Reston, VA - January 25, 2005
Planet Pool has announced that they will be starting an amateur 8 Ball tour to run alongside their existing 9 Ball tour in 2005. It will be run separately from the 9 Ball tour, which is now into its sixth year. There will be a separate points list for the 8 Ball, even though the tour and events themselves will be run according to Planet Pool's hugely successful existing format.
The Planet Pool Amateur 8 Ball Tour will be restricted to amateur players only. There will be an Open Division and a Women's Division, just like the 9 Ball events. The format will be double elimination, races to 5 and 3 for the Open, and 3 and 2 for the Women's. Entry fees are lower than the 9 Ball events--$45 for the Open and $40 for women playing in either the Open or Women's Division. Rooms will be adding $500 to the prize fund, making them less likely to attract top players, and thus a better bet for league-level players.
The idea for an amateur 8 Ball tour came about in order to accommodate hosting pool rooms which had grown too small for the 100+ player fields that were flocking to play in the 9 Ball events, as well as to attract amateur league players in the area who don't normally play in 9 ball events simply because they feel they don't stand a chance against some of the pros and semi-pros who frequent the Planet Pool Tour.
"It makes perfect sense," said Nick Prinsloo, executive director of the Planet Pool. "Pool rooms with ten or twelve tables simply cannot handle 120 players over two days playing races to nine or seven. We'd find ourselves playing until midnight on Saturday, and even later on Sunday to try and finish a two-day event. We don't want to lose those rooms, so having 8 Ball tournaments played to shorter races to give less experienced players an even chance against the better players seems to be the perfect solution. Moreover, there are thousands of amateur league players in the area who simply don't play 9 Ball. It is a whole new market for us," he continued. It also will allow rooms with non-regulation size tables such as 8' and bar box tables to host Planet Pool events.
KH Funding Company (http://www.khfunding.com), the official investment bank and top sponsor of the tour has agreed to also sponsor the 8 Ball tour, in addition to renewing their sponsorship of the 9 Ball tour for another year. The new tour opens up sponsorship opportunities for other interested parties and Planet Pool is currently accepting inquiries.
The inaugural 8 Ball tour event will take place on February 12-13, 2005, at First Break Billiard Cafe in Sterling, VA. Thereafter, there will be 9 more events throughout the year, with the Year-End Finale being played at First Break again in December. Similarly to the 9 ball Tour, the top players on the points list will get prizes at the end of the year.
The regular 9 Ball Tour season kicks off next weekend, January 29-30 at Champion Billiards in Laurel, MD. Planet Pool is expecting 140 players or more to show up for this event. There will be a total of 15 9 Ball events this year, with the season culminating in a $7,500 added Year-End Finale, also in December.
