14.1 championship.....the worst run tourney i've ever been to.

[Ryan McCreesh]

this was quite possibly the worst run tournament i've ever attended....

for the players...
everyone was complaining that there was no way all the games would go on as scheduled,,,and they didn't. it ran behind from the get-go.

half of the ten tables had table lighting. of the remaining five, only the main TV table had ample lights. the other four were half lit with a ceiling spotlight that covered the back half of the table(the rack half being in shadow).

the tables were all set close together.

for the spectators.....
the tables(two sets of five) were set up to one side of the room, with vip seats at floor level surrounding the playing area, and the tv set-up on the wall side. this left general admission to the wider, open side (and ONLY one side)of the room. general seating was 20 feet from the closest 5 tables, while the other 5 were on the other side of the room. because the tables were so far away, there was zero intimacy.

no one in general admission knew what the score was on the five closer tables because the players kept the score facing them and away from the spectators. since score cards faced inward(to the players), general admission could only see the scores on the other side of the field.

no refs, except one main guy.

the tv table took up MASSIVE amounts of unecessary space because not only was it given the proper amount of space(as other tables SHOULD have), but they decided to rope off that space with an additional 10 feet.

because of the tv table on the OTHER side, and the fact that the near(near to general admission)tables were lined up END TO END rather than side to side, there was loss of space at both ends that could have allowed for more general seating if they planned it better.

to make all matters worse, they started hustling day session spectators out at 7pm (evening session) while the day session matches were still being played on every table. now,,,i left because there wasn't much more for me to watch, and i don't know if they really did force any day session spectators out. nonetheless, it was announced.

this was a poorly run venue. clearly, the biggest problem was in the choice of venue. the hilton was an inadequate space for a pool tourney set-up, and it was clear that lack of lighting dictated the layout.

i don't recall the announcer announcing the winner of a match or the score. players had to keep their own score, and rack their own rack. petroni kept mumbling to himself because the scoring flip cards kept falling off the plastic support.

play was ok for a first day. the germans did well, as expected. the second ranked player from spain, cabello, is DAMNED good, and ran out on robles. last i saw he was running on engert too. lipsky ran well vs. salvas. other matches?,,,hard to say as they were too far away.

All I have to say is THANK YOU Bruin for posting this. This WAS the WORST tournament I've ever been to in my whole LIFE.I can't even explain all the reasons why because it would take me all day to tell you people all the bad things about this GARBAGE tournament!!!!

 

[jsp]

All I have to say is THANK YOU Bruin for posting this. This WAS the WORST tournament I've ever been to in my whole LIFE.I can't even explain all the reasons why because it would take me all day to tell you people all the bad things about this GARBAGE tournament!!!!

I wonder if TheOne feels the same way.

 

[cgriffin5]

I was there yesterday all day. It wasnt a very well tournament. The tables were too close together, a ceiling tile fell from the ceiling so they didnt use one of the tables. In a match Jonathon Smith was playing Takami and they both took a break and during the break a guy who I guess works for the UPA come up and starts picking up the balls to clean them! He quickly put them down and the players never knew. The same guy was begging complete strangers to keep score. HELLO? This is supposed to be the World Championships and you are asking spectators to keep score? Totally unnaceptable IMO.

 

[pool]

Well, I can confirm that it is one of the more poorly run events that I have attended. At the same time, there are some things I really like about it as well. The seating isn't really as bad as some have remarked. It is about 20 feet away for the general seats, but honestly, you can see everything fine. It would be nice to see general seats all the way around the pplaying area, though. The far tables are tough to tell exactly how the balls lie. The event space is open enough to walk from one end to the other without disturbing play and you can chat quietly with other spectators without distracting the players. This is pretty nice. The scheduling may need tweaking in the future, but I think Dragon has done a decent job considering nobody has held an event of this type for over a decade. I mean, Round-Robin then double-elimination down to 16? It has been a marathon. Last night wrapped up at 2:30am. That is a ton of pool to watch in a day. My biggest complaint is the venue. This Hilton has the worst service I have ever seen in any hotel. Understaffed with folks who just don't care about helping people.

In general, I think this event will improve in the future, but it has been a great thing to watch develop so far.

 

[amatuer]

world 14.1 championship

Call it what you will but this is an upa tournament with mostly upa players. Some of the players in the tournament did so poorly, it was a joke. Losing 7matches in a row is ridiculous. Where are all the great 14.1 players from the far east.and other european players like lely? Was this event sponsored by the wpa also? With all that I've said, it is great to see a 14.1 tournament held with so many great players. I just wish it could have been a true world championship.

 

[Nine Ball]

All I have to say is THANK YOU Bruin for posting this. This WAS the WORST tournament I've ever been to in my whole LIFE.I can't even explain all the reasons why because it would take me all day to tell you people all the bad things about this GARBAGE tournament!!!!

Too funny. This seems to be a regular thing huh? How much money was miscalculated and taken from the tournament? haha. I feel you man.

 

[Steve Lipsky]

Too funny. This seems to be a regular thing huh? How much money was miscalculated and taken from the tournament? haha. I feel you man.

Absolutely all money advertised ($52,000) is scheduled to be paid out.

 

[Bob Jewett]

this was quite possibly the worst run tournament i've ever attended.... ...

Well, there is certainly room for improvement. It seems from comments I overheard that the current plan is to have another one.

OK, so the roof in the tournament ballroom was falling down. I've seen worse. Dallas West fled from a 14.1 tournament in LA after a little wiggler even though he was in first place. I don't think the soggy acoustic tiles actually fell on any table in use.

And the schedule was inoperative before the opening bell. Maybe next time the scheduler will listen to someone who has played straight pool before or at least seen a 14.1 tournament.

And so what if there were no referees? While it is traditional for World Tournaments to have both referees and scorekeepers on each table, it takes an immense amount of effort to make this happen for so many matches. I'm guessing that the cost would effectively be around $5000 if you wanted to do it "correctly" and I've seen some referees that the matches would have been better off without. You can't expect the referees to know the rules when even some of the players have no clue.

It is unfortunate that the score sheets didn't include innings, so it seems to be impossible to determine averages. I guess you don't keep averages at nine ball.

Maybe the next tournament's hotel contract should include a requirement that the hotel actually provide an open restaurant during the time the matches are scheduled. Or at least a coffee stand. With coffee rather than dilute tar. And maybe the breakfast buffet (for $16) could have some kind of meat, although I suppose the fresh fruit was better for me. A known vegetarian did pretty well in the tournament.

Yes, it wasn't perfect. There was some great play and memorable moments (Go, Jasmin, go!) including the sky-is-falling experience. Think of it as "texture." I grade them, "Needs Improvement," and will look forward to the next, better edition.

 

[sjm]

OK, so the roof in the tournament ballroom was falling down.

Our fellow poster TheOne was invovled in the "roof is falling" match, playing against Vilmos Foldes. The ceiling began to leak and the leak got worse and worse. The tournament organizers placed some trash containers under the leaks, but the falling water made quite a bit of noise as it landed in the plastic trash cans. Still, TheOne and Foldes seemed to maintain concentration until a ceiling tile came tumbling down, and even afterward. The situation was brought under control and the leak was a non-issue over the weekend.

 

[bruin70]

Well, there is certainly room for improvement. It seems from comments I overheard that the current plan is to have another one.

OK, so the roof in the tournament ballroom was falling down. I've seen worse.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Maybe the next tournament's hotel contract should include a requirement that the hotel actually provide an open restaurant during ,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yes, it wasn't perfect. There was some great play and memorable moments (Go, Jasmin, go!) including the sky-is-falling experience. Think of it as "texture." I grade them, "Needs Improvement," and will look forward to the next, better edition.

i'm not going to comment about things beyond williams' control.....oh like say, mother nature. however in this case, it is certainly valid to state "if you do it, do it right". it certainly seemd like they decided to funnel money towards the tv table. now,,,,imo, the tv table is strictly a way to create revenue. it was there for them to film dvd's. you don't need to hire a whole crew to film quality matches. i got GREAT footage of blomdahl/jaspers with my cheap sony camcorder from the stands, and i didn't need a bank of lights to do it.


so all this was done at the expense of other features more important to the running of the tourney. things like proper score sheets may seem small potatoes but they reflect a general attitude of "cutbacks" and just "getting by".

what it boils down to is you TRY to make it easier on everybody else, players and spectators alike. so if i perceive a shift in priorities from that to creating a "dvd table", then i think priorities should be rethought. no one is asking for madison square garden. and we're not talking about people who haven't done or been involved in this sort of thing before. we are talking about common sense issues.

 

[Fuji-whopper]

I vote Bruin70 to run the next big tournament!! He has all the answers and can make things right!!

 

[TheOne]

Our fellow poster TheOne was invovled in the "roof is falling" match, playing against Vilmos Foldes. The ceiling began to leak and the leak got worse and worse. The tournament organizers placed some trash containers under the leaks, but the falling water made quite a bit of noise as it landed in the plastic trash cans. Still, TheOne and Foldes seemed to maintain concentration until a ceiling tile came tumbling down, and even afterward. The situation was brought under control and the leak was a non-issue over the weekend.

It was a surreal moment, I actually leaped into the air when I heard something crash to the floor not too far away from me lol! Then the drips got closer to the table Foldes and I where playing on so a large bin was put near by to collect the drip. I joked with Vilmos that he kept leaving me near the bin deliberately so I couldn't get my cue in. Poor randy thought I was serious and offered to get my a smaller bin bless him, think he wanted to slap me when he realised I was just teasing lol. It was difficult to concentrate and very humid but we carried on and laughed it off none the less, certainly not much could be done about these problems.

To be fair this event had so much bad luck I was wondering if the gods where against straight pool! Charlie etc where delayed overnight in Florida before the event, the tables where delayed in US customs, the mic didn't work the first day, the roof leaked, the AC broke down, the lights almost went out, the roof fell in, and of course Frank was in a serious accident. This is just what I know and I'm sure they had even more bad luck.

Yes the schedule could have been better, the arena too maybe, the Hotel facilities closed early (which probably helped me! ), it would have been nice to have ref's, and the shot clock sucked....BUT I think we all need to thank Dragon Promotions and Randy for taking a chance that nobody else wanted to take and fighting through all the problems to make this event work.

I'm sure it will be bigger and better next year