Well, the Regional Tour Championships is coming to a close as a write this. One match to go out of 63 ladies. 9 Women received their Qualifier card. Hey, what does that mean anyway? That means, in simple-to-me-terms that: the top 9 in this tournament get a "spot" on the WPBA Classic Tour stops of 2010. The first place winner gets PAID spots.
It was a very interesting tournament - two round robin stages, then a single elimination bracket.
The first day and a half was round robin of 8 groups of 8 players, race to 6 (minus the one player that didn't show - not sure who it was). The top 4 of each of those 8 groups of the first round robin stage moved on to stage 2. It was based on games won, not matches won.
The players that made the second round robin stage got "in the money." The second round robin stage was 8 groups of 4 players (again, race to 6) and the top player with the most wins (not matches) of each group moved on to the third stage - which was single elimination bracket. Count peeps - that's only 8 players that move on and THAT is when they know if they get their Q card or not!
It was a very interesting tournament - two round robin stages, then a single elimination bracket.
The first day and a half was round robin of 8 groups of 8 players, race to 6 (minus the one player that didn't show - not sure who it was). The top 4 of each of those 8 groups of the first round robin stage moved on to stage 2. It was based on games won, not matches won.
The players that made the second round robin stage got "in the money." The second round robin stage was 8 groups of 4 players (again, race to 6) and the top player with the most wins (not matches) of each group moved on to the third stage - which was single elimination bracket. Count peeps - that's only 8 players that move on and THAT is when they know if they get their Q card or not!
This was very exciting for the fans but I bet nerve racking for the players. The announcers had stats on the players and the fans on the stream would know that if a certain match was won 6-5 or lost 6-4 which player would get their Q card or not. What was more interesting was that the score of a certain match could affect a player not even in that match! It was very stressful! lol
The 9th player who got a spot was the player with the 9th-best percentage of the second round robin stage. They didn't get to play in the single elimination tourney, but they got a spot. Woo-Hoo! That player was Susan Williams - who played really well on the stream table on Saturday that I witnessed! Congrat's Susan!
The other 8 players who made the single elimination tournament who now have their qualifier card are: Emily Duddy (from NY I think), Shu-Han Chang (from Taiwan), Naomi Williams (from Canada), Mary Rakin (From CA), Amy Chen (from Atlanta), Kim Benson, Lisa Marr (from Arkansas) and Liz Lovely. Congrat's to these ladies as well!!
The OB Cues Tour was well represented and I was pulling for all of them. Sorry to see my friends Amanda and Ash not make it to the single elimination rounds - I know how much they wanted that. :( Love you gals! Kim and Michelle had a really great tournament and I am happy for them and of course Lisa who got her Q card!
The 9th player who got a spot was the player with the 9th-best percentage of the second round robin stage. They didn't get to play in the single elimination tourney, but they got a spot. Woo-Hoo! That player was Susan Williams - who played really well on the stream table on Saturday that I witnessed! Congrat's Susan!
The other 8 players who made the single elimination tournament who now have their qualifier card are: Emily Duddy (from NY I think), Shu-Han Chang (from Taiwan), Naomi Williams (from Canada), Mary Rakin (From CA), Amy Chen (from Atlanta), Kim Benson, Lisa Marr (from Arkansas) and Liz Lovely. Congrat's to these ladies as well!!
The OB Cues Tour was well represented and I was pulling for all of them. Sorry to see my friends Amanda and Ash not make it to the single elimination rounds - I know how much they wanted that. :( Love you gals! Kim and Michelle had a really great tournament and I am happy for them and of course Lisa who got her Q card!
Some of the OB Tour Ladies outside Hardtimes.
Here is some interesting tidbits from Shayla, who also represented the OB Cues Tour at the event:
"We played Stage 1 of the tournament on 24 tables. 10 of the tables are in the "tournament room" and the rest on the other side of the pool hall. The tournament room tables are all tighter and faster than the other tables. To try to make it as fair as possible, each round robin group was assigned 3 tables to play on for the entire round. So, we had to only get used to 3 tables. Some groups only played on the tight tables, and some groups only played on the other tables. But everyone in the group had to play on the same table. This was announced in our players meeting on Thursday night and no one objected. "
I watched the event all weekend on the live stream. I stand by my choice of not playing (no regrets there at all), but would have really liked to have been there to support my friends in person instead of from Texas. I am proud of all the ladies who went to this tournament! It's a honor!
Update:
The single elimination tournament was a race to 9. Chang won over Mary Rakin last night! Chang will get all her entries paid for 2010 for the WPBA Classics stops! As a reminder, the RTC is made up of the top players of the regional ladies tours - Chang came from a Tour over in Taiwan. Yep, that's right ladies and gents - tours from overseas can get WPBA sanctioned and then send their top players to the RTC to get a shot at the WPBA. This is actually one of the reasons the RTC is now the main way to get on the WPBA - because too many tours were being formed and there needed to be a new way to get players on the WPBA than just winning Qualifiers.
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