I don't agree that a 512 player tournament will take 20 days. The promoter just needs to arrange for more than 10 tables to run the event. I've went to tournment in Chicago last year that had 256 players, started at about 5 pm and finished the next day. I was surprised at this, but it is possible. They had around 80 diamond smart tables. Let the promoter pick out the top 64 or so and they don't play the preliminary part of the tournament. The players such as Earl, Archer, Efren, Parica, and Grady Have all proven themselves to be the best players in the world. Some one such as Grady knows who the true pro players are and the rest of us should have to play a couple of extra matches to get to the big part of the tournament. Lot's of great ideas floating in this thread and I think we will see a lot them in the next couple of years. Sam
Better way of qualifying
- Thread starter Grady
- Start date
Tap Tap Tappity to all
I have to agree that a lot of great ideas are on this thread. Finally some productive comments to attempt to solve pools downfalls. I tried to spur positive comments a couple of months ago with little or no responce. Thank you to everyone on this thread for you thoughtful and beneficial comments.
Jason
I have to agree that a lot of great ideas are on this thread. Finally some productive comments to attempt to solve pools downfalls. I tried to spur positive comments a couple of months ago with little or no responce. Thank you to everyone on this thread for you thoughtful and beneficial comments.
Jason
Jason, You're most certainly welcome. I think our sport will reach new levels in the next couple of years. Someone will find a way to establish a legitimate pro tour. The hard part will be to keep a few renegades from trying to stir up problems. The money is out there, it's just a matter of asking the right person and presenting a formal business plan to show them they can be part of a great sport. There are thousands of people who could use this opportunity as a tax write off. Sam
Grady said:
The World Pool Championships are really that, unlike a lot of local events that have been falsely touted as "world" championships. Nations and Confederations are responsible for qualifying, nominating and sending representatives to the WPC. In the US, it is the UPA that has the responsibility for determining which US pro men will be sent to the WPC. (As mentioned before, Matchroom fortunately has wildcard entries to catch the major players who slip through the cracks of that method.) The UPA was given that duty by the BCA.
I think the current scheme of open qualifiers is well balanced, with lots of spots (10?) available in the host country and a smaller number (4?) available at other sites. I suspect that there would be more local qualifiers if only someone would organize them.
On the other hand, in the US the current method is clearly broken. I think it's pitiful that there is no US national pool championship. Well, yes, there is one, but it's for juniors. A men's national championship event should be the main source of entrants for the WPC.
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Pool has a myriad of problems, the qualifying structures being just one of them. I agree that to have a 'closed' tour similar to the PGA would be a good thing, and that in having that there should be a Q-school where the bottom-ranked pros must compete against the top amateurs. IMO though, the right way to do this is simply with an elimination tournament where the top x finishers get on the tour, not with some kind of hokey nine ball ghost challenge or anything like that. This is something the women's tour needs to gravitate towards desperately, IMO, because that tour is very much closed. The UPA events, however, remain for the most part open - show up and pay your entry and you can play. Pay a little more and you can have touring pro status. Also, most open tournaments in the US are just that - the US Open and Louisville, for example, place no restriction on the number of players who can compete, and they have no problem completing the events (or not too many problems) in 4 or 5 days. Not too much of a qualifying problem.
The Cardiff WC and the BCA 'Open' are exceptions. Both are, by my definition, invititational tournaments, and the BCA tourney in particular is brutal in that their manner of selection for the 'exempt' players seems totally arbitrary. If you are holding a 'closed' or invitational tournament, you need to draft out on paper the EXACT CRITERIA by which you select players to play, PUBLISH it for all to see, and then STICK TO IT. This is what they do for big golf and tennis tournaments, and it's fair. I fail to see, for example, how Aaron Aragon and Art Wiggins managed to be exempt into the BCA tournament two years ago, but a player such as, say, (hey pick a thousand names, I'll pick Kid Delicious), was not. That's absurd. The Mosconi Cup also could use an overhaul in this area. For golf's Ryder Cup, the selection criteria is there for all to see but I challenge anyone to tell me what it is for the Mosconi Cup.
It goes to integrity. Both the BCA tourney and Barry Hearn's World Championships and Mosconi Cup are good events, and they're probably doing the game a lot of good at present, but a COMPLETE OVERHAUL is needed, and needed soon, to make the proper use of the benefits they have provided. To compare the job that these guys do with that done by the USGA, USTA, WTA, R&A, or PGA in their respective sports is laughable. Someone needs to take things over and say 'to hell with the players, and to hell with the promoters, the only thing that's important is the LONG-TERM future of the game and it's credibility.' The game needs integrity and credibility, and it needs it bad. And, I'm sorry to say, it's not going to get it from Barry Hearn, Luke Riches or Matchroom Sport, and it's not going to get it from the UPA, or the WPA, or Barry Berhman and it's certainly not going to get it from the BCA.
The Cardiff WC and the BCA 'Open' are exceptions. Both are, by my definition, invititational tournaments, and the BCA tourney in particular is brutal in that their manner of selection for the 'exempt' players seems totally arbitrary. If you are holding a 'closed' or invitational tournament, you need to draft out on paper the EXACT CRITERIA by which you select players to play, PUBLISH it for all to see, and then STICK TO IT. This is what they do for big golf and tennis tournaments, and it's fair. I fail to see, for example, how Aaron Aragon and Art Wiggins managed to be exempt into the BCA tournament two years ago, but a player such as, say, (hey pick a thousand names, I'll pick Kid Delicious), was not. That's absurd. The Mosconi Cup also could use an overhaul in this area. For golf's Ryder Cup, the selection criteria is there for all to see but I challenge anyone to tell me what it is for the Mosconi Cup.
It goes to integrity. Both the BCA tourney and Barry Hearn's World Championships and Mosconi Cup are good events, and they're probably doing the game a lot of good at present, but a COMPLETE OVERHAUL is needed, and needed soon, to make the proper use of the benefits they have provided. To compare the job that these guys do with that done by the USGA, USTA, WTA, R&A, or PGA in their respective sports is laughable. Someone needs to take things over and say 'to hell with the players, and to hell with the promoters, the only thing that's important is the LONG-TERM future of the game and it's credibility.' The game needs integrity and credibility, and it needs it bad. And, I'm sorry to say, it's not going to get it from Barry Hearn, Luke Riches or Matchroom Sport, and it's not going to get it from the UPA, or the WPA, or Barry Berhman and it's certainly not going to get it from the BCA.
gromulan said:
TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, Gromulan. Everything is done behind the curtain, and the BCA hires a subcontractor to do the "inviting." The top 32 UPA-ranked member players WERE NOT INVITED to the BCA Open, and the selection process is flawed.
The BCA Open accounts for 20 percent, maybe 25 percent, of a UPA member's ranking points. Players like Kid Delicious are not afforded the same rights as the ex-president who is a voting member of the UPA board of directors, a tournament promoter, and an active player.
ManlyShot