Ok, I will do my own but what about Hopkins

[JG-in-KY]

I am not going to get into siding with Allen or Grady, just my quick opinion on the subject. We (the pool community) has to try something to get the game jump started again. Why not a million dollar tournament? The big numbers always seem to attract attention. It has certainly worked for poker. The World Series of Poker adds no money to the prize fund, and actually takes a percentage.

 

[uwate]

A few years back, I was interested in maybe going to the superbilliards expo. I asked on AZB for anyone to give me the prize money payouts for any of the past shows. I wasnt asking for much, just a list of how many people got in, how many got paid and what. At the time some people just posted that I was trying to stir it up. I actually wasn't, and I am not against tournaments having some of the money being used to run the event. I would, however, like to know roughly how much that amount is. With the SBE, you cant get this info and I have been told by a few folks its because the numbers show ALOT of $$$ is taken out.

 

[VIProfessor]

Grady,

I agree that you have done a tremendous amount for the game, but I don't know if banning UPA players is the way to go. That just brings politics into play, and who knows? The UPA might have a monster One Pocket player that we never get to see, and banning all the UPA players robs us of the opportunity to see that player.

I say just turn the other cheek, Grady. If some of his players play in your tournaments, it's not really helping Charlie, so why make a big deal about it? If you ban his players, it's not going to hurt him, either. It can only hurt you and the pool fans, Grady.

Russ

TAP! TAP! TAP!

That's the kinder, gentler Russ Chewning I'm talking about! And I absolutely agree! I don't believe I'm doing this guys, but rep to Russ!

 

[JAM]

A few years back, I was interested in maybe going to the superbilliards expo. I asked on AZB for anyone to give me the prize money payouts for any of the past shows. I wasnt asking for much, just a list of how many people got in, how many got paid and what. At the time some people just posted that I was trying to stir it up. I actually wasn't, and I am not against tournaments having some of the money being used to run the event. I would, however, like to know roughly how much that amount is. With the SBE, you cant get this info and I have been told by a few folks its because the numbers show ALOT of $$$ is taken out.

There are monies taken out in some of the tournaments at the SBE, but not all. There are multiple events for players to shoot in: amateur, junior, senior, women, men, pro, pro/am, et cetera. The bills for the facilities and other expo/tournament cost must be huge, to include paying the huge staff that run the events and keep things going smoothly. It would be nice if promoters could put all the money in the event and not make a profit, but that just isn't good business.

The annual Glass City Open in Toledo, Ohio, closed their doors last year because it was too tough to make a profit, much less break even. Everybody loved that event, too.

There's room for more pool events, and with the IPT floating in the water like a dead fish, people like Grady Mathews can make things happen. I still say a one-pocket tournament would be VERY COOL.

Two years ago at the 2005 SBE, Allen Hopkins, in fact, ADDED $2,000 to the pro/am tournement, in addition to all the entry fees, which made the first place prize quite a nice chunk of cheese.

First place paid out $3,000 -- SUBJECT TO CHECK -- for $175 entry fee into the pro/am tournament, won by Shannon Daulton. AND I must say, the trophies at the SBE are some of the finest ones I have ever laid my eyes on. When Shannon and Keith were in the finals at the pro/am tourney that year, Keith had his eyeballs on that 3 dimes, but me and Shannon were wanting to take that beautiful trophy home. And, by golly, Shannon won it, the trophy and the money!

Here's a kind of fuzzy picture of Shawn Putnum, who won the pro event that year, and Shannon Daulton, who won the pro/am.

JAM

 

[Fatboy]

Actually Fatboy, even as much of a slimeball as he was, Trudeau PROVED that players will participate in this sort of system.. Heck, lesser players will DONATE $50.00 in a monthly tournament for the chance to play a champion.. Even if it doesn't add up to a million dollars, I guaran-freaking-tee you that if it goes off, somebody gonna get paaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiid for first place.

I think Allen has a history of running successful events. They might have generally been cornball events, but eh... whatever.. Even if Allen succeeds only in getting some pro paid $25,000 for first, with 1/4 of the field getting paid, that's still a heck of a tournament, no two ways around it.

Let's cross our fingers..

Russ

please dont think i'm knocking it, i hope it comes off its just a tall mountain thats all, you and I are on the same team-we'll keep our fingers crossed, anything close would be great,

i also have a couple tricks up my sleve-this is the first public notice and i will have more if things in the future, i'm not blowing sunshine, i have an idea and need to speak to a few people, it might die, then again it might not-its not some million dollar thing, its a ledgends and big action after hours idea i cooked up, and this is the first comment-i wanted to announce it in a live thread instead of making it a topic because its in the planning stages. bear with me. best. fatboy

 

[Grady]

Here's the biggest reason I would bar UPA players from my events. Over the years I've stood up for and helped lots of players. For example when Don Mackey and the then MPBA wouldn't let Mike Zugland play in my 1995 Straight Pool tournament, well, I got on my high horse and straightened the matter out. It was no easy task, believe me.
Now that I would love to play in this upcoming 14.1 event no player(s) utters a single word to rectify the situation. It just can't be a oneway street with the helping department.
By the way, most AZB posters are unaware of this: The MPBA boycotted my 1993 Reno tournament ( Mackey even called up the host site and knocked me) yet I still drew 111 players. I'm thinking of having a no entry fee big One Pocket tournament. I've been writing down names and the quality of the field would be very good, without any UPA players.
Lastly, I would even consider sanctionong my stuff with the UPA with one proviso: Bank Pool, Straight Pool and One Pocket receive the same ranking points as 9 Ball for whatever purposes such points might be worth something. I was also assured 3 years ago that the UPA wouldn't do anything byt 9 Ball.

 

[JAM]

Here's the biggest reason I would bar UPA players from my events. Over the years I've stood up for and helped lots of players. For example when Don Mackey and the then MPBA wouldn't let Mike Zugland play in my 1995 Straight Pool tournament, well, I got on my high horse and straightened the matter out. It was no easy task, believe me.
Now that I would love to play in this upcoming 14.1 event no player(s) utters a single word to rectify the situation. It just can't be a oneway street with the helping department.
By the way, most AZB posters are unaware of this: The MPBA boycotted my 1993 Reno tournament ( Mackey even called up the host site and knocked me) yet I still drew 111 players. I'm thinking of having a no entry fee big One Pocket tournament. I've been writing down names and the quality of the field would be very good, without any UPA players.
Lastly, I would even consider sanctionong my stuff with the UPA with one proviso: Bank Pool, Straight Pool and One Pocket receive the same ranking points as 9 Ball for whatever purposes such points might be worth something. I was also assured 3 years ago that the UPA wouldn't do anything byt 9 Ball.

I understand where you are coming from as you have expressed your thoughts.

If you ban the UPA, though, there would be some great players who would be worthy of competing in your event. I'm not talking about the Dragon boys. I mean folks like Wiseman, Hatch, Walden, Matlock, Joyner, et cetera.

Man, if you could get a Johnston City Hustling Jamboree going, out in the middle of the boondocks, if you know what I mean, and not in a major city, I think that would be the absolute nuts.

This is EXACTLY what I would like to see happen, just like this: http://www.cue-tv.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/23/2520090.html

For your future consideration for prospective players, McCready is not a UPA member!

JAM

 

[APA7]

Here's the biggest reason I would bar UPA players from my events. Over the years I've stood up for and helped lots of players. For example when Don Mackey and the then MPBA wouldn't let Mike Zugland play in my 1995 Straight Pool tournament, well, I got on my high horse and straightened the matter out. It was no easy task, believe me.
Now that I would love to play in this upcoming 14.1 event no player(s) utters a single word to rectify the situation. It just can't be a oneway street with the helping department.
.

Help me outt here. U R barring all UPA players cuz U helped sum players in the past but no UPA players protested cuz U didn't get an invite to the 14.1 tournamant??? IM sure lots of other deserving players didn't get invited 2, U can't be the only 1.

Brian

 

[Grady]

Look, I'm done here. This type of thing only gets me frustrated. There are plenty of other qualified players who won't get an invite too. That's why there just isn't any excuse for not opening up the field so it could really be a world champinship.
It's only gonna get worse. Take my word for it. I was right about Mackey when I warned everybody that he was a gangster and I was right about how stupid the men were when they separated from the women. I'm right about these current men, too as time will bear out.
It's the best thing for non UPA players to have some decent prize money to play for, without having to deal with any Assn.
Jam, I know Keith isn't a UPA member. In fact, I want him to be one of my stars.

 

[NYC cue dude]

First of all, the world straight pool championships is NOT a UPA event!!!!!
It is a Dragon Promotions event, big difference NOW.

The event is sanctioned by the UPA, as well as the WPA, which qualifies it as a recognized world championship.

There is a huge difference between the UPA and Dragon Promotions, as I hear people bring up Charlie Williams name. Charlie is no longer affiliated with the UPA, no longer president and no longer on the board of directors. He is just a paying dues member. Charlie is the owner and founder of Dragon Promotions, and he is busy promoting pool events internationally.

As far as the 14.1 event itself, well I do support the concept of it being invitational, as history has showed that all the world 14.1 championships in the past were also invitational.

Because of the format, there are even less invitations open this year, as compared to last. There are 64 players invited, but automatically, the top 16 from last year are invited back. aslo, they are having 2 more qualifiers this year, now either 7 or 8 (don't remember) and the top 2 get an invite. thats either 14 or 16 players, Right there is half the field. So in essence, only 32 other players in the world, will get an invite, including a certain number that must be mandatorily from other countries in order to qualify for wpa sanctioning.

With an open field, we would need to take 3 weeks to complete such an event. With what we have now, we have even had to extend this event to 6 days.

Of course, you can't please everyone. Some complain about the format, the invitations, the venue, the length of games etc.

As for you Grady, I tried, God knows I did, to get you an invite last year. It's not my "department", and thus I had no luck. And because I don't handle the invitations, I don't know who's getting one this year, either.

Best of luck to you Grady. I hope you put on a stellar 14.1 event. The only reason I did it was to bring the game I love back into pool's mainstream. The more high profile 14.1 events, as far as i'm concerened the better.

thanks

Randy Goldwater
Patron Sponsor of the 14.1 world straight pool championships

 

[Blackjack]

And because I don't handle the invitations, I don't know who's getting one this year, either.

So are you saying that I have to call Charlie to find out? I will see Charlie in a few days, so its no biggie, but what if you're one of those guys that don't know (or you're not sure) if you need to qualify? I understand that he can't invte everybody, but who wants to take the chance of assuming that you're in - only to see that you weren't - and that the qualifiers are in the history books.

FWIW, I was successful with getting Danny Harriman an invite last year from Charlie, just a few weeks prior to the event. Charlie isn't the evil emperor that everybody paints him out to be. He is extremely busy and he can't make everybody happy all of the time.

Grady, I will help you out in any way that I possibly can. Don't hesitate give me a call.

 

[NYC cue dude]

So are you saying that I have to call Charlie to find out? I will see Charlie in a few days, so its no biggie, but what if you're one of those guys that don't know (or you're not sure) if you need to qualify? I understand that he can't invte everybody, but who wants to take the chance of assuming that you're in - only to see that you weren't - and that the qualifiers are in the history books.

FWIW, I was successful with getting Danny Harriman an invite last year from Charlie, just a few weeks prior to the event. Charlie isn't the evil emperor that everybody paints him out to be. He is extremely busy and he can't make everybody happy all of the time.

Grady, I will help you out in any way that I possibly can. Don't hesitate give me a call.

To be perfectly candid, i would assume that if you didn't receive an invite yet, and your interested in competing, you had better try to qualify. I will add this caveat, that i DO NOT know if invites have gone out yet. My advice, though, is based on being prudent and excersising common sense.

good luck david!

rg

 

[PoolSharkAllen]

Here's the biggest reason I would bar UPA players from my events. Over the years I've stood up for and helped lots of players. For example when Don Mackey and the then MPBA wouldn't let Mike Zugland play in my 1995 Straight Pool tournament, well, I got on my high horse and straightened the matter out. It was no easy task, believe me.
Now that I would love to play in this upcoming 14.1 event no player(s) utters a single word to rectify the situation. It just can't be a oneway street with the helping department.

It sounds to me like there is a lot of back-scratching going on here. Players get invited to events based upon who they know and not necessarily how qualified they are.

 

[BillYards]

I can't pass up this opportunity to comment on what we used to call a "New York Gamble," which was no gamble at all. After Jersey Red, Boston Shorty, Irvolino, Richie Ambrose etc. left NYC, in order to get a pool bet in NY your body had to be decomposing. When I was on the road in NYC, I got zero money games. Zero. Me. I've been know to get action in the game room at the Sistine Chapel. I was in McGirrs one night, practicing on the main table. A hustler walked up to me and asked me if I played 1pkt. I said yes. He asked me if I wanted to play for $10 a game. I said yes. He said, "Ha Ha, see you later." and walked away. Steve, your offer to back young 300 ball runners against someone on social security sounds strangely nostalgic.
So that all the Jersey guys dont feel left out, your gamble quotient was probably about 5% higher than NYC, and that did include Allen Hopkins, who when I played him bank pool in Chicago, swore he would play me for days (while he had me stuck), but when I raised the bet and got even, he hopped like Bugs Bunny. He and his backer were even amazingly immune to the barrage of insults that I heaped on their East Coast heritage after they quit. Truthfully, all the great East Coast players and I were great pals throughout the years, but that don't mean I'd want any of them marrying my sister.
Rave on, Grady and don't let ego trick you into falling for one of those NY traps.
And a race to 1000 points? Gosh, Steve, that's really looking to lock things up. Does Grady have to flunk a physical too?

the Beard

This is the most outstanding post I have read for quite a while... I was rolling on the floor!