Does something need to be done?

[youngstown]

Does something need to be done?

...One thing nobody has mentioned is we only had 23 verified members there this year.

Caught me off guard, thought you meant only 23 total players at first.

 

[Knuckles54]

This was my first .org tournament and being a newbie I have little to complain about. Fact is I had a great time and for someone that goes to bed early and early rise on a daily bases I found myself up late every night, 1 or 2 am. It was not because I was playing well and winning money, instead I lost my ass in everything I did, but had a great time. John took the time to teach me how to play golf and Billy must of seen all the fun I was having and had to get some. I played pool 11 to 12 hours straight each day and did not want to stop. The tournament seems to be for members that come to participate, how it plays out for members to view on stream, well secondary. Several members like Nick, John, Kevin, Chris, Billy, Frank, Walt and many I can’t remember thier names give me good advice and great encouragement when I would make a descent shot or gin a two railer or bank on the 6x12 snooker table. This tournament renewed life in pool that has been lost for some time. I thank Steve and all of you for making this happpen..... I witnessed your truly a brotherhood, an unselfish bunch of guys All pitching in to make this happen. I’m all in...... knuckles

 

[Mkbtank]

Does something need to be done?

This was my first .org tournament and being a newbie I have little to complain about. Fact is I had a great time and for someone that goes to bed early and early rise on a daily bases I found myself up late every night, 1 or 2 am. It was not because I was playing well and winning money, instead I lost my ass in everything I did, but had a great time. John took the time to teach me how to play golf and Billy must of seen all the fun I was having and had to get some. I played pool 11 to 12 hours straight each day and did not want to stop. The tournament seems to be for members that come to participate, how it plays out for members to view on stream, well secondary. Several members like Nick, John, Kevin, Chris, Billy, Frank, Walt and many I can’t remember thier names give me good advice and great encouragement when I would make a descent shot or gin a two railer or bank on the 6x12 snooker table. This tournament renewed life in pool that has been lost for some time. I thank Steve and all of you for making this happpen..... I witnessed your truly a brotherhood, an unselfish bunch of guys All pitching in to make this happen. I’m all in...... knuckles

Big Mitch it was such a pleasure meeting you and Donna. You are a gentleman and a good player! Look forward to seeing you two again! A speed pool rematch perhaps.

 

[Scrzbill]

I don't know why you are blaming yourself John. The fact is all three have ran very late on the last day. This one was just a few hours later. That obviously has to change. I'm sure there isn't one person except maybe Ky. Bill who would prefer a 3:00 am finish on a Sunday night after a three day tournament. Using the same format it has happened every single tournament...This isn't an anomaly. Having our friends Matt and Lizz there would not have helped when there are too many matches scheduled for the last day. One thing nobody has mentioned is we only had 23 verified members there this year. Jay Helfert made a very good post about changes needed. Maybe we should all listen...

Fk all you guys. Dont single me out because I think the tournament went as planned and went well. Now you idiots have Gentleman John trying to shoulder the blame from people complaining who werent even there. John you did nothing wrong except put your heart and soul in it to make it a great tournament. I apologize John for the people who are offended that an amatuer tournament did not fit into their schedule that you feel you have to shoulder the blame. Ill say this again, if you werent there, you have nothing to complain about. You could have put it on your DVD player and watched it today. Yes I am being harsh because it is bullshit so many couch potatoes have so much to complain about a tournament they were too cheap to attend. We let some players attend like last year who will be good members again. People we all knew who either have been members past or just recently joined, like Howard K. As far as me being the only one, Im the only one being vocal about it and Im fed up with the bullshit. I dont care if it went to three or five because in each tournament I have gone to bed early because Ive seen every shot imaginable for fifty years and pool tournaments dont excite me, especially an amatuer tournament. My excitement came from seeing so many players from OP.Org at my home court. I pushed this place for three years and you cannot imagine my joy at seeing all the happy faces eating rice bowls and enjoying the room so imagine my dismay when I get home and see so much drivel. I got off OP.org before and it looks like Im doing it again. You guys want to know why OP.Org tournaments last so long, we are amatuers. Ask Hendy how late his tournaments last in Sacamento. One time he told me it was 6am. Its nearly always past two. If you want a tournament to end on time, watch the Super Bowl. Ill see ya, NOT.

 

[Tobermory]

Where do you get I’m trying to dictate, I’m not the one demanding change to a successful private event that no one in the world of pool cares two cents about except mostly the two that won.The final match did start at 1pm didn’t it? There is nothing wrong with the set up. There were two matches on the winners side, and two matches on the losers side at 11 am.
What would be a better start to the final day, one match? Two? What do you want? You had one of the longest matches in the whole tournament, 5 hours. Maybe the solution is to end each match at two hours with whom ever is ahead. There’s a suggested solution. It’s all BULLSHIT. It doesn’t have anything to do with being cool, romantic, traditional, old school, new school or anything else. It has everything to do with bragging rights and having a good time. I will put it to a vote for the members that went, not the couch potatoes who want to gripe that they just had to watch an amateur tournament to see the finish. People who were watching are looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Friday went as planned. Saturday went as planned. Sunday started out as well as it could, two matches each side, and went a little sideways. SO WHAT? Shut up again because there is NO problem. It’s a members tournament for the ones who want to go, ONCE a year. It’s like NEW YEARS. People who don’t drink go out and get drunk. This is OP.Orgs New Years. It’s fine the way it is. I’ll bet you this and lay you odds, the members that went had a good time and would not change a thing. (contrarians as yourself don’t get a vote) The members who just had to stay up late for one night want to change the whole format, number of wins losses, time played, you name it. I say it’s like voting for where the tournament is going to be held, if you don’t plan to go, you don’t get a vote. How much you willing to bet, I still have money left. I’ll even play you even for it, with a shot clock for you. I don’t need one because I’m thinking three shots ahead. By the way Mike, I wish we could have spent more time talking instead of just meeting in the bathroom.

Agreed, Bill, I wish we had had time to talk more or even play a bit, because I have a feeling we'd become friends, but missing all of Sunday, having to drive an hour each way each day, playing 5 matches, working on Friday morning before coming in, and then being too busy with what turned into a marathon match with Kevin didn't leave me any time for hanging out or getting into action with anyone.

One of the reasons I like the round robin idea is that we'd all get a chance to play more players, and we'd all be guaranteed to play at least 14 match games (groups of 8, 7 matches each, sets of 2 games) whereas with the traditional format no player is guaranteed to play more than 6 games. I know that more than a few of our members went 3-0 twice and that was their tournament. Wouldn't it be more fun for everyone, and help justify the commitment of time and money to travel to and play this tournament, if everyone got to play more matches and games under tournament conditions?


Pray tell how you think 3 shots ahead when you have no idea what your opponent is going to do or what the table will look like when you get back to the table?


And when we do next meet somewhere outside of the john, and plan to match up somehow, I'm more than happy to play you with a chess clock. How about 20 minutes each? And don't come begging asking for a spot either...

 

[crabbcatjohn]

Fk all you guys. Dont single me out because I think the tournament went as planned and went well. Now you idiots have Gentleman John trying to shoulder the blame from people complaining who werent even there. John you did nothing wrong except put your heart and soul in it to make it a great tournament. I apologize John for the people who are offended that an amatuer tournament did not fit into their schedule that you feel you have to shoulder the blame. Ill say this again, if you werent there, you have nothing to complain about. You could have put it on your DVD player and watched it today. Yes I am being harsh because it is bullshit so many couch potatoes have so much to complain about a tournament they were too cheap to attend. We let some players attend like last year who will be good members again. People we all knew who either have been members past or just recently joined, like Howard K. As far as me being the only one, Im the only one being vocal about it and Im fed up with the bullshit. I dont care if it went to three or five because in each tournament I have gone to bed early because Ive seen every shot imaginable for fifty years and pool tournaments dont excite me, especially an amatuer tournament. My excitement came from seeing so many players from OP.Org at my home court. I pushed this place for three years and you cannot imagine my joy at seeing all the happy faces eating rice bowls and enjoying the room so imagine my dismay when I get home and see so much drivel. I got off OP.org before and it looks like Im doing it again. You guys want to know why OP.Org tournaments last so long, we are amatuers. Ask Hendy how late his tournaments last in Sacamento. One time he told me it was 6am. Its nearly always past two. If you want a tournament to end on time, watch the Super Bowl. Ill see ya, NOT.

I believe you misread nearly every part of my post Bill. :lol

 

[Nick B]

Does something need to be done?

Big Mitch it was such a pleasure meeting you and Donna. You are a gentleman and a good player! Look forward to seeing you two again! A speed pool rematch perhaps.

Mitch! That was your wife! Another wife! I thought you had met a local and made a “friend”.

Next time you want to play golf with those guys I’ll be your designated cornerman-caddy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jay helfert]

I don't know why you are blaming yourself John. The fact is all three have ran very late on the last day. This one was just a few hours later. That obviously has to change. I'm sure there isn't one person except maybe Ky. Bill who would prefer a 3:00 am finish on a Sunday night after a three day tournament. Using the same format it has happened every single tournament...This isn't an anomaly. Having our friends Matt and Lizz there would not have helped when there are too many matches scheduled for the last day. One thing nobody has mentioned is we only had 23 verified members there this year. Jay Helfert made a very good post about changes needed. Maybe we should all listen...

Thanks John. First of all I had a great time and don't regret going at all. In a nutshell I offered some solutions to the late ending time. 1. Start play at Noon on Friday and not at 4 PM. That way you get in an extra round of play the first day. 2. Definitely play the first round of the loser's side on Friday night! Remember, you must play two rounds on the loser's side to every one round on the winner's side. No one's going home if they get knocked out late on Friday night. They will stay and sweat the games, do commentary and match up with each other.

3. Play the "four ball" rule! This will work and solve all the problems if incorporated, without changing the DE format of the event. When four (or more) balls are inside the head string, you spot up the ball closest to the end rail. It's a simple change in rules that everyone will adapt to quickly (it's nice at first to remind your opponent when the fourth ball enters the head string). You are still playing a Race to Three, with all the same critical decisions to be made (do I shoot or play safe?). The essence of One Pocket does not change with this rule.

I've played and ran several tournaments using this rule and not only did it dramatically speed up play (no more wedges and no more large clusters of balls up table), but the best players still won most of the time. It does not give any advantage to a weaker player. A long game may take 45 minutes and not 90-120 minutes. By using this rule and starting earlier on Friday, this tourney can easily remain a three day event, even with a larger field.