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 “Open” 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 Ralf Souquet, Earl Strickland, Francisco Bustamante, Santos Sambajon, Frankie Hernandez, Mika Immonen, Karen Corr, Charlie Williams, Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich, Max Eberle, Keith McCready, and Jose Parica. 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.



Planet Pool Today

The Planet Pool Tour is currently still the most successful regional pro-am tour in the US. We now average more than 105 players per tournament, the highest of any tour of its kind. The 2005 Season Opener Event drew a record 151 participants, male and female. 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 a breakdown of their individual results on the tour
• 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 of winners from each event that get published in all the top billiard publications, including Inside Pool Magazine and Billiards Digest
• 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.
• Player-referral and sponsor-referral discounts
• Two events per year dedicated to raising funds for charities: The Children’s Hospital (CMN) and the Jim Scrima Memorial Fund.
• 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):
Open Division: 542 unique playing male members, 13 unique playing female members have played in Open events

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

Total Unique Playing Members: 637

Members (January 2003 – December 2003):

Open Division: 324 unique playing members have played in Open events.

Women’s Division: 64 unique playing members have played in Women’s events

Total Unique Playing Members for the 2003 season: 388

Members (January 2004 – December 2004):

Open Division: 366 unique playing members have played in Open events.

Women’s Division: 82 unique playing members have played in Women’s events

Total Unique Playing Members for the 2003 season: 448


Future Goals and Objectives

Planet Pool’s primary concern is the promotion of the game of billiards. 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

Starting 2005, Planet Pool will host an amateur 8-ball tour. The idea is to provide a tour to hundreds of amateur league players who do not believe they are good enough to play against the regulars of our 9-ball tour, or who simply prefer playing 8-ball over 9-ball. There will be 10 events in 2005, but we foresee immense growth beyond that.

Adding the Planet Pool Amateur 8 Ball Tour to our repertoire paves the way for another future goal: starting a junior tour tour, perhaps in a year or two from now. Planet Pool encourages younger players to play on their regular tour by offering discounted entry fees for players under the age of 21, and this incentive has paid off. There are several "juniors" who now frequent the tour, and it is just a matter of time before there will be enough players to start a separate junior tour. 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.

Sponsor Inquiries | Franchising Information