Reporting Back From the Venetian IPT Tournament!
Well, it has been awhile since I last talked here. Mike and I have one IPT event under our belts now so we know what to expect. But first, I need to report that on July 14 and 15, Jillian's in Seattle held an IPT qualifier for the World Open event to be held in Reno in September. Glenn Atwell and Brady Gollan won the spots and are assured of a $5,000 payday! Congratulations to these 2 great players.
The event at the Venetian in Las Vegas was held July 22-30. 150 members plus 50 players that qualified through the qualifier system battled it out in a round robin format. The draw was done about a week prior to the tournament. The first round consisted of 40 groups of 5 players each.
In Mike's group were Warren Kiamco, a great Filipino player, Brian Saleh, the #3 player in the UK, and legendary players, Keith McCready and Cliff Joyner. In the clamor following the posting of the draw, a UK online betting firm (since closed to US bettors) had everyone betting heavily on their favorites. Before it closed down, the consensus was that Mike would not be one of the 3 players in his group to advance. Well, Mike not only made it out of his group, but he was NUMBER ONE out of his group! More about that later.
I was drawn into Mike 'The Mouth' Sigel's group. Also in our group were Philip Harrison from England who has won 5 international titles, James Roberts (not much known about him) and David Broxson, a qualifier. Any time a player qualifies, you have to assume they can play pretty sporty to have been able to win a tough qualifying tournament, and David was no exception. In fact, he just won another one for Reno.
Mike and I flew in on Saturday and the player's meeting was at 5 pm. Everyone was urged to show up early and check in, so we did and the hall was filled with champions. We received another sports bag, this time in a different color with our names monogrammed on the tops and the IPT logo on the side. It was filled with all the DVD's that are available on the IPT website, plus shirts, hats, and mugs. It also had our playing schedules and other info. Everything was so well-organized!
I was relieved to see that Mike would be playing on Sunday and my matches were to be played on Monday, so that we could sweat each other's matches. It also made for a grueling 2 days, because matches were scheduled at 10 am, 12:30, 3:00, 5:30 and 8 pm, which meant we were in the Venetian from 9am to sometimes 11pm. In the first rounds, there was one round that we got to rest, but otherwise, it was grueling.
The Venetian was a majestic place to hold the tournament, with its frescoes, statuary, fountains and paintings. But it was a long haul to get food or to get outside! As mentioned before, we did not stay onsite, but had great accommodations in a 5-star resort.
I cannot tell you how awe-inspiring it is to walk into the Venetian and have 199 other players there (all dressed up!) and at least 180 of them play jam up! All your idols are there under one roof. I videotaped the player's meeting and went up and down the aisles zooming in on each row. OK, I'm a huckleberry, but who cares? I also have a shirt that I am trying to get every autograph on.
Deno Andrews was unable to make it to the tournament, as his first child chose to be born that weekend. Kevin Trudeau spoke for an hour about rules and plans for the future, which are big! Everyone adjourned for the provided dinner and some practice on the tables. I played with Santos and went 5-5 with him before he won the last game.
There were about 60 9-foot Diamond Pro tables there. As you entered down the red carpet with laser graphics and huge posters of old legends and tournaments around you, on the left were 8 tables and behind that was the Mother Ship…the 2 TV tables. On the right side of the aisle were 50 more tables and in the foyer were 4 more practice tables. Also provided was internet access on 5 or 6 computers, and a few vendors rounded out the foyer.
A few things changed from what we expected. Because of room constraints, the first couple rounds got no cornermen, there were strict time limits on the matches, not all matches were filmed, and there weren't enough refs. Our own Mark Avlon was there to ref and he did a great job.
The balls were the new IPT balls which threw a lot of players. They were very light and it was tough to make anything on the break, due to lighter, different trajectories, and also to the tight pockets and slow cloth. They will be leaving the cloth on for Reno's tournament, so it will be extra slow then. We just got our own table shimmed super tight, because those pockets were about 4 ¼", not the expected 4 ½".
In Mike's first bracket, he played Keith McCready first round. Mike came out of the gate shooting great! He had Keith with a 7-3 lead, but about 5 Filipinos were lined up in the aisle watching him and he got a little nervous and missed 2 game-winning 8's in a row, which made it 7-5 in a race to 8. Keith finally missed and left Mike straight in on the rail on the 8 and I know his heart was pounding on that shot. With those conditions, he didn't have to make the ball, but he nailed it.
Mike was relentless against Brian and Warren as well, winning 8-2 and 8-4 respectively. Cliff Joyner was the last match of the day and Mike pulled ahead to a 7-3 lead, but then the wheels fell off the bus as he could just not put Cliff away and lost 7-8. The score sheet was foreign to everyone and I know a lot of his break and runs were not recorded, which may show up at some point, as it is a method of breaking ties.
The next day, I played. First up was Mike Sigel. It was filmed and broadcast live in Europe. When it was 2-2, The Mouth started his thing. It didn't really bother me, but it was pretty poor sportsmanship. Not only that, but he clearly fouled by moving my last ball with a ref standing right beside the table. When I called it, the ref said he didn't see anything! Sigel is sponsored by Sardo and they came up afterwards and apologized. That made the score 7-3 with him breaking instead of 6-4 and me breaking. Chances are I would not have won anyway, but putting him on the hill really put a damper on the whole thing.
I sort of took that loss and that call in with me the rest of my matches. When you play back-to back-to back, it's hard to shake it off. I played Phil next. Phil is deaf and he just turns his hearing aid off and plays so well. I had a few chances, but really not many. He played awesome.
The next player, James Roberts, I figured I would have some kind of chance, but he was big and had a huge break. He made 3-4 balls every break and spread them so that everything looked easy from there. Again, I had chances, but not very many.
So my last match is with David Broxson, another tall player. He ran out good, but had trouble on the 8's. When he was on the hill, the score was 7-3 and I took a break. I mentally regrouped and started playing like I know I can. He broke dry, I ran out. Then I ran 2 more racks from the break. I broke dry and he made a few balls. By now, there is quite a crowd watching. I made a fantastic runout that had John Schmidt cheering! Ok, now it's hill-hill. I break and come up dry. I watch him run down to the 8 for the game winner and he pops it and jaws it! I leap out of my chair. It was a fairly easy runout, but I thought too much without really deciding and I shot the first ball right into the rail! Oops, the 8 is hanging for David, but at least I felt better about my playing; 4 runouts in a row was pretty good.
The next day, Mike played in round 2 against Brian Groce, a qualifier, then Shawn Putnam, and Howard Vickery before facing 2 Filipinos, Rodolfo Luat and Antonio Lining. First round was against Brian Groce and Mike realized that he would need to do well against the first 3 to have a good chance against the Filipinos whom he would be facing in his last 2 rounds. When it was 4-3, Brian, Mike potted the 8 to tie it up, then rolled the balls to the end for Brian to rack and Brian called a foul on Mike because all the balls had not finished rolling their final inch, so the ref gave the game to Brian, making it 5-3!!! This was devastating to Mike and he still brought it to hill-hill, had a tough cut on his last stripe and over spun it and Brian ran out. This seemed to take all the stuffing out of Mike. Mike's next scores were 4 against Shawn who played lights out, then 3 against Howard, Luat and Lining. We later found out that it should have only been a warning.
What we both learned is not to take anything bad from your last match into the next one. You don't have the luxury of re-grouping, you just have to totally drop whatever is bothering you. You also have to grind for every game, because each one is so important. You cannot rest on your laurels from how well you did the last game, match or bracket, because you can go down in the standings so easily in the next one.
Mike finished 101st. Since the top 100 money earners make it to the 2007 tour with a guaranteed $100,000, he knows he needs to cinch it up a notch. He automatically moved up 20 spots, because 20 players were qualifiers that did not re-qualify for Reno and will not be playing again this year in the IPT, so he still has a great chance.
I finished 187th, just under Ewa Laurance, Jimmy White, and Grady Mathews, and above Wade Crane and Tammie Jones, so I don't feel too bad for the first one, considering I don't play pool for a living.
There were some awesome matches and I got to tape quite a bit. I even bought a monopod for steadier pics for the Reno World Open event in September. Coverage can be reviewed on the IPT website at www.internationalpooltour.com.
We were pretty disappointed that the final was just one race to 8, instead of best 2 out of 3, but it was done for TV. Thorsten Hohmann won against Marlon Manolo in a hill-hill match. Both players are the epitome of all that is good about this game and make great ambassadors for the game. And in case you were wondering, Santos placed high enough to secure his spot for next year's tour.
Qualifiers are starting soon for your place to play in the BIG yearend Tour Card Tournament at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Dec. 12-17 for a 2007 tour card. It will be held in conjunction with the King of the Hill tournament, so all the stars will be there as well. That tour card is worth a guaranteed $100k in income to those players. These 100 qualifiers are being held all over the world. The closest one here will be at Jillian's in Seattle, September 22-25. Entry is $2000. $2000 to win $100,000 is a pretty good bet. Top 2 players will get the opportunity to compete in Vegas. Good luck to all of you that enter!
I would like to announce my newest sponsor, Play Pool billiard clothing company. They have fantastic stuff which you can find at http://www.play-pool.eu/. A new line of women's clothing and US order page is coming soon.
I may have mentioned a deal with a sports agent that wanted to sign us. Mike and I decided not to go with the sponsorship package offered that would give us a guaranteed income, as we thought it would be better to go on our own.
I am working on my travel business a lot more. Visit at http://lcarter.wholesaletravelnow.com to save big on all your travel and for lots of bonus vacations. It's a $15,000 package for only $1295 which gives you a LIFETIME membership of savings on everything from airfare, dining, accommodations, tours, skiing, golf, and camping to rental cars, cruises, theme parks, etc. It is so much better than a timeshare. The neat thing is that you get an unlimited lifetime supply of free bonus vacations and cruises that you can give to your employees, friends, family, customers, charities and auctions, or use as prizes. I have given a cruise with airfare to the NWPA for their yearend banquet and also to the Derby City Classic to raffle off.
The Viking tour has appointed me as their NW Regional Tour Director, so if your room wants to hold a Viking tournament, just let me know. Call 253-852-0965. You get a lot of bang for the buck and they are affiliated with a lot of the top names in pool products.
I would just like give a big shout out to our continuing sponsors: Viking Cues, Talisman Billiards, Harvey's Billiards, Limb Saver, Slip-Stic, Dr. Mike from PA, King Cobra Billiards, Coastal Synergy Group, Dave Jones, and On the Wire.
And I also want to thank the locals who came to sweat the tournament, Terry Gregory and Mary Hanover, Ed Hobbs and John Brewer, Vince Frayne and Lila Klem, Scott Thurston, and Ed Wallace.
Next stop is the World Open in Reno at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino (formerly the Hilton), September 2-10. As of this writing, the draw has not been posted yet, but no matter who we draw, we know we are in for a tough battle. I know a lot more people will be attending this event, so we hope to see you all there!