Turning Stone

As an aside, for those who can't get their hands on a copy of Joe Tucker's out-of-print book from 1999 called "Racking Secrets," you can get the digital version: https://www.joetucker.net/shop/

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Compromise: a roving racker is available.

Loser racks. Winner gets to request a rerack twice. After the second rejection the ref racks, no objection allowed at that point. Would only require a very limited number of roving rackers.
 
For me the bigger story line is the falling prestige of Turning Stone as a professional event. With schedule clashes (big surprise) it was clearly little brother to the Texas Open. No WPA sanctioning. No Matchroom ranking points. Only 4 competitive professionals participated and half of them opted to forfeit out early which is hard to picture happening if the event meant more to them. I know the struggle is real when you have scheduling constraints like a casino only offering two dates and more popular event overlaps with you. But if this event gets Matchroom ranking points next year, you wouldn’t want to see this happen again.
 
For me the bigger story line is the falling prestige of Turning Stone as a professional event. With schedule clashes (big surprise) it was clearly little brother to the Texas Open. No WPA sanctioning. No Matchroom ranking points. Only 4 competitive professionals participated and half of them opted to forfeit out early which is hard to picture happening if the event meant more to them. I know the struggle is real when you have scheduling constraints like a casino only offering two dates and more popular event overlaps with you. But if this event gets Matchroom ranking points next year, you wouldn’t want to see this happen again.
Personally, it's OK with me if the top pros want to skip the Turning Stone. Keep that added 25K to the local guys who supported that tour at every stop. It would still be one of the best tournaments and venues to play or to watch. Besides, I can't be the only one that's tired of watching Shane or Shaw rob that tournament year-after-year.
 
For me the bigger story line is the falling prestige of Turning Stone as a professional event. With schedule clashes (big surprise) it was clearly little brother to the Texas Open. No WPA sanctioning. No Matchroom ranking points. Only 4 competitive professionals participated and half of them opted to forfeit out early which is hard to picture happening if the event meant more to them. I know the struggle is real when you have scheduling constraints like a casino only offering two dates and more popular event overlaps with you. But if this event gets Matchroom ranking points next year, you wouldn’t want to see this happen again.

I don't know if it's a good or bad sign that the tournament favorite forfeited and flew home early because he had a good run shooting craps. That seems like the sort of thing that would only happen in professional pool.
 
To take from another sport.
In arm wrestling if there is a problem with people trying to obtain an unfair grip, there is a "referee set" that means the referee places your hands and fingers in a position.
If you move from that position, it is a foul or loss, depending on the tournament.

I could see a ref coming in and racking one time, break it and move on.
 
Offering a rerack is the problem.

You have to have at some point allow the ref to be the ultimate decider and trust the rack.
Sit in the chair when it's not your shot, when you get up, you go straight to the break area, crack them and it's your shot.
Compromise: a roving racker is available.

Loser racks. Winner gets to request a rerack twice. After the second rejection the ref racks, no objection allowed at that point. Would only require a very limited number of roving rackers
 
For me the bigger story line is the falling prestige of Turning Stone as a professional event. With schedule clashes (big surprise) it was clearly little brother to the Texas Open. No WPA sanctioning. No Matchroom ranking points. Only 4 competitive professionals participated and half of them opted to forfeit out early which is hard to picture happening if the event meant more to them. I know the struggle is real when you have scheduling constraints like a casino only offering two dates and more popular event overlaps with you. But if this event gets Matchroom ranking points next year, you wouldn’t want to see this happen again.
Earl is not a competing professional. Though still highly skilled, he does not qualify, as he has opted to sit out nearly the entire array of major pool events for the second straight year. Add that to his highly unprofessional behavior, found in every single one of his matches at Turning Stone, and case closed. Yes, he was selected for Mosconi a year ago in what was an insult to every American fan and to every American pro fully committed to a career in pro pool. He's got one very big fan in Barry Hearn, however, so a repeat of this insult can't be ruled out for 2022, despite Matchroom's announced commitment to becoming a meritocracy in which invitations are earned through frequent participation and superior play.

Let it be noted that there was a triple clash in play here. The Texas Open, the Ten Ball Teams in Austria and Turning Stone were all tightly bunched on the pool calendar. A little unlucky here for Turning Stone, but I look for this event to have the kind of fields to which it has become accustomed in the future. Turning Stone remains one of the jewels in the crown that is American pool, the climax of the Joss Northeast Tour, America's oldest surviving tour that goes back some twenty-five years. Everyone loves the Joss tour, and Mike Zuglan has got running a pool event down to a science. Attending fans are always aplenty at this event, too, as entry is free.

This event fills up almost as quickly as the Matchroom events and could probably get another fifty entries if Mike wanted.

I can see why you're expressing some concern here, but I do not agree that the prestige of Turning Stone has fallen. Still, this field was a disappointment. FYI, the next Turning Stone event is, based on past experience, in early January, and there are generally no scheduling clashes in play at that time.
 
For me the bigger story line is the falling prestige of Turning Stone as a professional event. With schedule clashes (big surprise) it was clearly little brother to the Texas Open. No WPA sanctioning. No Matchroom ranking points. Only 4 competitive professionals participated and half of them opted to forfeit out early which is hard to picture happening if the event meant more to them. I know the struggle is real when you have scheduling constraints like a casino only offering two dates and more popular event overlaps with you. But if this event gets Matchroom ranking points next year, you wouldn’t want to see this happen again.
Pros. Are you talking about SVB and Earl? There behavior was not professional. I always thought SVB was void a personality and Earl was released from the “Cocos Nest” on a day pass to participate as part of his therapy. Otherwise Earl goes back to the sanatorium to take his Thorazine in lieu of a lobotomy which SVB has had.
 
BB, it's so easy to throw another ''under the bus'' till yah walk a mile in his shoes. SVB just said he supported Earls actions when he left. The event allowed the rail birds to get into his business of playing/competing and trying to win. He didn't need it, and I agree with Earls Choice. Me, at 73, I've been treated in the past year getting out, worse in all my years by this generation of????????????? persons that have no clue how to treat others. I even had a man follow me around for two days, even into the bathroom, and calling me school yard names every time he saw me for two solid days.

By the way B.B., your above post ''has no clue'' about other people, and shows me more about you than your Opinions of others.
Makes me wanna hear all the good the other posters have to say about YOU, since you're so good at throwing others under the bus.
 
BB, it's so easy to throw another ''under the bus'' till yah walk a mile in his shoes. SVB just said he supported Earls actions when he left. The event allowed the rail birds to get into his business of playing/competing and trying to win. He didn't need it, and I agree with Earls Choice. Me, at 73, I've been treated in the past year getting out, worse in all my years by this generation of????????????? persons that have no clue how to treat others. I even had a man follow me around for two days, even into the bathroom, and calling me school yard names every time he saw me for two solid days.

By the way B.B., your above post ''has no clue'' about other people, and shows me more about you than your Opinions of others.
Makes me wanna hear all the good the other posters have to say about YOU, since you're so good at throwing others under the bus.
I highly doubt that Shane supports the way Earl sharked practically every single opponent and showed continual disrespect for those who staged and directed the tournament. FYI, Shane wasn't there when Earl forfeited but I was watching from the stands (not from tableside, where there may be as few as four seats in total), and there's absolutely zero chance that Shane would have handled the incident in the match against Bucky Souvanthong the same way Earl did.

Earl was guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct according to the rules and when he was advised of it by his opponent, in a display of inferior sportsmanship and poor self-discipline, he unscrewed. Sorry, but there's no possible justification for Earl's actions on this occasion, and he'd have been given an unsportsmanlike conduct warning by the referee in any pro event after placing his arm inside a pocket while the cue ball was about to scratch, which is what he did.
 
Thx Stu, I'm just regurgitating SVB 's words from a post he had just made on a Matchroom thread. And Brookland Bill saying " I always thought SVB was void a personality " this narrow minded comment got me goin'.

bm
 
Earl is definitely partly responsible. It also depends on what the railbirds were saying. Perhaps a ref was needed over there to regulate both parties
You could be right but, the railbirds with Earl are the same as they were with Mike the mouth. Both parties need each other and both encourage it.
 
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