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Post by Carls421 on Nov 19, 2012 13:28:08 GMT
We're going to be deciding about the plate in our meeting tomorrow evening. I just wanted to put the entry form out there for now. I shall update on here as soon as i know any more. :)
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 22, 2012 14:16:30 GMT
Has it been decided if there is going to be a plate competition ? ***Update*** After the meeting we have decided that we will be including a plate competition, we know it will extend the day by a few hours but we feel that it will be more worth while for everyone this way. We have also come to realise that the popularity for the Open here is overwhelming! I'm guessing from the response we've got, that there will probably be around 50-60 players on our list. So on that note, we are going to to restrict our numbers to 32 then start a reserve list for any numbers that we don't get from the "Away" list of 32 On the day we have our 4 Bar Billiards pubs who will be bringing in their own Real Ale kegs to be sold on the day, all of which are renowned in Norfolk for their top quality of real ales for example The Cottage won CAMRA Norwich Pub of the year 2011-2012, The Kings Head came 2nd CAMRA Pub of the Year 2012 and The White Lion won the CAMRA Cider pub of the year 2012. The White Lion will be supplying the Cider for the event on the day. With Norwich being voted Real Ale Capital of the UK 2012, as you can see the Ale will be of the best quality. The BBC and the local newspaper The EDP will be there to do a few pieces on the event too. So its looking like its going to be a great day!! �:)
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David.G
Distinguished Member
Posts: 550
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Post by David.G on Nov 22, 2012 19:19:03 GMT
May I make a suggestion.
Once all the entries are in and you know the number of 3-Pin players (If say 30). It may be good idea for all local 4-Pin players to play for their 'OPEN' place via a competition on the Saturday. This will at least allow them to enter the 'OPEN' as well as also giving you a sense of how to run a full Tournament.
If all goes well perhaps in 2014 you could have 12 tables allowing up to 96 players to enter ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2012 21:05:04 GMT
I'm confused:
Carl's entry form shows the date the Open is being played as the Saturday, so Dave's suggestion (a good one) would not be applicable.
Presumably a Saturday is favoured by the Brewers/Sponsors.
I am also bemused by the two-tier entry concept - surely 64 is an ideal number, and failing that, 56 or 48 or 40 - multiples of eight.
For a first competition, I would not be wanting to turn anyone away. The better the entry the better you can make the competition.
I will be amazed if Dave's guess at 30 three-pinners is anywhere near the mark, by the way, as very few have shown their hand so far. Hope I'm wrong, and I'm still definitely up for it - whatever the format.
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 23, 2012 8:20:26 GMT
Tommo,
That's right, the competition is on the Saturday, it is the preferred day for us.
The 2 tier concept has been discussed in the meetings and has still not been decided because, similar to what you say Tommo. (An idea proposed is to do qualifying rounds a few weeks/months before the Open)
I personally don't think that doing a knockout prior to the competition would be good idea. Purely because, I think its best to have as many people that want to play as possible. I mean, what if, in the proposed qualifier to get into the OPEN, one of the top players had an "off day" then loses, and isn't allowed to play in the Open? It would be a real shame for them not to be included, and as you say Tommo, I would hate to turn anyone away.
My suggestion to the committee is that we put it to a first come first served basis, that way, the people that are determined to play and think they have a really good chance to win, will put their entry in straight away to ensure them of a place. That way, the most enthusiastic players will be in the competition.
Like I say, that is only my suggestion, it is still under debate so not totally my decision.
AEBBA Sec,
I really don't think there will be anywhere near 30 3-Pinners wanting to play, and to be totally honest (and not meaning to sound rude in ANY kind of way at all) We're trying to get as many 4-Pinners as possible to get together for the competition ie Sudbury, Wellingborough and Eastbourne purely because it hasn't been done for at least 10 years and I think it would be good for the game. By saying that, I'm not saying that 3-Pinners are not welcome, of corse they are! Anyone is more than welcome! But priority must be given to the 4-Pinners. But like I said before, it will be on a first come first served basis, so who knows how it will pan out because no one will be intentionally turned away.
What do you think?
Carl :)
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David.G
Distinguished Member
Posts: 550
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Post by David.G on Nov 23, 2012 9:35:10 GMT
Oops sorry!! didn't look at the date :-[ You may be right about the entries and probably should in fairness give places to local players as it is after all their tournament.
I will definitely enter this one as you have accepted my offer to direct the tournament on the day.
Carl.
Can you please let me know the nearest hotels for an overnight stay on the FRIDAY.
I will also need parking for the truck (3.5 tonne) if you can arrange that for me that would be great
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Post by barbelman on Nov 23, 2012 9:38:28 GMT
Carl I think your approach is absolutely right in the early days. The main idea must be to get all the 4-pinners together and if any 3-pinners wish to join in then fair enough - it is an 'Open'! Maybe some organised interleague matches will come from this endeavour and another facet of our sport will come to the fore.
Don't try and differentiate between 3 and 4 pin players as everyone will be playing to the same rules, and exactly as mainland players have embraced the Channel Islands/off-the-spot approach, it will be judged on it's own merits and either accepted or not by us 'down south'. The bottom line is that, that acceptance is not really important to you in the first year as the viability will only be judged by how many 4 pinners are interested in a more structured approach to the game in your areas and how many want it to remain as simply an enjoyable pub game (and nothing wrong with that!)
A small group from my area are interested in coming up for it for the experience and will await your committee's definitive decision with interest
good luck ;D (and remember you will NEVER keep everyone happy...) Tony
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 10:44:25 GMT
This is making a lot more sense now, and my main concern was that if I entered "too early" I would get into the "elite 32" and take up the place of a 4-pinner with much more chance of winning than myself !
I'm pleased to see that a contingent from Oxfordshire plan to take part and I will be fascinated to see how they do without the opportunity to play their "favourite shot"
Carl, you might wish to send a poster to the Minerva Hotel at Hull, and the Swan & Rushes at Leicester, both pubs have keen bar billiards activity but have never had the opportunity of League play and could relish this chance to compete.
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 23, 2012 10:58:32 GMT
aebbasec,
No problem at all, I shall be getting a list together with all nearby hotels and parking etc. asap. We are going to be getting in touch with one certain hotel very close to the venue to see if we can get a discount on rooms for people who are coming to the Open, you will just need to tell them on booking. Like I say I will notify everyone as soon as this is confirmed. As for parking, I shall get that sorted, if you could just let me know how long and high the truck is, I shall get that sorted for you.
barbelman,
Ooops, Looks like I didn't word my comments as well as I thought, totally agree with you, it IS an Open and of corse everyone is welcome to come whatever type of Bar Billiards they play. The thing I wanted to get across was if 30 3-Pinners wanted to come that would leave only 2 places for the Sudbury, Wellingborough and Eastbourne guys. This would probably get their backs up a little due to it being a 4-Pin Bar Billiards Tournament, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize their involvement in future tournaments, does that make sense? :-/
Obviously that would be in extreme circumstances and it probably won't happen anyway, but I need to look at every potential situation.
Carl
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Post by barbelman on Nov 23, 2012 11:51:08 GMT
OK - we'll wait until the level of interest from East Anglia and environs is known 8-)
Tony
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Post by BB Warrior on Nov 23, 2012 12:20:31 GMT
Ooops, Looks like I didn't word my comments as well as I thought, totally agree with you, it IS an Open and of corse everyone is welcome to come whatever type of Bar Billiards they play. The thing I wanted to get across was if 30 3-Pinners wanted to come that would leave only 2 places for the Sudbury, Wellingborough and Eastbourne guys. This would probably get their backs up a little due to it being a 4-Pin Bar Billiards Tournament, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize their involvement in future tournaments, does that make sense? :-/ I'm not quite sure where Carl gets the idea that Eastbourne is a 4-pin League.... to the best of my knowledge they play 3-pin there although they may have a friendly go at 4-pin after a "proper" (3-pin) game I suppose.... ;D At the moment we seem to be getting slightly mived messages about who / how many people are going to be able to enter and I think that if it is to be a genuine "Open" then the organisers need to decide if they will accept as many entries as they can get without worrying about whether the entrants are traditional 4-pin or 3-pin players normally.... or if they will restrict the numbers to 64 for the first competition and give priority to 4-pin players initially and then open up any remaining spaces to other players? ??? If it is the latter of these options, possibly the best way would be to accept entries from 4-pin players only up until the end of January 2013, with 3-pin applications being put on to a "first come, first served Reserve List" with their entries accepted automatically to fill any remaining available spaces after the 4-pin entries have all been received. ;D That way it gives plenty of time for the 4-pin players to get their entries in and still leaves time for the 3-pin players to apply for any remaining spaces, especially as most players seem to leave their entries for Opens until fairly late anyway. ::) I will be interested to see how many 3-pinners decide to give this a go, personally I would have liked to have entered but unfortunately the other commitments that I have around the time of the competition mean that it is unlikely that I will be able to take part this time. :'( Good luck to the organisers, I hope it is a great success and it leads to an expansion of players taking part in organised competitions in the future. 8-)
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 23, 2012 12:34:58 GMT
Sorry, for some reason I had the impression that Eastbourne were a 4-Pin League, my mistake.
I think I've given the wrong impression and it's got a bit out of hand. Just to clear things up, the bottom line is Anyone is invited to enter the Open, whether if you are a 3-Pin or 4-Pin player. Maybe I was going into things a little too deep. So please enter whenever you would like. :)
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Post by milko on Nov 23, 2012 14:45:16 GMT
I must admit to warming to the idea of this Open and to Carls keenness and enthusiasm in his quick responding to this forums members thoughts and questions. 8-)
I'm glad it's to be played on a Saturday (even if I don't get any sleep) and would like to take part but the one problem I may have (being a milkman) is getting to the venue for the start of the tournament if it's a 10am start, as Norwich is 173 miles and nearly 3 & 1/2 hrs away from Oxford.
Also, as I would like to get some practice in beforehand could someone tell me what the distance is going to be between the "D" spot and the front "red ball" spot ?
I'm sure it will be a great competition and will look forward to the new challenge of 4pin!
milko (Keith Sheard)
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 23, 2012 14:54:10 GMT
Hi Keith,
The planned start time is 12.00pm, so hopefully you will be able to get here, also the times will be given out to players around a week before the event so you may find that your first game is later than that, so you would hopefully be able to get as much sleep as possible.
I can't answer the question about the distances between the D and the Red spot ball because the tables we are going to be using are 3-Pin tables so maybe the aebbasec could reply and let me know too. We will need practice as well because Id like to see which of our tables are the same size as the 3-Pin tables :-) Would be handy ;D
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Post by gandalf the untidy on Nov 23, 2012 14:59:21 GMT
Hi East Anglian open Fans
Sorry if i confused others more than myself, only 1 from Eastborne willing to have a go at 4 pin, thats me!!
might get a few games of chess in as well me thinks.. hopefully
regs cs
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 23, 2012 15:44:59 GMT
I think it was me that was confused.... Doesn't take much to be fair:-D
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 16:12:54 GMT
might get a few games of chess in as well me thinks.. hopefully regs cs LOL Don't go there, I'm trying to persuade margo to agree to making a weekend of it, and that ain't helping. ::) ;D
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Post by milko on Nov 23, 2012 16:34:44 GMT
Hi Keith, The planned start time is 12.00pm, so hopefully you will be able to get here, also the times will be given out to players around a week before the event so you may find that your first game is later than that, so you would hopefully be able to get as much sleep as possible. I can't answer the question about the distances between the D and the Red spot ball because the tables we are going to be using are 3-Pin tables so maybe the aebbasec could reply and let me know too. We will need practice as well because Id like to see which of our tables are the same size as the 3-Pin tables :-) Would be handy ;D You're slipping Carl, as that took you 9 min's to reply to my question! ::) That's great to have a late start as most of us don't have to work Sundays. I knew the distance for our tables, it's not less than 17.1 cm's to a max 17.9 cm's from the centre of each spot and I know you're thinking that's a stupid number but some fool ;D wanted it changed from inches to decimal a couple of years ago and that's what it worked out to. I just thought the spots would be moved up the table a bit to coincide with your tables. Keith
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 16:48:54 GMT
I knew the distance for our tables, it's not less than 17.1 cm's to a max 17.9 cm's from the centre of each spot and I know you're thinking that's a stupid number but some fool ;D wanted it changed from inches to decimal a couple of years ago and that's what it worked out to. I just thought the spots would be moved up the table a bit to coincide with your tables. Keith This is the definition as per Sudbury rules: PS. It's about 3 inches further forward than you're used to ! :o 3-pinners should also be aware of this:
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Post by milhouse on Nov 23, 2012 16:53:58 GMT
I presume that the limit of 64 players is due to the fact that the start time is 12pm?
Is there a reason why the start time could not be 10am like most other opens? Usually the draw is worked out so that the people who have furthest to travel have later times?
It's just that there appears to be a lot of interest from local and afar players and it would be a shame to turn players away because of this as that could put people off entering in the future?
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David.G
Distinguished Member
Posts: 550
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Post by David.G on Nov 23, 2012 18:00:50 GMT
Hi Keith, The planned start time is 12.00pm, Most Opens start at 10.00am because they have a plate competition as well as the Main. When Start times are sorted out by the TD (usually Nigel S) he will put local players in the first couple of rounds allowing for distance players a little more time to reach the venue. For example The Berks Open had 64 entries with a start time of 10.00am the final kicked off at 7.30pm. Plate was single leg until the quarter-final stage. More info for you to chow down on Carl ;D ;D
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Post by NigelS on Nov 23, 2012 20:19:54 GMT
First of all good luck with this Carl, and I would be very keen on entering the first 4 pin open.
A couple of thought from me....
I think entry should be on a first come first served basis therefore noone can grumble if they don't get in. Guarantee entry to say the first 64, but if interest is in excess maybe look into getting more tables or earlier start time. Not sure how many tables you have hired but I can't see why 96 players can;t be accomodated, indeed we have 108 in the Sussex Open although we do use 12 tables. You won't really know the level of interest until the entries come in. An open should be just that open to anyone- I don't like the idea of qualifiers or restricting 3 or 4 pinners.
An earlier start time than 12pm may be a good idea - fix it so the early matches are played by local players to allow the longer travellers more time to get over. As Dave says I have arranged many playing schedules before and I offer my help here if needed when the draw is done to draw up a playing schedule.
One question - how long are games in the 4 pin league? Our open format are best of 2 with each game being around 18 minutes. Plate games are best of one until the later stages. Are you planning to have best of 2 games for each match in your open or just best of one as I am not sure having first shot is a massive advantage?
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margo
Full Forum Member
"People that hate cats will come back as mice in their next life." Faith Resnick
Posts: 187
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Post by margo on Nov 24, 2012 10:08:40 GMT
LOL Don't go there, I'm trying to persuade margo to agree to making a weekend of it, and that ain't helping. ::) ;D no chess >:(
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2012 10:34:01 GMT
LOL Don't go there, I'm trying to persuade margo to agree to making a weekend of it, and that ain't helping. ::) ;D no chess >:( Holiday weekend booked, entry forms will be put in the post to Carl today. 8-) 8-)
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Post by Colemanator on Nov 24, 2012 10:37:02 GMT
I have just got off the phone to Paul from the Wellingborough League, they have no problem with using 3-Pin tables, i think we do need to use exactly the same type of tables, and if that is all we can do to get this Open going then that is probably what we'll have to do. Wellingborough also have a mixed bag of tables too, That's interesting to me, as our venue / team is only a few miles from Wellingboro, and we could play in both leagues, just adapt our table for each night. I might be interested in this, as it's different, and I may be a force to be reckoned with, come the 4 pin open 8-)
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2012 10:57:24 GMT
That's great to hear, Colemanator.
You Northants boys are spoilt for choice up there, and this sort of event should be right up your street. 8-) 8-)
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Post by gandalf the untidy on Nov 24, 2012 20:54:05 GMT
Holiday weekend booked, entry forms will be put in the post to Carl today. 8-) 8-) Now its booked what about a round of golf followed by all night poker, then on to Spearmint rhinos (whatever that is) :-*
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 26, 2012 13:21:58 GMT
Holiday weekend booked, entry forms will be put in the post to Carl today. 8-) 8-) Thats great Tommo! Thankyou :) First of many I hope!
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Post by Carls421 on Nov 26, 2012 13:24:09 GMT
Ooops, I did my Smilies wrong again...... Is that better? :D
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Post by BB Warrior on Nov 26, 2012 13:30:12 GMT
Ooops, I did my Smilies wrong again...... Is that better?:D Not really.... LOL ;D ;D ;D Just remember not to put a space in before you put the smiley ::) ;D
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