Hey guys! Sorry, I haven't been on here all day and just skimmed through all the big talk, wrong assumptions of who got raised for what reasons, some good facts, etc. etc.
First off, I want to say the Round Robin was fun to be apart of. I'm glad it came together and we got to have a good time. Overall almost 600 games of pool were played on the day. ($.75 a game would have been $450). Thanks to Bullshooters for letting us take over the room and for giving the players a Greens Fee.
I'm almost finished writing the story for azpoolscene.com and it should be up by tonight. Lots of great side stories from the marathon day.
Thanks to those that supported me in my win over Chuck. And the 38,000 vbucks that people threw away on Chuck. Thank you to the 1600 vbucks bet on me, all by people that I have played in the past 6 - 8 months.
As far as ratings go. Some corrections. Scooby won the King of 9's at Northern, but wasn't raised to a 10 because of that. Jack Scerca played in that tournament as well and didn't do very well. Both of these guys were already on the 'Watch List' for having been known to be close to 10's. Bernie won the King of 8's tournament and was brought up at the next meeting but wasn't raised. The person that brought her up didn't even reference the King of 8's win. Scooby, Jack and Bernie were all raised this past meeting. All by wide margins, as members did some homework on these 'Watch List' players, and evaluated their play (not who they played, or how much money they won, or what tournaments they won), just how they play their best game on their best table. For Bernie it was comparing her improvements over the past year or so. Many committee members have seen these people raise their games over time. Hence a raise.
As far as people on this forum. I've played Ken or with him a bunch of times. I think on big tables he is atleast a ball better than I am if not more. On barbox, I think we are pretty close. I think we are both 9's. Lenny is probably an 8 in rotation games, but in 8-ball and 1-pocket he is a 9. I know how he feels as do most 9+'s, as we are in no man's land. But that should just mean we have to practice harder and get even better and stop complaining about it. Isn't this the reason you guys don't like the ratings, "ARC acts like a crutch for players." Well, I think it acts like a crutch for better players to complain. Not all of them, but a lot. Dennis, Jimmy, etc. excluded. They worked their butts off to get that good. tap tap tap. Justin, I got to see some of your matches and thought you were a very good 8, and like you said about consistency, is the only reason you are not a 9 yet. Carlos played well, but I also saw a lot given to him. Some of which might have been that most picked him to win it all. Derrick was 5 - 0 at one point, running through people, including Carlos 9-5. He got way to drunk and fell off. Jude's play went up and down all day. Until he saw there was a slim chance of still getting in the finals, then he turned it on. Jason was not the same person as I've seen in the past, I know he lost interest after Mike didn't want to play for anything and wasn't doing it for the challenge match. Mike played strong for most of his matches, but kept hitting a wall. He was playing 9 speed at some but then 7 speed at other times. The big difference between 8 and 9 speed is consistency, tournament pressure, table time, etc. If you can focus more, win in clutch situations, get practice time, then you all could be 9's. The knowledge is there for most of you, and a few are close. Brady was having fun and dogging balls early, but when it mattered he buckled down and knocked Mike out of the tournament with a 9-8 victory. Ken didn't play very well most of the day, and seemed like something was bothering him all day. Andy played better than I thought he was going to and is going to be a great player soon. Todd started out poorly and found his groove half way through, once warm (6 hours, ha ha), he played at a real strong 8 speed or weak 9. He knocked Derrick out in exciting fashion as well.
In summary, sorry for the book, I think all 10 of you are 8's. Lenny is a weak 9 today, especially in rotation games, but has the knowledge/ability/stamina/focus to play them as a 9 as well. Ken, you are a 9 all day.
I have recorded many of the matches and you can view them on
www.azpoolscene.com/streaming.htm . Please watch some and judge for yourself where these players are at. Including my match. I feel like I played pretty well, but Chuck didn't play well and was easily taken out of the match.
