Tourneys
Topic: EPT, raising the bar.........

EPT, Raising the bar for UK pool

The Empire Pool Tour will be raising the profile of our sport. After the 4 ranking events of the 2007 are over, and the ranking positions are concluded, the following seasons events will be slightly different.

There will still be a maximum of 6 events per season, but players will be split into 2 divisions. The top 64 ranked players will have the oportunity to compete in the "pro tour" division, these will be 64 man events, with guaranteed prize money in each event. the next division will be made up form everyone else outside of the top 64 ranked players, this will be called the "challenge tour" division, and this will also have guaranteed prize money for each event. Once the season has concluded, the bottom 16 players on the Pro tour will drop out and go into the challenge tour, and the top 16 players on the challenge tour will take their place.

Many other big sports use a similar structure, and we believe this is the way forward in order to raise the profile of our game, and also attract sponsors.

By adopting this system it enables all players to compete against players of a similar level, which in turn gives everyone a chance to win, and makes the prize money spread out more evenly. And it also gives players realistic targets to aim for.

The 2 tours will run along side each other with the Pro tour being ran over 2 days (Sat/Sun) and the challenge tour ran on the Sunday at the same venue.

Entry fees, payouts, and a more detailed announcement will be coming soon.


If any of you are thinking of trying to get into the top 64 on the EPT rankings, and you have only entered 2, 1, or even no events, there is still time for you to get there as the final rankings will be determined from your best 5 results from the 7 events (3 last year, and 4 from this)
.......And even if you dont manage it, the challenge tour will have prize money very much worth playing for.


Visit www.empirepooltour.com for info, or to enter an event.


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Now who gave you that idea...

mark im sure we spoke about this..?

daryl your idea for the EPT is fantastic
your really making it a 'players' tour and thats what its all about, giving players of all levels a chance.
u should be really commended for your efforts!!

Great idea, as a very average club player this is superb you will be playing against players you have a sporting chance of beating, and if you get promotion to the main tour then you deserve to be there on merit not by just paying your money.

An Excellent idea Dazzler - which bright Sparkey came up with that? It not a run of the mills concept - its the the next step forward. You just need to get this message out to the the masses. (I know the APN were toying with the idea of 8-ball leagues. If they did, you could maybe get numbers up?)

You don't want to have 64 on the pro tour and only a few trying for promotion, simply because they weren't aware off the second 'championship' league. But its brilliant that EPT Rankings will soon have a dramatic twist - Relegation for slackers - promotion for new comers.

Something for eveyone.

Nice article in the December edition of Billiards Digest.
Putting the EPT on the global map, well done everyone.

Yes, thanks fellas, but the 3 guys you should be praising are Mark Segal, for making this tour possible in the first place, Mark Mills and Karl Boyce for thier huge input. It was actually Myself, Mark and Karl who came up with this structure.......and this is just the start!

From what these guys had to offer when we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, thier 10ball and Grand Masters 8ball events will be a huge success too!

We have something special here, so lets all support it and lets ALL be a part of it.


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im just glad to see properly run tours taking place.with proper prize fund here in the uk.lets hope every1 gets behind daryls ept tour this year

Well mate, phones red hot at the mo with new players wanting to know more about it so its looking very good.


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Excellent!!!!!!!!!

But Sam "The Slam" wants to know if the Hackers event will be cheaper to enter?

Jon.


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Well the Challenge tour will be less to enter.....probably half of what the pro tour is.
But this is yet to be decided.

More info soon.

I must say guys, the response has been great by phone and email and PM.


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Already players from Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland, USA entered for this event.

Players list coming along nicely. (some new faces too!)

The EPT is the best thing to happen in pool in this country!All the players should should support the tour and try to take pool to a different level in the uk.Looking forward to 1st event in feb.

i cant wait either!!

Dazzler, i live in Thailand but come back here to work for a few months, although i live in the south i might come up to liverpool to play, does that mean you can add Thailand to your list

Thailand.......now theres another first for UK pool!!! hehehe

Worthy, Glossop, bang on fellas.

heres to the future of uk pool.


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Well done guys, its finally nice to see people implementing the two-tier circuit (how long has everyone been banging on about it!!), its worked fine in other sports for years and gradually helped them grow bigger and bigger.
The important thing now (as WORTHY mentioned) is to support it and give it a chance.

Just typical though that it gets implemented when i'm on the south coast!!
(when i was up north, all the comps were south based, now i'm on the coast, they've moved most back up bloody north!!! Is it me?)

Dazzler, with the two tier system, have you decided what you will do when some of the top 64 players don't turn up (which no doubt will happen). For instance, should 10 top 64's not turn up, will you run the comp with 54 or would you drag 10 from the lower tier. Both have there downsides as with less entries that would mean less prize money but I feel it would be unfair to bring the lower tier playes into the top tier for 1 event as would obviously hinder their chances of winning and would then have a knock on effect on ranking points.
Also, what would happen if a top european player who is not ranked in your top 64 entered an event, would he be put in the lower tier event?

This tour is the best thing to happen for ages as Worthy has said, I have played in both the BPPPA and the EPT and there is just no comparison. I really look forward to entering the 4 events this year but I am slightly concerned at the new structure.
i feel that the existing structure is excellent and everyone I have spoken to has no negative comments. Since we have seen what is planned there has been a lot of concern and much more negatives than before.

RAG has raised some valid points as were a top Euopean would be placed if outside the top 64? if in the 'B' section would they even bother? probably not.

What about players that travel together long distances, the 'B' section player would now travel on Friday and not hit a ball until sunday, the A player is beat on Saturday and has to stay until Sunday?

Also how much interest would there be in the lower players competing against each other, in my experience players look forward to playing the top guys as many of us can play players on our own level everyday.

Finally the prize money, the entry fee has increased and the payout has decreased, on the old rules i could enter for £75, win 2 matches and be awarded £250 which would cover all expenses and also give me a few quid, I appriciate that the new system now gives the last 32 their money back but I think a lot of players would rather have the chance of winning 1 more match for 'good' money. If you win that 1 more match on the new system you only benefit £80 which now no longer covers the expenses.

I feel that the tour is moving too quickly and myself along with others are less enthusiastic about entering as the value seems to have diminished, £90 entry is the same money as a Euro tour event which is a double elimination event and not just a single knockout.

You have done an excellent job so far but I feel you might be trying to hard to fix something that is'nt broken.