Tourneys
Topic: Congratulations David Alcaide

I'll just add my two-penneth worth. I have mixed feelings about the tables and the format. I agree about the fact that paying £500 and then sitting in your chair as your opponent (in my case David) runs 8 racks on the trott to take a set and you don't even get a single shot is a bit of a downer. However, on the other side, it is the same for everyone, it could just as easily have been me doing it to him... which actually in the first set was the case as I ran out the first set from 6-5 down... I do think that smaller pockets would mean less break runs though, and then the matches would be a bit more interactive, which personally I'd prefer. Not only that, I think people should consider the alternate break format for such large tournaments. It makes for a much fairer match, with both players having equal opportunity to run racks, also winning the lag is equally as important if you want to have first pop at running the winning rack in a hill-hill match. Clearly the small pockets would favour the better players too.

You can always argue for both sides of this debate. If it were me in charge, I'd use 4" pockets and alternate breaks... but hey.. that's just me. (darn Snooker players) LOL (of course you can always argue, if you want tight pockets and alternate breaks... go play snooker! ) je je je

wasnt it stated we would be playing on 4 1/2 inch pockets??????

same for both players agree jonni whoever gets in first if good player just worry if going to make ball of break coz rest of game simple unless balls come out difficult etc

but with big bags like weekend it means knowledge hisnt required and it puts everyone in with a chance of winning in my opinion if it was played on small pockets like stated i thought maybe 10 players could win but on them pockets and soft break working i thought maybe 20-25 players could win it!

dont get me wrong david deserved to win and in my opinion his one of the best 8ball players around...

i lost to riko 3-0 and i played good i made two mistake in 3 sets and lost 8-3 8-3 8-7..

alternate break agree least your in the game but 4 1/2 inch pockets a must!

my only gripe is i was lead to believe we would be playing on tight pockets.....

everything else was spot on staff organising venue players etc etc

and david deserved to win with what i seen over weekend he played the best!!!

congrats to everyone involved!!

i believe in every sport you pay your dues and the whole idea is the best players get the best results now im not saying for one minute one as got a god given right to win of course noe and im certainly not saying that im the crweam far from it but ralf,mikaoliver etc are!
played 20-30yr paid there dues noew once again im not saying they av a god given right to win or the david didnt deserve because i think he was defo the best player there a excellent plater.
the point im making is this...... the tournament wants ralf etc to be there now you cant tell the man a true great of usa pool that he,s flying from dubai to uk to pay 600 smackers+flight lets say 1k to play on 4 1/2 inch pockets then he turns up and are 6inch and expect him to kp turning up for events that the uk provides cos he,l go away tell thomas,oliver,hohmann etc not to bother..... so to reiterate im just trying to improve quality of opponent for nxt time and if sumat is stated to players especially the class of mr souquet the criria needs to met!!!!!!!!!! once again i hope im coming a cross as constructive not as aving a swipe at anyone

thanx

mick

Well, Mick, Daz, Ralf and myself had this conversation at the bar at Micky's over a few beverages!
And the general feel was exactly what the lads are saying here.....Ralf wasnt overly impressed by the fact that he nearly lost a leg twice when walking past the side pocket!

And this could cause issues when asking these greats to come back to events over here.

Same as Mick says, im not knocking the event....far from it, just adding some constructive comments to help the improvements keep coming for our great game!


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....Of cause there is an argument that tonnes of American pool events are played on "big pockets" and that it is the same for everyone......and that if the pockets were "tight" it is then playing straight into the top Englishpool players and snooker players hands and the end of the day, big pockets are part of the american game!

Its a tough one when you really think about it.....i personally would like tighter pockets but at the same time big pockets wouldnt stop me from playing in any event anywhere.


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what's this about leg hungry side pockets? is it an in joke or something else going on? did I miss a trick?

I think what Daryl was implying was that the side pockets were so big that they almost took his leg out when walking past them!

Correct cusack147!....dont worry, Jonni has always been a bit slow


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It was arranged for the pockets to be tightened as arranged, but when the tables were being recovered a couple of days before the event, the management I believe changed there minds on this and I did not know anything about it until the Friday morning that they were big pockets, at that time there is not much you can do.
I did suggest we cut the pockets out of Boyzi's pants but then the balls would not fit at all. Don't worry all, I did ask a lot of players there views when they came of the matches and I did make notes, Ralf also told me that was his only gripe but said he will be back for the event next year, I will work on it guys as I am determined to provide the perfect conditions but it was the first one and I do not think I did too bad.

Markj

well done pal..... fair play to ya!!!!1

Hi everyone!

I spent last Monday with some friends in Cambridge for the tournament. For the ones that were not there, as you have already realised from the previous posts the environment was fantastic and David gave us some of the most beautiful pool we could have imagined. After all it was worth the 100 miles we had to travel from Birmingham (where we live) and our jobs that we had to abandon for the day.

I recorded the last 20 games of the final between David and Imrad, but unfortunately the only recording device I had with me was a mobile phone, so the quality is not the best and there is no sound, but if you have patience, enjoy...

I have uploaded the videos in the link below:

http://homepage.mac.com/p_koumoundouros/2007GM8/

Adios...

Wow nice one, thanks!

Panagioti you are a super star! Did you get the photos I sent you?

I've only just finished working on the Grand Masters today! I sent photos to you, Vincent Facquet, the Spanish Federation and I wrote and sold my first article with photos to cuesport magazine - so keep an eye out for the next issue!

Phew! Back to the day job tomorrow in London!

What was up with the ref and david??A lot of tension there....

Cant seem to get it to play for some reason, what player should it be played on?

Think its quick time player.


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Quick time player will do.

The incident with the referee was that he saw some fault that David claimed it never happened. Most of the nearest spectators agreed with David, but at the end of the day the ref was closer.

The game was interrupted for about 10 minutes as the communication was a little hard (David's English is not anywhere near as good as his cueing) and it continued with ball in hand given to Imrad.

David swears to me that it was not a foul but at the end of the day, we all have to accept a referee's decision whether we like it or not.