Put on a table with new cloth

[X Breaker]

I am curious about how everyone would react to this situation:

It is the B side quarter finals, there is one table in the pool hall with a new cloth, and the rest of the 5 tables had cloth with the same age and condition.

There were two tables (one with new cloth, one with old) avaliable for the players to play on in the quarter finals. Instead of allocating the players to play on the table with the old cloth, the owner of the pool hall wanted to flip a coin to see which table the players had to play their match on. One player asked since there were two tables open, and both players have agreed to play on the table with the old cloth, why did the owner has to do this?

One player told the owner he would rather play on the table with the old cloth, as it is the kind of table he, and most players, have been playing on during the whole tournament. His opponent said he did not have a problem with that. The owner said he had to flip because he did not want anyone to complain, and because he did not want anyone to pick a favorite table.

There were only about 4 or so players left, and there were enough tables even if the table with the new cloth was closed. Anyway, the owner took offense to the questions, and he threatened to forfeit the matches if one player would not agree to the flip.

One player stated that there was never any flip until that point when the two players were going close into the money round, and since there were sufficient tables, the table with the new cloth really had no business to be included at that point in time.

This table was installed by the owner and one of the rails was not installed porperly so it was a bit loose, some of the cloth under the rail looked realy wrinkled. The owner of this pool hall, in my opinion, was taking this matter very personally, and he felt that the players did not respect him by questioning his decision, so he became very defensive. At this point, there was no hope for any meaningful conversation to take place any more.

This is a handicapped tournament, asking a player to switch to a brand new cloth table with a dead rail in the quarterfinals especially when one player has to spot the other is in my opinion, a bit strange, considering that it was really unneccesary to put the table with new cloth into the equation to begin with.

It seems to me the tournament director/pool hall owner wants everyone to listen to him without any question, and he wants everyone to follow his way. He was very offended when one player said he would rather play on the table with old cloth.

I have seen very good tournament director being a lot more flexible than this, because they put the benefits of the players first, and they want everyone to have a good time. Am I expecting too much?

Richard

 

[Snapshot9]

No ...

You are not expecting too much. I have complained about certain tables
in local weekly tournaments, and another table was given to me for my match. Or players complain about playing on the same table that their
opponent just got done playing a match on, and they are usually assigned
a new table.
The Room Owner was out of line here, IMO, and the only possible reason I can think of for his reasoning is if the newly clothed table was in a better
location within the room for railbirds to watch the match. It is a lot harder
though in BIG tournaments to get a table switched out.

 

[CaptainHook]

That does not sound very fair.

 

[X Breaker]

In my humble opinion, as limit as it may be, weekly pool tournaments are organized to promote the pool hall, and pool in general. Therefore, if I was the pool room owner, I would try to make my players feel good and comfortable coming to my room, and make it enjoyable for them to play in my tournament.

If both players agree to play on a certain table, I will respect that. It was reasonable for one player to object being move to the only table in the pool hall with the new cloth when there were other tables avaliable.

After all, why would I want to play power game to satisfy my ego when the whole point of having a tournament is to promote my business, which is all about satisfying my customers. What I saw happened seem to have achieved the exact opposite.

If I were a pool room owner, I would listen to comment from my customers, and try to improve my tournament to make it as enjoyable for the players as possible, so hopefully, they will come back and become my regular customers. It is unfortunate how this pool room owner seemed to have taken the objection very personally so it became an issue of his own ego and sense of authority.

It is sad to see some pool hall owners treating pool players as if they were bad news or whinners. Everyone has his or her opinion and preference. Just because someone does not agree with the owner does not mean he/she is a bad customer.

Just some food for thought.

Richard

 

[shinobi]

Given that this occured between you and I Richard, perhaps I can add some comments.

The whole purpose of moving players from table to table in a tournament is to stop some people from complaining that anyone has an advantage from repeatedly playing on a table and becoming familiar it. Thus, the TD decides which tables will be used (not the players).

Then, some people complain about how the TD picks the tables. In order to keep arguments to a minimum, our our TD does it this way:
- Move players every match to new tables they haven't used yet
- If no unused tables are left, flip coins or have both players choose playing cards from a pile of cards face down.

So, the TD is doing whatever possible to eliminate arguments about table selection by using a random, impartial method of selection.

In our specific situation, there were no unused tables. I had just played on the table with new cloth. You had just played on the table with old cloth. He was to flip a coin as he always does in that situation. You complained strongly because you were opposed to the table with new cloth. I told the TD that I was happy to accept whatever table he selected for us both. You interpreted that as "See? He doesn't mind to play on either table, so let's play on the one with old cloth". While it's true that I didn't mind to play on either table, I still want the TD to decide our fate, not you. I happen to think tossing a coin is just fine.

The coin toss determined our table was the one with new cloth. You asked if you could warm up on the new cloth and I was happy to oblige.

The TD is trying to run a tournament with as few arguments as possible. I happen to think that his process for selecting tables is fair to everyone. There will always be some who find something to complain about, but I don't think this situation warrants complaint.

 

[X Breaker]

I always wish pool would become a major sports and players will be able to make it a proud profession with a nice sum of cash to show for. It is sad to see how some business owner would treat players with no respect and just catergorize anyone with any opinion "someone who always find something to complain." In order to make money, business owners need to respect players and listen to them, and players needs to respect one another. We need to help each other in order to inject more money into this industry so we could all benefit.

As a small business owner, I alway tell myself to listen to my customer's opinion with an open mind. I think it is important to realize that if a customer does not care about your product/service at all, he would not take his precious time to tell you what he thinks.

I strongly believe one needs an open mind to improve, and improvment on a continuous basis is essential to success.

My point of my post is not to attack, that is why no name was posted, but to express my opinion, and to hear what everyone think about this kind of situation.

By the way, Shinobi, I really appreciate you telling me how you liked your X breaker. Thank you for using your X breaker in the tournament, and congratulation to your 1st place finish.

I am glad you got a good price selling your BK2.

Thank you.

Richard

PS, there are always three sides to a story. What you stated was not really what happend to me on that particular night, although I am not doubting that is what you thought happened. It is really not a big deal.

 

[shinobi]

By the way, Shinobi, I really appreciate you telling me how you liked your X breaker. Thank you for using your X breaker in the tournament, and congratulation to your 1st place finish.

I am quite happy with the X-Breaker. After I've used it a little longer I may post a review on AZBilliards if anyone is interested. Thanks for the congratulations. As Reyes would say, "I got lucky!"

-Tom

 

[thoffen]

The room owner should not have done that. It was a mistake on his part, and it is not a proper way to run a business.

That being said, the room owner did not try to advantage one player over another. He has the right to request that they play on the table with the new cloth. It's the wrong move, but if the players don't like it their option is to cut back their patronage of the room.

 

[shinobi]

Seems silly to complain when he'll be reclothing the other tables soon enough too. Soon half of them will be old, half new. Then eventually all new. Part of the game, no big deal.

 

[X Breaker]

The room owner should not have done that. It was a mistake on his part, and it is not a proper way to run a business.

That being said, the room owner did not try to advantage one player over another. He has the right to request that they play on the table with the new cloth. It's the wrong move, but if the players don't like it their option is to cut back their patronage of the room.

Unfortunately, I think this is what me, and a lot of my friends, have decided to do.

This weekly tournament used to be very big--some players drove an hour to get there; it is now the smallest weekly tournament in town.

A WPBA touring pro and the best players in town used to play there.

Actually, I was the one who started this tournament as there was no weekly tournament in town back then. I used to call eveyone and even picked the players up.

I remember when they ordered a batch of cloth last time, I suggested them to recloth all 5 tables within the week so when the tournament started on Monday, the tables would all have the same new cloth.

They have changed owner/management, since then things have been very different.

As a matter of fact, I still consider the new owner my friend and I really want to see him do well. I wish things would have been a bit different. O well.

Richard