I was going to post something similar. The losers in a tournament are more important to the success of the tournament than the winner. Because the more losers the more money. But there is only one winner. And there will always be exactly one.
I was at a tournament one time and a friend of mine bought a big name player in the Calcutta. The player did not buy half himself. So he offered it to me. I bought in.
In the money round our player dogged his ass off to the guy he rode with. It could not have been more obvious.
I looked...
In the old days the added money was to get players there because they would drink alcohol and buy food. Players don’t do that as much. I’ve seen tournaments where the house adds a bunch of money and the top 4 players or so drink water or coffee the whole tournament and then go across the street...
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/cochrans-in-san-franciso-some-of-their-best-players.105420/#post-1297918
Read a few posts starting at this one. I just refreshed my memory.
Jesse. He came back and started playing again and then was murdered on the sidewalk shortly after that.
When I met him he was older (70s or 80) and just full of joy at playing pool.
I’ve certainly seen a lot of examples that back up your claim. I quit for 10 years and when I came back with about 3 hours of knocking the rust out I still beat the same players I used to beat and lost to the same players I used to lose to. Except one. Who was a banger when I quit and is now...