Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz avoided an early exit coming from 6-0 down on the opening day of the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live worldwide.
256 players descended on one of London’s most iconic sporting venues for a piece of history as they gun to become the first player to claim the UK Open title and a share of the $200,000 prize fund as the opening round and Losers Round 1 saw the first 16 players leave the tournament and leave many in a perilous position with the remaining losers round matches set to get underway tomorrow morning ahead of Winners Round 1.
Fans were treated to two live streams for free wherever they are in the world thanks to the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as on Matchroom.Live and on betting websites around the world and they were not disappointed.
Sanchez Ruiz lost his opening match of the tournament against South Africa’s Jason Theron from 6-3 up to face Ashik Nathawani in one of the opening Losers Round encounters to keep his spot in the tournament. The Spaniard has had a good year of it so far and is one of the Mosconi Cup Team Europe hopefuls, but it was nearly curtains as Nathwani took hold with a 6-0 lead and only three from victory, but Sanchez Ruiz rallied from that point onwards to put on the performance of the opening day in a dramatic hill-hill victory.
Fresh off the back of claiming the title at Nineball Ranking Event, the Bucharest Open on Sunday, Ko Pin Yi made light work of Chun Hao Man 9-2 to kick off Table 1 action before one of the home favourites in Chris Melling put on a fine display to hand a donut to Petr Urban in a cruising 9-0 victory inside 40 minutes. The speediness of Melling’s showing wasn’t the last performance of such nature as both recent World Pool Masters winner Joshua Filler and two-time World Champion Albin Ouschan rattled off emphatic wins of the same scoreline against Robert Hart and Sergio Lagunas, respectively.
With over 38% of the field British, there was plenty of support for the home nations as World Snooker Ranking Event winner Martin Gould got off to a winning start in his first appearance in a Nineball tournament since the early 2000s to beat Tashunka Schultz to set up an all Brit affair with Elliott Sanderson in the Winners Round 1 tomorrow whilst fellow World Snooker Tour player Gary Wilson, a former Crucible semi-finalist showed off his first forway into another cue sport discipline in a 9-6 win over America’s Blaine Barcus. Another notable name from the world of snooker in Fraser Patrick overcome fellow Scot David Black.
Wilson said: “It was getting a bit twitchy. It was too close for my liking. I was 4-1 up. It was a scrappy game. I am trying to get used to the conditions and work out what’s going on. I tried my best to keep potting balls and getting onto the next one. The tables are so different, it is skiddier and more reactive. It took us a few racks to work it out. I am learning as a go and hopefully, I can improve”
Two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw comfortably pulled through against Ali Hirji Kheraj whilst newly crowned World Champion Shane Van Boening didn’t seem to break swear in another 9-0 win on Table 1 over James Channon.
Action continues tomorrow morning from 9am in the arena before streaming coverage begins from 10am on Table 1 and 2. See below the schedule of matches.
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
Tickets start from £15 for the day and £85 for the week using the code UKOPEN at checkout. Secure yours here
Spencer Auigbelle, Qais Kolee, Nick Brucato & Kyle Bova
Possibly forgoing the inevitable march of procrastinators searching for gifts three days before Christmas, a hearty crew of 28 entrants braved near-freezing temperatures in Rochester, NY to attend the Western New York Pool Tour’s 6th Annual Jingle Grind Christmas Classic, hosted by Diamond Billiards Bar & Grill in Rochester. At the end of the evening, Qais Kolee, sitting in the hot seat, and Kyle Bova, who’d won five on the loss side to get a shot at him, decided against a final match and split $1,650 in prize money, a decent ‘Merry Christmas’ money for the both of them.
Kolee had chalked up three straight 6-3 wins over Luis Bani, Jake Miosi and Geoff Montgomery to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal match against Brad Wesley. Spencer Augbelle, in the meantime, had downed Dave Ricci 6-4, and then survived two straight double hill matches, sending Mark Hadley and Kyle Bova to the loss side. Bova, like Jacob Marley, would return to haunt Augbelle in the semifinals, but for the moment, Augbelle advanced to face Jeremiah Imburgia in the other winners’ side semifinal.
Kolee got into the hot seat match with a 6-4 victory over Wesley, and met up with Auigbelle, who’d defeated Imburgia 6-2. Kolee claimed the hot seat and his last victory of the day, 6-4.
On the loss side, Wesley picked up Bova, who, following his defeat at the hands of Augbelle, had shut out Nick Cappolla and given up four to Adam Smith. Imburgia drew tour director Nick Brucato, who never did get a chance for a re-match against Wesley, who’d sent him over, but was working on a modest, three-match, loss-side winning streak that included recent wins over Jerry Sullivan 6-3 and Geoff Montgomery 6-4.
Brucato’s hopes for a re-match were spoiled by Bova, who shut Wesley out. Brucato joined him in the quarterfinals with a 6-2 win over Imburgia. Bova ended Brucato’s day (competing) with a 6-4 quarterfinal win.
Bova and Augbelle’s semifinal re-match proved to be the last match of the event. Bova won it 6-4, and as the undefeated occupant of the hot seat, claimed the event title. The decision to split the final two cash prizes was made, and everybody went home to their respective holiday revels.
With a tournament as full of top players as the 39th Simonis/Aramith US Open 9-Ball Championship, players are going to have to navigate a veritable minefield of talent to advance. Some of those draws are, of course, tougher than others. With the first round pairing of US Open rookie Skyler Woodward and Filipino veteran "The Lion" Alex Pagulayan, most fans in attendance chalked it up as just a tough draw for the youngster. They were right about it being a tough draw, they just had the wrong victim in mind.
Woodward and Pagulayan kept the match close early as they traded leads at 3-2 and 4-3, then Woodward caught a gear. From 4-3 down, Woodward won seven games to stun the veteran and take the hill at 10-4. Pagulayan, never one to stress over a match situation, came back and won four straight to make it a match at 10-8 before the Filipino legend missed a 4-ball and Woodward smoothly ran out the rack for the 11-8 upset of the day.
"I never really felt nervous" said Woodward after the match. "I just tried to play the best pool I could play". For those critics who count out Woodward in big events like this because of his perceived bar table specialization, Woodward had some bad news for you. "I grew up on a barbox and that is really all we had, but we just got a 9 foot Diamond and I have been playing on it all that I can".
Tuesday morning play saw the beginnings of player eliminations, and a number of top favorites were in danger of suffering a much shorter event than they had planned. Niels Feijen began the day with a powerful match against Chris Pyle where he made an 11-0 statement to forget his loss yesterday to Maz Eberle.
Raj Hundal sent Chuck Ralston home 11-7 and Adam Smith did the same to Israel Rota with an identical score. Mike Delawder took out Paul Potier 11-8 and Imaran Majid ended the run of the only female in the field, Dana Aft, 11-5. Tony Drago gave a speed shooting exhibition as he defeated Chris Cantrall 11-0 in only 25 minutes!
Mosconi Cup hopeful Brandon Shuff, another victim of a very tough draw, suffered his second loss of the event to Rodney Morris 11-5 and will be a spectator for the rest of the week here.
Currently held under the auspices of the Action Pool Tour (APT), the Bob Stocks Memorial was originally an independent event, run by Sterling, VA's First Break Cafe. In the years since it began in 2006, it's crowned Adam Smith, Dennis Hatch, Ryan McCreesh, Mike Sigel, Mike Davis and Brian Deska as champions (the event was not held in 2013). On the weekend of October 4-5, the event crowned its first-ever, two-time champion, Shaun Wilkie, who won it in its independent days in 2008, three years before the APT took over in 2011. This year's event drew 65 entrants to First Break Cafe.
Wilkie's victory moved him to the top of APT's current rankings, ahead of Brian Deska, who finished in the two-way tie for fifth place. They're separated by a mere 127 points, with two events to go in the APT season.
Wilkie had to win five on the loss side to chalk this one up. He was defeated by Dan Madden 7-3 in a winners' side quarterfinal. Madden moved on to face Danny Mastermaker in one winners' side semifinal, as Deska and Brandon Shuff met up in the other (of note at this juncture was Deska's just-completed, 7-2 victory over Karen Corr). Shuff sent Deska to the loss side 7-4, and in the hot seat match, met up with Mastermaker, who'd given up only a single rack to Madden. Shuff just did get by Mastermaker 7-6 to claim the hot seat, and, unbeknowst to him, chalk up his last victory.
Deska moved over and picked up Wilkie, who'd started his march back to the finals with a double hill win over Jimmy Varias and a subsequent victory over Steve Fleming 7-4. Madden drew Karen Corr, who'd gotten by Jason Kochenour 6-2 and Will Moon 6-1. Madden dropped Corr into the tie for fifth place 6-2. No one could have predicted that the battle between the tour's top two ranked players would end up in a shutout, but it did; Wilkie advanced, leaving Deska in the tie for fifth with Corr.
Wilkie now had his second shot against Madden, and took advantage of the opportunity, defeating him 6-2 to draw Mastermaker in the semifinals. Another double hill match ensued, which eventually advanced Wilkie to a finals showdown against Shuff. With the final match extended to nine games, Wilkie and Shuff battled it back and forth to within a game of double hill. Wilkie, though, surged ahead by two at the end to take it 9-7.
Tony Robles’ Predator Pro-Am Tour, Steinway Billiards and William Finnegan are proud to announce the 3rd Annual Steinway Classic on August 2nd & 3rd at Steinway Billiards!
This $7,000 Added event will be streamed live via Pay Per View by Upstate Al, of AZBTV and co-produced by NYCGrind.com and the Predator Pro-Am Tour.
To purchase the live stream for this amazing event please visit www.steinwaybilliards.com/livestream/ Day 1 is $15, Day 2 $15 and you can purchase both days for $25.
Here are some of the top players that are confirmed to play:
Pros have priority to pay their entry first for this event. We have compiled a list of amateur players that will get the opportunity to play as long as we don’t have a full field of 64 pros.
The entry for pros is $125 and $75 for amateurs. Please contact Tony Robles if you’re interested in playing at TonyRoblesNYC@gmail.com.
Dragon Promotions will also have their 14.1 World Straight Pool Tournament at Steinway Billiards August 4-9 and most of the players mentioned above as well as others above will be playing in this prestigious event as well. For more information please visit www.WorldStraightPool.com.
Special thanks to Predator Cues, Delta-13, Ozone Billiards, GothamCityTechnologies.com, Rob Omen of PoolOnTheNet.com, The National Amateur Pool League (PlayNAPL.com), AZBTV, AZBilliards.com, NYCGrind.com, Billiards Digest and Steinway Billiards and their amazing staff! And last but not least my amazing wife Gail Robles!
For more information about our tour please visit www.PredatorProAmTour.com.
We hope to see you all at Steinway August 2-9 for these two amazing events! Stop by and show your support of the game we all love.
The Association of College Unions International (ACUI) held its 74th collegiate national billiards championships at Virginia Tech on May 30-31, 2014. Past ACUI winners include touring professionals Nick Varner, Max Eberle, Adam Smith, and Eleanor Callado.
Students qualified for the 2014 Championships by placing in the top 25% of a number of qualifying tournaments across the U.S. between October and April. ACUI invited 79 men and 25 women; 51 men and 16 women registered and played at Virginia Tech.
2ndAnnie Nord, Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine
3rdJackie Sanchez, Florida State University College of Medicine
4thGiovanni Aviles, University of Illinois at Chicago
ACUI wishes to thank the staff of Virginia Tech for their outstanding support for this year’s event. The organization is currently seeking hosts for sectional and independent qualifying tournaments in the 2014-2015 season, as well as a national host for next summer’s 2015 Table Tennis and 9-ball Championships. For more information, please visit www.acui.org/billiards.
Mike Dechaine has appeared in three out of the four finals of the annual George "Ginky" Sansouci Memorial Tournament, and now, after the event's first appearance on Memorial Day weekend, he's won two out of those three; both times, going undefeated and both times, coming from behind in the finals to win it. He won the first Ginky Memorial in 2011, defeating Dennis Hatch 11-9, after being down 8-6. In 2012, Earl Strickland defeated him in the finals. Dechaine did not compete in the 2013 Ginky Memorial; won by Mike Davis, defeating Dennis Hatch in the finals. Dechaine returned this year to claim his second title, this time, defeating The Iceman, Mika Immonen in the finals. The $2,000-added, Open/Pro tournament at this year's event drew 50 entrants to Steinway Billiards, in Astoria, Queens.
Three years after winning his first tournament on the Tri-State Tour, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu went undefeated to capture the $2,000-added, Amateur side of the Ginky Memorial, which drew a full field of 128 entrants. The Amateur event has crowned four separate champions since 2011 – Raj Vannala, Daniel Dagotdot, Mike Yednak and now, Delimelkonoglu.
In the Open/Pro competition, Dechaine moved among the winners' side final four for a match against Danny Mastermaker, currently ranked at # 8 on the Action Pool Tour, as Mhet Vergara faced Adam Smith, winner of last year's Pennsylvania 9-Ball Championships. Dechaine sent Mastermaker to the losers' bracket 8-5 and in the battle for the hot seat, faced Smith, who'd defeated Vergara by the same score. Dechaine defeated Smith 8-4 and found himself in the Ginky Memorial hot seat for the third time.
On the loss side, The Iceman, after being defeated by Smith in a winners' side quarterfinal defeated Jonathan Smith 8-6 and Hunter Lombardo 8-1 to draw Mastermaker. Vergara, in the meantime, drew Jayson Shaw, who'd lost to Immonen in the opening round, and was on a seven-match, loss-side winning streak that would take him to the quarterfinals. Shaw downed Karen Corr (the only woman playing in the Open/Pro event) 8-5 and Frankie Hernandez 8-4 to meet Vergara.
Shaw's final win of the day came against Vergara 8-2 as Immonen was busy eliminating Mastermaker 8-5. Immonen took the quarterfinal match against Shaw in a tight, double hill battle, and then downed Smith in the semifinals 8-6.
The final match – a modified race-to-11 (if Immonen reached 11 games first, match would extend to 13) – was a blend of rack running and safety play that went back and forth through its early and middle stages. The Iceman pulled ahead by two, as he reached the extension 'hill' of 10 games, but Dechaine locked in and took the next three to reach 11 games first and claim the event title.
In the Amateur event, Delimelkonoglu worked his way through to a winners' side semifinal against Glenn Ramsey, as John Ortiz faced ChristIan Smith in the other. Delimelkonoglu survived a double hill battle against Ramsey, as Ortiz downed Smith 7-4. Delimlekonoglu got into the hot seat 7-4 over Ortiz and awaited his return from the semifinals.
Ramsey and Smith got right back to work on the loss side; Ramsey downing teenager Thomas Rice in a double hill battle, as Smith eliminated Lidio Ramirez 7-5. Smith took the quarterfinal match 7-3, but had his bid for a shot against Delimelkonoglu stopped by Ortiz 7-5 in the semifinals. Delimelkonoglu completed his undefeated run with a 9-7, second win over Ortiz to claim the Ginky Memorial's fourth Amateur title.
The second World Professional League semi-final match was played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV. On Thursday February 13, 2014. The match-up featured the #2 seed Minnesota Outlaws vs. the #9 seed Pittsburg Poison.
The Poison's dramatic run in the WPBL Championship Playoffs ended with a heartbreaking 7-5 loss to the Outlaws Thursday February 13th, sending Minnesota to Saturday's WPBL Championship game to face the Atlanta Scorpions. Pittsburgh needed to win the final game in regulation to stay alive, but failed to score when given the opportunities down the stretch. That left the door open for Minnesota to run out the clock in regulation and clinch the match.
Pittsburgh fell behind in the match 4-0 in the first three games before storming back to take a 5-4 lead when Shawn Putnam outlasted Ralf Souquet in a singles shoot-out 27-19. Adam Smith, who played the biggest role in Pittsburgh's comeback, tied the match a 4-4 in the previous game by defeating Jesse Engel 30-6.
Smith was also key in helping the Poison pick up their first match points of the night, cutting a pair of tough scoring shots in along the way to a 30-6 win paired with Sylver Ochoa, as they defeated Engel and Thorsten Hohmann. But Hohmann would get the last laugh in singles, shutting out Ochoa 30-0 in the final singles game, putting the Outlaws up 7-5 before clinching the match for a spot in the finals.
The WPBL’s first Championship match can be seen Saturday February 15, 2014 at 1pm PT live to viewers in the United States on ESPN3, viewers outside the US able to see the live stream at www.wpbltv.com/subscribe. This historic match will have Thorsten Hohmann’s Outlaws taking on Johnny Archer’s Scorpions to become the first ever WPBL Champions. Atlanta’s rise to the finals has been unexpected as they were seeded last in the league, but have continually gained momentum as a team landing them in season’s final match. On the other hand, the Outlaws have played consistent all season therefore securing a spot in the finals seemed inevitable.
Friday February 14, 2014, the league will hold the All Star Charity Billiards Challenge match for Philippine typhoon relief as Filipino stars Dennis Orcullo and Carlo Biado join Warren Kiamco and face Hohmann, Darren Appleton, and John Morra. Proceeds will be donated to the Rising Asian Pacific Americans Coalition for Diversity (501c3) in Las Vegas. That match can be purchased at: www.wpbltv.com/subscription.
Follow the WPBL as we near the league championship, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
Sylver Ochoa with Chicago Team (Raj Hundal, Rodney Morris, Mika Immonen)
The second match of round two action in the World Professional Billiard League’s Championship Playoffs saw the #11 seed Pittsburgh Poison eliminate the #3 seed Chicago Rockets. The match was played at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas, NV Sunday February 9, 2014.
The Pittsburgh Poison outlasted the Chicago Rockets 21-20 in a shoot-out to win the match-deciding game, and move on to the semi-finals of the WPBL playoffs. After Raj Hundal executed a difficult shot on purple to put Chicago within a point in the shoot-out, the match came to an end when Rodney Morris missed a two point orange ball that would have put Chicago ahead.
Hundal helped send the match to the final game tied at 7 apiece after a decisive 30-12 win in singles over Sylver Ochoa. Hundal skillfully worked his way around the table, sinking a number of shots that helped Chicago come from being down 6-2 at intermission to tie the score at 7.
Mika Immonen opened singles play by shutting out Adam Smith 30-0, as the Rockets climbed to within one match point as a result at 6-5. However, their deficit grew to 7-5 when Shawn Putnam outlasted Rodney Morris 24-18 in a singles shoot-out that put Pittsburgh back up by 2, before the final game of 3 on 3 that ended on Morris' miss.
Pittsburgh's 6-2 intermission lead was highlighted by Putnam and Smith's 30-1 hammering of Immonen and Hundal that lifted Pittsburgh to a 4-0 lead early.
Every lower seed in the tournament has now won all 6 matches, with the #1 seed New York up against the #8 seed Las Vegas Dice Monday February 10, 2014 at 6:30 PST.
Pittsburgh's semi-final match Thursday February 13, 2014 will be against the winner of Tuesday’s Minnesota Outlaws and the Miami Cruise match. The Thursday match can also be seen live online at ESPN3 at 6:30 PST.
To purchase the WPBL All Star Charity Billiards Challenge or the entire Championship Package, please visit www.WPBLtv.com. Follow the WPBL as the playoffs continue, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
The World Professional Billiard League’s 2013-2014 Playoffs continued with the league’s second match-up of the playoffs. The Toronto Blue Sharks took on the Pittsburgh Poison at the WPBL Arena in Las Vegas February 6, 2014.
For the second straight night, the lower seed pulled off an upset win. Ranked 11th in the league, the Pittsburgh Poison knocked off 6th ranked Toronto 9-3. After the Blue Sharks took the opening team game 30-3, they managed just one match point the rest of the night which came in a doubles shoot-out. However, Pittsburgh's doubles team of Adam Smith and Sylver Ochoa defeated John Morra and Jason Klatt breaking a 3-3 tie, and giving Pittsburgh a 5-3 lead at intermission.
Smith and Captain Shawn Putnam were both victorious in singles play over Morra and Eric Hjorliefson respectively, essentially putting the match away in the second half. Pittsburgh is the second straight lower seeded team to win their opening round match, after #12 seed Atlanta upset #5 seed Los Angeles to open the tournament on Wednesday.
The Poison next face Rodney Morris’ Chicago Rockets Sunday night at 6:30pm PST. The next scheduled playoff match will be Friday February 7th at 6:30pm PT and features the #7 seed Houston Hustlers against #10 Miami Cruise.
To purchase the WPBL All Star Charity Billiards Challenge or the entire Championship Package, please visit www.WPBLtv.com. Follow the WPBL as the playoffs continue, additional announcements and updates will be made frequently. For a complete listing of broadcast matches, standings, merchandise and more visit the WPBL website.
