Maryland’s On the Hill Productions, under the leadership of Loye Bolyard, went “all in” with the full range of services offered by DigitalPool.com for the first time this past weekend (Feb. 4-5). Its MD State Fargo Rate 9-Ball Open, which drew 54 entrants to Choptank Bowling & Billiards in Cambridge, MD,featured all of DigitalPool’s technological capabilities designed to make tournament events easier to run and more accessible to an audience interested in following the event activities; live streaming with cameras and microphones at every table, score-tracking tablets and mounted monitors above the tables displaying scores of the matches taking place beneath them.
All that technological equipment and personnel, along with in-house spectators, witnessed Andy Downs go undefeated to the hot seat match and then, return from a semifinal to double-dip Cambridge, MD local Will Johnson in the finals. Downs had gotten by Adam Frank, Mike Etti, Jody Cahall and John Moody, Sr. to arrive at a winners’ side semifinal against Brandon Foster. Johnson’s path went through Matt Krah, Holden Moody, David Stanley and Joe Feuka to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal versus Mike Saleh.
Downs defeated Foster 7-4 and was joined in the hot seat match by Johnson, who’d dispatched Saleh to the loss side 4-8 (Saleh racing to 10). Johnson claimed the hot seat, handing Downs what proved to be his first and last defeat 6-4.
On the loss side, Foster picked up Choptank’s own Coen Bell, who’d been defeated 7-2 by Saleh in a winners’ side quarterfinal and then defeated Bethany Sykes 7-4 and Garrett Waechter 7-1. Saleh drew Coen Bell’s father, Danny Bell, who’d been sent to the loss side by his own son and embarked on a four-match, loss-side streak that had recently eliminated Huberth Alvarado 7-4 and John Moody, Sr. 7-5. Two potential, quarterfinal rematches hung in the balance as the 5/6 matches got underway, both dependent on Coen Bell, who would face either his Dad or the man who’d sent him to the loss side, Saleh.
Coen Bell accomplished his objective with a bit of a punctuation mark, shutting out Brandon Foster. Saleh, though, defeated Coen’s father 7-4, spoiling the anticipated father/son quarterfinal.Saleh and Coen Bell battled to double hill in their quarterfinal rematch before Saleh finished it and turned to face Andy Downs in the semifinals.
With Saleh racing to 9, Downs earned his two-set, double elimination rematch against Johnson with a 5-4 victory over Saleh in those semifinals. Downs took the opening set against Johnson 7-4 and completed his title-capturing run with a 7-2 victory in the second set.
On the Hill Productions’ (OTHP’s) Loye Bolyard thanked the ownership and staff at Choptank Bowling & Billiards and extended a ‘shout out’ to Isaac Wooten and Zach Goldsmith from digitalpool.com for “bringing all of the table streaming to Maryland” and to Dave Nangle, “who spends hours upon hours bringing us our very own stream.” He also thanked sponsors AlleyKat Cue Sports, AZBilliards.com, Aramith Balls, Simonis Cloth, TAP Chesapeake Bay Region, Safe Harbor Retirement Planners, Bull Carbon, Gina Cunningham and Keller Williams Integrity. The next event on OTHP’s calendar, set for the weekend of Feb. 18-19 will be a ‘599 and under’ Fargo Rate event, hosted by Brews & Cues in Glen Burnie, MD.
Gabriel Visoiu (Photo courtesy of Dave Thomson – mediumpool.com)
TRICK SHOT MAGIC was held September 22 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Gabi Visoiu defeated Andy Segal 8-6 in the Finals. The two semifinals and the Championship match will be broadcast by ESPN on Sunday, December 4, 2016 at 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm EST on ESPN2.
The format for Trick Shot Magic consisted of two skill shots and four artistic show shots by each player in each semi-final and 8 artistic show shots in the Finals. Each player executed a challenge shot of their choice, and their opponent was required to duplicate the shot or lose a point. In the semifinals, the players alternated shots in head-to-head matches, performing intricate trick shots meant to stymie their opponents. A sudden death tiebreaker to decide a match required an eight rail bank shot onto the face of a $100 bill. The Championship Finals match pitted the two greatest Trick Shot players in the world in a head to head match for the right to claim the title “Trick Shot Champion”.
The Championship match was poetry on Simonis blue, with Gabi Visoiu defeating 5 time Trick Shot Magic Champion and current World Champion Andy Segal by a score of 8-6 to take the Championship Trophy. Visoiu combined traditional multi-ball shots with his masse skills to overcome Segal’s talents with multi cue tricks.The Trump Taj Mahal crowd gave Visoiu a rousing ovation at the conclusion of the Championship match. The victory was particularly rewarding for Visoiu as he had competed in Trick Shot Magic for 5 years without a victory.
The Semi-final matches featured newcomer Will DeYonker, who qualified for the event in a special tournament held over the summer in Long Island, New York. Will delivered several unique shots but fell short to Andy Segal when one of his tricks was deemed in violation of the rules by referee Dave Nangle. Segal went on to win 7-5. The Second semi-final featured 2016 WPA Jump Shot and Follow Shot World Champion, Jamey Gray from the United States. He was defeated by Gabi Visoiu 7-3. The trophy was presented by Gregg Hovey of Billiards International.
In addition to the fine tournament site at the Trump Taj Mahal, the event was sponsored by Diamond Billiard Tables, Aramith Tournament Balls, Simonis Cloth, PoolDawg, Cuetec, Marty Carey Jump Cues, J.Pechauer Custom Cues, CueMate Cue Stands and Bill Westley Racks. The event was produced by Billiards Interna
In almost any arena, when one stands alone in this day and age, creating any sort of change or impact can be a tough nut to crack. In the recent weeks, a small amount of artistic pool players have decided to take a stand against the World Pool Association’s, Artistic Pool Division (WPA-APD). On September 9th, 2015 a somewhat brash demand letter went out to Mark Dimick, President of the WPA-APD, and all the other board members (Jim Sommer, Javier Gomez, Arkadiy Loshakov, Dan Hosier, Tim Chin, Jamie Moody, Buddy Eick, Stefano Pelinga, Jeremiah Owens, Curtis Robertson) stating that there were issues that a majority of the top players in the world (13 total) would like to see change for the better of the sport. These terms came with a two-week deadline for response, or else a boycott on future events would take place.
Seeking change for the betterment of artistic pool, as a sport, was what Nick Nikolaidis and his ‘Player's Board’ were seeking. In the midst of the recent World Championships that took place in Atlanta, Georgia, many issues within the industry were magnified and several players decided it was time to change the status-quo. Instead of having a continual gripe session, Nikolaidis, helped to fascilitate an impromptu meeting. Among his constituents, were top ranked, Andy Segal, world champion Gabi Visoiu, viral sensation, Florian Kohler, Dave Nangle, Abram Diaz, Steve Markle, Gordon Hedges, Adam Nickels, Jim Glanville, Jamey Gray and Sebastian Giumelli. In this initial meeting, they decided it would be an open discussion of all issues, and these issues would be taken to a vote and would be presented to the WPA-APD.
It seems that with the manifestation of such a notice of demands, the communication gap between the artistic players and it’s governing body has existed for quite some time. The players have felt that there were problems with the format of events, money allocation, and WPA-APD board elections, among other issues. In this recent letter to the WPA-APD, the ‘Player's Board’, as they call themselves, itemized this letter into seven categories, with included subcategories. The first category is “Player Quality.” Because there was a live-stream of the World Championship, the player quality was on spotlight when it came to how artistic pool was portrayed. This being the case there were five players that scored under 100 points out of a possible 320 points. There were two players that scored 20 points or less. As a professional world championship, the playing field is expected to be of a high caliber, especially those playing on the stream table. This essentially affects how the tournament is set up with regards to which players are in which flights, which is also addressed within the letter. Upon interviewing Nick Nikolaidis, Abram Diaz and Gabi Visoiu, they all discussed that they wanted Artistic Pool to be represented in the best fashion with the highest ranked and skilled players showcased, especially on a broadcast. Not for themselves, but for the presentation for the world to see.
Click on here to download and read the letter to the WPA-APD: Dear WPA
The second category brought up within the letter to the WPA-APD is a topic most often brought up in pool and billiard tournaments: the pay-outs and purse. The first issue brought up was paying out the entire field, which essentially means the tournament is simply reimbursing all players for part of the entry fee. In a recent interview with current World Champion, Gabi Visoiu, he stated, “it is simply a lowered entry fee.” Unless it is an invitational event, it is quite unheard of to pay out the entire field. Visoiu also has a unique perspective as an international player, wiring his entry is an additional cost, as well as cashing a check from the Bank of Oklahoma in Transylvania, Romania becomes a bit of a challenge. For Sebastian Giumelli, cashing a check in Argentina is even more of a problem. Although, the demand for cashier's checks for international winners was in the letter, upon realizing that there was a problem for Visoiu this year, the WPA-APD did tell Visoiu they would switch to an international bank for future events. Among other points was how much to pay or not pay the tournament director and referees.
Tournament format, the shot program itself, and the awards ceremony is addressed in categories three, four and five. It has been three years that the World Championships and other tournaments have not been played with a play-off format. For the players and perhaps even the presentation of broadcast, it would be beneficial to reinstate the play-off format for the top qualifying players in the tournament going into the final day. In regards to the shot program, the Player's Board is seeking that they get to at least review the shot program to identify any mistakes that may be apart of it. Finally, the awards ceremony is discussed in the letter, as these players have shown disapproval in the time and manner in which it is conducted. This once again, addresses the issue of the best representation of the artistic pool in the mainstream media.
The sixth category within the letter from the Player's Board, discusses ranking and the ranking system. This is a smaller category, but can be the most impactful to the other categories because the rankings will affect those that play in world or national tournaments in the future. The ranking system that is proposed, states the players would like to have a minimum number of events for a player to be ranked. Also the Player's board is asking that only overall finishes be counted towards ranking points and not highest individual discipline finishers.
The final category addressed is the general changes that the Player's Board would like to see with the WPA-APD. These changes include financial records to be opened up for players to see, Tom Rossman no longer being an influential part of the process, no religious material at events, board elections opened up to players and finally, the player's voice to be heard, instead of silence through the code of conduct.
What began as thirteen players, who wanted change, has now become an eighteen-player coalition, with a small board to represent everyone. Nick Nikolaidis was elected as intern President by his fellow rebels, with Andy Segal nominated as intern Vice President of the ‘Player's Union’. Like any union dispute, when demands are not met or even compromised there is a strike. These rebelling players are now on strike, from a simple response memo from the WPA-APD as, “Thank you for your feedback… Attached, please find the latest entry form for our next event”. In an interview with Player's Board Member, Abram Diaz, he stated that, “although fearful of possibly not having another opportunity to capture a world title,” he would still boycott the next event. The next event being the Master's Artistic Pool Championship being held in December at Jamaica Joe's in Oklahoma. What then becomes of the WPA-APD if a majority of the top ranked players in the world decides not to play in future events? Nick Nikolaidis stated that if need be they would notify the World Pool Association and start their own division.
Although, the Player's Board sent a demand letter, Abram Diaz commented that they were “ready and willing to negotiate all terms.” This being said, the WPA-APD might be under the impression that the Player's Board was all or nothing. Stefano Pelinga, current board member of the WPA-APD, was contacted for an interview, but in his most professional manner, declined to make a statement, as he thought he was not the appropriate person to speak on behalf of the WPA-APD board, but that Mark Dimick, the president and spokesman, should if they decide to. Unfortunately, we at Point Of View Pool Media were unable to reach Mark Dimick for a statement prior to publishing this article. In defense of the WPA-APD, they are volunteered, unpaid board members ranging from different parts of the country, so gathering together to discuss all these topics in their spare time might be a bit difficult.
Hopefully, for all of those involved, the sport of artistic billiards still has a bright future. It seems that with or without the WPA-APD some of these top players are willing to risk it all for the advancement of competition and its presentation in the mainstream media. We know that, without some of its founding members and veteran players the advancement artistic pool might be non-existent in our minds today. However, it seems that there is a new generation of talent knocking loudly at the door wanting their voices to be heard.
