Yep. Add this to the post-covid cost of staying open just makes it prohibitive to add much $$.
A concerning change in average tournament payouts.
- Thread starter u12armresl
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They were a helluva lotta fun back in the day, b4 things got crazy and you couldn't afford to buy yourself. Good way to win some decent coin.
I'd try to sneak in as an unknown and go for cheap.
There's that Chinese arithmetic again!!
I remember most players going for twenty to sixty dollars, the best might break a hundred by a little bit. With just a modest spread in ability there would be a bunch of people that might cash pretty big, enough that might win to keep the calcutta prices from getting too lopsided.
I know I say this in every thread about calcuttas but I like the cash option. The players agree on a set amount, maybe twenty bucks, and everyone that wants in the side pot pays when putting in their entry. The person registering competitors takes the money and adds a name to a list, maybe a minute or two extra at most and now those that want to play for more can.
Hu
The days of buying up 3 and 4 players at a time for a few hundred bucks are long gone brother!!
Yrs ago a friend bought a local guy in one of the Tulsa Billiard Pace monthly opens for next to nothing. These events drew TOP grade talent b ecause of the 24hr action. Well, this local cat doesn't buy half himself and ends up in SECOND. My buddy went to jelly him and he thought he deserved half. WTF??? The guy made no attempt to buy himself but still wanted half. He stormed off like the delusional nit he was.
Cmon, everyone knows the rule, you are only entitled to half when you cough up half of your cost, any cash he got from the calcutta was a generous tip from the guy that bought him.
Apparently he was clueless. He beat Dick Lane and a couple other top players to get to final.
Unfortunately this is fairly common. Jeanette Lee tried to buy half of herself after the fact. The bidder quiet reasonably refused. I think she has a history of that but I will stick to the one time I recall the details fairly well.
A player thinking they should get half with no risk is being ridiculous. Indeed, even ten or fifteen percent can be ridiculous depending on the real costs the bidder spent to win. Many players see this jelly as a requirement, it isn't as players find more and more when outside bidders win. The bidder might have bet tens of thousands that weekend on that calcutta, other calcuttas, horses, dogs, poker, on and on. Plus any smart gambler is keeping a running tally of where they are at for the year or longer. If they are having a great year they might be inclined to toss a little jelly but I can't picture them tossing more than a few thousand regardless of what ten or fifteen percent is.
While on the subject, unless specified in the rules for the event, the buyer isn't under obligation to sell the player 50%. Many players get out of joint about this but have no problem not buying fifty percent if they don't like the odds or don't have the cash. Seems like players wanting to have everything their own way! If I were a bidder it would depend on the way I planned things when I was buying the calcutta.
Hu
Entitlement. I thot that was only my grandkids generation.
Saw some serious action in that place. Never knew who was gonna show up. Stick around and you'd get what you came for. Like it or not.
Ya, I was there for that tourney. She's done several shady type things gambling wise, but when you run with Strong Arm, A dog gonna get fleas.
I played Dick Lane, he had a bit of a shake to him when I played, but he was still pretty sporty.
Greed.
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Active member
Players complaining about the prizes beeing only for high classifications are bad players who never achieve high classifications... Prizes are for the ones who deserve it, not for everyone participating.
Any given tournament should get a sponsor, or more, to get money for prizes, that adds a lot more money and grabes a lot more interest for the players.
Complain do nothing for pool, actions do.
Any given tournament should get a sponsor, or more, to get money for prizes, that adds a lot more money and grabes a lot more interest for the players.
Complain do nothing for pool, actions do.
There is always a group of fairly low level competitors with no chance of winning that instead try to have rules and restrictions put into place so they can win. It never works out. My experience is that the overall group of competitors at anything are their own worst enemies and they will legislate competitions out of existence without strong leadership. The surest way to extinction is to give them what they ask for!
Winners are going to win, whiners are gonna whine, pretty sure it is all a DNA thing.
Hu
If someone outbids me for myself in the calcutta and refuses to let me buy half he will find out real fast that that was a bad idea when I'm a no show for my first match while standing right next to him. I can be a vindictive prick when inclined to do so.
AFAIK DL always shook like that but it didn't hinder his game.
Every tournament w/calcutta i ever went to it was a rule that a player had dibs on half himself. If they chose not to they were at the buyer's mercy as far as any jellying was concerned.
Most sponsors for city/regional tournaments I've seen have really been donors rather than sponsors. Like a roofing company that puts in a thousand or two because the owner is a regular at the room. It's unlikely that the publicity will do anything useful for the donor.
Yeah, I have seen a few people drop out when they were going to cash for an asshole. I haven't but then again, I haven't been sold in many calcuttas.
What is really funny is I have seen players buy friends in calcuttas so they were ahead of the game to not win a match later in an event. Gambling can get crazy!
Hu