Could a US based 9 ball tour work again? or is it too late?

Positively Ralf

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I only ask because I see a lot of people saying pool is making something of a resurgence with the way Matchroom has gone about doing their business worldwide. So, with this new curiosity for the game, why is there no entity looking to build a tour like we had with the PBT in the 90s? Or is it just too much to ask for at this point?
 
Positively Ralf said:
I only ask because I see a lot of people saying pool is making something of a resurgence with the way Matchroom has gone about doing their business worldwide. So, with this new curiosity for the game, why is there no entity looking to build a tour like we had with the PBT in the 90s? Or is it just too much to ask for at this point?
Click to expand...
In theory, it should be the BCA that is organizing a US tour. The BCA has decided it is not in the tournament or tour business. The BCA used to sanction qualifiers for the US Open but that ended about 30 or 40 years ago. The BCA used to run a pro tournament at the Trade Show.

So... Now we have independent local tours that seem to depend on a single, competent, interested person (think Zuglan) or maybe a small group of people. There is a calendar on the AZB home page you can use to search for their events. We also had the Predator series of 10-ball events in the US that was like a tour, but that seems to have stopped.
 
Bob Jewett said:
In theory, it should be the BCA that is organizing a US tour. The BCA has decided it is not in the tournament or tour business. The BCA used to sanction qualifiers for the US Open but that ended about 30 or 40 years ago. The BCA used to run a pro tournament at the Trade Show.

So... Now we have independent local tours that seem to depend on a single, competent, interested person (think Zuglan) or maybe a small group of people. There is a calendar on the AZB home page you can use to search for their events. We also had the Predator series of 10-ball events in the US that was like a tour, but that seems to have stopped.
Click to expand...

I wish Predator would say something about their ten ball events as I really enjoyed them.
 
As of now, there is only one official 9 ball tour in the US and that is the WPBA. Everything else, like Bob said, is just a series of independent events.

I was curious about the Predator 10 ball events myself as I hadn't heard anything about them. If they go away, then yeah, the only official pro tour in the US is the WPBA.
 
Personally, I think it's too late. Times continue to change. Professional pool seems to happening in other places besides the U.S. (on the whole).

The only real pool "hotspots" (and I use that term very loosely) left are in some parts of California and the NE. Those will eventually fade.
In about 20 years from now (after practically all the old time players have left us), you will be a novelty (in the U.S.) if you can play pro-level pool.

I really thought the IPT and/or Bonus Ball were going to be the turning points and the harbingers of things to come. Each approached the game from slightly different perspectives. They were honest efforts. Wouldn't you know it. Both failed. They were the best attempts we had at bringing back pro pool to the U.S.

The sad historical footnote about this game is that the money never came. We tried. Experimental tours and novel games were created and developed, but they eventually faded for their respective reasons.

I will continue to play this game. I enjoy it too much. There is only one last hope left: the Olympics. Should pool ever be accepted into the Olympic Games, I will do my very best to be part of that. Good night.
 
Ideally, any US tour should be a series attached to the WNT. If not a farm tour, then a structured series of minor ranking events. At this point I think there is most benefit from cooperating.
 
I think the CSI/Predator Tour will become the sole US pro pool tour. I know they play outside the country but more events in the US should pop up with pro pool's resurgence. Its a big undertaking to run a tour and CSI/Pred already have one going. I doubt MR will get involved in a US-based tour. Possible but i kinda doubt it. A feeder tour like golf's Korn Ferry tour would make sense too.
 
garczar said:
I think the CSI/Predator Tour will become the sole US pro pool tour. ...
Click to expand...
Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any Pro Billiard Series events in the US for the rest of the year. Are there any?
 
This is a little confusing. I thought the Las Vegas Open, played in March the week before the World 10-ball, was a Predator Tour event, but I do not think the US Pro Billiards Tour, as it was constituted in 2023, played in places including Michigan and Wisconsin, still exists.

Let's be honest, though. America's most elite players showed very little commitment to regular participation in that series, bringing into serious question whether the time is really right for a pool tour in America. I don't believe any tour will be sustainable in America unless the best American players are committed to participation.
 
Last edited:
Global pool is better off with a global tour, not a tour centered on a single country that has only three of the world's top 50 players, one of whom plays as an American only because of the Ukraine war. The US doesn't deserve such a tour and it wouldn't be good for the game. (Three of the top 50 might actually be an understatement. You could argue it's only three out of the top 100.)

As others noted, perhaps the US could end up with a thriving minor league tour that feeds into the MNT, alongside other regional tours and associations in Europe and Asia.
 
Zuglan's Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour is still going. Although it has always been mostly an amateur tour, and is limited to one region of the country, quite a few pros played at some of the stops in years gone by. I think pros' appearances these days are quite limited. Mike has already posted the 2024/25 schedule -- 19 regular events plus a junior event and 2 Turning Stone events: http://www.joss9balltour.com/schedule1.htm
 
AtLarge said:
Zuglan's Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour is still going. Although it has always been mostly an amateur tour, and is limited to one region of the country, quite a few pros played at some of the stops in years gone by. I think pros' appearances these days are quite limited. Mike has already posted the 2024/25 schedule -- 19 regular events plus a junior event and 2 Turning Stone events: http://www.joss9balltour.com/schedule1.htm
Click to expand...
Yes, the Joss Tour has been around for nearly thirty years and is, arguably, the best regional tour in American history.

It was a really good training ground for frequent participants Jayson Shaw, Mike Dechaine, Tony Robles, George "Ginky" Sansouci and Jeremy Sossei, all of whom enjoyed some successes at the national level or higher later on. Also, BCA Hall of Famers Mika Immonen, Earl Strickland and Karen Corr played their share of Joss events over the years.
 
sjm said:
Yes, the Joss Tour has been around for nearly thirty years and is, arguably, the best regional tour in American history.

It was a really good training ground for frequent participants Jayson Shaw, Mike Dechaine, Tony Robles, George "Ginky" Sansouci and Jeremy Sossei, all of whom enjoyed some successes at the national level or higher later on. Also, BCA Hall of Famers Mika Immonen, Earl Strickland and Karen Corr played their share of Joss events over the years.
Click to expand...
I must mention perhaps the most successful player the tour has seen -- Dennis Hatch. He won over 30 of the events from about 2004 to 2012.
 
I think there is opportunity for a US tour.

Social media has made high level pool more accessible to recreational players resulting in a surge of serious amateurs. In turn social media has also made tournaments more visible and accessible to those amateurs resulting in record attendance for many events.

Evidence of this demand is how quickly fields are filling up. US Open filled within hours the last few years and is now not open to all. Turning Stone fills up within days of when it is announced. So does the Texas Open. The Derby City went from being ample time to sign up at the door to selling out online ahead of time. I'm predicting the sign up window on the DCC will get shorter and shorter.

With this much demand there is certainly room for more national level events.

Meanwhile Matchroom is putting on more and more events. Just a few years ago it was a world championship and then a US Open. Now they have a pretty extensive schedule worldwide. More and more often the world's best players aren't going to be able to make the national level tournaments. Some might have to make tough choices between the Turning Stone, Texas Open, or BCA event.

As more and more events and tours start there is no way the world's best will be able to attend them all. This may result in a 'minor league', where the top 50-100 players are fighting in Matchroom events along with many aspiring top players, and the national level events are filled with domestic talent.

Wouldn't it be awesome if players like Oscar and Justin and Mike D could start competing in events in the US that paid well enough that they could make a living? And then if they felt frisky they could take a shot at the majors and play Matchroom again for a year or two. And it would also give upcoming junior players a career path towards the majors.

So I think the demand is there for more events and they wouldn't be robbed by the elite because their schedules are already saturated. Whether this plays out, and whether this evolves organically through more independent events or through a united tour, remains to be seen.
 
AtLarge said:
I must mention perhaps the most successful player the tour has seen -- Dennis Hatch. He won over 30 of the events from about 2004 to 2012.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I do not know how I missed that one.

Dennis was a great player with some Joss Tour roots, but I would suggest that (just like Strickland) his roots lie much more in PBT play, the national tour that lasted from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, and which was much stronger than the Joss Tour has ever been. Dennis played, and got his seasoning, on the PBT in the 1990s and the bulk of his Joss Tour success came after the PBT, also known as the Camel Tour in its last years, folded after (what I believe was) the 1999 season.
 
Tin Man said:
I think there is opportunity for a US tour.

Social media has made high level pool more accessible to recreational players resulting in a surge of serious amateurs. In turn social media has also made tournaments more visible and accessible to those amateurs resulting in record attendance for many events.

Evidence of this demand is how quickly fields are filling up. US Open filled within hours the last few years and is now not open to all. Turning Stone fills up within days of when it is announced. So does the Texas Open. The Derby City went from being ample time to sign up at the door to selling out online ahead of time. I'm predicting the sign up window on the DCC will get shorter and shorter.

With this much demand there is certainly room for more national level events.

Meanwhile Matchroom is putting on more and more events. Just a few years ago it was a world championship and then a US Open. Now they have a pretty extensive schedule worldwide. More and more often the world's best players aren't going to be able to make the national level tournaments. Some might have to make tough choices between the Turning Stone, Texas Open, or BCA event.

As more and more events and tours start there is no way the world's best will be able to attend them all. This may result in a 'minor league', where the top 50-100 players are fighting in Matchroom events along with many aspiring top players, and the national level events are filled with domestic talent.

Wouldn't it be awesome if players like Oscar and Justin and Mike D could start competing in events in the US that paid well enough that they could make a living? And then if they felt frisky they could take a shot at the majors and play Matchroom again for a year or two. And it would also give upcoming junior players a career path towards the majors.

So I think the demand is there for more events and they wouldn't be robbed by the elite because their schedules are already saturated. Whether this plays out, and whether this evolves organically through more independent events or through a united tour, remains to be seen.
Click to expand...
 
Your right, but its comes down to the Money. If or when someone other than Matchroom pours in some serious cash and guarantees it for a long haul, the crowd will folow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top