Congrats Tony Robles
- Thread starter stevekur1
- Start date
stevekur1 said:
Tony deserves nothing but the best for this effort! Everyone that knows him knows that he will finally bring the integrity to the game that we have all been looking for. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple years down the road we have him to thank for making pool the sport we all know it should be. Tony is one of the few with the heart and talent that it takes to get this sport acknowlegded... I hope to one day be his agent!
(Hey, Tony... you listening???
)
Tony, Shannon, Mike Janis, Mike Zuglan, Tommy Kennedy and a few others I haven't named, all running regional events. Good for all of them I say! Go for it boys, and work together whenever possible.
jay helfert said:
Dagwoodz said:
Sorry for intruding but Dags is right on the money with his thread.
We are business competitors. We compete for the players, the room owners and the sponsors alike. When the pie is chopped up too much everyone starves. For an example: In the NE Mike Zuglan is already starving for players. His event participation has dropped off considerably as a result of too many competing events/tours. The next step in this progression of downward spiraling events is that the room owners will no longer see a value in having tournaments because the participation numbers in all the tours that compete in a specific region will drop off because of the dividing up of the players. Along with this the sponsors are being divided so each event, room owner and the players will suffer because of a lack of funding.
Its not good. In fact it is real bad for the sport in the long run.
If we had a stable economy and sponsors were lining up to throw money into our sport this wouldn't be a problem. But the sponsors are not and it is a problem. There is no point in having 3-5 tours and events going on in the same region on the same weekend. All its doing is dividing things up and making all the events smaller.
Re: Working together. What a novel idea but it doesn't work. WHY, you ask. Let me tell ya. For this example I will use my tour in the SE region. OK I'm the big tour, I have the bulk of the rooms, players and sponsors. Each of which want me to hold more and more events. OK, not a problem I want more events to. Heck the only time I get paid is when I am doing a tournament. Now you ask me to work with my competitors and not do events on the same weekend they are doing them. If I bow down and agree I don't get paid that week. Now there is another tour so they want a weekend and a third tour and now I only get to do 1 event a month. I barely make a living doing 3 or 4 events a month now you want me to do only 1 event a month.
At the same time this is going on the players are taking a pretty big hit to. Now the players are paying for 4 different tour cards/membership fees and so on. And now while the players are paying more the room owners are getting less. Some of my competitors are only getting an average of 30 some players per event for the same money I charge the room owners and bring them 80 players per event. Now the room owners are starting to feel like they are getting screwed. This is actually good for my business at times. Heck, some of my competitors actually make me look like a god in the RO's eyes. But the problem is after some of the room owners get screwed by the other 3 guys he (the RO) doesn't want anything to do with pool tournaments anymore. When enough of the room owners start to feel this way there will be less and less rooms doing events and less events for the players and less money.
Believe me, too many tours in 1 area is very, very bad for the entire sport.
Whoops, I forgot to mention the sponsors.
Now you have 4 tours in 1 area all calling the same companies to sponsor them. The owners of the companies get used to saying no and now we have less and less sponsors which equals less and less money added to events which equals less and less room owners wanting to host events which equals less and less players making money at events which equals less and less players at events. Its a real bad cycle.
If other want to start more tours they should do it in a region that does not have existing regional tours. This would much better serve our sport as a whole.
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I don't know much about the inner workings of the tours, but I enjoy going to them as a spectator. Is there any way to combine them. Is it possible for Joss, Blaze, and Predator to combine forces and make one bigger better tour. They could combine the financial resources for a bigger payday. This would certainly make the players happy. I know that there are times when some players get ticked off at a tournament director for some reason or other. Then some of the players want to leave and start their own tour, but the players themselves could act by committee to ensure that things run smoothly. I know this is a simplification of what could be more complicated than I realize, but I can certainly see where too much competition is not good. I hope it can be worked out.
stevekur1 said:
Thank you so much for the support. It was an amazing tournament. They actually pulled a field of 75 players, on Super Bowl weekend, in Long Island!! Everyone I spoke with could not stop complementing the tour and how it was run. It was really something special. After the response they got from this tournament, they are expecting an even larger field for the next stop at Master Billiards this coming weekend.
Also Steve, I am a C player and I played in the tourney along with many other C and even D players. The common reaction from us "lower" handicapped players was, "Wow, that was so much fun." The format of alternative break gives EVERYONE an opportunity to play and shoot no matter who you're playing. It really is a great tour for all classes.
As far as the tours competing with one another, I can see that being a problem if the tours are only looking out for themselves. Fortunately for the New York area, Tony is one of the kindest, most honorable men you'll ever meet. Not wanting to divide the sport of pool between his pocket and the "competition's," he spent days and days on the phone, writing emails, text messaging and meeting with the Blaze and Joss Tours to ensure that he never conflicted with their schedules. In fact the tours are working together to support one another, handing out flyers and announcing upcoming tour stops for each other in the player meetings. He is also a regular on both tours. See, for Tony, these other tours were never "competition," but rather, more opportunities for the sport of pool to grow and more chances for the players to compete. Tony has all his life looked to improve the image and importance of the game of pool.
I am so proud of Tony. He had to deal with so much opposition and doubt when he first began this process, and he tucked down his head and barreled through it all and delivered a tour that everyone loved and was proud of.
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lodini said:Tony deserves nothing but the best for this effort! Everyone that knows him knows that he will finally bring the integrity to the game that we have all been looking for. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple years down the road we have him to thank for making pool the sport we all know it should be. Tony is one of the few with the heart and talent that it takes to get this sport acknowlegded... I hope to one day be his agent!
Lodini, you're the best!!!! Damn do I miss you
Thanks for you complements. XOXOXBTW, I love the new pic. GRR
OH, and I'm working the agent thing...
GG11 said:
Just to add to your post "G", I am one of those C players. I played this weekend and I also sponsor "T" tourny. I had a wonderful time, seeing some old friends talking pool and all that good stuff. When you mentioned the format I just had to respond. I think I placed like 25th or so, what a great tourny I had. Anyone can do well on this tour the way T formated it. I don't know about anyone else but this weekend gave me a whole bunch of confidence. I will be at Masters next week, and also will be putting many hours on the table for the next event. Thank you "G", "T", and Finnegan for running the first of many great events...................
Frankie
GG11 said:
GG,
I think you nailed the exact reason there is so much opposition - one or more of the regional tours want to be top dog and are not working with others to make a great situation out of something that is not at the moment and the rooms and tours are suffering because of it. If they all worked together, the room owners would not be suffering, exactly opposite, they would have more people coming through their doors than they know what to do with; and the regional players would have options to better their level of play.
The northeast region in particular needs this boost and I am glad to see that everyone is working together. As far as Zuglan loosing people (commented by MJ above), after living in that area for over two years, I don't think it has to do with anything other than people don't leave their home areas. In the winter, the people just don't travel not to mention the gas prices, the congestion, and all of the sort keep you from going to the tournaments because of the agitation factor. just my two cents.
9balllvr
cleary said:
Joey Testa played lights out!
1st: Joey Testa $1,700
2nd: Mika Immonen $1,100
3rd: Shin Park $700
4th: Thorsten Hohmann $450
5th-6th: Joey Korsiak $275
Yesid $275
7th-8th: George Sansouci $175
Bobby Blackmore $175
9th-12th Tony Robles $125
Ariel Rivera $125
Joey Kong $125
Oscar Bonnilla $125
Thanks to all
Thanks, GG, for posting the results. That's an impressive list of names and the payouts are really decent, too.
Thank you, Tony, Finnegan, Holden Chin and everyone else who put this together. I'm really glad I made the trip to Raxx. Great room, great tournament, just a great experience all around. Good luck going forward. I know this tour will succeed!
GG11 said:
Thanks, GG, for posting the results. That's an impressive list of names and the payouts are really decent, too.
Thank you, Tony, Finnegan, Holden Chin and everyone else who put this together. I'm really glad I made the trip to Raxx. Great room, great tournament, just a great experience all around. Good luck going forward. I know this tour will succeed!
