I'm proud to announce that the Minnesota ACS State Championships will be held over two seperate weekends in March. Northern Lights Casino & Hotel in Walker will be the site of this year's events. Many of you have been to some of the pool events there and know what a great facility they have to host pool tournaments.
The first event will be a $12,000 added state singles event. On thursday, march 13th, we will start a $2,000 added singles 9-ball tournament that will run into the day on friday. On Friday the singles 8-ball will start and run through the weekend. The 8-Ball singles will be a $10,000 added event.
The second event will be two weeks later. On Thursday March 27th, we will start a $2,000 added mixed scotch doubles 8-ball tournament and on Friday the 28th we'll start the $10,000 added team events.
It took some time to get a site this year and I consider the MNACS very fortunate to have a "pool friendly" casino like Northern Lights Casino as our 2008-2009 season host. I went up there last week and talked to not only management, but also some dealers in the casino. Everyone Plays Pool us there!!!
I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at these exciting upcoming state championship events. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Further tournament information will be delivered to ACS Leagues by their respective league operators. If you haven't received anything from them by December, please contact me, Rick Gelle, or Toni Johnson and we'll send you the necessary entry forms and information. Take Care. John Stich

Thanks John, Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think that Thursday is the 12th of March 2009!!!!

Do you mean March 26, 27, 28, 29 for Scotch and Team? Did you look at the wrong year?

Thats awesome John!

Yeah, I looked at the wrong calendar. Sorry. But you got the right weekends. And yes, Darren, it IS awesome. Just like MOMA, we can move this tournament around the state a little bit and get players from other areas involved. But hopefully Northern Lights will like this year's attendance so much that they commit to 2010 as well. After that, who knows? If all goes well up there we might just have a location for years to come (like the old TI days). I'm telling you, I couldn't have dreamt a better spot with more supportive people than what I ran into at Northern Lights Casino. When many of you go up there this weekend for Joe's event, please make sure you make your reservations for the March events. Also, let the staff at Northern Lights know that you appreciate all they do to promote amateur pool in our area. Take Care. John Stich

So one more time for the record can you confirm the actual dates of the 2 weekends?

Also is there already a group of rooms set aside? How much are they a night?

The whole hotel is blocked for those two weekends under the pool tournament. Also there are a few more hotels within a mile or two that have matched the casino's rate. We got great room rates. Regular rooms are $69, jacuzzi rooms are $79, and suites are $109. But they only have a few suites so if you don't act quick you probably won't get one. But that's good room rates!!!

And as for confirming the dates: The singles 9-ball event will start on thursday, March 12th and run through friday the 13th. The singles 8-ball will start on friday the 13th and end on sunday march 15th.
The mixed scotch doubles will start on thursday march 26th and continue through friday the 27th. Team events will start on friday the 27th and run through sunday the 29th of march, 2009.

I apologize if I wasn't accurate with my exact dates, but this should clarify things for everyone. Please contact me if you need anything or have questions.

John,

The singles and team events that begin on Fridays will start in the evening I assume?

Someone at leagues tonight mentioned that they called 2 days after your first post and they were already full. You said the whole hotel was blocked for us - can this be? Can you call them to verify weather or not this is true?

Thanks...

I just made reservations yesterday for both weekends. I'm sure the hotel is full for this weekend.

Toni, I called yesterday and at first was told the same thing but I think the gal was new or something because after a minute or 2 she figured out how the block worked and got me a suite.

No, the hotel is not fully booked yet. It just looks that way to the inexperienced front desk people because the whole hotel is BLOCKED for the pool tournament. So make sure you mention to them when you make your reservations, that you are part of that "Pool Tournament Block". It sounds like it'll get full rather quickly though at the pace the reservations are being made. They've only got 105 rooms onsite. However, there are over 200 more rooms blocked for us at some offsite hotels about a mile away and I'm working with them to offer shuttle service to and from those hotels so players don't have to drive their cold cars back and forth.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention though. Keep the lines of communication open in case of any other potential challenges we may face. This is gonna be a great couple of events!!! Take Care. John Stich