How about these payouts?
In the beginning of June, the new founded Nordic Billiard Council (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland) will be putting on their first event.
It will be 8-ball, the top 8 players from each of the 4 countries will be seeded in the main tournament, consisting of 64 players. First prize will be 5 000 Euro.
So far so good.
This is the prize money in $$
1. $ 6 400
2. $ 1 930
3. $ 960 each, 2 players
5. $ 320 each, 4 players
9. $ 165 each, 8 players
Will I travel to this tournament, which will be in Norway?
No...
Why?
Because the qualifiers for the 64 players main event runs on Thursday and Friday, and are single elimination. We need to pay in advance for the spots we want, and if I went I would have bought spots in 3 of the 4 qualifiers in advance. (max).
This would cost me about $ 250 in entryfee. (would also cover banquet + shuttle to hotel). Add 2 days off work, $ 300 for hotel, $ 250-400 in transportation/gas/flight etc + food.
The seeded 32 players get free entry + hotel covered.
Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat will be there, so most likely one of them will win.
If I make it through the qualifiers, I will draw one of the top 8 players from either of the 4 countries. Not an impossible task, but very difficult. Still, I will need to win 2 matches to get into the money, so to beat one of these are not enough.
And if I manage to get in the money, the payouts are ridicilous. Even with a brutal format and field like that, I won't break even if I finish 5th, which would be an outstanding performance by me...
I know Mika would probably not have played in this event if the first prize was much less, but all the others would have played if it was like $ 3000 and the rest of the first prize was given to those who finish 5th and 9th...
I predict few qualifiers for this event. Sad, really, because I think a new federation of those 4 countries certainly has a big potential...