Player Auctions?

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
I have never been to a tournament where there was a players auction. Do the top players (top 5) in the auction buy themselves, buy 1/2 of them selves, or just hope for a tip? Johnnyt
 
Depends...,

More and more guys are just sitting it out and hoping for a tip. There are some guys that buy part of themselves, but lots just hope to get brought by someone generous
 
Problem with your better players is there is typically an inverse relationship in their income...the better the player/ the more likely they are flat broke.

Around here very few bid themselves up. When there are big regional events and a top pro comes in, they usually never buy themselves either...although they usually win.

There's no big money in pool in the northeast...maybe down south, but not here.
 
around here there is a bit of both. some guys will bid on themselves and others will just take half of whatever they sell for. i'd say there are very few that just hope for the tip, but there aren't many bids getting over 4-500 for a player. at our local monthly the auction pots do get pretty good for a local monthly tournament though.
 
I have never been to a tournament where there was a players auction. Do the top players (top 5) in the auction buy themselves, buy 1/2 of them selves, or just hope for a tip? Johnnyt

You have to be VERY careful at any tournament with an auction. If you are not careful you will get chopped up and never know it. For that reason I never buy anyone other than myself or someone I "really" trust....period.
 
You have to be VERY careful at any tournament with an auction. If you are not careful you will get chopped up and never know it. For that reason I never buy anyone other than myself or someone I "really" trust....period.

Can you elaborate on this? I'm having a hard time understanding. How can you get "chopped" up?? You either bought the guy or you didn't. And he either got half himself or he didn't.
And if they want to share a purchase, good on them. Got nothing to do with my half.
My horse wins = I get paid = no getting chopped up.

Slap-chop!! :cool:
 
In tournaments that I have played in which have a calcutta, if you are bought by someone else then they are supposed to offer you a chance to buy a portion of yourself, usually a quarter or half of the price you went for. If you do not want to buy a portion of yourself, sometimes another person can buy your portion, if the person who bought you wants to reduce his or her risk of losing money if you do not make the money. Same goes when you buy someone else. Plus in most cases calcuttas have to be squared away before the tournament bracket is drawn or play begins.
 
Can you elaborate on this? I'm having a hard time understanding. How can you get "chopped" up?? You either bought the guy or you didn't. And he either got half himself or he didn't.
And if they want to share a purchase, good on them. Got nothing to do with my half.
My horse wins = I get paid = no getting chopped up.

Slap-chop!! :cool:

One "VERY" strong player and a couple of better than average players enters a tournament along with around 25 so-so players and another 10 or-so complete bangers that cannot play dead.

Well, as to be expected the ONE very strong player went for way over a $1,000. His wife and the two stronger than average players (cousins of VERY strong player) ran him up.

LOL......as to be expected, the VERY strong player dominates the tournament UNTIL the finals were ONE of the TWO stronger than average players (cousin of VERY strong player) beats him like he stole something and puts him out. It was so freaking obvious he threw the match.

Then........."some cant play dead player" (turns out to be friend of VERY strong player) all of a sudden comes from losers bracket and beats both of the stronger than average players in a race to 9......EACH.

Why does it matter.......well.......I found out later that this SAME people have been doing this for a long time now. They will only do it when a large turnout and auction gets big.

LOL.......funny thing is this........let the auctions go cheap and EITHER the VERY strong player or one of his cousins wins EVERY TIME.

Let the money get right and NEVER FAILS...........some stranger that just so happens to know the strong players........wins.

They are splitting the tournament up. They do it all the time and I am not the only one that sees it. For that reason that particular tournament has been losing players for the last few months.

LOL.........this is not something new. I've saw it before and I'm sure I will see it again. Thing is you have to be able to spot the mark after just a couple tournaments or they will milk and RUIN the tournament in the long run.

I sure hope you understand that.

I'm not saying you have been chopped. I AM saying my tournament has been chopped.

I know for a FACT.
 
what jrctherake means is you buy a guy, and he has an agreement with one or more players to chop up whatever they win as a group. They split winnings, your guy gets something and you get nothing. Maybe he dumps to let somebody else win big.
 
I have never been to a tournament where there was a players auction. Do the top players (top 5) in the auction buy themselves, buy 1/2 of them selves, or just hope for a tip? Johnnyt
I think it has a lot to do with how big the pot gets and what kind of odds that a top player gets on their money, most of the top guys will wait until the auction is over and see what the payouts are before they decide to buy half or not.

A lot of the top guys sell for so much that the return on their bet is just not worth the risk, and of course the strength of the field is a big factor too.

Weekend before last at the 4 Bears event SVB was top bid and sold for $6,500 after the auction Shane saw what the payouts were and decided to buy half of himself he got 3rd place in the event so he made about 450 bucks over the money he put up.

4 Bears auction payouts
Capture.JPG

Anybody that buys a top guy in the blind without knowing the payout is at risk of making a bad bet sometimes the top guys sell for so much that they have to win to even make a small profit.

This last weekend at the Houston Open Kevin Cheng was 1st blind bid and sold for $3,000 and 1st in the auction paid only $3,770 that is really bad money odds Kevin got 4th place in the event.

Houston Open payouts
Capture1.JPG
 
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Can you elaborate on this? I'm having a hard time understanding. How can you get "chopped" up?? You either bought the guy or you didn't. And he either got half himself or he didn't.
And if they want to share a purchase, good on them. Got nothing to do with my half.
My horse wins = I get paid = no getting chopped up.

Slap-chop!! :cool:

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think he is referring to getting cheated by the person who you buy in the calcutta. For example in a local tournament that is no longer held, I heard of several top players who were always in the money trying to blackmail the person who bought their calcutta into giving them half of their calcutta in exchange for nothing. If the person refused to give the player their calcutta, then the players would dump their matches so that the person who bought the calcutta would get nothing.
 
what jrctherake means is you buy a guy, and he has an agreement with one or more players to chop up whatever they win as a group. They split winnings, your guy gets something and you get nothing. Maybe he dumps to let somebody else win big.

Exactly.

It ruins tournament $$$ action. I use to bet heavy in the particular tournament I mentioned until I found out what was happening.

That tournament use to have 40+ players every time and the 1st place pot from auction was usually between $1,500 and $2,500.

Lately that same tournament is a joke. The last few have had 1st place auctions of around $250 to $300 for 20 or so players.

Before that was found out even the average player would bid on themselves. LOL......now, most pay their entry fee........and then play........no bidding to speak of past 20 or so dollars.

Anyways, yep.......EXACTLY!
 
Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think he is referring to getting cheated by the person who you buy in the calcutta. For example in a local tournament that is no longer held, I heard of several top players who were always in the money trying to blackmail the person who bought their calcutta into giving them half of their calcutta in exchange for nothing. If the person refused to give the player their calcutta, then the players would dump their matches so that the person who bought the calcutta would get nothing.

I've seen that particular situation before as well.
 
This last weekend at the Carom Room event here is the top 4 players picked in the auction.

1st SVB $4,500
2nd Alex Pagulayan $4,000
3rd Dennis Orcullo $4,000
4th Sky Woodward $3,800

Here is the top 4 finishers

1st Alex Pagulayan
2nd Josh Roberts
3rd Sky Woodard
4th Roberto Gomez

So 2 out of top the 4 players picked made money bidding on a top player is risky business and can be very expensive :smile:

14459014_320102765015470_1313677396_n.jpg
 
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It's how we make our money in local tournament. buy in may be 10-20 bucks with 24 players. that is only 240-480 in tournament money- calcutta may have 2-3k in it easily. If you feel like someone is underranked, then by him. I usually try and get myself if I do not go for too much that is. Sometimes it is just not worth taking that chance, you usually do better gambling on the side. But auctions are a great way to get everyone involved. Kind of like draft kings or fanduel, you can by your team for that tournament for a price.
 
Then there is also the "trick" where the player has the auctioneer announce with their name, that they are NOT buying any of themselves back. Then, they often go for a much lower price, as the buyer needs to pay for the full amount themselves.

Then the person buying has an agreement with the player that indeed the player WILL buy half of themselves in secret. So they both may end-up paying much less than they probably would have had they not told this little fib.
 
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what jrctherake means is you buy a guy, and he has an agreement with one or more players to chop up whatever they win as a group. They split winnings, your guy gets something and you get nothing. Maybe he dumps to let somebody else win big.

Yeah, I have seen it happen many times. It is a very low thing to do. That is what always scares me about Calcutas. If I get purchased for a lot of money, and then play good up until the finals, and then make a few mistakes in the finals that lose me the tournament, then the person who purchased me might think I threw off (if they see that I happen to know and am friends with the player who I played in the finals, and lost against).
 
Player Auction

I think there is a lot of risk to buying the top players in the barbox, alternate break format tournaments. The top players are not "guaranteed" to place and as has already been noted, the odds on the money may not be there. It is such a crap shoot at these events where you have multiple pros and top amateur or road players. Plus, you have some local guys that can play and are capable of beating a pro or road player in these formats. If the format was winner break or take what you make 8-ball, it definitely makes a difference. Likewise, at The Carom Room with the rule about jump cues not being allowed...it makes a difference. A lot of amateurs can get a good hit with a jump cue but are at a loss when it comes to kicking balls (especially having to use multiple rails to get there) or trying to jump with their playing cue. This again puts the pros/top amateurs at a slight advantage over the other players. It is not very often that I see the top players bid themselves up. I did see Justin Bergman buy himself for over $1,000 in an event though. That is pretty strong. But, it also insures that he has complete control in his matches and if he decides to chop at the end, he doesn't need to consult anyone about doing so. These players are already stuck with the cost of travel and the entry. I doubt many can go around to every tournament buying half themselves or all of themselves and still break even or be profitable. It is a tough grind. I will occasionally try to buy players in the player auction but I don't bet high because I don't have that sort of disposable income and I tend to look for players I know can play who are a bit unknown to the locals. It doesn't happen often that someone sneaks in...but it does happen occasionally.
 
A friend and I bought a pair of top of the field players for $400. They bought half, so I had $100 in it.

I finished in 4th place, losing to one of my guys. The other guy won the tournament.

My incentive to win that last match dropped quite a bit knowing that I stood to not win as much by beating my Calcutta player out.
 
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