Isn’t the simple answer here just to annex the Philippines and grant them statehood?
Emily interview: new US events coming?
- Thread starter skogstokig
- Start date
Isn’t the simple answer here just to annex the Philippines and grant them statehood?
I think they would have to be done by independent organizers like room owners. The problem is to make them relatively uniform. I have seen qualifier situations where a room owner simply sent a friend. You also want the same format and rules used. It would be nice if a Matchroom rep/observer of some sort could be at each one.
Jason…..did you happen to notice that pool players tend to come to the US of A for action or tournaments….sometimes they even settle?…….. I don’t see much traffic going the other way.
It’s not the Mecca it was when I was a kid, but it’s still a Mecca.
While I believe in having qualifiers, I don't think we need that many of them. Sixteen would be enough for me in a 128-player field. The dead money local players matter a lot. As Matchroom ventures into new places like Spain and Vietnam, I think it's important that a whole slew of locals get the opportunity to play in their national open. This is already happening with huge British participation at the UK Open and huge Spanish participation at the Spanish Open. This is helping to further popularize pro pool in these markets and no local who participates will ever forget the experience.
Of course, the case for having the strongest possible field is obvious and perhaps the day will come when a field consists almost entirely of Fargo 750+ speed players, and there are already hundreds of them, but for now the focus is on growing the sport. Qualifiers make sense, but there shouldn't be too many of them until the sport grows further.
Those who want to get all the Matchroom invitations must maintain their Matchroom ranking, and that will ensure worldwide participation.
Of course, the case for having the strongest possible field is obvious and perhaps the day will come when a field consists almost entirely of Fargo 750+ speed players, and there are already hundreds of them, but for now the focus is on growing the sport. Qualifiers make sense, but there shouldn't be too many of them until the sport grows further.
Those who want to get all the Matchroom invitations must maintain their Matchroom ranking, and that will ensure worldwide participation.
Don’t the 3 cushion World Cup events operate like this? I don’t know the whole structure but when the tournament shows up in the host country aren’t first days are dead money/ local hopefuls and then as it progresses the established players have to play. The highest ranking players start at a later stage right? In a way doesn’t it combine Derby City with an invitational in that people who support the game can enter and spectate and enjoy the “tourist” aspect and the best players don’t have to wade through a mega field. They do have to face an elite field though
They come here to rob the American players and the American players have no chance of going to other countries and winning a cent, that's why they don't go.
The entry fee for unranked players is 100 euros, which probably barely pays for the additional expenses. There are sometimes four or five levels of qualification to get through for totally unranked players. They play in groups of 3 to get through with 1/3 of the players advancing to the next level each time. In the recent Las Vegas World Cup it went like:
Pre-pre-pre-qualification, 48 players and 16 advance to
PPQ - add 32 "stronger" players for 48 and 16 advance to
PQ - add 32 players and 16 advance to
Qualification -- add 20 to make 36 in 12 groups of 3 and the top 12 advance to the main tournament
The 12 qualifiers are added to the 20 seeded players to make up the 32 player main tournament. The seeded players include the top 14 in the rankings plus various wildcards like the organizer's pick of a top local.
Unless my math is off, that's a total of 152 players so the entry fees are something like $15,000.
The UMB (world governing body, like the WPA) provides 81,500 euros of support for prizes and expenses each World Cup. That's about $89,000.
Yes, that's how many three-cushion events work. The stars of the game don't have to play in the "dead money" round as they are exempt into Stage 2. It's a great system that allows events to build to a crescendo and it mkes the entry of the elite players a special moment. It also helps the elite players to keep their participation costs in check.
I'm admittedly unfamiliar with how qualifiers work in these other situations and there could be management issues. However, it seems that having a good number of qualifiers would also tend to increase subsequent viewership of the main events quite a bit. It would create more buy-in and interest from lower level players who want to take a shot at the qualifier or are rooting for their local shortstops to get there and then become more interested in viewing. And, it creates a clearer path for progression of junior players . It's bound to create a lot more chatter and interest. Just as a promotional tool it seems useful in building a broader audience. I assume this is part of what you mean by building to a crescendo.
The main reduction of costs is this requirement on the organizer:
The Organizer will make hotel accommodation available, free of charge, including breakfast, for the 14 seeded players and the 3 wildcard players (total 17), this accommodation should be for the duration of the main tournament + 2 nights for foreign players and 1 night for national players
The top players also receive about $900 towards travel expenses. This support makes it very important for the top players to keep their seeded positions by competing in all the events.
Thanks, Bob. It's a winning system that I doubt would fly in pool, in which the not-so-elite players have a far greater sense of entitlement.
I'll never understand why the standard is not express ten ball. It seems to work and the spectators love it when it comes to the ten foot events at the derby classic and the international. And the philipinos play more express ten ball than they do express nine ball from what I see on streams not called Sharks.
Texas Express ten ball is a great game, but the slight increase in difficulty is not what would make it the right choice at pro level. As noted, the origins of 10ball lay in adding difficulty to the break because, to some, the 9ball break had become too easy. Back in the days of racking the one on the spot and permitting a break from anywhere in the kitchen, the view that making the wing ball was almost automatic was gaining traction. Today, Matchroom racks the nine on the spot and you must break from the break box. The break is no longer too easy in 9ball. To me, the case for a switch to Texas Express 10ball is a very weak one.
Finally, to most worldwide fans of pro pool today, the terms pool and 9ball are virtually interchangeable. There's no reason to change games here that I can see.
The idea that nobody has taken a shot at staging fifteen-ball rotation in America is a myth. Joe Tucker briefly had a tour in which that was the game in about 2015. It didn't produce enough fanfare to be sustainable.
I'm not adverse to having a full rack rotation event at some point, but you can bet the house it won't be Matchroom staging it. That means the subject lies outside that of this thread.
Put it together if you think it will make $$$
They went back to the break box? I missed the majority of their last few events but I could have sworn someone said they did away with their break box rule.
And let me add this to your post, the game being 9 Ball will tell aspiring players where the majority of their attention needs to be at if they plan on joining the matchroom tour to chase winnings.
Yes, they went back to the break box starting at the 2022 European Open in August of 2022.
Great point about the need to focus on 9ball, but in fairness and, thanks to CSI/Predator, there's quite a bit of money on offer in 10ball, as well.