The first “official” tournament of the IPT has now come and gone. The event was won by Thorsten Hohmann and featured many past and present champion pool players in attendance, notably Lou Butera, Mike Sigel, Johnny Archer, Ralf Souquet and many others.
I’m fairly certain that those of you who regularly read pool-themed Internet message boards know that on some of the uncommon occurrences that I have chosen to read them & write down my thoughts, I have steadfastly & consistently voiced my objections to both the International Pool Tour organization & its founder Kevin Trudeau. There were some agreements to my written opinions regarding the IPT & not unexpectedly, there were some disagreements as well.
If this latest Trudeau “branding” plan concerning his IPT player participants does indeed go forward, I can only see nothing but an overall negative impact on this sport for both players and fans. As things are right now, aspiring pool players & spectators have a variety of satellite tour events to choose from to attend, many at no admission charge to the fans. Additionally, there are also independent events like the Derby City Classic, the US Open One-Pocket Championships & the US Open 9-ball Championships, some of which have been in existence for over thirty years. The independent tournaments & satellite pool tours are, in my opinion, excellent venues for aspiring & established high-level players to test their skills & showcase their talents. They are also excellent venues for pool fans & spectators to enjoy watching high-caliber play & discuss it among themselves.
If this latest ridiculous scheme by Kevin Trudeau & the IPT does indeed become a reality, I feel that the opportunities for up and coming players to test their budding skills against more well-known professional players may very well cease to exist. As a result, I feel that the quality of play would very likely diminish on the satellite tours & independent events before they fade entirely. Is that what the IPT players, fans & groupies truly want for the future of pool as a sport? Do they want to kill off the existing & future satellite tours along with the independent events & put their respective owners & promoters out of work, all while denying the next generation of up and coming players a chance to potentially have an opportunity to play against the more well-known pool players in these events? I find it hard to believe this could actually be the case, but given the latest round of support I’ve been hearing about in support of this IPT exclusivity scheme for its participants, it certainly seems to me that that’s the direction of where things are headed right now.
After I first heard about the possibility of IPT exclusivity for its player participants, I couldn’t help but remember the various arguments & quarrels with other pool organizations like the WPA many months ago that the IPT was involved in. Those conflicts reminded me of the squabbles between Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Bill Gates of Microsoft during the early 1980’s personal computer boom. Mr. Jobs literally had the world in the palm of his hand with the graphic user interface he put on the Apple Lisa & Macintosh computers. Instead, he got egotistical & lazy all while tearing Apple to pieces phasing out the popular Apple II line all while Bill Gates quietly snuck in behind his back & got the proverbial loot with the Windows software product line. Afterwards, it was said Mr. Jobs likened Mr. Gates to a praying mantis that ultimately kills you after seducing you with offers of assistance that seem innocent enough in the beginning of the relationship. That is, in my opinion, just one of many ways that Kevin Trudeau can be described. He not only wants to compete against the other tours & the various independent tournaments, it appears to me he wants to eventually stomp them out in favor of his IPT tour all while wooing & seducing uninformed individuals with his many promises of money, glory, fame & fortune therefore gaining a virtual monopolistic chokehold on the world of professional pocket billiards, ultimately making his product the only one available for consumption.
I will remind those who regularly read & write on these pool forums that there have been individuals who weren’t paid as initially promised by IPT representatives. Instead, they were forced to wait for an excessive amount of time to get any monies promised, all while getting excuse after excuse as to why the delays occurred. I wish I could say I was surprised when these payment delays occurred, but quite honestly, I wasn’t. There have also been many complaints about IPT products not being delivered in a timely fashion or not being delivered at all. Again, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not. Furthermore, there are ever-growing complaints about the “Natural Cures” business practices with many websites illustrating Trudeau’s questionable business practices. I can only conclude that the majority of IPT groupies who write regularly on pool forums are any indication, feel that all of this information should be swept under the rug or otherwise kept hush-hush & not spoken about. Those who regularly write on pool forums that do speak about it have been labeled in the past few months as being “negative”, “nay-sayers”, “antagonists” or “troublemakers”.
If Kevin Trudeau truly was a sincere, honest & straight-up individual, then how could a supposedly wonderful person like this man tries to pass himself off as to the professional pool world be convicted in a court of law answering to charges of credit card fraud & serving a two-year jail sentence? Why would a television network like ABC choose to show this individual in an uncomplimentary fashion on more than one occasion? Why would his infomercials be constantly censored on television? Why would he be characterized on websites such as thesmokinggun.com as the “scourge of the Federal Trade Commission”? The answer is simple: Kevin Trudeau simply can’t be trusted in any way whatsoever. That has been more than amply proven many times over. The proof is out there in all media forms about him. All it takes is a little research to see it.
Another facet of potentially dubious activities regarding this IPT pool tour would be the actions of a person I have heard about by the name of Mark Trainer. It’s my understanding that this individual has already gotten players such as Mike Sigel & Ralf Souquet to sign a contract in which the players agree to sign away up sizable portions of their tournament winnings all for some highly questionable promotional schemes. Judging by this guy’s contract proposals, with his risking virtually no money & getting generous portions of a participant’s tournament prize earning upon his contracts being signed, he is nothing more than a vulture looking to make a fast buck. I feel reasonably certain that Kevin Trudeau & his IPT staff knew very well what this individual was doing with the IPT participants & had no problems or qualms with this person approaching them & making these questionable “contracts”. This is, again, just another facet illustrating why these people & the IPT can’t be trusted with the future of professional pool as a viable sport & possibly gaining a better public acceptance of it. How much bigger does the proverbial red flag have to be?
I feel that the IPT is not about bringing so-called “real” pool or "real rules" or “real” money to professional pool players, contrary to what the starry-eyed IPT advocates like to think & claim in massive droves. It’s about a lying, fast-talking criminal bastard’s intention along with his henchmen to make more & more misbegotten blood money off of more desperate & unsuspecting consumers with his questionable products. I can only hope that the die-hard IPT groupies will eventually get wise to this conman’s true motivations. When that happens, I feel certain that the IPT will collapse in on itself, as have so many professional pool tours that existed before it. As an unfortunate end result, the sport of pool will slip even further back from general public acceptance & recognition than before the IPT was even conceived. The players will have nothing once again.
To be frank, things like money, fortune & fame have never really impressed me. It may be nice to have money & nice things like fast cars & fancy clothes but there’s so much more to life than that. It takes more than fancy tournament arenas, glitz, glamour & high-dollar items to get me interested in competing in a pool tournament. Dollars do not buy what it takes to be victorious in a pool match or competition. It takes talent, heart, strength, focus, guts, a keen competitive spirit & most of all intelligence to perfect one’s craft in a mentally & physically demanding game like pool on its highest levels of play.
The so-called “branding” idea of Kevin Trudeau’s, the exorbitant & unacceptable entry fees for these so-called “qualification” tournaments for IPT events, Trudeau’s inability to keep his promises & these questionable promotional “contracts”, & payments not being made in a timely fashion to those owed it only serves to re-enforce my resolve to never get involved with this organization in any way whatsoever. More & more, the IPT gives me a bad taste in my mouth as much as Don Mackey & the PBTA did, perhaps even more so.
In closing, I feel that playing pool professionally shouldn’t be solely about getting a big fat check. It should be about a genuine love for the game & the sport & a desire to play it to the best of one’s ability whatever that may be. That desire should be shared with others who express a genuine interest in it, not for the potential of earning a mouthful of dollars or Kevin Trudeau’s misbegotten blood money that he has made preying off of unsuspecting consumers, but for a genuine love of the game. All those who play the game at a high level should be recognized for their talent.
I’m fairly certain that those of you who regularly read pool-themed Internet message boards know that on some of the uncommon occurrences that I have chosen to read them & write down my thoughts, I have steadfastly & consistently voiced my objections to both the International Pool Tour organization & its founder Kevin Trudeau. There were some agreements to my written opinions regarding the IPT & not unexpectedly, there were some disagreements as well.
If this latest Trudeau “branding” plan concerning his IPT player participants does indeed go forward, I can only see nothing but an overall negative impact on this sport for both players and fans. As things are right now, aspiring pool players & spectators have a variety of satellite tour events to choose from to attend, many at no admission charge to the fans. Additionally, there are also independent events like the Derby City Classic, the US Open One-Pocket Championships & the US Open 9-ball Championships, some of which have been in existence for over thirty years. The independent tournaments & satellite pool tours are, in my opinion, excellent venues for aspiring & established high-level players to test their skills & showcase their talents. They are also excellent venues for pool fans & spectators to enjoy watching high-caliber play & discuss it among themselves.
If this latest ridiculous scheme by Kevin Trudeau & the IPT does indeed become a reality, I feel that the opportunities for up and coming players to test their budding skills against more well-known professional players may very well cease to exist. As a result, I feel that the quality of play would very likely diminish on the satellite tours & independent events before they fade entirely. Is that what the IPT players, fans & groupies truly want for the future of pool as a sport? Do they want to kill off the existing & future satellite tours along with the independent events & put their respective owners & promoters out of work, all while denying the next generation of up and coming players a chance to potentially have an opportunity to play against the more well-known pool players in these events? I find it hard to believe this could actually be the case, but given the latest round of support I’ve been hearing about in support of this IPT exclusivity scheme for its participants, it certainly seems to me that that’s the direction of where things are headed right now.
After I first heard about the possibility of IPT exclusivity for its player participants, I couldn’t help but remember the various arguments & quarrels with other pool organizations like the WPA many months ago that the IPT was involved in. Those conflicts reminded me of the squabbles between Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Bill Gates of Microsoft during the early 1980’s personal computer boom. Mr. Jobs literally had the world in the palm of his hand with the graphic user interface he put on the Apple Lisa & Macintosh computers. Instead, he got egotistical & lazy all while tearing Apple to pieces phasing out the popular Apple II line all while Bill Gates quietly snuck in behind his back & got the proverbial loot with the Windows software product line. Afterwards, it was said Mr. Jobs likened Mr. Gates to a praying mantis that ultimately kills you after seducing you with offers of assistance that seem innocent enough in the beginning of the relationship. That is, in my opinion, just one of many ways that Kevin Trudeau can be described. He not only wants to compete against the other tours & the various independent tournaments, it appears to me he wants to eventually stomp them out in favor of his IPT tour all while wooing & seducing uninformed individuals with his many promises of money, glory, fame & fortune therefore gaining a virtual monopolistic chokehold on the world of professional pocket billiards, ultimately making his product the only one available for consumption.
I will remind those who regularly read & write on these pool forums that there have been individuals who weren’t paid as initially promised by IPT representatives. Instead, they were forced to wait for an excessive amount of time to get any monies promised, all while getting excuse after excuse as to why the delays occurred. I wish I could say I was surprised when these payment delays occurred, but quite honestly, I wasn’t. There have also been many complaints about IPT products not being delivered in a timely fashion or not being delivered at all. Again, I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not. Furthermore, there are ever-growing complaints about the “Natural Cures” business practices with many websites illustrating Trudeau’s questionable business practices. I can only conclude that the majority of IPT groupies who write regularly on pool forums are any indication, feel that all of this information should be swept under the rug or otherwise kept hush-hush & not spoken about. Those who regularly write on pool forums that do speak about it have been labeled in the past few months as being “negative”, “nay-sayers”, “antagonists” or “troublemakers”.
If Kevin Trudeau truly was a sincere, honest & straight-up individual, then how could a supposedly wonderful person like this man tries to pass himself off as to the professional pool world be convicted in a court of law answering to charges of credit card fraud & serving a two-year jail sentence? Why would a television network like ABC choose to show this individual in an uncomplimentary fashion on more than one occasion? Why would his infomercials be constantly censored on television? Why would he be characterized on websites such as thesmokinggun.com as the “scourge of the Federal Trade Commission”? The answer is simple: Kevin Trudeau simply can’t be trusted in any way whatsoever. That has been more than amply proven many times over. The proof is out there in all media forms about him. All it takes is a little research to see it.
Another facet of potentially dubious activities regarding this IPT pool tour would be the actions of a person I have heard about by the name of Mark Trainer. It’s my understanding that this individual has already gotten players such as Mike Sigel & Ralf Souquet to sign a contract in which the players agree to sign away up sizable portions of their tournament winnings all for some highly questionable promotional schemes. Judging by this guy’s contract proposals, with his risking virtually no money & getting generous portions of a participant’s tournament prize earning upon his contracts being signed, he is nothing more than a vulture looking to make a fast buck. I feel reasonably certain that Kevin Trudeau & his IPT staff knew very well what this individual was doing with the IPT participants & had no problems or qualms with this person approaching them & making these questionable “contracts”. This is, again, just another facet illustrating why these people & the IPT can’t be trusted with the future of professional pool as a viable sport & possibly gaining a better public acceptance of it. How much bigger does the proverbial red flag have to be?
I feel that the IPT is not about bringing so-called “real” pool or "real rules" or “real” money to professional pool players, contrary to what the starry-eyed IPT advocates like to think & claim in massive droves. It’s about a lying, fast-talking criminal bastard’s intention along with his henchmen to make more & more misbegotten blood money off of more desperate & unsuspecting consumers with his questionable products. I can only hope that the die-hard IPT groupies will eventually get wise to this conman’s true motivations. When that happens, I feel certain that the IPT will collapse in on itself, as have so many professional pool tours that existed before it. As an unfortunate end result, the sport of pool will slip even further back from general public acceptance & recognition than before the IPT was even conceived. The players will have nothing once again.
To be frank, things like money, fortune & fame have never really impressed me. It may be nice to have money & nice things like fast cars & fancy clothes but there’s so much more to life than that. It takes more than fancy tournament arenas, glitz, glamour & high-dollar items to get me interested in competing in a pool tournament. Dollars do not buy what it takes to be victorious in a pool match or competition. It takes talent, heart, strength, focus, guts, a keen competitive spirit & most of all intelligence to perfect one’s craft in a mentally & physically demanding game like pool on its highest levels of play.
The so-called “branding” idea of Kevin Trudeau’s, the exorbitant & unacceptable entry fees for these so-called “qualification” tournaments for IPT events, Trudeau’s inability to keep his promises & these questionable promotional “contracts”, & payments not being made in a timely fashion to those owed it only serves to re-enforce my resolve to never get involved with this organization in any way whatsoever. More & more, the IPT gives me a bad taste in my mouth as much as Don Mackey & the PBTA did, perhaps even more so.
In closing, I feel that playing pool professionally shouldn’t be solely about getting a big fat check. It should be about a genuine love for the game & the sport & a desire to play it to the best of one’s ability whatever that may be. That desire should be shared with others who express a genuine interest in it, not for the potential of earning a mouthful of dollars or Kevin Trudeau’s misbegotten blood money that he has made preying off of unsuspecting consumers, but for a genuine love of the game. All those who play the game at a high level should be recognized for their talent.
I don't know, but I see Mike Davis and Keith McCready get slammed down all the time at the $20-entry-fee 9-ball tournaments every Wednesday, sometimes in the very first round! 
Does that sound like someone that has a healthy outlook and game plan? A large majority of the people that don't want pro's to play in regional events feel this way. They would rather play people their own speed or those of a lower speed. It's possible to improve one's game by playing those on an even or lesser playing field but IMO it's going to take longer to get there and would be more of an uphill battle.
