Galveston - The Inside Track

P

pro9dg

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Before I go any further I would like to qualify my opinions. I have been at the inaugural events of every major tournament in the modern pool era.
Naturally, The World 9 Ball in Cardiff and the World 8 Ball in the UAE. The Tokyo and Qatar tournaments and IPT King of the Hill and The Queens Tournament and the PBTA tournament in New Jersey. Plus the World 9 Ball when it went to Taipei then later to Manila).
Let me tell you that Galveston was up there punching it’s weight in the Novices Division.
Alright, it was not 100% but on the DGIITI (Inaugural International Tournament Index) I would give it around 81 out of 100 once they got past a shaky first day.
Sure, there were things to improve on but these people are so genuine that they deserve the ongoing support of both the players and the vendor.
Clark Rone is a special man. Confined to a wheel chair, the result of a random gang initiation hit, he survived having nine bullets being pumped into him. You rarely saw him without a smile on his face. Brother Bobby cuts an authorative but friendly figure.
Then there are the Vickio’s – Louis might be the front man but it is his wife Mary who holds the whole thing together. She has recruited sisters, daughters, friends and neighbours to staff this event, Special people they are. They laid on an endless stream of shuttle buses to take players to hotels, restaurants, the airport and other less salubrious establishments. The drivers are all employees of Continental Airlines who took time off work to help with the event. Lead by another relative David, these guys were the nuts. I enjoyed hanging out with big Ron, it was like having my personal bodyguard.
Finally, the J R Calvert took a couple of days working out his problems before I hooked up with him and I apologise for taking him off the rails. But JR is a pool player of some repute and he used his knowledge to add greatly to the success of the project.
There are many issues that I would like to comment on but they are for another posting. But the positives far outweigh the negatives in my less than humble opinion.
 
Galveston

Thanks for the more personal info. I'm not there, but I haven't missed anything that been put on the stream, and my sciatic nerve is letting me know it. :smile:

I sure hope this becomes a annual event. I'm sure they have learned a lot since day one.
 
pro9dg said:
Before I go any further I would like to qualify my opinions. I have been at the inaugural events of every major tournament in the modern pool era.

Naturally, The World 9 Ball in Cardiff and the World 8 Ball in the UAE. The Tokyo and Qatar tournaments and IPT King of the Hill and The Queens Tournament and the PBTA tournament in New Jersey. Plus the World 9 Ball when it went to Taipei then later to Manila).

Let me tell you that Galveston was up there punching it’s weight in the Novices Division.

Alright, it was not 100% but on the DGIITI (Inaugural International Tournament Index) I would give it around 81 out of 100 once they got past a shaky first day.

Sure, there were things to improve on but these people are so genuine that they deserve the ongoing support of both the players and the vendor.
Clark Rone is a special man. Confined to a wheel chair, the result of a random gang initiation hit, he survived having nine bullets being pumped into him. You rarely saw him without a smile on his face. Brother Bobby cuts an authorative but friendly figure.

Then there are the Vickio’s – Louis might be the front man but it is his wife Mary who holds the whole thing together. She has recruited sisters, daughters, friends and neighbours to staff this event, Special people they are. They laid on an endless stream of shuttle buses to take players to hotels, restaurants, the airport and other less salubrious establishments. The drivers are all employees of Continental Airlines who took time off work to help with the event. Lead by another relative David, these guys were the nuts. I enjoyed hanging out with big Ron, it was like having my personal bodyguard.

Finally, the J R Calvert took a couple of days working out his problems before I hooked up with him and I apologise for taking him off the rails. But JR is a pool player of some repute and he used his knowledge to add greatly to the success of the project.

There are many issues that I would like to comment on but they are for another posting. But the positives far outweigh the negatives in my less than humble opinion.
Click to expand...


Thank you for the report, it made these folks real.
I just wonder why they did it to begin with?

hugs
mrs.g
 
As I said in an earlier posting the event had more positives than negatives. The prize money was cut but this was not the scam that so many armchair critics are making it out to be. Cut the organisers some slack. They still had to dig deep in their pockets to come up with a prize structure that was pretty impressive. So deal with it. Then they may come back again poorer but wiser men.

The One Pocket event was a success with hordes of elderly gentlemen wielding cuesticks and adding dignity to the event. Billy, Artie and John Henderson and I particularly enjoyed talking to the legendary Ronnie Allen. He reminded me of the Kris Kristofferson lyric - “the beer I had for breakfast tasted good so I had one more for dessert”.

An elderly gentleman won the tournament.

But it was nice to see another vision from the Galveston anthem - “I can hear the cannons crashing”. The Cannon was Shannon.
Mr Daulton brought out the heavy artillery but his powder must have been damp against Efren in the final battle.

But this was not a geriatric jamboree. I met some of the new generation too. Brandon Shuff is not only a great player but a marvellous ambassador for the game. Similarly, players like Mike Dechaine and Tommy Tokoph represent a bright future for the USA.
 
This event is currently as close as you will get to a genuine WHO IS THE BEST tournament. With so many players who are ‘not in good standing’ with their home federations a WPA sanctioning of the event would have excluded just about every Filipino except Marlon Manalo.

The European players were not permitted to play because the Euro Tour event coincided with the last three days of Galveston. Thus, the likes of Ralf Souquet, Daryl Peach, Darren Appleton (all World title holders were denied the right to win substantially higher prize money than that on offer in Holland.
 
just outta curiosity...

by the way, just outta curiosity...is this JR Calvert, that you speak of, the same JR that used to run the big tourneys out of Steepleton's Billiards in Kentucky? I was just wondering.

thx.
 
Mikey
You are as old as you feel..................and BOY DO I FEEL OLD TODAY.
But tomorrow is another day.


Roy
I am back in the UK but I'm off to Ireland this week.
 
What happened to Scott Simpson and Jim Wych, I only saw
them the first day and nothing after that?

thanks
 
Jim was contracted to do commentary for Television. But the equipment at the venue was not up to TV specification, only internet streaming was possible. So he went home.
 
pro9dg said:
Jim was contracted to do commentary for Television. But the equipment at the venue was not up to TV specification, only internet streaming was possible. So he went home.
Click to expand...

So these guys bought the IPT's Televison time on Versus and now have nothing to show?????They were suppose to be sharp businessmen?
 
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