In every pool tournament I've ever played in, you write it down as if the match WAS played, with Ralf losing (by forfeit). Problem solved.
-Andrew
Did Souquet try to do the right thing?
- Thread starter punter
- Start date
In every pool tournament I've ever played in, you write it down as if the match WAS played, with Ralf losing (by forfeit). Problem solved.
-Andrew
Ralf should not have played at all in the invitational if he was not able to make flight arrangements IN THE FIRST PLACE that didn't conflict with the end of the tournament.
And he could have -- Holman who is Ralf's teammate in the World event and was also in Vega$, had a later flight booked from the get go. So did Ko Pin Yi.
Ralf should have declined the invitation when originally offered to him and CSI could have moved on to another European to take his place....or made the correct flight arrangements once he decided to play.
And he could have -- Holman who is Ralf's teammate in the World event and was also in Vega$, had a later flight booked from the get go. So did Ko Pin Yi.
Ralf should have declined the invitation when originally offered to him and CSI could have moved on to another European to take his place....or made the correct flight arrangements once he decided to play.
The more mysterious question is why Ralf booked 7pm flight before tournament ends. And other players were not in such a hurry to get to China
Looks like the "7pm flight" likely an excuse
This same situation recently occurred and was handled correctly.
At the last Ginky Memorial, Earl was very conspicuously absent from the list of competing pros. The Ginky has become a major tournament in NY, and many people were surprised to find that Earl, the house pro at Stienway, was not in the mix.
Turns out he had to catch a late flight that would have conflicted with the finals of the tournament.
It's tough to predict if Earl would have made it to the finals, but there was a probability of it happening. The organizers saw it fit to not have Earl play and potentially put the tournament in a compromising situation by him having to bow out late.
Earl did stop by the tournament to show face, and also lent some commentary to the live stream which was well received. As you may recall, Mike Dechaine went on to snap it off.
Mark made a bad call, but it was perpetuated by Ralf's selfishness. Even if he didn't expect to win, if he had the "let's just see how far I can go and pick up a check" mentality, it was a damaging one and it affected several layers of the pro event unfairly.
At the last Ginky Memorial, Earl was very conspicuously absent from the list of competing pros. The Ginky has become a major tournament in NY, and many people were surprised to find that Earl, the house pro at Stienway, was not in the mix.
Turns out he had to catch a late flight that would have conflicted with the finals of the tournament.
It's tough to predict if Earl would have made it to the finals, but there was a probability of it happening. The organizers saw it fit to not have Earl play and potentially put the tournament in a compromising situation by him having to bow out late.
Earl did stop by the tournament to show face, and also lent some commentary to the live stream which was well received. As you may recall, Mike Dechaine went on to snap it off.
Mark made a bad call, but it was perpetuated by Ralf's selfishness. Even if he didn't expect to win, if he had the "let's just see how far I can go and pick up a check" mentality, it was a damaging one and it affected several layers of the pro event unfairly.
I agree re Ralf, and that's what the thread is about. If it's exactly as reported that Ralf forfeited because of his early plane, then he is really to blame, and it reflects very poorly on him. It's hard to understand how someone like Ralf could screw up his flight plans like this, when others had no problem, including his teammate Toasty. Very hard to buy. I doubt Ralf will address this, and not sure Mark will either. This too shall pass.
i find it incredible, that Ralf (a constant world traveller) would scew up & mis-book his flight out. i will also say that FRI nights are THE WORST to fly out of Vegas & require a minimum 2hrs before departure.
the only plausible reason i can discern, is that he took that flight, because he booked w/ skymiles & that's all that was available? but - likewise, when you change flights w/ skymiles, it's only a $150 change fee & no fare difference (might be $200 now). period.
so, if he paid for the ticket & needed to change, it'd be the change fee plus fare difference, or a new one-way ticket. approx $1500. this, is where skymiles really come into play. and i'd guess Ralf has at least 500K skymiles.
now, throw in the rumors of "whole/partial ëxpenses covered by CSI".
if, his flight story is true, then this probably cost him a lot more than a one-way ticket. unless he had a bigger reason to leave.... and he might should have simply called-in sick w/ food poisoning.
the only plausible reason i can discern, is that he took that flight, because he booked w/ skymiles & that's all that was available? but - likewise, when you change flights w/ skymiles, it's only a $150 change fee & no fare difference (might be $200 now). period.
so, if he paid for the ticket & needed to change, it'd be the change fee plus fare difference, or a new one-way ticket. approx $1500. this, is where skymiles really come into play. and i'd guess Ralf has at least 500K skymiles.
now, throw in the rumors of "whole/partial ëxpenses covered by CSI".
if, his flight story is true, then this probably cost him a lot more than a one-way ticket. unless he had a bigger reason to leave.... and he might should have simply called-in sick w/ food poisoning.
i find it incredible, that Ralf (a constant world traveller) would scew up & mis-book his flight out. i will also say that FRI nights are THE WORST to fly out of Vegas & require a minimum 2hrs before departure.
the only plausible reason i can discern, is that he took that flight, because he booked w/ skymiles & that's all that was available? but - likewise, when you change flights w/ skymiles, it's only a $150 change fee & no fare difference (might be $200 now). period.
so, if he paid for the ticket & needed to change, it'd be the change fee plus fare difference, or a new one-way ticket. approx $1500. this, is where skymiles really come into play. and i'd guess Ralf has at least 500K skymiles.
now, throw in the rumors of "whole/partial ëxpenses covered by CSI".
if, his flight story is true, then this probably cost him a lot more than a one-way ticket. unless he had a bigger reason to leave.... and he might should have simply called-in sick w/ food poisoning.
Very informative post indeed. Thanks.
You can throw this rumor out --- and typing rumors that you have no basis of fact and having no source of knowledge is actually irresponsible.
The expenses paid by CSI was a free room which had to be shared with another player.
Ralf never should have accepted the invitation to play if he didn't know how to book a flight at a better time.
Hell Corey didn't even book his flight to China until he was out in Vega$ and he was still able to make arrangements with no issues.
That's why the reason put forward for the forfeit sounds like BS to a lot of people. The 'plane' excuse just don't fly. What's next? Ralf forfeits because he can't remember how to screw his stick together?
Ralf is definitely 100% in the wrong. I hope JCIN puts out these CSI interviews they put together during the events - the irony in Ralf's answers to some of the questions is heavy.
i knew that.
and thank you for confirming. but several others (in some of the other 52 CSI threads), are "claiming" that their Vegas airfares were covered too. thank you for putting that rumor to rest.and yes, it doesn't surprise me in the least, that at the last minute, Corey was able to get a fair deal & flight. (i do it all the time & only got stuck once for last Mosconi.) that's why it doesn't make sense w/ Ralf....
People withdraw from tournaments all the time some big some small.
It's how it was handled subsequently that made it a big deal.
That was all Mark, and Ralf had no say in that nor part of, sorry.
No it's all Ralf. He knew the parameters of the event when he agreed to play. Again, this was an invitational not an open event. What if 7 players arranged their travel like Ralf did? What if Ko didn't show up til the third day of the event? If you were the tournament promoter, would you invite a player like that back again? Once again, here is a pool player that is only thinking 2 minutes ahead in their life.
It's interesting that you claim you started this thread to defend Ralph because your rhetoric has been far less than any type of reasonable defense.
Let's hope that you are not an attorney by trade.
You wonder why my initial response was unfavorable toward your approach.......
Just look around at all the negative speculation and gossip that is initiated.
You are not the first to do this and I'm sure you will not be the last but this type of thread is just one tiny example of a million other aspects of behavior that weaken the sport. It does not instill a positive element that promotes the game.
No one here will ever get into Ralphs head and I can assure you that Ralph is not going to debase himself and respond to this thread.
All you've done is create a speculative trial by proxy with the accused unavailable to defend himself. To me that is very sad.
If you chose to debate whether the sport needs more regulation and oversight to mitigate the way things played out with Ralph, then that would be the appropriate approach. He broke no rules and there is no penalty that I'm aware of.
To simply illicit responses predicated on "Right and Wrong" and then propose that "honor" could be at stake.........is the most irresponsible approach.
Put yourself in Ralphs shoes. If you did something that wasn't well received by some players, would you ask them to judge you or would you ask them to provide recommendation/solutions on how we can make improvements to prevent the situation from reoccurring?
"if you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem."
What if Mark just issued Ko a bye, then none of this big deal about what Ralf did or didn't do would be going on.
There there might be a small thread inquiry, something like what happened with Ralf. That would be twenty pages back by now.
I am not saying Ralf was not wrong in what he did, but how it was subsequently handled
and the resulting sh8t storm this has stirred up, is all on Mark.
BOTTOM LINE ALL THIS WOULD BE A NON ISSUE, IF A BYE WAS ISSUED. :thumbup:
If you can't see this you're blind, or just don't want to admit this is true.
You have proven that you are incapable of reading and understanding English. Now listen one more time, if Ralf did indeed forfeit because of a plane departure time that he made knowing that it was in the middle of the tournament, then most of this is his fault. Got that?
My thread asks the question could there be another reason, that being, he felt that play was manipulated so that he advanced, and that he did not advance honestly, so he decides to forfeit and let the person go forward who would have, had he lost his last match.
Now that is very different than the plane reason, do you understand? And BTW there is absolutely nothing preventing Ralf from 'defending himself'. He's a big boy.
P.S. Get someone who understands English to help you with this.
What makes you think Ralf would respond to a thread like this?
I don't believe that my comments will change your perspective and clearly, nothing you've said will change mine.
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