This year was my 4th time playing in the BCA Nationals 2012,13,15, and this year 16.
After coming home from 2 weeks of being involved with BCA Nationals I have a few comments to express encompassing my experiences and conversations of some of people I have spoke with during and after the event.
The Rio-- Again this year most of the "working" staff were extremely friendly and most of the "management" staff were rude. The rooms are getting worse, they have tvs that barely work and there are holes in the carpets and walls, last year we had coffee pots but you had to pay a crazy amount for the Kcups, this year we bring our own Kcups and they ditched the coffee pots! Then after you buy a coffee or food (from inside the hotel) you cant take it with you to play pool unless you buy it in the tournament area. Their prices are too high and the food they sell is not that good. $79/129 is too high a price for the "quality" in a hotel off the strip. Price gouging at its finest. I understand that the contract is good with the Rio through next year...... I really hope after that, the tournament is moved to another location that will treat us better. Oh,ya, and the fact that the maintenance guys were running scissor lifts next to tables shaking the floor and having back up alarms go off during the 9ball matches was not cool either!!
Tables-- For the most part they all played well as Diamonds are expected to do, did see 1 table that had a slight roll off to it. Most of the tables had the "spot divit" , and could have used new spots to help remedy this. At the start of the tournament the balls were all shined up and nice, however a lot of the tables were very dirty. On Tues night the 19th,when they allowed tables to be available, after 1 hour of practice my bridge hand was almost black from chalk in the cloth, other tables were the same and some not so bad.
Refs-- Ok....first off I will say I understand that dealing with irate players all day long can be stressful. However most (not all), of the Refs I seen being called to tables near me or even once during our team match were very "dictatorlike" and rude, during the actual calling of the "hit" or in explaining the rule. This needs to be addressed through management and fixed. I did encounter 2 Refs that I had asked a question to (not during a match) and they were extremely nice and helpful. In years past I had seen more "friendly" behavior from the Refs.
Minis-- minis were good as usual, some minor issues with table assignments, but overall they ran pretty quickly and were fun.
BCA staff-- You guys and gals work hard to put this event on and I applaud you for that. Most of the staff was very friendly and willing to try to help. Overall the tournament ran pretty smooth and was good, with the exception of some late running matches, glitch with the scoresheet machine, etc... Good Job overall.
It would be good if there was a better way to "check in" players and teams prior to play aside from the never-ending line that clogs up the room. Some of the Staff seemed a little disorganized at times though with not having some things ready and with player interaction when dealing with issues. (especially a Fargo issue, the staff was clearly not interested in the topic and referred questions to the tournament desk, which referred back to the registration desk!) Also there was a minor altercation I witnessed/was a part of, in the mini room that I would like to bring attention to...... As I walked in the room there was a player arguing with someone at the desk and he began cussing and screaming, dropping F bombs at people , jumping around threatening people..... All while there are ladies and kids present in the room (kids within 10-20ft), I mentioned to him to calm down and stop cussing with kids and ladies around and his response was to start F bombing me and threatening me..... The mini lady got ahold of him,(apparently she knows him) and got him out of the room..... I asked her what that was about and the guys name, her reply was "Why?', and I told her that anyone who acts like that should not be allowed in the tournament and should be banned. She told me she has known him for years and she was " taking care of it" and that was that...to my knowledge nothing happened.... Bottom line is if CSI wants to run a respectful tournament and help grow the game with player responsibility (which I agree) then they need to take action against stuff like this.
Vendors-- Great people with great products. I make a point to buy something from at least 2-3 vendors every year even if its small items. the quality and craftsmanship of the cue and case makers is fantastic. And the repair guys work hard to give a quality tip/wrap/etc... Having Dominic (Drill Instructor) there is good as well with his classes and willingness to help people with something when asked.
Here is one that there was a lot of talk about..... Why was Vivian and other female pros, allowed to play in the platinum women's brackets? Nothing against Vivian, she is a great person I met her once, but the Platinum ,gold, silver, etc... brackets are Amateur events correct? The 8/9/10ball challenge events are supposed to be the Pro/Am events.
Ok here is the big one.....
FARGO--
Giving that this is the first year for the "new" system obviously there will be some good/bad with it...... There is a number of players who I met/saw that were way under where they should be. Obviously anytime you bring in a "handicap number" into effect you will have players who cheat the system or are just under/over ranked to start with. Also you will have players who complain about it! Under the old system if you played an "Open player and he beat you 5-0 ,6-0 you would say, "man, that guy plays well , perhaps he should be "Advanced", Now same scenario you say, "that guy is 20 points lower than me and he is cheating by not playing in the Platinum".
Before you could just THINK maybe the guy had a good day...... Now you see the number and the stats and KNOW you got screwed..... Example.... I played a guy in 9ball who beat me 6-1 only missing 2 shots.... If I broke dry or missed, he ran out then break and run next rack. he kicked out of safes with little effort making the ball or getting a hit and safe'ing me up every time. He went on to finish deep in the bracket. He was 522 had a starting rate of 400 with close to 200 games robustness. Now I have no grudge against this guy, he played extremely well and won, I do however have issue with knowing that in the system he is almost "established" and has a lower number than me but plays as well as some established 625-650 players. I could detail other matches I saw that were identical/similar but you get the point I am trying to make.
There were players who are "known" to play at platinum level with silver/gold fargo #s. This will continue to be an issue even with scores being entered into Fargo..... If a "new" player starts with a silver or Gold starting number but plays at Platinum level....it will be 2-3-4 years before they get to 200 games to be established, all the while playing in the wrong divisions and cashing deep against lesser opponents. Perhaps next year the divisions will be more evenly split so that a 525 is not playing against a 613 as well.... 50-75 point spread is more reasonable, granted it would create another division but it would make the matches more fair.
Next.... The team events..... old system... 4 "open" players 1 "Advanced" was the best team you could make for the "Open" now "Gold" division..... New Fargo system you can have 3-4 "Advanced" players and a 1-2 "open" , silver/gold level player who is unknown "New" and play in the same event...and crush it.... The 3000 limit is too high or the team event needs to be split into smaller divisions similar to the singles15/35/35/15 according to combined team cap maybe.... ??? I kinda feel bad for the 14 teams who flew/drove out to play in the platinum division...
I guess we will have to wait and see how things change for next year or participation will be down drastically .... it is already declining each year. The reasons for this vary from talking to people, but the most common things are, the time of year,(there were over 600 teams in "Open" the years before the event was moved to July and now there are slightly over 400... ( Next year may be lucky to get 350.).., and The Rio with the high prices etc... And now ALOT of players are not trusting the Fargo system. With a drop in team/player counts comes the lack of prize funds and the vendors will start pulling out since they wont sell enough to cover their expenses. I really hope things change for the better.
So there it is ...... any thoughts from other players?
After coming home from 2 weeks of being involved with BCA Nationals I have a few comments to express encompassing my experiences and conversations of some of people I have spoke with during and after the event.
The Rio-- Again this year most of the "working" staff were extremely friendly and most of the "management" staff were rude. The rooms are getting worse, they have tvs that barely work and there are holes in the carpets and walls, last year we had coffee pots but you had to pay a crazy amount for the Kcups, this year we bring our own Kcups and they ditched the coffee pots! Then after you buy a coffee or food (from inside the hotel) you cant take it with you to play pool unless you buy it in the tournament area. Their prices are too high and the food they sell is not that good. $79/129 is too high a price for the "quality" in a hotel off the strip. Price gouging at its finest. I understand that the contract is good with the Rio through next year...... I really hope after that, the tournament is moved to another location that will treat us better. Oh,ya, and the fact that the maintenance guys were running scissor lifts next to tables shaking the floor and having back up alarms go off during the 9ball matches was not cool either!!
Tables-- For the most part they all played well as Diamonds are expected to do, did see 1 table that had a slight roll off to it. Most of the tables had the "spot divit" , and could have used new spots to help remedy this. At the start of the tournament the balls were all shined up and nice, however a lot of the tables were very dirty. On Tues night the 19th,when they allowed tables to be available, after 1 hour of practice my bridge hand was almost black from chalk in the cloth, other tables were the same and some not so bad.
Refs-- Ok....first off I will say I understand that dealing with irate players all day long can be stressful. However most (not all), of the Refs I seen being called to tables near me or even once during our team match were very "dictatorlike" and rude, during the actual calling of the "hit" or in explaining the rule. This needs to be addressed through management and fixed. I did encounter 2 Refs that I had asked a question to (not during a match) and they were extremely nice and helpful. In years past I had seen more "friendly" behavior from the Refs.
Minis-- minis were good as usual, some minor issues with table assignments, but overall they ran pretty quickly and were fun.
BCA staff-- You guys and gals work hard to put this event on and I applaud you for that. Most of the staff was very friendly and willing to try to help. Overall the tournament ran pretty smooth and was good, with the exception of some late running matches, glitch with the scoresheet machine, etc... Good Job overall.
It would be good if there was a better way to "check in" players and teams prior to play aside from the never-ending line that clogs up the room. Some of the Staff seemed a little disorganized at times though with not having some things ready and with player interaction when dealing with issues. (especially a Fargo issue, the staff was clearly not interested in the topic and referred questions to the tournament desk, which referred back to the registration desk!) Also there was a minor altercation I witnessed/was a part of, in the mini room that I would like to bring attention to...... As I walked in the room there was a player arguing with someone at the desk and he began cussing and screaming, dropping F bombs at people , jumping around threatening people..... All while there are ladies and kids present in the room (kids within 10-20ft), I mentioned to him to calm down and stop cussing with kids and ladies around and his response was to start F bombing me and threatening me..... The mini lady got ahold of him,(apparently she knows him) and got him out of the room..... I asked her what that was about and the guys name, her reply was "Why?', and I told her that anyone who acts like that should not be allowed in the tournament and should be banned. She told me she has known him for years and she was " taking care of it" and that was that...to my knowledge nothing happened.... Bottom line is if CSI wants to run a respectful tournament and help grow the game with player responsibility (which I agree) then they need to take action against stuff like this.
Vendors-- Great people with great products. I make a point to buy something from at least 2-3 vendors every year even if its small items. the quality and craftsmanship of the cue and case makers is fantastic. And the repair guys work hard to give a quality tip/wrap/etc... Having Dominic (Drill Instructor) there is good as well with his classes and willingness to help people with something when asked.
Here is one that there was a lot of talk about..... Why was Vivian and other female pros, allowed to play in the platinum women's brackets? Nothing against Vivian, she is a great person I met her once, but the Platinum ,gold, silver, etc... brackets are Amateur events correct? The 8/9/10ball challenge events are supposed to be the Pro/Am events.
Ok here is the big one.....
FARGO--
Giving that this is the first year for the "new" system obviously there will be some good/bad with it...... There is a number of players who I met/saw that were way under where they should be. Obviously anytime you bring in a "handicap number" into effect you will have players who cheat the system or are just under/over ranked to start with. Also you will have players who complain about it! Under the old system if you played an "Open player and he beat you 5-0 ,6-0 you would say, "man, that guy plays well , perhaps he should be "Advanced", Now same scenario you say, "that guy is 20 points lower than me and he is cheating by not playing in the Platinum".
Before you could just THINK maybe the guy had a good day...... Now you see the number and the stats and KNOW you got screwed..... Example.... I played a guy in 9ball who beat me 6-1 only missing 2 shots.... If I broke dry or missed, he ran out then break and run next rack. he kicked out of safes with little effort making the ball or getting a hit and safe'ing me up every time. He went on to finish deep in the bracket. He was 522 had a starting rate of 400 with close to 200 games robustness. Now I have no grudge against this guy, he played extremely well and won, I do however have issue with knowing that in the system he is almost "established" and has a lower number than me but plays as well as some established 625-650 players. I could detail other matches I saw that were identical/similar but you get the point I am trying to make.
There were players who are "known" to play at platinum level with silver/gold fargo #s. This will continue to be an issue even with scores being entered into Fargo..... If a "new" player starts with a silver or Gold starting number but plays at Platinum level....it will be 2-3-4 years before they get to 200 games to be established, all the while playing in the wrong divisions and cashing deep against lesser opponents. Perhaps next year the divisions will be more evenly split so that a 525 is not playing against a 613 as well.... 50-75 point spread is more reasonable, granted it would create another division but it would make the matches more fair.
Next.... The team events..... old system... 4 "open" players 1 "Advanced" was the best team you could make for the "Open" now "Gold" division..... New Fargo system you can have 3-4 "Advanced" players and a 1-2 "open" , silver/gold level player who is unknown "New" and play in the same event...and crush it.... The 3000 limit is too high or the team event needs to be split into smaller divisions similar to the singles15/35/35/15 according to combined team cap maybe.... ??? I kinda feel bad for the 14 teams who flew/drove out to play in the platinum division...
I guess we will have to wait and see how things change for next year or participation will be down drastically .... it is already declining each year. The reasons for this vary from talking to people, but the most common things are, the time of year,(there were over 600 teams in "Open" the years before the event was moved to July and now there are slightly over 400... ( Next year may be lucky to get 350.).., and The Rio with the high prices etc... And now ALOT of players are not trusting the Fargo system. With a drop in team/player counts comes the lack of prize funds and the vendors will start pulling out since they wont sell enough to cover their expenses. I really hope things change for the better.
So there it is ...... any thoughts from other players?
