The 2006 IPT World Open was completed nearly two months ago. Two hundred players participated in this tournament with many countries being represented from around the globe. Efren Reyes, a three-time world eight ball champion, won the tournament & was awarded a five hundred thousand U.S. dollar first place prize. As of this writing, that’s all the advertised prize money was, an award on paper.
Anyone who reads pool forums regularly knows that on the uncommon occurrences I have written on them I have steadfastly been against the IPT organization from its beginning. My reasons for my dislike of the organization & its powers-that-be have not changed at all since I first came out against the IPT over a year ago. Consequently, I was insulted, berated, & labeled many things both on pool forums by the various starry-eyed groupies who frequently write on them and offline in private conversations. Many friendships were irretrievably lost when I made my opposition to the IPT publicly known over a year ago when it first began. In spite of mounting public & private opposition, I did not change my opinion of the organization & stood up for what I felt was the right course of action in my not getting involved with some criminal bastard asswipe like Kevin Trudeau & participating on his IPT tour.
Upon hearing of the recent IPT payment woes I had to really laugh out loud. Why? It’s because I have absolutely NO sympathy for the players not being paid any prize funds from the 2006 World Open tournament in Reno, not one iota. So why do I have no sympathy for the IPT participants who so willingly affiliated themselves with the IPT?
First, there is Kevin Trudeau as an individual. He’s a known liar, a fast-talking criminal bastard who has shown no qualms whatsoever in misleading uninformed or desperate people in the hope of making a fast buck through his nonsensical “infomercials”. Then there are the shady & otherwise questionable business practices with his “Natural Cures” line of products, the details of which are easily found on numerous websites. Those should have been gigantic warning signs, but again nobody wanted to hear about it. Then there were the highly touted “guarantees” by Kevin Trudeau of IPT affiliated players earning magical high dollar incomes. Again, that was another giant red flag but it was promptly ignored.
There were other events that signaled to me the IPT was not to be trusted. Some notable examples have been the deliberate “cram it up your ass” attitude the IPT showed with other pool organizations like the WPA, the conflicts with the US Open 9-ball Championships (especially with the recent brazen attempt to try to distribute IPT literature at the tournament without Barry Behrman’s permission to do so) & the talk of a potential sale by Kevin Trudeau of the IPT organization to an individual named Stanley Ho for 150 million U.S. dollars, a man who owns many gambling casinos in Hong Kong & other Oriental locations who allegedly has even BIGGER criminal ties with organized crime, a fact that is yet again easily researched & viewed on many websites.
Regarding the televised coverage, there were warnings as well. The 2005 “world championship” mis-match between Mike Sigel & Loree Jon Jones was a huge slap in the face to professional pool. The subsequent 2005 “King of the Hill” farce that followed a few months later along with the 2006 North American Open repeatedly showed me that the IPT would be just another ridiculous organization in professional pool’s sordid past.
In spite of all these ominous signs, there were still numerous IPT participants insisting that the IPT be given un-wavering support in spite of their acknowledging Trudeau’s questionable past business dealings. These are the people who I especially have no sympathy for. You all knew damn good & well when you were signing up to play on the IPT that Trudeau had a checkered past, you all acknowledged it publicly at some point on the various pool forums & newsgroups or in offline conversations with me. In spite of that, your greed ultimately got the better of you; you gleefully applied & you were accepted into the initial IPT player roster. All of you just had to get your hands on that blood money that Kevin Trudeau was throwing around like some warped version of a pied piper. And now, you’re stuck with no prize money, you now only have vague assurances through various e-mail announcements from your precious “savior” Kevin Trudeau that you’ll eventually get your prize money along with a supposed “bonus” for being so patient while you continue to wait on your prize money checks.
Even if the IPT does manage to get all of the players paid who played in the 2006 World Open, the damage has already been done. What little credibility professional pool may have enjoyed with the general populace has now been undone. I wish I could say that I was surprised that this non-payment fiasco in Reno happened but I’m not.
I initially thought that the past fiascos with the Camel Tour & Don Mackey some years ago would have served as a useful learning experience to not to be so trusting to get involved with someone as questionable as Kevin Trudeau; I see now that line of thought was erroneous. History needed to repeat itself & will do so again when the next individual as questionable as Kevin Trudeau barges into the professional pool world with vague promises of fame, fortune & glory for pool’s best players all while throwing around misbegotten monies for those dumb or naïve enough to snatch it.
To conclude, the protests of the players & their starry-eyed IPT groupie fan base not getting any advertised prize monies from the 2006 World Open tournament will fall on deaf ears with me. Don’t look to me for any sympathy because you will not get it in any fashion from me. The IPT participants only have themselves to blame for knowingly getting involved with someone as questionable as Kevin Trudeau, therefore allowing professional pool to get stomped on & kicked in the nut-sack yet again. All the while the IPT participants are whining about no checks, I will be smiling underneath the mask. Even if the IPT participants are paid in full at some point, I will be still be smiling underneath the mask. Therefore, I suggest they break out some hot dogs along with some marshmallows, drink some Kool-Aid flavored crocodile piss calcium peptide from “Natural Cures”, join hands around the campfire & sing ”Kumbiya” because my instincts tell me any prize checks being written will be a long time coming, if they even come at all. As the saying goes, you made your own bed now lie in it.
Anyone who reads pool forums regularly knows that on the uncommon occurrences I have written on them I have steadfastly been against the IPT organization from its beginning. My reasons for my dislike of the organization & its powers-that-be have not changed at all since I first came out against the IPT over a year ago. Consequently, I was insulted, berated, & labeled many things both on pool forums by the various starry-eyed groupies who frequently write on them and offline in private conversations. Many friendships were irretrievably lost when I made my opposition to the IPT publicly known over a year ago when it first began. In spite of mounting public & private opposition, I did not change my opinion of the organization & stood up for what I felt was the right course of action in my not getting involved with some criminal bastard asswipe like Kevin Trudeau & participating on his IPT tour.
Upon hearing of the recent IPT payment woes I had to really laugh out loud. Why? It’s because I have absolutely NO sympathy for the players not being paid any prize funds from the 2006 World Open tournament in Reno, not one iota. So why do I have no sympathy for the IPT participants who so willingly affiliated themselves with the IPT?
First, there is Kevin Trudeau as an individual. He’s a known liar, a fast-talking criminal bastard who has shown no qualms whatsoever in misleading uninformed or desperate people in the hope of making a fast buck through his nonsensical “infomercials”. Then there are the shady & otherwise questionable business practices with his “Natural Cures” line of products, the details of which are easily found on numerous websites. Those should have been gigantic warning signs, but again nobody wanted to hear about it. Then there were the highly touted “guarantees” by Kevin Trudeau of IPT affiliated players earning magical high dollar incomes. Again, that was another giant red flag but it was promptly ignored.
There were other events that signaled to me the IPT was not to be trusted. Some notable examples have been the deliberate “cram it up your ass” attitude the IPT showed with other pool organizations like the WPA, the conflicts with the US Open 9-ball Championships (especially with the recent brazen attempt to try to distribute IPT literature at the tournament without Barry Behrman’s permission to do so) & the talk of a potential sale by Kevin Trudeau of the IPT organization to an individual named Stanley Ho for 150 million U.S. dollars, a man who owns many gambling casinos in Hong Kong & other Oriental locations who allegedly has even BIGGER criminal ties with organized crime, a fact that is yet again easily researched & viewed on many websites.
Regarding the televised coverage, there were warnings as well. The 2005 “world championship” mis-match between Mike Sigel & Loree Jon Jones was a huge slap in the face to professional pool. The subsequent 2005 “King of the Hill” farce that followed a few months later along with the 2006 North American Open repeatedly showed me that the IPT would be just another ridiculous organization in professional pool’s sordid past.
In spite of all these ominous signs, there were still numerous IPT participants insisting that the IPT be given un-wavering support in spite of their acknowledging Trudeau’s questionable past business dealings. These are the people who I especially have no sympathy for. You all knew damn good & well when you were signing up to play on the IPT that Trudeau had a checkered past, you all acknowledged it publicly at some point on the various pool forums & newsgroups or in offline conversations with me. In spite of that, your greed ultimately got the better of you; you gleefully applied & you were accepted into the initial IPT player roster. All of you just had to get your hands on that blood money that Kevin Trudeau was throwing around like some warped version of a pied piper. And now, you’re stuck with no prize money, you now only have vague assurances through various e-mail announcements from your precious “savior” Kevin Trudeau that you’ll eventually get your prize money along with a supposed “bonus” for being so patient while you continue to wait on your prize money checks.
Even if the IPT does manage to get all of the players paid who played in the 2006 World Open, the damage has already been done. What little credibility professional pool may have enjoyed with the general populace has now been undone. I wish I could say that I was surprised that this non-payment fiasco in Reno happened but I’m not.
I initially thought that the past fiascos with the Camel Tour & Don Mackey some years ago would have served as a useful learning experience to not to be so trusting to get involved with someone as questionable as Kevin Trudeau; I see now that line of thought was erroneous. History needed to repeat itself & will do so again when the next individual as questionable as Kevin Trudeau barges into the professional pool world with vague promises of fame, fortune & glory for pool’s best players all while throwing around misbegotten monies for those dumb or naïve enough to snatch it.
To conclude, the protests of the players & their starry-eyed IPT groupie fan base not getting any advertised prize monies from the 2006 World Open tournament will fall on deaf ears with me. Don’t look to me for any sympathy because you will not get it in any fashion from me. The IPT participants only have themselves to blame for knowingly getting involved with someone as questionable as Kevin Trudeau, therefore allowing professional pool to get stomped on & kicked in the nut-sack yet again. All the while the IPT participants are whining about no checks, I will be smiling underneath the mask. Even if the IPT participants are paid in full at some point, I will be still be smiling underneath the mask. Therefore, I suggest they break out some hot dogs along with some marshmallows, drink some Kool-Aid flavored crocodile piss calcium peptide from “Natural Cures”, join hands around the campfire & sing ”Kumbiya” because my instincts tell me any prize checks being written will be a long time coming, if they even come at all. As the saying goes, you made your own bed now lie in it.
