ADDITIONAL PROS NOT ATTENDING US OPEN:
ABP Asks to Secure Funds From the Law Offices of Dennis M. Walsh, ABP General Counsel Attorney The ABP would like to address some of the issues that have surfaced during the recent negotiations with Barry Behrman. We would have preferred to keep the negotiations private but some of the issues raised by Barry Behrman are somewhat misleading and need to be addressed. First we need to address Mr. Behrman’s statement that the players listed in the original press release had been “blindsided” and did not support the ABP’s stance. To date, only one ABP pro member has changed their mind and has requested that their name be deleted. In fact, Darren Appleton, the defending US Open 9-Ball champion, contrary to statements made by Mr. Behrman has indicated that he still supports our position. In addition, more professional players have joined the ABP's initiative to not attend the US Open 9-Ball Championship in the effort to provide financial security for all players worldwide. Notable players to be added include Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, and BCA Open Champion Tony Robles of the USA . The updated complete list of names follows at the bottom of this release. The ABP has made it clear for more than a year that it wanted Barry Behrman to make sure that he would be able to pay the players the promised prizes at the conclusion of The US Open Nine Ball Tournament. Last year, after repeated promises by Mr. Behrman that he would pay everyone on time, the ABP relented and attended the event. However, as has happened in previous years, not all of the players were paid as promised. In fact, it was much later that the players were finally paid. In 2007, Shane Van Boening did not receive all his prize money until seven months after his win; in 2008 and 2009 Mika Immonen did not receive all his money until nine months after his wins; in 2010 Darren Appleton did not receive all his money until three months after his win. Since then, Mr.Behrman promoted another event in March of 2011, the Masters 10-Ball for which he advertised a prize fund of $35,000 added. He reduced the added money by $5000, just before the event. At the start of the first day, he further reduced the added money another $5000. After the event ended, Mr.Behrman failed to pay many of the top finishers, and till this day still owes a balance of $10,000 to Mika Immonen, the winner of the event. This year, the ABP has been telling Barry Behrman from the beginning that he needed to put the guaranteed prize money in escrow so that the players could count on being paid. Initially, he refused to discuss the matter, hanging up on representatives of the Board. Since he would not guarantee the prize money, the ABP released the press release that they would not attend the event ABP Pro Players Not Attending the US Open 9-Ball 1. Johnny Archer USA 2. Mika Immonen FIN 3. Darren Appleton ENG 4. Niels Feijen NED 5. Tony Robles USA 6. Adam Smith USA 7. Frankie Hernandez USA 8. Efren Reyes PHI 9. Francisco Bustamante PHI 10. Darren Appleton ENG 11. Shane Van Boening USA 12. Rodney Morris USA 13. Alex Pagulayan PHI 14. Dennis Orcullo PHI 15. Thorsten Hohmann GER
Hustle
16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.
Lee Van Corteza PHI John Schmidt USA Corey Deuel USA Huidji See NED Mike Sigel USA Buddy Hall USA CJ Wiley USA Tony Drago MLT Raj Hundal IND Karl Boyes ENG Imran Majid ENG Marcus Chamat SWE Roberto Gomez PHI Carlo Biado PHI Warren Kiamco PHI Antonio Lining PHI Jundel Mazon PHI
33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47.
unless the prize money was, in fact, guaranteed. Since that time, there have been discussions between representatives of the ABP and Barry Behrman. The ABP indicated that it needed the added money in escrow 30 days before the event, and the entry fees in escrow, as the fees were paid by entrants. Mr. Behrman agreed to do two things. 1) Put the added money of $50,000.00 in escrow 30 days before the event; and 2) Put up, as collateral, his corporate papers and rights to the US Open 9 ball Tournament. The ABP indicated that it needed the rest of the entry fees in escrow before the members would commit to taking part in the tournament. The collateral of the US Open Corporate papers was not something that the players organization wanted. The ABP is not an entity set up to run tournaments, but an organization set up to help protect the players. They would not be in a position to auction off Corporate papers, should it become necessary, to make sure that the winners were paid on time. It was suggested to Mr. Behrman that if the Corporate papers had that much value, perhaps they could be used as collateral and a third party could guaranty the funds. Any default in the obligation would result in that third party obtaining the rights that Mr. Behrman was willing to pledge. After the position of the ABP was communicated to Mr. Behrman, no further effort was made by Mr. Behrman to negotiate and he issued a press release that negotiations had come to an impasse. The ABP would like to reiterate its position that all it really wants is to be sure that the players will be paid as promised at the event. Nothing that Mr. Behrman has offered ensures the payment. His past history in this and other events does not give players much faith in his statement that the players will be paid at the event. In the event that Mr. Behrman cannot raise the necessary funds, perhaps another organization can step in and bid on Mr. Behrman’s corporate papers to allow him to raise the necessary funds. The ABP members will need to make their travel arrangements at least a month in advance of the tournament and are hopeful that Mr. Behrman will be able to come up with a creative solution in order to meet his obligation. The ABP has set a deadline of September 15, 2011 for all added monies and entry fees to be collected by a third party approved by the ABP pro players.
Shawn Putnam USA Mike Davis USA Stevie Moore USA Oscar Dominguez USA Charlie Williams USA Dennis Hatch USA Jeremy Jones USA Allen Hopkins USA Scott Frost USA Ernesto Dominguez MEX Kim Davenport USA Robb Saez USA Tony Crosby USA Art Wiggins USA Tommy Najar USA
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tens. I said, “Are we gonna go?” He said “No, let’s play. Your rack.” I won over $200 the next rack. Now I have gotten my money back for the car and paid the money I owed for the car. I had won $800 give or take. As I thought to myself, really I was only even. I had gotten my money back for the $500 and $300 I had owed for the car. Not bad for a day’s work of goofing off and playing pool. But the day wasn’t over yet. Al wanted to play more. To make a long story short I walked out of there with over $1200 plus a car! Not bad for a door-to-door salesman. Al never really was mad that I could tell, he kept on joking as we sat down to have a steak dinner before we headed back to Savannah. And of course, I paid for the steak. I didn’t work for Al after that, I went back to Kirby for a while and never did hear from Al again. I never knew if he kept the office and made a ton of money with Bison or what ... ? I’ve always said, it wasn’t that I was that great at playing pool, it was that Al, just wasn’t. If anybody has a story they would like to share email us at: pool@onthebreaknews.com
August 2011 - Stroke Magazine 23