Reaction to pros in local tournaments?

Da Poet said:
The folks that complain about a pro in a tournament are probably quick to brag outside the room that they were in the tournament with the pro as well. lol
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They would be bragging even if they didn't play the pro.

Player 1 "I played a tournament with Johnny Archer!!"

Player 2 "How did you do?"

Player 1 "I lost"

Player 3 "You did not even PLAY Johnny!!"

Player 1 "Yeah, but I was in the tournament with him!"

I would gladly play in a local tournament if there was a pro present. Just to watch them play in person is a free lesson.
 
PoolSponge said:
I would love to have world beaters compete in our local events. I pay $100 entries to play mostly low level pros and semi's. I would love to pay the same and play off against John Schmitt or Johnny Archer or the likes.
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Last night was relatively small so for $12 :eek: you had a real high likelihood of matching up with Hillbilly if you won your first two sets. Unfortunately he didn't play, and even more unfortunately I didn't win my first two sets.:(
 
Thanks for the responses guys- I knew I wasn't alone in my way of seeing it!

Steve
 
Runnin8 said:
Last night was relatively small so for $12 :eek: you had a real high likelihood of matching up with Hillbilly if you won your first two sets. Unfortunately he didn't play, and even more unfortunately I didn't win my first two sets.:(
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I paid $65 to match up with him in the first fast eddie's tourny this season! He was my first draw and kicked my butt 9 - 2! However I learned a lot from that match, and even though I was out gunned I played really well! My nerves weren't as bad as I thought they might be! He even gave me some pretty useful tips after the game. He is such a nice guy! He didn't wind up winning the tourney, but he is such a strong player! I really did enjoy getting a lesson from him! That is how I look at it when I play any player that is better than me though. I keep learning and keep getting better myself. Maybe one day I will be helping others by giving them lessons! LOL
 
People have to be nuts not to want hillbilly in a small tournament. The guy is full of information about pool and shares it willingly.

I quit playing a long time ago because I was banned from almost every tournament in town unless it was a handicapped tourney and I'm not even close to a pro player. Very few players in my town have any desire to be better players, they're perfectly content winning their $30-80 instead of contending in bigger tournaments and possibly winning hundreds or even thousands. If we had some pro level players that were allowed to play here, I'd probably start playing again.
 
I may be biased as I have never seen a pro in any of the rooms I go to, aside from a Joss tour stop, so I would love the chance to play any of them. Unless the entry fee is a C note, who cares if someone comes in and robs the place? Heck, just this past week we had some APA players come into our weekly tournament, and funny thing happened, they knocked out all of the favorites but one. We were hanging outside as I was about to go home and one of the guys said "look at all us losers out here" :o :) . I'd take Mike Zuglan beating me than a C player any day.

There are some who would complain, but those are people who take the tournament as either a way to make income or people who feel they need to beat someone to feel self-worth. There are players I know who would pretend to go deaf before playing people their speed even up, but jump at a chance of showing up a D player.
 
If its a decent sized tourny 20-32 players ranging from B- to A- skills, then I could care less if a Pro showed up for a 15$ tournament. I mean atleast everyone is going to get a decent lession and maybe someone gets lucky and beats the Pro. Expecially in a short race to 5 or 7, anything can happen.

Now!!! on the flip side, I've seen guys who are B+ / A- players try to get into a cheap 5$ tournament that was for the C/D players. Because there is no tournament for the higher skilled players. But then when someone does run a Open tournament for the better players, nobody shows up!!! Or every world beater in the surrounding 10 counties show up! and then everyone is beating the daylights outa each other for the 100$ first place prize and the tournament fades after a few weeks, cuz the lower end players realize they have no chance.
 
This past Saturday Earl showed up for a local $10.00 eightball tourney; race to two on 9 foot Brunswicks. There was mixed reaction when he walked into the pool room. Since this is the area he lived and practiced for most of his career, he has a loyal following and those not so loyal. The first comment I heard from one his old friends is " this is an amateur tournament", and he proceeded to move toward the registration area. He sat down near the bar and watched everyone practicing and my friends were hoping to get an opportunity to lock up with him. It would have a good experience for us all, Earl might not have liked it though. Anyway he left without playing,mumbling something about "if they were 4 inch pockets..............."
 
There is no fix for this, some rooms accept great players, others don't, some have em and the tourney drys up, some rooms everyone whines some rooms that if you win you have to give up another game next time, those always eventually die off. Great players if they are smart, never sign up or come in till the last minute, Medina in his prime was a perfect example of that.
 
Yeah I actually meant 7 in a race to eleven...

Scott Lee said:
Jaden...No doubt! It's not the same bet at all. Giving 3-5 would be equal to giving 7-11. 5-11 is entirely different, and much less of a spot. :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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I would rather give seven in a race to eleven also. Anything where the guy has to win more than two games. Anyone can luck in a nineball or make a good carom or kiss for two games no matter how well you can control the table. I guess that was the point I was trying to make. Even though statistically giving 3-5 is about the same as 7-11, I think that it's easier for the better player to give 7-11 because the lesser player would have to either get luckier or play more skillful to get the four games rather than the two.
 
ccshrimper said:
People have to be nuts not to want hillbilly in a small tournament. The guy is full of information about pool and shares it willingly.

I quit playing a long time ago because I was banned from almost every tournament in town unless it was a handicapped tourney and I'm not even close to a pro player. Very few players in my town have any desire to be better players, they're perfectly content winning their $30-80 instead of contending in bigger tournaments and possibly winning hundreds or even thousands. If we had some pro level players that were allowed to play here, I'd probably start playing again.
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You can come play at my house! And so can little Shane! I have the desire to get better...............I want to be able to play like the big boys! LOL I am trying to make every Fast Eddie's stop I can this year, and I have so much to learn. I got a ways to go to get to the level I want to be at! LOL
 
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True Dat.....

Scottster said:
Every player that B1tches and moans about a pro player playing in local tournaments, especially with cheap entry fees, cares only about the money, and lacks the following: love for the game of pool, the drive to inprove their game and the courage to compete.

Players should be ecstatic to butt horns with pro players for such a low amount of money.

All players that complain about this make me sick, and I will tell this to your face as well, I dont hide my identity.
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I'd never have this story to tell if pros couldn't play......I would have been robbed of this "once-in-a-lifetime" experience:

The weekend after Thanksgiving every year a nice 4-Man team 8-Ball Tourney is held in Sandusky, OH (usually maybe 45-50 teams). So the last time I went was in 1997 and I think my very mediocre team finished 10th. This is a triple elimination tournament so your team is not out until you lose your 3rd time. It's a race to 7 games with each team member slotted in to play a different member of the opposition each set. Well since it got down to 10 teams, each match was being played on 2 tables at once. We got our butts kicked 7-0 (it was kind of hard to watch both tables but I know I did not miss 1 ball in my two games). The opposition: Dee Adkins, Corey Deuel, Troy Frank & Jason Kirkwood :eek: . The funny thing after we got knocked out: I don't think this team that beat us (Young Guns) won the tournament!
But what a team! Have you played against a better 4-Man team? I probably never will!
 
Mixed Emotions

on this, for the following reasons:

1) One reason Pool has not progressed is because of a lack of definition between the levels of play, with promotion for each level along the learning curve way. Just like Baseball has AA/AAA/pro levels, Pool needs this type of classification for it to be supported on a National level with a top organization overseeing it. Semi-Pro level is especially a level that needs proper definition.
2) You can play a pro or real good player anytime for $5 or $10 a game on the challenge table.
3) If the tournament is 32 players or more, I have no problem with them playing.
4) If they are 16 or less, I don't think they should play.
5) Around here, A+ players are banned from certain weekly tournaments.
6) Some of the handicap systems will keep you going up and up till you can no longer have a chance to win, even if you played almost perfect.
7) Players will not continue to play 'every week' with no chance to win, they have to be able to have a chance to win 1 match at least.
8) I was playing a match at a weekly tournament, 8 ball, and it was a 5-2
match, with me going to 5, and my opponent is very capable of running out. He broke and ran the last game to win the tournament.
9) Weekly tournaments that go above winning 7 games max is self-defeating and takes too much time.
10) Some players make anywhere from $200-600 dollars a month playing those little weekly tournaments. And if you don't have a regular job, or on disability, that money means more than you think it does.
11) Regional tournaments always have pro or pro level players. (64 players or larger).

I am not really taking a stance one way or the other because I see issues for both sides of the argument.
 
You Pays Your Money And Takes Your Chances

We didn't have many whiners in the Planet 9-Ball weekly tournaments. Our weekly tournaments were originally started for the League players, but not so many chose to play in the tournaments. We got more and more players from other rooms and I had to finally start handicapping the tournament in order to level the playing field.

We had beginners, girls, kids, wheelchair players, league players, assorted lobsters, shortstops and Pros (including HOFers) rubbing elbows with each other.

On any given week you might find, Ray Martin, Buddy Hall, Wade Crane, Richie Richeson, Aaron Aragon, Tony Anigoni, Ed Ames, Richie Orem, James Roberts, Tony Crosby, Richard Broumpton, Will Bilbrey, Trevor Braymore, AZBers JohnnyT. & Bill O. AND "Short Bus" Russ, , Jason Richko, Jose DelRio,"Little Goose" Conway, Dan Lavoie, N.Y. Blackie and a host of others whose names escape me at the moment.

The players ate, drank, partied and had a great time for only a $10 Entry, $100 Added tournament. There was Free practice time for hours before the tournament and often tournament players weren't charged time AFTER the tournament or when they were knocked out, unless they were gambling.

Everyone had alot of fun and when the Pros were knocked out by a lobster there were cheers, back slapping and rounds of drinks....... sometimes, I miss it.

This mixing of C players and all the way up to HOFers was not unique to Planet 9-Ball. There were and still are tournaments almost every night around this area and you never know who you might draw as an opponent, including Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Rodney Morris, Rob Saez, Corey Deuel and many other Pros passing through central Florida. It almost like a SmorgassBored.... imo

Doug
 
Smorgass Bored said:
We had beginners, girls, kids, wheelchair players, league players, assorted lobsters, shortstops and Pros (including HOFers) rubbing elbows with each other.



Doug
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What's a lobster?
 
Tell Em That You Heard It Here.... At AZB

Jude Rosenstock said:
What's a lobster?
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LOL... a lobster is a player that can barely hold a cue in their claws and is unlikey to beat any good player. It's the look when the Pro players get when they walk into a room holding a weekly or monthly tournament and see the field. Like any good gambler, they spot the players that 'might' give them trouble and then like a starving hungry player, they lump and then throw the remaining 'lobsters' into the pot for a veritable seafood feast.... imo

Doug

*Lobster: noun; a player there to feed the hungry big fish, with little chance of getting anywhere NEAR the money.
 
I for one am all for pros playing in "Open" or Handicapped tournaments. I had the opportunity to play Rodolfo Luat at a tournament in Grayslake, IL. There was one whiner that did withdraw from the tournament. I drew Rodolfo as my first match. I am a "B" player in the Wisconsin BCA league in Milwaukee. Granted, I am a strong "B" player. I really only play on barboxes but welcomed the opportunity to play a freaking World Champion for the mere $30 or $40 it cost me to enter!!!! I got beat 9 to 1 but I had chances to win on several occasions apart from the one rack I ran. I even got ball-in-hand more than I gave him ball-in-hand. I was a wreck due to the excitement and nervousness to play someone of this caliber. Not to mention of course that I maybe play on a 9-footer like a half a dozen times a year. I will be able to talk about that experience forever. I for one love to play and I play players all the time WITHOUT a spot just to see how I stand up to them even knowing that I am probably going to lose. I do not gamble outside of my means however and I love to play in tournaments. I mean for the vast majority of players in the tournaments...we are AMATEURS. How many of the players honestly play because they are banking on the monetary payout? I play to BEAT whoever I am playing. I want to be the best that I can be regardless of whether or not I am winning money. I will play you just as hard. I will tell you however, that I will play "safe-to-death" when playing for money or in tournaments. I do not typically play safe in a friendly match...I practice playing very aggressive and try to get out on every turn.
 
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