ccshrimper said:
I know not everyone can be a top player but you can improve on your game by playing better players. In any sport or game, you can reach your maximum skill level but how do you know what that level is if you only play tournaments where the good players are kicked out? If they are not playing pool for money or wins then why object to great players playing also? I'm not talking about only regional events, it could be your little $5 tournament. I just don't get your point or argument here.
If someone is broke and wants to make a little extra cash in an easy tournament and doesn't want a ringer playing, that's their problem. Get a better job that let's you afford your hobby! I've been kicked out of tournaments before because a few threatened to leave if I played but a majority wanted me to play for the tougher competition.
IF someone is just miles above the rest of the field and playing them demoralizes the rest of the field, then I can understand a tournament director not wanting them to play. Nobody wants to play someone they can't even compete with because you can't really learn anything that you couldn't learn from just watching. But, if someone is just a ball better than a few of the other players it's silly to kick them out.
While I agree that you can get better playing better players that doesnt mean that I have to play Efren. It also doesnt mean that I have to play Brian or Stevie or Ernesto. I think the Am events work becuase it gives the players a place to play players that are BETTER than them but not extremely farther along in talent level. I get very little out of playing Efren that I could not get watching. However, if I am playing a guy thats roughly the 7ball better and I miss a hook or leave too easy of a kick then I feel it and it hurts. Watching a top player run out is great but I dont need to be in the players chair just yet.
As a player develops then I think he should start increasing the level of his opponnets. Of Course it doesnt hurt to jump in a regional event even though you can't win it.
My thoughts on local weekly events and Top players is a bit mixed. For $10 bucks its not that bad to play a Top player for expreience. But then again most people in a weekly are there because thats their night out and there chance to win. they cant win the Opens or regional level stuff so they try their hand and have fun playing the local one.
Years ago I played in a local event and Scotty Townsend was there. He entered and proceeded to win the event. I finished 2nd to him and he beat me twice. I was excited to play him but at the same time when we got our $$$ it was a little disappointing. I spent EVERY week there with many of them totally out of the cash and he came in and took the cash.
He really never had to give up any big weight either. I blew it of as a chance to play a top guy and was okay but many others were not.
I have never understood why so many players bail out of events if a strong player or a few show up. $$$$ means alot to people and no one just wants to throw it away. I do notice that in most areas its the same players at the top of all the larger local events or regional ones.
