GB9
Topic: GB9 Leagues

I haven't got enough time to give all my thoughts, but I like PM's suggestions. Also agree that the league can be such a lottery.

Without sounding too disrespectful the gulf in class between Rileys Leicester and Club 147 is massive - Club 147 are much stronger than Rileys yet some of their strong players are below weak players at Rileys, because the weak players all get to play each other (sometimes more than once).

It's going to look biased as I'm in the top 10, but I think for the first 'season' until divisions are established that there should be a percentage payout for the top 10 or so players, then next season when divisions are established we have no complaints whatsoever. It will be absurd to reward a 9th placed player over 8th place at this stage and same rewarding 17th over 16th etc.

I do like the idea of a percentage payout in each division, but I much prefer the suggestion of a massive playoff finals day – with a large portion (65%-75%) of the prize pool paid out for the league performance, then the remainder of the prize pool to be used in a playoff format, 1st place playing 8th, 2nd playing 7th, 3rd playing 6th and 4th playing 5th. It could be held at a massive club like Birmingham or Nottingham. Maybe there are bigger ones?

I would extend this suggestion to having a Double Elimination invitational ‘flyer’ open to only those who entered the GB9 league, and host the playoffs for the top 8 players at the same venue on the same day. Maybe even an incentive that the winner of the Flyer event plays a UK Cue Sports celebrity. If Rileys are on board, maybe they could get Ronnie O Sullivan? And if you beat him, you get a cash reward for doing so.

Maybe it’s all pie in the sky but without any ideas how can we try to make the GB9 experience even better?

Bazza

A few people have said "for this first season" and "to begin with this has to be done" - I may have missed something here but is the thinking that once divisions are formed (ie wk 13 onwards) then we'll only play others in our division? If that's the case I may have 7 players in my division playing out of Rotherham, and I'm not travelling there from South London every Tuesday! Otherwise, surely you just have the same problem of people trying to be ranked alongside people they are not playing.

I think, firstly, a swiss system needs to be implemented at each venue - this would take care of the problems with people joining a season late (they start on zero and only play others on zero), and the issue of a venue have more/less the number of weeks (eg at Shepherd's Bush, we have 16 so I have thankfully avoided some big guns). For me this would at least remove the anomalies at each venue and get the venue leagues sorted.

Once that is done, you then have the second problem - comparing a player in one venue league, to another in a different league with a different average standard. How this is done I'm not sure, as even a "top 8 playoff" may not necessarily be fair, and ignores people down the league wanting to be placed at a representative rank. The only way I can think of doing that is by adding an extra variable to the league ranking coefficient - as well as wins/pts and racks for/against, you factor in run-outs too. You'd have to trust people and to be honest it sounds like a ball-ache to me but it's a suggestion. Any ideas other than a mass playoff?

This then takes us to the third issue - how do you pay out when the separate venue standards are so different. For me, it's difficult to get a true, fair national ranking so paying out to where you sit within your venue league seems fairest (although it encourages good players to then move to weaker leagues). And as I said before the larger leagues should get rewarded for putting more money into the pot and encouraging more involvement (as well as incentivising further buy-in)..

A few people have said "for this first season" and "to begin with this has to be done" - I may have missed something here but is the thinking that once divisions are formed (ie wk 13 onwards) then we'll only play others in our division? If that's the case I may have 7 players in my division playing out of Rotherham, and I'm not travelling there from South London every Tuesday! Otherwise, surely you just have the same problem of people trying to be ranked alongside people they are not playing.

I think, firstly, a swiss system needs to be implemented at each venue - this would take care of the problems with people joining a season late (they start on zero and only play others on zero), and the issue of a venue have more/less the number of weeks (eg at Shepherd's Bush, we have 16 so I have thankfully avoided some big guns). For me this would at least remove the anomalies at each venue and get the venue leagues sorted.

Once that is done, you then have the second problem - comparing a player in one venue league, to another in a different league with a different average standard. How this is done I'm not sure, as even a "top 8 playoff" may not necessarily be fair, and ignores people down the league wanting to be placed at a representative rank. The only way I can think of doing that is by adding an extra variable to the league ranking coefficient - as well as wins/pts and racks for/against, you factor in run-outs too. You'd have to trust people and to be honest it sounds like a ball-ache to me but it's a suggestion. Any ideas other than a mass playoff?

This then takes us to the third issue - how do you pay out when the separate venue standards are so different. For me, it's difficult to get a true, fair national ranking so paying out to where you sit within your venue league seems fairest (although it encourages good players to then move to weaker leagues). And as I said before the larger leagues should get rewarded for putting more money into the pot and encouraging more involvement (as well as incentivising further buy-in)..

Ps. Although I'm not 100% happy, I'm certainly not criticising the league at all - quite the opposite, I think the GB9 leagues have been really good so far and certainly fills a gap in the market for amateurs to play affordable competitive pool below the GB9 tour level. It is because I'm enjoying it and keen to maximise it's potential that I'm keen to suggest ways of making it better and, as a result, encourage others to play in it..

Few good points there i feel....

OJD - I dont actually think once the divisions are formed you then play people in your division, you could end up travelling all over...that just wouldnt work.....


Im sure this was all discussed when the league was in planning and this set up may have been voted as the fairest.....I can also fully appreciate the logic etc.....however there does seem to be some vaild points thrown around here.....

I know you cant keep everyone happy all of the time, but some of these points are very valid....

Its a great league set up just a few things could be discussed or tweak to make it that more motivating to all standards...


BT - whats your thoughts on this??

Its only a 5er a week so I just play for the table time and its a good place to try and find a little action. Plus it give you 50% off tables at any time.

Payout is just an added extra the benefits are enough to play without any prizes.

I disagree BPotter about the prizemoney - I agree that you get a good deal and for a fiver you get good benefits already. But how would you feel if a guy you beat and who finished below you then got awarded £200+ in prizemoney, and you got nowt? If you would not have anything to say then may I be the first to lay claim to your lifetime prizemoney earnings as you don't seem to care much about it.

Moreover, people (either already playing or thinking about joining) will see that and be put off, which will happen. And if somebody ends up playing all the stronger players because of the fixture anomalies and then sees somebody who has avoided them all (like myself!) Possibly picking up prizemoney then they'll likewise wonder what the point is, and nobody wants that to happen.

As Paddymoffet has said, it's a great idea and BigTone (and his support, and venue organisers) are doing us all a big service by starting this up, and it's all on a voluntary basis which I know is a big ask, especially when things out of your control go wrong, so I'm not knocking that, just as PM said a few tweaks would really iron out the inequalities.

On 2010-04-28 22:29 , BPotter Wrote:

fair points and everyone has thier own pov on what works form them. It is a good deal 50% table and 20% off food and drink is great if u use them. Most of our guys can only really come on the match night and we get free table that night so really only benifit from the drink and food discount, however again food is also provided on a match night. Most of our lads are trying to be competitive and one of the big attractions for us was a chance to win some good money, I say chance, as obviously there are a lot of good players in this leqgue, but nevertheless a chance. Our club is a decent standard which means we can and have been beating each other which from a national pov is not great for us as but from a club pov very good and close.

As mentioned before some kind of finals night would be a great idea I think to allow the players from other clubs to play each other and try to play for a prize fund. You could even have the matches at one of the GB9 tours or something. That would be exciting. Another suggestion could be to offer a wild card or something into one of the GB9 tours or a few if possible that would be amazing for someone who is not on the tour to experience.

Thoughts. ??

Ps. Appreciate some people may not think the prize money is a big factor, however it was one of the key drivers on getting people to sign in to the league, which I would think a lot of people around the country signed up beause of.

Big tony can u call me please I lost your number.thanks

So, has anyone got any stories to tell from their leagues? Any mammoth comebacks? Anyone won 9-8 every week? Good run-out performances? Outrage pieces of luck? Terrible, terrible fashion disasters spotted?

lol I was down 1-5 to some player.. and managed to only lose 7-10

I have come back from 7-2 down twice to win 9-8 and 10-7. was pretty chuffed a that!


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"I'm the best you've ever seen Fats, I'm the best there is, even if you beat me i'm still the best."

Played a guy who was being an aggressive t**t all throughout the game, insulting me because I'm from Birmingham etc. I let this upset me as I'm a mouse in comparison to him, and I found myself down 7-5 and really really struggling but I was making a comeback charge.

I ended up getting someone to intervene because he was sharking me by being such a 2hat and he was warned to stop, but decided to carry on insulting me by saying I played worse than his 6 year old brother. This really set me off and I decided that i was out to slaughter him. I won the next 4 games in quick succession and cleared out twice to win, then let him have the last frame to win 9-8. He soon shut his face and he's never said a bad word to me since.

I wonder if he's going to get some coaching from his brother?

I meant to type nephew because this guy is late 30s early 40's. He was just trying to set me off further, I just gave him a smile to say 'keep going, the more you insult me the better I'll play' until he shut up, then played as I did.

If he wants to learn something its how to treat people nicely

one part of that which doesnt add up, that you threw the last game ?

On 2010-05-03 09:40 , macca_big_dish Wrote:

No mate, just lost concentration as I was so happy to have fought a fear I have had of people who think they're hard nuts in sports. They've always intimidated me and always won, but this guy didn't because I found resolve from somewhere.

Where is the nearest GB9 league to Kent ? I'm thinking - far !

On 2010-05-04 14:52 , Windyspurs Wrote:

Hi Windyspurs

The nearest one to you i believe is in Basildon, pm me your details and i'll put you in touch with them.

Tone