MPA Singles and Team Tournaments

[TCo]

First and foremost, I like what John is doing with MPA and making a tour-like situation. MPA is a great substitute or supplement to leagues. The only think I find difficult is the larger tournaments with singles and team play.

From my perspective, the singles tournament needs to be done before the team starts. It makes it difficult to know you have a team member playing as late as 3a.m. in singles with a 9a.m. start for your next team match.

If given the option of being out of singles or play in the very wee hours of the night and/or wait until the team tournament is near complete to find an opponent, I’d rather still be in a tournament – but the latter sucks for those playing and their teammates.

Maybe I’m over simplifying but why not start earlier on Thursday?

John, I’d love to hear what your take is and what you may be doing to improve the situation. If remaining with the status quo, what expectation would you set for Black Bear with regard to timing?

Tony

[dwiebelhaus]

Loser's side needs to be played more on the first day.

[ctpool]

Dave - you hit the answer right on! In the past, I've always made it a point to not let anyone get eliminated on the first night. I played the winner's side out two or three matches, then started the loser's bracket first thing Friday morning. That's going to change as of the Black Bear tournament. I know some people are going to be unhappy about this, but we need to play out a couple rounds of the loser's bracket on Thursday night in order to get the tournament finished by the time the team tournament starts. I had a couple people inquire at Treasure Island about why I didn't do it there. Then they said it was because I needed to keep them around to meet my numbers for the casino. Wrong answer! I didn't do it for the casino - I did it for the players who entered into the tournament. I didn't think that players wanted to take a day off of work (Friday), get a hotel room for Thursday night, and then be out of the tournament by 10 p.m. Thursday. It really had absolutely NOTHING to do with the numbers for the casino. It was because I was doing what I thought was in your best interest. But I will change that if that's what you guys want, and I will change that so the singles events get done before the team tournament starts. Tony - I appreciate your comments and your suggestions. However, I can't start earlier on Thursday because I can't expect players to take off of work on both Thursday and Friday. I will start elimination players on Thursday night though. Thank you for your compliments, and thank you for caring enough to make some comments. I want you to know that I'm there for you guys - the pool players - and I'll make whatever changes possible to keep you guys happy. I appreciate all your support this year and hope you continue to support the MPA events in the future.
John Stich

[Josh]

Congratulations John!! I had a good time at TI and thought you did the best with what you had. I only wish more people had the courage to try new approaches and tweak existing practices. It seems like you're able to see past the emotions and take the constructive criticisms in stride. Between a world of fan-boy ignorance where anything but blind allegiance is cause for exile and ego based vitriol you seem to exist in a reality those of us that live outside the billiard world can appreciate. I thought the tables played exceptionally. I also don't care what people say, ,I think that was a classy response.

Josh Schmidt
Joshua Schmidt

[Big J]

Without MPA mn pool would be in dire straits... Tap...tap... John your doing great things! Good idea Tony I totally agree.
-Jonas.

[TCo]

Right on John. Understand that it does get more difficult to take 2 days than 1 or even a half day Thursday and I'm sure many appreciate the start time.

I see you're right in the middle of choosing the lesser of two evils - someone out on Thursday night or risk running into the team. I don't know that anyone would fault you for trying to get done early.

...and can't emphasize enough, what a great job I think you do with these.

I would be curious of your 'totals' for the year, number of participants - both collective and individually and the number of skins paid. I venture a guess that it's likely some fairly big numbers.

Tony