Ambition to get better slowly decreasing - no tourneys available

Bob Jewett said:
Well, the extenuating circumstance is that they have been playing for eight hours and it's midnight. For a 10-player tournament. Maybe the next day was a work day. My approach would have been to offer a split with the other guy and I get second plus $5 and we both get to go home.

If he declines my reasonable offer, I concede and take second-place money. And make a mark next to his name in my notebook. ;)
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Haha, that's exactly what I was going to do after he declined my offer for an extended race , then my wife said to kick his ass because he was showboating and gloating about being undefeated in a 10 man tourney race to 3 barbox. So that's what I did.
 
Kris_b1104 said:
Here's my experience: literally every pool hall in my state are only having tournaments for amateurs/beginners/league players, and a majority of them are on 7ft tables, and to top it off, it's 8 ball. And to top it off even more, it's a race to 4 or 5 on the winners side and race to 3 on losers side.

It is very discouraging because there are no opportunities to play with stronger players and test yourself, unless you want to pay $1000 to travel to the US Open and go 2 and out.

What's even more annoying, is whenever they do have a 9 foot table tourney, it's ALWAYS on a friggin weeknight, and starts at 6PM!!! (always some kind of weird handicap attached to it) Not Saturday or Sunday. Are they purposely trying to restrict better players?

Why is American pool heading in this direction? It seems to only favor the Tournament Directors and room.

It's good to get beginners and lower ranked players engaged, but there has to be some kind of balance. It should NOT be this hard to find a normal 9ball tournament played on 9 foot tables. It lowers my drive to want to get better. Like what is the point of increasing my skill level if I'm only going to be playing the same people every Tuesday night 8 ball race to 3.

Certain States like NY, Cali and Florida had tour stops every weekend with the Predator Pro-Am tour and others for their respective states.

Now it's only bar table tourneys with $20 entry fee. Why would I want to leave my house to play pool?

Anyone with a similar experience in their state of residence?
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99.9% of all tournaments that aren’t pro tournaments are played on bb. That’s just the way it is. The reason you don’t see tournaments on 9ft tables is because if someone has one nobody shows up. Last 9ft tournament I played in only 12 players showed.

I have a 9ft table in my house because I like playing on a 9ft table but any tournament I go to is on bb.

Around here every tournament is a race to 2 or 3. There is only on rare occasions a race to 5 tournament. One tournament I play in is a race to 2 loser break and nobody is barred. I’ve seen this tournament have 8-10 players with over 600 fargos and I’ve seen as many a 4 players with over 700 Fargo in the same tournament.
 
Atorontopoolplayer said:
Legends in brantford runs one every month.
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No they don't... Closest thing would be the Big Shots tour that happens once every couple, if that often. ...an it's open, so as a <680 I'm playing against ~750. Plus an easy long 2 day event 2hrs from me. ...so I need to consider hotel.
Atorontopoolplayer said:
Golden break does some but looks like you entered those.
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Golden Break's events that are >650 are merely hosted by them and are organized/TD'd by a local player when the mood hits him, (I'm thinking you may know him). Again, very far and few between.
Atorontopoolplayer said:
Petrinas runs a bunch you can play in as 700+.
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I haven't been to Petrinas to be honest and looked at their event calendar. This winter "Gladiator Series" thing seems interesting, but again it's nearly a 2hr drive and once again "Open", so I'm fighting well above my pay grade. Regardless I may check that one out. Need to sort out if they manage to squeeze it into a single day.
 
The_JV said:
No they don't... Closest thing would be the Big Shots tour that happens once every couple, if that often. ...an it's open, so as a <680 I'm playing against ~750. Plus an easy long 2 day event 2hrs from me. ...so I need to consider hotel.

Golden Break's events that are >650 are merely hosted by them and are organized/TD'd by a local player when the mood hits him, (I'm thinking you may know him). Again, very far and few between.

I haven't been to Petrinas to be honest and looked at their event calendar. This winter "Gladiator Series" thing seems interesting, but again it's nearly a 2hr drive and once again "Open", so I'm fighting well above my pay grade. Regardless I may check that one out. Need to sort out if they manage to squeeze it into a single day.
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Fair enough, I didn't realize you wanted capped ones just HIGHER caps, I thought you were more looking for open/ handicapped where higher ranks could actually play still. There's not a ton of under 700 or under 680 style ones though definitely. Where are you located approximately?
 
If you are looking for all big table action, well you're in the wrong place. Now if very good competition is your goal then that is available on the bar table. Last week in Laramie, Wy was the Larry Martin Memorial 8 Ball Tournament. Races in the Open division were to 6,7,8 depending on skill level. Entry fee was $145. Tournament was won by a 698 fargo that didn't miss a ball in the final set.

Also last weekend, Cheyenne had the 1st annual King of the Table 10 ball event at the Peppermill on pro cut Diamond 7ft'rs. Entry fee was $230. Race to 10 on both sides won by the 700+ young man mentioned below.

The Dave Rogers Memorial in Cheyenne is coming up Feb 9th-11th. Entry is $115 in the AA/AAA bracket & is a race to 5 & 6.

Best Of The West is I believe the first week in March for both team and singles. The Open division is close to the same race as the Dave Rogers. Last year's tournament was won by a current 713 Fargo defeating a 739.

There's always the Sunday afternoon big table tournament at Match Ups in Fort Collins.
 
Atorontopoolplayer said:
Fair enough, I didn't realize you wanted capped ones just HIGHER caps, I thought you were more looking for open/ handicapped where higher ranks could actually play still. There's not a ton of under 700 or under 680 style ones though definitely. Where are you located approximately?
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I'm in Barrie.... about 45-50min from GoldenBreak
 
Ģüśţāṿ said:
Fargo 650 to 750 is more or less no man's land, especially when they're aren't enough events to even get an established fargo rating. The rating is becoming great for lower level players and very inconvenient for everyone else. Yet another successful failure of a handicapping system.

You're relegated to whatever local Masters type league you have available or Super Billiards Expo. Otherwise spend more money by driving/flying to try and win maybe $1000 at a random "tour stop". The latter is definitely not cost effective.
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There's always the "clubbing baby seals in APA" option.
 
Kris_b1104 said:
I believe 5 barboxes were being used. It is a huge pool hall with over 25+ barboxes and about 8 9ft tables. Newly refelted Diamond tables. Some people were just playing very slow.

Winners side - 8 ball race to 3
Losers side - 9 ball race to 3

The guy in the hot seat wanted me to beat him both times in both games, which I did but it's a little silly not to just choose 1 game and do an extended race to 5 or something for the finals.
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Not if you're the guy who has to get beat twice?


Ģüśţāṿ said:
Fargo 650 to 750 is more or less no man's land, especially when they're aren't enough events to even get an established fargo rating. The rating is becoming great for lower level players and very inconvenient for everyone else. Yet another successful failure of a handicapping system.

You're relegated to whatever local Masters type league you have available or Super Billiards Expo. Otherwise spend more money by driving/flying to try and win maybe $1000 at a random "tour stop". The latter is definitely not cost effective.
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I would say the threshold is lower than 650. I don't play much anymore but I often see tournaments in my area that are sub 600 cap, I pay attention because I'm just above that ;)
 
Kris_b1104 said:
Here's my experience: literally every pool hall in my state are only having tournaments for amateurs/beginners/league players, and a majority of them are on 7ft tables, and to top it off, it's 8 ball. And to top it off even more, it's a race to 4 or 5 on the winners side and race to 3 on losers side.

It is very discouraging because there are no opportunities to play with stronger players and test yourself, unless you want to pay $1000 to travel to the US Open and go 2 and out.

What's even more annoying, is whenever they do have a 9 foot table tourney, it's ALWAYS on a friggin weeknight, and starts at 6PM!!! (always some kind of weird handicap attached to it) Not Saturday or Sunday. Are they purposely trying to restrict better players?

Why is American pool heading in this direction? It seems to only favor the Tournament Directors and room.

It's good to get beginners and lower ranked players engaged, but there has to be some kind of balance. It should NOT be this hard to find a normal 9ball tournament played on 9 foot tables. It lowers my drive to want to get better. Like what is the point of increasing my skill level if I'm only going to be playing the same people every Tuesday night 8 ball race to 3.

Certain States like NY, Cali and Florida had tour stops every weekend with the Predator Pro-Am tour and others for their respective states.

Now it's only bar table tourneys with $20 entry fee. Why would I want to leave my house to play pool?

Anyone with a similar experience in their state of residence?
Click to expand...

I share your pain.

However, if there are tables available somewhere you need to strap on you big girl panties and organize an event or it is not going to happen -- end of story.

Lou Figueroa
don't even talk about
1pocket tourneys, lol
 
Kris_b1104 said:
Here's my experience: literally every pool hall in my state are only having tournaments for amateurs/beginners/league players, and a majority of them are on 7ft tables, and to top it off, it's 8 ball. And to top it off even more, it's a race to 4 or 5 on the winners side and race to 3 on losers side.

It is very discouraging because there are no opportunities to play with stronger players and test yourself, unless you want to pay $1000 to travel to the US Open and go 2 and out.

What's even more annoying, is whenever they do have a 9 foot table tourney, it's ALWAYS on a friggin weeknight, and starts at 6PM!!! (always some kind of weird handicap attached to it) Not Saturday or Sunday. Are they purposely trying to restrict better players?

Why is American pool heading in this direction? It seems to only favor the Tournament Directors and room.

It's good to get beginners and lower ranked players engaged, but there has to be some kind of balance. It should NOT be this hard to find a normal 9ball tournament played on 9 foot tables. It lowers my drive to want to get better. Like what is the point of increasing my skill level if I'm only going to be playing the same people every Tuesday night 8 ball race to 3.

Certain States like NY, Cali and Florida had tour stops every weekend with the Predator Pro-Am tour and others for their respective states.

Now it's only bar table tourneys with $20 entry fee. Why would I want to leave my house to play pool?

Anyone with a similar experience in their state of residence?
Click to expand...
The problem with the bigger weekend tournaments as opposed to the smaller weekly (usually handicapped) poolroom tournaments, is that in most cases, you’re looking at higher $ entry fees, travel expenses, sacrificing an entire Saturday and sometimes an entire weekend. You spend most of your time waiting around, may not even get to play that many matches and most likely won’t finish in the $. You have to be young, single and a hard-core pool competition lover to sign up for that.
 
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lfigueroa said:
I share your pain.

However, if there are tables available somewhere you need to strap on you big girl panties and organize an event or it is not going to happen -- end of story.

Lou Figueroa
don't even talk about
1pocket tourneys, lol
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I agree. I apologize to anyone if I came across as bashing all TD's in general. Some of them have no clue about the game, while some of them are passionate about the game of pool. I wish I had the time to be able to organize and run a tournament. I also wish people were more competitive to push the game beyond it's boundaries. Like I know there are some people that work a 9-5 and can still snap off a weekly tournament, but there are hardly any rewards for such person of that skill level against others of similar caliber.

There are also TD's who work a 9-5 and still find the time and energy to run a tournament late hours into the night. So I definitely respect it. But there needs to be some kind of change. How will we ever win back the Mosconi Cup if this is the direction pool is headed for in America?

Besides Earl Strickland, when will we ever be able to say we've had a champion from USA who's won back to back World 9 Ball titles if all we play on is barboxes?
 
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ChrisinNC said:
The problem with the bigger weekend tournaments as opposed to the smaller weekly (usually handicapped) poolroom tournaments, is that in most cases, you’re looking at higher $ entry fees, travel expenses, sacrificing an entire Saturday and sometimes an entire weekend. You spend most of your time waiting around, may not even get to play that many matches and most likely won’t finish in the $. You have to be young, single and a hard-core pool competition lover to sign up for that.
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Idk about the young part but I am a hard-core pool competition lover. I get what you're saying though. The competitive nature that I felt in the pool rooms years ago is just not there anymore. Maybe because pool is not a lucrative sport and just a hobby. But to me, competition is competition.
 
Here's where I play (Central Mississippi). The nearest Walmart is a 40 min drive and the closest town is at least 20 miles as the crow flies.
We have inhouse league 9-ball (~50 players) on Wednesday night and BCA league 8-ball ( 42 players) on Monday night. The winning team gets $15,000 to pay for their trip to Vegas in Feb. We are sending two teams this year! We also have tournaments every other Sat. The last one was Scotch Doubles Jack & Jill 9-ball at $50/team and we had 20 teams. The calcutta got up around $3,000. We have 3 players over 600 Fargo. Tomorrow we are playing 10 ball with $25 entry and will probably have similar turnout as the week before last. Most of the players drive at least 20 min some drive an hour one way every week. We have 1 - 9' Diamond (the action $$$ is here) and 10 bar boxes. The owner doesn't keep a penny of the entry fees but games are $1.50 per rack. If you are ever passing through MS stop in! If we can get this many people out to play in this rural area, anybody can.
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bpeacock said:
Here's where I play (Central Mississippi0. The nearest Walmart is a 40 min drive and the closest town is at least 20 miles as the crow flies.
We have inhouse league 9-ball (~50 players) on Wednesday night and BCA league 8-ball ( 42 players) on Monday night. The winning team gets $15,000 to pay for their trip to Vegas in Feb. We are sending two teams this year! We also have tournaments every other Sat. The last one was Scotch Doubles Jack & Jill 9-ball at $50/team and we had 20 teams. The calcutta got up around $3,000. We have 3 players over 600 Fargo. Tomorrow we are playing 10 ball with $25 entry and will probably have similar turnout as the week before last. Most of the players drive at least 20 min some drive an hour one way every week. We have 1 - 9' Diamond (the action $$$ is here) and 10 bar boxes. The owner doesn't keep a penny of the entry fees but games are $1.50 per rack. If you are ever passing through MS stop in! If we can get this many people out to play in this rural area, anybody can.
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Have you guys been watching what's going on at Iron City in Birmingham AL? The pot is consistently over $100k. The last one got over $250k. I think tournament play is pretty strong in the southeast.
 
The_JV said:
First... fargo is not a handicapping system. The 'equalizer' is a handicapping system. Fargo is a rating system that can be used to handicap. Big difference.
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I would argue that a fargo rating is simply a more accurate handicapping system than say the equalizer. It's whole purpose is to rank you amongst everyone else in the world for "accurate" comparisons, then give a fair race to X games for each player which should level the playing field.

Is this not what its designed for?
 
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