together. ive been there four or five times and love every second of it, if the pros complain to damn bad, all they are doing is taking money away from the amatuer event, who when its all said and done are the ones who make it happen. $72000 is what the amatuers put up, first place is $5000, what a joke. that space could be used to add 20 more barboxes for the amatuers and increase the pot size significantly. in case you haven't noticed, no one watches the pros too much, its their own fault they make the game unwatchable with dreadfully slow play and safties. they should be grateful. the only way a tournament like this should be run is the pro should be invited and the payouts should be even, fight for a trophy and pride.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top