Planet Pool: A Short History

The Planet Pool concept was conceived during the winter of 1999. The last regular pool tour that serviced the Washington DC Metro region—Maryland, DC, Virginia—was long defunct, and players in the area were hungry for tournaments. There was a gap in the Mid Atlantic Region, and Planet Pool was to fill it. 

Starting from scratch, the tour kicked off its first event in January of 2000, and followed that highly successful 87-player event with fifteen more during its first year. Each event featured an “ event and a “Women’s” event. Tournaments were hosted in Baltimore, MD, Newark, DE, Richmond, VA, Salisbury, MD and as far south as Norfolk, VA. The 2000 year-end final in Laurel, MD drew more than 100 players, male and female.

Although not entirely aimed at catering to the big-namers, the tour has featured international and professional players the likes of Rico Diks, Santos Sambajon, Frankie Hernandez, Mika Immonen, Karen Corr, Charlie Williams, Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich, Max Eberle, Keith McCready, Jose Parica, Leonardo Andam, Ramil Gallego, and Bill Stephen. These players help fill the stands, while giving the average player a chance to compete against them and learn in the process.

The tour went from strength to strength, and 2001 followed suit with another 15 successful events. Mike Ricciardella of RE/MAX Pros joined Planet Pool as sponsor and part owner, and the tour moved closer to corporate status. Before the end of 2001, Planet Pool was officially rated the largest amateur pool tour in the United States, based on the number of active playing members.

However, with the events surrounding September 11, participation dwindled, as businesses suffered nationwide. The tour started 2002 slowly, and midway through the year, Danny Green withdrew from his duties as director of Planet Pool to tend to personal matters and pursue other interests. The tour had to be restructured expediently, or cancelled altogether, and among the three remaining directors (Mike Ricciardella, Nick Prinsloo and Andy Lincoln) it was decided to do the former.

That was a very fortunate decision, because amid uncertainty of its future, the Planet Pool 9 Ball Tour recovered quickly and was soon back on track. New events were scheduled for the remainder of 2002, and since its managerial restructuring, the tour has obtained more than 30 new sponsors, and gained newfound interest among the local pool community. Our regular hosting poolrooms have committed to multiple future events, and word is getting around that Planet Pool will once again reign supreme.

And just to prove that we are back on track, the tour finished the 2002 season with a bang in the form of a $3,000 added year-end event on December 7/8, which attracted 91 players, even while the UPA Tour had an event during the same weekend. We expect 2003 to be the tour’s best year yet, and we can only foresee things getting bigger and better from there.


Planet Pool Today

Since its restructuring of management, Planet Pool has managed to secure its first title sponsor, namely Falcon Cues. The tour will henceforth be called the "Falcon Cue 9 Ball Tour." This up a whole new world, enabling us to raise the added prize monies, draw more players, and in general operate on a more professional level. It now finds itself being a well-oiled machine that operates as efficiently as any successful pool tour should. Below are just a few reasons why the tour is one to be reckoned with:

• An up to date member database which grows on a daily basis. New members and players can sign up online on this Web site and be added to both our physical and electronic mailing lists.

• An up to date tour points list on the Web site, which gets updated immediately following each event. This not only serves our annual points race, but also creates incentive for players to play in each event and thus accumulate points towards the year-end prizes.

• From the points list on the Web site, each player’s name is a link to a bio page for that player, which includes their progress on the tour, as well as a picture

• Mailings (physical and email) go out regularly and in a timely fashion before and between events (See attachments for examples of the email, postcard flyer, and official tournament flyers)

• Tournaments start consistently on time as a matter of professionalism

• Andy Lincoln’s very efficient computer program, QChartPro, for doing the draw, table assignments, and prize breakdown for each event

• Cue repair services at most events

• Cue raffles for charity and fundraising

• Tournament write-ups and pictures taken of winners of each event that get sent to various billiard publications

• The Falcon Cue 9 Ball Tour is now the first pool tour to accept entry fees online before events as a convenient service to players who want to pay in advance and by credit card. This method is proving to be quite popular.

• Discounts from our sponsors to players, and discount on Simonis cloth and re-covering services as incentive to poolroom owners who host events.

• Entry fee discounts to sponsor-players. Some of our sponsors are now also sponsoring some of our top women players.

• To establish our credibility as an honest business venture, Planet Pool raises funds for the following charities: The Children’s Hospital (CMN) and the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We will be hosting two benefit events; one for the Jim Scrima Memorial Fund and one for the Children’s Hospital.

• Planet Pool caters to players at grass-roots level right up to semi-pro levels, which is a sizeable market.

• The tour is run by players for the players, and we thus identify with their needs. This is a priority above financial interest.

Numbers And Statistics

Members (January 2000 – October 2002):
Division: 542 unique playing male members, 13 unique playing female members have played inevents

Women’s Division: 95 unique female playing members have played in Women’s events

Total Unique Playing Members: 637


Future Goals and Objectives

Planet Pool’s primary concern is the promotion of the game of billiards; specifically 9 Ball pool. We strive not only to keep the game alive, but to enable its growth and prosperity by filling the vacuum that was created in the Mid-Atlantic and Washington DC Metro region after the demise of the National Nine Ball Tour. A few other tours have tried to do so, with varying results. None of those tours servicing this region are any longer in existence. That leaves the responsibility in our hands.

This multi-state area—which includes the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware—has a wealth of pool players and enthusiasts. This is evident when one looks at participation numbers at the annual Super Billiards Expo, held in Valley Forge, PA, which draws the majority of its visitors from these surrounding areas.

It is Planet Pool’s mission to provide an ongoing tour that not only covers this region, but one that is set to spread throughout the American continent. For the past three years, we have succeeded in doing this, hosting regular tournament events from Baltimore, MD to as far south as Norfolk, VA. In the past, this was sustained mainly by sponsorship of the hosting pool rooms. More recently, we have added a large number (30+) of smaller sponsors, who all contribute in some form or another.

Because Planet Pool is an organization run by the players for the players, we identify with the wants and needs of our members. We understand that to promote the healthy growth of pool, we need to cater not only to the superstars, but to the little guy as well. This means working at grassroots level. We aim to make pool accessible to everybody, and exclude no one. Planet Pool fills the gap between amateur league and professional level, drawing players from both spheres and in-between.

The strength of any pool tour lies in the number of active members. To increase that number, we believe in keeping entry fees low, and paying prizes to a large portion of the field, which is the only logical way to achieve that. Thus far, we have managed to do so, and compared to other tours and independent events, Planet Pool offers some of the best value for the money. We have always paid a quarter of the field, but in 2003, with the help of our existing and prospective sponsors, our goal is to pay 3/8 of the field—while still making the first place attractive enough to draw the crowd-pleasing players.



Our Vision of the Future

Thus far, the Planet Pool 9 Ball Tour has consisted of two entities: theEvent (colloquially known as the “Men’s Event,” but featuring female participants on a regular basis), and the Women’s event. These are run side by side, over the same weekends. To further expand the tour, we will be starting a satellite senior tour for ages 45 and up, beginning 2003. We believe that there is an untapped market for hosting events for this age group.  Most of our regular hosts have already expressed interest in hosting senior tour events. The Planet Pool Senior Tour will be run separately from, but not in competition with, the main tour.

Adding the Senior Tour to our repertoire paves the way for another future goal: starting a junior tour and a Scotch doubles tour, perhaps in a year or two from now. We all know that if we don’t start raising tomorrow’s pool stars today, our game of pool will die a sure death. It is vital that we promote the game among today’s youth. Planet Pool is already proud of the young stars it has helped produce, the likes of Chris Loar and Shawn Wilkie, among others. But we need more young faces. They are the ones that will ensure the perpetuation of the billiards industry in the long run.

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