Yesterday I had a telephone conversation with Greg Sullivan of Diamond Billiards and the promoter of the upcoming Southern Classic down in Tunica (as well as the long running Derby City Classic). We talked about a number of things related to the event, as well as the future of pool in general, and I thought some of it would be of interest to the pool community at large. So I asked Greg if it’d be OK to share some of what we discussed and he gave me the green light reminding me that I was, after all, his “official spokesmodel” on Tunica 
I think that by now everyone knows Greg’s dream is to establish a pool tour in this country. And the Tunica event, 20-28 July, is the next stepping stone towards that goal. If Tunica works an Atlantic City event could be next. And with three established tournaments corporate sponsorship becomes a real possibility.
“One tournament means nothing. We need at least three events to constitute a tour. Maybe one every four months. Harrah’s has 54 properties, so this is a chance to realize a dream I’ve had my whole life -- to create a tour for the sport of pool,” he told me.
“I know everyone misses the Executive West," he went on. "But the truth of the matter is that hotels are a less than ideal venue for pool. They can check you in but that’s about it. And honestly, there’s no reason for a hotel to add money to an event. But with a casino: they can keep us safe, provide food and beverages, and support a big tournament going nine days, 24 hours a day. I feel lucky to have gotten the Horseshoe in Indiana and to get the chance to show Harrah’s that we have the support of the pool community and can pull off Tunica and at least one other event.”
And so, 14 years after initiating the Derby City Classic, Greg is rolling the dice again. “Going to a venue further from our facilities isn’t going to be cheap, but it’s worth the gamble to me,” he said.
I asked him about the rumors of 10’ tables and he confirmed there would be four of them. “I’ve ordered four 5’ x10’, one-piece, *1 1/4”* slates -- it’s never been done before.” “So why are you doing it?” I asked? “Because I wanted to,” he laughed. “”We’re going to do a challenge like the Fatboy Challenge at the DCC, $10,000 added, on the 10 footers. And though I’m not real big on ‘invitationals’ I want to make sure I get 16 players who will generate excitement. I want the best players playing to see who the ‘king of the hill’ is on a 10’ table, so I’m working with Jay Helfert on that.” Greg is also hoping to get a Pay Ball game going on the 10 footers. “Kind of like a ring game. Who knows where things will go with the 10 footers -- maybe it’ll be the start of a pro tour on 10’ tables,” he said.
So what about the amateur events? “I don’t want to do any more tournaments that aren’t side-by-side -- I want the amateurs and the pros playing under the same roof. So we’re bringing in 80 7’ tables and a number of 9’ tables for amateurs events. Right now it looks like we’ll have one league bringing in players for the first weekend and the APA bringing in players the second weekend. We’ll probably do an open nine ball event on the 7 footers in the middle of the week.”
And the main event? “We’ll be bringing in approximately the same number of 9’ tables as the DCC -- maybe more if we can fit them in -- so we’ll be able to handle the same sized crowd for the banks, one pocket, and nine ball,” he said. I also asked about 1pocket and 14.1 challenges and Greg said, “If people are interested and I can get people to help out and run them, sure. We’ll do those too.”
So that’s it for now. Greg said there would be more info later as things firmed up.
Lou Figueroa
I think that by now everyone knows Greg’s dream is to establish a pool tour in this country. And the Tunica event, 20-28 July, is the next stepping stone towards that goal. If Tunica works an Atlantic City event could be next. And with three established tournaments corporate sponsorship becomes a real possibility.
“One tournament means nothing. We need at least three events to constitute a tour. Maybe one every four months. Harrah’s has 54 properties, so this is a chance to realize a dream I’ve had my whole life -- to create a tour for the sport of pool,” he told me.
“I know everyone misses the Executive West," he went on. "But the truth of the matter is that hotels are a less than ideal venue for pool. They can check you in but that’s about it. And honestly, there’s no reason for a hotel to add money to an event. But with a casino: they can keep us safe, provide food and beverages, and support a big tournament going nine days, 24 hours a day. I feel lucky to have gotten the Horseshoe in Indiana and to get the chance to show Harrah’s that we have the support of the pool community and can pull off Tunica and at least one other event.”
And so, 14 years after initiating the Derby City Classic, Greg is rolling the dice again. “Going to a venue further from our facilities isn’t going to be cheap, but it’s worth the gamble to me,” he said.
I asked him about the rumors of 10’ tables and he confirmed there would be four of them. “I’ve ordered four 5’ x10’, one-piece, *1 1/4”* slates -- it’s never been done before.” “So why are you doing it?” I asked? “Because I wanted to,” he laughed. “”We’re going to do a challenge like the Fatboy Challenge at the DCC, $10,000 added, on the 10 footers. And though I’m not real big on ‘invitationals’ I want to make sure I get 16 players who will generate excitement. I want the best players playing to see who the ‘king of the hill’ is on a 10’ table, so I’m working with Jay Helfert on that.” Greg is also hoping to get a Pay Ball game going on the 10 footers. “Kind of like a ring game. Who knows where things will go with the 10 footers -- maybe it’ll be the start of a pro tour on 10’ tables,” he said.
So what about the amateur events? “I don’t want to do any more tournaments that aren’t side-by-side -- I want the amateurs and the pros playing under the same roof. So we’re bringing in 80 7’ tables and a number of 9’ tables for amateurs events. Right now it looks like we’ll have one league bringing in players for the first weekend and the APA bringing in players the second weekend. We’ll probably do an open nine ball event on the 7 footers in the middle of the week.”
And the main event? “We’ll be bringing in approximately the same number of 9’ tables as the DCC -- maybe more if we can fit them in -- so we’ll be able to handle the same sized crowd for the banks, one pocket, and nine ball,” he said. I also asked about 1pocket and 14.1 challenges and Greg said, “If people are interested and I can get people to help out and run them, sure. We’ll do those too.”
So that’s it for now. Greg said there would be more info later as things firmed up.
Lou Figueroa
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