Dcc 2021

sjm said:

That's right. For the first time, all three core events had $25,000 added, enabling a far more substantial prize fund. Your recollection of 10,00 for banks and 12,000 for one pocket last year is correct. Each event paid 16,000 for first this year.

As I see it:

Bigfoot 16,000 added
Banks 25,000 added
One pocket 25,000 added
Banks ring game 6,000 added
Nine ball 25,000added

So that's $97,000 added in total, nothing to sniff at. Add the $1,000 added to each of the three midnight minis and you get to that magical number of $100,000 added.

Click to expand...

The ring game was $1,500 entry, so the added money was $3,000.

And don't forget that entry fees and buy-back fees for Banks and One-Pocket were up this year (and the number of entries down in those two events).

sjm said:

... Diamond is committed to keeping the field open until the very last moment rather than capping it at a certain number of players, and I think this makes the Derby better. ....

Click to expand...

The event flyer this year indicated that they planned to cap the fields at 475 for Banks and 425 each for One-Pocket and 9-Ball. The actual entries, however, turned out to be less than the caps.

The action did seem down this year, but it's not a trend. The last few years before this one have been busy in the upstairs rooms. Not sure the reason for the difference. Maybe folks were more apprehensive due to the perception of increased enforcement by the gaming commission, but in practice I saw no evidence of that. That being said all the tables in the non-streamed action room were pretty constantly busy from what I saw. The difference seemed to me that unlike last year you could get a table upstairs on the overflow tournament tables after hours if you wanted to. Before it was packed.

As an attendee who is over the age of 21 I mostly liked the changes. I like the new casino and it's proximity to the tournament floor. I like the new bars in said casino. I really liked the sportsbook. I even liked the food (maybe I'm in the minority on that one but that meatloaf was delicious). I enjoyed the Bigfoot as much as ever even though most of the matches weren't very close. Derek the emcee does a great job, and him and his buddies are fun to sweat the matches with. I enjoyed sweating banks and one pocket as well. I've decided I'm going to enter the banks next year despite it not making financial sense (I'm a terrible banker and only can stay 3 days), but I want the experience.

I enjoyed it as much as previous years. I do agree I wish there was a way to solve for the under 21 problem, but seeing that seems to be driven by state regulation I'm not sure there is a workaround.

AtLarge said:

The ring game was $1,500 entry, so the added money was $3,000.

Click to expand...

Has been 1,000 entry in past years. Wow, that's a serious entry fee. Thanks for the info.

AtLarge said:

The event flyer this year indicated that they planned to cap the fields at 475 for Banks and 425 each for One-Pocket and 9-Ball. The actual entries, however, turned out to be less than the caps.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. That means allowing entries at the last moment was a convenience they had this year which they may not have in the future.

sjm said:

Has been 1,000 entry in past years. Wow, that's a serious entry fee. Thanks for the info.

Click to expand...

DCC 10-Ball Banks Ring Game:

2013 -- $1,000 entry, nothing added, winner take all

2014-2016 -- $1,000 entry, $3,000 added, prizes of $6,000 1st and $3,000 2nd

2017-2020 -- $1,500 entry, $3,000 added, prizes of $8,000 1st and $4,000 2nd

Worminator said:

1. Special badges/wrist bands for under 21. They can only enter the tournament room and upstairs playing

Click to expand...

This is a good idea, I heard from a few people while wandering around that they couldn’t stay long because they couldn’t bring their kids. Granted you don’t normally see a lot but eliminating the under 21 crowd is no good. I remember when Billy was barely able to reach a shot a few feet from the end rail. Now he’s winning the 1P. That’s the next generation and it sucks the up and comers can’t enjoy a tournament like that. They got the crew looking thru yours bags and cue case when you enter yet no one ever ID’s anyone. Not that I saw at least. On Monday night I heard from one of the guys that checks your bags that they had stopped 30 people so far, who were trying to enter with cocaine or heroine.

Still a great time

I was part of a group of 12 this year from Chicago. 3 serious entries, 9 donors including 5 first timers. I've been down there roughly 6+ times. The last year at the EW was the first time I was at a DCC event.

Everyone had a great time and talked about going next year. A few grumbles about food, but we weren't there for more than a few days and had vehicles to go off campus. I have been impressed over the last 10 or so years how far along New Albany has come restaurantwise. No need to go into Louisville for a nicer meal. Staying in New Albany is not a bad option anymore either.

Attendance was visibly down from last year but not alarmingly so, unless you were an action hound. Pretty much not worth traveling for any more. There are a hundred logical reasons for this, but there might be ways of bringing this back in a different form. Perhaps more smaller scheduled matchups via streaming could be a new direction. And with Indiana allowing online sports booking, perhaps there is a way this could be incorporated into things. Who knows?

Two things I would like: One. it would be great to have stools mixed in with the chairs so more people could sit and watch the tournament room matches instead of standing. you could have at least 50 or so more seats.
Two: It sucks ending the same week as the Superbowl. I don't remember this being a thing a few years ago.

If you're a non smoker, you will not like the casino changes. Essentially, the tournament is now inside the casino and the casino smoking area is right near the main tournament room entrance. The ventilation is much better than it was when the smoking area was right outside the doors of the main tournament area, and shouldn't be a deal breaker for most, but it will disappoint some. Having a new bar right there was a nice add though. lol

The casino itself starts in the entrance way near the bathrooms so not only the entire tournament room is in the casino, the entire second floor, including the action rooms, are actually inside the casino as well. The machines and everything are right outside the tournament room doors. You have to open up all the pockets on your cue bag every time you go in and make sure you have ID. They're serious about it there. Joshua Filler didn't have his passport with him, just some small other ID, and they wouldn't let him in unless he went back to his room to get his passport.

All in all, great time for us and we all at least plan on going/donating there again next year. lol

Want to drum up action?

How about a "1 on 1 tournament" desk? Players could check-in and say what they are looking for. Players could be fargorate verified and the house (Diamond) could get a cut -- say 3%. That could fund a couple workers. Maybe you get FargoRate involved to run the booth.

I hear a lot of the players are going to the casino tables.

Also seems like action among the elite players are down in general. A lot of times its all exhibition for ppv.

No more shuttle service was a issue for older people! The mobile walkway was always down.

Only Binions available for dinner! No where else had waitress'. The staff was horrible and kept the place 1/3 full and sent everyone to the bar for food. At 5pm could not get a table or reservation till 8:30 . Sit at the bar for 2 hours and empty tables the entire time.

I did see railbirds doing some expansion! They broadcast 4 tables and want to expand to provide a camera for every table on the main floor. I would like Derby to embrace technology more and hire a IT professional to take it into the 21st century.....

No reason for not having access to the matches on phone and tablet as part of entry fee....

It would have been nice to actually have waitresses from the casino taking food and drink orders, just like they do on the casino floor and of course at a price. I am willing to pay.....

The venue was dirty as usual! They never clean till late at night and by then! Old drink cups are stacked a mile high. Never could understand why this is a issue in year 20 of the event.

More restaurants and return of the ice cream shop would do wonders for moral....

Kd

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

Kid Dynomite said:

Sit at the bar for 2 hours and empty tables the entire time.

Click to expand...

This was a joke. With no place to eat and 50 empty seats in the restaurant you’re still lucky to get a spot at the bar. We ate at the bar and the entire time there was tables, at least 1/2 or 1/3 were empty. It’s amazing that year after year the same issues are brought up and nothing really changes. If I’ve said this once I’ve said it 50 times, I was setting in the hotel lobby and an older gentleman walked up to the desk and ask to use the business center. The desk man said it’s down by the casino up the escalator, the guys reply was “I’ve been there but I don’t have a badge and they said you have to pay to get up there”. If you aren’t going off, they aren’t getting your moneys worth...

The derby is the only big event close enough that I can attend, so my experience with other venues and tournaments is non existent. While there is a lot of good things going for the derby there is always room for improvement. A lot of good ideas have already been mentioned. The main ones of course is the match schedules and the completed matches. It’s the year 2020 and they don’t have a system in place to keep this updated? You can do anything you want with a mobile phone except find results from the derby. Obviously this needs fixed where the result not only shows the winner but the score so that the results can be used in fargorate.

Also when it gets toward the end and there’s not a lot of matches going on it very hard to find a place to watch from. We watched the finals of the 9 ball on a monitor because we couldn’t get anywhere that you could see the table from. Not enough space in the tv arena for the finals of a big event.

I don’t think the under 21 rule is that big of a deal. I know there is player like Gorst that couldn’t play but it’s only one event to someone who travels the world and plays in all the other big events it’s not that big of a deal. I know of a young player who is only 17 and there is a lot of tournaments he can’t play because he can’t get in. The last time I was at JOBs they checked our id so I assume you have to be 21 to get in. That would mean no one under 21 could play in the Music City Open either. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

I am lighting a votive candle today and sending up a prayer that Greg Sullivan does not read the negative posts in this thread. Perhaps the right-mnded "LFigueroa" will want to join me in that devotion. Let us hope that what is true in politics is not true for billiards: the vocal fifteen percent punches way over its weight.

As for convention centers, I believe I remember a pool tournament at a convention center at which an official of the state police had to get up in front of the crowd around the TV table and make a plea that the spectators, for their personal safety, not go outside to return to their hotel rooms but stay in the corridor that connected the tournament room directly to the hotel. Anyone else remember that?

No one had a good thing ever to say about the Riviera, and what they got was the Rio.

I don't remember anyone gushing at the time about the EW (= Executive West). In fact, I remember bitter complaints about the Seventies décor and the food --which, of course, was actually very, very good.

As for the poor vendors, I tried to by a used shaft for a cue at the DCC this year. I won't say you could have gotten splinters from the thing, but it needed work. It had a noticeable ding. I asked the vendor what he wanted for it. He quoted me a price six percent below it's full retail price. I could have walked thirty feet down the corridor and ordered the thing brand new. As my great uncle would have said, "Why pay retail when you can pay more?"

Two hotel breakfasts for thirty-one dollars? I think the breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express in New Albany is free.

Now, do you think they will have matches at the church, or should I take my lighter?



Do you su

Kid Dynomite said:

Only Binions available for dinner! No where else had waitress'

Click to expand...

Binions wasn't the only place for dinner. There were restaurants in the casino. I do agree with the shuttle but there really wasn't room for one with the venders along that hall with the walking sidewalk. I think that is why they had those scooters there.

Kid Dynomite said:

No more shuttle service was a issue for older people! The mobile walkway was always down.

Only Binions available for dinner! No where else had waitress'. The staff was horrible and kept the place 1/3 full and sent everyone to the bar for food. At 5pm could not get a table or reservation till 8:30 . Sit at the bar for 2 hours and empty tables the entire time.

I did see railbirds doing some expansion! They broadcast 4 tables and want to expand to provide a camera for every table on the main floor. I would like Derby to embrace technology more and hire a IT professional to take it into the 21st century.....

No reason for not having access to the matches on phone and tablet as part of entry fee....

It would have been nice to actually have waitresses from the casino taking food and drink orders, just like they do on the casino floor and of course at a price. I am willing to pay.....

The venue was dirty as usual! They never clean till late at night and by then! Old drink cups are stacked a mile high. Never could understand why this is a issue in year 20 of the event.

More restaurants and return of the ice cream shop would do wonders for moral....

Kd

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

I believe only one of the three walkways was down.

For food there was also Mexican, American, noodle/sushi, and grill available, albeit self-serve.

The nights I went to Binions the tables were always full.

And maybe (probably not) pool players and spectators could learn to clean up after themselves.

Lou Figueroa

Did they have the hot dog and burger portable setup outside the tournament room for the late night players?

iusedtoberich said:

Did they have the hot dog and burger portable setup outside the tournament room for the late night players?

Click to expand...

I believe they were doing something at the small bar on the second floor as I recall seeing hamburger buns, but I'm not sure.

Lou Figueroa

Off topic but the venue conversation made me recall:

Did that tournament ever happen in something to do with a baseball stadium? I believe it was in St Luis and maybe Mark Wilson was involved. Time frame was probably about 5 years ago. Or was it cancelled?