Did anyone play in the 9 ball mini tournament. I checked Friday morning and it and a waiting list were already filled.
SJM at the 2023 Derby City Catastrophe
- Thread starter sjm
- Start date
I vote for a total change of venue. The Horseshoe just had a massive renovation due to the move from the boat to land. They could have added more convention space ( = more tables) then, but they are not a convention venue. They will never have more space. They could have done better for the restaurants during the change, but they chose not to.
I think the problem is financial. Any other location is likely to cost more, for both the players and Diamond. The prices currently are tolerable but it's still over $1000 for the room. I think Diamond gets a lot of favors for filling up the hotel in the middle of winter.
I imagine that Harrah's in Atlantic City would be interested, but that has its own problems. One is that it's not the heart of bank pool country.
If the top players stopped showing up, maybe Diamond would take notice, but they keep showing up.
Look. I've read all the threads and it sounds like there's really only 1 problem that needs to be dealt with in order to keep this ship sailing.
Table utilization.
Bob has suggested a fix. A fix that would possibly allow the event to GROW! Why in the world does Greg not want to fix that problem? Maybe he never thought it was this bad and now he'll reconsider. If he doesn't and this butts up against another major tourney next year, he'll have half as many pros. Do that for a couple years and who knows what happens to this event.
If amateur and pro players alike know they can play a lot of pool and on schedule, they'll figure out the food part.
If the change were easy, I imagine it would already be done. It's not easy. All of the tournament control software and maybe hardware would have to be replaced. Scroll through the match scheduling page to get an idea of how much work went into it already. The helpers would have to be retrained. Anyone who is familiar with software knows that there will be bugs.
Maybe this year will provide enough motivation to do something about scheduling. I hope it provides enough motivation to find a new venue, as well. It would be nice to have 64 tables if you are trying to make a new system work.
This clearly was a huge mistake for a largely amateur field, that never should have happened. I would guess it won’t be repeated.
I think it was decided they’d go back to 4.5 like a day in. Not sure if that also applies to Bigfoot.
Only one table had 4 1/8" pockets -- the 10-footer for the Bigfoot event. The average match length for that event was lower than in other recent years. So you probably mean the 4 ¼" pockets on the 9-footers. The 9-footer in the Accu-Stats Arena did not cause time problems, but the ones outside that arena might well have done so. A commentator said he was told they have already decided to go back to 4½" outside the arena next year.
I doubt they open up the pockets. Reason being is the time and cost.
I do agree they are too tight. Even for banks they aren’t the right idea. For 1P sure they are perfect. For a 3 discipline amateur tourney they are really the wrong idea.
i think atlarge posted the record fields in the other thread but, if 9-ball was ~100 more players than before, shouldn't prize money be higher too?
it just seemed like hard work for the 9-ball late round players. will they come back if this isn't addressed? also, adding days means adding hotel nights and other expenses
it just seemed like hard work for the 9-ball late round players. will they come back if this isn't addressed? also, adding days means adding hotel nights and other expenses
Tell us how you really feel Stu!
Thank you for your honest insights into the collapse of a once great event. One would think that after over twenty years they would know how to properly schedule the tournament. Please no excuses for the large fields. They’ve been getting over 400 players for years now.
Biloxi Boy
Man With A Golden Arm
After all these years, this event should be getting better, not worse.
The ice cream shop was the only thing besides seeing old friends thing I liked about the place the last time I was there. I think I paid 10 dollars for a double scoop, f that
Not sure how much they paid for the land, but as to the location of the casino, if I remember correctly after Indiana passed a law allowing river boat casinos the original plan was to put the casino in Floyd county (where New Albany is located). Residents of Floyd county voted no on the proposal. I was very young at the time but I remember seeing bumper stickers and signs that said "Don't Float the Boat". Harrison county voted to allow the casino. So the location of the casino ended up being right on the county line as close to Floyd county (and Louisville) as they could possibly put it. If you pay attention I believe there is a sign denoting the country line just a few yards before the casino property begins.
I understand that there is not much in the immediate vicinity of the casino and that guests that fly in are basically stuck with the food options on the property and that these options are poor. However, not being from a big city I always get a chuckle when people describe the location as BFE. According to maps, you can get from the casino to the KFC Yum Center (which is in the heart of downtown Louisville) in just over 20 minutes. New Albany, which has many restaurants, is even closer. I would think a 20 minute commute is pretty common for a major metropolis but having never lived in one maybe I'm way off base.
Just a few observations, not saying a better location isn't needed.
xX-Wizard-Xx
Well-known member
i use to want to go to the derby ..... but really doesnt seem like much to miss to me
So the players are forced to eat overpriced, crap food because they are trapped at the venue? Most aren't renting a car because they really aren't going anywhere and they are basically paying to have it parked at the hotel (another expense).