Added Money???

mapman72

New member
Ok. So, after this thread, I will obviously never get a good draw in one of my regional events again ;)

First, I would like to say that I think the regional pool tours throughout this country are a great thing for pool players. I appreciate the hard work it takes to pull one of these tours off and I am only opening this line of discussion because I am curious about a couple things. I hope that the current tour I play on views this as a simple question about how the tour is run and not something deeper.

I am really interested in finding out payouts and how they're determined. I recently finished 9-12th in a $1,500 added event. I paid a $70 entry fee and my prize money was $80. I was in the third round of the money at this point. The first round of money received $40 + a sponsor's gift certificate ($25) and the second round received $70. I felt like making it to 9-12th in this field was a realistic finish for me and on a better day, I might crack the top ten. So I spent the better part of two days competing, travelled 45 minutes from my house (I rented a car to get there), ate several meals at and around the pool hall, made the third money round, and received a net prize of $9 for my troubles, not including car, gas, food, etc. (real net prize was -$120.00).

I decided to approximate the figures for the tournament and see where the money goes. According to my calculations, with 56 players @ $70 a piece, minus about $60 because of reduced juniors and ladies fees, I come out to $3,860 for the open event. A friend told me that the added money was for both the open and the ladies event, so I calculated them together. For the ladies, with 20 entries @ $60 per entry, given a reduced fee for two youths that I could tell, I come up with $1170. So the grand total entry fees for the two tournaments was approximately $5030. Now the grand total payouts for each event was $4760 ($3670 for open, $1090 for ladies). This doesn't include $200 in sponsor's gift certificates that I am assuming were provided to the tour for free. Not including new tour memberships, which I know of two for certain, there is a surplus of approximately $270, assuming my calculations on the amount of entry fees collected is accurate. This is before the added money. So if you add the $1500 to that, you come up with a surplus of $1770.

So, I guess my question is what does the surplus go to? Are there added expenses other than paying the folks that run the tournament that I am overlooking. I believe that this tournament had 3 people working it, so if the answer is that the three people received about $600 for the tournament, then that's fine, because they certainly spend a lot of time there and put a lot of effort into it. And this tournament is so well run that I don't mind a considerable amount of money going into the administration of the event. I do, however, have a little bit of a problem advertising that the tournament is a $1,500 added event when in reality that money is not reflected in the prize payouts. I also wonder if the administration cut is a constant and if 120 players show up, is all the money above the administration of the tournament put back into the prize pool, or does it go into an account to manage and host future tournaments.

I decided to post this to see if this is something that other folks are experiencing throughout the country, as well as to get an explanation from some of the folks that represent my tour. The folks that represent my tour are good people and I do not question their character, but I am curious as to the tournament payout process. I was also motivated to post this after seeing that the Joss Tour Finale, a $25,000 added event, has a first prize of $10,000 while the Big Apple, a $15,000 added event, had the same first prize.

Let the discussion begin.
 
Mapman72, you're kind of comparing apples to oranges, but I'm going to try to provide a politically correct reply. ;)

The entry fee for the Joss Tour Season Finale and Big Apple are different amounts, number one. Number two, the Joss Tour pays out a bigger field than the Big Apple did.

About the tournament you most recently attended, one thing you may have inadvertantly forgotten, or may not have known, is that out of every $70 entry fee for the Open Event, $10 is put in an escrow account and these monies will be added to the Season Finale. There is also a $1 NUTS fee taken out, too.

What has always baffled me is how different tours or events cut up the monies. Each has their own mathametical system for doing so, but in the scheme of things, they are all consistent throughout the duration with the money payouts. As an example, in some events, the second place money prize is exactly HALF of the first place, but in others, the second place is more than half. Some tours or events pay out one-third or three-eighths of the field, and others pay out 25 percent of the field.

The Hampton Ridge tour recently received a new sponsor and will be called the Blaze Tour. The majority of the Blaze Tour tournaments are held on Sundays, one day only, and they currently are located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Next season, the Blaze Tour will be expanding into Maryland. I like attending these tournaments when they are within driving range of D.C. because I incur absolutely no hotel cost.

For me and mine, we do enjoy the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour, just to name one out of the MANY pool-shooting opportunities available to us. Mike Zuglan, as you will soon find out this week at the Season Finale, runs a great tour and provides a level playing field where all players are treated equal. NOBODY gets a "free ride." The money payouts are quite attractive, and many times there is also a Calcutta, adding an additional jingle to a winner's pockets. :D

In this day and age of traveling the tournament trail, as EXPENSIVE as it is, the thrifty pool player should choose their tournaments wisely and strive to get the best bang for the buck. IMHO, the regional tours are the best value, especially for a working fellow like yourself! :)

JMHO, FWIW! :p

JAM
 
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Pool Jargon!

Another thought that comes to mind relating to pool payouts is the advertising terminology; in particular, ADDED monies, GUARANTEED monies, and GUARANTEED ADDED monies.

As an example, you may read about an upcoming event which is $10,000 ADDED. Sometimes there is a follow-on phrase which reads something like "based on 256 players." In essence, $10,000 will be added ONLY if there are 256 players who show up. If only 64 players show up, the purse will drop to $2,500 added. Always read the small print when contemplating traveling to an event.

Many times, you will see an event like the recent Masters tournament in Norfolk, held at Q-Masters and won by Francisco Bustamante. This was a $10,000-added event, with an expectation of a 128-player field. Though only 45-plus players showed up, Barry Behrman did add the complete $10,000 to the total prize purse.

Sometimes, a tournament will advertise an event as "10,000 GUARANTEED" based on 256 players. These monies are guaranteed IF AND ONLY IF the 256-player field is filled up. If there are less players, then the total monies GUARANTEED will be less as well.

I'm still not sure about why some advertisements are worded as "GUARANTEED ADDED." I believe -- and I may be wrong -- that this means that no matter how many players show up, the total monies added are GUARANTEED to be ADDED.

So, in sum, look for the key phrases when contemplating attending a pool tournament: ADDED, GUARANTEED, and GUARANTEED ADDED. :p

Hope this helps! :)

JAM
 
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