NEWS

As if Pittsburgh Paddle Palooza wasn't already great on its own, Beat the Pros brought down the house.

David Brooks, board member of the WPPTA in Pittsburgh, told us about this great addition to their end-of-season tournament and celebration. “Here is how Beat the Pros works. We had two of our best players, Mike Wagner and Will Reifeis, take the court. I chose 10 random pairs of names from our draws (we had over 150 players), and the teams played Mike and Will for precisely 3 points.

“With $500 donated by a sponsor—JKS Financial—we used the pool this way: If the pair won 1 point, they got $10 each. 2 out 3 points won the team $50 each. 3 out 3 points earned the team $100 each. No one managed 3 out of 3, but two pairs got 2 out of 3. Any money not won after 10 challenges was split by the pros—in this case about $200. The crowd was fired up! It was my favorite feature of the entire Pittsburgh Paddle Palooza.”

Take it for a test-run or tweak it to fit your tourney. Any way you work it, trying to beat the pros at their own game is always entertaining.