Two more new places to play in Seattle
Category: Parties and Nightlife

I have added 2 more. If anyone wants the complete Word document, you can pm me with your email address.

Acme Bowling, Billiards and Events – Tukwila - An upscale bowling alley and billiards room

Rack up at ACME's 7 billiard tables - all 9' Brunswick Gold Crown III Tournament Tables. With 3 plasma, high definition televisions broadcasting any of our 25 satellite feeds as well as food and drinks served up by our Restaurant and Lounge, you'll cue up a great experience at Q.

Q Billiards Pricing
Daytime Monday – Friday $6 per table per hour
(ending by 6:00 p.m.)

Evening Monday – Thursday $10 per table per hour
(after 6:00 p.m.)

Friday Evenings and Weekends $13 per table per hour
(after 6:00 p.m. on Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday)


Open Daily M 3PM - 11PM
T-TH 11AM - 11PM
FRI 11AM - 2AM
SAT 9AM - 2AM
SUN 9AM - 12AM
21 & over Fri & Sat @ 12AM

http://www.acmebowl.com/billiard.aspx
100 Andover Park West
Tukwila, WA 98188
Main: 206.340.ACME
Events: 206.340.0202
Fax: 206.340.0404
General inquiries: info@acmebowl.com
Event inquiries: events@acmebowl.com
Media inquiries

Twisted Cue Club - Tacoma

With five seven foot coin op tables with Simonis 860 Tournament cloth, plus a nine foot early 1900 era antique Brunswick, each at a reasonable hourly rate, if you would choose. There's a table here sure to match your competitive needs. The club offers a full bar, with a huge rock fireplace as a backdrop and out door deck. We're talking ambiance here. Need new pool equipment? The club offers that too, with an in-house billiard supply, soon to have a repair station. With both club sponsored pool tournaments, and nightly pool leagues including APA, TAP and BCA, the club aims to fulfill your every billiard need.

$4.00 per hour for the 7 foot tables.
$7.00 per hour for our 9 foot table.

539 Broadway | Tacoma, WA 98402 | Phone: 206.755.5527
http://www.winfieldstwistedcueclub.com/

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IPT Article 9

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 101^st.  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 187^th, 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!

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IPT Article 8

On Our Way to The Venetian!

The countdown has begun.  Things are sure heating up in the Zimmerman/Carter house in preparation for our first IPT event where we actually play! 

That event is at The Venetian in Las Vegas, July 22-30.  150 members and another 50 players that qualified through an expensive, grueling system will battle it out in a round robin format.  First round will be 40 groups of 5 players each.

The player's meeting will be at 5 pm on the 22^nd.  It will be interesting if they will hold a blind draw in front of everyone.  Can you imagine if Efren, Bustamante, Parica, Orcullo and Pagulayan all drew into the same first round together?!

Buddy Hall dropped out of the Venetian tournament (the North American Open) due to health reasons.  Vilmos Foldes was invited to replace him which was a great choice.  Vilmos was always the bridesmaid, never the bride in his quest for a tour card, coming in third in the first 2 qualifiers.

As far as the tournament, the game is 8 ball, races to 8, break out of the box, 3 foul rule in effect, ball in hand anywhere on the table after the break on a foul, winner breaks, no shot clock, phenolic tips or jump cues, and you are allowed a 'cornerman' to talk you through.  I would like to be able to use Mike as mine, but I'm not sure I want to fade looking at his face when I mess up, LOL.

Word is that every match is going to be filmed and possibly available on DVD.  So since the camera adds another 10 pounds, I am on my first diet since high school.  Yuk!  I figure if I lose a pound a day until then, I will be pretty skinny and then will need a whole new wardrobe!  J Mike is so mean and came up with a plate of brownies last night. L But I was good and resisted.

We got the new napped IPT tournament cloth installed, along with new rails on our Diamond table.  We also got an Aramith cueball that should play exactly like the new IPT balls in Vegas.  What a difference all these changes have made!  Where it used to be sheer drudgery to go practice because everything was so sluggish and slow, now the rails are lively, the pockets are more forgiving and balls go 4 rails now off the break, instead of only 2.  Mike has been putting in serious practice time and is hitting the ball well.

Through my online travel business, I was able to secure a 5 star condo for a week with 2 bedrooms, a kitchen plus a kitchenette in one of the bedrooms, with Jacuzzi tubs, lighted tennis court, putting green, and a shuttle that leaves every half hour and stops right across the street at the Mirage, for a fantastic price.  Mary and Terry Gregory, Ed Hobbs and his friend John, and fellow IPTer from Shanghai, Colin Colenso will be staying with us.  We are so thankful that these friends are making the trip to sweat our matches.  And Mary has promised to put a little hurt on me on the tennis court!

I've been trying to get out to more big-table weekly tournaments.  You might find this thread from the AZ Billiards forum quite humorous where I rib all the fellow AZBers I have been taking down.  Just good-natured woofing, you understand!  Rackmsuckr is the Queen: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=34324

All the qualifiers for the Venetian tournament are finished; the one at Jillian's was fantastic.  Players came from around the globe to play in it.  Santos Sambajon showed up late for his first match and started out with a forfeit.  If you remember Santos's plight, he was originally a member of the IPT but was back in the Philippines celebrating his $71,000 Skins win.  He neglected to return his documents back to the IPT in time and was dropped.  Ever since then, he has been flying everywhere trying to qualify, first for membership, and now to play at The Venetian, so this was just another step backwards for him.  He did eventually win a qualifier for this one tournament only. 

Our sponsored players, Glen Atwell and JD did not fare well either in the qualifier, but we are rooting for them in the next one.  Mike Vidas from Canada and Gandy Valle displayed strong 8ball skills, winning the top 2 spots and will also be playing at The Venetian.  Gandy, nicknamed Yang Yang (pronounced Yung Yung) should have been a lock since he was named after 2 pool tables!  Just kidding.

Now there are 25 more qualifiers set for the World Open which will be September 2-10 at the Reno Hilton with a 3 million dollar purse (last place is guaranteed $5000)!  The qualifiers start in July with entry fees of $1500. 

Again, we will be holding a mini-qualifier for a $150 entry fee, on July 8 at Dr. Cues Billiards at 10 am.  They will be races to 10, with IPT rules and dress code.

The IPT qualifier will be held on July 14-16.  I urge all of you to come down to Jillian's and watch the best local and regional talent come to play.  You can be sure that if they are paying $1500 for an entry fee that they are serious pool players!  I have heard that Ramil Gallegos from the Philippines is already here to take it down.  He may be the last native Filipino trying to qualify that hasn't made it in yet.

TV coverage is unprecedented for this event.  Eurosport struck a deal with the IPT to televise the North American Open LIVE from The Venetian all over Europe!!!  Along with coverage anticipated for this event on OLN, this is the most pool exposure for a tour in the history of billiards. 

I hope you have your TIVO set to catch all the current King of the Hill broadcasts.  The IPT scheduled programming of the King of the Hill event airs in 6 consecutive Sundays on primetime on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN, soon to be called Versus), with the first show which premiered at 7pm ET (4pm Pacific) on Sunday, June 4, and a 2-hour finale on Sunday, July 9.  Most cable packages broadcast OLN.  Here, it is on Comcast channel number 34.  They are re-running all the broadcasts, so you should still be able to catch them in their entirety.

As with any new venture, rumors abound regarding the IPT.  One that you may hear is that Kevin Trudeau sold a share of the IPT for $65M-$70M to an Asian company.  This could mean an infusion of money that will pump up the purses even higher.  It could also mean that much of the tour next year will be in Asia.  I am sure that all these rumors will be put to rest or verified at the player's meeting.   If it is true, how strong is that, to be able to sell a portion for that much money when a real tournament has not even been played yet?!!

In closing, I would just like to say that we are blessed with the best sponsors in the world: Viking Cues, Talisman Billiards, Harvey's Billiards, Limb Saver, Slip-Stic, Dr. Mike from PA, King Cobra Billiards, Parlor Billiards, Dave Jones, and On the Wire.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  See y'all in Vegas!

8:52 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

IPT Article 7

IPT QUALIFIERS AND OTHER NEWS

Greetings!  We find ourselves another month closer to the first IPT tournament in Vegas at the Venetian to be held in July, to include 50 players who are not IPT members.  One of the 25 qualifying tournaments for those 50 spots will be held June 2-4 at Jillian's in Seattle with a $1,000 entry fee. 

We held mini-qualifiers for this qualifier for a $100 entry fee, and Glenn Atwell and John Doherty won the 2 mini-qualifiers.  Congratulations to both champions and we will all be rooting for them to come in 1-2 at Jillian's.  Also, thanks to Mike Zimmerman for spearheading and running these tourneys.  He will be running several mini-qualifiers for the World Championship qualifiers in July, possibly even June.

At the qualifier at Jillian's, the top 2 finishers will earn the right to play in the IPT Vegas tournament with a guaranteed $2,000 payback and the chance to win $200,000.  The next 4 finishers in the qualifier will win a free $1,000 spot into another qualifier.  And the remaining players will have their names put into a hat for a chance to play the designated IPT pro.  Four names will be drawn.   Mike was selected to be the IPT pro to play at Jillian's for those challenge matches.  If Mike wins the challenge match, he wins $1,000 for each match won.  If the challenger wins, they will receive a free entry into another qualifier.

As of this writing, there has already been one weekend of IPT qualifiers held all over the country.  From Ohio, Floyd Barger and Tomoki Mekari won, Steve Moore and Sam Monday won spots in NC, Greg Hogue and Jim Weast won spots in OK, Mark Tademy (Tad) and Dave Matlock won spots in Vegas, and Larry Nevel and Marco Marquez won spots in IL. 

We will see these great players at The Venetian, along with 40 more that will be qualifying in the next 4 weeks.  Along with the Seattle Q, the IPT is holding Q's in Boardman, OH, Frederick, MD, Prattein, Switzerland, and Toronto, Canada this coming weekend.

The IPT is holding a press conference on May 31^st at the Hard Rock Café in London. It is already being called the biggest press conference in the history of pool, with dozens of representatives of major UK and European newspapers, magazines and TV networks expected to attend.  European IPT pros Ronnie O'Sullivan, Raj Hundal, Neils Feijin, Nick Van Den Berg, Vincent Facquet, Gerda Hofsttter, and others will be in attendance. The purpose of the press conference is to make some major announcements regarding global television deals signed to broadcast IPT tournaments.  They will announce their contracts detailing unprecedented LIVE television coverage of the entire 2006 IPT tour!  They have also promised an announcement that will rock the billiard world.

 The IPT has already scheduled programming of the King of the Hill event in 6 consecutive Sundays on primetime shows on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN, soon to be called Versus), with the first show set to premiere at 7pm ET on Sunday, June 4, and a 2-hour finale on Sunday, June 9.  Most cable packages broadcast OLN.  Here, it is on Comcast channel number 34.

In other pool endeavors, I went to BCA Nationals in Vegas, where the highlight was not pool for me, but getting to go see Celine Dion in concert.  I was in the 2^nd row and inches away from her.  What a magnificent concert! 

James Davee and I placed 7^th/8^th in Masters Scotch Doubles, and our women's team took 4^th in the Open.  We actually beat the Portland team 2^nd round, but they came around and defeated the Canadian team that put us in the loser's bracket, then beat us with a narrow 10-8 margin.  I was very proud of our team that consisted of Cindy Sliva, Jo Woodward, Kim Sijer, and Jessi from Beads and Billiards.  They are no longer Beads and Billiards, but Billiards 9-1-1, and they have a nice new catalog out.  Thanks also to our regular season teammate, Melissa Bowers.

OK, I really sucked in the Singles competition.  I actually played well, running out at every opportunity and not missing balls, but I have never scratched or hooked myself on so many 8 balls!  It was very frustrating to do all the heavy lifting and then let my opponents do the cleanup.

I was scheduled to play all the time, except for one day which we went shopping and sight-seeing.  Saw Chris Angel and Robin Leach filming a television special.  I did not get a chance to watch the pros, but did have dinner with Hsin Huang who caught me up on all the gossip. 

And I did not even have time to qualify for either the speed pool or the artistic pool, both of which I took 2^nd place in last year.  I did get a chance to talk to Tom Rossman, (Dr. Cue), who is working on getting a tour of artistic pool challenge stops put together.

Back at home, I have ordered the new IPT cloth which should arrive anytime.  I have also noticed that the IPT has new balls out with their logo on them.  I did a little more traveling when I took my daughter to Victoria BC to a bed and breakfast where we shopped, ate, visited a castle, the Lieutenant Governor's house, and the famous Butchart Gardens.  I fly down to Newport Beach, CA for 3 days tomorrow for work, so it has been a busy month. 

Mike has been practicing his break, his sighting and working on his bridging.  I feel his game is getting stronger than ever.  Next month, we will chronicle the countdown before our first official event.

Thanks to our sponsors who help make it all happen: Viking Cues, Talisman Billiards, Harvey's Billiards, Limb Saver, Slip-Stic, Dr. Mike from PA, King Cobra Billiards, Parlor Billiards, Dave Jones, and On the Wire.

8:48 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

IPT Article 6

IPT QUALIFIER COMES TO JILLIAN'S IN SEATTLE

Hello!  This month finds us finally getting excited, as the IPT is starting to be a reality for us.  We got our beautiful 9' Diamond table and Diamond light…a nice birthday present for Mike…and we have been hitting balls as much as possible.  The official IPT slow nap cloth has come out, and we are waiting for the official IPT balls (cueball not known yet) to order everything.  The cloth we have right now is REALLY slow.  Hopefully, the IPT cloth will not be as slow.

Mike also got a sweet break cue with a cork wrap from Dave Jones.  It hits like a sledgehammer! 

I did a cue survey for AZ Billiards and emailed all 150 IPT members.  So far, we have gotten the results back on 107 players.  The survey was quite interesting.  Surprisingly, Predator shafts were predominant, next to original shafts.

Everyone is making preparations for the first IPT tournament in Vegas at the Venetian.  Flight plans, lodging, and practice are underway for everyone.  The first tournament is billed as the North American Championships.  As it says on the IPT website (www.internationalpooltour.com), "The most universally anticipated moment in pocket billiards has finally arrived!  The pool world is itching to find out how to win a chance to challenge the elite players of the 2006 IPT for a stab at their share of an unprecedented $2,000,000 prize fund, including a $350,000 first prize at the world class Venetian in Las Vegas."  (Last place receives $2,000!)

This tournament will include 50 players who are not IPT members.  There are 25 qualifiers being held over 4 weekends in June in various locations all over the world for those 50 spots.  Entries to those qualifiers will be $1000.

One will be held June 2-4 at our own Jillian's in Seattle.  To help deserving players from the NW with that entry fee, we are running TWO pre-qualifiers for only a $100 entry fee plus a $10 green fee.  Now is your chance to play in the IPT for only $110!

The first one will be held at City Lights in Tacoma on May 13-14.  Doors open at 9am.  Players meeting at 9:45 and matches start at 10. 

The second one will be held at Harvey's Billiards in Renton on May 20-21.  Doors will open at 8:30.  Please call Mike Zimmerman at ____ to sign up for one or both so he can get an idea of how many players to expect for each one.  Pay your entry at the door and please have your cash only ready.

For every $1000 collected, we will send a player to the qualifier at Jillian's.  The top players will win their $1000 entry fees, depending on the amount of entries. If there are less than 10 entries, 1^st place will receive a partial entry fee. 

Leftover payouts will go to the next place down to be used as a partial entry or not.  100% of the entries will be paid back to the players.

These qualifiers will be held like you would be playing at the IPT.  Therefore, please dress to impress.  The dress code will be enforced.  The tournament format will be 8-ball, races to 8 both sides, double elimination.  Generally, IPT rules are: break out of the box, it's open after the break, a scratch or foul on the break is ball-in-hand ANYWHERE on the table, winner breaks or has option, and call pocket.

Exceptions to IPT rules will be that phenolic tips will be OK for break cues, and there will be a 90-second time limit – no slow play.  For the Harvey's tournament only, no jumping allowed at all.  At City Lights, jumping is OK with your full-size cue only.

We look forward to accommodating as many players as possible at the pre-qualifiers.  I will be in Vegas at BCA Nationals, so please take it easy on Mike, LOL.  I encourage everyone to come out and sweat some of the best players on the planet at the qualifier at Jillian's.

Again, I would like to recognize our sponsors, Viking Cues, Talisman Billiards, Harvey's Billiards, Limb Saver, Slip-Stic, Dr. Mike from PA, King Cobra Billiards, Parlor Billiards, Dave Jones, and On the Wire.

8:39 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

IPT Article 5

March/April

This month has brought us a little closer to the first tournament.  The IPT will still have to hold qualifiers for the extra 50 players in the first two events.  The schedule has been announced: