IPT Qualification System

[TheOne]

Sorry if this has been brought up before and I missed it but what stopped the IPT from using a fairer qualification system. I don't see why the "this is a new tour so we will have to pick our own 150 players" is an excuse for not basing their selection on the current various world ranking lists?

Just for fun if it was my millions thenI would have selected something like:

Top 32 from Euro Tour
Top 32 From UPA Tour
Top 32 from San Miguel Tour
Top 8 from Oceana
Top 8 from Africa
Top 8 from South America
Top 8 from Womens tour
16 Qualifiers from week long qualifiers before first tourny

*This leaves 6 spots for wild cards for the likes of the snooker players, UK 8 ballers, or even the best wheelchair players etc. Any invites what where not taken up, either go down the list or add the extra spots to the qualifiers or wild cards.

If they had done this would anybody anywhere really have been able to question them?

Just a thought but I still hope it works out, I'm not sure the pool world could take it if this failed. It seems many are already pinning there hopes and dreams on this tour. Exciting stuff none the less.

 

[JAM]

Sorry if this has been brought up before and I missed it but what stopped the IPT from using a fairer qualification system. I don't see why the "this is a new tour so we will have to pick our own 150 players" is an excuse for not basing their selection on the current various world ranking lists?

Just for fun if it was my millions thenI would have selected something like:

Top 32 from Euro Tour
Top 32 From UPA Tour
Top 32 from San Miguel Tour
Top 8 from Oceana
Top 8 from Africa
Top 8 from South America
Top 8 from Womens tour
16 Qualifiers from week long qualifiers before first tourny

*This leaves 6 spots for wild cards for the likes of the snooker players, UK 8 ballers, or even the best wheelchair players etc. Any invites what where not taken up, either go down the list or add the extra spots to the qualifiers or wild cards.

If they had done this would anybody anywhere really have been able to question them?

Just a thought but I still hope it works out, I'm not sure the pool world could take it if this failed. It seems many are already pinning there hopes and dreams on this tour. Exciting stuff none the less.

Those are some good thoughts, Craig. There is one school of thought, though, that some "governing bodies of professional pool" have not demonstrated a propensity to establish a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, which isn't so good for some pool players.

I wish folks would just wait until this tour takes off before trying to condemn it before it starts. I do not mean you, Craig. It seems to me there are far too many naysayers when, in my opinion, every single person who is in this racket should be welcoming the infusion of monies into the game/sport.

If he wants to pick The Muppets to be members of the IPT Tour in the first season, then so be it.

JAM

 

[T411]

I wish folks would just wait until this tour takes off before trying to condemn it before it starts. I do not mean you, Craig. It seems to me there are far too many naysayers when, in my opinion, every single person who is in this racket should be welcoming the infusion of monies into the game/sport.

If he wants to pick The Muppets to be members of the IPT Tour in the first season, then so be it.
JAM

I agree, in the end, the best players are going to be there, how ever it starts out.

 

[sixpack]

Sorry if this has been brought up before and I missed it but what stopped the IPT from using a fairer qualification system. I don't see why the "this is a new tour so we will have to pick our own 150 players" is an excuse for not basing their selection on the current various world ranking lists?

Just for fun if it was my millions thenI would have selected something like:

Top 32 from Euro Tour
Top 32 From UPA Tour
Top 32 from San Miguel Tour
Top 8 from Oceana
Top 8 from Africa
Top 8 from South America
Top 8 from Womens tour
16 Qualifiers from week long qualifiers before first tourny

*This leaves 6 spots for wild cards for the likes of the snooker players, UK 8 ballers, or even the best wheelchair players etc. Any invites what where not taken up, either go down the list or add the extra spots to the qualifiers or wild cards.

If they had done this would anybody anywhere really have been able to question them?

Just a thought but I still hope it works out, I'm not sure the pool world could take it if this failed. It seems many are already pinning there hopes and dreams on this tour. Exciting stuff none the less.

I think it's fine to pick the players they want initially, but once the ball gets rolling, there will be a lot more interest if there is a path to joining the tour through merit with qualifiers and mini-tours. I look forward to watching this develop.

Cheers,
Regas

 

[Sharkey]

Those are some good thoughts, Craig. There is one school of thought, though, that some "governing bodies of professional pool" have not demonstrated a propensity to establish a LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, which isn't so good for some pool players.

I wish folks would just wait until this tour takes off before trying to condemn it before it starts. I do not mean you, Craig. It seems to me there are far too many naysayers when, in my opinion, every single person who is in this racket should be welcoming the infusion of monies into the game/sport.

If he wants to pick The Muppets to be members of the IPT Tour in the first season, then so be it.

JAM

Another thing to take into account is that allot of the players on "your" list are not going to want to play eight ball. I have a feeling that the list is going to be made up of people that have had a hard time making it on the UPA tour or on the euro tour and are looking to make money somewhere else. Don't get me wrong I don't want to sound negative, I am all for anyone that is promoting the sport and trying to help it grow. The problem is that promoters want to start making to much money right off of the bat. It is like any other business, you have to start slow and re-invest for a year or two. I actually have high hopes that this will take off, I have always thought that the game of eight ball was allot of fun with the right rules in place.

 

[JAM]

I have a feeling that the list is going to be made up of people that have had a hard time making it on the UPA tour....

It's not too hard to get in the UPA. A player pays $100 membership fee and then attends each one of the events in the 6-tournament tour.

JAM

 

[TheOne]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea I'm not a naysayer honestly. I didn't get picked but even if they came up with something like I suggested above I would have been joining the qualifiers with a whole heap of other talented players. I can understand why the players selected are so happy and can see the dollar signs. I just feel sorry for the OTHER players, like Tony C, and MANY other TOP players that have spent a few years working hard at their game to reach a high level and then to be snubbed, it must be heartbreaking for them.

But my point is it would have been so easy to have avoided all the negative publicity if they had used a system similar to this as the WPC does. I didn't hear too many people complain about the players that got invited to the WPC, its often regarded as the toughest tournament to win and rightly so. Pool needs "nay sayers" like a hole in the head so why start off by attracting such controversey?

 

[Colin Colenso]

Before anyone gets the wrong idea I'm not a naysayer honestly. I didn't get picked but even if they came up with something like I suggested above I would have been joining the qualifiers with a whole heap of other talented players. I can understand why the players selected are so happy and can see the dollar signs. I just feel sorry for the OTHER players, like Tony C, and MANY other TOP players that have spent a few years working hard at their game to reach a high level and then to be snubbed, it must be heartbreaking for them.

But my point is it would have been so easy to have avoided all the negative publicity if they had used a system similar to this as the WPC does. I didn't hear too many people complain about the players that got invited to the WPC, its often regarded as the toughest tournament to win and rightly so. Pool needs "nay sayers" like a hole in the head so why start off by attracting such controversey?

Hi Craig,

It may seem I'm defending the IPT because I was chosen, but I simply want to state my opinion here on how and why they have chosen as they did to offer a diiferent angle.

Personally, I'm not that surprised I was chosen, though I had zilch connections.

In seeking credibility as an 'International' Pool Tour event they needed international players. They could source some through their own connections, but communications would have been limited and with WPA concerns they could hardly put players on their list without confirmation.

So a lot of worthy players missed out. The Taiwanese, were almost certainly not going to enter. They are on a good wicket with the WPC and the Asian associations, so it was hard for them to secure them.

Also, as in any job application, get in early and write a good resume that attracts the employer. Sending in an email that says, "I want in" is not gonna help.

Not saying you did that. But many probably did.

i think they chased the big names, forgot a few, or had bad communication with a few and chose the rest based on creating the international field they were after.

That's not the formula for getting the best 150 8-ball players, but what they did is basically what I expected. I'm actually impressed they got so many of the big names enrolled in such a short time.

 

[TheOne]

Hi Craig,

It may seem I'm defending the IPT because I was chosen, but I simply want to state my opinion here on how and why they have chosen as they did to offer a diiferent angle.

Personally, I'm not that surprised I was chosen, though I had zilch connections.

In seeking credibility as an 'International' Pool Tour event they needed international players. They could source some through their own connections, but communications would have been limited and with WPA concerns they could hardly put players on their list without confirmation.

So a lot of worthy players missed out. The Taiwanese, were almost certainly not going to enter. They are on a good wicket with the WPC and the Asian associations, so it was hard for them to secure them.

Also, as in any job application, get in early and write a good resume that attracts the employer. Sending in an email that says, "I want in" is not gonna help.

Not saying you did that. But many probably did.

i think they chased the big names, forgot a few, or had bad communication with a few and chose the rest based on creating the international field they were after.

That's not the formula for getting the best 150 8-ball players, but what they did is basically what I expected. I'm actually impressed they got so many of the big names enrolled in such a short time.

I hope you do well Colin, are you going to quit your day job then?

I agree with all of the above, I've said to a few people that I think they rewarded the early applicants eagerness and then they tried to fill the remaining spots with a flood of late applicants. However, this still doesn't explain why as a new tour with some creditability issues in some peoples eyes didn't use the ranking systems around the world as a basis to pick the best players. I only thing I can think of is the lack of 8 ball ranking systems but surely using the 9 ball / snooker / etc systems would have been the enxt best thing. This would have atleast rewarded the players that have been struggling to make ends meet to participate in the tours and climb the rankings around the world? Sure they could still have had wild cards for the likes of Siguel, Keith or any other superstar that for one reason or another deserved a spot but wasn't ranked on any tour. At least this way very few people would have questioned their creditability and you wouldn't have a ton of threads mocking there selections?

I hope you do well Colin and I hope to see you on the road next year then! ;-)

 

[juegabillar]

Sorry if this has been brought up before and I missed it but what stopped the IPT from using a fairer qualification system..

They didn't have a "qualified person" to do the selection.

I don't see why the "this is a new tour so we will have to pick our own 150 players" is an excuse for not basing their selection on the current various world ranking lists?

They probably didn't know where to look for the world ranking list....

Just for fun if it was my millions thenI would have selected something like:

Top 32 from Euro Tour
Top 32 From UPA Tour
Top 32 from San Miguel Tour
Top 8 from Oceana
Top 8 from Africa
Top 8 from South America
Top 8 from Womens tour
16 Qualifiers from week long qualifiers before first tourny

I would have picked the top 16 from the Euro, UPA, all Japan, and San Miguel Tours, and I concur with the 8 top picks for Oceania, Africa, South America, and Women's Tour. I would probably have chosen 16 "wild-cards" or players of my own choosing.

This would have left about 38 positions up for grab at a "first-come" basis.

It is apparent that the IPT had already chosen players before the September 30, 2005 deadline, while trying to make everyone believe that players had not been pre-selected. The excitement of some players have now turned to dissapointment.

I don't believe this is what everyone expected from the IPT, but then what the heck, many people really care about "the freaking money" instead of organizing a "real world-class tour" or "real championship events"....and let's not leave out the "excitement" about "slow-cloth"; this last one is a real big pile of BS.

I had my reservations since the beginning of the IPT Tour. This first tournament and the pre-selection of players, says it all.

 

[Colin Colenso]

I hope you do well Colin, are you going to quit your day job then?

I agree with all of the above, I've said to a few people that I think they rewarded the early applicants eagerness and then they tried to fill the remaining spots with a flood of late applicants. However, this still doesn't explain why as a new tour with some creditability issues in some peoples eyes didn't use the ranking systems around the world as a basis to pick the best players. I only thing I can think of is the lack of 8 ball ranking systems but surely using the 9 ball / snooker / etc systems would have been the enxt best thing. This would have atleast rewarded the players that have been struggling to make ends meet to participate in the tours and climb the rankings around the world? Sure they could still have had wild cards for the likes of Siguel, Keith or any other superstar that for one reason or another deserved a spot but wasn't ranked on any tour. At least this way very few people would have questioned their creditability and you wouldn't have a ton of threads mocking there selections?

I hope you do well Colin and I hope to see you on the road next year then! ;-)

Cheers mate
I agree with what you are saying. Or what I can understand anyway. I'm still recovering from a big night after the Ralf v Pan match last night. btw. Ralf passed on your message to Karen when we met at the airport

If I were going into the IPT 10 years ago when I was very serious about the game, I probably would have near crapped my pants at the thought of playing for so many $$ and being a big star, but these days I don't need it and not even sure I would want to be a pro-player.

I think being an organizer / promoter / businessman is a more rounded challenge and something that offers better security / benefits. But I look forward to playing and will do my best, with limited time to get into top form. I expect my mindset may help me bridge the gap a little, at least in the early rounds when players will be dogging a few I expect. It will be hard for most players to keep out negative thoughts about how much they'll kick themselves if they lose early. lol

I really wished you had got a run at this. I reckon you're a significantly stronger 8-ball player than 9-ball player. Hopefully they'll have some qualifiers and you'll get a chance. *crossing fingers*