AMERICAN CORNHOLE ORGANIZATION - KENTUCKY
The ACO Is The Governing Body For The Sport Of Cornhole
December 30, 2008
CornyForty 2009
The ACO is making great strides to professionalize cornhole and one of those steps is the development of the CornyForty list. We are making some changes to enhance the significance of the list in 2009. The list is how the ACO identifies the top cornhole players in the world. In 2009 the list will also become a money list and will payout prize money to the top forty players recognized by the system at the end of the season. Here are some bullet points clarifying how the list works.
The ACO is guaranteeing a minimum of $10,000.00 in prize money to be given away this year to the top forty players on the list at the end of the 2009 season.
The money in the pot will grow throughout the season based on sponsorship levels, player participation in TopGun events and player dues. $10,000.00 is the minimum purse but we expect the pot to grow to over $20,000.00 by the end of the 2009 season.
Any player is welcome male or female to compete to earn points towards a CornyForty standing.
CornyForty standings completely start over for all players at the end of each season.
In order to enter the CornyForty race you need to do two things. #1 - have a current active membership with the ACO - $15.95 a year investment. #2 - pay player dues of $100.00 annually towards your CornyForty entry.
All forty players who make the CornyForty cut at the end of the season will be awarded cash prizes based on their final standings. The cash pot will be divided as follows. 50% of the total pot will be divided equally amongst all forty players in the final CornyForty and the other 50% of the pot will be split up amongst the top ten players on the list with the number one player receiving more than the number ten player. The exact breakdown will be published in January 2009. So at this time with the pot at $10,000.00 the minimum payout to a top forty finish is going to be $125.00 and a payout to the top player will be roughly $1250.00
Standings for the CornyForty will be updated every Tuesday as the season gets underway and will be published on the King of Cornhole website and probably several other locations such as www.AmericanCornhole.org and www.CornholePlayers.com. We will confirm where players can check the standings as we issue final details of the CornyForty by the end of December 2008.
Players earn points towards their CornyForty standings by participating in the Skill Challenges and earning an active SCR score for themselves. Only the best SCR score for that year is used as points towards your CornyForty, so if a player throws a 110 in December of 2008 and a 93 in January of 2009. The system will use the 93 SCR points not the 110 SCR points towards the CornyForty points for that player. The 110 points will be an active number used in the SCR Ranking system, which publishes and recognizes a players best SCR within a year time frame. However, the CornyForty recognizes a players best SCR in the calendar year. If a player would like during the season they can as often as they want, try to increase their CornyForty standings by improving on their best SCR Score for the season. We will only recognize their best SCR Score and award those points to their CornyForty standing.
Players also earn points playing in TopGun events. There are six guaranteed TopGun events open to all players to participate in during the season. These are all part of the ACO Cornhole Master Series. Details on points available at various level TopGun events can be discovered by reading up on the details by visiting - What is the CornyForty?
If any players are hoping to play in ACO-Pro events they will need to be part of the CornyForty list. This list can be 40 to 4000 but only the top players will be receiving the calls to our invitation only events throughout the season. If we run an event at a casino in Atlantic City summer of 2009, we may be inviting the top 128 singles to participate. Those singles who will be invited will come from our top 128 CornyForty players. We may have special tournaments from time to time that will not only take players from the CornyForty listing but will have spots available for play in or higher price buy ins, but this will not be all ACO Pro caliber events, but a select few. As a player the best thing you can do for yourself is pay your membership & player dues early in the season and try to start earning CornyForty points from the start of the season. The ACO U.S. Nationals - King of Cornhole is the first tourament of the season that players will be able to earn CornyForty points from their results in a tournament. The King of Cornhole is a T1 which is the highest rated tournament in the system. It's a great way to kick start a players CornyForty Standings.
Players CornyForty Points can only start being earned after they have paid their membership and CornyForty player dues. If a player comes to Vegas and hasn't paid his player dues and wins the King of Cornhole. He will not be awarded the CornyForty points for the win. He only starts to receive points for tournament performance after he has paid his player dues.
Players need to call 888.563.2002 and make sure they get themselves squared around with the ACO before they start their season. A player can jump into the CornyForty anytime he wants throughout the season but the longer you wait to get in the less opportunities you will have to earn points.
Start your pitch for the 2009 CornyForty title today......pay your player dues and start your journey to the title!
December 30, 2008
American Cornhole Organization Sets Sight on $1,000,000.00 CornyForty Purse - Frank Geers
CornyForty Participation Purse has Cornhole Pros Pitching a New Sport.
American Cornhole, LLC has moved one step closer to realizing its dream of the National Sport of Cornhole with the addition of its CornyForty List. The CornyForty List is a performance based ranking system identifying the best cornhole players and the top 40 cornhole players in the world, known as the "CornyForty". In order to be part of the CornyForty List a cornhole player must earn points towards their CornyForty ranking. The ranking is through two sources: 1) a player's best SCR Score in a Season, 2) a player's performance in TopGun events throughout the season. Players in the "CornyForty" receive an invitation at the end of the season to compete in the ACO U.S. Nationals "King of Cornhole" in January. Starting with the 2009 cornhole season, a player in the CornyForty will share in a Guaranteed Minimum $10,000.00 Participation Purse.
To participate in the end of the year $10,000.00 payout a player must have a current paid ACO Membership and be an active CornyForty List member. The Top 40 players from the CornyForty List, the "CornyForty", will receive a share of this purse. Frank Geers, from the ACO, was quick to point out that the $10,000.00 purse was a guaranteed minimum, and that he expected the Participation Purse to exceed $1,000,000.00 by year 2013.
In order to have the best chance at making the "CornyForty" by the end of the 2009 cornhole season "a player should get on the CornyForty List early in the year", Frank said. The earlier a player begins participating in the Corny Forty the more opportunities they have to compete in TopGun events and be invited to participate in ACO-PRO events giving the cornhole player a chance to earn more money and points during the cornhole season. The reward for being an ACO cornhole player finishing in the "CornyForty"at the end of the cornhole season is receiving an invitation to the ACO U.S. Nationals, a chance to play in the King of Cornhole Tournament in Las Vegas, and a share of the $10,000.00 Participation Purse. Throughout the cornhole season players can review their World Ranking on the CornyForty List whenever they like.
The CornyForty List is an objective way of looking at the cornhole player's ability and compare this ability to other Cornhole Players based on both raw skill and competitive performance, and rank it. This ranking system is another part of the recipe for elevating the game of cornhole to a sport. All sports require standards from which to compare. The ACO has standardized cornhole boards, bags, and cornhole rules to establish a consistency of play wherever the game is played. Now the Corny Forty List will display the ranks of players based on their ability to play all other factors being equal.
The American Cornhole Organization will present the ACO U.S. Nationals for the second year in a row in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 23 & 24, 2009 at Sam's Town. The ACO U.S. Nationals features "The King of Cornhole" Tournament, Cornathalon, a doubles tournament, and other festival related cornhole games. The public is invited to attend to experience this sport first hand.
American Cornhole, LLC wants to move the backyard game of cornhole to center stage as the national sport of cornhole. With a projected participation purse of $1,000,000.00 in 2013, it is well on its way.
December 24, 2008
CornyForty Information - an update sent out by Frank Geers
Well the end of the year for the CornyForty is here. Our first full season of the Master Series and CornyForty is under our belt. All in all it was a huge success. We had over 200 players across the country participate in TopGun events from Georgia to Nevada. 105 of those players earned points towards a CornyForty standing. We have 30 of the 40 top players in the world headed to Vegas to compete for the King of Cornhole. We have remodeled the CornyForty for the 2009 season to make it a money list as well with a Guaranteed $10,000.00 purse minimum for the new season.
The top 40 players on the CornyForty list - known as the "CornyForty" for 2008 are pre-qualified to compete in the King of Cornhole at this years ACO U.S. Nationals being played out in Las Vegas, NV - January 23 & 24, 2009. They are invited to be one of the 64 players competing to be King of Cornhole.
Check out the full CornyForty list and those players that just missed the cut for 2008. The criteria for being listed on the CornyForty for 2008 was to have at least particpated in one ACO Branded TopGun event. This has changed for 2009, see the forum post under CornyForty that discusses the Guaranteed $10,000 purse minimum for the 2009 CornyForty players.
The CornyForty takes a players best SCR score of the season and adds it to the total points earned by that players participation in the TopGun events. This gives us a players CFP (CornyForty Points) which we use as the official ranking system for the top cornhole players in the world.
American Cornhole historically used the SCR to find ACO-PRO caliber players. With the development of the CornyForty the roll of the SCR is changing. The SCR score now serves four main purposes:
1. The basis points for the CornyForty.
2. The infrastructure for the future ACO handicap system being developed.
3. The seeding system for ACO Branded tournaments.
4. Another way to rank an ACO-PRO caliber player who has not been able to compete yet in the TopGun Tour and become part of the CornyForty system.
Check out the ACO CornyForty:
November 28, 2009
ACO Carolina gets write up in local paper
Ryan Labelle and Keith Wilkins were recently featured in the Spartanburg paper discussing their efforts of promoting cornhole and the ACO in the area. Congratulations on the good work!!! Read the article click here.
October 1, 2008
New ACO "Player Choice" Bags will be available for purchase this week
The word came out on Monday that the new ACO bags will be available at the end of the week. Demand is very high for the new bags so expect delays on orders. If you are not familiar with the "Player Choice" Bags you can read the article below to find out more. The Player Choice Bags will be used at the ACO Nationals in Las Vegas, NV. If you are not registered for this event you can do so at www.americancornhole.org.
September 26, 2008
New ACO "Player Choice" Bags in development
American Cornhole is set to add a new bag to it's ACO-PRO Series bag line up.
Currently offered as part of the ACO-PRO Series line-up are the SoftTouch bags available in black, grey, blue & red - click here for details
September 1st American Cornhole launches it's PlayersChoice bags - this bag will be the first of it's kind to be introduced to the cornhole industry - it will be a bag constructed of two different fabrics that will give players the choice of control, sliding their bag or sticking their bag. They'll use the traditional SoftTouch synthetic suede side if they want more control on the board, let's say to throw the BLOCKER and the PeachFuzz side, a cotton twill, if they want to throw more of the backyard slider or SLICK WILLY.
The new PlayersChoice bags will be available in black, grey, blue and red.
There is still not word on when the bags will be available for purchase.
September 13, 2008
#1 Matt Guy and #2 Randy Atha wins Louisville Cornhole Cup
Matt Guy from Kentucky and Randy Atha from Ohio teamed up to win the Louisville Cornhole Cup. Guy and Atha was never defeated in the double elimination tournament. Charles True and Noel True from Monterey, KY finished second, both are ranked #8 and #11 according to the ACO rankings. Shannon Edds and Josh Pitts from Louisville, KY finished third. Shannon Edds put on a great show and is scheduled to do his first Skills Challenge at the KBC Classic on September 20.
September 4, 2008
American Cornhole Organization (ACO) in the Wall Street Journal
To read the Wall Street Journal Article with CEO Frank Geers click here
September 3, 2008
Louisville's American Cornhole Organization (ACO) Representative, Brian Stinnett, will be attending tournament on September 20th
Kentucky Bluegrass Cornhole (KBC) is excited about having Brian Stinnett, an ACO representative, attending our event on the 20th. Brian will be signing up new members to the ACO. Membership to the ACO allows an individual to perform in the ACO Skills Challenge. The Skills Challenge gives a score that will show where you rank among the best players in the world. A members Skills Challenge Rank (SCR) will then be posted on the ACO website for the world to see.
Brian, who is the representative of the 502 area code counties, would like to see more Kentuckians signing up for memberships and doing the Skills Challenge. "There are so many great players in the area I would love to see them get ranked and perform at the highest level. Once you become a Pro there is more money available to win". "The exciting thing now is there will be more Top-Level tournaments coming to Louisville and other Kentucky areas in the very near future ".
Looks like the ACO will be sweeping through the Louisville area and bringing lots of excitement with it.
The Owensboro area will soon be up and running with an active ACO representative. Stay tuned in to the KBC for details.
