Carolinas Open One Pocket updates

28 players turned out for the One Pocket division of this year's Carolinas Open, held annually at Fast Eddie's Sports Bar & Grille in Goldsboro, NC. Like the US Open One Pocket last week, it seems like the scheduling so close to the big IPT may have kept some of the 'big guns' away this year. Also, players have historically used the Carolinas Open as a tune-up right before the US Open 9-ball, but this year the US Open is a week later -- another result of rescheduling to work around the IPT.

Anyway, here is the field -- plus or minus the typos and mis-heard names! They have played through two winner's rounds now, which is why I am showing only eight players advancing out of 28...

Nelson Silva
Sam Monday --> advances
Cadillac Ed
Joe Wilkins
Wade Crane --> advances
Vic Hubbard
'Champ'
Sparky Farrell --> advances
Roy Spells
John Benson
Casey Kilian
Brandon Shirah
Mike Davis --> advances
Gene Hooker
AJ Hartzog
Mike Dearing
Brian Jones --> advances
Jamie Turnage
Chris Jones
Charlie Brinson --> advances
Gerald Huber
Keith Bennet
'Mori'
Bill Bailey --> advances
Tom Wirth --> advances
'Pookie'
Barry Boney

NH Steve said:

28 players turned out for the One Pocket division of this year's Carolinas Open, held annually at Fast Eddie's Sports Bar & Grille in Goldsboro, NC. Like the US Open One Pocket last week, it seems like the scheduling so close to the big IPT may have kept some of the 'big guns' away this year. Also, players have historically used the Carolinas Open as a tune-up right before the US Open 9-ball, but this year the US Open is a week later -- another result of rescheduling to work around the IPT.

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I imagine that next year the IPT will be much less of a factor in pushing the other tournaments around. I doubt whether the IPT's 2007 schedule has been decided yet. It'll probably depend upon HoHo. With Kevin still the manager of it though, I suspect they'll still have an event or two in the U.S. At any rate, concerning one-pocket tournaments, at least it'll rise back up to it's traditional mediocre level...

Pretty embarrassing turnout for the Carolina event. At least I can see from the roster why there's been an action slump in New Orleans. The biggest sand player in N.O. has gone to NC along with his pal Casey. I suspect there will be some jellybeans rolling around in Goldsboro!

Doc

They are down to the finals in Goldsboro tonight -- a single race to five to determine the winner between Sparky Farrell vs Mike Davis

Already settled earlier today:
3rd went to Brian Jones
4th Sam Monday
5-6 Wade Crane & Bill Bailey
7-8 Tom Wirth & Brandon Shirah
9-12 Keith Bennett, 'Champ', Casey Kilian, Charlie Brinson

Don't know much about the action...

Mike Davis won the One Pocket last night, beating Sparky Farrell 5-1. They did the finals as a single race to 5, not double elimination.

Buxton Turner is their tournament director down there, and I can tell you from my own experience there last year, he does a real nice job. He gets the draw done & gets right down to the business of scheduling matches. He sets a timetable for each round -- allowing 2 hours for each of their race to 3 matches -- so players know pretty much when they play next.

The 9-Ball is now underway, with many additional players having rolled in -- Strickland, Tony Watson, etc... 62 players for the 9-Ball.

Doc, I can understand your disapointment with the player turnout but your hat should be off to Kevin and the IPT what he is doing is really remarkable.
Consider this beautiful sport that hasn't gone anywhere for whatever reason is finally getting some traction and players are making the kind of money they deserve. It's a shame that a game as beautiful as ours hasn't afforded it's top players a reasonable living for years. It's strange that 8 ball is the game they're playing but I suspect like with texas holdem The public is going to be educated about the game and at a slow pace but if this takes off like I think it will who knows maybe one pocket will be showcased or banks for that matter. Efren just won half a million dollars and I feel like we all won and that's a nice feeling.
Phil Welch

philwelch said:

Doc, I can understand your disapointment with the player turnout but your hat should be off to Kevin and the IPT what he is doing is really remarkable.

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Phil, you may have misunderstood my post. I'm all for the IPT. It's the best thing that's happened to pro pool in my lifetime. I'm also glad they chose 8-ball, since it is a far fairer game than is 9-ball. There's not as much dumb luck that determines match outcomes. I don't like the win with the 8 on the break, but that's a very rare occurence.

My point was that the IPT will probably still have some events in the U.S. next year, even though there is now a Chinese owner. As soon as they post their schedule, the TDs and promoters of the other well-known events will have to make sure that their tournament's dates are not anywhere near the IPT's, because none of the top pros will show up if there is even a remote conflict. There's too much income at stake.

In talking with some of the pros at the recent U.S. Open 1P event in Louisville, I realized that it wasn't just the calendar as a factor in deciding whether to play a different tournament close in time to the IPT's. It's the equipment. In Louisville's case, going from their ultra fast cloth to ultra slow nappy cloth at the IPT must take some serious getting used to! I note that none of the pros who played in both events did very well in Reno. The table speeds may have been a factor. Due to the possibility of high tournament profit, many of the IPT contestants have acquired tables with the slow cloth on which to practice.

At any rate I'm certain the promoters of one-hole events will engage their very sharpest scheduling imaginations in '07!

Doc