Player Selection for First IPT Tournament

[Island Drive]

43 Players

I've been following the IPT news, hoping to gain an understanding of how this organization is going to unfold.

Yesterday, I got a message on my answering machine from Kevin Trudeau's secretary. I wasted no time in calling her back, and here's the skinny.

The first tournament will be held in Orlando beginning in late November. It will be restricted to 43 players; thus, an invitational.

Ten out of the 43 players will be Hall of Famers for the FIRST event. The remaining 33 participants will be chosen by Kevin Trudeau himself and nobody else, and the decision on who the 33 remaining players has not been made as of this time.

There's the skinny.

JAM

Jam, My hopes are with the 10 hall of famers, who will help create an electric atmosphere and add allot of class to the kick off event. This group of players have seen it all and I feel their guidance/experience/maturity is smartly placed, it will be very interesting seeing whom the balance of this group is.

 

[SlimShafty]

All you've mentioned is three hall of famers and one whose omission from the hall of fame is one of pool's longest running jokes. Yes, the hall of famers are in, as is the biggest draw in men's pool today, Earl Strickland.

What most of us are interested in is seeing whether the most elite competitors in men's pro pool today are invited, such as: Souquet, Archer, Hohmann, Immonen, Deuel, Wu, Kuo, Chao, Yang, Morris, Manalo, Bustamante, Chamat, Engert, Feijen, Owen and several others. Finally, if playing credentials don't come first, what will the selection criteria be: a) age, b) looks, c) nationality, d) affiliations or lack thereof with other pro pool organizations, e) level of friendship with Sigel, or f) other?

We're all on the edge of our seats, hoping that the field will be chosen i a way that we beleive serves the game's besat interests.

Well, just about all the ones you mentioned are invited, I know Ralf Souquet and Johnny Archer are on board, now you have to remember the first tournament is only 43 players and he wants to have as many of the old school players he can and it's his choice hence the term Invitational.

As for the selection of all 150, someone has to make the first choice and Kevin is good enough to put up his own money so I have absolutely no problem with his selecting players. And yes just about all the players you mentioned are invited, all the best are certainly going to be part of it, unless like I said they fear the WPA.

The tour is set up in such a way as to allow the best to continue to compete and the lesser players will fall of the list with a new set of players ready to beat them out in one of the opens, thats the beauty of having qualifiers and opens, nobody really picks players at that point and it's all about the ability!

At some point only the top 100 stay on tour and the bottom 50 will need to qualify for their tour card against new players wanting in every year. This creates a much higher level of competition with new blood practicing and fighting just to get a tour card and be one of the 150 best of the best, you think your good enough then you will have your chance, it's not going to be easy just ask the hundreds of golfers who try all the time to qualify for their tour card.

 

[bruin70]

tap tap tap

My sentiments exactly!

Mike: Okay, so we're not going to invite Thorsten, Johnny, Mika, Corey, Shawn, any touring professional in the top fifteen...
Kevin: Sounds good to me! Hey, will you scrub my back later in the shower?
Mike: Sure!

with this much money invested, this will not be a "let's fill mikey's pockets" event. not if T is serious about success.

 

[bruin70]

reyes and varner seem to be the only ones from that list that would still be able to compete with sigel, think they'll be invited?

it's about business,,,,and the goal of that successfull business is to draw attention. so there may be several reasons for different entrants. massey because he's well known to the general public for his trick shots. they might even invite cuelemans because he's the greatest 3C player ever.

the goal will also be that being this is a WORLD stage, they will have to emphasize non US players, since pool in the US has zero audience. or that's what i would have thought,,,,,so i can't figure out WHY orlando, fla, unless T has found a venue that has international significance.....disneyworld??

 

[bruin70]

All you've,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
What most of us are interested in is seeing whether the most elite competitors in men's pro pool today are invited, such as: Souquet, Archer, Hohmann, Immonen, Deuel, Wu, Kuo, Chao, Yang, Morris, Manalo, Bustamante, Chamat, Engert, Feijen, Owen and several others. Finally, if playing credentials don't come first, what will the selection criteria be: a) age, b,,,,,,,,,,,s.

i think they will HAVE TO draw internationally because the audience right now is clearly non US.............i say there will be at least 10-13 asians

 

[barrett9ball]

with this much money invested, this will not be a "let's fill mikey's pockets" event. not if T is serious about success.

tend to agree to that. My previous posts in the thread centered around discussion of Mike Sigel. Putting that aside I would have to agree that if they don't put the best players out there on the stage they will lose all credibility within the pool community. Now back to Sigel. If the whole thing about having to play him in the final is true then that too will be a HUGE problem. Forget just for a second that 10th place will likely pay more than this weeks U.S. open and think of it this way. Let's say the U.S. open started making the final player play Buddy Hall (or any number of past winners from the 1970's or 1980's). Who wants to play grueling match after match over 4 or 5 days (coming out on top) then have to play somebody who hasn't been in the spotlight for 10, 15 maybe 20 years

NOTE: all the respect in the world for Buddy Hall just using his name for an example as he was a past champion

 

[godzilla]

I just going to be happy when Reyes gets another pay day.

 

[huckster]

tap tap tap

Removed by request from original author


I'm not sure that anyone really gets it. Do you know Mike Sigel? I have spent a good deal of time with Mike and he is very ambitious. If he is invovled with this what is wrong with him reaping some benefit? This may be the greatest thing to happen to pro pool in the last 25 years and everyone seems to want to slam Mike and Kevin Trudeau. If this does not work out are any professionals much worse off than they are now? I used to steak quite a few top players and the tournamnt and gambling oppurtunities are very slim. I now play poker successfully. Give Mike Sigel and Kevin Trudeau a chance to make things better. This is only the first of many scheduled tournaments. If they do not come off then it may be our fault for not embracing this oppurtunity. I checked about becoming a member of the IPT and I am not a threat to beat anyone. (Cliff Joyner gives me 10 to 6 and my fouls don't count ouch)

 

[Teddy Harris]

I doubt it- afterall he cant compete on 'fast nap cloth'

When Sigel quit touring, he was ranked #1, and guess what? They played on Simonis then too.

 

[Bamacues]

I agree with Huckster and Ted Harris, but I will also admit that I am a big Mike Sigel fan.

I had a conversation with Mike a while back and he said one of the real reasons he quit touring was the fact that there was not a lot of money in pool, especially when you factor the costs of being on the road all the time, etc. I hope that Trudeau can bring some real money into the game so that the best players will come out and play. I don't really know if the greatest players are on the tour or on the "road"....some mighty good players don't play on any tour.

Another reason was that he had to be gone so long away from Renee and their 2 small children. Colin mentioned the tremendous success to poker after Chris Moneymaker won the tourney and ESPN carried it so much....hopefully something like this would happen in pool.

It is just my opinion and nothing more, but I feel that Mike Sigel would be VERY competitive if he has an incentive (like large payouts) to go back to practicing and working at being a player. It is simply that the business of pool is a real distractor to the game of pool....very tough to do both.

A very good friend once told me "If you want to play a lot of pool, don't buy a pool hall."

 

[SlimShafty]

I'm not sure that anyone really gets it. Do you know Mike Sigel? I have spent a good deal of time with Mike and he is very ambitious. If he is invovled with this what is wrong with him reaping some benefit? This may be the greatest thing to happen to pro pool in the last 25 years and everyone seems to want to slam Mike and Kevin Trudeau. If this does not work out are any professionals much worse off than they are now? I used to steak quite a few top players and the tournamnt and gambling oppurtunities are very slim. I now play poker successfully. Give Mike Sigel and Kevin Trudeau a chance to make things better. This is only the first of many scheduled tournaments. If they do not come off then it may be our fault for not embracing this oppurtunity. I checked about becoming a member of the IPT and I am not a threat to beat anyone. (Cliff Joyner gives me 10 to 6 and my fouls don't count ouch)

Yup, I think a lot people just don't know much about Mike, and it makes me sad when I see people who love pool make statements about him that are so far from the truth it's not even funny. Some people just have the completely wrong idea about him, every time I have had the chance to talk to him he has been very friendly and gracious, and he cares a lot about the other players and the health of the sport.

Mike's just a hard competitor and smart about business as well. Just because he thinks about the economics of pool doesn't mean he doesn't love it, quit the opposite Mike wants to see the players make what they deserve and have a healthy sport. Right now the sport is not healthy and the majority of players struggle with stress, fatigue and worries about money travel and expenses.

Thankfully most players respect Mike and are happy the chance is even there to make this tour happen, those who are critical of him may not have ever meet him or know much about him, so it's a shame if they love pool so much they have to look down on a guy who gave us such great moments in the past and cares about our future.

 

[jjinfla]

I heard from a former US Open Champion that in the first event, they will play down to one player and then that player will play Mike Sigel for the Championship!! Believe it or Not!

As Trudeau is fond to point out in his book, "it is all about the money".

And he has a nice little gimmick or twist for the final match that is sure to elicit controversy which gets people talking which generates publicity which generates interest which generates spectators to fill the seats which generates MONEY.

And which player out there will complain that if he wins the tournament he will have to play Mike Sigel for a chance to win more money in one match than any pro player has won in the US totally in any two years? And that is if he loses to Mike.

Just look at how many players get into those $50,000 winner take all tournaments.

Yep. It is all about the MONEY.

 

[onepocketchump]

tend to agree to that. My previous posts in the thread centered around discussion of Mike Sigel. Putting that aside I would have to agree that if they don't put the best players out there on the stage they will lose all credibility within the pool community. Now back to Sigel. If the whole thing about having to play him in the final is true then that too will be a HUGE problem. Forget just for a second that 10th place will likely pay more than this weeks U.S. open and think of it this way. Let's say the U.S. open started making the final player play Buddy Hall (or any number of past winners from the 1970's or 1980's). Who wants to play grueling match after match over 4 or 5 days (coming out on top) then have to play somebody who hasn't been in the spotlight for 10, 15 maybe 20 years

NOTE: all the respect in the world for Buddy Hall just using his name for an example as he was a past champion

I don't think Kevin really cares all to much about whether the pool community supports him or not. His gold - his rules. If he wants to set Mike Sigel up on top to start out then that's his choice. Mike ran about ten racks against Loree Jon. Obviously he can still play pretty sporty.

I think that if Kevin produces this thing in the manner that the first one was done then you will see a tour with golf-like standards and pro-wrestling style hype. Kevin will virtually own professional pool. Which will be great for some and not so much for others. The amateur tournaments, leagues and so on will not go away.

Maybe someone else will step forward and create a competing circuit. After all money attracts money.

Get your autographs now before the price and access goes up. For every one of you that ever bitched about a $10 gate fee at a pro event welcome to the new era of pro-pool and it's price.

John

 

[Bamacues]

Yup, I think a lot people just don't know much about Mike, and it makes me sad when I see people who love pool make statements about him that are so far from the truth it's not even funny. Some people just have the completely wrong idea about him, every time I have had the chance to talk to him he has been very friendly and gracious, and he cares a lot about the other players and the health of the sport.

Mike's just a hard competitor and smart about business as well. Just because he thinks about the economics of pool doesn't mean he doesn't love it, quit the opposite Mike wants to see the players make what they deserve and have a healthy sport. Right now the sport is not healthy and the majority of players struggle with stress, fatigue and worries about money travel and expenses.

Thankfully most players respect Mike and are happy the chance is even there to make this tour happen, those who are critical of him may not have ever meet him or know much about him, so it's a shame if they love pool so much they have to look down on a guy who gave us such great moments in the past and cares about our future.

Tap, tap, tap!!! Very well said!!