The Derby was great. But there were a couple of changes this year that I thought didn't make the grade. I'd like to mention them, and let anyone else offer suggestions that may be beneficial for a better time in Louisville next year.
1) I didn't like the "action" room. It would only accomodate around 20 people. I know that players want to gamble while the tournament is in progress, but I liked it when the action went on in the tournament room. You could seat 100 people around any given match instead of 5. And when Hennessee played Tony Watson in that back room, it was very distracting to the other players gambling with everyone walking back and forth throughout the room. People had to huddle in the hall to watch alot of the action, and the hallway stayed blocked most of the time, making it hard to get from one end of the vendor hall to the other.
2) I missed the bar table action. With all of the bar tables across the street, and tournaments going on all of the time on them, there was no bar table action. One of my most memorable Derby memories was when Keith played Alex on the bar table a couple of years ago. That was the most fun woofing and matching up that I have ever seen. In fact, bar table gamblers seem to be in a league of their own when it comes to conversations leading to match-ups.
3) Playing matches upstairs sucked. I didn't like it. But I do realize that they needed to tables to finish the matches. Once, Efren played Jimmy Wetch upstairs, and there was alot of commotion while they played that had to affect other matches in the room upstiars. But at least it did allow people to watch matches who didn't pay the admission fee to get into the tournament room.
4) The food in the restaurant was not good. That has been discussed already, and I agree that something needs to be done about the way the restaurant was run.
I hope that the Derby isn't outgrowing the Executive West hotel. And all in all it was a great tournament. Also, these are not tournament threatening complaints. Just a couple of things that I saw that might be improved. I'm curious what everyone else thought.
Mike
1) I didn't like the "action" room. It would only accomodate around 20 people. I know that players want to gamble while the tournament is in progress, but I liked it when the action went on in the tournament room. You could seat 100 people around any given match instead of 5. And when Hennessee played Tony Watson in that back room, it was very distracting to the other players gambling with everyone walking back and forth throughout the room. People had to huddle in the hall to watch alot of the action, and the hallway stayed blocked most of the time, making it hard to get from one end of the vendor hall to the other.
2) I missed the bar table action. With all of the bar tables across the street, and tournaments going on all of the time on them, there was no bar table action. One of my most memorable Derby memories was when Keith played Alex on the bar table a couple of years ago. That was the most fun woofing and matching up that I have ever seen. In fact, bar table gamblers seem to be in a league of their own when it comes to conversations leading to match-ups.
3) Playing matches upstairs sucked. I didn't like it. But I do realize that they needed to tables to finish the matches. Once, Efren played Jimmy Wetch upstairs, and there was alot of commotion while they played that had to affect other matches in the room upstiars. But at least it did allow people to watch matches who didn't pay the admission fee to get into the tournament room.
4) The food in the restaurant was not good. That has been discussed already, and I agree that something needs to be done about the way the restaurant was run.
I hope that the Derby isn't outgrowing the Executive West hotel. And all in all it was a great tournament. Also, these are not tournament threatening complaints. Just a couple of things that I saw that might be improved. I'm curious what everyone else thought.
Mike
