Another big month for loyal Stinger's players

By Marty Scarborough

July was another big month for darts at Stinger's. Dale and Dana hosted three $1,000 tournaments, had a 4th of July picnic tournament where your entry included free lunch, and brought back the Over/Under 40 tournaments like we used to run.

They have done everything they can to improve darts in the Valley. They brought in extra staff, more dart boards, bought a new air conditioning system, installed a patio with misting system for the smokers, sponsored many teams going to Vegas, and continually pay out more money than any other bar in the Valley in his tournaments.

I have played at many bars where if they base a $1,000 payout on 50 players, they wont pay it if they have 44. Or if they get 80 players, they only pay out the $1,000. Not at Stinger's. At every tournament they ask the tournament director and the players what they think is the right thing to do.

At a recent $1,000 tournament, they paid out the $1,000 when we only had 40 players. At another tournament, they added $500 above what was advertised because of the large showing of players. The owners of Stinger's want everyone to know how much they appreciate his or her business.

We have seen a recent decline in the number of players showing up at some of the tournaments. The main reasons are that in the summer, many people go on vacation to get away from this heat and have a lot of other events going on.

Another big reason is that more and more bars are running tournaments. There are at least five tournaments on Friday night now. If each bar gets 16 � 20 players, that is good for the bar business, but it does not make for very good tournaments for the players. No one wants to play the same dozen people every week.

So how should you decide where to play? I personally like to play at different places once in a while just for something new. But I base where I play the most and where I play league out of on who is doing the most for me and for other dart players.

If you are one of the people who is going to go out only to bars where you know you can win, because the caliber of player is lower and you know you can win, then obviously loyalty means nothing to you anyway, so this article isn't addressing you.

If a bar is having a $1,000 tournament based on 48 players with a $10 entry and 48 players show, the bar is adding $520 of their own money. If another bar is doing a 250% or even 300% tournament with a $5 entry, and they get 20 players, they are only adding $200. So, who is doing the most for the players?