US Open 9-Ball--Bucket List?
- Thread starter VillageSlim
- Start date
CanadianGuy
Well-known member
they can just raise entry fees for non ranking players if they wish to limit the field, problem solved
open events should always be fully open though imo
let the tourists pay 3k for their bucket list experience and allow the pros to reap the rewards
everyone wins
open events should always be fully open though imo
let the tourists pay 3k for their bucket list experience and allow the pros to reap the rewards
everyone wins
If MR can grow the sport further such that 500 people want to put up the entry fee, then they can make the “open” entries qualifier based. That may very well happen within the next 5 years if things keep on their trajectory.
This might be the last few years it truly is open to anyone with the will and the money. So sign up now while you still can
The question for many will be though “would I put up $1,000 for an 85% chance of getting my teeth kicked in by a local shortstop, or would I rather spend that $1,000 and get killed by SVB/Gorst/etc…..?”
For the bucket list tourists, they could lose a set to a tire shop owner from Ocala for far less then $1,000 and 2 night’s stay at a Hampton Inn.
They should have an award to the player with the lowest Fargo that goes the furthest. Only pool does this. Go try and play the British/US Open golf tournaments. Yes they are 'open' but you have to meet certain skill requirements(2handicap or better) to qualify. I just think having so much dead-money lessens the prestige of the event. They do it to pump the payouts and pay for the hotel.
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Not sure what thread it was in, but I did suggest that people either avoid watching the first few days of the Open or MR shorten the field to 128.
Should keep in mind that ~8 spots were up for grabs when I got the call (email). Who knows how many in total before they reached down to my spot on the waiting list. It doesn't seem to me that there's seas of "qualified" players clamoring to gt into the event.
I'm definitely not against the notion of qualifiers to gain entry. However it would be something else MR would have to monitor to ensure it was legit. I rather they continue placing their focus on what they're already doing.
The concept of a qualifier system would be a wonderful thing for pool in the US. Sadly, the infrastructure for pool in the US isn't remotely ready for such a thing. It would require a national pool federation to run things, in conjunction with Matchroom regarding whatever number of entries would be reserved for the actual qualifiers. (Matchroom cannot be expected to attempt such a thing, they have much bigger fish to fry.) This fictional Federation could certainly promote tournaments as feeders in a system to be eligible to qualify for a spot to be in The Open, such a series of tournaments could be held regionally, all over the US. It would be a great thing, the scope of which is beyond anyone currently in any sort of position of "power" (if such a thing exists in the US re pool) currently.
Had the current MR pool environment existed 20 years ago, Mark Griffin would have had the vision to attempt such a thing. Today, we aren't ready. Perhaps if the way pro pool is developing now with MR (and Predator) perhaps there will be enough real support to attempt such a thing 5, maybe 10 years down the road.
Had the current MR pool environment existed 20 years ago, Mark Griffin would have had the vision to attempt such a thing. Today, we aren't ready. Perhaps if the way pro pool is developing now with MR (and Predator) perhaps there will be enough real support to attempt such a thing 5, maybe 10 years down the road.
When they have spots to fill in the last week, most of the players on the waiting list will have to decline -- travel problems. If you are on the waiting list you can plan to watch and then play if your name comes up. I could have gotten into one event (first UK Open?) but decided I was just going to watch.
I believe when the time came to fill the spots they simply email blasted the wait list. I responded rather quickly and was told there were 8 spots and they would be rewarded to whoever committed first. I have zero idea how many were on the list. I'm sure most vacancies and wait-listers were do to some level of travel drama.
What I'm curious about is where in the draw the vacancies came from. I thought you needed to pay for entry to have a spot. Unless matchroom was issuing refunds. I wouldn't expect dead money to buy in then back out.
See thread about slidey simonis.
You never swam in that sea.
You never swam in that sea.
IIRC there were qualifiers in the past. Room owners had to promoter to let them know they wanted to have one. Not that hard to do. Don't a national federation to have Open qualifiers. MR could easily notify the bigger rooms in various parts of the country and go from there. I would imagine that quite a few would love to hold such events.
The entry/fee structure would have to make it profitable for the room owner to have any useful response. And there are other problems, such as the winner not going to the tournament due to travel expenses or time requirement. I have been involved with qualifiers where the winner simply pocketed the expense money and didn't go to the event.
I think qualifiers are a good idea but they are a lot of work and they have to be set up right if you want them to go smoothly.
There were maybe a dozen qualifiers for the first Matchroom US Open (Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, 2019) but I think that some of the scheduled ones were not held.
My area had tournaments to win a spot at the USopen. However this amounted to the room owner buying multiple spots when registration opened, and then using them as a prize for the eventual winner. So you ended up with the best player on that day ""qualifying"" for the Open. Double "" used on purpose to denote how empty this qualifying process is.
I want to say that the tournaments were also handicapped to pull in more players. lol... So you could still end up with Ultra-Dead Money getting a spot.
My son entered last year, then he was told he had to stay at the hotel the event was being held in which added about another $300 to the cost for us to go there. At the end of the day, it was not really worth it to spend the money due to the overall costs. Back when it was about $300-500 to enter it was a lot simpler to just go for anyone.
Having a qualifier for these events would be great. 256 max field, reserved spots for 128 or 192 full on pro players by ranking, reserve another dozen for something like sponsor invitations. The others get in through a qualifier event, say top two from every field of 32. Gives the pool halls and tournaments some added benefits. Say the Joss tour or the Eurotour. Those can have several qualifiers where the prize is also US Open entry. Or some other major.
I'd cut the field to 128, 32 seeded players and the rest qualify. 700FR min to enter.
I think maybe the notion of what level a player coming out of qualifier could be is being lost in the banter. Just because you won some random tourney in some part of the world, doesn't mean you're of the caliber to run with the rest of the draw, or ease the heartache of those who suffer through the early deadmoney rounds on the stream.
An open qualifier could still reap the same dead money you would get from someone, much like myself, who bought their way into the main draw.
How is catching lightening by winning a qualifier in the back of Billy Bob's Pizza and Live Bait Emporium, any different than pooling your winnings from unrelated events and buying a spot..? Still doesn't make you a "qualified player".
Raise the entry cost, indirectly make it more expensive by forcing stay at hosting location, and you'll filter out the Billy Bob's. What you'll end up with is dead money with deep pockets, and players who are sponsored by locals. (I'm the latter)
An open qualifier could still reap the same dead money you would get from someone, much like myself, who bought their way into the main draw.
How is catching lightening by winning a qualifier in the back of Billy Bob's Pizza and Live Bait Emporium, any different than pooling your winnings from unrelated events and buying a spot..? Still doesn't make you a "qualified player".
Raise the entry cost, indirectly make it more expensive by forcing stay at hosting location, and you'll filter out the Billy Bob's. What you'll end up with is dead money with deep pockets, and players who are sponsored by locals. (I'm the latter)
If the point of all this is to make entrants a little better in the dead money category, having had to qualify to get there in the first place, you need to have it formally organized and run, not just thrown out to owners of some pool rooms. That's just changing where the dead money is coming from, not really proving anything, cuz there will be no oversight into how things are run.
If you want to be serious about this, having a several month qualifying tournament structure set up, in regions across the country, is the only way to ,ake it mean anything. And I think that would be a great thing for amateur pool here in the states. We just aren't ready for that yet.
If 256 sells out in hours, going to 128 would not be a good idea, unless the point is to make it a very high level event with only the best playing, but then it should be all pros.