Galveston BIG MONEY TOURNAMENT

[JoeyA]

Questions for World Classic tournament promoters.

www.theworldclassic.com

This is the tournament that Efren was talking about to me on the ride back from Derby City Classic.

$50,000.00 for 1st place in the Ten Ball Championship match.
$25,000.00 for the 1st place in the ONe Pocket Championship match.

They claim over $550,000.00 to be paid out in all of the many disciplines.

Who are the teams composed of BCA players, APA players VNEA players or open to anyone?

Does anyone have any information on this tournament besides what's on the web site?

Thanks,

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a quick list of things that players will want to know before making arrangements to fly around the world to come to this tournament. There are others and this set of questions was thrown together rather quickly and I don't mean to offend but rather to assist in your planning of this tournament. These are some questions that if answered clearly, could help in making your tournament one of the best tournaments of the year.

Some important questions about your tournament scheduled for September of this year in Galveston, TX:
1. How many places will be paid? (Will you pay 25% of the field?) How much will be paid to each spot? What percentages will be paid to the spots other than 1st place? You have specified how much money will be paid for all of the 1st places of each discipline. Is all of the money guaranteed regardless of the number of participants (if so, by whom)?
(Is any money currently held in escrow, if so, where and by whom)
(Has any money been spent already in preparation for this tournament, if so, how much and where?
The above questions may seem a bit personal and for that I apologize but players will be traveling hundreds and even many thousands of miles to come to this tournament and these personal questions are important to them. Having to secure airline tickets that cost over a thousand dollars is not something the International players want to do without some type of guarantee that the event is definitely taking place. Perhaps if a well-known trusted pool entity held a specific sum of money to be used for a specific purpose. This is just an example and please don't take this wrong. We/I am just grasping at straws hoping to give some confidence to the many players and stakehorses, WORLD-WIDE, who await the answers to some of these questions: Maybe for example, you place $50,000 in escrow with say, I don't know, maybe Simonis Billiard Cloth or say Brunswick Corporation and that money will be used as a guarantee that it will all be used for the payouts for the Ten Ball Championship top finishers.

While I'm at it you may want to consider posting the percentages that each top finisher will be awarded (no sums of money need to be stated because the number of participants is unknow) But if you were to say that you will be paying 25% of the field you could use standardized numbers such as : If you have 64 players, the top 16 players would be paid the following percentages
1st: 25%
2nd: 16
3rd: 12
4th: 9
5th-6th: 5%
7th-8th: 4%
9th-12th: 3
13-16th: 2%

For 128 players, you might pay the 32 top finishers in similar proportions. For some, this is important information.

2. Is there any added money?

3. Are there any green fees? (It is currently understood that all entry fees will be paid back to participants so there may not be any green fees but this should be specified if it is so).

4. What constitutes a Master or an Amateur? Does a person have to belong to a pool league? How is a team selected or made eligible? Can anyone form a team?(amateur or professional)

5. What are the dates for each discipline/pool tournament?

6. Is there a Pro Event and an Amateur event? Are pros considered “Masters”?

7. Who is your tournament director? A tournament of this magnitude will take lots of experience.

8. When will a press release be issued?

9. There are many people on the Internet Forums who wish you the very best and they could help in spreading the word about your tournament.

10. We hope that our comments will be of value to you and please feel free to contact us in the future.

11. Will there be an affordable block of rooms at Moody Gardens ? What are the costs of the room? How many people per room allowed?

12. Are there alternative accomodations (hotels nearby, contact info) ?

13. What would the payouts be if there is a low turnout. Meaning that the total entries is say $10,000. Would the promoter add $40,000 to that and give it all to first place? (Or would the $50,000 be spread amongst the top 25% finishers.)

14. What about getting to the event? Most people would just fly to Houston Intercontinental Airport, but that is over 50 miles from Galveston! Hobby Airport is closer, but flights to Hobby may cost more. How much will it cost to get from either airport to the event at Moody Gardens?

15. If the finals will be on Sunday. Does that mean that the finalists from the first events will be required to stay several days in an expensive hotel just to wait for the finals? If players are not aware of this before the event, they may just opt to take the lower position money and leave before the finals. This would hurt the event tremendously if television or live-streaming has been arranged. (JoeyA is available for Live-Streaming Commentary gig) :idea:

16. If a person enters one discipline, will they have a free pass to watch the other disciplines that they do not enter? (Or will they have to pay the nominal $15 charge for regular spectators?) If they do not have to pay the $15 daily spectator fee, it may help players make the decision to play in at least one discipline.

A thread on www.azbilliards.com (Main Forum) titled Galveston BIG MONEY TOURNAMENT) was started by JoeyA for the benefit of promoting this tournament and ALL OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS FORUM HOPE TO SEE YOUR TOURNAMENT SUCCEED.


Sincerely,
JoeyA

If members of this forum would like to have additional questions added here in my post, write them out clearly in a post of your own and I will edit my post as it makes sense to add additional NEEDED questions. Specify only one question to a paragraph and please be brief and concise with each question.

Thanks, JoeyA

 

[jamesroberts]

I was told by a pro who travels to a lot of tournaments that this should be a great event put on by a great promoter

 

[Papa Red]

I'll bet this tournament never comes to life. It would be nice if it did, but everything I've heard is negative.

 

["T"]

Wow, 166 nine footers on the floor plan plus 9 bar tables. That's nearly three times the amount of tables at DCC.

Pretty ambitious stuff. I wonder who is promoting it?

 

[BlaineBarcus]

This tournament is being put on by a good friend of mine who plays in my league he is a very well off indvidual who is really trying to do something good for pool. This event is positively going to happen and it all starts september 11 I believe so if you would like to be part of pool history you should definatly make the trip to galveston.

 

[jay helfert]

They have grandiose plans for this event with many questions unanswered. It appears that ALL prize money will come from player entry fees, much like a poker tournament. There is NO added money to build the purses, so the prize fund is dependent on player entries. The prize moneys may have to be scaled down if the field is light.

I met the gentleman behind this event at DCC and offered my help in planning it, but so far he has not contacted me about it. Perhaps the questions I asked him at that time (where will the money come from?) were not what he wanted to hear. I will always be skeptical of first time promoters until I see something concrete.

I wish them luck but they need to be a little more forthcoming with information. Too many questions unanswered still. In some ways this reminds me of Allen Hopkin's Million Dollar event last year. Great idea but hard to pull off. JMO as always.

 

[Nine Ball]

Doesn't hurt to toss up an offer

Anyone wanna back someone in any of this? PM me.


Thanks,
Josh Hillard

 

[whitewolf]

Anyone going?
www.theworldclassic.com

This is the tournament that Efren was talking about to me on the ride back from Derby City Classic.

$50,000.00 for 1st place in the Ten Ball Championship match.
$25,000.00 for the 1st place in the ONe Pocket Championship match.

They claim over $550,000.00 to be paid out in all of the many disciplines.

Who are the teams composed of BCA players, APA players VNEA players or open to anyone?

Does anyone have any information on this tournament besides what's on the web site?

Thanks,
JoeyA

Isn't Galveston nothing but a pile of sand now? Would everyone just camp out on the beach? Are the tables going to be the outdoor kind?

 

[1pocket]

Anyone going?
www.theworldclassic.com

This is the tournament that Efren was talking about to me on the ride back from Derby City Classic.

$50,000.00 for 1st place in the Ten Ball Championship match.
$25,000.00 for the 1st place in the ONe Pocket Championship match.

They claim over $550,000.00 to be paid out in all of the many disciplines.

Who are the teams composed of BCA players, APA players VNEA players or open to anyone?

Does anyone have any information on this tournament besides what's on the web site?

Thanks,
JoeyA

Seems like I have seen either flyers or ads somewhere. Wasn't Charlie Bryant promoting it at Derby City?

 

[ShootingArts]

hoping, but they need to get some more info out

According to my cyphering using the latest thing in electronic slide rules they are going to need over eighty entries just to pay first place for the open ten ball. I missed seeing any full payout which I would like to see too. What is the payout for the rest of the field?

Looks like they are planning on a 128 player field, seems pretty ambitious for a first time show that doesn't seem to be doing a ton of promotion. I don't see any qualifying statements concerning the first place payments so I would like to see them guaranteed by money in an account or a bond.

I suspect good folks with good intentions are behind this but the pool world has been scuffed up enough lately that I'd like to see some substance behind big promises or more moderate promises. I hope these folks are for real but unless they start showing some substance and doing some promoting I suspect that both they and any exhibitors and players that show are going to be very disappointed.

What venders are committed to showing? I see Diamond on their list of links. Is a deal in place with Diamond for the tables? What are the hotel room deals? Close enough to show time to be seeing a lot of details that I can't find at the website although I may be missing some things at a quick glance.

Hu

 

[LA toolman]

Seems like I have seen either flyers or ads somewhere. Wasn't Charlie Bryant promoting it at Derby City?[

I asked Hillbilly about this tournament when I met him at the DCC.He told me that he was involvled wih it.

 

[JoeyA]

This tournament is being put on by a good friend of mine who plays in my league he is a very well off indvidual who is really trying to do something good for pool. This event is positively going to happen and it all starts september 11 I believe so if you would like to be part of pool history you should definatly make the trip to galveston.

Blaine,
Does your friend have the ability to guarantee the proposed prize money he is talking about, regardless of the number of entries? Is he willing to put the money in escrow, to guarantee that the money will be available?

And is your friend Bobby Rone, the contact person named on the website? This is a huge undertaking and I would love to see www.theworldclassic do great.

I don't see where he details whether the team 8 Ball is league oriented or open team.

To get the International players here (which will help make this a success), some guarantees need to be in place and the guarantees must hold more than water. I hope you understand I am not knocking the tournament but just hoping to provide your friend with additional perspectives.

Thanks,
JoeyA

 

[pocketspeed]

Seems like I have seen either flyers or ads somewhere. Wasn't Charlie Bryant promoting it at Derby City?

dont know about derby city, but charlie bryant was sure trying to promote it hard at turningstone. he had flyers etc, said he saw the signed contract with diamond for the tables. he was pretty steamed b/c mike zuglan wouldnt say anything during his intro to promote it, even after he let charlie williams go on and on about whatever his latest venture was (dont remember, wasnt listening to him).

brian

 

["T"]

Is he willing to put the money in escrow, to guarantee that the money will be available?

/QUOTE]

This is pretty much the heart of the matter isn't it?

It seems that if the promoter was able to guarantee at least some portion of the prize money through a neutral third party, the event would almost promote itself.

Until then, it looks like it'll be a game of wait and see. I'm sure everyone hopes it's a success. No one wants another IPT style disaster.

 

[ShootingArts]

Catch 22

Almost everybody seems inclined to wait and see after other fairly recent overinflated promises. Of course if everyone does wait and see that guarantees the event will be a flop.

They are supposed to be updating the website every month so I am hoping to see some vendors committed to the event. Greg has kept us updated with table deals before so I am also hoping he might chime in here. I'd like to know that table arrangements are made and Diamond is holding a sizeable deposit or at least someone is. I'm assuming the tables will be Diamonds because of the Diamond link.

Hoping for the best and I would like to take a ride down there myself but so far I'm still looking for the beef. What real commitments have the promoters made?

Hu

Is he willing to put the money in escrow, to guarantee that the money will be available?

/QUOTE]

This is pretty much the heart of the matter isn't it?

It seems that if the promoter was able to guarantee at least some portion of the prize money through a neutral third party, the event would almost promote itself.

Until then, it looks like it'll be a game of wait and see. I'm sure everyone hopes it's a success. No one wants another IPT style disaster.

 

[SJDinPHX]

Seems like I have seen either flyers or ads somewhere. Wasn't Charlie Bryant promoting it at Derby City?

Steve,

Yes , the guys promoting this event had a vendor booth at the very end of that long hallway. It caught my eye and I spoke with them for a few minutes.
They had all kinds of brochures, even entry forms.
They seemed sincere enough, and assured me it was going to happen.
However, I have to agree with the doubters. With no more planning and promotion than we've seen so far, if it does come off, it is almost sure to be a disaster for someone.

Dick

 

[CrisDeLaGarza]

Blaine,
Does your friend have the ability to guarantee the proposed prize money he is talking about, regardless of the number of entries?

From what I have been told (and this is from a guy that is one of the tournament directors for this event although it could be wrong), the guy running this already has an account set up with several hundred thousand for the tournament waiting in it. That being said, they payouts ARE based on ONLY entry fees because all those involved in the planning are talking as if they are very confident that they will have enough teams.

Entry fees aside, pulling off an event like this can and most likely WILL cost several hundred thousand dollars just on the hotel contract and vendors for set-up, etc.

Blaine - please tell your friend that I would also like to help out in the planning if they would like. My job is planning large conferences and I often work with venues in Galveston and all over Texas so although I am sure they are very accomplished businessmen, just the logistics of pulling off an event like this and planning it can be very difficult for first time planners.

 

[JCIN]

I am all for new events and I have heard a couple places that that the people behind this were good guys and serious but there are some huge holes in the info that has been presented so far.

The following is meant only in the interest of constructive criticism and to hopefully let the organizers know what many people are asking (the ones I have talked to about this anyway)

The one constant I have heard is there is no added money. If this is the case what is the prize payout structure if there is not a full field in an event?

For example: The One Pocket event is said to pay out $25,000 for first with a $250 entry fee. I think it is safe to say that getting 100 people to pony up $250 for a one pocket tournament at an inaugural event would have to be considered a success. That said, what happens to the other 99 finshers? Winner take all? Sliding scale? This is a huge question and if it goes unanswered the event will fail. Period.

I think the promoters have put themselves deep in the hole with the posted first place prize money and no word on what happens with the rest of the field. I hope they come out with more information that everyone can understand and get behind.

What is the format of all the events? Nowhere on their website (that I could find) or entry form does it say what the format for any event is. Is it double elimination ? Round robin ? What is the race length ? I could not even find the dates on which each event is scheduled to start. This is the most basic of information and should be easily found. I know very few people who are going to stroke a check for a $600 10 ball tourney entry without knowing at least what the format and start date are.

There is always a tremendous amount of scrutiny on a new promtion in the pool world and IMO rightly so. I hope these guys can get it together and get the word out. I know someone has already spent some time and money on this I would hate to see that just wasted because basic information is not made available.

 

[ShootingArts]

check the "format" tab

JCIN,

There is a little info under the "format" tab. I don't remember all of it but I am pretty sure that all events are double elimination so no buy back money. Best I could see they are trying to sell 79 booths for $1000 to $1500 too so that will cover a big chunk of expenses if they sell at least 50 or 60.

I too am concerned about seeing first place in hard numbers but no mention of total payout. Probably not a concern but I have seen enough silly stuff that I would like to see the rest of the purse structure.

Hu

I am all for new events and I have heard a couple places that that the people behind this were good guys and serious but there are some huge holes in the info that has been presented so far.

The following is meant only in the interest of constructive criticism and to hopefully let the organizers know what many people are asking (the ones I have talked to about this anyway)

The one constant I have heard is there is no added money. If this is the case what is the prize payout structure if there is not a full field in an event?

For example: The One Pocket event is said to pay out $25,000 for first with a $250 entry fee. I think it is safe to say that getting 100 people to pony up $250 for a one pocket tournament at an inaugural event would have to be considered a success. That said, what happens to the other 99 finshers? Winner take all? Sliding scale? This is a huge question and if it goes unanswered the event will fail. Period.

I think the promoters have put themselves deep in the hole with the posted first place prize money and no word on what happens with the rest of the field. I hope they come out with more information that everyone can understand and get behind.

What is the format of all the events? Nowhere on their website (that I could find) or entry form does it say what the format for any event is. Is it double elimination ? Round robin ? What is the race length ? I could not even find the dates on which each event is scheduled to start. This is the most basic of information and should be easily found. I know very few people who are going to stroke a check for a $600 10 ball tourney entry without knowing at least what the format and start date are.

There is always a tremendous amount of scrutiny on a new promtion in the pool world and IMO rightly so. I hope these guys can get it together and get the word out. I know someone has already spent some time and money on this I would hate to see that just wasted because basic information is not made available.

 

[JCIN]

JCIN,

There is a little info under the "format" tab. I don't remember all of it but I am pretty sure that all events are double elimination so no buy back money. Best I could see they are trying to sell 79 booths for $1000 to $1500 too so that will cover a big chunk of expenses if they sell at least 50 or 60.

I too am concerned about seeing first place in hard numbers but no mention of total payout. Probably not a concern but I have seen enough silly stuff that I would like to see the rest of the purse structure.

Hu

Yup. I see it now on the far right of the menu bar.

10 ball race to 9 winner side and race to 7 loser side. For $600. Tough action in this economy.

Still do not see the start dates for the various events and it would surprise me a great deal if they actually sell 20 spots at $1000 to $1500 each plus electric/phone/internet and hotel. The US Open or DCC does not fill 50 spots.

The layout looks like it could be something really special if they can get to go. I hope they can make it happen and I know we at TAR and some others would love to help if some questions can be answered.