Buying Top Players Has Added Benefit to Your Own Game

TD and the Calcutta

One aspect of being a Tournament Director is players and buyers come to the Tournament Director sometimes seeking advice or help to resolve issues that may have come up.

The thing is, the Calcutta part of a tournament is not really related to the tournament itself.  It's really an extra part of the tournament;  it's a bet, gambling.  And if you want to buy half yourself or if you want to ask a player if they want to buy half themselves, you to need to have a clear discussion between you two.

Any miscommunication that may occur, the Tournament Director cannot be involved.

I have talked to the sponsor of the Omega Tour several times about Calcutta issues and he reminded me that the Calcutta is gambling. And the players or buyers or fans who are buying players, they're gambling with each person that they buy.  And as with most bets in the world, the communication is always between the buyer and what you're betting on (in this case the player).  And clear, concise communication is key.

Think about this comparison:  if you make a bet with a bookie or you make a bet with a casino or even a friendly bet with a friend, if there is an issue after the fact or with the bet or the agreement,  it's always resolved between the two entities.

Also, I am extremely strict and only give the caclutta winnings to the person I wrote down as the buyer.  I am so strict about this that even friends I've known for 15 to 20 years, they know I have to have verbal confirmation if they want me to hand the envelope to someone else. For example, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area it can take you 2 hours to go across the Metroplex, so sometimes a buyer will have a friend pick up the money so that they don't have to drive all the way down to the tournament. It'll save them a long drive.  However if I don't talk to that buyer on the phone, I will not give their friend the envelope. This is a very strong rule that I follow.

I also learned from a crappy situation at another tournament. Long story short, a player who got second place told the Tournament Director that they bought half themselves.  The TD gave the player their half, they then bolted, and then it turns out he was lying and he did not buy his half at all.

So I have learned from this unfortunate experience of a fellow Tournament Director and I never give anyone their half.

I feel bad when players approach me late on Sunday about issues that have come up between the buyer and player.  I express empathy, of course, but that's about all I can do.

Bottom line is, all communication between the buyer and player is between themselves. So, please make sure it's clear!

Tell-Tale Signs Practicing?

I decided last minute to play in a tournament last weekend (read how that happened here) and did not show up until about 5-10 minutes before noon.

The calcutta would start late about 12:25 or so and I was able to collaborate with a couple of friends about who might be good buys in the calcutta.

I knew most of the players, or recognized them, but there were a few I did not know.  Many I hadn't seen in years it seemed like.

As we discussed the potential horses to buy, one of my friends said, "I don't know who he is, but he plays really good - I saw him practicing earlier."

And another friend said a little later about a different player, "that guy right there couldn't miss a ball practicing this morning against Phillip."

I quickly discounted both of those players.

I told each of my friends when this came up, "well, everyone practices well.  There's no pressure just hitting balls."

It gave them something extra to think about - because I didn't want to them spend their money on an unknown player just because he hit balls well while he practiced.  We all free-stroke during practice, right?  That is actually why some people suggest to play in your matches like you are practicing, because there's no pressure in practice and we play pretty sporty while we hit balls by ourselves with no "real" competition right in front of us.  For instance, have you felt adrenaline during practice?

Don't get me wrong - practice IS important.  Crucial and essential, actually.  But, you can't judge who will be the top players of a tourney the morning of.  Some may be just trying to get the table speed down.  Or warming up their body or getting lose. 

One of the guys asked about another player, "What about the guy in the black shirt?  Do you know him?  He was also hitting balls well this morning."

I didn't know who he was, but I joked, "Well, again, everyone practices well with no pressure.  Wait til he runs against a chick like me."  And everyone laughed.

While funny, it IS true.  If you find yourself against a good player, playing a chick in front of all your friends, or being down 0-3 against a scrub, it WILL affect your play and your free-stroking games of practice in the morning are all of a sudden now no-where to be found.

Mr Calcutta

I'm the very first person to admit part of the success of the Omega Tour is the Player's Auction. 

Besides the fact it is 100% payback, it's also because of one of particular person:  Lonnie!

Lonnie plays on the tour, but more so, he's a huge supporter.  He tries to buy the most players at every event, and therefore has to dig deep in his pockets because he spends the most money.

 Lonnie

Many people have correctly given him rounds of applause for his help in the success of the tour in bringing in extra money into the player's hands.

Therefore, I thought we should show him some tenderly love and appreciation.

I called Lonnie last week and told him a fib:  that my only night to be able to meet for dinner finally was Wed.  He's become a trustworthy friend of mine, so the invite didn't seem out of the blue. 

But I had planned that night in particular because I knew his birthday was only two days later, and had a surprise to give to him:

Click photo to enlarge and check out the engraved calculator!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LONNIE!   THE OMEGA TOUR APPRECIATES YOU!

Sometimes You Can't Give a Pep Talk

I played in a bar table tourney a couple of weeks ago now.

Two of my friends and I bought two top players in the tourney - split three ways seems like a great deal!  Less up money and more players we can get in the calcutta.

After I won my two matches, I'm playing in my third but have to go get quarters.

As I walk by one of the other matches, my friend leans in towards me and confides, "Man, I can't play Coy, he's tough and I'm just not playing well against him."

Normally at this point, I would give encouraging advice.  I would remind her to breath and play pool, focus on the game.

But I had to stop myself before the first helpful word sputtered out - her opponent was one of the guys we bought in the calcutta!  I can't give her advice right now, wtheck!

So, I just kept walking back to my table to play my game with no advice given.  Hurt my heart because I like to help my friends during tournaments, but I gotta think of my pockets and also of the other two guys I'm in with.

Bought Half Myself - Right Thing To Do

We had our Sunday/Monday end of season league tournament yesterday.

We got monies for our first place finish in the playoffs and also a cool first place plaque for each teammate.

Here I am with the trophy that will be given to our home bar:

Here is a pic of the teammates that came to the ceremony (a few teammates are missing):

I then played in the end of season tourney.  Only 2 girls out of 50 players.

I lose my very first match 3-2.  Hill-hill, ugh!  I feel like I played okay, but one mistake each game cost me the match.  

I had played in the very first round of matches called, and then lost.  Then had a bye on the one loss side, so I had a VERY long wait til my next match.

I decided to forfeit.  I really didn't want to stay around all that time, it could have been hours!  And it was already 3:30pm.  

I had already planned in my mind to go play poker at the casino after I was done.  The casino is called Winstar and it's about an hour north on the OK/TX border.  So, since that was already on my mind and my two girlfriends were going with me and waiting on me, I honestly didn't even care too much to stick around to play pool, lol.

As I say goodbye to a few friends, I finally found the guy who bought me in the calcutta.  He bid $40 on me, for some odd reason.  I think people were just being nice, as there was no way I could get in the top 8 to get in the calcutta money against all these great guy players!

I went up to him and said, "Hey, I never buy half myself in the calcutta."

"You don't?"  He asks me, not seeming too worried it.

"Yea, I don't.  But, I'm going to give you half because I'm about to leave and forfeit. "

I gave him $20.

I really felt it was the right thing to do, as I felt kinda bad I was leaving.

Prolly ass-backwards, but oh well!

Sweating is Fun!

At the last Omega Billiards Tour stop at JR Pockets in Denton, Texas, as the Tourney Director for this tour, I also run the Calcutta.

I'm proud to say that we do not take ANYTHING out of the calcutta.  It's 100% payback!

Anyway......

I sometimes bid on players in the calcutta.  But, I hardly ever "get" them.  It's kind of a running joke.  Every time I think I'm about to buy a player, someone bids a higher amount and I lose my bid.  I stomp my feet and raise up my hands with defeat, lol.  I sometimes think everyone is TRYING not to let me buy anyone, haha!

So I bid on a few players this fine Saturday morning and I couldn't let this guy buy himself for $20 so I bid $30.  And guess what happened?

Yep!

NO ONE OUTBID ME!

OMG I was SO excited!  :)

I bought somebody.

Immediately Chuck bought half himself, so we both had $15 invested.

But, something else happened that was even better, though I'm afraid will taint me for all future Calcutta's, lol.

He was still on the winner's side til Sunday!

I called my b/f, "Hey, guess what?  I bought a horse and he's still in!"

He wished me luck almost as much as I wished for the player to win.  He's so sweet :)

Chuck needed two wins just to get INTO the calcutta prize pool.

Well, he wins both!

So I go and look at the brackets.  Talking to myself, "If he wins here and here, or goes here, we will win $250!"

Not bad for a $15 each investment!

I tell you what, it was FUN!

I had so much fun sweating his matches.  I had to be careful not to cheer out loud, only on the inside, because I can't show favoritism as a tourney director, but it was fun!

I normally just glance at all the matches going on, this time I was intense following his games.

And he kept winning!  And won again!  And then he had a close match.  But won that one!

Then he had another tough match and he almost won if a two bad rolls hadn't of happened.

So he was on the one-loss side but never gave up and kept fighting.  At this point, we are now guaranteed $350!

Best $15 investment I ever made!  :)

Thanks for the sweat bet, Chuck, and CONGRATs on a GREAT 5th place finish out of 80 players! 

Surprise Calcutta

At my Monday night league end of season singles tourney (called the Turkey Shoot), I had heard this was a really big payout tourney, because of the calcutta.

One of my teammates, Lisa, had won it a few times and said she made lots of money.

I had to choose between this singles tourney or another one (for my Thursday night ladies league end of season singles tourney).

In the end, I made the right choice kinda by accident.  I chose the Turkey Shoot because I heard it had a high calcutta.  And even though I don't normally buy half myself, I figured if someone wants to give me jelly so be it.  But it turns out this tourney added $500 to the prize fund!  The other tourney was a $5 entry fee and the house added $5 per player.  So this tourney had much more money in the prize fund.  And since I placed 2nd, I made $175 with only 17 players!!  :)

Okay, back to the calcutta....

My boyfriend was suppose to buy me (because I don't buy myself) but he ended up having to work, so I was on my own at the last minute.

So, imagine my surprise to be in this so-called high calcutta tourney and I wont bid on myself.  LOL.

Lisa said she was going to buy me.  And I heard another teammate say he was going to buy me.

However, I do not buy half myself most of the time.  I don't know why - just don't.  I never have, except for in scotch doubles tourneys, or unless someone tells me I really should lol.  I don't know if it's superstition or what.

So, anyway, they do the ladies calcutta first and the first pick of the liter is bid by my teammate and he picks little 'ole me for $140.

"Not too bad," I'm thinking.  Especially if it's true about how high the calcutta is.  Then most of the girls will go for a lot too.

The next pick goes for like $70.

Then they start to go down the list of the 17 players and they START off at $5!!!!

WHAT?

Omg.... there wont be any money in the calcutta payouts since they starting off the bids at 5 bucks!

Wow....

Only 3 other girls went for around $30, all the rest went for $5 or $10.

OMG.

I went up to Lisa later and told her I went for $140 and she said, "That's it??"  She was talking a friend on the other side of the pool room and missed the whole thing.

I told her, "I thought you said this was a high calcutta..."  And she was just as surprised, "Well, it normally is."

My teammate Jennifer would tell me later that normally the ladies is done AFTER the men's calcutta, and she thinks that is why there's normally more money in it.  Because everyone would be bidding high on the guys and it would continue to roll over into the women's calcutta.

So, then they start the guys calcutta.  Pick of the liter goes for $100.  Second goes for $80.  Then they go down the list and start the guys off at $5 also.  About 6 go for $50 or so, and they only have about 17 players in their side, too.

I don't think anything of all this until Jennifer leans over to me and says softly, "you went for higher than any of the guys!"

OMG....

I did!

WTH.

Are you serious?

Next time they need to do the ladies AFTER the men's.

I really went for the highest out of BOTH liters?  lmao.

(Btw, 2nd place calcutta was only about $240, and I did not buy half myself, but I let Jennifer take my half)

Handicapped Tour and Calcutta

As many of you know, I run the Omega Billiards Tour here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

It's a handicapped tour and there are many reasons for this decision:

1. It allows for ALL players to play.  From the lowest (beginners) to the highest (pros).
2. It means the lower players have a better chance against the top players.
3. It means that we don't limit it to just amateur players (master and pros can play).
4. It allows for the beginning player to improve and get experience against better players in a bigger tourney.
5. If it was not handicapped, the sponsor and I felt that many of the beginners wouldn't play as often as they do.  Or even the "middle of the pack" players if the top players always won.
6. We didn't want the top players take all the money - we wanted the middle and lower players to be able to get a chance at the money, too.
7. Handicaps allow for tougher competition for the top players, too.  It's definitely not a gimme.

There are many more reasons, but those are just a few.

While a handicapped tour allows for all players to play, running a handicapped tour causes a lot of complaints lol.

The problem lies in the fact that the handicaps are not always correct.  It's based on KNOWN ABILITY.  I don't care what you are ranked in BCAPL, ACS, or APA, it's based on known ability.

However, I don't know ALL the players and depend on others to give me their opinions.

But, even then, sometimes I'm given wrong info.  Not intentionally!  Never.  Just, they didn't know.

I explained at the last tourney just last weekend how the handicaps work and why some people get moved up or down, and others don't.  Long story short, we don't move players up if they place well a few times.  We don't move players down if they place bad.  Going two and out does not mean you will be moved down.  It just means it's a tough field (and maybe you didn't play your best, lol).  (like I did last time haha.)

I have moved over 15 players up or down because their ranking was INCORRECT.  And I hope that players talk to me about rankings.

HOWEVER!

Most do - BUT AFTER THE  FACT.

I admit I'm frustrated about this part. 

Sure,  I know I will ALWAYS get complaints about handicaps and I know I will ALWAYS hear about this person or that person, but I make decisions based on how they play with my own eyes, and also from opinions of others.

However, if I don't know the player, I can only go by others.  And sometimes I have been given wrong info.  But players don't tell me before the Calcutta that someone is ranked too low!!  Instead, they bid on them because they are low!  Then after the tourney, they complain to me that they were ranked too low.

Omg.........

So, basically, they are abusing the system and taking advantage of the system at the same time!

No one will say anything because they don't want to knock anyone.  And if they can get someone cheap in the Calcutta, all the better for them right?

But then all I hear about is complaints during the tourney and after about these certain players!  Well, if they ranking is WRONG, then tell me, discuss it with me, before the Calcutta.  

PLEASE.

PLEASE.

My goodness this would help out IMMENSELY on the complaints that I get about new players.

/thank you for listening/

Tourney Learning Lessons

As with any tournament, issues can arise. 

And when these issues occur when I'm running a tourney, the issues become a tad personal....

Last weekend we hosted our second Omega Billiards Tour stop.  This was the second event of the year, and the last of the year.  Next year starts a whole new season, our first "season" ever.  We will have 6 stops and a season finale.  It's all so very exciting!

At these tournaments, we have a calcutta.  Most people who play pool will know what a calcutta is so I wont go into detail, just to say that other people can bid on players.  So, there's money on the line and basically people are betting that their player will place high, and then they get a percentage of the calcutta payouts.  It's a gamble for sure, but one that can bring you some money if the bet is right and your player does well.

So, imagine my surprise when one of the players at our event lost his first match and then WALKED out!  Someone overheard him say, "I can't win this tourney now," as he walked out the door.

So, to say I was upset was an understatement.  The guy was bought for $200 in the calcutta!  AND, someone even put him in the tourney!  He has no money invested in the tourney at all, and two others did, and yet he walks out because he lost his first match! 

Since he went for $200, yes that means he's a good player.  To say he's not welcome again is a given.  It was rude, inconsiderate, and uncalled for. 

Then something else happened the next day. 

Right before the finals, the two opponents start discussing something.  I figure out what it is, because so many people are involved in the discussion.  They are talking about splitting/chopping the first and second place monies, and NOT PLAYING THE FINALS OUT.

So, this means I have no score, and no winner for the websites, media articles, write ups, nothing.  Further, all the people who stayed all day to watch, would not get a chance to see a Pro and a top player battle it out in the finals. 

I told the players I was not happy.  I told them I wanted them to play.  For the fans and for the tour.  Not to mention the people who bought them in the calcutta!!  First place in the calcutta was about $1500 and second was about $950.

Granted, the players were trying to work out a deal with the two guys who bought them in the calcutta, but that in itself is disrespectful to ask that they do that (imo).

This isn't a tournament.  This is a tour.   

I walked up to them and expressed that this was a new tour and I did not want that to happen. 

They understood, and so they agreed to play. 

I was upset because I don't like to show when I'm upset, but I had to stand up for the tour, the fans, the sponsors, the pool room who counted on more business, etc.  One of the players instigated the chop and the other just went along.  But, I was not happy.

Everyone told me I did the right thing, but I still didn't like the way it all went down. While it wasn't an argument per say, it was still uncomfortable and I felt it was a little selfish for them to even consider it.

But, I suppose I'm being biased.

While those reading this may think splitting is not a big deal, but because it's a new tour trying to get its feet on the ground and be reputable, I think it is a big issue.  Maybe the sponsors didn't care (maybe they do?), but *I* cared for the fans watching, for the pool room making money, and for the calcutta buyers.

Everything is a learning experience, and this weekend had a few for us. 

Overall, it was a another great event with over $6,500 paid out and a 64-full bracket of great players, tho!  I can't wait for the new season next year!