Need advice on tournaments

[ndakotan]

I live in a town of 35,000 people, we have one pool hall with 7 bar boxes and we have a few bars with 4 bar boxes and several smaller bars. We have a local league system run by the coin op's and there is a good regional tournament for the league system in North Dakota. Other than leagues, our pool action in this town (Minot) sucks. 4-5 years ago there was bar tournaments almost every night and some good bigger tournaments. Recently the tourny activity dropped off because people got tired of losing to the local pool family (dad and two sons) that usually won, and the price per game went up from 50 cents to 75 cents to $1 within 4 years. The pool hall tries to put on tournaments but he can't find a system that attracts people for many reasons. We just played in a 3-man tourny there and he paid out 4 places of 6, which may make it tough to get enough people there in the future. We have some real good talent in this town including a few A's and a lot of strong B's down to some C players that like to play in tournaments. I play in them, win some, and loose some, but I play for the experience and reputation, not the money, although it is fun to win money.

I am thinking about getting a few guys together and running tournaments on Saturday or Sunday at one of the bars through the winter.

What are popular tournament nights? How do you keep the C players interested? Who do you usually get to sponsor so you can add money? Is it bad for the guy(s) running the tournament to play in it? Is a qualifying system better (8 or 16 weeks to qualify for a bigger tournament) or bigger individual tournaments every couple of weeks? HELP THANKS

 

[stuckart]

I'll try and answer some of your questions.

To attract the C players you have 2 options. Either rate the players and have A's go to 6, B's go to 5 and C's go to 4 or some variation. Or have tournaments that are for certain players. Like a B and below tourney. It sucks for the A players but you'll get more players because they feel they have a chance to win it. And there are always more C players.

In Arizona the bar will usually match the pot. So if it's a $5 entry, 20 players show, that is $100, then the bar throws in $100. We also have sidepots where you can choose to enter if you feel you can win it. $5/$10/$20 sides. They pay 2 or 3 places usually. Some bars will match half the pot.

I don't see a problem with the guy(s) running it to play, as long as the draw is done in plain site and they are okay with people marking there wins on the board/sheet to keep things moving while they are playing.

I don't think qualifying will do much for your area.

Obviously Friday and Saturday nights will be popular, but sometimes Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are good for tourneys. Depends on your area. Trial and Error. You need a bar/hall that will support you. Probably have some specials for the players. Have the bar add a little more the first time or two to get people in the bar. Advertise all over. You might seek some sponsorship from a local cue maker, or beer vendor, just ask.

Good luck, times are hard right now and people aren't out spending there last nickles on pool right now.

 

[gwjackal]

I'm Hijacking

I just moved to Minot.. If you want to shoot send me a pm and we can hook up.. My name is Greg