The Planet Pool Tour Bursting at its Seams

The Planet Pool Tour Bursting at its SeamsWhen it became public knowledge that Falcon Cues had decided not to renew their title sponsorship with the Planet Pool 9-Ball Tour at the end of 2003, rumors spread that the tour was coming to an end. That could not have been further from the truth.Going back to their original name, they started the 2004 season with a bigger bang than anyone would have expected: 146 players coming out to play for a mere $2,500 in added prize money. With 117 entries in the open division, and 30 in the women’s, they shattered their previous record by 25 and that in a non-smoking poolroom. Ascribing it to the fact that it was merely the season opener, everybody including the promoters thought that the rest of the year would return to normal. Wrong again. At their second stop in Sterling, VA, held in a room with only 11 tables, 117 players showed up for more of the same.
“We expected to get about eighty in the open and sixteen for the women’s event,” said Nick Prinsloo, Executive Director of Planet Pool. “Players know that wait times between matches are much longer at First Break than at our other venues, so we naturally expected it to deter some people from coming. We couldn’t have been more wrong. In the end it turned into a marathon weekend, but we’re delighted to see so many players supporting us.”“The third event of the season at Bill & Billies Cuesport in Arnold, Maryland, followed suit with a total of one hundred and thirty entries, proving that the first two were no fluke. It really has gone beyond our expectations,” Prinsloo said. “Last year we ended up with a total of three hundred and eighty-eight playing members. Three events into two thousand four, and we’re already up to two hundred and thirty. I guess word has gotten out that we run quality tournaments.”Word has gotten out indeed. Players are traveling from the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to come see what the Planet Pool buzz is about. They have had players come from as far as Texas, California, and even Alaska. While other tours are struggling to get full fields of 64 players, the Planet Pool Tour may soon have to start limiting their entries to 128 per tournament.“Even at poolrooms with twenty or more tables, a hundred-plus player tournament is a real challenge to complete before the weekend is over,” said Andy Lincoln, fellow tour partner. “There is not much else to do other than cut the races to five or six, something we have considered but are not in favor of. We get the likes of Keith McCready and Mike Davis playing in our events, and when you cut the races, you cut the skill out of the game. Anyone can win a race to five.”One of the tour’s bigger achievements this year is to have landed the U.S. Open warm-up event, held the weekend before the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships every year for the past 10 years, first at Breaktime Sports Bar & Grill (formerly Action Billiards) in Salisbury, MD, but now at owner John Moody’s grand new room, Great Slates, just up the road in Cambridge. This event is famous for drawing big guns such as Johnny Archer, Francisco Bustamante, and Nick Varner. Formerly run by the National Nine Ball Tour, Planet Pool picked up this event in 2000 after the latter’s demise but lost it to the Joss Northeast Tour in 2002. When the Joss Tour failed to produce more than 46 players for a $5,000 added event in 2003, Moody decided to give Planet Pool another chance in the light of their current wave of success.“We’re ecstatic to be doing this event again. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the industry, and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Prinsloo commented. It will be his first time running that event since officially becoming the man in charge of Planet Pool earlier this year. Prinsloo and Lincoln bought out their former partner, Mike Ricciardella at the end of 2003.In the absence of a title sponsor, the Planet Pool team has been able to re-formulate their game plan for financing their events. They have started looking outside the realm of the billiards industry for funding, with relative success. Traditionally, tour sponsors would supply the promoters with merchandise that then has to be turned into cash by exchanging it for added prize money with hosting poolrooms. Some rooms can take items for resale, but not all of them have the infrastructure to sell cues or cases to get their money back. “Even though as a pool tour, we still need billiards items as sponsorship, cash makes our job so much easier,” Prinsloo said. “That is why we are targeting potential sponsors both within and outside the industry. Based on our numbers thus far this year, we are confident that a major corporate sponsor will soon see the benefit in investing a decent sum of money in Planet Pool to help take us to the next level.”Planet Pool is now actively seeking a new title sponsor, as well as smaller sponsors to supply a variety of goods. They are also accepting franchising inquires. Interested parties may contact Nick Prinsloo at (703) 282-0912 or email him at nick@planet-pool.com. The 2004 tour schedule and other information can be found on their home page, http://www.planet-pool.com.Visit Insidepool for the latest from the sport of billiards and pool.

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