The American CueSports Alliance (ACS) has teamed up with the Canadian Cue Sport Association (CCS) to update and standardize the Tournament Formats and Player Rankings between the two affiliated organizations.
For ACS, the biggest change is the adoption of a new top level ‘Advanced' Division for all Events and a new ‘Advanced' Player Ranking, which the CCS has used since its incorporation six years ago.
Here is a full summary of all the changes which will be effective for the 2011 ACS Nationals, May 7-14, at the Tropicana Las Vegas:
1. Divisions
The ACS will now offer Divisions categorized as Standard, Open and Advanced for all events – Singles, Scotch Doubles and Team – for both 8Ball and 9Ball, where applicable.
There will no longer be a Division category labeled as Master in any event.
2. ‘Bump Up' Ratio
The player and team ‘bump up' ratio for both the 8Ball Singles and 8Ball Team events will be set at 12% between Standard / Open and 12% between Open / Advanced.
This ratio is being applied retroactively to 2005.
3. Player Rankings
All players will be given a separate Singles Player Ranking and a Team Player Ranking of either C - Standard, B – Open, A - Advanced or M – Master.
The Player Rankings will be based on the highest of their last 2 Performance Rankings in the 8Ball Singles event and the 8Ball Team event, as follows:
Advanced
(i) Finished in top 12% - M Master
(i) Finished in money but not top 12% - A Advanced
(ii) Finished out of money – B Open
Open
(i) Finished in top 12% - A Advanced
(ii) Finished in money but not top 12% - B Open
(iii) Finished out of money – C Standard
Standard
(i) Finished in top 12% - B Open
(ii) Finished in money but not top 12% - C Standard
(iii) Finished out of money – C Standard
This means that there will now be a full performance history for every player who has played in these two events regardless of their finishes.
Since your Player Ranking will be based on the highest of your last two finishes, any move up is immediate but the move down will only happen after you come back and finish out of the money in (2) consecutive appearances at the ACS Nationals.
There will be no automatic dropdown for those with an M – Master Player Ranking.
A Player's Team Ranking cannot be lower than their Singles Ranking.
The ACS will continue to recognize the Player Ranking Lists of both the VNEA and the BCAPL and ACS administration will have the right to assign Player Rankings based on KA – Known Ability.
The ACS Player Ranking Records will be maintained in an online database accessible by everyone on both the ACS and CCS websites by September 1, 2010..
4. 8Ball Team Event Restrictions
The above Team Player Rankings will be applied as follows:
Advanced – No restriction as to the number of A Advanced or M Masters players.
Open – Maximum (1) A Advanced player or (1) M Master player.
Standard – Maximum (1) B Open player. No A Advanced or M Master players.
5. 8 Ball Entry Fees
A progression has been given to the 8Ball Entry Fees between the Divisions:
Singles – Standard $125, Open $150, Advanced $175
Team – Standard $200, Open $300, Advanced $400
6. Original Member Rule
The ‘Original Member Rule' has been eliminated for all Advanced Team divisions.
The ‘Original Member Rule' has been eliminated for all Women's Team divisions.
The ‘3 Original Member Rule' will remain in effect for Men's/Mixed Standard and Men's/Mixed Open Team divisions.
The ‘Same League Rule' will continue to be in effect for all Team events.
7. ACS Hotel Room Voucher Program
The economic reality today for the ACS Nationals to remain in Las Vegas and be at a host property like the very desirable Tropicana, is that the majority of players must support the host property by staying there during the tournament.
If they don't, then the deal that the ACS struck with the Tropicana no longer works financially, the ACS would be subject to very severe financial penalties and any future Event would be in jeopardy.
In dealing with this critical issue and to encourage players to stay at the Tropicana, the ACS Board felt it had no choice but to introduce a Hotel Voucher Fee with every entry to the ACS Nationals.
So, if you stay at the Tropicana, the Hotel Room Voucher acts like a Room Deposit and you will have prepaid a part of your Room Bill.
If you don't stay at the Tropicana, the unredeemed Hotel Room Voucher will be used to help offset any financial penalties charged to the ACS by the Tropicana.
The Hotel Room Voucher amount per Entry at the ACS Vegas 2011 Nationals are as follows:
$50 – Singles
$50 – Scotch Doubles
$75 – 9 Ball Team (3 player)
$100 – 8 Ball Team Womens (4 player)
$125 – 8 Ball Team Mens Mixed (5 player)
The ACS is very excited with the move to the Tropicana Las Vegas in early May and complete information and entry forms will be posted on the ACS website – www.americancuesports.org – by September 1, 2010.
