Who is a Professional Billiard Player?

[KBP]

amateurs

I am the owner of Kings Bay Promotions, Inc Amateur 9-Ball Tour. Thanks so much for the update and the good info that several have posted. I am so glad that the BCA is working on their list and listing people where they really need to be. I just ran off the new list to back check my list. I still have players that are above amateur level that is not on any list and I am having to add them to my exempt list. Its hard to work on this and try to be as fair as you can be. I may not be someone's favorite person but I am trying to keep the amateurs amateur as much as I can. We do have a few slip ups but we are working on that issue. We will be booking next season by the end of October and it will begin in January for all divisions that I have on board now. Thanks to all who have posted, even if I didn't agree with you . And good luck to all in any event they play. Ya'll have been a great help to me in working on this issue and I have read all posts. Again thanks for your input.
Kay Higgins
Kings Bay Amateur 9-Ball Tour
CEO

 

[Bill S]

masters

Hi Bill S,

Thanks for the post. You essentially re-wrote the information available at the "new" and "old" BCA websites. I appreciate you helping to spreading the word. I looked again a moment ago and found several new names have been added to the Grand Master's list. Someone is listening! The ACS website continues to use the "old" BCA Master's lists.

Hi Cardiac Kid, Yes I did rewrite the BCA Pool League policy for the post as I was the one who wrote it for our web site. I am the one listening. On a daily basis I remove and add players from our lists as I gather more information on players. I appreciate any and all input on players from around the country. We can't possibly know every players skill level, but we try to stay abreast of it as best we can. Always a work in progress. Bill S

 

[Mike Templeton]

Kay,

I have thought about this alot, and I think I may have a solution.

Since your tours are fairly localized, (Carolinas, Florida, etc.) why don't you make people send in an application before the year starts like they do on the SEAL Tour. That way you could check them out before any tournaments started and see if you approve them to play or not. If they haven't sent an application, they can't play. No questions asked. Then you could inform the applicants if they are eligible or not. This would keep anyone that you haven't heard of from sneaking in.

I know it would stop people from showing up the day of the events and playing, but if someone was interested in competing on the full tour (and that seems to be your intention for players), then they shouldn't mind sending in the application. Don't charge an application fee, just the membership fee (if applicable) when they play an event. That way there would be no cost for getting checked out. There would be some players left out the first season that didn't know about the tour, but after that you could get their names and send them applications for the next year. If you started with 60 or 70 players who were approved initially, I think most of them would show up regularly if they knew that the competition would be fair and free of "ringers". From what I have seen of your tournaments, there are generally only around 30 players showing up now. But I will bet that there are 100 eligible that have played in any of the events.

I think most eligible players would support the tour better with this format, and the players turned down at a specific event would be offset by members who knew htat the competiton wouild be fair upon their arrival.

I agree that no "Amateur" event is perfect, but this seems like a good start to get a fair competition. After a couple of years, you might be surprised how many player may be on the list.

Mike Templeton

 

[cardiac kid]

Hi Cardiac Kid, Yes I did rewrite the BCA Pool League policy for the post as I was the one who wrote it for our web site. I am the one listening. On a daily basis I remove and add players from our lists as I gather more information on players. I appreciate any and all input on players from around the country. We can't possibly know every players skill level, but we try to stay abreast of it as best we can. Always a work in progress. Bill S

Hi Bill,

At least you are trying. Will there be a re-definition of who a BCA Professional Player is? Perhaps a list of criteria on how one may reach that status? The current UPA points thing serves no realistic purpose except on how to dodge it. Thanks again. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Vegas!

 

[Bill S]

rankings

Hi Bill,

At least you are trying. Will there be a re-definition of who a BCA Professional Player is? Perhaps a list of criteria on how one may reach that status? The current UPA points thing serves no realistic purpose except on how to dodge it. Thanks again. I'm looking forward to meeting you in Vegas!

Cardiac Kid, First of all, if the professional men would get their stuff together and have one legit professional tour like the women have we wouldn't have to debate these issues over and over again. I'm afraid that egos and politics may never allow that to happen. As it stands now, we try to look at all of the different ranking systems and make educated decisions on who should be able to play amateur events. The new Grand Master division gives us a little bit of a buffer between amateurs and pros. I imagine that we will have a "pro list" eventually when we make a firm decision on policy. Right now we are going with the top 64 (men) and top 32 (women) being excluded from our Grand Master division and letting all lower ranked pros play. The lower ranked pros can play Grand Master "only". Again, if we had a legit tour (ala: golf, tennis, etc.) it would be simple. I also will be looking forward to meeting you in Vegas. We can discuss these issues without restraints that a web site puts on us. Bill S