IPT World Qualifiers Entry Increased - More Lies?

[unknownpro]

Scottster,
Got ya! I wasn't really directing that toward your post. So many seem to not understand that it is a business, and the IPT is certainly entitled to charge whatever they feel the market will pay. If they have priced it too high, they will realize it very quickly if players stop entering.
I think they are doing things right. By keeping the entry fee a bit high, they are really making sure that only those who feel they have a legitimate chance at making it at that level are going to pay that much for a chance to qualify. Just look at the names that entered the 25 qualifiers for the NA Open!
Steve

Got ya? You guys need help. Funny that it's the arrogant ONE from down under that's keeping it real and everybody else has lost their minds. Is that why they picked a bunch of non-players to start with, because they wouldn't pay 1500 for a chance to qualify?

unknownpro

 

[unknownpro]

That is exactly right. So many people have never had a business where they had to serve the public. They are so used to just being given everything, with absolutely no responsibilities.

A couple years ago it cost me $30 to have my grass cut and $35 to have my house washed. Grass cutters now charge $45 per month to cut the grass and yesterday I paid $50 to have my house washed. It is whatever the traffic will bear. And of course they now call the people who come out to wash your home - technicians.

Jake

You too, nobody cares how much it cost to cut your grass.

unknownpro

 

[rackmsuckr]

Is that why they picked a bunch of non-players to start with, because they wouldn't pay 1500 for a chance to qualify?

unknownpro

Actually, that may be exactly why we were picked...that we were willing to shell out $899 for membership into a tour that no one had ever hear of. KT rewarded that faith and enthusiasm. Sometimes the extreme cautionists lose out.

 

[pooltchr]

Got ya? You guys need help. Funny that it's the arrogant ONE from down under that's keeping it real and everybody else has lost their minds. Is that why they picked a bunch of non-players to start with, because they wouldn't pay 1500 for a chance to qualify?

unknownpro

NON-PLAYERS??????
Yeah, now that you mention it, I suppose you could call Reyes, Archer, Strickland, Fisher (both of them), and all the rest "non-players". It wouldn't be very accurate, but you certainly could call them that.
Steve

 

[Snapshot9]

Reality

Most players barely know of the IPT, I would say 98% of league players don't know anything of it, or even who most pro players are.

The ones that make it a point to find out are the good players that play for money. When they hear about the money in the IF'. They start making it a point to find out more.

Example - James Walden was in Wichita about 2 months ago, along with
Caleb Moore. Caleb is a friend of mine (used to be Gabe's running buddy), and I also consider James a friend. I was talking to James, and brought up
the IPT. He said he had heard of them, but did not really know anything about them. He knew Gabe was on the tour. I expounded about the upcoming IPT tournaments, the qualifiers, and told him he needed to find out more about them, and to get in one of the qualifiers. Well, I feel like I was just rewarded for that since James just won the qualifier down in Tulsa. I would love to see James or Gabe do well in one of the upcoming
IPT tournaments, just to show you 'East Coasters' that have their noses
in the air, that Midwest boys can play a little too.

The IPT has to appeal to a broader base (create an infrastructure) if it ever has hopes of being successful and hopes to make a profit. I have said it before, and still convinced of it, that for Pool to go to a new level,
the Semi-Pro level needs to be more definitive, have better payouts than
other lower level payouts, have the events and leagues to support that
level. This is the level that is saying, 'I could have been a pro IPT. These are the players with aspirations, dreams, and that will stand expenses for a chance to prove themselves.

Advanced leagues you say? Half of the players in advanced leagues should not even be in them, they are just average. They let them in for the participation rate for the league. KT has to appeal to the cream of the crop league players across the country. The ones that maybe don't
play for money, but support leagues, go to regionals, and nationals every year. I can name a few players locally like that here, that would have a shot at the qualifiers, Reese Wilson, for one, league operator and player for many years. Jr. Brown and Mark Rogers are 2 others here that should
be in the qualifiers too. I am sure some of your top players in your area
should probably take a shot at the qualifiers also.

A sport has to have good business decisions for it to stay in business, and to support the sport, along with the stepping stone levels below the pro ranks. I, for one, am not going to 'condemn' the whole IPT because of one decision, many 'companies' make stupid decisions on their way to success. I like the fact that KT has a new paradigm for Pool, we needed it badly, and if it all comes out in the wash, then I will be happy. But, I am not going to make 'snap' value judgments on every little thing that comes up.

 

[PoolSleuth]

Actually, that may be exactly why we were picked...that we were willing to shell out $899 for membership into a tour that no one had ever hear of. KT rewarded that faith and enthusiasm. Sometimes the extreme cautionists lose out.

Well Linda are you Happy you shelled out 899.00 for Membership , or do you wish you had not.

Please answer the Question as honestly as you can. I see the 899.00 as you investing in YOUR future...

 

[watchez]

Actually, that may be exactly why we were picked...that we were willing to shell out $899 for membership into a tour that no one had ever hear of. KT rewarded that faith and enthusiasm. Sometimes the extreme cautionists lose out.

Linda,
IF after the first year, you are not in the top 150 & don't retain your tour card-----the big question , are you going to shell out $1500 to play in a qualifier for a chance to get back into the IPT? I hope you wouldn't lose your faith and entusiasm. And with the price of qualifiers going up at a rate of 33%, it could very possibly be more than $1500 to enter a qualifier in 2007.

 

[ScottW]

Well Linda are you Happy you shelled out 899.00 for Membership , or do you wish you had not.

Please answer the Question as honestly as you can. I see the 899.00 as you investing in YOUR future...

Are you kidding? $899 for what the IPT is guaranteeing to be $13k return for 2006? Freaking 1300+% return on the investment.

Sure, it was a risk, but considering the potential returns, a worthy risk.

 

[jimmyg]

Interesting! Regardless how anyone personally feels about KT's ethics or the IPT's business model, you have to give him a whole lot of credit for assessing his target market.

What other "legitimate, mainstream" sports do the players actually subsidize their own paychecks (qualifiers) AND gamble for the priviledge of participating?

These guys are good!!

 

[JAM]

Are you kidding? $899 for what the IPT is guaranteeing to be $13k return for 2006? Freaking 1300+% return on the investment.

Sure, it was a risk, but considering the potential returns, a worthy risk.

It is also noteworthy to mention that the member dues of $899 was reduced to $1 for the 2006 season for IPT members, who each paid it happily in Orlando, FL this past December.

JAM

 

[JAM]

Linda,
IF after the first year, you are not in the top 150 & don't retain your tour card-----the big question , are you going to shell out $1500 to play in a qualifier for a chance to get back into the IPT? I hope you wouldn't lose your faith and entusiasm. And with the price of qualifiers going up at a rate of 33%, it could very possibly be more than $1500 to enter a qualifier in 2007.

And if it is, it is Linda's prerogative to entertain qualifying. Of course, that won't be necessary if she retains her card this season.

Leave Linda alone and pick on somebody who plays at your level. As you mentioned previously that you are currently taking lessons from a coach and have not yet learned how to draw the cue-ball, this discussion is out of your league.

JAM

 

[macguy]

And if it is, it is Linda's prerogative to entertain qualifying. Of course, that won't be necessary if she retains her card this season.

Leave Linda alone and pick on somebody who plays at your level. As you mentioned previously that you are currently taking lessons from a coach and have not yet learned how to draw the cue-ball, this discussion is out of your league.

JAM

What a childish response, considering you don't even play. What are your credentials beyond that of a pool groupie?

 

[billb]

Isn't this just like any other business venture? I agree with JAM. It is one's own decision on whether they pay any money into anything for the IPT. I would love to try the US Open. Could I compete at that level...probably not, but it would be neat to do it. That being said, I have a choice on whether to pay $500 and I elect not to. I would rather spend that money on the trip down and watch the greatest players in the world.

If people do not like the way the IPT is doing things, can't they simply not play in the qualifiers or attend the events. I am only 31 years old and I have been a poolplayer for 14 years. During that 14 years, professional players (meaning one who makes a living at pool and has no job) have never had an opportunity to make a nice living. The IPT will allow for that. Their slogan says "Real Money" and lets face it, that is the bottom line. That will bring people in and some cases (the qualifier entries) will keep people out. We are not speaking of chump change here in either case. $1500 is a lot to play, but then again 2 or 3 million is a whole lot more.

I am excited about the IPT and what it will do for pool. As a pool fan, I will have the opporunity to watch professional poolplayers compete much like PGA professionals.

 

[watchez]

And if it is, it is Linda's prerogative to entertain qualifying. Of course, that won't be necessary if she retains her card this season.

Leave Linda alone and pick on somebody who plays at your level. As you mentioned previously that you are currently taking lessons from a coach and have not yet learned how to draw the cue-ball, this discussion is out of your league.

JAM

I wasnt picking on anyone. Just simply discussing how far someone will take faith & enthusiasm. And I was asking someone who doesn't seem to have a philosophical problem with the IPT raising their rates. And I was asking that person to view it as someone from the outside looking in. I didn't know that I had to quantify my opinion and be allowed or not allowed in this discussion due to my poor playing ability. I better double my practice time so I will be allowed to speak up. Linda should be admired by the pro pool players. She has a REAL job & also plays pool professionally. I believe Linda was at last years DCC & traveled a long way to get there, so I have no doubts about her enthusiasm. Heck, some known champions didn't even show up.

I also wonder how some of these pool player's lifes will change if they hit it big time. I mean, money changes everything. I wonder if the faith & support that someone gave to someone else thru hard times will be reciprocated during the good times. I heard that Earl Strickland's wife divorced him as soon as he collected his 1 million for running those 10 racks.

 

[APA9]

And if it is, it is Linda's prerogative to entertain qualifying. Of course, that won't be necessary if she retains her card this season.

Leave Linda alone and pick on somebody who plays at your level. As you mentioned previously that you are currently taking lessons from a coach and have not yet learned how to draw the cue-ball, this discussion is out of your league.

JAM

I wouldn't be so quick to retaliate here. His post didn't seem like he was picking on Linda at all. It looks like he was asking if she'd still be enthusiastic about the price of the qualifiers if she wasn't an IPT member. Seems like a reasonable question to me.

 

[Timberly]

What a childish response, considering you don't even play. What are your credentials beyond that of a pool groupie?

This response was completely uncalled for. Just because a female enjoys the game, it doesn't mean she's a groupie. Just like myself, many yrs ago Jennie used to play pool. She decided to get a job and raise her family so she quit. I quit because when I moved, there was no desireable place to shoot pool so I focused on life in general. It doesn't mean my love & respect of the game diminished. It means I chose a different life than just pool.

Fast forward years later after her kids are grown and Jennie crosses paths with a pool player. Pool is something they have in common... she still likes the game and he plays the game. It's a common interest they share. That does not make her a groupie.

You want to talk groupie? Talk to the girls that are known to sleep around with multiple pool players just because the guy is a pool player. THAT is a groupie. Jennie loves the game and she loves one pool player. A groupie that does not make.

Calling a female that enjoys the game a groupie, whether she used to play or has never played, is getting really, really old. I've dated cops, paramedics, golfers, mechanics, etc... am I a "groupie" of each one of these?? No, so why is it in the pool world people want to call me (or any woman) a groupie because I enjoy a game & have friends that play in it but in everyday life, we're not groupies?

It's a worn out way to be rude & disrespectful to a female in the pool world. If I were a real groupie, I'd make a really bad one because I truly enjoy the game, go to tournaments to actually watch the tourney and I'm not lying down for every Tom, D!ck, & Harry in the pool world just because they can run 3 fookin balls.

I realize you weren't addressing me but I still find your comment offensive because there are many like yourself that use this phrase very loosely and inappropiately. I'm tired of seeing nice women get called something they aren't. We should not be labled groupies simply because we enjoy pool. I love baseball & I go to baseball games but no one bothers to call me a baseball groupie. Why is that??? Maybe because I'm not and it would be asinine to call me that.

 

[onepocketchump]

Interesting! Regardless how anyone personally feels about KT's ethics or the IPT's business model, you have to give him a whole lot of credit for assessing his target market.

What other "legitimate, mainstream" sports do the players actually subsidize their own paychecks (qualifiers) AND gamble for the priviledge of participating?

These guys are good!!

If you do the math - the qualifiers have brought in FAR less than they are paying out and will continue to do so. I think KT is smart enough to know that average league players aren't going to fund this tour. The qualifier fee keeps the fields small and manageble for the qualifiers.

But to answer your question - Poker (an ESPN "sport") has it's purses financed by thousands of $10,000 entries which are in turn, financed by much lower entries into thousands of "qualifier" tournaments.

Tennis players have to pay a LOT of money to enter tournaments to qualify for spots in the pro tournaments. Golfers spend a ton of money to get on the PRO TOUR.

Realistically, the fee for the qualifier can be seen as the entry to the tournament itself - with multiple chance to get in. At no other time in the history of pool (now I sound like KT) has the entry fee to a tournament been so small compared to the prize fund available. The only way it gets out of proportion is IF someone were to enter so many qualifiers that they would need to fininsh in the top ten to break even. AND this is precisely the case already for MOST "professional" tournaments going on NOW. Tommy Kennedy once got $1700 for coming in 9-12th in the US Open. Out of over two hundred players he won $1700 for a week's worth of high intensity competition, a week's worth of entertaining the spectators and a week's worth of hotel bills and other expenses. Luckily for Tommy though, he didn't have to fade the $500 entry fee as he is a US Open winner.

$500 entry to win $40,000 or $1500 to win $1,000,000. Gee, just doesn't seem like much of a comparison does it? Nobody *****es when no-chance shortstops plunk down $500 at the Open so why should you care if no-chance players spend $1500 for a shot at the IPT.

I guarantee you that IF there were a weekly tournament here where the prize at the end of the series were a spot in a qualifier then I would play in it. Whenever the pool world wakes up to holding really small dollar entry tournaments to funnel players into the qualifiers then we will have a tour and a system that works to keep the best players in the chips and to have the talented unknowns get their chances.

There are millions of bowlers, tennis players, and golfers out there who spend the money on a weekly basis to fund their systems to have a pro tour. Billiards has no path from the amateurs to the professionals that is consistent or desireable.

John

 

[APA9]

A groupie that does not make.

YODA!!!! I knew you didn't die!!!

 

[watchez]

This response was completely uncalled for. Just because a female enjoys the game, it doesn't mean she's a groupie.

I actually thought the same thing. JAM is many things but I would never call her a groupie. Unless, of course, macguy has some info he would like to share with all of us.

and I'm not lying down for every Tom, D!ck, & Harry in the pool world just because they can run 3 fookin balls.

Damn, and that was the reason I was spending all this time & money on pool lessons. What if I have a really nice pool stick?

 

[macguy]

This response was completely uncalled for. Just because a female enjoys the game, it doesn't mean she's a groupie. Just like myself, many yrs ago Jennie used to play pool. She decided to get a job and raise her family so she quit. I quit because when I moved, there was no desireable place to shoot pool so I focused on life in general. It doesn't mean my love & respect of the game diminished. It means I chose a different life than just pool.

Fast forward years later after her kids are grown and Jennie crosses paths with a pool player. Pool is something they have in common... she still likes the game and he plays the game. It's a common interest they share. That does not make her a groupie.

You want to talk groupie? Talk to the girls that are known to sleep around with multiple pool players just because the guy is a pool player. THAT is a groupie. Jennie loves the game and she loves one pool player. A groupie that does not make.

Calling a female that enjoys the game a groupie, whether she used to play or has never played, is getting really, really old. I've dated cops, paramedics, golfers, mechanics, etc... am I a "groupie" of each one of these?? No, so why is it in the pool world people want to call me (or any woman) a groupie because I enjoy a game & have friends that play in it but in everyday life, we're not groupies?

It's a worn out way to be rude & disrespectful to a female in the pool world. If I were a real groupie, I'd make a really bad one because I truly enjoy the game, go to tournaments to actually watch the tourney and I'm not lying down for every Tom, D!ck, & Harry in the pool world just because they can run 3 fookin balls.

I realize you weren't addressing me but I still find your comment offensive because there are many like yourself that use this phrase very loosely and inappropiately. I'm tired of seeing nice women get called something they aren't. We should not be labled groupies simply because we enjoy pool. I love baseball & I go to baseball games but no one bothers to call me a baseball groupie. Why is that??? Maybe because I'm not and it would be asinine to call me that.

That's the point, she is the one who has decided that one needs to prove they are qualified as a player to have an opinion. Using her logic, since she can't play a lick she has no right to any opinion in fact far less then most on here. See how ridicules that sounds. If she doesn't like what someone says she gets personal or goes crying to Mr. Wilson, childish was the right word, groupie may have been me sinking to her level, I apologized if I offended you.