$30,000 ring game

G

Grady

Pro Player
I want to give AZ a couple of days lead time on this great story because of Mike Howerton's fair treatment of tournaments and pro players.
On Jan. 16th,2004, in Louieville, KY 6 players will put up $5,000 each and play a ring game , 10 Ball, $300 a game to start but with periodic raising of the bet, until one player ends up with all the cash. It starts at 3PM Louieville time.
The players are Earl Strickland, Jimmy Wetch, Corey Duell, Rodney Morris, Alex and Charlie Williams.
This project is a creation of Greg Sullivan and Grady Mathews.
 
The Derby is the 16th - 24th so the Ring Game will be the lead-in for the main attraction. See you there.
 
When I think of ring games, I think of trash-talking, jiving, fun games. Not intentional sharking, but fun jabber. I guess it doesn't wok like that for this kind of cash. Grady, any chance of catching this match on tape?
 
What kind of rules will be involved?

Honest effort - shoot again – all balls respot – shoot behind the line - roll out?

I’m glad that Accu-stats is taping it, should be interesting and I hope it goes well.

Rick
 
Now THIS is the kind of pool event that might have a chance to suceed on television.

I can't believe how players are always whining about the lack of TV coverage and big purse money. Televised sports are on television for ONE reason alone, to advertise and sell products to the viewing public. People don't care to watch pool because they find it boring as hell. Enough said. I love playing pool as much as anyone on this board, trust me, butI must admit that it's a sorry spectator sport, especially if you don't play.

Compare pool to chess. Best game ever invented. Pure skill alone, no luck at all. The best player wins each and every game ever contested. People have been playing for 100's of years. Many players devote their lives to the game. Bla, Bla. How come I never get to see any great chess on TV? How come the world championship of chess isn't televised? Same reason-because nobody would watch it except for about twenty thousand chess fanatics in a nation of 300 million people. Great game. Crappy ass spectator sport.

I think if you had people putting their cash up like this it would add that little something that people just might tune in for.

Maybe.

Eddie
 
Sorry, but could someone please explain to me how a "ring game" works?

Is a "ring game" what we in the UK call a "round robin"? This is where each player plays every other player once!

Or is it a "winner keeps playing" or "king of the table" type format?

How does the betting format run? How and when are you allowed to raise the bet?

Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide!
 
A "ring game" is 3 to 8 players. A game starts with the players drawing "pills" to determine the order of shooting. Then they shoot, one after the other, until a particular game is won, which is determined by legally pocketing the 10 ball.
10 ball is just like 9 ball but with one extra ball. The balls are racked in a triangle rather than a diamond.
When a player wins a game he collects from the other players whatever amount they are playing for.So, 6 handed like our game, when you win a game at $300 you would collect $!,500 total from the other 5 players.
When the raisings of the bet occur and how much are yet to be determined.
 
Good day

Sounds like a smashingly good event. I can't wait until it comes out on video tape.
 
Great idea Grady, this just might be different enough to have appeal to many more folks, if it were ever to make on a tv format.

By the way I love your nineball rules, they are the only ones that I play with these days. I just wish there were more tournament directors who had courage enough to employ them in their regular events!
 
Thanks for the nice words. You wouldn't believe the opposition I get about the 9 ball rules.It embarrasses me to be a professional when guys can miss balls badly and still win.
At the beautiful event in Naples,FL last June I got accused of trying to sabotage the tournament by trying to have my rules. Anyway it just isn't worth to me anymore to stage 9 ball tournaments.
 
Thanks Grady for continuing your organizing events for pool fans. Id like to know how your recent tournament fared. Do you think it is feasible to hold one pocket and straight pool tournaments? Or is it a money loser. Im sad to see events like the US One Pocket championship fall to the wayside. And no major straight pool tournament in this country for several years.
 
It's a disgrace that the BCA has washed their hands of Straight Pool. I still believe in it and also in One Pocket. I lost $5500 on our just held Legends event but many positives are to be drawn from it. The play was spectacular, the audience was knowledgeable, and the facility first rate.
I have plans for the future. To make them work, however, it would seem that I have to bypass the BCA, the WPA, and the UPA. Frankly, I don't know which is worse.
One thing, you may rest fairly assured of: My tournaments won't be invitationals. By the way, women, as players are always welcome. My only criteria is that a player have enough ability to please a paying audience.
Look for small ads and notices about my upcoming tournaments. They won't be be big ads. I can no long afford industry magazine full page ads.
 
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