This will be my last BCA Vegas trip for a while. It’s been my favorite tournament for years but it has really gone downhill.
Poor payouts. Details in other posts, but the payouts are lacking for a national tournament. I don't care about winning my entry fee back or matches worth a 20 dollar difference. On site sign up fees are too high as well.
Unprofessional refs. Of course there is the now famous Melling cue ball cleaning incident. Sadly, I saw the same thing happen during another match that was running next to mine. Ref just picks up the cue ball to clean it without marking the spot. I saw refs walk in front of people’s shots when they could have easily stopped. One night I was playing a match, it was late and quiet with only a few people around. While I was running out, a ref comes up to the table next to me and start putting balls into the pockets to clear the table (ball return is loud). For fs sake, leave the players in peace. Another puzzler I witnessed...both players take a break in the middle of their match, they come back the guys chalk went missing. Apparently, a ref had come over and taken the guys chalk from the table, not checking if there was a match in progress. I saw a couple of questionable calls as well. I was not confident in calling a ref to my match if I needed one.
Bad scheduling and planning. My singles 8 ball started on Sat, I got a bye so cool, I don’t play until Sunday. I play 7:30 Sunday, which is odd since I haven’t played all weekend yet, but fine. However, they schedule matches back to back at 7:30, and 9 and then at 10:30. This is not enough time for a race to 7 because one slow match screws up everything. This is a big tournament, people get nervous and play slow. And of course, I get a very slow player my first round and end up losing. I’m already annoyed losing to this slow player and now somehow the bracket is even farther behind then me and I’m waiting for other matches to complete. Well its now after 11pm and I was supposed to play at 10:30pm. I hear an announcement to check the brackets because 10:30 matches may have been moved to the next day at 9am. Thank god I can sleep. Well nope my match still lists 10:30pm. I look at the same level on the loser’s side, almost all the losers side matches were moved and are now being played at 9am, except for me and a few others at 10:30. It’s almost midnight and I finally get an opponent. Funny, the table we were supposed to play on still has a match on it, so we go to the tournament desk. I complain and ask him to move our match to the morning like the most of our bracket and the guy refuses and tells us we have to play and reassigns us a new table. Needless to say I’m a bit pissed from this and also from losing to Mr.slow man earlier. I play bad and lose, two and out. You might say, well there are hundreds of players, they can only do some much, etc…well this was the Platinum division, with only 160 players. They could have played more matches on Sat or earlier Sunday, but they tried to stretch out this tournament multiple days (greed), but then rush through it with bad planning.
Little pro presence, bad stream. Nobody wants to watch bad players on the stream with bad commentary. It’s almost like they were avoiding putting good matches on the stream. My roommate was really hoping to watch more matches in the arena or in the hotel room between matches, but didn’t happen often.
More reasons. No action room. Bad overpriced food. No outside food or drink. Not cleaning the balls or tables (some with new cloth, very fast and clean balls, others very dirty). I saw Mark Griffen a few times, always laughing and smiling but maybe he doesn't realize his event is going downhill? or maybe he's smiling cause he's making so much money anyway? It was an interesting contrast with the poker tournament finishing across the hallway, where guys are cashing for millions on the final table.
Poor payouts. Details in other posts, but the payouts are lacking for a national tournament. I don't care about winning my entry fee back or matches worth a 20 dollar difference. On site sign up fees are too high as well.
Unprofessional refs. Of course there is the now famous Melling cue ball cleaning incident. Sadly, I saw the same thing happen during another match that was running next to mine. Ref just picks up the cue ball to clean it without marking the spot. I saw refs walk in front of people’s shots when they could have easily stopped. One night I was playing a match, it was late and quiet with only a few people around. While I was running out, a ref comes up to the table next to me and start putting balls into the pockets to clear the table (ball return is loud). For fs sake, leave the players in peace. Another puzzler I witnessed...both players take a break in the middle of their match, they come back the guys chalk went missing. Apparently, a ref had come over and taken the guys chalk from the table, not checking if there was a match in progress. I saw a couple of questionable calls as well. I was not confident in calling a ref to my match if I needed one.
Bad scheduling and planning. My singles 8 ball started on Sat, I got a bye so cool, I don’t play until Sunday. I play 7:30 Sunday, which is odd since I haven’t played all weekend yet, but fine. However, they schedule matches back to back at 7:30, and 9 and then at 10:30. This is not enough time for a race to 7 because one slow match screws up everything. This is a big tournament, people get nervous and play slow. And of course, I get a very slow player my first round and end up losing. I’m already annoyed losing to this slow player and now somehow the bracket is even farther behind then me and I’m waiting for other matches to complete. Well its now after 11pm and I was supposed to play at 10:30pm. I hear an announcement to check the brackets because 10:30 matches may have been moved to the next day at 9am. Thank god I can sleep. Well nope my match still lists 10:30pm. I look at the same level on the loser’s side, almost all the losers side matches were moved and are now being played at 9am, except for me and a few others at 10:30. It’s almost midnight and I finally get an opponent. Funny, the table we were supposed to play on still has a match on it, so we go to the tournament desk. I complain and ask him to move our match to the morning like the most of our bracket and the guy refuses and tells us we have to play and reassigns us a new table. Needless to say I’m a bit pissed from this and also from losing to Mr.slow man earlier. I play bad and lose, two and out. You might say, well there are hundreds of players, they can only do some much, etc…well this was the Platinum division, with only 160 players. They could have played more matches on Sat or earlier Sunday, but they tried to stretch out this tournament multiple days (greed), but then rush through it with bad planning.
Little pro presence, bad stream. Nobody wants to watch bad players on the stream with bad commentary. It’s almost like they were avoiding putting good matches on the stream. My roommate was really hoping to watch more matches in the arena or in the hotel room between matches, but didn’t happen often.
More reasons. No action room. Bad overpriced food. No outside food or drink. Not cleaning the balls or tables (some with new cloth, very fast and clean balls, others very dirty). I saw Mark Griffen a few times, always laughing and smiling but maybe he doesn't realize his event is going downhill? or maybe he's smiling cause he's making so much money anyway? It was an interesting contrast with the poker tournament finishing across the hallway, where guys are cashing for millions on the final table.
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