2 tournaments, 1 night

R

Rude Dog

<---Dumb and Dumber
I run a small bar tournament on Wednesday nights at a place near my house. Usually 9 ball, race to 2, double elim. Well, last night we had a small field, 10 players, and it was over with by 9 p.m. I won the tournament, yeeeehah. Anyway, just as the final game was finished, someone asked me if there was time for another tournament. "Of course", I say. I thought he was just kidding though. He then walked around and found enough players to play, so we had another one, this time with 8 players. Funny thing is, the guy that asked me this could not make 1 ball, could barely hit the OB. But he loves to play! He didn't care about the entry fee, he just wanted to play. Between matches, I watched him practice by himself and he was nonstop. Every time a table opened up he got on it, right away, just banging balls around 100mph. After the 2nd tournament was finished, he asked me to practice with him and usually I say no because I want to get home but for some reason I felt obligated to play with this guy. We played 3 games, for fun, him winning 1 game, lol. It was like playing a kid, his attention span was about 4.3 seconds, but I never had to tell him it was his shot and he always said good shot after I made a ball. Funny night, to say the least. Oh well, just thought I'd share. Peace, John.
 
interesting story.
sounds like that guy has a love for the game. did you try and help him, educate him, give him some learning about getting better?

i have a love for the game. and even though it seems posters on here enjoy it when i lose a match, or dont play well, or get bad rolls, it doesnt dampen my enthusiasm for the game.

i plan to keep trying.

nice post Rude Dog.

DCP
 
I remember the first time I picked up a cue, I wasn't exactly running out from everywhere. The fact that this guy didn't get discouraged is a good sign because he seems really keen about the game, I would've helped him however I could.
 
Rude Dog said:
I run a small bar tournament on Wednesday nights at a place near my house. Usually 9 ball, race to 2, double elim. Well, last night we had a small field, 10 players, and it was over with by 9 p.m. I won the tournament, yeeeehah. Anyway, just as the final game was finished, someone asked me if there was time for another tournament. "Of course", I say. I thought he was just kidding though. He then walked around and found enough players to play, so we had another one, this time with 8 players. Funny thing is, the guy that asked me this could not make 1 ball, could barely hit the OB. But he loves to play! He didn't care about the entry fee, he just wanted to play. Between matches, I watched him practice by himself and he was nonstop. Every time a table opened up he got on it, right away, just banging balls around 100mph. After the 2nd tournament was finished, he asked me to practice with him and usually I say no because I want to get home but for some reason I felt obligated to play with this guy. We played 3 games, for fun, him winning 1 game, lol. It was like playing a kid, his attention span was about 4.3 seconds, but I never had to tell him it was his shot and he always said good shot after I made a ball. Funny night, to say the least. Oh well, just thought I'd share. Peace, John.
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... and the man's name was Fast Larry.

Sorry Rude Dog, I just had to finish the story for you. :D
 
Rude Dog said:
Funny thing is, the guy that asked me this could not make 1 ball, could barely hit the OB. But he loves to play! He didn't care about the entry fee, he just wanted to play. Between matches, I watched him practice by himself and he was nonstop. Every time a table opened up he got on it, right away, just banging balls around 100mph. After the 2nd tournament was finished, he asked me to practice with him and usually I say no because I want to get home but for some reason I felt obligated to play with this guy. We played 3 games, for fun, him winning 1 game, lol. It was like playing a kid, his attention span was about 4.3 seconds, but I never had to tell him it was his shot and he always said good shot after I made a ball. Funny night, to say the least. Oh well, just thought I'd share. Peace, John.
Click to expand...

That guy reminds me a lot of a good friend of mine, Joey. Especially the attention span part, and how people like this shoot pool. I call it "Joey Pool" and wrote about it in my blog at this link.
Check it out, you may enjoy the story/photo!
 
I've witnessed good local tournaments get killed by US Open caliber players winning regularly. I don't know your personal situation, but it's unfortunate that great players have to scuffle around in these weekly tournaments in order to get by. We had a great local tournament that got ruined because one guy kept winning the tournament/break+run contest almost every week. Perhaps, that's why you only have 10 people showing up. Or, maybe it's the gas prices.
 
Roll-Off said:
I've witnessed good local tournaments get killed by US Open caliber players winning regularly. I don't know your personal situation, but it's unfortunate that great players have to scuffle around in these weekly tournaments in order to get by. We had a great local tournament that got ruined because one guy kept winning the tournament/break+run contest almost every week. Perhaps, that's why you only have 10 people showing up. Or, maybe it's the gas prices.
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Just about every bar tournament I've seen is mostly C's and a few B's. Get one A player, or even a B+, and it kills the whole thing -- unless you handicap it or ban people who win too much.
 
Cory in DC said:
Just about every bar tournament I've seen is mostly C's and a few B's. Get one A player, or even a B+, and it kills the whole thing -- unless you handicap it or ban people who win too much.
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The owners insist that I play no matter how many entrys they get. I've stayed away for 4 months before and that didn't help, the players quit coming because I wasn't there. If I didn't show up every week, they'd never have a tournament even now. I walk in and go to each and every person and ask them if they would like to play in the tournament. Every week we get usually 12 to 16 players, sometimes only 8 or 10, like last night, but there's only 3 or 4 regulars every week, myself included. When I stopped playing, the players would come to the pool hall on tournament night and tell me how much different the atmoshere is at the bar because I wasn't there and the different people that they would have running the tournament either didn't know what they were doing or they would play favorites with their friends when it came time to do the draw. Anyway, I do understand your point about one person winning too much and getting banned, which is fair. But that's not the case here, it's the size of this town and lack of players. Peace, John.
 
Rude Dog said:
Every week we get usually 12 to 16 players, sometimes only 8 or 10, like last night, but there's only 3 or 4 regulars every week, myself included.
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I had the same problem. Here's something that worked pretty well to encourage regular attendance: a lot of tournaments have a break contest--get your name drawn and get a chance to snap the 9 for the cumulative pot.

My twist was that each week, the only players in the drawing were the players who had also played the previous week. I also drew the names exactly at start time, but did the break later. I let late players into the tournament (for an extra fee) if there was an open bye, but they had no shot at the pot.

In some weeks, there would be only 4 players eligible, even though I averaged 15-20 players. Two would get a shot at the pot (the second name drawn for half the pot). As it turned out, the APA 3 - 5 speed players were the most regular attendees, most often on time, and also got the most shots at the pot. So over time it worked out as a nice bonus for them.

Especially when the pot would get over $150, I could really see the effect on attendance and on-time arrivals.

Cory
 
Cory in DC said:
I had the same problem. Here's something that worked pretty well to encourage regular attendance: a lot of tournaments have a break contest--get your name drawn and get a chance to snap the 9 for the cumulative pot.

My twist was that each week, the only players in the drawing were the players who had also played the previous week. I also drew the names exactly at start time, but did the break later. I let late players into the tournament (for an extra fee) if there was an open bye, but they had no shot at the pot.

In some weeks, there would be only 4 players eligible, even though I averaged 15-20 players. Two would get a shot at the pot (the second name drawn for half the pot). As it turned out, the APA 3 - 5 speed players were the most regular attendees, most often on time, and also got the most shots at the pot. So over time it worked out as a nice bonus for them.

Especially when the pot would get over $150, I could really see the effect on attendance and on-time arrivals.

Cory
Click to expand...

If you can get your break and run contest high ($1,000+), you'll have plenty of players for your tournaments. This kind of pot will lure those players away from the poker table.
 
Rude Dog said:
The owners insist that I play no matter how many entrys they get. I've stayed away for 4 months before and that didn't help, the players quit coming because I wasn't there. If I didn't show up every week, they'd never have a tournament even now. I walk in and go to each and every person and ask them if they would like to play in the tournament. Every week we get usually 12 to 16 players, sometimes only 8 or 10, like last night, but there's only 3 or 4 regulars every week, myself included. When I stopped playing, the players would come to the pool hall on tournament night and tell me how much different the atmoshere is at the bar because I wasn't there and the different people that they would have running the tournament either didn't know what they were doing or they would play favorites with their friends when it came time to do the draw. Anyway, I do understand your point about one person winning too much and getting banned, which is fair. But that's not the case here, it's the size of this town and lack of players. Peace, John.
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John - thanks for the story. Its the same here in western Montana. They don't care if they win - they want to watch a good player - and some I have met have a real passion for the game - just don't play real good. And the closest town to me has two traffic lights. Kingman AZ (I lived in AZ for 55 years) where Rude Dog lives has maybe three (kidding!). John, you want to come up and we can play in a tournament in February? Bring Jimmy too. Massey maybe up here for it. And for those who have never watched John play - he plays REAL GOOD - watched him at Hard Times.
Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
 
John, Great story. It's nice to see someone like that, who has enthusiasm about the game, even if they can't play it well.

Cory in DC said:
Just about every bar tournament I've seen is mostly C's and a few B's. Get one A player, or even a B+, and it kills the whole thing -- unless you handicap it or ban people who win too much.
Click to expand...

Cory, Yeah, it helps to handicap. We had a local tournament around here, 9-Ball, R-2 Double elim, and they made me and one other guy go to 4. We quit going after awhile and started driving down the road a little farther for better competition, and now the guy that runs the club wants us to come back. Said the C's missed us being there and the tournament was dying out since we'd left. We didn't mind going to 4, but we just wanted stronger competition to play, ya know.

Later,
Bob
 
Jack Madden said:
John - thanks for the story. Its the same here in western Montana. They don't care if they win - they want to watch a good player - and some I have met have a real passion for the game - just don't play real good. And the closest town to me has two traffic lights. Kingman AZ (I lived in AZ for 55 years) where Rude Dog lives has maybe three (kidding!). John, you want to come up and we can play in a tournament in February? Bring Jimmy too. Massey maybe up here for it. And for those who have never watched John play - he plays REAL GOOD - watched him at Hard Times.
Jack
www.johnmaddencues.com
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Hey Jack, been a long long time. I kept seeing your name in here and just knew that it was familiar, but couldn't remember for the life of me. Until I saw your pic on your site. I appreciate your kind words, means a lot. I wish I still played like I did way back when, but things have changed. I'll keep that trip to Montana in mind, sounds like fun. Take care, and peace, John.
 
While we're on the subject, I played in a 9-ball tournament tonight. 20 players, which includes...Dee Adkins. He wins. Must have needed gas money.
 
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