Billiard Coach – Mike Fieldhammer

Pool Synergy: Tournament Directors Unboxed

Posted on 15. Jun, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

I would like to ask all Tournament Directors to please step out of the box. The scary trend of plummeting tournament attendance requires some fresh thinking. Michael Page, owner of Fargo Billiards & Gastropub, has served up some super fresh twists on traditional tournaments. Maybe having the largest pool room in the western hemisphere and having it located in Fargo, North Dakota has motivated him to do whatever it takes to produce great pool tournaments. His next big event starts next week on June 25. I’ll be there.

Nothing beats a quality open tournament.  While handicapped and divisional tournaments have their places, playing in them is a little like fishing in a stocked pond.  The reason—the real reason—most of us throw our lines in the river is for the possibility, however remote, that a thirty-pound Channel Cat grabs the other end.  We’re all dreamers, and as pool players we’re lucky enough to be able to throw our lines into the water for the cost of a steak dinner and a bottle of wine. – Mike Page

For example, Mike Page at Fargo Billiards held a full field calcutta at 11am for his noon start event. 80 players or so were on the auction block. He announced a free breakfast being served buffet style at 10 am. This was such a nice perk for players and railbirds alike. The bonus is the attendance for the calcutta was huge and everyone was in a great mood and ready to spend a little money having been comped a delightful meal. The calcutta was record setting- over $10,000 in the pot. Every penny was paid back to the top 8 spots.

Another thing Page does in weekly tournaments is to have a bonus pot that one player from each tournament has a shot at winning. The challenge is called “Speed Rack.” A video is the best way to show this.

Of the many ways to enjoy competition in pool, I favor tournaments. Leagues, matching up, practicing with pals all have a soft spot in my heart, but tournaments get my adrenaline pumping more than any of them. We all know the pool world has been in a slump and quality tournaments are taking it on the chin. I feel that most players will try entering a tournament at least once in their pool career. Sometimes that experience will get them hooked or put them off of tournaments for life. In my dreams for a better pool world, I wish all tournaments were crafted to be an ideal experience for all involved. This would ensure growth of that event and others, since whole crops of tournament players would be grown.

Check out all of the Pool Synergy authors that have ideas for the ideal tournament on my summary page here.

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Thirty-One Tips: 30. Pro Tournaments

Posted on 30. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Go to see a professional event in person. If you can, compete in it too.

I think the first professional event I ever played in was the 2000 US Open 9-Ball Championships. Barry Behrman’s annual event is one of the holy grails of the pro circuit. That event was memorable for me because I played the great Ralf Souquet. I was even ahead 2-1 before I folded up like the cheap suit I was wearing. Final score was 11-2. It was early in the event and there weren’t many other big names playing in that round. Souquet and I weren’t on the TV table, but we were on table 2 which offered a decent amount of bleacher seating. It was a corner table with plenty of spectators flanking our battleground on two sides. I had never played against a world class player in such a high profile event in front of such a large crowd. The lessons I learned during that match and from watching the rest of the event were priceless.

1. How a professional should behave
2. What it feels like to play under the spotlight and pressures I’d never felt before
3. How to quell the burning embarrassment of making a silly mistake in a crucial situation
4. How to play in uncomfortable clothing and shoes
5. Grasping the idea of intensity and focus pros exhibit every single shot
6. Seeing firsthand how high these players skills rise to meet the occasion

Playing and watching pro events put smaller weekly or regional events in perspective. Getting used to tournament pressure is about becoming comfortable and confident in your game when it really matters. Butting heads with the best in the world can make a player not feel so overwhelmed in a smaller venue for smaller stakes against a regular player.

The entertainment and education one can get at an event like The Derby City Classic can be valuable. This year, I missed the 2011 DCC and am sick about it. It’s the first one I’ve missed in many years. I would have loved to see Alex Pagulayan win the Banks, Dennis Orcollo win the 9-Ball, and Shane Van Boening win the One-Pocket and All-Around title. I’ve told many friends and students that seeing this event in person is completely different than watching the Accu-Stats DVD’s and streams by TAR and Accu-Stats. They only capture a fraction of the pool played. Looking back, some of my favorite matches were not on the TV table.  Matlock vs. Reyes, Deuel vs. Daulton, Reyes vs. Putnum, and Parica vs. Frost were all amazing 1-Pocket matches that weren’t caught by any cameras. Seeing these types of clashes in person, I can hardly explain the stratospheric heights the execution and drama reach.

Please do yourself a favor, get to a pro event and play if you can.

Mike

Note:  In the ’90′s, I attended many of the of the WPBA, Camel Pro Billiards Tour, MPBA, PBT and PCA events around the Midwest to watch the pros play. The first really high profile event I went to was the WPA 9-Ball World Championships in Arlington Heights, IL in 1997 where Johnny Archer and Allison Fisher won.

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Thirty-One Tips: 27. Tell Tournament Directors Your Opinion

Posted on 27. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

To help improve pool tournaments, politely express your opinions to those in charge.

This tip is a little bit local, but the idea could be useful anywhere that players would like to see bigger and better tournaments.  I’ve put on pool tournaments in the past.  There is no doubt promoting, organizing, and running a pool tournament is a lot of work.  It is much more difficult than most players realize.  Typically a TD hears complaints and criticisms all day.  I’m a player know how easy it is to be irritable while exhausted at an event or bitter after a tough defeat.  TD’s understand this, but it is really appreciated when a player pats a TD on the back and gives a compliment.  Like I said, running a tournament is a huge job and thankful players should let the management know of their appreciation.

After an honest compliment, offer a polite suggestion of what you’d like to see to make the event even better.  The people who put on a tournament are usually interested in making their events the best that they can be.  Players are their customers and a heartfelt opinion or an idea that could be an improvement shouldn’t fall on deaf ears.  Thank the tournament director again and mention you look forward to playing in their next event.  You know, kind of a compliment sandwich.

You want an example? Okay.

Wayne Herron, I think you’re doing a great job handling the MOMA tournament.  I mean you’ve got over 500 singles entries in six divisions. I know that can be an enormous task and you’ve got the team tournament on top of that!  One thing I’d like to see though, is the singles event on a weekend rather than beginning on a Thursday morning. After all, it is the Minnesota State Singles Championship and I’m sure there are many players that just can’t take two days off work to make it to the event. It is a prestigious tournament and I’m sorry I couldn’t play this year, but I am really looking forward to playing in next year’s 32nd Annual MOMA event.  Thanks again Wayne.

Here’s the real local part of the story.  My predictions for the singles tournament.

So I can’t play at MOMA and skipped the Derby City Classic to play in Fargo last weekend and MOMA this weekend, so I’m looking for some action.  I’ll stop in at the River Centre a few times this weekend including this afternoon.  Before I head out, I thought I’d hold the envelope to my forehead and make some predictions.  The team predictions are much easier than the singles, but I still bet I’ll do pretty well on the singles picks.  No offense to anyone, I just quickly scanned through the list and jotted down the names that stuck out a bit.  So, drum roll please….

The winners will be...

Men’s Masters Division(24 Players):

My picks as potential winners-

Tim Tonjum- Played great at Seco’s and has been on fire lately.

Dustin Morris- Teammate and phenominal run outs, but will Valley’s hurt his game?

Jamie Pluta- Wildly talented!  Might snap it off or go two and out. Will he show up to play?

Tony Hilla- Super solid. Back from Derby City Classic, can he make the adjustment quickly to bar box?

My pick- Marc Oelslager.  Played a great tournament in Fargo last weekend and his experience on Valley tables will get him to the finals.

Men’s/ AA(73 Players):

Contenders:  Anyone from St. Cloud, or maybe Jeff Maurer or Kris Kalli. My pick- Matt Sherman.

Mixed Open A Singles(Includes the Women’s Masters)(138 Players):

I would love to see Jessica Frideres, Beth Fondell, or one of the other women win the event, but they will have to make it through a tough field of 138 players and plenty of sleepers.  Look out for Jesse Bastyr, Brandon Bright, and Nate Steen.  But the winner will be either Gary Sunde or Mike VanGrinsven.

Men’s/Mixed A (198 Players)

This is too short a race and too large a field to make an accurate prediction, but I’m guessing Zach Engstrom, Ed Haag, Darren Randt, or Bill Frisby will hoist the trophy.

Ladies AA Singles(32 Players):

Tough to decide.  Sam Matuska and Stacy Lamers could do it, but I’m picking Loni Bolz.

Ladies A Singles(59 Players):

The toughest division to pick for me.  Molly Nistler or Tesse Winjum. Why?  I don’t know.

Good luck to everybody and if you see me in the building, please stop me to say hello!

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Thirty-One Tips: 25. Understand a Calcutta

Posted on 25. Jan, 2011 by Mike Fieldhammer.

Get into the action at a tournament through the Calcutta.

A friend of mine asked me to clarify exactly how a Calcutta works at a pool tournament.  I have been to many Calcuttas and I witnessed a first just last weekend at Fargo Billiards.  The full field player auction of 82 players gathered over $10,000 into the side pot.

Great payouts for the 82 players that braved the -20 degree weather!

Most people know that North Dakota is doing very well despite the recession, but I thought the big money was in the Western part of the state near the oil fields!  Here’s the breakdown of a Calcutta that I sent to my buddy.

Howdy partner!

I’ll be happy to explain the Calcutta for you.  Sometimes they also call it a “Player Auction” which occurs before the tournament begins.  Money collected in the bidding is paid out to the owner of the player(s) they bought before the tournament began. Sometimes in a tournament with 32 players, the Calcutta will pay out the top 4 spots.  The cash in the bidding pot might be split up as follows: 1st place 40%, 2nd place 30%, 3rd place 20%, and 4th place 10%.

Sometimes players feeling confident will purchase themselves in the Calcutta so they have a chance to win a nice side pot if they finish high enough in the tournament.  Most often, it is a spectator or other player that buys someone in the Calcutta. Many times, some friends will form a small “corporation” and pool their money to buy several players to they have a few chances to get one of their players into the Calcutta money payout.  With very, very few exceptions, the player ALWAYS has the option to seek out their “Owner” and purchase half of themselves back.  The winning bidder must accept half their bid in cash from the player and then each party owns half and are each entitled to half the Calcutta prize money if the player finishes in a payout slot.

The auction begins before the tournament.  The list of players is printed out for all players and spectators in the pool room to examine the list and evaluate who they think might have the best chance to do well in the tournament.  This whole Calcutta procedure must happen just after registrations for the tournament is cut off but before the draw is done and the matches are posted on the tournament bracket.  This would give Calcutta participants an unfair advantage and cause a huge bottleneck if people tried to see which of the top players might have the easiest path to the finals.

The Calcutta always begins with a couple of “Wild Cards” or “Pick of the Litter” or “Pick of the Fields.”  The auctioneer begins accepting bids on a player to be named by the high bidder.  These couple of players are typically the best guys around, but in a talented field, the final couple of bidders might actually be thinking of different players.  Usually these first 2 bids set the tone and the high water mark for the rest of the bids.  After bidding closes on the first bid ($750 going once, twice, SOLD!) the winning bidder must announce to the whole room who they choose.  That player is then sold and the process is repeated for the second “Wild Card.”

After the first two bidders choice picks, the rest of the field is auctioned off one at a time down the list.  The auctioneer says “Next player for sale is Mike Fieldhammer, player and instructor from Minneapolis. Where’s Mike?  Raise your hand please, Mike. There he is! Mike, do you have $50 on yourself? Yes! Okay, do I hear $100 for Mike Fieldhammer?”  And so on until every player in the field is sold.

Sometimes in a smaller Calcutta, some of the less talented players won’t get any buyers and the player might not want to purchase himself either.  In these cases, all unsold players go into a pool of players called “The Field.”  At the end of the auction, “The Field” is then sold to the highest bidder.  Say there are 5 players in “The Field”, the auctioneer will read off the players that are lumped together and bidding progresses as usual.  Anyone who buys “The Field” cashes in if ANY of those players finish in the payout positions.  Players in “The Field” have no option to purchase half themselves.  They had their chance to buy all of themselves during regular bidding and it isn’t fair to the owner of “The Field” because it would be impossible to figure an equitable payment for a fraction of the winning bid.

The Calcutta can be an exciting way for spectators and players to get in on the action at a pool tournament.  It can be a great way to increase drama, viewership of the final few matches, and to increase the prize monies paid out on the day. Many people enjoy using their knowledge of how each player competes to get a leg up on other bidders.  It is much like bettors at a racetrack handicapping the field and picking the horse they think has the best odds of winning the race.  In fact, at Calcuttas players are often referred to as “Horses!”

Hope that helps,

Mike

One thing that I must stress is that I am absolutely against any kind of garnishing the Calcutta monies for the pool room or tournament director to make a little extra profit.  Sure, I understand that it is some extra work to run a Calcutta, but the room or TD should already be paid for putting on the event.  I believe that getting greedy by withholding cash is a terrible practice that hurts the image of the event and sours players on bidding.  The wise guys who buy players figure odds and returns on investments and scoff at a tampered prize pool.  I say to those rooms and TD’s that skim, please leave it as a bonus for the Calcutta participants.  The prize money will be higher and more players and spectators will come to an event that is on the level!

Fargo Billiards takes it one step further. I’ve got to say again what a first class operation Mike Page and Rory run at Fargo Billiards & Gastropub.  There was another first for me at a pool tournament.  They laid out a free breakfast for players an hour before the Calcutta began.  The auction started at 11 a.m. Saturday, so delicious scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels, muffins,  and coffee was laid out and it was fantastic.  I think it a was very generous gesture to thank players for attending the second annual event in -20 degree Fargo weather.  It also had benefit of getting many people into the building in the morning and putting them in a giving mood to add some extra action into the Calcutta.

Fargo Billiards & Gastropub

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