after countless hours of debate and talking to many close friends on the subject I have decided to write a review, if you will, of my experience having played in my first event in the Bi-Annual Turning Stones Classic Directed by Mr. Mike Zuglan. The following are my own personal thoughts, opinions, and various factoids about my experience.
First let me tell you, this venue is absolutely beautiful and the equipment is world class. The tournament is run very professionally from the way the players dress all the way to player introductions. I really have to take my hat off to Mr. Zuglan as THIS is clearly why his event has remained as successful as it has been for the amount of time it has been successful.
Mr. Zuglan held a very formal players meeting where he went over all the rules and was very blunt in his dislike for, what ill call. "racking issues". He indicated in the players meeting that if their are racking issues, you must call a referee over, but, and he noted with a sly grin, "you don't want us to get involved." Not sure what that meant as it seemed to be a bit of a mixed message.
I proceeded to play a fellow gentleman amateur at 10 PM that evening and the experience was wonderful. I was fortunate enough to win the match and move onto round 2 on the winner side. The gentleman I played was a class act and I believe that most of the players in that event are just like this gentleman...but not all are.
Round 2, I played a professional player who will remain nameless as what i'm about to write is based on opinion and my perception. Let me first say that I lost 9-2, 11 games of 9-ball, and the match took 2 hours and 15 minutes. Those who know pool, know that something is wrong with that time frame and those who know Mr. Zuglan's event can probably guess what was going on. RACKING ISSUES. This professional player continued to require that I rerack the balls to get "certain" balls to touch while offering that certain other balls did not NEED to touch. Well, we have all watched Racking Secrets and we all know what this player was doing. This player was willing to accept gaps that were in this players favor while rejecting gaps that were not in this players favor. That, in my opinion, is not only unethical, its borderline cheating. I believe that you are either striving for a tight rack or you are not. If you are willing to accept gaps, then you must accept all gaps. You should not be allowed to force a rerack simply based on the premise, "either I get a perfectly tight rack, or...I get the gaps that I want". As a result of this, we played 11 games in 2:15 minutes with the referee sitting right beside the table watching me hold my back and rack the balls for 5-7 minutes each rack. I lost, as probably I should have anyway, but I also had no fun playing the game either.
I decided to take my concerns to Mr Zuglan and let me tell you, this was not a pleasant conversation. I approached him from the standpoint of, "IN THE FUTURE, what can I do to ensure that this does not happen again?" He says call a ref. I said OK, then he proceeds to say, Im NOT using a magic rack and Im not going to "rack your own." I said, I see you have heard this complaint before. He proceeded to raise his voice at me, talk down to me, and ultimately turn his back on me and walk away.
I do not actually know why Mr. Zuglan refuses to address an issue that the majority of his players and even viewers dislike. I do not know why he is not more proactive in policing the racking issues he claims to distain. I do not know why when I approached him, he treated me like I was the perpetrator and not the victim. After all, he did say that "you don't want to have to come to us" in the player meeting. I do know that the only power I have to potentially create change is to communicate to anyone who might choose to read this, and to personally choose to NEVER play in or watch a Mike Zuglan event again. At the end of the day, that is the only power us individuals possess to affect change.
Im absolutely positive that his event will continue for another 26 years. He wont miss me, as I wont miss his events either, but I have atleast said my piece and warned those who I could about what takes place at these events when playing some of these pros and what will happen when you approach the tournament director about these issues.
I appreciate everyone's time who chose to read this.
Thank you
