I watched a live stream of an 800 Fargo rate player, competing in a $20 weekly tournament, recently.

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vintagecollectibles831

Well-known member
How cool would it be to get to play against a top Fargo rated Pro, in a short race 9 or 10 ball tournament?

Seems pretty unbelievable to me, that it would even be worth their time, to compete in such a small tournament, for a top Pro.

I am not even sure if an 800 Fargo player is a top pro anymore though, but that seems really high to me, and surely pretty close to Elite, right?

Anyways, I just think it would be such an hour to be able to compete against a top player, for such a small price. That is, if you even see a short race to 3 as a competition, lol.

I still bet that he went on to snap the tournament off though, but I am not sure.

It was at Skinny Bob's, in Round Rock, TX, and I randomly seen a live youtube stream of their weekly Friday night tournament going on.

Oh, and the TV Table looked to be in such nice condition. I imagine that they probably keep all their tables in great condition though.
 
Happens all the time in NYC! It's one of the nice things about living in a major metro area. They'll just randomly drop by and play our local tournaments, both handicapped and unhandicapped.

Francisco Bustamante just dropped by a couple weeks ago and took down one of the open ones. Here's me "beating" (aka shitting in the 9 ball a few times 😂) Moritz Neuhausen a couple years ago in a $80 handicapped tournament:

Just in the past two years, I've played 4 players that were rated 790+ just in these tournaments, and I don't even go to that many of them.
 
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kingwang said:
Happens all the time in NYC! It's one of the nice things about living in a major metro area. They'll just randomly drop by and play our local tournaments, both handicapped and unhandicapped.

Francisco Bustamante just dropped by a couple weeks ago and took down one of the open ones. Here's me "beating" (aka shitting in the 9 ball a few times 😂) Moritz Neuhausen a couple years ago in a $80 handicapped tournament:

Just in the past two years, I've played 4 players that were rated 790+ just in these tournaments, and I don't even go to that many of them.
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Lol, was it very cold in there, or did he just not think it was worth the time to remove his sweatshirt? That is so cool though. Neuhausen is a great player.

You are very good too, I see.
 
sad that a top pro would come in and take off a small tournament where he was almost sure to win the top money.

maybe some would like it to watch him play or from your seat but it is really un fair. the t.d. should have put a big penalty spot associated when playing him.

if you do, at least tell him you will concede to him if he shows you all the shots and explains what you need to improve on. at least you get a lesson for your money thrown away.
 
maha said:
sad that a top pro would come in and take off a small tournament where he was almost sure to win the top money.

maybe some would like it to watch him play or from your seat but it is really un fair. the t.d. should have put a big penalty spot associated when playing him.

if you do, at least tell him you will concede to him if he shows you all the shots and explains what you need to improve on. at least you get a lesson for your money thrown away.
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Well, the way I see it is that in a short race to 3 games, playing 9 ball, for example, any fairly good player has a chance to at least get in the money, and maybe even win the event.

I do understand why long race (like going to 9 games, for example) tournaments are Fargo rate capped (like 550 and under, 650 and under, and so on) though.

But, I think it is kind of silly to make a short race tournament not open to all players. And, I see a race to 3, 9 ball, as a short race tournament. That would be compared to a race to 2, 8 ball, I think. I am also not sure if an 800 Fargo player is going to give his 100% A game in a $20 tournament. I assume not.
 
So Alex Kazakis (824) played in the Scottish Open last May. This is what he was doing a few weeks before and a few weeks after.

I'd say Athens players are pretty fortunate.

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CanadianGuy said:
if the tourney is legit handicapped, would that not give any pro the same chances as anybody else?
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To that point, Julio Burgos (747) plays in some $20 Wednesday night tournaments at Beyond Billiards in South Florida. A typical format is the "chip tournament" in which players round-robin against each other, one game at a time, until you have lost your assigned number of games. Strong players get four losses. Some get five... weaker players get six. Julio and a few others get three losses.

With that handicap and a roomful of strong players (and it being nine ball), he is far from a cinch to finish in the money.

I played him one game a few weeks ago and I lost, but I was very happy to make it an extended safety battle in which I got to the table five or six times before he got an opening to really lock me up. While I lost the game, I felt like I gained some respect, which is fun.
 
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vintagecollectibles831 said:
How cool would it be to get to play against a top Fargo rated Pro, in a short race 9 or 10 ball tournament?

Seems pretty unbelievable to me, that it would even be worth their time, to compete in such a small tournament, for a top Pro.

I am not even sure if an 800 Fargo player is a top pro anymore though, but that seems really high to me, and surely pretty close to Elite, right?

Anyways, I just think it would be such an hour to be able to compete against a top player, for such a small price. That is, if you even see a short race to 3 as a competition, lol.

I still bet that he went on to snap the tournament off though, but I am not sure.

It was at Skinny Bob's, in Round Rock, TX, and I randomly seen a live youtube stream of their weekly Friday night tournament going on.

Oh, and the TV Table looked to be in such nice condition. I imagine that they probably keep all their tables in great condition though.
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who was the player?
 
CanadianGuy said:
if the tourney is legit handicapped, would that not give any pro the same chances as anybody else?
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Most handicapping systems retain some advantage to the higher level player. But also, at this level you run into caps on race length. For example, my match against Neuhausen should have been 4-14 for truly even odds based on our ratings, but it was capped at 10, which gives him an advantage probability-wise.
 
CanadianGuy said:
if the tourney is legit handicapped, would that not give any pro the same chances as anybody else?
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Depends on if it is handicapped fairly. Going way off topic, but I never understood why handicapped tournaments have calcutta's. I mean, if they are bidding one playing up, through the roof, then that just means that the player was not really fairly handicapped.
 
DieselPete said:
To that point, Julio Burgos (747) plays in some $20 Wednesday night tournaments at Beyond Billiards in South Florida. A typical format is the "chip tournament" in which players round-robin against each other, one game at a time, until you have lost your assigned number of games. Strong players get four losses. Some get five... weaker players get six. Julio and a few others get three losses.

With that handicap and a roomful of strong players (and it being nine ball), he is far from a cinch to finish in the money.

I played him one game a few weeks ago and I lost, but I was very happy to make it an extended safety battle in which I got to the table five or six times before he got an opening to really lock me up. While I lost the game, I felt like I gained some respect, which is fun.
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That is really cool. I think I would hate Chip tournaments, unless they call you fairly quick, to play the next guy. If not, then you just play 1 game, then wait. Then play 1 game, and then wait again. Hard to get any kind of rhythm going, I imagine, if that makes any sense. With that being said, you played him 1 game, so it made your odds so much better, of winning, then if you had played him, a race to 3, for example.
 
maha said:
sad that a top pro would come in and take off a small tournament where he was almost sure to win the top money.

maybe some would like it to watch him play or from your seat but it is really un fair. the t.d. should have put a big penalty spot associated when playing him.

if you do, at least tell him you will concede to him if he shows you all the shots and explains what you need to improve on. at least you get a lesson for your money thrown away.
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He doesn't have to win. There might be 5-10 players in the 650-750 range in any given weekly tournament at skinny bobs. I am sure he was just getting table time in before the bigger tournament over the weekend. Nobody complains. They are open tournaments.
 
if it isnt handicapped fairly then anyone entering a tournament with 5 to 10 650 to 750 players in it has no chance at all of collecting. if he is less than that.

the whole idea of a tournament is so anyone can play and have a chance. other wise it isnt a tournament but a takeoff for the best players.

and a good t.d. can find a way to structure it so that all can have a chance to collect.
 
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vintagecollectibles831 said:
That is really cool. I think I would hate Chip tournaments, unless they call you fairly quick, to play the next guy. If not, then you just play 1 game, then wait. Then play 1 game, and then wait again. Hard to get any kind of rhythm going, I imagine, if that makes any sense. With that being said, you played him 1 game, so it made your odds so much better, of winning, then if you had played him, a race to 3, for example.
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I don't care much for chip tournaments. As long as you keep winning, you get to keep playing. I've played in some where you have to wait over 30 minutes to get called up again after a loss. Players have won this tournament with a record of like 8 wins/6 losses. I may go 35-3 and not cash. They're brutal, especially when you see players going as slow as they can get away with just to have to win less games.
 
easy-e said:
I don't care much for chip tournaments. As long as you keep winning, you get to keep playing. I've played in some where you have to wait over 30 minutes to get called up again after a loss. Players have won this tournament with a record of like 8 wins/6 losses. I may go 35-3 and not cash. They're brutal, especially when you see players going as slow as they can get away with just to have to win less games.
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This is now off topic, but...

We do it the opposite. If you lose, you stay on the table and break the next game. Weaker players are out the door pretty quickly because they lose, and lose, and lose...

Yes, if you win you go back to the top of the list and do have to wait. You socialize. You watch matches. You know what you are in for when you choose to play. Then you get called to a table and immediately have to switch on for what is basically a hill-hill game. I think it is a real opportunity to test your game and your mental strength.

Finally, the tournament manager will rearrange the wait list to even out games, so there is no incentive to slow play. By the last few rounds (getting toward the money) everyone will have very close to equal games played.

It's not for everyone though.
 
It's a handicapped 9 ball tournament. I've always said, at those tournaments it's about how well you do mentally vs physically on the table. If you are stars trucked, chances are you are going to lose mainly because you are distracted by who your opponent is.

I enjoy playing in some open tournament as usually the better players always give me some pointers or are impressed with my kicking ability even though I'm lower rated. It's a good learning experience, good or bad.
 
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