Ryan's Rant.

F

fxskater

Ryan The Salmon Arm Lynn
Silver Member
I have been a little pissed off at a few things in pool lately, so im starting a thread to discuss it with some forum friends.

Problem #1:
A bar in my small town is changing hands and the owner of the bar has agreed to do $100 guaranteed added tournaments every week. Usually tournaments around here are $5 added for every player to a maximum of $80, and lately we have only been getting 8-12 people. So this new tournament has more prize money than any other tournament around. One problem. I am not allowed to play. Everyone else is allowed to play but me. Why you ask? Do i drink to much? Have i had a problem with the people involved? NOPE!! Thier reason is, 'You are too good.' I win all the local tourny's about 80% of the time. But there are still guys that beat me. Lots of the time i have to recover and win from the b-side. And about every 3-4 months I'll go on a 3 week slump winning maybe only 1 tournament. I get bored, don't try, lose, get frustrated for a few weeks, lose confidence, lose more, get mad, start winning again. Do these people want to play the 2nd and 3rd best players all the time? Does it give them satisfaction knowing that they are not allowing the best availiable player? I just can't understand thier reasoning. The only reason i started getting better is because i had a drive to win, to beat the best and be the best. That is what got me interested in the game. I am not bragging myself up here, i am only using 'The best' in reference to myself because that is what they think. There are guys that are allowed to play that i dont think i could spot in 9-ball. Shitty players judging who the best is, is not fair. Can someone explain the logic of them not letting me play please?

Problem 2: I have pretty much quit going to one tourny because of thier tables. They are bar boxes that play pretty quick, and have lightning fast rails that bank short. They are also terribly unneven and at any time they can roll out 6 inches, making tight shape next to impossible. The 9 always moves on the break, usually leaving itself near a pocket. I have tried to prevent this with tight racks, but it always seems to wanna go in the pocket on the break or go over it for an early combo. If the 9 breaks in about 2% of the time on regular tables i would guess on these tables it is around 15% of the time. The other problem is that when balls are missed, they have a really good chance of going in another pocket. I have lost my last 4 matches there to fluke shots, 3 times i played safe and had the ball kicked in, and once the 9 got kicked 300 rails and somehow ended in a pocket. I've had a few 1 inning matches against d players. So what do you think. Am i being a pussy, should i try to overcome. Or are my complaints justified, shitty tables deserve to be boycotted. Im ready to take a beating on this one, have at 'er.

Problem 3: How the hell do i stop these slumps that come along like clockwork every 3-4 months. I'll sin 6 in a row, get 2nd, win a few more, take 3rd, win some, then lose 2 and out a few times in a 3 week period, maybe only winning 1 or 2 tournies. I think its cause i get bored, but maybe I'm wrong. Any ideas?

Ahh well, here ends my pissed off rant.

FXS.
 
fxskater said:
I have been a little pissed off at a few things in pool lately, so im starting a thread to discuss it with some forum friends.

Problem #1:
A bar in my small town is changing hands and the owner of the bar has agreed to do $100 guaranteed added tournaments every week. Usually tournaments around here are $5 added for every player to a maximum of $80, and lately we have only been getting 8-12 people. So this new tournament has more prize money than any other tournament around. One problem. I am not allowed to play. Everyone else is allowed to play but me. Why you ask? Do i drink to much? Have i had a problem with the people involved? NOPE!! Thier reason is, 'You are too good.' I win all the local tourny's about 80% of the time. But there are still guys that beat me. Lots of the time i have to recover and win from the b-side. And about every 3-4 months I'll go on a 3 week slump winning maybe only 1 tournament. I get bored, don't try, lose, get frustrated for a few weeks, lose confidence, lose more, get mad, start winning again. Do these people want to play the 2nd and 3rd best players all the time? Does it give them satisfaction knowing that they are not allowing the best availiable player? I just can't understand thier reasoning. The only reason i started getting better is because i had a drive to win, to beat the best and be the best. That is what got me interested in the game. I am not bragging myself up here, i am only using 'The best' in reference to myself because that is what they think. There are guys that are allowed to play that i dont think i could spot in 9-ball. Shitty players judging who the best is, is not fair. Can someone explain the logic of them not letting me play please?

Problem 2: I have pretty much quit going to one tourny because of thier tables. They are bar boxes that play pretty quick, and have lightning fast rails that bank short. They are also terribly unneven and at any time they can roll out 6 inches, making tight shape next to impossible. The 9 always moves on the break, usually leaving itself near a pocket. I have tried to prevent this with tight racks, but it always seems to wanna go in the pocket on the break or go over it for an early combo. If the 9 breaks in about 2% of the time on regular tables i would guess on these tables it is around 15% of the time. The other problem is that when balls are missed, they have a really good chance of going in another pocket. I have lost my last 4 matches there to fluke shots, 3 times i played safe and had the ball kicked in, and once the 9 got kicked 300 rails and somehow ended in a pocket. I've had a few 1 inning matches against d players. So what do you think. Am i being a pussy, should i try to overcome. Or are my complaints justified, shitty tables deserve to be boycotted. Im ready to take a beating on this one, have at 'er.

Problem 3: How the hell do i stop these slumps that come along like clockwork every 3-4 months. I'll sin 6 in a row, get 2nd, win a few more, take 3rd, win some, then lose 2 and out a few times in a 3 week period, maybe only winning 1 or 2 tournies. I think its cause i get bored, but maybe I'm wrong. Any ideas?

Ahh well, here ends my pissed off rant.

FXS.
Click to expand...

Problem 1) Welcome to Arizona...
Problem 2) "Good" players can adapt to all conditions...(I've seen it)
Problem 3) Quit playing in "novice" aka "banger" tournaments (travel if you have too)

Just my honest observation (from what I read)...sorry if it's harsh...
 
Harsh? Jeez, sounded like a Catholic Schoolgirl there. Yeah, traveling is good, unfortunately money is not availiable. Good players do adapt, but when your playing on a ridiculous table that rewards shooting every ball at 100mph skill means alot less. Maybe this is a better question. Am i hurting myself by continueing playing there? With lost confidence, strange tables, and general frustration, do you feel that its better to keep givin 'er?
 
fxskater said:
Can someone explain the logic of them not letting me play please?

FXS.
Click to expand...

Sure, dominant regular winners kill of bar tournaments. I've seen it plenty of times.

I learned it was best to go to these competitions occassionally cause if I won it 4 weeks straight, the lesser players would get it in their heads that they had no chance of winning and stop coming.

If I had a bar comp, I'd also ban the outstanding players, or handicap them. eg. If you win one week, you can only receive 2nd the next week. Some guys just come for the money, some great players are good customers too.

As an owner, you've got to do your best to keep everyone happy.

If you're winning 80% of the time, you've probably come close to wearing out that nest egg and may need to move on to other places a bit.
 
wwwaaaaaaa. Do you think you are the first person to be asked not to play in a tournement? You said yourself that you win 80% of the tournaments and the turn out is now at an all time low. Maybe no one is playing because they can't beat you and therefore you have been asked to not play in order for the tournament to survive.

Try to consider it as an honor instead of whining when it isn't going to do you any good. Step up and play in some tougher tournaments.

Now you can see why some players don't try to improve. It usually ends up with you having less players to play with.
 
I have to drive an hour and a half just to play outside the bar. Literally that means about $20 in gas. I am fairly broke, and wish i could travel, but i can't. The only tables in town are at bars. I have nowhere else to play. Tournaments are good because i can play for cheaper than $1 a game. If i play $1 a game, it ends up being about $20 - $25 an hour to play pool. The one thing that really pisses me off is this. I have tried to handicap tournies. And guess what the response is? No, we don't want to handicap tournaments because we want to beat you on the level. It makes them feel inferior to handicap tournaments. I have offered to spot the 7 and 8 to every player, regardless of skill, just to be allowed to play. No dice. They wanna beat me on the level, which really means, we don't want to have to play pool with you. I'm not an asshole to these people, i answer every question about pool i can. I repeat shots and try and make every player a better player. As a player gets better i bring the to Doug's on Friday nights, a tough game for weak players to get into. What do i get in return? nothing. Here is some things you might want to know about the person actually banning me. 1. Right now he is borrowing 2 of my best instructional books.
2. He is borrowing about 10 instructional videos
3. I have invited him the last 3 weeks to Dougs to play

And for my troubles, i dont get to play pool anymore. There are a 1000 other solutions than banning me. Shouldn't the best player be an attraction, a means of getting better, seeing what is possible and such. Still noone has given me a satisfactory answer as to why i am banned.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I ran this tournament before, for free, put up with all the hastle of running a tournament. Now they are PAYING this new guy. I didn't get so much as a free beer.
 
Either they don't like you for some reason or you are truly too good for this particular tournament.

The bar wants lots of players to boost their sales. This is why they have a tournament. You by being so good are scaring away some of that business. This is bad for the bar, therefore they ask you not to play. Do you spend money at this bar while you are playing or do you just go in and win the tournament? If you aren't spending any money there, they have no need for you as a customer.
 
How about suggesting that the winner of the tournament has to sit it out the following week?

Barbara
 
sit it out

Barbara said:
How about suggesting that the winner of the tournament has to sit it out the following week?

Barbara
Click to expand...
Barbara, one of the local tournaments here does something like that. If you win two weeks in a row, (doing a saver is considered as winning), then you set out two weeks. One week win won't put you on the sidelines, but two weeks in a row will.

Like someone said, bars are about making money. Players buy beer, soft drinks, snacks, etc, and put money in the tables. The more players they have, the more money they make. If the same guy wins 80% of the time, then the lower level players are not going to play in the tournaments. Just the way it is. A lights out player is NOT an attraction or a draw for local bar tournaments... I think the "sit it out" rule is a good one, even when it's involked on me or players that I enjoy playing against.

Later,
Bob
 
Cane said:
Barbara, one of the local tournaments here does something like that. If you win two weeks in a row, (doing a saver is considered as winning), then you set out two weeks. One week win won't put you on the sidelines, but two weeks in a row will.

Like someone said, bars are about making money. Players buy beer, soft drinks, snacks, etc, and put money in the tables. The more players they have, the more money they make. If the same guy wins 80% of the time, then the lower level players are not going to play in the tournaments. Just the way it is. A lights out player is NOT an attraction or a draw for local bar tournaments... I think the "sit it out" rule is a good one, even when it's involked on me or players that I enjoy playing against.

Later,
Bob
Click to expand...

That's even better with winning two weeks in a row. This way, they can keep it no handicaps, too.

Barbara
 
Does sit it out mean 'Quit playing pool competetively?(sp?)' I have tried the win it one week sit out the next week suggestion. Buying everyone a drink would mean i would pay out more than i made.
 
Well whitewolf, you have brought up something that i hadn't really mentioned. I set up and ran every tournament in town, with good success. But as most of you know, a tournament directors work is never appreciated until there is a bad tournament director. We had a guy take over all the tournaments for me a while ago. He sneakily went behind my back and did it, talking shit about me to all the players and bar owners. The bar owners came to me, and i said 'Sweet, i hate running tournaments, let him have a shot at it.' They paid him for it too. Every week he would be short $20-$40 prize money at the end. Guess what, after a month everyone was begging for me to run them again, which i did, for free. I do spend money at the bars. But, since i win every week, im the bad guy. Nevermind all the work of recruiting new people to come, nevermind all the hastle of running a tournament for free, nevermind all the effort ive put into being a good player, all the negotiating so that players can get as best a deal as possible, nevermind filling these peoples bars up on Mondays, tuesdays, and wednesdays (small town = empty bar on these nights.) for the last 2 years for nothing, i get cut out of the loop. I considered the money that i still had to play well enough to WIN, payment for all these services. Now, I'm left with not being able to play.

On a side note, with your break and run idea, we tried something like that and the bar owner stole the money. Here is what happened. The bar owner agreed to ad $10 a week to a pot. Then he would take a deck of cards and put a joker in it. He would draw a name from our list of entries and give them a shot to draw a joker out of the deck. Every time a card was pulled it would be destroyed. We got down to like 13 cards, and everyone was showing up every week for the draw. The bar owner decided he didnt make enough money from the tournaments, the draw is over, and he would be paying the $5 per player that he was already paying, out of the draw fund. When the draw fund was gone, we went back to the way things were before. I think it was near $400 cause he may have started with $50. After that we have lost alotta players and that is why are #'s are down to 8-12 a week.

Players have also stated tonnes of times that they like playing me, cause when they win, it feels that much better. Everyone has beaten me at one time or another.

Here is my solution: Make it insanely difficult for me to win. I'm up for the challenge, cause like i said, i get bored and go into slumps. If they made it hard for me to win, i would have to try harder, and i would get better. I say make me spot every player the 8, and every weaker player the 7. Everyone else can play even. I offered this and the answer was still NO. Thier reasoning is that they wouldn't get the GOOD FEELING from beating me.
 
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Well congratulations on being banned from the tournament! Good job!

When you are banned from tournaments [due to your good playing] and people refuse to play pool with you anymore, then you are getting better.

So far as the tournament banning better players, they are making a BIG mistake of course. These people will not improve any if they never play against better players and lose, lose, lose. They just want to win. You're better off avoiding this tournament and finding tournaments which do not ban better players.

And if there are league players who play in that tournament, they are not doing themselves any favors. If one of the league teams wins first, then goes to regionals, they will be faced with having to play better players. Then they will fall flat on their faces because they don't have any experience playing against the best.

So far as the 9-ball breaking problem, this will happen if you break from the center and hit the one ball to one side or the other. Try getting the cue ball to come straight back after the break, then you are hitting the 1-ball dead center. Also breaking with follow instead of draw might help or breaking from the side. Experiment with your speed of break, where you break from, and if hitting low on the cue ball for a break, try getting the cue ball to come back a certain direction for every break. If you videotape your breaks and play them back in slow motion, you will be able to see what is happening.

I use a 17.5 oz break cue and can actually break with too much speed due to its light weight. So this gives me more options so far as breaking (slow, medium, fast, or too fast). Breaking too fast problems seem to be mostly with 8-ball though.

So far as the slumps, I have come to the conclusion that these are caused when you learn something new. And since you are being banned from tournaments due to your good playing, then it makes sense that you are learning new things and working on improving. The cycle is like this...

-You learn something new and think about every shot.
-You go into slump.
-The new thing you learned about becomes automatic - don't need to think about it, and then you play better than ever.

So next time in a slump, it is a good thing! In a short period of time, you will play better than ever...
 
Problem #1:
There are PEOPLE who play these events who NEVER win. You are a PERSON who goes to these events and ALWAYS cashes. Welcome of the world of 'you play too good'. Oh and what can you say besides 'they should be scared'.
Problem 2: Play, or don't play- it is worth it or not? The choice is yours to make. Andd, 100+mph pool is a skill too.

Problem 3: That's a lotta finishes in the $. I believe they are serious about not including you...
]
 
Tournaments

Many pros and cons. Pool is about particiaption nowdays,
which creates internal problems in the application of it, both
in leagues and tournaments.

Someone suggested he play in bigger tournaments. Granted,
this is an alternate, but I know, myself, I will not continue
playing in tournaments where I have no chance to win,
especially if the expenses are great, I simply can not afford
to, even though the experience might be rewarding.

On a local scale or weekly tournaments, the expense is usually
mininal, and players that never win can continue because the
expense is not great, and they want to get better, and they
more or less consider it entertainment.

Many players are in it for the money, that is a way many people
supplement their 'walking around' money. If a certain level of
players are to be excluded from certain events, then there should
be other events held for them to compete in. People, in general
terms, are not that interested in playing the best players, they want
to win, if only one match. Later on, as they beccome better, they
have a desire to play better players, but this is not the majority of
players, and is not that often.

The trick is to be fair to all levels of players with events, and the
application of those events, which takes fair handicapping, fair
policies for events, and good trustful people to apply them.
 
Problem solved. Yesterday there was a tournament (different bar, and yes i won) and i let the players know i wasn't allowed to play in that tournament, and without any input from me, they all decided to boycott any tournament I am not allowed to play in. The tournament director and bar owner decided that after someone wins it twice in a row, they will not be allowed to play the next week. So the players came through for me and i will be allowed to play. They all said it wouldnt be fair, and that noone would improve without me playing. So i guess it all works out in the end.
 
fxskater said:
Problem solved. Yesterday there was a tournament (different bar, and yes i won) and i let the players know i wasn't allowed to play in that tournament, and without any input from me, they all decided to boycott any tournament I am not allowed to play in. The tournament director and bar owner decided that after someone wins it twice in a row, they will not be allowed to play the next week. So the players came through for me and i will be allowed to play. They all said it wouldnt be fair, and that noone would improve without me playing. So i guess it all works out in the end.
Click to expand...

sounds like you gave some input and haven't you learned your lesson. Maybe you should dog a tournament once in a while or to make it more challenging try shooting left handed. That's how I even things up with lessor players and it actually helps my game.

After playing opposite handed for a while, when you switch back the game feels redicously easy.
 
Seriously when i told the players i wasnt allowed to play, the response was, 'thats bullshit, im not playing unless they let you play'. Noone was pleased when they found out i wasnt going to be allowed to play. You ever try shooting left handed against guys that wanna beat you on the level? Its kinda an asshole thing to do in thier eyes. They group it together with Showboating. I'm gonna keep doing what i do, playing my hardest.

I do play left handed, one handed, i run the balls in order in 8 ball, or high ball low ball option, where i can shoot either the highest or lowest ball. I also play where they can shoot any ball in, but i can only shoot banks, kicks, caroms, and combos. But i only do this in 'FUN' games. In a tournament when people are competing, people generally get offended if your not giving your best game.
 
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