The ideal players tournament

justnum

justnum

Billiards Improvement Research Projects Associate
Silver Member
I have been attending different tournaments and noticing many of them are easy to manage. Once the players sign up the tournament runs on "auto-pilot" meaning little skill is needed to manage problems.

Aside from high payouts and balanced matchups I noticed more severe problems. One was respecting the players time outside of the match as well as during the match. Second was alleviating expenses players incur to be in a tournament. Third was inviting players to voice out complaints.

Supposing the pros that go on tour just want to play pool against players at their level then the theory of high payouts is reduced to nothing. If the players want to play at their level of competition then the minimum they need are tables, players and referees (with today's technology a simple camera and desktop would do).

Aside from those points I don't know what professional pool players want. Any ideas are welcomed?

My underlying theory is pool players like playing pool and want to compete against players that invested as much time as they did. Who can make that happen is limited. How it can happen is simply number crunching.

Players do too much hotel, food, and relaxation management to play in tournaments, they should just go somewhere and everything is managed well for them.

A rating system based on cuts, banks, kicks and other technical shots could identify skill level properly for better matchups. The tournament elimination system could be based on playing several players but short races, this way the field gets all the action they can imagine. Essentially I believe a tournament is about the players competing not players making record runs.

There would not be an audience at the tournament either. It would be completely players only, and spectators can sign up for an online stream.

I prefer to see players at their best not whoever does the best in the worst possible situation.
 
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Good post. Although I might not be the person you want to hear from (not a competitive pool player) I think I can still contribute a little to this. Aside from travelling fees, I do believe that players should have the option to pay a set expense for living and food hosted by the tournament. With that said, tournaments may be able to book a local hotel for a cheaper group price and offer cheap catering services.

I don't know about the behaviors of too many players but I do know that Taiwanese players have a disciplined approach when it comes to tournaments. They sleep early, don't touch alcohol, get the right foods, and basically try their best to prepare mentally. Having commodities set up for players like this will help them a lot. All they have to do is to check in the tournament and get everything set up for they before-hand.

What I've suggested probably only works for a high entry fee professional tournament. But if all the living and food are planned beforehand as a group, it will definitely cut a lot of unnecessary expenses.
 
I have been working healthcare fairs and a lot of players look like they could use some simple healthcare diagnosis. Like checking their blood pressure, making sure their urine doesn't have signs of liver problems and checking their teeth for dental disease.

The health of the players is not respected at any tournament I have seen. But on a network sports event an EMS ambulance is waiting on site.

If playing pool is their job and the tournaments count as "employers" than not much care is shown other than payouts or tricks to keep famous players coming back.
 
Healthcare does seem like a good idea. You've mentioned a lot of good suggestions and I think it will be a plus to the game if they happen. I do believe there will be an increase in the entry fee but if players do not have to spend any money outside of the tournament, that will be very nice. I've talked with some people about why Taiwanese players don't play in the US Open.

Lets just say it costs at least 1700 for round trip tickets. About 500 dollars in rooming and food expenses are extremely high compared to Taiwan. We can average about 15 dollars a day on food, and in a week that is still about 100 dollars minimum. There will also be some extra expenses. I would estimate outside of travel fees to be about 600-700 dollars, and that is a lot of money (monthly salary for entry-level job in Taiwan).

Lets say if the tournament can find some living option and provide catering for all the players and pay a set fee of about 300 dollars in that week. That is a lot of money saved. Something like this can definitely attract all the players in the world. Only time we really see this is the WPC, and that tournament I believe is a little rushed as well.
 
If some two players stay in a hotel room and their matches are at opposite times than they can timeshare that room. If players scheduled during the day to play than the other play can rest. After that players match is over they get the room and the other guy plays. It is a rough idea.

Those medical services can be performed by volunteers. It is the same tests they sell at the pharmacy. Players wouldn't think to take them. They could do it themselves.

If a bunch of players rented a house and someone knows how to cook expense decreases significantly. But they would have to clean up after themselves and get groceries and cook. Anytime more work is burdened on players costs go down. As it is they are forced to be managed by hotels and restaurants.

I was thinking of offering my services to prepare ethnic food. But those players would have to submit their mother's recipes.
 
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Definitely. I know many international players travel in groups and room together. I think that has been done. Also many of these players are friends and I am sure a system to help them find roommates isn't a bad idea. However I can see a lot of problems arise from this, so I think the roommate idea shouldn't be mandatory and up to the individuals to decide.

What about a league in a set location that is played every 1-2 months? Find a good location with a good place to host the games with easy rooming nearby. This is sorta like the league in Taiwan where they play every once in awhile and determine a winner for each event. Then every year they would have the major tournament and the seedings are based on the previous results. There are so many players in American though, and I think this would require a lot of investment and planning.

But having a consistent event, in a convenient location will definitely do players good.
 
Some players are familiar with relatives or friends in certain areas of the United States.
Location I agree is important. The financials are also important. If a player owns a room or knows an owner willing to close the room for the event that helps. A league is interesting but scheduling could be difficult for players.

I wasn't thinking roommates. I was thinking timeshare, as in when you are there I am not.
 
Timeshare isn't a bad idea to save money, but I would guess their times overlap a lot? They both have to sleep and wake up. Some sleep earlier some sleep later. Some might even come back drunk and piss the other guy off. Elaborate on that idea a lttle more?
 
A hospital is broken into three work shifts each consisting of 8 hours. The timesharing of the room and the scheduling of their play would have to agree with each other to work. It is a logistics challenge. 8 hours is a workday and for a pool player it might be a lot.

8 hours of play and 8 hours of room and 8 hours of free time.
Rotate between players.

Shift 1 players 1-8 play. players 8-24 rest or relax
Shift 2 players 1-8, 16-24 rest of relax. players 8-16 play.
Shift 3 players 1--8, 8-16, relax. players 16-24 play.
 
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Do the players have a place where they can rest during their free time? I can see that disciplined players would want a quiet place for longer time of the day. 8 hrs is pretty short.
 
8 hours of dedicated room time and 8 hours optional in the room or not.

It is a nightmare if the players are slobs.
 
Very good ideas. However, I find it a little difficult to accomplish. It is like communism, very ideal on paper, but in reality difficult to do. No offense to any of your ideas though, keep them coming. Definitely would like to see a consistently well-organized event that can attract players from all over the world. The WPC by far is my favorite event because it brings the best of the whole world, but is poorly organized depending from year-to-year.
 
Its a flimsy theory, players just wanting to play a field on their level.
 
Suppose a person owned a pool room that has 15 tables with space included for a tv table. Instead of running a regular day the room hosted a pool tournament.

Players put up 1000 each.
60 players sign up and pay entry thats 60,000.
The owner puts up $40,000.

There is $100,000 for players in prizes.
This room offers food, drinks and alcohol.

First question: Should the owner re-invest income from food, drinks and alcohol to the pay field as an incentive for players to want to stick around and play instead of just place?

Second question: Should the owner keep money for expense of the room for that month and then take the remaining money and place it towards making next years event bigger and better (IE: a girl to hold round cards and more photo requirements)?

Third question: Do the players care how much money the owner makes as long as they get what they are supposed to?

This is an unsanctioned event. And it would not be a public event either. Just a bunch of people that rented a room for a few days and did what people do on private property.
 
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