Smoking Ace's Tournament: 20k Top Prize

By: Erik Hjorleifson

This weekend some of the best players in North America will be gathering at Smokin Ace's BBQ & Billiards in Poplar Bluff Missouri for the 2nd edition of the Smokin' Aces Bar Box Open. The format is a race to 21 winner breaks bar table 9 ball, there is a full field of 16 top players including the likes of Shane Van Boening, Rodney Morris, Corey Deuel and Johnny Archer. Also in the mix will be bar table specialists Sky Woodward, Chad Vilmont, Shane Winters and returning champion Justin Bergman. John Morra from Toronto will carry the hopes for Canadian fans.

This event is the most successful of a new style of tournament that we have seen in the U.S. over the past year. The idea is to raise the entry fee considerably and narrow the field down to only the very elite players, In this case the entry is $2000. The most noticeable thing this does is increase the prize fund; first prize this weekend at Smoking Ace's is $20 000. 

In the past the general format has been to keep the entry fee low and rely on volume to make up the prize fund. There have been many tournaments played where a field of similar quality to the sixteen players you see registered this weekend, were entered along with 100 other players paying $100 each. The fact is that you will never be able to raise the prize fund enough with these kind of numbers. First prize will always be around 2 to 3 thousand. What this new format does is make the field more prestigious and also give the players a chance to earn a substantial payday.

The Smokin Aces tournament is the highest entry fee we have seen to be successful but many other tournaments, including a successful $1000 dollar entry one pocket tournament in Iowa and many other $500 dollar entry tournaments have been well received. Most of these tournaments have been on the bar table because of the equalizing factor of the smaller table, more players feel like they have a chance of winning the event. 

A few weeks ago in Memphis they ran a $500 dollar entry 9 foot 10 ball tournament and received 25 entries, so hopefully we will see more events on the 9 foot in the future as well. This year the U.S. Open is following suit as well raising the entry fee from $500 to $1000 dollars and limiting the field to 128 down from 256. I personally think that tournaments like this are an overall step in the right direction for the game. Next week at Tailgators in Ottawa Ontario I will be competing in a smaller but similar event with John Morra. It is bar box 8 ball, $300 entry 8 players max with $2,500 guaranteed to the winner. 

Play will start August the 15th and run until Sunday the 17th; you can purchase the stream at poolaction.tv. There is also a challenge match between Shane Winters and Sky WoodWard the night before and it will also be available on the PPV stream.  We will be following all the action here at straight-pool.bolgspot.ca