What's Going On in Texas?

Texas is a big state.  Have you heard?  lol

But, that doesn't mean that a lot of tours don't step on each others toes.  Unfortunately.

Let's see what's going on.

Before I continue, let me state that these are my opinions and thoughts only.

The Lone Star Billiards Tour (LST) was formed 2-3 years ago and it held all its stops in Houston.  Led by the great Tournament Director and WPBA player, Kim White, the new tour was a smart move on her part - having a tour that held an event 1-2 times a month in the Houston-area drew lots of players, allowed her to make money from entry fees and a percentage of the calcutta, and provided tournament opportunities for the players.

Houston is HUGE and the number of pool players in that city can afford their own tour, to be honest.

Problem was, even though she tried, some of the events conflicted with the OB Cues Ladies Tour (OBCLT) AND the Fast Eddies Tour (FE Tour).  While that was a main issue in the beginning, it turned out that wasn't the problem.  The problem was, the number of events in Houston a month impacted the outcome of Out-of-Houston Tours.  The distance from Houston to other big cities ranged anywhere from 3 to 6 hours.  Why would the players in Houston go OUT of TOWN for another Tour if they had one in their own backyard several times a month?

And almost just as important as location, the FE tour and the OBCLT could not have a calcuttas.  The fact that the LST could hold calcuttas and the FE tour couldn't, almost automatically caused the LST to receive most of the players.  As I wrote about before, turns out calcuttas are very important to the players and the patrons.  More so than I ever thought.  The FE Tour actually declined so much in attendance, they had to end the Tour in 2010.

And with so many Houston players staying in Houston, both the OBCLT and the FE Tour had lowered attendances.

Further, the WPBA no longer has an incentive for female players to play in regional tours anymore (the OBCLT is a WPBA regional tour).   There are no qualifiers anymore and the Regional Tour Championship has turned into a joke.  Additionally, with the WPBA hardly having any stops, female players see no future to play on the pro tour right now.  If a female player did not want to play on the flailing WPBA, why would they attend the OBCLT stops out of town when there were so many choices IN town each month?  

To top if off,  ANOTHER tour was started in Houston - an Amateur Tour led by Brent Thomas (now called the Tiger Amateur Tour).  This obviously caused some ruffled feathers by the other tour in Houston, but Brent wanted to provide a more open-book tour and also an opportunity for the amateurs to win some money too (Houston has a lot of pros and Master players that dominated the top payouts of the Lone Star Tour).

So, now there's TWO new tours who impacted not just the FE Tour and the OBCLT, but the PLAYERS who play on those tours.

The FE Tour and the OBCLT held stops in Houston.  Well, they used to.  One of the main pool rooms that hosted the OBCLT was holding too many stops for the Lone Star Tour, so they had to stop having stops with the OBCLT.

And when the FE Tour would have a stop at Fast Eddies Billiards in Houston, hardly anyone would show up because they weren't allowed to have calcuttas or their stop was overlapped by one of the other tours with calcuttas.

The Amateur Tour has cut back from 2 stops a month to about one stop a month (so it seems), but it still draws a great turn out of course.  The Lone Star Tour has not only continued with more than one stop a month, Kim has branched out to Austin (and one time to Temple, Texas).  That definitely makes the non-Houston-ites happy to be able to play on a tour again. 

But with the economy so bad, the OBCLT is having a difficult time finding pool rooms to host an event.

And the male players in the big cities of San Antonio, Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth can't drive to Houston so many times every month, so they look for smaller independent tournaments that happen to have a tourney every once in a while.

I am happy to see that the two new Houston Tours have gained new sponsors and offers more options to the Houston players.  That means they are working hard.

The two Tours may not realize it, yet, but their competition with each other brings out new ideas and better tours for the players.  The Lone Star Tour now has not only an open, and ladies events, but Kim has added a junior event and an amateur event to her stops.  She also has added a one pocket event, and has not just 9ball, but ten ball and eight ball events.  The Tiger Amateur Tour now has CSI as a sponsor, and they have qualifiers for CSI tournaments. 

The only unfortunate thing I think is going on is there seems there is a new amateur tour run by Kim, separate from the Lone Star Tour.  But I can't quite tell what it is.

Like I said, competition creates new ideas and a better tour, but one shouldn't shoot their own foot for spite, either.

Bottom line, there is no longer an Open Tour that travels throughout Texas.  The bad economy even prevents the two tours in Houston from branching out to other cities to where the TDs would make enough money to travel outside their money-bounds more often.  And why would they when so many pool rooms in Houston hold their events, anyway? 

The OBCLT is still traveling across Texas, but not all pool rooms can always afford the $2,000 guaranteed added money.  And with the WPBA's lack of involvement, what is the draw for the pool rooms?  The ones who host the OBCLT events are mostly the ones who simply love women's pool and want to support it, whether they make money or not.  I.E., the love of the game and women's pool.  However, the OBCLT has a lot going for them - they are well known and are the largest, longest-running women's tour in the country.  Even with two tours in Houston, they are still getting new local players all the time, which is awesome. 

But I admit I liked playing in the women's division on the FE Tour.  I admit I'd love to play in the women's division of the Lone Star Tour.

And what about the male pool players in Texas?  Without a "Texas" tour, there are still a few big tournaments a year in or near Texas, but not enough to satisfy the male players who used to travel all the time once a month or so to compete, test their skills, and try to make money.

Do I have a solution?  Do I have recommendations?  Sure.

I have ideas.  But ideas cost money, and also create a lot of work and time.  ;)

But, if you are thinking of moving to Texas for pool, choose Houston right now.  Even though Houston is the 7th most congested region in the country, you will be in pool competition paradise.