MCM
as food for the players. Sign-ups started at 3 pm Friday for those who had not qualified and wanted to “buy-in” to the tournament. The tournament started at 7 pm Friday night and everyone played once. Everyone would return at 9 am for the start of play on Saturday.
OTBnTV broadcast a few matches on Friday night and immediately noticed that there was a flow of traffic directly in front of the LIVE Streaming booth, which made it a little difficult to always have a view of the pool tables that our audience of over 30,000 could enjoy. It took some creative camera switches to keep the players out of the way of the camera lens. By Sunday, the area was roped off and there was very little interference that way.
Janet Dunks
By: Don “Cheese” Akerlow OTBnTV rolled into Billings, Montana a day earlier than last year for the 31st Annual Montana Coin Machine Operators Association (MCMOA) 8-Ball Championships after a grueling schedule of Live streaming, magazine deadlines and live streaming again. We were really excited about the new venue. This year the event was being held in a larger facility and we were curious to see what the venue looked like. It was huge! There was easily enough room for 80 tables but this event only need 40. Each row of pool tables was spaced 20’ apart so there were rows of tables and seating for the participants and their families. Plenty of room, as opposed to previous years where the event was crowded or divided up into different rooms. This was going to be great. The first players started to arrive early on Friday to check out the new facility. Everyone remarked at how large the room was. It was as long as a football field and about as wide. For pool players who had played in cramped conditions, close proximity and waiting for room to shoot or finding a place to put their cue cases down, this was soon to become the favorite location. Need I remind you of Livingston in the parking garage, or the fair grounds in Great Falls. We, the pool players, were treated to a spacious, unencumbered location that allowed the us to go about what is most important, playing the game. There was a strong field of about 350 pool players in attendance for a weekend of pool. The MCMOA also provided bars centrally located around the room as well
20
The Break - May 2011
Saturday brought some great matches to the TV Table and all throughout the event. There were past champions who were knocked out early and players who were previously unheard of winning match after match. The tournament was full of surprises. Saturday all the matches were a brutal race to 3 and a race to 5 on Sunday in the finals bracket. On the one-loss side of the A Division, last year’s champion Dan Hamper waited while Jeff Boucher, a former champion and friend, finished his match on another table. The talk was we would have both men on the TV Table for the next match. To everyone’s surprise Jeff lost his match and Dan met B J Goodwin. Four games later Dan was knocked out of the tournament. The field was narrowing. Play continued until each division had the number of players that would return on Sunday. The brackets were redrawn Saturday
www.TheBreakMagazine.com
Krystal Kindred