So this is the first thread that I have initiated (other than saying hello)and also an attempt to knock out two topics in one shot. Fair warning that this might get long, but here it goes!
1. One of the things that bother me when I read this forum is how players complain about travelling to get action and how the others never come to their place to play them.
One of the solutions I can come up with is that if a player wants to stay in their hometown and never leave, they have to play anyone and everyone that is from their hometown or is willing to travel to their town. This means that if a player wants to keep getting in action, they have to keep making games and adjusting the spots accordingly when the other players do not want to play the same game they just played or have been playing and want to quit that game because they are losing. This will allow them to keep getting action day after day, whether it is the same or different players each day. If they beat each and every player that will give them action in their town and make them go bust, THEY HAVE NO OTHER OPTION THAN TO TRAVEL FOR ACTION.
2. Another observation that comes to mind is the frequency in which the best American players play each other. In my own opinion they do not play each other nearly enough.
When was the last time that you saw Johnny Archer, Earl Strickland, SVB, Cory Deuel, Stevie Moore, Gabe Owen, Charlie Bryant, (insert any group of top American players), all in the same pool hall on a non-pool tournament weekend? Probably never right? The point I'm trying to make is that the TOP AMERICAN PLAYERS NEED TO PLAY EACH OTHER MORE OFTEN.
I was in the Philippines last year and I cruise into one of the pool halls and this is what see: Efren is playing a good local filipino player on the first table you see right by the front door, giving him the 6 out in 10-ball race to 21 for about $2000; at another table is Bustamante playing Kiamco 10-ball race to 25 for about $2500; about ten minutes later a foreigner walks in and plays Gomez 9-ball race to 9 for cheap; Orcullo is practicing on another table and about 30 minutes after I walk in Pagulayan walks in and walks over to Dennis, flips a coin and they start playing 9-ball race to 35 for about $2500; Efren wins his match and a couple of minutes later Alcano walks in and plays another good local Filipino player giving him the 8 out in a 10-ball race to 21 for about $1000 on the same table Efren played on; Efren starts playing chess, Gomez wins 2 sets and another player unknown to me starts playing the foreigner; Lee Van Cortezza was there the whole time with no action, so he starts playing 9-ball with an unknown to me only with their shafts!
(Don't know if it was for fun or for $)
So for those who want to know the outcome of the games, here it is. Kiamco beats Bustamante, Alcano loses, foreigner loses to the other, Lee Van wins, Dennis beats Alex, and Efren wins 2 out of 3 in chess.
ALL OF THIS ON AN ORDINARY NON-POOL TOURNAMENT SATURDAY NIGHT!!!
So I told this story to prove a point, but I need to add something that will strengthen what I'm trying to say. During his match, I was able to speak with Alex and asked him if he was going to travel to the US and play in the Million Dollar 9-Ball. His answer was in effect this: "Why should I spend all the time and money to travel to play when I could just do that here?"
Yes the Filipino players travel for major tournaments, but for the smaller tournaments they would rather not travel because it's just not worth the time and money.
So here is the point that I'm trying to make.
AMERICAN POOL PLAYERS ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO TRAVEL AND PLAY EACH OTHER MORE OFTEN! This will help promote the game in the US and also make them better players.
The only way to get around this is to create a situation like they have in the Philippines here in America. All of the best players in the Philippines are in one city, and that is Manila. Can you imagine a city in America where all the best players live in the same city and play each other practically every night or every other night? Why hasn't that happened? Well, it would take a lot of the best players in America to colaborate and agree to move to one city, or better yet, to create a city where pool is the economy. If there was ever a situation like this in America nobody would ever be complaining about having to travel to play and/or get in action. The real pool players would live in this city and be playing each other all the time. The others that chose not to live in that city would travel to this city and have no complaints about travelling and finding action. Until this happens, any American that is looking for constant action can always travel to the Philippines and stay there for a month or longer for cheap and never have to worry about finding action.
So there is my rant. For those of you that read the whole thing, thanks for doing so and feel free to chime in and would love it if you did so.
ED
1. One of the things that bother me when I read this forum is how players complain about travelling to get action and how the others never come to their place to play them.
One of the solutions I can come up with is that if a player wants to stay in their hometown and never leave, they have to play anyone and everyone that is from their hometown or is willing to travel to their town. This means that if a player wants to keep getting in action, they have to keep making games and adjusting the spots accordingly when the other players do not want to play the same game they just played or have been playing and want to quit that game because they are losing. This will allow them to keep getting action day after day, whether it is the same or different players each day. If they beat each and every player that will give them action in their town and make them go bust, THEY HAVE NO OTHER OPTION THAN TO TRAVEL FOR ACTION.
2. Another observation that comes to mind is the frequency in which the best American players play each other. In my own opinion they do not play each other nearly enough.
When was the last time that you saw Johnny Archer, Earl Strickland, SVB, Cory Deuel, Stevie Moore, Gabe Owen, Charlie Bryant, (insert any group of top American players), all in the same pool hall on a non-pool tournament weekend? Probably never right? The point I'm trying to make is that the TOP AMERICAN PLAYERS NEED TO PLAY EACH OTHER MORE OFTEN.
I was in the Philippines last year and I cruise into one of the pool halls and this is what see: Efren is playing a good local filipino player on the first table you see right by the front door, giving him the 6 out in 10-ball race to 21 for about $2000; at another table is Bustamante playing Kiamco 10-ball race to 25 for about $2500; about ten minutes later a foreigner walks in and plays Gomez 9-ball race to 9 for cheap; Orcullo is practicing on another table and about 30 minutes after I walk in Pagulayan walks in and walks over to Dennis, flips a coin and they start playing 9-ball race to 35 for about $2500; Efren wins his match and a couple of minutes later Alcano walks in and plays another good local Filipino player giving him the 8 out in a 10-ball race to 21 for about $1000 on the same table Efren played on; Efren starts playing chess, Gomez wins 2 sets and another player unknown to me starts playing the foreigner; Lee Van Cortezza was there the whole time with no action, so he starts playing 9-ball with an unknown to me only with their shafts!
(Don't know if it was for fun or for $)So for those who want to know the outcome of the games, here it is. Kiamco beats Bustamante, Alcano loses, foreigner loses to the other, Lee Van wins, Dennis beats Alex, and Efren wins 2 out of 3 in chess.
ALL OF THIS ON AN ORDINARY NON-POOL TOURNAMENT SATURDAY NIGHT!!!
So I told this story to prove a point, but I need to add something that will strengthen what I'm trying to say. During his match, I was able to speak with Alex and asked him if he was going to travel to the US and play in the Million Dollar 9-Ball. His answer was in effect this: "Why should I spend all the time and money to travel to play when I could just do that here?"
Yes the Filipino players travel for major tournaments, but for the smaller tournaments they would rather not travel because it's just not worth the time and money.
So here is the point that I'm trying to make.
AMERICAN POOL PLAYERS ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO TRAVEL AND PLAY EACH OTHER MORE OFTEN! This will help promote the game in the US and also make them better players.
The only way to get around this is to create a situation like they have in the Philippines here in America. All of the best players in the Philippines are in one city, and that is Manila. Can you imagine a city in America where all the best players live in the same city and play each other practically every night or every other night? Why hasn't that happened? Well, it would take a lot of the best players in America to colaborate and agree to move to one city, or better yet, to create a city where pool is the economy. If there was ever a situation like this in America nobody would ever be complaining about having to travel to play and/or get in action. The real pool players would live in this city and be playing each other all the time. The others that chose not to live in that city would travel to this city and have no complaints about travelling and finding action. Until this happens, any American that is looking for constant action can always travel to the Philippines and stay there for a month or longer for cheap and never have to worry about finding action.
So there is my rant. For those of you that read the whole thing, thanks for doing so and feel free to chime in and would love it if you did so.
ED
