Question on Predator 9-ball Tour

Jen_Cen

Jen_Cen

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There are some WPBA players I see in the standings.

But sometimes they are rated Pro, sometimes they are B or C even.

Is this a mistake?

Thanks,
Jen
 
It's no mistake, JEn.

The ratings on that tour are based on known ability of players, regardless of whether they play on a pro tour or not.

FWIW, I would say about half the WPBA pros play "B" speed or so.


Eric
 
Jen_Cen said:
There are some WPBA players I see in the standings.

But sometimes they are rated Pro, sometimes they are B or C even.

Is this a mistake?

Thanks,
Jen
Click to expand...


I can't think of any WPBA Pro that is rated a C. It's a little confusing since we're assuming that all WPBA participants are ranked as "Touring Professionals". Every WPBA event has 64 players, a percentage of which are invited by the WPBA. The remaining percentage is granted by qualifier and a handful of spots are often granted to local players to make sure the field is full.

With that said, yes you will occasionally see participants in the WPBA that are ranked as C players BUT oftentimes these players are only allowed to play in that single event and must qualify for any others. The Touring Professionals of the WPBA are AT LEAST B speed. I would say the average is somewhere near A (+/-).

I'm not a close follower of the WPBA. I do keep tabs on my friends and that's just about it. Which players were you thinking of?
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
I can't think of any WPBA Pro that is rated a C. It's a little confusing since we're assuming that all WPBA participants are ranked as "Touring Professionals". Every WPBA event has 64 players, a percentage of which are invited by the WPBA. The remaining percentage is granted by qualifier and a handful of spots are often granted to local players to make sure the field is full.

With that said, yes you will occasionally see participants in the WPBA that are ranked as C players BUT oftentimes these players are only allowed to play in that single event and must qualify for any others. The Touring Professionals of the WPBA are AT LEAST B speed. I would say the average is somewhere near A (+/-).

I'm not a close follower of the WPBA. I do keep tabs on my friends and that's just about it. Which players were you thinking of?
Click to expand...

I didn't want to name names, but I guess Pro players are in the public eye.

Caroline Pao is on the WPBA website as one of the "official" Pros. But she was listed as a C in the Predator 9-ball tour last season.

I'm not trying to slag anyone. I'm just more curious about my chances of playing in the WPBA, since I'm about a C.
 
Jen_Cen said:
I didn't want to name names, but I guess Pro players are in the public eye.

Caroline Pao is on the WPBA website as one of the "official" Pros. But she was listed as a C in the Predator 9-ball tour last season.

I'm not trying to slag anyone. I'm just more curious about my chances of playing in the WPBA, since I'm about a C.
Click to expand...


I just checked the standings and she's listed as a B player (http://www.predator9balltour.com/player_points.htm). However, what is not completely explained by the Predator Tour is that it's NOT a handicapped tour. The rating system is simply used for registration fees and occasionally tiered prize allocation. They don't have to be entirely accurate.

Caroline Pao is definitely not a C player. I can't imagine her being ranked anything less than B/B+ though I haven't seen her play much recently.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
I just checked the standings and she's listed as a B player (http://www.predator9balltour.com/player_points.htm). However, what is not completely explained by the Predator Tour is that it's NOT a handicapped tour. The rating system is simply used for registration fees and occasionally tiered prize allocation. They don't have to be entirely accurate.

Caroline Pao is definitely not a C player. I can't imagine her being ranked anything less than B/B+ though I haven't seen her play much recently.
Click to expand...

Last year they had her as a C. I wonder if they have the standings from last year.

But anyway, I'll take your word for it. I suspected that a WPBA C did not really equate to a C in other tours.
 
Jen_Cen said:
I didn't want to name names, but I guess Pro players are in the public eye.

Caroline Pao is on the WPBA website as one of the "official" Pros. But she was listed as a C in the Predator 9-ball tour last season.

I'm not trying to slag anyone. I'm just more curious about my chances of playing in the WPBA, since I'm about a C.
Click to expand...


Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your last point. Although I would imagine just getting invited to the WPBA tour would be cool, your goal should go well beyond that. You want to be competitive. There's a lot of travel, the entry fees are high, there's little sponsorship to go around. B-level is where the WPBA begins. A-level is the beginning of where you want to be.

As a C-level player, you're going to have a difficult time winning a match in the WPBA. In fact, you would probably have a difficult time winning 5 racks in a race to 9. That's not to say you shouldn't do it. Let your budget and your heart tell you that. I'm simply saying that for now, you might want to focus more on regional events, just to keep the cost down. What's more, there's a lot of money to be won in women's amateur pool. You might as well take advantage of that for now.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore your last point. Although I would imagine just getting invited to the WPBA tour would be cool, your goal should go well beyond that. You want to be competitive. There's a lot of travel, the entry fees are high, there's little sponsorship to go around. B-level is where the WPBA begins. A-level is the beginning of where you want to be.

As a C-level player, you're going to have a difficult time winning a match in the WPBA. In fact, you would probably have a difficult time winning 5 racks in a race to 9. That's not to say you shouldn't do it. Let your budget and your heart tell you that. I'm simply saying that for now, you might want to focus more on regional events, just to keep the cost down. What's more, there's a lot of money to be won in women's amateur pool. You might as well take advantage of that for now.
Click to expand...

Great point, Jude. I guess there's a good reason why you keep seeing the same players in the TV matches.
 
Jen_Cen said:
Great point, Jude. I guess there's a good reason why you keep seeing the same players in the TV matches.
Click to expand...


Well, all the same, amateur pool is a lot of fun. I try to make it out to the BCA event in Las Vegas every year because it's just a blast. I know "WPBA Touring Pro" sounds great but "Women's Amateur National Champion" also has a nice ring to it.


FWIW, Caroline Pao finished 1st and 2nd in consecutive years in the Scotch Doubles Event in the BCA Event in Las Vegas.
 
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