How far would you drive for a Tournament?

StormHotRod300

StormHotRod300

BigSexy
Silver Member
As i want to venture out into the real World of Pool Tournaments, i find myself looking to drive 1-2hrs just to be able to play in a decent pool tournament.

Now the pool hall i frequent has 8ball and 9ball handicap tournaments that flip flop every other sunday, and it costs 15$ and normally draws about 20-30players, and normally plays out about pretty decent, but its the same shooters who are cashing everyweek, and i would like to play new people.

Me being in Michigan and the area that i am in kinda limits my access to places to go. The places i can goto is BattleCreek, Kalamazoo, or head over by lansing and detroit area. Which if i goto BattleCreek its almost the same drive as going to the Detroit Area.

So i am curious to know how far someone should go to find new tournaments to play in? Obviously i am not a world beater, but i just would like to be Unknown for once.
 
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It's the best thing you can do for your game. I would drive a couple hours for a one day event. Before long you'll be expanding your circle......taking off work on Monday because you made a game at the tourny Sunday.....etc:D

have fun...Gerry
 
Well, as one who has driven to every single pool tournament I've attended in the past 5 years, distance isn't a factor for me. From D.C., I've been as far north as Portland, Maine, and as far south as Orlando, Florida, and Mapquest and Mapblast are my friends. :p

Fortunately, there are MANY regional tours and high-profile events all along the East Coast, and nowadays, with the advent of the Internet and word of mouth, the news about upcoming pool happenings seems to always be forthcoming. ;)

Stormhotrod300, you're in a nice neck of the woods for pool happenings, being near Detroit. As well, Ohio, for some reason, seems to a great place for many independently run tournaments. I read about them all the time in the Tournament category of AzBilliards Discussion Forum. The regional tours for working stiffs like myself and others are the best bang for the buck, IMHO.

I was checking out the Calendar button recently and noticed there are members' birthdays displayed. It would be a huge undertaking, but if some kind AzBilliards staffperson could display the tournament dates on the Calendar button of this forum, it would be a godsend. :D

JAM
 
Where I live in Michigan, Battle Creek is the best and closest place to play....every so often I'll drive to Detroit to play, which is 2 hours away....Lansing used to be dryed up but now there's RG's as well as Pockets which has been having tourneys again....
________
 
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StormHotRod300 said:
How far would you drive for a Tournament?

Me being in Michigan and the area that i am in kinda limits my access to places to go
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I live in Sault Sainte Marie, MI and I regualary travel 300 miles to tournaments. Just got back from a tournament in Keshena, WI at 2:30 AM.

Today I'm driving 1 3/4 hours to a tournament.
 
Driving ...

First off, it would depend on the expenses in doing so, and if I could
afford it and my chances of getting in the money, but:

1) Real special tournament - 500 miles
2) Normal maximum - 300 miles
3) Occasionally - 200 miles (down to Tulsa)
4) A little less - To OKC, KC, or Olathe.
5) Always - within 50 miles (Hutch tournaments)
6) 3-20 miles - Local Pool room tournaments.
 
calcuttaman said:
I live in Sault Sainte Marie, MI and I regualary travel 300 miles to tournaments. Just got back from a tournament in Keshena, WI at 2:30 AM.

Today I'm driving 1 3/4 hours to a tournament.
Click to expand...


Doug, not everyone is as spoiled as you are! :)

Thanks for the card btw, my daughter appreciated it, and your humor is pretty funny!


Keeping with the subject of the thread, it is common to have to drive to tourneys. 3 hours to the bridge, 3 hours to Detroit, 1.5 - 2 hours to Battle Creek/Kzoo areas, 1.15 hrs to Holland area to your neck of the woods Storm.

I like to stay over if its 2 hours or more. Anything less, and I dont mind the drive for a 1 day tourney on the weekend. Only time I can hit the Detroit weekly tourneys are when I have conferences that way, or time off of work.
 
Lately I'm trying to play the better players only. I've learned that playing in easy local "bar rules" tournaments (mostly bangers) hurts my game. Safeties are not allowed and they give me too many chances to win. Then when I go and play against a "real" player, I don't take the care I should with each shot. I don't play safeties when I should.

When I play just the better players, I get in the habit of putting up a good fight with each and every shot. I improve my playing. Of course I lose a lot. But I'm getting to where I can win more often.

So playing the better players is my priority...

Playing them on my table at home is best. This saves money (gas for car, food, drinks, etc). If I can get someone good to come over, I'll stay home.

Local (within 20 miles) BCA rules weekly tournaments is next on my list. The better players show up at BCA rules tournaments. Bangers stay away because they can't or don't want to read, thus don't know the rules.

Also is further away (50 miles) "top player" BCA rules tournaments. These are weekly tournaments where a few pros show up sometimes. There are only a couple of these within 50 miles. I will go to these rather than a closer tournament so I can play the better players.

Then last on my list is the furthest away tournaments (100+ miles). Some nights of the week these are the only tournaments going on. So it is these or nothing.

So I guess my goal is to play the best players possible for the least amount of cost. Then also how tired I am is a factor. Sometimes I just don't feel like driving, so I stay close to home and play whoever I can.
 
Today I drove 75 miles to Capone's to play in the King's Bay Promotions Amatuer Tournament. Rodney Morris, the House Pro, showed up and he signed the program I got at the KOTH. I have been going to the ones that are within 100 miles. Since the chance of me cashing is pretty slim I go for the experience of playing some pretty good players. My goal this year is to win three matches in a tournament. So far I managed two wins twice. Mr Bye does not count. Today I was fortunate to draw Tracie Hines for my first match. I considered it a moral victory to win three games against her and lost 7-3. She sure is a pleasure to watch and I learned a lot.

Jake
 
showboat said:
....Lansing used to be dryed up but now there's RG's as well as Pockets which has been having tourneys again....
Click to expand...

Yeah, RG's is a nice place (http://www.rgsbilliards.com/)...all new diamond tables, both 9 and 7 footers with simonis 860 on all of them. They run tournaments on Wed and Thursday nights, I've only played in 1 (Thursday night bar box 8-ball, $13 entry), and there were about 20 people signed up, some of whom were pretty solid players. I don't know exactly what the tourny schedule is, but you could give them a call, the number is on the website somewhere.
 
jjinfla said:
Today I drove 75 miles to Capone's to play in the King's Bay Promotions Amatuer Tournament. Rodney Morris, the House Pro, showed up and he signed the program I got at the KOTH. I have been going to the ones that are within 100 miles. Since the chance of me cashing is pretty slim I go for the experience of playing some pretty good players. My goal this year is to win three matches in a tournament. So far I managed two wins twice. Mr Bye does not count. Today I was fortunate to draw Tracie Hines for my first match. I considered it a moral victory to win three games against her and lost 7-3. She sure is a pleasure to watch and I learned a lot.

Jake
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Hey, just wondering, how is Capone's? Is it just incredible in there or what???? I imagine it is.
 
shooter777 said:
Hey, just wondering, how is Capone's? Is it just incredible in there or what???? I imagine it is.
Click to expand...


Yea, good question!....I'm about 3 hours away I think, and I'm hearing alot about that place...

Gerry
 
Snapshot9 said:
First off, it would depend on the expenses in doing so, and if I could
afford it and my chances of getting in the money, but:

1) Real special tournament - 500 miles
2) Normal maximum - 300 miles
3) Occasionally - 200 miles (down to Tulsa)
4) A little less - To OKC, KC, or Olathe.
5) Always - within 50 miles (Hutch tournaments)
6) 3-20 miles - Local Pool room tournaments.
Click to expand...

Finally, a definitive answer! :D
 
I drive 2 hours to Tulsa at least once a month just for a small tournament. Have driven as far as SPI, TX, about 1000 miles, for tournaments. Don't really care how far it is. I live in The Great Pool Desert, so I have to go a long ways to find water.

Bob
 
from western MI, don't forget the chicago area (!) for good mid-size tourneys. edyie romano (sp?) posts a lot of events in the tourney area here. also, south bend, IN has probably got some good stuff, i dunno how far north you are.

as to how far i'll drive, i used to go to a monthly tourney 100 miles away, but it became a lot more trouble than it was worth. for normal stuff (no hotel), i stay within an hour's drive.

-s
 
Most of the local tournaments I play in are 45-60 minutes away. When I have the time/money, I'll drive 2-3 hours to play in the Planet Pool events.
 
My friend & I are driving 3000 miles round trip to play this May.....randyg
 
shooter777 said:
Hey, just wondering, how is Capone's? Is it just incredible in there or what???? I imagine it is.
Click to expand...

It's a great place. I sure wish I lived in that area. And it isn't far from Stroker's either which is pretty nice too.

There is a raised bar area which overlooks the tables. On the left there are 10 4x9's. Two of them are Diamonds that Rocky bought from the IPT at Orlando. I think the others are GC's. The other side has 4x8's I believe plus 3 coin op.

I practiced on one of the Diamonds and it sure is tough. If you hit the rail before the pocket the ball does not drop. Pockets are less than two balls wide.

#3 has a sign. "This table is reserved for Rodney Morris, Rob Saez and Earl Strickland when in the house." A big picture of Rodney on the wall above the table saying House Pro. Tracie Hines says she plays there everyday.

On Monday they have an added tournament that is cut off at 32 and you better call ahead if you want to play. Entry is $15 I believe. The above four play in it and I think Tony Crosby shows up too. I know a few guys from here who go but I have never gone.

Great food and drinks. I personally like the Italian Beef sandwich.

Smoke is not bad.

Jake
 
StormHotRod300 said:
As i want to venture out into the real World of Pool Tournaments, i find myself looking to drive 1-2hrs just to be able to play in a decent pool tournament.

Now the pool hall i frequent has 8ball and 9ball handicap tournaments that flip flop every other sunday, and it costs 15$ and normally draws about 20-30players, and normally plays out about pretty decent, but its the same shooters who are cashing everyweek, and i would like to play new people.

Me being in Michigan and the area that i am in kinda limits my access to places to go. The places i can goto is BattleCreek, Kalamazoo, or head over by lansing and detroit area. Which if i goto BattleCreek its almost the same drive as going to the Detroit Area.

So i am curious to know how far someone should go to find new tournaments to play in? Obviously i am not a world beater, but i just would like to be Unknown for once.
Click to expand...

The only thing 1-2 hours away I would consider driving too takes me about 20min to drive to downtownish. otherwise it's more like 3-12 hours away. And I wouldn't have a clue where to play in that barren wasteland they call Saskatchewan. eh Dave? :D
 
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