Captain K,
I attended the UTB tournament with my son and wife. Had to leave TX Sunday morning, so missed the late rounds. First, we had a terrific time. Lot of close matches, players were fairly accessible for autographs between matches and all were friendly and accomodating. Hyatt convention center was a nice venue, and the attached parking garage was very convenient. All in all, a great event.
I'd like to offer a few observations and suggestions that might make the next UTB better. Some type of stadium/theater seating for spectators would be great. I attended the women's US Open last year at Riverwind Casino, Norman, OK, and all specator seating was theater format. Made it much easier to see the matches, and particularly to watch several matches at once. There was VERY little about the tournament room to accomodate the spectators, aside from one row of pull-up table chairs along the rails. I actually think quite a bit more revenue could have been generated with my suggested arrangement, since general admission for the public was free. I would have gladly paid more than $15/day for general admission with this arrangement rather than for "VIP" seating near the show tables.
Balls should be cleaned between matches to knock off some chalk dust and, more importantly, the film that attaches with humidity. At least 2 Diamond ball cleaners were available and the referees seemed unaware they were even available. I know this was an issue with at least 1 match I watched.
Other than that, there's not much that could've made this tournament better (with the resources available, anyway). The inexperience of the refs some people have mentioned was likely unavoidable. I actually don't think the refs are something the players care that much about. Probably would be better off with 1 capable ref to every 4 tables or so and the players can rack their own. That definitely would've sped up the matches.
A BIG thanks on behalf of my family and me to the promoter and all those who worked and volunteered to run this event. We had a blast. Any idea where this will be held next year? I'm in Oklahoma and don't get an opportunity to attend nice pro tournaments often. Would be great to see this one or others come back to the North Texas area.
Thankyou for your obsevations and suggestions, I am glad you had a great experince with your family. All the players were outsanding, have only heard good things from player spectator interactions.
This is the 1st pro event in north Texas since 1996 (where Earl Strickland ran 11 racks for the million) at CJs. Badi (the promoter) is scheduling 3 more Ultimate 10 events in the coming years. As far as the same venue, I can not answer that, maybe Zach could give us a hint
With the tournament scheduled on Easter weekend, it was impossible to have 24 pro experienced refs there, I give big thanks to the local leagues, players and Azers that did show up to be put in the fire:clapping:
As with me I run or assist in more than 110+ weekly and monthly events each year, have had a few pros come in and out, but this was my first time at a true pro tournament. ie: been over 15 years since the last one up in north Texas.
At the refs meeting prior to table assignments, we were told to keep the table and balls clean and since most of us had never used the magic rack(great rack by the way), we did not know that if the 10 ball stays put (without being bumped by a ball rebounding from the rail) that that is a perfect 10 ball rack. With nine ball if the nine stays put something is loose, in ten ball the 10 is suppossed to stay put.
In the future events, hopefully the refs will ask the players before each match after their 5 min warm up if they accept the table and equipment (ie balls etc.) and that unless asked (by a player) to wipe or clean balls, that will be performed during the players timeout, if taken.
Also, have had many good suggestions on the shotclock and Badi and the Zach are looking into those, to see which mode would work best. (remember this is the second event hosted by Badi)
Thank you again and to all involved
great experince gained and these events will only improve.
Kennan Keffer (that tall bald guy with glasses)
