Attention WPBA....How is this fair?
- Thread starter 1on1pooltournys
- Start date
10n1 your argument is not valid. You state that women are trying to win a qualifying spot so they can play against the "top players in the world." Well, 11 women just played 5 WPBA players at our last event and they WON matches! I apologize if this is not correct but you sound like someone who is not quite good enough to win a qualifier or beat any of the WPBA players, but you would like to try and beat players of your skill level (whatever that might be) and attend a WPBA event as a player. That is not what the WPBA is about nor is that what they would want. They want the top 64 players that are CURRENTLY playing the best. That is why there will be no more touring pros. Even Karen Corr stated in her TV interview this weekend that she had to qualify by playing on a regional tour just like everyone else. She also stated that playing higher level players at a higher rated event would allow the up and coming players to raise their level of play to be able to COMPETE at the next level. She accredited her success to experience and that is what you get when you play on the Jacoby MALT Tour along with the opportunity to play some of the "top players in the world."
5 WPBA Players is not the same as "current touring pros" IMHO.
You make it sound like there will not be anymore touring pros. That is not the case.
You are taking his view out of context. The women in the qualifiers want to play against the top players in the world on a consistent basis. Not just for a weekend tournament. By qualifying for the WPBA, they can reach this level.
First, for someone that is representing themselves in a professional manner, representing the women and the WPBA, your comment here is childish and unprofessional. Second, you can line up the 64 women on the WPBA, post $2,000 a set and I will stake 1on1 to play THEM ALL. When can we start?
There will be no more touring pros because there is only 4 events scheduled this year by the WPBA. Most likely because the current system that you support is not working.
And if Karen Corr wants to continue her success and be challenged, maybe she should solely stick to playing in men events and not regional qualifiers against lesser competition than she is used to.
Figure it cost a player with no sposor between $1500 and $2000 a WPBA Tournament. A lot can't afford that, so the BEST 64 players are not on the WPBA Tour. Just the ones with sponsors, the ones scraping up money to go from other things they should be spending it on, and the players that have enough money to play as a costly hobby. Johnnyt
How is that not valid? LOL. Are you really a tour director? Your tour is supported by amateurs, trying to win qualifying spots on the WPBA. If you think that your tour is so unique, guess what..........
NEWS FLASH:
Your tour is no different then all the other satellite tours that have been created, and unfortunately collapsed over the past 10 years due to, none other than lack of support from non-touring women players, because you allow the Top ranked women in your tournaments. Period. Do you really think that your tour is supported by pros? Come on, you know who you are looking to draw for your tournaments, and only 11 players doesn't sound like you're getting the job done. Where are all those other tours at now? Weren't there some good ones on the east coast? Keep allowing the top 32 women in your tournaments and I am willing to bet you it fails. Sure, you will get a few locals for 1 or 2 tournaments, but guess what, after about $3,000 up in smoke in expenses, and having to fade Karen Corr or any other top 16-32 ranked WPBA player every tournament, they will quit coming. Contrary to your belief, most girls that are trying to get on the WPBA, do not consider it a great honor to constantly pay their dues and expenses to qualifiers all over the country, and have to draw Karen, Kelly, Monica, Jeanette, or any other WORLD CLASS player.
Thats right they won matches, not the tournament. Out of curiosity, how many matches did Karen lose? How many did Julie lose? And what exactly were the rankings of the other 3 WPBA players? Oh wait, I'm sure Julie lost 1 match to Karen, (same routine as always) then went through the loser's bracket eliminating any girl that may of had a shot at getting the qualifying spot.
Yes, she did it with ease. Karen was a world snooker champion. The WPBA should have payed her moving fees to move here and join their tour. But, again, this is some of the faults of the WPBA. There is no need for "world champions" (Karen, Allison, Yu Ram Cha, Ga Young Kim, etc) from other countries to have to prove they can beat a field of women , of which 70% can't run out with ball in hand twice a game. I'm sorry, but I have been to these satellite tours like the one you are running, and this is the case. Just being honest. I'm sure Karen won every single one she played in, always has, still does, and always will.
Of course, it is great seasoning if you can continuously play with higher level players. But, when you are trying to get to the Big Show, you should not have to beat the National Champion to get there. It would be like the NCAA saying that for all of there Athletic National Championships, you first had to play whatever teams made it to the final four the year before, with the same exact players on those teams. And the same structure for baseball, track, and all of their National Championships.
It is simple. I know several people that own poolrooms. They have weekly tournaments. They constantly are having to reformat and reorganize things to keep "bad" players supporting their tournaments. You can only win 1 a month, they handicap them according to skill, they flat out bar pros, or whatever the case is. It is the same concept with what you are trying to do. If you want to allow pros, make them play in their own brackets, then give the winner of the non-touring WPBA bracket a shot at them in the finals.
With all that said, I wish your tour Good Luck. But, I'm sorry we have to agree to disagree if you think your tour is going to flourish allowing top ranked WPBA players to show up and steal the prize money.
Good Night and Good Luck!!:thumbup::thumbup:
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1on1,
I think you have made your point perfectly clear, repeatably. It appears to me those in charge refuse to take constructive suggestions to heart.
It really is a shame.
Thanks for the good post, and sincere thoughts to try to help.
Ken
Sweet Marissa
www.Bella-Muse.com
Excellent posts, watchez and 1on1.
Regarding the whole qualifier issue, I guess everyone missed Blackjacks post (#52) on this thread. It's no longer an issue.They are going to a NEW qualifier format.
Regarding regional tour players "LOSING" a qualifier to one of the current WPBA pros......IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED! Highest finishing nonWPBAer gets the qualifier. Period! If they can't beat their opponents too bad. WHY??(see next statement)
I don't care how it's twisted the players on the regional tours ARE PROS! If the WPBA wants to exempt the top 40 or 32 that's their business. IF they didn't exempt them then THESE "PROS" WOULD HAVE TO REQUALIFY FOR THE TOUR the same as the "PROS" whos ranking causes them to drop off the WPBA roster.
IF there are women on the regional tours who don't feel that they are pros then they should go back to APA,TAP,etc. or request a ban on WPBAers on their tour.
If they do this fine, if not then the Touring pros will show up,they need/want the money too.
A pro doesn't whine about having to play other pros; it's not PROFESSIONAL!
And by the way the idea that the WPBA should pay for moving and travel expenses for Karen or anybody else is ludicrous. The WPBA is NOT a socialist organization. foreign players (pros also) have to make the effort to come here and get qualified same as everybody else......THROUGH THE REGIONAL TOUR SYSTEM!
Regarding regional tour players "LOSING" a qualifier to one of the current WPBA pros......IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED! Highest finishing nonWPBAer gets the qualifier. Period! If they can't beat their opponents too bad. WHY??(see next statement)
I don't care how it's twisted the players on the regional tours ARE PROS! If the WPBA wants to exempt the top 40 or 32 that's their business. IF they didn't exempt them then THESE "PROS" WOULD HAVE TO REQUALIFY FOR THE TOUR the same as the "PROS" whos ranking causes them to drop off the WPBA roster.
IF there are women on the regional tours who don't feel that they are pros then they should go back to APA,TAP,etc. or request a ban on WPBAers on their tour.
If they do this fine, if not then the Touring pros will show up,they need/want the money too.
A pro doesn't whine about having to play other pros; it's not PROFESSIONAL!
And by the way the idea that the WPBA should pay for moving and travel expenses for Karen or anybody else is ludicrous. The WPBA is NOT a socialist organization. foreign players (pros also) have to make the effort to come here and get qualified same as everybody else......THROUGH THE REGIONAL TOUR SYSTEM!
Here is the point that you don't comprehend.....
Let's say there are two players in the qualifier - player 1 first match is against Mary Jo Walton, player 2 first match is against Karen Corr. Now who has the better chance to being the highest placing non pro qualifier in the tournament. The person that has to play another local of equal or lesser talent or the person that has to play the World Champion??
I do understand. The odds are not good for player 2. What you don't seem to understand is they are considered to be pros. They are expected to be able to come onto the WPBA tour and compete with ANY other pros. That means player 1 or player 2 is expected under a worst case senario of coming on the tour and playing Karen round one and Allison round two and Monica round three. It's all part of being a professional. If they don't want the touring pros or the exempt touring pros playing on their tour they need to discuss it with the other players and the regional tour director/sponsor.
The WPBA and the regional tours are NOT in the business of making things easy. The wpba players certainly are NOT in the business of making things easy......they're trying to make a living.The cream of the crop on the regional tours has/does/will continue to rise to the top as far as qualifing for the wpba. They may not get the winnings but that seems to be all a part of being a pro also.
I'm a little confused by the above and also what MALT said.
From what I understand and have heard, the players on the WPBA ranked 41-64 (or so) at the end of the year will be automatically invited to the Regional Tour Championship (RTC). The RTC is the tournament that will now be how players get a spot to play on the WPBA. The RTC will obviously also have a certain number of spots from EACH Regional Women's Tour. So, about 64 players will be at the RTC - some from the WPBA ranked 41-64 AND the top players of each regional tour.
The top finishers (a certain percentage) of that tournament (the RTC) will then have a spot on the WPBA for the following year. This is the replacement for the individual qualifiers that have been the norm for all these years.
So, I do not know WHY Karen would say she has to play in the regional tours to qualify - she already has a spot - she's not dropping below 10 anytime soon.
As for the argument back and forth about allowing pros, it is the Tour's option to allow pros or not.
Sorry for the confusion Trigger. The statement I made about requalifing was a refence to the current system and pointing out that if there were NO exempt players and everyone had to requalify they would likely have to do so on a regional tour. The new system using the RTC should remove any complaints regarding qualifiers.....hopefully. I hope they have some kind of plans for including the highest ranked non touring pro from the new WPBA satellite tour events in the RTC as well.
I really think the WPBA should consider expanding the field to 128 but I imagine the venue sponsores may have objections to that due to time and space constraints.
This is a very accurate statement. I know many strong regional female players that have no interest in the WPBA or where unable to continue play because it is nearly impossible to make ends meet without some sort of sponsorship or influx of cash.
(Tried to rep you, but I guess I gave you some too recently)
Well since the WPBA is addressing the issue of fair qualifiers with the Regional Tour Championship format how about we look at the mens tours. Is it fair for the top mens touring pros to drop in and take down the various mens regional tours? What about if there is an invitation to a international competition involved in winning the particular mens event?
Compare apples to apples. It will make your argument more valid.
First - there is no men's tour.
Second - there is no men's ranking system since there is no tour. You can not say who the top 32 Pro men are as you can for the women.
Third - there are no qualifying spots that I know of in any regional tour to get into a men's tour (which does not exist). There are tournaments out there where the winner gets a spot in, say, the US Open but these are similiar to playing in a poker satellite tournament. Simply a cheaper way to try to gain entry.
Fourth - many regional tours do restrict who can play. Viking and GSBT are just a few examples.
Again, since you don't seem to get it.....if I was a women and went to a regional tour event, paid extract fees, etc. to be in this event because I wanted to try to qualify for a WPBA event and then drew Karen Corr the first round, I would think is is unfair. Plain and simple. I would want the same equal chance as the other women competing for a qualifying spot. Playing one of the top 10 pros is definitely not equal.
If it was not a qualifying event, then Karen and whoever else would be just as welcome.
And yes, it is up to the regional tour if they want to allow the Pros to play - but why anyone would support one of these regional tours and pay the extra fees is beyond me.
I didn't know this and have a couple of questions. The field for the US Open is limited to 256. So anyone with the entry fee can enter the tournament without any qualifying requirement? Is it first come-first in? What prevents 256 bangers with the entry fee from signing up early thus eliminating some world class players from entering? Or are spots reserved for "exemptions" or invitations to ensure that the top pros are all in?
Thanks.