IPT Pool Fan Blog

Still No Money

2006-10-29T21:43:00.000Z

One month ago I posted that the players were still awaiting their cheques from the Reno tournament and sadly this is still the case.

It now also appears that the upcoming Chicago tournament has been cancelled (IPT rumoured to be saying 'postponed') and any but the most blind optimist must surely now think that the final curtain is down on the IPT.

I really cannot see any way this is going to continue. The players are valiantly trying to keep an optimistic slant on things in the main, but surely in private their views must be very very different. How can players make travel plans for future tournaments when they have no clue what is going on?

The Ho acquisition is strangely quiet with various factors blamed for the hold-up, but I must say that I cannot see any reason for the delay in payment even considering ongoing contractual issues between Kevin Trudeau and Mr. Ho's representatives. No comment has yet been issued by anyone from Ho's side and many in the pool world are sceptical as to just how concrete this deal is.

Will there be a tornament in Chicago? My guess is not. Will they manage to pull around in time for the King of the Hill in late December? My guess is not. Will there even be a 2007 season? My guess is not. Is the IPT finished? My guess is yes. Prove me wrong........please!

The sad sad thing is that even this weekend the qualifier turnout was quite good and that is at $2000 a pop. The IPT can generate big funds through qualifiers and if we have learned anything from the IPT so far it is that pool could be organized globally and with big payouts and that is defnitely within the grasp if anyone can take up the challenge. The format of the IPT was wonderful, but maybe the payouts initially were a tad optimistic. Can someone take up the mantle? Barry Hearn are you reading this?

Real Money?

2006-09-28T19:58:00.000+01:00

I am very sad to report that as far as I have been made aware, no player has yet received their tournament winnings from the recent World Open in Reno.

Kevin Trudeau said on numerous occasions that people would be paid out at the tournaments and expressed his assurances that his tour would not leave players waiting for cheques that may/may not materialise.

Something has gone wrong. If there is a mere clerical problem (explanations I've heard so far have alluded to this) then they had better sort it out and do so fast! The fact is that few people will reach for $2000 to enter a qualifier to a tour that might be on the ropes - people cannot risk that amount of money when they are so unsure of the future. Of course, this has a knock-on effect and means that the IPT is simply not making enough money from the current crop of qualifiers (last week's turnouts were embarrassingly small).

I think the combination of the fee being too high at $2000, coupled with the doubt over the future of the IPT has contributed to this situation.

I desperately want this to succeed and I desperately want the players to receive their cheques and very very soon please. I've no idea if anyone from the IPT reads this, but if they do then please can we have some clarification on what has been going on?

The 'sale' of the IPT to Stanley Ho also seems very strange when set in this mix; only time will see things unveiled. I hav a very bad feeling about all of this - I hope I'm wrong...

Efren Reyes wins IPT World Open

2006-09-13T21:14:00.000+01:00

Efren Reyes stamped his class on the IPT event in Reno, NV on Sunday by overcoming American star, Rodney Morris 8-6 in an exciting final.

As predicted here before the event (no idea how I got this right!) Reyes rose above all and sundry in the biggest ever tournament of 8-ball pool. Rodney Morris was my pick of Americans before the event and I am kicking myself that I did not place a small wager on this being the final! I did have a pound or two on said Mr.Reyes though.

The tournament seems to have lived up to the hype, with most players preferring this venue to the previous one in Vegas. Although Eurosport could not cover this one live as it clashed with US Open Tennis (zzzzzzzzzzzz), the online streaming video content ($5.95 a month) was very well done indeed - especially the commentary proving much better than Eurosport's.

There was a subtle balance to the final 6 this time. Two Filipinos (Reyes and Orcollo), two Europeans (Immonen and Ortmann) and two Americans (Deuel and Morris). This made for the ideal combination to my mind. I would love to have seen a Brit make it, but Karl Boyes and Mick Hill fell just short here in spite of incredible early tournament form.

Were there surprises? You bet! The biggest perhaps being the first round shock exit of Thorsten Hohmann as well as the second round exit of fellow North American Open finalist, Marlon Manalo.

Surprises on the positive side were Dimitri Jungo, the Swiss qualifier who made the final 18 and Spain's David Alcaide who followed suit.

It was an amazing tournament and let's hope the roadshow continues rolling on, although news came in that the players were not paid at the event and many observers have raised an eyebrow at this. However, the IPT put it down to a simple delivery problem and promised a speedy issue of the monies this week to all concerned. The history of pool players having been 'burned' once too often in the past will have some on tenterhoooks I am sure. I'd like to believe that the IPT's reasons for not paying at the tournament are 100% genuine and that the matter can be brought to a swift and efficient conclusion.

IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship Preview

2006-09-02T19:18:00.000+01:00

The bandwagon moves on. This time the bright lights and razzmattazz of Las Vegas are left behind and replaced by..............more bright lights (on a smaller scale), more IPT generated razzmattazz and a short hop north in Nevada to Reno and the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino.

The prize money on offer here is truly stupendous. $3,000,000 total prize fund with the winner pocketing (if he/she can fit that amount into their pockets) a massive $500,000. For all the doubt and naysayers who greeted the IPT and cast doubt on Kevin Trudeau's brainchild, the cheques were issued at Las Vegas last month and Thorsten Hohmann was the significant beneficiary.

Currently we have only two withrawals in Jim Rempe and Buddy Hall. Sure, they only have to turn up to collect $5000, but if their health isn't up to it then why take that chance? It may also be a matter of professional pride. If these guys are not at 100% (or pretty close) would they truly just go through the motions to collect $5000? There is a professional duty to do oneself justice at the pool table as far as these big names go and let's hope they feel up to competing in future tournaments.

The field is awesome once more. This time the young prodigy, Chia-Ching Wu will be among the runners. I don't expect the young man to win this event, but I do expect him to make a pretty decent showing and issue a warning to some who underrate him as to his future ability to win on this tour. He really ought to have an IPT card and hopefully he will do well enough in Reno to ensure that is the case in 2007.

The groups have now been announced and look as formidable as ever. Group 32 is my pick of tough groups with Santos Sambajon, Takenaka, Leil Gay, UK pro Ben Davies and Brady Gollan of Canada. That one will be close with a couple of good players going out.

In group 18, Ronnie O'Sullivan will meet Quinten Hann for a snooker showdown on the IPT and this one looks a real eyecatcher, as does Jasmin Ouschan v Earl Strickland in group 26- I truly believe Jasmin has a chance of defeating Earl. Yes, I do make Earl favourite here, but not by as much as people might imagine.

In other exciting news, the IPT have announced that for $5.95 a month you can join their 'club' which will in future allow streaming of matches and give discounts on qualifiers and merchandise. Sounds like a bargain to me - what can you get for $5.95??? Good news although I'm sure the negative people who seem to inhabit the pool world will try to bring it all down.

No preview could be complete without my ones to watch. This week I have to say that I strongly expect a Filipino to win this time around. Hardly a startling revelation I know, but their strong showing last time makes them impossible to discount. I'm going to pick Efren Reyes as my pick here, but I also expect a much stronger showing from the American players. I think pride may well have been hurt in the first tournament and beware a wounded animal! Rodney Morris is my pick of the Americans to make it furthest in Reno and I would not be surprised to see Johnny Archer improve here too.

Aside from that I also expect that Mick Hill will be the Brit to watch and let's not forget Chris Melling is here too and should do okay. Darren Appleton will be increasingly dangerous and Daryl Peach seems to be in fine form. Either of those is good enough to make the final group.

It's delightful to see Tony Drago here. He will not win, but he will entertain, that's for sure.

Read An IPT Player's Tournament Report

2006-08-11T20:19:00.000+01:00

IPT player Colin Colenso has posted a very interesting report of his tournament in the last main event in Las Vegas.

Colin certainly reflects on his game whilst there with great honesty and the piece he has written is a real insight into how things felt for the guys experiencing the game itself rather than the 'spectacle' - though that was something too!

I've read quite a few players' comments on the tournament so far and all have spoken with such enthusiasm for the whole thing (possible exception Earl) that there can be no doubt of its impact among the top players.

Qualifier News

2006-08-11T17:32:00.000+01:00

WO-11: Tokyo, Japan: 10 players showed up in Tokyo to contest the 2 valuable IPT World Open slots available. Teenage sensation, Hayato Hijikata was among the contenders, as was seasoned pro and 2000 Japanese Open Champion, Satoshi Kawabata.

Amongst other notables are Takeshi Nokumura, who placed 3rd in the 9-ball World Pool Championship in Wales in 2002 and Masaaki Tanaka who recently took Efren Reyes out on the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour In Kaohsiung.

WO-12: Weert, Netherlands: A slightly disappointing field of 8 made their way to Weert for what has turned out to be a real opportunity to advance to Reno.

Dutch Snooker Pro, Stefan Mazrocis participated as well as English Snooker Pro (and former World 8-ball Champion at small ball pool), Chris Melling was early favourite to make it.

WO-13: Pratteln, Switzerland: Questions might be asked about the wisdom of holding a qualifier in Switzerland. Only 7 hardy players found their way there, including 4 Swiss natives. Rico Diks, Ramon Hybler and Sandor Tot must be clear favourites here and Diks' decision to travel to this qualifier may well pay dividends - I believe Rico lives in London.

WO-14: Roma, Italy: A more respectable field of 11 gathered in Rome this weekend to bring some Italian flavour to proceedings. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that American, Steve Moore had travelled here to take part.

Of the remaining 10 players, only Andreas Koukiadakis of Greece appears a real threat - though the local players may be something of an unkonwn quantity and possibly a surprise winner could be on the cards.

WO-15: Bayside, NY: New York held its first qualifier and this was the only American based qualifier to take place this weekend. 17 players made their way to the North East to battle it out in a very tough field.

Santos Sambajon and Antonio Lining offer the Filipino threat and Tony Crosby and Richie Broumpton show the British have a presence here ( I believe both now live in the US) and with players like Goran Mladenovic, Robb Saez, Jeff Beckley and Marco Marquez around, this place looks like it's going to be one tough school this weekend. Not for the faint-hearted I'd say.

2006-08-09T20:39:00.000+01:00

1993 PBT World Championships: Final Match

Reyes v Archer 1993

Qualifier Results

2006-08-06T11:12:00.000+01:00

WO-06: Corpus Christi, TX, USA - Two qualifiers here were James Walden and Rafael Martinez who both participated in the North American Open and prove their consistency at this level. Both of these guys will now be confident of securing a 2007 IPT card. The unfortunate David Matlock lost in both the winners and losers side finals - at least he has other events in which to chance his arm.

WS-07: Lampertheim, Germany - Two qualifiers here were Joern Kaplan and Thomas Engert who are both Germans. Top female Jasmin Ouschan was beaten in both winners and losers side finals, but she proved she has every chance to make it in future I feel.

WS-08: Shanghai, China - Two qualifiers were Kazuo Furuta of Japan and Hung Ming Chu of China. A disappointing field of only 5 players showed up for this event.

WS-09: London, England - Two qualifiers here were Tony Drago and Imran Majid. Majid qualified for the second consecutive IPT tournament and will hope to improve on his recent showing in the North American open where he won $5000. Both of these players call the club where this event was staged, 'home. Riley's in Victoria is part of the largest group of pool/snooker halls in the UK and is pretty much the only organization seeking to push the American game through the UK market, where it has much potential. Sadly there is no club anywhere near my home!

Drago Wins In London

2006-08-04T23:43:00.000+01:00

Rapid potting snooker professional, Tony Drago of Malta has won the UK qualifier for the IPT World Open.

Drago's persistence was rewarded with a place in the most prestigious pool event of all time after he strode past Mark Grey, Toni Judet and Steve Higton in three very close matches.

Drago will be a welcome addition to the IPT. He is a larger than life character who wears his heart on his sleeve and he has amazing cue power and shotmaking ability. He plays the game very quickly and do not be fooled - he may be a big guy, but he almost runs around the table between shots. He was in the exclusive top 16 in World Snooker for several years and whilst he never really challenged the biggest names in the game consistently, he very often caused big upsets. Ultimately his consistency cost him and he slid down the rankings as he got older. Snooker has been very much a young man's game with most players seeing their rankings plummet from their early to mid 30s onwards and Drago was no exception.

In recent years he has spent more and more time playing 8 and 9 ball pool and seems genuinely to love the game. In his home country, the beautiful island of Malta, Drago is a national hero and probably their most famous sporting star.

World Open Qualifiers 06-10

2006-08-04T19:32:00.000+01:00

A further 5 qualifiers are being held this weekend (August 4 -6) in 2 European and one Asian venue, as well as one each in Texas and Ohio.

WO-06 is taking place in Corpus Christi, Tx and sees a field of 14 slug it out to gain qualification to the biggest ever pool event next month in Reno, Nv.

Several players are fresh from their Vegas endeavours in the IPT North American Open and looking for another bite at the cherry. Teddy Garrahan won $5000 in Vegas and has re-invested some of that in his venture in Corpus Christi this time. Additionally, Mexican maestro Rafael Martinez who impressed highly in Vegas with a prize of $17,000 must be made one of the favourites here. Other names featuring from Vegas are Goran Mladenovic ($5000 Vegas win), James Walden ($10,000) and the impressive David Matlock ($30,000) who finished in 7th last weekend and yet still has to qualify for the big one next month.

WO-07 is the German qualifier and day one there has already finished. A field of 13 showed up and notable entrants included Rico Diks (impressive last week in Vegas), Thomas Engert of Germany (surprisingly not included originally on the IPT), Czech star Roman Hybler, Michael Schmidt ($5000 winner in Vegas) and British regular 9-ball player Kevin Uzzell who decided to play here rather than in the simultaneous qualifier being held in London this weekend. Amazingly Diks, Hybler, Engert, Schmidt and Uzzell were all sent to the losers' side on day one with the last four standing on the winners' side being Kaplan, Schoder, Marco Tschudi and Jasmin Ouschan a top female Austrian player who recently overcame a strong field to win the enjoypool.com BCA Open in Las Vegas. Could Ouschan be the first female player to qualify under her own steam? Two more wins and she makes it. She is only 20 years of age and was recently 5th in the Men's World Straight Pool Championships in New Jersey. Without a doubt she will be a giant of the women's game in years to come and could well make her mark on the IPT before long.

WO-08 found its way to Shanghai in China where a small field of only 5 players contested things. Both Wei Liu and Jianbo Fu again look to qualify out of this event and are joined by two other Chinese players and a Japanese player, Kazuo Furuta.

Eleven players were in attendance at Riley's Victoria Club in London for WO-09. American pool convert and snooker star Tony Drago (the biggest name in Malta) was again present and is clearly devoting himself to this game now. The IPT would be a better tour with him on it. Some good players joined Drago, most notably Imran Majid, but also some very consistent 9-ballers such as Steve Higton and Andy Worthington. After the first day's play Drago was through to the final 4 on the winners' side where he was joined by Ben Davies, Mark Grey and Toni Judet. Davies is primarily known for his UK 8-ball prowess and could be a real danger to Drago tomorrow.

WO-10 comes last and by no means least. Anyone who doubted the impact the IPT has had on the pool community can now doubt no more. A staggering 28 players are contesting this event.This makes Cleveland Ohio the best attended qualifier thus far and the quality of the field makes progress here an absolute nightmare. Gary Abood, Jeff Beckley,Keith Bennett, David Broxson, Scott Frost, Lee Heuwagen, Jason Kirkwood, Antonio Lining, Marco Marquez, Steve Moore, Santos Sambajon, Jim Weast and Ronnie Wiseman are all there meaning business!

I bet these guys now wish they'd gone to a different event, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. That field is going to take some navigating through - the quality is consistent right the way through and it's anyone's guess who will make it. Sambajon? Abood? Heuwagen? Marquez? you could reel them off in their droves. What a wonderful advert for the IPT this is. Long may it continue..

Reflections On The Big Guns

2006-08-02T20:13:00.000+01:00

Efren Reyes: Few people expected anything other than a top 10 finish or thereabouts for Efren Reyes. The undisputed king of the modern game cuts an imposing figure at the table by reputation and then almost always proceeds to follow it with brilliant pool. During the IPT North American Open, Reyes started out like he meant business by winning all 4 of his first round group matches without being troubled. Gabe Owen was potentially a tricky match to face early on, but Reyes brushed him aside 8-3 en route to the second round. I thought Reyes' 2nd round group was tough. Facing his long-term adversary, Francisco Bustmante and to a lesser extent Dee Adkins was far from easy and add Phil Harrison and Andreja Klasovic (both had done well in round one) into the mix and potential existed for a shock. In the end Reyes lost only to Adkins and beat his compatriot to be placed 2nd in his group. In two of those matches he had 5 break and run-outs. In his third round match-ups he had to contend with Earl Strickland, Lohtander, Abood and Hundal - again not an easy group, but arguably not much worse than his previous round. Once again Reyes was unbeaten in this section and although only Hundal was trounced (8-1), Reyes was clearly in pretty good form and had the winning habit. Reyes though finally found a real problem in round four where once again he tussled with both Bustamante and Owen, as well as Sambajon, Putnik and Hill. All of these players were playing well and this was an extremely difficult group. Again he triumphed over Bustmante, but it was his two 8-7 victories over the unlucky Hill and Sambajon which saw him through in the end. His defeats to Owen and Putnik could well have proved more costly, but in the end, he scraped through on win percentage. Round five was Reyes back on song. He won all 5 games just when he was perhaps beginning to seem vulnerable. Hann and Nevel were beaten comfortabley and whilst Appleton gave him a closer run than he might have expected again Reyes managed to win two hill-hill encounters over Luat and the emerging Russian, Stalev. Suddenly Efren Reyes was into the final six, just where everyone expected him to be. Quite whether fatigue set in on that fateful final day, or whether the great man just had an off day we can only guess, but the bare facts of the matter show that he could only win 2 out of 5 matches and place 4th for $65,000.

VERDICT: Reyes lived up to expectations and was in right at the death with a chance to win it. He has shown he can cope with the new kids on the block (as ever) and will be a major force on the IPT. As lethal at 8-ball as he has been at 9-ball. One slight question mark may be his ability to endure such a schedule at his age.

Earl Strickland: Even before the event got underway, Earl Strickland was complaining. His initial complaints centred around the short races, which he appeared to feel gave 'lesser mortals' more of a chance. To my knowledge no other player voiced such concerns. Earl Strickland was 19th and won $17,000 - not a bad return for a guy who claims he has been playing badly for many years now. He has not of course- I have seen him play quite brilliantly at times in the last decade, but he seems unable to be consistent enough to make it count. Earl lost a match in his 1st group - to Teddy Garrahan by 8-7, but he won his other 3 for a comfortable enough qualification. A similarly straightforward group for Earl in round two again saw him lose once, this time to Jonathan Pinegar but his record of 4 wins in 5 matches was looking good and who wants to peak too early in the week anyway? Earl's third round display was more impressive and he began to look as though he may be strong enough to challenge. He lost only to the majestic Reyes and beat Abood, Hundal and Lohtander to make it through to the real money stages. At this point he found a tough group and he could not cope with it. A horrible display of petulance, ungentlemanly and downright nasty behaviour against Van Den Berg (a match he won) left a bad taste in most viewers' mouths. An amazing 8-1 success against Quinten Hann could not save Earl who lost to Adkins and Alcano (8-7) and was hammered 8-3 by eventual winner Thorsten Hohmann.

VERDICT: It is too early to write Earl Strickland off. I have a feeling we will see him in a final six at one of these IPT events before much longer. I do feel that unless he finds consistency then he is no match for the likes of Hohmann, Reyes, Manalo and Bustamante and will struggle against many top Europeans and Filipinos. His attitude to his opponents seems to be getting even worse if that is posssible and he is losing focus on the job in hand. One things is for sure, Earl will not be content with 19th place.

More to follow......

Thorsten Hohmann, IPT North American Champion

2006-07-30T23:32:00.000+01:00

Heartfelt congratulations go to German star, Thorsten Hohmann who came through the toughest 8-ball field ever assembled to triumph at The Venetian, Las Vegas and become the IPT North American Open Champion.

In a sprint to 8 racks, Hohmann succeeded by a single rack and overcame his Filipino opponent, Marlon Manalo. There was little to choose between the two players and the match could have goine either way, being so short as it was. I think they should have made it best of three sets and was surprised it was such a short final.

All the plaudits go to Thorsten (as well as $350,000), but a word to for gallant runner-up ,Marlon Manalo, who conducted himself well throughout and was unlucky to finish on the wrong side of a hill-hill encounter.

A fine example of how a pool tournament should be run, Kevin Trudeau has delivered what he said he would and underlined it in the best Vegas tradition by presenting Hohmann with a suitcase full of cash for his trip home to Jacksonville, Fla (he lives in the US now, but is German).

Reports and analysis will follow over the next week.

Thank you all for reading and please check back regularly as the blog takes shape between now and the World Open in Reno at the beginning of September.

Sunday Night Live

2006-07-30T16:41:00.000+01:00

You simply have to see it. If you cannot be there or don't have access to Eurosport, then the official IPT site has game by game analysis by Inside Pool writer, Sally Timilko.

1pm Vegas
4pm EST
9pm UK
10pm Germany/Deutschland
4am (Mon) Philippines /Pilipinas

The Filipino media are giving this event strong coverage to their readership. Check out these links for more:

Manila Times
Philippines Inquirer

Entschuldigung to any German readers, but my German language skills are nicht gut. Here is a link to a German forum in which they are discussing the tournament. If your German is better than mine then you may want to contribute.

And here is a magnificent article on just how Ronnie O'Sullivan views the whole IPT experience and his role in that and snooker. I recommend it highly and it shows how seriously he is going to take this. The Guardian is one of the major quality newspapers in the UK and is an indication of things moving in the right direction for the IPT.

No Surprises: Hohmann v Manalo Final

2006-07-30T09:55:00.000+01:00

Before this event began, I had a feeling that the excellent format of day after of round robin groups would ensure that the best players made it to the top. I now know that to be true. I feel that it is going to be very difficult for anybody other than a very top player to win an IPT event and that is how it should be. A 'flash in the pan' will not prevail in this gruelling and cut-throat atmosphere. In short, the IPT has started in a simply superb manner.

And the two gladiators who have beaten all before them before the baying masses (in front of TVs rather than tableside admittedly) are Thorsten Hohmann of Germany and Marlon Manalo of Philippines.

Nobody can be shocked by their advancement to the grand final. Hohmann is a former World 9-ball and Straight Pool Champion who is never ruffled, always respectful, totally dedicated and extremely gifted with a cue. Manalo is one of a seemingly never-ending supply of genius pool aces from Philippines. Manalo exhibits all that we have come to admire in players of that nation. He is wonderfully 'loose' and fluent in his technique and makes the pocketing of balls look absolute child's play. His positional play is second to none and he has a devilish safety game. He is a complete pool player and suited to 8-ball.

Putting my head on the line here I shall side with Hohmann to win. I watched Manalo on TV the other night and he did not seem at all comfortable with the limelight - Hohmann excels in the media glare. The German is 27, The Filipino is 30 years of age- both players have their prime within their grasp throughout the next 10-15 years in this game and both will surely win a future event if they fall at this final hurdle today. It will be a classic you cannot afford to miss - watch it, enjoy it, learn from it and bask in the summer sun that the IPT is providing for the game of pool - too long frozen in an eternal winter by a lack of media support and poor reputation.

It is our time and this week was the dawning of a new era for the sport. Congratulations to the IPT and Kevin Trudeau, to every single player, to all who have attended the event, to the many people watching on TV, to the readers of my blog, to the sponsors, to the masses desperate to see scores and checking forums and websites for any updates and to any newcomers to the sport that this event has attracted.

Latest Scores

2006-07-29T21:32:00.000+01:00

Third Session:
Stalev 8 v 2 Souquet
Hohmann 8 v 3 Reyes
Manalo 8 v 6 Orcollo

Second Session:
Hohmann 7 v 8 Souquet
Manalo 8 v 0 Stalev
Reyes 4 v 8 Orcollo

First Session:
Manalo 8 v 7 Reyes
Orcollo 8 v 7 Souquet
Hohmann 8 v 3 Stalev

The Six Million Dollar Men

2006-07-29T21:27:00.000+01:00

Okay so the winner doesn't get a whole million (yet), but that title was too good to resist!

Our finalists are as follows:

Efren Reyes (Phi)
Marlon Manalo (Phi)
Dennis Orcollo (Phi)
Ralf Souquet (Ger)
Thorsten Hohmann (Ger)
Evgeny Stalev (Rus)

All six have shown they thoroughly deserve to be in the final six and this is a monumental achievement by them. My tip for winner : THORSTEN HOHMANN

About Last Night.....

2006-07-29T21:23:00.000+01:00

.....too many nights of staying awake until 3.30am finally caught up with me and I fell asleep in front of the laptop and missed the climax of Round 5. My apologies to any and all readers.

Sadly the two British players just failed to make it to the final six and the unfortunate Darren Appleton missed out only on percentages.

Full reports and analysis of the whole tournament will be posted day by day beginning Monday after the tournament. I hope you have enjoyed the updates and reports I've been able to make during this tournament. The time zone really has made it difficult, but next time I will be better prepared. Perhaps I need to train before the tournaments, never mind the participants.

Round 5 Latest

2006-07-28T19:24:00.000+01:00

Round 5, Session 3:
Owen v Hohmann
Hann 8 v 2 Nevel
Appleton 2 v 5 Reyes
Luat v Stalev
Bustamante v Orcollo
Alcano v Peach
Souquet v Matlock
Manalo v Chamat
Diks 2 v 0 Pagulayan

Round 5, Session 2:
Hann 6 v 8 Appleton- Excellent win for Appleton. Hann caused an incident when he missed and pushed his cue angrily into the balls, a clear concession. Hann made Appleton run the rack, Appleton was not happy. Appleton played well enough, but his break was poor.

Matlock 5 v 8 Peach - Peach makes amends for his early defeat with this win. Both players have now won 1 and lost 1.

Pagulayan 6 v 8 Hohmann- Pagulayan is dealt his 2nd defeat running and Hohmann has the opposite, a 100% record so far.

Diks 5 v 8 Chamat - Chamat makes it 2 from 2 by beating Diks the Dutchman. Chamat is looking strong so far, but cannot be seen as favourite here with Manalo and Hohmann also on 2 wins.

Manalo 8 v 4 Owen - Manalo easily beats Owen and goes 2 out of 2. Owen looks like he has gone as far as he can, but still, $30000 is some compensation I'm sure!

Souquet 4 v 8 Orcollo - Orcollo with a formidable 6 break and outs puts Souquet to the sword. Orcollo is firing now at just the right time.

Bustamante 7 v 8 Alcano - Bustamante is now in trouble having lost his first 2 matches. Full credit to Alcano for bouncing back from his 2-8 reverse in the first match.

Stalev 7 v 8 Reyes - Reyes only just gets the better of the consistent Russian. From 6-7 down Reyes holds it together to go to 2 wins out of 2 matches.

Luat 8 v 7 Nevel - A miserable session for the Americans is complete when Larry Nevel is beaten by a whisker by Luat. Nevel has now lost both matches 7-8 so far.

Round 5, Session 1:
Hohmann 8 v 7 Diks - Diks made a terrible scratch at 7-7. He followed straight through and right into the corner. He was philosophical in defeat.

Stalev 8 v 5 Hann - The Russian player is growing with each positive result he gets. He is the surprise package of this event. Hann plays Appleton next live on TV in Europe.

Orcollo 8 v 2 Alcano - Orcollo defeats his compatriot easily. This was the only one-sided match in this section. Four break and outs for the fantastic Filipino star.

Chamat 8 v 6 Owen - Very tough and long battle saw 'Napoleon' scrape past Owen of the USA.

Manalo 8 v 6 Pagulayan - Two more huge stars from Philipinnes. Manalo wins out and looks like he may be the guy to beat.

Matlock 8 v 6 Bustamante - Veteran Matlock sees off the legendary Bustamante. America's only winner in this first section of matches.

Reyes 8 v 7 Luat - Efren only just defeats his compatriot, Luat. The very closest of finishes with only 2 break and run outs between them, surprisingly.

Souquet 8 v 6 Peach - All European battle sees the consistent German edge out Peach of the UK.

Appleton 8 v 7 Nevel - Appleton stages a remarkable comeback on Nevel. From 5-7 behind he runs the final 3 racks showing great nerve.

Round 4 Round Up

2006-07-28T11:13:00.000+01:00

Qualifiers - report to follow...

Group 73: Hann, Hohmann, Alcano
Group 74: Reyes, Bustamante, Owen
Group 75: Manalo, Peach, Appleton
Group 76: Pagulayan, Luat, Orcollo
Group 77: Matlock, Nevel, Diks
Group 78: Stalev, Chamat, Souquet

Round 5 Groups:

ONLY TWO QUALIFY FROM EACH GROUP TODAY

Group 79
Q. Hann
E. Stalev
E. Reyes
L. Nevel
D. Appleton
R. Luat
Group 80
F. Bustamante
D. Matlock
D. Peach
D. Orcollo
R. Alcano
R. Souquet
Group 81
M. Manalo
A. Pagulayan
T. Hohmann
M. Chamat
G. Owen
R. Diks

Round 4 Latest

2006-07-27T18:47:00.000+01:00

Third Games:
Strickland 8 -1 Hann
Stalev 8-6 Morris
Diks 8 v 2 Puttnam
Bustamante 8 v 2 Putnik
Pagulyan 8 v 6 Luat
Deuel 8 v 2 Lely
Samabajon 8 v 4 Hill
Hohmann 8 v 7 Adkins
Matlock 8 v 5 Martinez
Owen 8 v 6 Reyes
Appleton 8 v 4 Manalo
Peach 8 v 4 Tot
Alcano 8 v 7 Van Den Berg
Kirkwood 8 v 7 Hundal
Beaufils 8 v 6 Immonen
Orcollo 8 v 5 Feijen
Lining 8 v 6 Nevel

Second Games:

Hann 8-5 Adkins
Bustamante 7-8 Hill
Alcano 8-2 Hohmann...Alcano started with a 6 pack
Deuel 6-8 Tot
Appleton 6-8 Lely
Van Den Berg 6-8 Strickland
Nevel 8-5 Matlock
Reyes 6-8 Putnik
Peach 7-8 Manalo
Stalev 8-3 Chamat
Hundal 8-3 Souquet
Pagulayan 8 -6 Immonen
Orcollo 8-5 Beaufils
Luat 8-5 Feijen
Morris 8-6 Kirkwood
Puttnam 8-6 Martinez
Sambajon 8-7 Owen

First Games:
Adkins 8 -4 Alcano
Hann 8-2 Van Den Berg
Hohmann 8-3 Strickland

Reyes 8 -7 Sambajon
Putnik 8-6 Hill
Bustamante 8-4 Owen

Deuel 8-7 Appleton
Manalo 8-2 Tot
Peach 8-7 Lely

Feijen 8-6 Immonen
Beaufils 8-6 Pagaluyan
Luat 8-7 Orcollo

Nevel 8 - 3 Puttnam
Diks 8-3 Martinez
Matlock 8-5 Lining

Souquet 8-4 Stalev
Hundal 8-2 Morris
Chamat 8-3 Kirkwood

Round 4 Draw

2006-07-27T18:02:00.000+01:00

Round 4 Draw

Group 73
D. Adkins
N. Van den Berg
E. Strickland
T. Hohmann
Q. Hann
R. Alcano
Group 74
E. Reyes
M. Hill
F. Bustamante
G. Owen
I. Putnik
S. Sambajon
Group 75
C. Deuel
M. Manalo
D. Peach
A. Lely
S. Tot
D. Appleton
Group 76
D. Orcollo
A. Pagulayan
M. Immonen
N. Feijen
Y. Beaufils
R. Luat
Group 77
A. Lining
R. Martinez
S. Putnam
L. Nevel
R. Diks
D. Matlock
Group 78
R. Souquet
R. Morris
J. Kirkwood
M. Chamat
R. Hundal
E. Stalev

Quick Morning Post

2006-07-27T09:16:00.000+01:00

Mick Hill did wonderfully well to win his group. Darren Appleton made it too, along with Daryl Peach who took out Johnny Archer and Raj Hundal squeaked through even though he lost a hill-hill with Strickland. Also Yannick Beuafils pulled a rabbit out of the hat to get through his tough group and Quinten Hann continues to be a surprise package in this event.

The groupings for the next phase are just tough every way you look at them. Mick Hill has Reyes AND Bustamante, but he can do it. Bustamante just was not that impressive yesterday and Boyes beat him 8-6. Mick seems to be playing awesome pool right now.

Roll on today's games....

Early News Day Four

2006-07-26T19:25:00.000+01:00

No more updates today - it's 1.30am in England and time to sleep - sorry guys and gals. Come on the Brits!!! (et allez Yannick)
Group 61:
Diks 8 v 3 Walden
Adkins 8 v 7 Varner
Adkins 8 v 2 Kirkwood
Varner 8 v 4 Walden
Kirkwood 8 v 3 Diks
Adkins 8 v 4 Walden
Group 62:
Hundal 8 v 5 Abood
Reyes 8 v 5 Lohtander
Reyes 8 v 1 Hundal
Strickland 8 v 5 Abood
Strickland 8 v 6 Lohtander
Reyes 8 v 6 Abood
Group 63:
Hann 8 v 4 O'Sullivan
Deuel 8 v 5 Boyes
Bustamante 8 v 6 O'Sullivan
Hann 8 v 5 Boyes EARLIER LISTED AS HANN 8 v 5 DEUEL INCORRECTLY
O'Sullivan 8 v 5 Boyes
Deuel 8 v 7 Bustamante
Group 64:
Fu 8 v 7 Orcollo
Archer 5 v 8 Peach
Fu 8 v 2 Putnik
Orcollo 8 v 7 Archer
Archer 8 v 3 Fu
Putnik 8 v 6 Peach
Group 65:
Wetch 8 v 2 Schmidt
Lining 8 v 6 Tot
Tot 8 v 7 Schmidt
Lining 8 v 6 Immonen
Immonen 8 v 0 Wetch
Lining 8 v 2 Schmidt
Group 66:
Souquet 8 v 1 Beaufils
Puttnam 8v7 Younger
Beaufils 8 v 3 Hatch
Souquet 8 v 5 Puttnam
Hatch 8 v 4 Younger
Puttnam 8 v 5 Beaufils
Group 67:
R.Morris 8 v 7 Larry Nevel
Foldes 8 v 5 Hunter
Foldes 8 v 4 Morris
Luat 8 v 3 Hunter
Morris 8 v 4 Hunter
Nevel 8 v 7 Luat
Group 68:
Feijen 8 v 4 Moore
Appleton 8v 5 C. Morris
Martinez 8 v 7 Feijen
Appleton 8 v 6 Moore
Martinez 8 v 6 C.Morris
Feijen 8 v 5 Appleton
Group 69:
Heuwagen 8 v 7 Pagulayan
Lely 8 v 7 Kucharo
Lely 8 v 7 Heuwagen
Sambajon 8 v 5 Kucharo
Kucharo 8 v 7 Heuwagen
Pagulayan 8 v 5 Sambajon
Group 70:
Manalo 8 v Alcano 2
Owen 8 v 4 Ellerby
Manalo8 v 5 Owen
Ellerby 8 v 4 Williams
Manalo 8 v 0 Ellerby
Williams 8 v 6 Alcano
Group 71:
Hohmann 8 v 2 Monday
Potier 8 v 4 Stalev
Stalev 8 v 4 Hohmann
Hill 8 v 2 Monday
Hill 8 v 2 Potier
Stalev 8 v 0 Monday
Group 72:
Chamat 8 v 4 VanDen Berg
Pinegar 8 v 4 Juva
Matlock 8 v 5 Pinegar
Juva 8 v 5 Chamat
Van Den Berg 8 v 3 Matlock
Chamat 8 v 6 Pinegar

Round Up Of Day Three

2006-07-26T17:31:00.000+01:00

Day three in Vegas saw the remaining 120 players being ruthlessly cut in half to leave 60 standing for Wednesday's matches. The format was brutal, with non-stop play required throughout the day and night with players playing a demanding five matches without any real interlude to speak of.
Group 41:A very tight group involving five American guys and one British lady. Sarah Ellerby comes not from a snooker background like Allison Fisher and Karen Corr, but a UK 8-ball background and this experience stood her in good stead as she negotiated her way into third place in the group behind Lee Heuwagen (2nd) and Jason Kirkwood, who won the section with four wins from five games. Both Ellerby and Heuwagen won three matches, as did the unfortunate Corey Harper, who will rue his heavy 2-8 reverse at the hands of Ellerby. Daniel Basavich failed to win a match and goes home with $5000.
Group 42:Nick Varner did not have a good first round by his own standards and I was concerned that he might struggle to make it through this group. Varner showed his true quality and rolled back the years to win all five of his matches and he managed 14 break and run-outs. Joining Varner in the next round will be Alex Pagulayan and Sam Monday. Alex suffered a mighty shock to the system when Monday hammered him 8-0 early on in this group. If Alex was disturbed by this, then he did not let it adversely affect his game and he won 3 of his 4 remaining matches. Keith Bennett and Scott Frost both won 2 matches, but still slid out along with Chris Orme who could not win a match.
Group 43:Earl Strickland headed this group by winning 4 out of 5, losing only to fellow countryman, Jonathan Pinegar who also qualified. James Walden took the other spot at the expense of Mexican Ismael Paez and Brit Anthony Ginn, who both won 2 matches. Gerda Hofstatter struggled, but did win 1 match when she defeated Paez.
Group 44:A mightiliy competitive group ended up being won by British player, Raj Hundal who narrowly beat the impressive Gabe Owen into 2nd spot. Hundal had 13 break and run-outs in this group. Rico Diks took third place, just edging out David Broxson who can feel unlucky to have won 3 matches and still gone out of the tournament. Brit Richie Broumpton could not sustain his good work and was winless this time around.
Group 45:The clash of the titans was won by Efren Reyes, who was victorious against his compatriot and eternal opponent, Francisco Bustamante. Reyes beat him 8-7, but then lost to Dee Adkins to end his unbeaten run. Bustamante won his other matches with 19 break and run-outs to win the group himself - staggering. Adkins deservedly qualified behind the two maestros. Andreja Klasovic and Jonathan Macias won 2 matches each to fall short, but perhaps surprisingly, Englishman Phil Harrison did not win a single match and will be disappointed not to have advanced from this tough group.
Group 46:This was a much-talked about group. Combining the unpredictable, yet brilliant Aussie Quinten Hann, the loud and obnoxious, but talented Mike Sigel and the impressive Fillipino Marlon Manalo. The upshot was breathtaking and hard to believe. Hann was unbeaten and dominated this group and he started by putting Sigel to the sword 8-2. Marlon Manalo took 2nd place - losing only to Hann and third place went to................Finn Marko Lohtander to send Sigel crashing out once and for all. Sigel could only beat stragglers Loree Jon Jones and Wayne Catledge to finish 4th.
Group 47:A slight surprise in this group - to anyone outside Croatia that is. Ivica Putnik won all of his matches to throw something of a shock here. He beat Karl Boyes who won all of his other matches and is looking very very strong indeed. Gary Abood was 3rd after winning 3 of his matches to send Floyd Barger and Jeff Beckley home. Allison Fisher surprisingly lost all 5 of her matches to make this group a one to sit up and take notice of.
Group 48: Of the 3 Fillipino players in this group, 2 qualified in Ronnie Alcano and Dennis Orcollo who won 4 matches each from their 5 attempts. Gandy Valle could not make it a clean sweep for the Asians with American star Corey Deuel claiming 3rd with 4 wins too. Aussie John Wims found the going tough, but did take 1 match to avoid being placed last. That dubious honour going to George San Souci, who was (presumably) so upset by his play that he simlpy did not show for his final match. San Souci was rightly warned that this action could jepoardise his tour card and the IPT were dead right in clamping down on this. It is unacceptable and unsportsmanlike and could easily have upset the balance of the group. Time for George to grow up I think.
Group 49:In my opinion this was a super-tough group. Mika Immonen won it with an incredible display of 5 wins and when you look at his competition you have to say that is a magnificent feat. The gentleman that is Johnny Archer was 2nd with 4 wins and it was a breath of fresh air to watch Ronnie O'Sullivan and Archer chat away with respect for each other and play the game properly. Archer started superbly against Ronnie - winning the first 4 racks without Ronnie having a shot. I like Johnny Archer. Ronnie only just managed to take 3rd spot ahead of the very unfortunate Rob McKenna who came from 6-2 down to beat O'Sullivan 8-6. It was not enough though and Rob beat Shannon Daulton but lost to Tom Storm meaning he went out on percentage won. Storm also won 2 matches, but Daulton quite surprisingly lost all of his matches.
Group 50:A group for European fans this one. Hungarian Sandor Tot (pronounced 'tote') was the shock winner of this group, taking 4 victories from 5 matches. Thorsten Hohmann also won 4 and was 2nd placed ahead of Englishman Daryl Peach who won 3 matches to take a deserved place in the next round. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day saw Oliver Ortmann exit stage right - his only two victories coming against fellow losers, Mark Tademy and Jerry Calderon.
Group 51:This group was tight all the way to the end. Dennis Hatch won through with 4 from 5 wins beating John Schmidt into 2nd and Chinese player Jianbo Fu into 3rd place - both players won 3 from 5 matches. George Breedlove was unfortunate to lose out on percentages after having also won 3 matches. Keith McCready was vocal in defeat, perhaps justifiably, in his match with Hatch, and went out along with Sammy Jones.
Group 52:Ralf Souquet of Germany won this group with 4 out of 5, just beating out impressive Russian dark horse Evgeny Stalev. Stalev matched Souquet's 4 wins to take 2nd spot. Jimmy Wetch was 3rd to qualify ahead of Sal Butera, who actually beat Stalev and Englishman Imran Majid who found himself out of sorts winning only 1 match. The last placed player here was Cliff Joyner.
Group 53:Talented Fillipino, Rudolpho Luat cleared this group winning 4 from 5 matches and was followed by compatriot, Antonio Lining who won 3 matches. The 2 Fillipinos sandwiched Shawn Puttnam (pardon the pun) into 2nd place. Puttnam won 4 matches, losing to Brian Groce who was eliminated in 4th spot with 3 wins - unlucky there Brian. Howard Vickery and Michael Zimmerman struggled to keep pace at this level and won only one match between them - Vickery defeating Zimmerman in that one.
Group 54:The second Hungarian through is Vilmos Foldes, who won 4 from 5 to win his group ahead of Paul Potier of Canada and Johl Younger of Australia. Notice how all three players won 4 matches to make this a most unusual group in the end. Tomoko Mekari won 2 matches and goes home to Japan and veteran Gerry Watson failed to win a match in this phase. German Ralph Eckert staved off last place by winning a single match against Watson.
Group 55:Another tough group was won by Rafael Martinez, who won all of his matches impressively and must be seen as a contender for the top 10. Rodney Morris was 2nd with 3 from 5 wins and French 8-ball specialist, Yannick Beaufils was slightly behind Morris in 3rd place. Kim Davenport may be shocked not to have made it out of this group, but the competition was strong here. Marco Marquez and Allen Hopkins both found this one step too far and could only win 1 match apiece to end their tournament.
Group 56:A very tight group once more was finally won by Steve Moore of USA. He was one of four players to win 3 out of 5 matches and the 'lucky' two to join him in qualification were Markus Juva and by 0.03%, Larry Nevel. A crushing blow for Takeshi Okumura to lose out by a puny margin like that, but someone has to be on the wrong side of calls like that I suppose. German Bernard Jahnke was 5th in the group ahead only of Neil Raybone who could not find his form of the first stage at this level.
Group 57:Qualifier Santos Sambajon was undefeated with an impressive display in this group. He dealt Englishman Darren Appleton his first loss much to Britain's surprise. Appleton did win his other matches though and looks to be in good form. Bobby Hunter was 3rd placed here in spite of losing 8-0 to Appleton. Each of the three losing players won one match each here. Italian Fabio Petroni, Canadian Edwin Montal and Mosconi Cup star Jeremy Jones all go home.
Group 58:Charlie Williams won all 5 of his matches to cruise through this group. Swede Marcus Chamat won 3 to go 2nd and British star Carl Morris grabbed the remaining spot, also with 3 wins. Troy Frank and Chris Bartram narrowly miss out with their record of 2 wins each and Scotty Townsend was well short of the level required here and lost all 5 matches.
Group 59:Mick Hill of England won a very difficuly section here. His only loss was to Dutch player Alex Lely and then only by a single rack. Hill had 17 break and run-outs and is a clear contender for the top 10 this week. Lely made it in second spot with 4 wins also and Niels Feijen was 3rd, again with 4 wins. Impressive stuff from these Europeans. German Michael Schmidt was 4th, ahead of Leil Gay and Tony Chohan of USA.
Group 60:David Matlock was undefeated in this group and beat the excellent Nick Van Den Berg into second place. Qualifier Jon Kucharo will be relieved to have squeezed into 3rd place ahead of impressive Goran Mladenovic whose 2 victories were not enough. Luc Salvas could not sustain his excellent beginning in the tournament and Greg Hogue shamefully did not play his final 2 matches. I do hope he has a good excuse or else I would ban him in future.

Something Strange

2006-07-25T19:54:00.000+01:00

So you think snooker or pool was a sign of a mis-spent youth? You're not alone, take a look at this link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5210810.stm

The authorities really have a downer on cuesports it seems.

Round Up Of Day Two

2006-07-25T17:47:00.000+01:00

Group 1: This group ended up with the three qualifiers pulling easily clear of the two 'also-rans'. Jason Kirkwood edged it, on win percentage, with 3 wins out of 4 - his defeat coming at the hands of Dutchman Alex Lely by the slenderest of margins 7-8. Lely himself also suffered one loss, 5-8 to qualifier Jon Kucharo. Kucharo completed the triangle by suffering his one loss to Kirkwood. Sadly the legend that is 'Machine Gun' Lou Butera only notched a single victory, a resounding 8-1 against female player Jackie Broadhurst. Broadhurts appears to be well out of her depth on this evidence - accumulating a mere 4 racks in 4 matches.

Group 2:Both Greg Hogue and Lee Heuwagen managed 3 wins from 4 matches to qualify comfortably from this group. They are joined in the next round by Niels Feijen, who probably would have topped this group had he not lost his match with Karen Corr 4-8. Corr definitely had a fair chance to advance from this group, but sadly disappointed her many backers with the win over Feijen being the only win she could muster. Veteran Ray Martin propped up the group with a sole win against Corr.

Group 3:A very impressive display from Keith Bennett of the USA propelled him to the top of his group with a 100% record and a superb record of 11 run-outs from the break. British lady, Sarah Ellerby was second placed after a gutsy performance which saw her beaten only by the aforementioned Bennett (7-8). On this form Ellerby must not be taken lightly. Arguably her opening match victory over Canadian Eric Hjorleifson set the tone and cost Hjorleifson his place in the event. American David Matlock took third spot, whilst Malaysian Tuan Kiat Goh failed to record a single win and must be a prime candidate for the bottom 50 of the tour come December.

Group 4:Certainly one of the clear favourites to win this tournament, Alex Pagulayan dominated his group by winning all 4 of his matches with a scintillating 80% win percentage. The popular and affable young man is many people's pick to go all the way. Corey Harper and Goran Mladenovic (resides in London but from Croatia I believe) also qualified, but both were beaten at a canter by Pagaluyan. Legend of the game, Mike Massey was unlucky to miss out with 2 wins, but a slightly inferior percentage to Goran and Corey. His 2-8 defeat to Harper surely sealed his fate. Another player looking in danger already is Tammie Lee Jones who won a mere 8 racks this time.

Group 5:The qualifier from the Australian event, Anthony Ginn won all four of his matches narrowly with two 8-7s and two 8-6s. Sam Monday and Dan Basavich also extended their stay in Vegas with 3 and 2 wins respectively. Youngster Austin Murphy was placed 4th here, though he did record one victory against American female legend, Ewa Laurance (who lost all 4 of her matches).

Group 6: Ah would pool be pool without Earl Strickland? Love him or hate him, you cannot take your eyes off any game he plays. He won 3 of his 4 games, losing only to Teddy Garrahan and punctuated his performances with his usual blend of complaints about anything and everything. Canadian Chris Orme joins Garrahan and Strickland in the next round, though female player Miyuki Sakai finished 4th after overcoming Mike Gulyassy in the decisive game at the opposite end of the group. Gulyassy lost all 4 and is another player who will have his work cut out to stay on the IPT.

Group 7:Englishman Raj Hundal conducted a welcome comeback to top this group after having lost his first game to Scott Frost. Hundal then upped his game to account for Mexican Ismael Paez and Dallas West who qualified with him and also Monica Webb who was forced out. Frost went out, together with Webb, who lost two of her matches by a single rack and has hope of improving in future.

Group 8:Rico Diks managed a 100% record in this fairly weak group. Jonathan Pinegar won 3 of his games, losing only to Diks and recorded a good win over veteran Nick Varner. Varner barely made it through and surely a stronger 4th and 5th player might have spelt disaster for Varner. As it happened he managed to overcome William Incardona and Helena Thornfeldt of Sweden to survive. Incardona saved himself the indignity of last place by beating Thornfeldt 8-5.

Group 9:Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in the presence of a genius. Mr. Efren Reyes glided through his group as expected with a perfect record. Perhaps the greatest player of the modern era, there are simply no weaknesses to the great man now that his eyesight is sorted out.Gabe Owen, quality player though he is, was no match for Efren and notched only 3 racks. To be fair to Gabe, he did win his other 3 matches. James Walden beat Aussie Lou Condo in the race for third spot and the wooden spoon went to Mary Kenniston, who was well beaten in all of her matches.

Group 10:Whilst his compatriot was cruising through in Group 9, Francisco Bustamante did exactly the same thing in his group. A staggering 12 break and run outs from the Fillipino legend is simply spectacular whichever way you look at it. Greek player Andreas Koukiadakis was strong - winning 3 out of 4 and Austrian female player, Gerda Hofstatter took 3rd spot, despite only winning 1 match. Jim Weast and Ed Kelly were both slaughtered 8-0 by Bustamante to seal their downfall.

Group 11:Mike Sigel showed just why so many people seem to take an instant dislike to him with a typically vocal display. However, far worse were his antics during his matches with Linda Carter and Phil Harrison. His disgraceful comments after the match with Carter were highly derogatory and disrespectful to her and have no place in competitive sport in my view. He also failed to own up to a clear foul in his game with her and quite how the referee did not see it is anyone's guess. Carter did take 3 racks from him and can feel hard done by. The incident with the foul occurred at a pivotal time in the match unfortuantely. With Harrison the argument centred around a bathroom break requested by Harrison. Phil told Mike he was going to the bathroom and Sigel remained silent (Phil assumed he had no objection). Once Phil had left, Sigel then insisted the rack be awarded to him as he had not agreed to the break.Absolutely shocking behaviour in my view by Sigel. The referee initially caved in to Sigel's antics but the situation was reversed in the end. Sadly, this meant that Sigel beat Harrison 8-4 to claim a 100% record in this group. Sigel's 12 break and run-outs should be what we are talking about - it's a great record, but instead we have to discuss his behaviour and that I find sad. Harrison took second place and looked very strong indeed in winning his other three matches. David Broxson took 3rd ahead of James Roberts and the disappointed Linda Carter.

Group 12:Marlon Manalo of Phillipines won all 4 of his games with a very tasty 72% average. He was too good for Dee Adkins, who finished second placed behind him and Brit Richie Broumpton, who scraped through in third place. Aussie Joe Minici looks to be one who will fall by the wayside after he lost all 4 of his matches, including a 8-7 loss to female player Robin Dodson who was placed fourth, that being her only victory.

Group 13:Karl Boyes is looking good. Four wins from four matches for the young Brit, with 11 break and run-outs bodes very well indeed for this top yuong player. Loree Jon Jones took second place here with two wins and marginally behind her was Jonathan Macias, whose percentage on two wins just edged out Ernesto Dominguez's similar record. Croatian Zlatko Jakulj lost all four and returns home well beaten.

Group 14:The tournament's only female group winner was, predictably, Allison Fisher. Fisher won all four matches on a 72% win percentage, but did not look to be in top form on TV. Finn Marco Lohtander took 2nd spot with 3 wins and Andrea Klasovic of Croatia made it a European only winners' side. Jeff Abernathy took 4th place by beating Grady Matthews and I feel both of these players will struggle to stay on the IPT.

Group 15:Dennis Orcollo took a 100% record from his group and headed Gary Abood and Wayne Catledge who took 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Brit female Kelly Fisher only just failed to make it, her 7-8 loss to Catledge proving decisive in the end. John Kutcher was dead last and is on thin ice unless he makes significant improvement in future.

Group 16:This group pitted two snooker stars against each other and as expected, Quinten Hann was too much for Jimmy White. White's lack of experience/interest in this tour probably dealt him the deadliest of blows from the talented Hann. Hann is banned from pro snooker, so the IPT is now his only cue sport outlet and he could do well. He made 3rd place in the group behind Croatian Ivica Putnik and group winner, Ronnie Alcano who won all four of his matches. White needs to assess whether he really wants to play on this tour or not because if he puts a half-hearted effort into it then he has no chance - he lost all four matches and Spain's David Alcaide was a rather surprising casualty in this tricky group.

Group 17:Was an all-American group. Legend Johnny Archer won it with four out of four victories, beating the dangerous George San Souci into 2nd spot and Floyd Barger into 3rd place. Larry Schwartz was 4th and Bernie Friend was everyone's friend in losing all of his matches to finish rock bottom.

Group 18:Well-respected American pro, Shannon Daulton beat out his fellow countryman, Corey Deuel by winning all four of his matches. Deuel took second place with Jeff Beckley squeaking through in 3rd with only one victory- his percentage outscoring both Ronnie Wiseman and Ike Runnels.

Group 19:This was a tough group. Former World 9-ball Champion, Thorsten Hohmann won it with 3 from 4 and will be joined in the next round by former World (small ball) 8-ball Champion, Rob McKenna. Third placed was John Wims meaning the end of the road for the well thought of Shane Van Boening who could surprisingly finished 5th. Canadian Michael Vidas was very unlucky to miss out on win percentage.

Group 20:Saw 2 Mosconi Cup Captains for Europe face each otherl. In the end Oliver Ortmann was supreme and beat Mika Immonen on his way to a 100% record. Immonen did not dwell on his reverse though and promptly won his other 3 matches to obtain 2nd spot in the group. Gandy Valle was 3rd after beating Americans Jim Raney and Charles Bryant.

Round Up Of Day One

2006-07-24T09:02:00.000+01:00

Group 21: Ronnie O'Sullivan was the main focus of this group and managed to sneak through by the skin of his teeth. His attitidue was what I expected - he was unprepared and had clearly not made much of an effort on 8-ball. His natural ability just got him through but he won't progress further. Dennis Hatch won the group easily and Sandor Tot took second spot.

Group 22: John Schmidt of USA won his 4 games to ease through ahead of experienced UK player Daryl Peach and Swede Tom Storm. For some reason Storm forfeited his match against Peach but still makes it - will be keen to learn more about the reasons for that no show.

Group 23: Ralf Souquet was dominant in this group as expected. His match v George Breedlove was televised and was a poor advert for the game. It was really slow and dull and I have no idea why they chose to screen it. Breedlove qualified alongside Mark Tademy (both Americans). Colin Cloenso narrowly failed to make it - I think if he had won his hill-hill match with Tademy then he would have made it, but it wasn't to be. On such narrow margins, the game turns I guess.

Group 24:No real big names in this group, but Sal Butera, Jerry Calderon and Jianbo Fu of China qualify at the expense of Paul Brienze and Frenchman Laurent Travers.

Group 25: My neighbour, Brian Saleh is out after winning just one of his four matches. He won his first against Cliff Joyner, which gave us some hope but could not maintain that. Keith McCready, Warren Zimmerman and Cliff Joyner (all Americans) won through - Joyner by a slender 0.88% margin over Warren Kiamco who actually beat him! Not a good system there if Joyner progresses - surely Kiamco should go through there.

Group 26: Antonio Lining seems to have thrown down the gauntlet with an impressive 4-0 win in this group. He, and Russian Evgeny Stalev were the forces in this group, with Sammy Jones claming the third spot. A surprise to me that Tony Robles did not make it, but he lost his hill-hill match with Sammy Jones to seal his fate.

Group 27: Hungarian star, Vilmos Foldes won all four of his games to make it through and Rudolfo Luat joined him with three wins to his name. Jimmy Wetch took third spot ahead of Japanese player Mori Manabu and Stefan Santl of Germany, who managed to lose two games 8-7!

Group 28: This was a tight group of evenly matched players. German Ralph Eckert won three of his games to top the group, Howard Vickery and Imran Majid of England barely scraped the other two spots. Thomas Kennedy and Aaron Czetli can consider themselves unfortunate not to have made it.

Group 29: An impressive Marco Marquez swept aside all four of his opponents and ran out 9 times from the break. Gerry Watson of Canada and Shawn Puttnam were the other two guys to make it here with Adam Wheeler and Lee Chenman failing to make an impression.

Group 30: Mexican Rafael Martinez has a 100% record from this group, again with 9 run outs. He is joined in the second phase by qualifier Brian Groce and Australian Johl Younger. Michael Cernero and Jose Parica bowed out.

Group 31: Englishman Neil Raybone makes the cut easily, topping this group and losing only to Rodney Morris, who also makes it. Japanese player Tomoki Mekari also won three games to send Rafael Gonzalez (who won only two racks) and David Reljic home.

Group 32: American Steve Moore was unbeaten in this group and the two experienced faces of Kim Davenport and Paul Potier took second and third spots behind him. Qualifier Jason Miller and Canadian Tyler Edey did not make the grade.

Group 33: Two of the better European players won through here. French 'small ball pool' player Yannick Beaufils adapted to the new game comfortably and 9-ball regular from Italy, Fabio Petroni also won three games to make it along with much-fancied American player Larry Nevel. Max Eberle and veteran Wade Crane were found wanting in this group.

Group 34: Was much anticipated in the UK. Top UK player Darren Appleton was predicted by many (myself included) as being one to watch on the tour and he loved up to that by winning all four of his group games, including a victory over Scotsman Pat Holtz. Holtz went out, but American Allen Hopkins and Takeshi Okumura of Japan were successful. Michael Davis of USA joined Holtz out of the competition.

Group 35: This group saw another two good Europeans qualify. Marcus Chamat, the regular Mosconi Cup player, won three of his games and Finn Markus Juva joined him in making it. The third spot goes to Canadian Edwin Montal with Ryan Keller and Mexican Arturo Rivera losing out.

Group 36: Carl 'Houdini' Morris of England (former World small ball 8-ball Champion - if that makes sense!) won all four of his games impressively - including a win over seasoned American star Jeremy Jones. Jones did qualify together with Bernard Jahnke of Germany. John Di Toro and Robb Saez are out.

Group 37: This group was notable only for the lack of big names in it. Qualifiers were Tony Chohan, Troy Frank and Bobby Hunter and Daniel Di Liberto and Lance Salazar were sent out. This group was all American.

Group 38: Another great success for a top British player. Mick Hill won all four of his games - dominating his group ahead of Charlie Williams and Santos Sambajon the qualifier. Ouahbi Amine and Alejandro Caravajal were unable to make an impression though and go out.

Group 39: Canadian Luc Salvas has got off to a flying start, winning all four of his games and running out 12 times. German Michael Schmidt and American Chris Bartram are with him in the draw for the next round, with Roland Acosta and Frank Alvarez heading home.

Group 40: My bet on Nick Van Den Berg appears not to have hindered him too much as he won all four of his group games. Leil Gay and Scotty Townsend make it too, but qualifier Tony Crosby did not manage to win a single match and goes out together with Stan Tourangeau.

The Brits seem to have come out of Day One very well overall. Reports that Neil Raybone was awesome (as was Frenchman Yannick Beaufils), but the impression Carl Morris, Mick Hill and Darren Appleton have made will also not have escaped the notice of the top Americans I'm sure.

Ronnie Bounces Back, Buzzer Buzzing

2006-07-23T22:05:00.000+01:00

Ronnie O' Sullivan made up for his first game defeat by defeating Frenchman Vincent Facquet by 8-5. The game was televised live on Eurosport across Europe.

Viewers saw a mixed display from The Rocket - some silky smooth potting and quick fire play mixed up with a couple of uncharacteristic misses and one very wayward positional shot on his penultimate ball when he just seemed to run out of ideas. Clearly Ronnie has much to learn about this game, but he seems to be picking it up quickly. Facquet seemed to feel the nerves and made two or three awful errors.

Other UK players - Daryl Peach was beaten 8-6 in his first game, but Brian Saleh won 8-7 against Cliff Joyner to make his mark on this tournament - congratulations Buzzer.

First Blood......

2006-07-23T19:01:00.000+01:00

The first winner of a match in a 2006 IPT event is..........Luc Salvas of Canada who ran the last 6 racks to coast to victory. Congratulations to him - he beat Frank Alvarez of the USA.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has lost his first match to American Dennis Hatch 8-6 and Scotsman Pat Holtz went down 8-2 to American Mike Davis. Evgeny Stalev of Russia deats Tony Robles of USA 8-1.

Jimmy Fusco beat Mark Tademy 8-3, Hungarian Sandor Tot, beat Vincent Facquet of France 8-4, Antonio Lining beat Sammy Jones 8-1, Rodolfo Luat beat Jimmy Wetch 8-1, Rodney Morris beat Rafael Gonzalez 8-2.

10AM Sunday Draw - Round 1

2006-07-23T10:29:00.000+01:00

George BREEDLOVE vs Ralf SOUQUET

Scotty TOWNSEND vs Nick VAN DEN BERG

Vincent FACQUET vs Sandor TOT

Vilmos FOLDES vs Mori MANABU

Ralph ECKERT vs Howard VICKERY

Adam WHEELER vs Marco MARQUEZ

Alejandro CARVAJAL vs Santos SAMBAJON

Daryl PEACH vs John SCHMIDT

Dennis HATCH vs Ronnie O’SULLIVAN

Michael ZIMMERMAN vs Keith MCCREADY

Tom STORM vs Konihiko TAKAHASHI

Jimmy FUSCO vs Mark TADEMY

Paul BRIENZA vs Sal BUTERA

Brian SALEH vs Cliff JOYNER

Sammy JONES vs Antonio LINING

Johl YOUNGER vs Rafael MARTINEZ

David RELJIC vs Tomoki MEKARI

Paul POTIER vs Steve MOORE

Wade CRANE vs Larry NEVEL

Allen HOPKINS vs Takeshi OKUMURA

Edwin MONTAL vs Arturo RIVERA

Carl MORRIS vs Robb SAEZ

Danny DILIBERTO vs Troy FRANK

Chris BARTRAM vs Michael SCHMIDT

Leil GAY vs Tony CROSBY

Laurant TRAVERS vs Jerry CALDERON

Evgeny STALEV vs Tony ROBLES

Rodolfo LUAT vs Jimmy WETCH

Thomas KENNEDY vs Aaron CZETLI

Gerry WATSON vs Shawn PUTNAM

Brian GROCE vs Jose PARICA

Rafael GONZALEZ vs Rodney MORRIS

Kim DAVENPORT vs Jason MILLER

Fabio PETRONI vs Max EBERLE

Patrick HOLTZ vs Mike DAVIS

Markus JUVA vs Markus CHAMAT

Bernd JAHNKE vs Jeremy JONES

Bobby HUNTER vs Tony CHOHAN

Mick HILL vs Charlie WILLIAMS

Frank ALVAREZ vs Luc SALVAS

You can download the whole draw here. I might add that the new results and tournament statistics pages on the official site are excellent and I would recommend following the story on there if you can.

1st Day's Play For Brits

2006-07-22T21:53:00.000+01:00

The draw for the first round has been made to decide who plays when and so far the following has been made public:

Sunday 10pm-Mick Hill v Charlie Williams
-Carl Morris v Robb Saez

Sunday 12.30- Mick Hill v Ouahbi Amine
-Darren Appleton v Pat Holtz

The full draw will be released in a few hours.

Three Out Before A Ball Is Hit

2006-07-21T17:29:00.000+01:00

Very disappointing news broke today that the living legend of pool, 'King' Jim Rempe is unable to take part in this weekend's tournament in Vegas for personal reasons. Rempe is probably the one truly household name pool has ever produced in the UK, mainly because of his incredible achievement in the 1980s when he came to the UK and dominated our version of 8-ball. To have done this straight from the different American discipline is an outstanding achievement and the tournament this week will miss his presence.

Rempe's place will be taken by a man who consistenly just failed to make the cut in the qualifiers - Keith Bennett. Bennett's 11th hour reprieve is as well deserved as any other claimant's and let's hope he takes the chance he has been given to do himself justice.

The second withdrawal concerns Chinese player, Liu Wei. It appears his own government refused to grant an exit visa to sanction the trip to the States. Possible concerns may have arisen regarding his willingness to return home afterwards because "he has no significant ties to China in terms of wealth or marriage". This being so he may even have encountered problems with US immigration at McCarron too. One thing I have a lot of experience of is immigration issues and I cannot say I am surprised. I'm sad for the guy and let's hope nothing like this recurs.

His place goes to Lee Heuwagen who was second on the alternate list.

News just in that a third withdrawal has been announced. Pete Fusco has also not been able to make it because of 'personal reasons', but will compete in the next tournament. The guy to benefit this time around is Jeff Beckley. Let's hope that is the end of the withdrawals.

Jimmy White Talks Up His Chances

2006-07-19T21:23:00.000+01:00

An interesting article on snooker legend, Jimmy White's plans for the upcoming IPT event from the BBC website.

Jimmy probably has played a fair amount of UK 8-ball pool and his undoubted natural gifts should not be taken lightly, but I suspect that he, along with Ronnie O'Sullivan, will simply not have put enough work into preparation for this tour.

Don't get me wrong, both of these guys could beat any of the other players in the group stages and and will almost certainly spring a surprise or two, but I cannot see them being consistent enough to threaten the winners' rostrum.

I honestly do not think you can mix the two games. If you make your living as a full-time snooker pro then you will not be able to devote enough of your life to a significantly different discipline such as 8-ball pool. Jimmy is even taking his own snooker balls with him so that he can practice his snooker for an upcoming tournament - that tells you what you need to know about his priorities. If either of these guys gave up snooker then they would be right at the top of the tree but that will not happen for financial reasons and also because they love snooker - even O'Sullivan who often professes a dislike for the game.

Eurosport coverage of IPT

2006-07-18T12:15:00.000+01:00

From Sunday 23rd July there will be LIVE coverage on Eurosport starting at 21:30CET, that's 20:30UK. The following day at 14:30CET(13:30UK) the show will be repeated, but on Eurosport 2.

The coverage will then contine in a smiliar vein until Sunday. Basically it's a live show on the night time on Eurosport followed by a repeat the following afternoon on the Eurosport 2 channel. This is fabulous news for all European pool fans, but I find it ironic that the home of the game is not able to provide live coverage for the many potential viewers in the US. I think pool may well pick up some hardcore snooker fans as 'new recruits' to the game and a lot of others who have only ever seen 9 ball on TV.

Not sure who will be commentating yet - possibly Phil Yates who is mainly a snooker expert, but it's possible they may take the American commentary. Hopefully Yates will be the man as much as I enjoy the US commentators (especially the wonderful Jerry Forsyth), I don't think I could stomach Mike Sigel sitting in on the whole thing. He's loud enough at the table, never mind in the commentary booth.

Feeling Lucky?

2006-07-17T23:25:00.000+01:00

Pool has always attracted a lot of betting action. Most of the bets I've seen tend to be from the players themselves and their associates making big money games and wagers amongst themselves. Now, however, I have noticed that UK bookie, Stan James has a book running for the North American IPT Open.

Their odds can be found (along with the WPC World Championship odds) by clicking here .

I'm not going to bore you with a huge list, but there is value to be had betting on this event. They make Johnny Archer, Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante co-favourites at 14/1 and crowd pleaser Earl Strickland is a 20/1 chance.

For value I would say Ortmann at 28/1 looks a good bet - his form in qualifying was exceptional and he is one for the big game atmosphere. Jon Kucharo is at 100/1 and judging by his immense qualifying form, he must be going into this event full of confidence.

Nick Van Den Berg is now 150/1, though I got 200/1 on him earlier. I'd advise against putting your money on him because if I back someone then it's pretty much the kiss of death on their chances! Sorry Nick...

Looking at UK players, both Appleton and Boyes are 200/1, both good value (though I think they will need more US game experience before they can challenge) Phil Harrison is 300/1 and my local player, Brian Saleh is at 400/1.

First Set of World Qualifiers

2006-07-17T21:32:00.000+01:00

The first set of qualifiers for the IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship took place this weekend passed. All qualifiers took place in the US (though many are planned around the globe) and the fnial stages take place in Reno, Nevada in September.

It seems already that the cream once again has floated to the top. British player, Karl Boyes won through for the second time this season with a fine display in Bellflower, Ca - defeating Rudolpho Luat in the loser's side final, having lost on the winner's side to Gallego(who himself qualified).

Frankie Hernandez won through in Philadelphia, along with Larry Nevel and Jon Kucharo once again did the business in Minnesota. Other qualifiers were German Kevin Becker and Jeff Melton in Oklahoma and Glenn Atwell and Brady Gallon in Seattle. I think 'Gallon' might in fact be former Canadian snooker pro, Brady Gollan, but I am yet to have this confirmed - just seems like an incredible coincidence otherwise!

Gollan was a very tidy snooker player and broke into the top 100 during the 1994/95 season. This was quite an achievement owing to the fact that every tournament must have involved a massive round-trip for very little reward at the time. He now plays on the Canadian 9-ball Pool Tour.

Groupings Announced for IPT North American Open 8-Ball

2006-07-14T23:05:00.000+01:00

Finally we have something concrete to work on as far as who will play who. Here are the groups for the upcoming IPT tournament in Vegas 22-30 July:

UK Players in BLUE

Group 1
Alex LELY Lou BUTERA Jackie BROADHURST Jon KUCHARO Jason KIRKWOOD

Group 2
Niels FEIJEN Karen CORR Ray MARTIN Wei LIU Greg HOGUE

Group 3
Tuan Kiat GOH Jim REMPE Sarah ELLERBY Eric HJORLEIFSON David MATLOCK

Group 4
Alex PAGULAYAN Mike MASSEY Tammy JONES Goran MLADENOVIC Corey HARPER

Group 5
Austin MURPHY Danny BASAVICH Ewa LAURANCE Sam MONDAY Anthony GINN

Group 6
Mike GULYASSY Earl STRICKLAND Miyuki SAKAI Chris ORME Teddy GARRAHAN

Group 7
Raj HUNDAL Dallas WEST Monica WEBB Ismael PAEZ Scott FROST

Group 8
William INCARDONA Nick VARNER Helena THORNFELDT Jonathan PENEGAR Rico DIKS

Group 9
Gabe OWEN Efren REYES Mary KENNISTON James WALDEN Luis CONDO

Group 10
Francisco BUSTAMANTE Ed KELLY Gerda HOFSTATTER Jim WEAST Andreas KOUKIADAKIS

Group 11
Mike SIGEL Philip HARRISON James ROBERTS David BROXSON Linda CARTER

Group 12
Joe MINICI Dee ADKINS Marlon MANALO Robin DODSON Richard BROUMPTON

Group 13
Zlatko JAKULJ Loree Jon JONES John MACIAS Ernesto DOMINGUEZ Karl BOYES

Group 14
Grady MATHEWS Andreja KLASOVIC Marko LOHTANDER Allison FISHER Jeff ABERNATHY

Group 15
Dennis ORCOLLO Kelly FISHER Gary ABOOD Wayne CATLEDGE John KUTCHER

Group 16
Ivaca PUTNIK Jimmy WHITE Quinten HANN David ALCAIDE Ronato ALCANO

Group 17
Bernie FRIEND Larry SCHWARTZ George SANSOUCI Johnny ARCHER Denver BARGER

Group 18
Pete FUSCO Ike RUNNELS Shannon DAULTON Corey DEUEL Ronnie WISEMAN

Group 19
Robert MCKENNA John WIMS Shane VAN BOENING Thorsten HOHMANN Michael VIDAS

Group 20
Jim RANEY Charles BRYANT Oliver ORTMANN Mika IMMONEN Gandy VALLE

Group 21
Mike LEBRON Vincent FACQUET Dennis HATCH Ronnie O’SULLIVAN Sandor TOT

Group 22
Leonardo GUNNAR Tom STORM Daryl PEACH John SCHMIDT Konihiko TAKAHASHI

Group 23
Colin COLENSO Jimmy FUSCO George BREEDLOVE Ralf SOUQUET Mark TADEMY

Group 24
Jianbo FU Paul BRIENZA Laurant TRAVERS Jerry CALDERON Sal BUTERA

Group 25
Warren KIAMCO Brian SALEH Michael ZIMMERMAN Keith MCCREADY Cliff JOYNER

Group 26
Aaron FRANKEN Sammy JONES Evgeny STALEV Tony ROBLES Antonio LINING

Group 27
Stephan SANTL Vilmos FOLDES Rodolfo LUAT Jimmy WETCH Mori MANABU

Group 28
Imran MAJID Ralph ECKERT Thomas KENNEDY Aaron CZETLI Howard VICKERY

Group 29
Lee CHENMAN Adam WHEELER Gerry WATSON Shawn PUTNAM Marco MARQUEZ

Group 30
Michael CERNERO Johl YOUNGER Brian GROCE Jose PARICA Rafael MARTINEZ

Group 31
Neil RAYBONE David RELJIC Rafael GONZALEZ Rodney MORRIS Tomoki MEKARI

Group 32
Tyler EDEY Paul POTIER Kim DAVENPORT Jason MILLER Steve MOORE

Group 33
Yannick BEAUFILS Wade CRANE Fabio PETRONI Max EBERLE Larry NEVEL

Group 34
Darren APPLETON Allen HOPKINS Patrick HOLTZ Mike DAVIS Takeshi OKUMURA

Group 35
Ryan KELLER Edwin MONTAL Markus JUVA Markus CHAMAT Arturo RIVERA

Group 36
John DITORO Carl MORRIS Bernd JAHNKE Jeremy JONES Robb SAEZ

Group 37
Lance SALAZAR Danny DILIBERTO Bobby HUNTER Tony CHOHAN Troy FRANK

Group 38
Ouahbi AMINE Alejandro CARVAJAL Mick HILL Charlie WILLIAMS Santos SAMBAJON

Group 39
Roland ACOSTA Chris BARTRAM Frank ALVAREZ Luc SALVAS Michael SCHMIDT

Group 40
Stan TOURANGEAU Leil GAY Scotty TOWNSEND Nick VAN DEN BERG Tony CROSBY

Quite a draw, with some 'soft' groups, but some very tricky looking routes lie in store for some of the better players.

I strongly fancy Anthony Ginn to make it out of Group 5, though I think Sarah Ellerby may find her group a tough ask with Rempe, Goh and Hjorleifson looking favourites to my mind.

I expect Earl Strickland to cruise through his group, but The Pearl is often vulnerable when he is not playing the best players - perhaps he somethimes struggles for focus early on. I still expect him to win his group though and really want to see him in there when the pressure really builds.

Efren Reyes, who has to be favourite, has found a pretty straightforward group and will not be extended too much , provided the Lasik surgery worked out well!His fellow countryman, Francisco Bustamante also has a breeze of a draw.

Karl Boyes will qualify, as will Raj Hundal, Imran Majid, Daryl Peach, Mick Hill, Darren Appleton and Tony Crosby, but a couple of Brits have found tough draws.

Carl Morris has two very good players in Robb Saez and Jeremy Jones in his way, so he will need to really perform to get through there and Rob McKenna has Van Boening and Hohmann to contend with, who are very capable indeed. Still, both can certainly make it out of those groups and I hope they do.

Pat Holtz has found Darren Appleton's group and with Okumura and Allen Hopkins in the mix too, then Holtz has a tough task to make it through. I haven't seen him play on an American table, but the guy was a classy player on UK tables and has a lot of high-pressure experience to his name.

Poor Buzzer, AKA Brian Saleh (Halcrow) has got a mountain to climb! Group 25 really is a group of death! Three of the other four players are very steady and experienced and Buzzer will need to come out all guns blazing in what is his first tournament on an American style table. He is my closest neighbour of all the players, living across the Tyne from me in South Shields. An immense talent in the UK game, I'd like to see him do well and a lot of people in the UK are not mentioning him as a possible star in the US, but I would not underestimate him just yet. He has bags of determination and is hard to beat under any circumstances.

Now let's play!!

Wizards of Oz

2006-06-20T23:04:00.000+01:00

The results of the Aussie qualifier are in and another Brit made it through to Vegas.

Anthony Ginn won through with Lou Condo (I'm assuming Jnr. as his Dad must be pushing 70 by now). The field was small and this was possibly the softest qualifier so far. I'm not taking anything away from these two - Ginn in particular is a very handy player and I saw Condo play 9-ball at Cardiff a few years ago and he looked reasonable to me. His Dad was a pro snooker player.

We have booked a 2 week break in Vegas over christmas and it means I get to watch the final 3 days of the huge King of the Hill tournament at the magnificent Wynn Casino!!! This is fantastic news for me and my wife kind of chose the dates so it's pure coincidence it clashes with the IPT. Look out for me on Eurosport in a Newcastle/England shirt and my Union Jack ready to be waved backing the Brits. Let's see if that doesn't upset Earl Strickland or Mike Sigel!!

Hope to have a natter with a few of our players and maybe take a few pics for the blog, so fingers crossed on that front.

Another Brit Makes It

2006-06-19T16:18:00.000+01:00

Conratulations are well and truly in order for Karl Boyes, who qualified for the IPT North American Open by winning his place in Corpus Christi, Texas. Boyes emerged victorious 10-9 against Teddy Garrahan, who then made it through on the one-loss side.

Boyes was very upbeat and excited afterwards and he could definitely be heading for a good payday in Vegas based on his form in the qualifiers. He's a very talented young man and I think any Americans reading this really should check him out as he progresses in Vegas.

Another English player has hinted that he may relocate to the States if the IPT tour really takes off. Darren Appleton hinted this on a web forum over the weekend. Appleton has incurred the wrath of the EPA and I don't think he would have any qualms about leaving the English game behind for the US game. He said that even if the IPT didn't work out then his switch to the American style game was permanent. Who can blame him? The prizes on offer on the IPT leave him with little choice - it's a sensible move regardless of how it turns out. For too long the English game has been potential unfulfilled and has had too many separate bodies pulling in too many different directions. Sure - lots of very able people have made efforts to turn it around, but in the grand scheme of things that all becomes overshadowed by the IPT.

How long can players go on as semi-professionals? It can't be an easy way to earn a crust and you simply cannot blame them for grasping the chance to become real professionals with both hands.

Other qualifiers this weekend were the persistent Gary Abood, Jonathan Penegar, Scott Frost, Corey Harper in the States and from China we have Jianbo Fu and Wei Liu. We await the results from Australia at the moment.

It's Friday!

2006-06-16T22:16:00.000+01:00

And of course that means a return to the cut-and-thrust IPT qualifiers for the upcoming North American Open.

A real variance in field size this week, led by 30 players showing up at Jillian's in Cleveland, Ohio for what looks to be one of the toughest qualifiers to date. England's Richie Broumpton has made his way to this one, though he was sadly dealy a Round 1 defeat by Chris Mitchell. Broumpton seems to have raliied though and has won his first two games on the losers side.

Jeff Beckley, Gary Abood and Andrew Breen look to be the pick of the rest of the field. We are currently in play there.

Twenty one players made it to Corpus Christi, Texas to make for another tough competition. UK hopeful, Karl Boyes has travelled and must be regarded as one of the favourites there. Robb Saez has also done pretty well in qualifiers so far and should be in with a shout.

The third American qualifying tournament is in Bellflower, California where a respectable field of 16 shoot out for the 2 spaces. We again see Perry Foster in this tournament after his recent near miss - today however he has lost in Round 1!

The two remaining qualifiers are slightly further away. Ten players have showed for the Chinese qualifier - including a German and a Phillipines representative. Some of the players there are apparently top Chinese players so it will be interesting to see them in the US shortly.

Australia's qualifier has attracted just 6 players. Anthony Ginn of the UK is there and looks to have a genuine chance in such a small field. Also in the field we have the well-known Lou Condo and billiards expert Robbie Foldvari. Foldvari has a reputation as one of the snooker world's slowest players but there is no denying that he is an accomplished all-round cueman and should be tough to beat.

An honourable mention to England's Darren Appleton too who has just narrowly lost in the final of the WEPF 8-ball World Championships. Darren will be competing on the IPT tour and will be one to watch. The tournament he was just in was the UK 'pub' version of the game of pool - played on smaller tables and smaller balls than the American game.

Darren seems to be winding down his UK-style game (at which he is one of the very best ever) and focussing his efforts on the IPT instead and we wish him all the best.

10 More Make The Cut

2006-06-14T18:04:00.000+01:00

The final out come of the qualifiers held last weekend confirm that the following players have won their spots in the 2006 IPT North American 8-Ball Open Championship, July 22-30, 2006 which is to be held at the truly magnificent Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I've been to that hotel and it is absolutely superb - you can even take a gondola ride there.

Lance Salazar
Arturo Rivera
Ismael Paez
Santos Sambajon
Kunihiko Takahashi
Takeshi Okumura
Cliff Joyner
Tony Crosby
Jason Kirkwood
John Kucharo

Further qualifiers are being held this coming weekend (June 16-18) at 5 more venues. Three of these venues are in the US (Ohio, Texas and California), but intriguingly the other two are half a world away.

Australia sees its own qualifier hitting the shores at Melbourne, while Asia again attracts a qualifier to be held in Shanghai, China. If these two tournaments can get anywhere near matching the turnout seen last week in Japan, then the IPT will be automatically seen as an international sensation in my opinion.

I'm not sure about how big the game is in Australia (I know they play a fair amount of UK style pool) and I'm not sure how many Chinese Taipei or other Asian players are likely to attend Shanghai. It's a bold move to hold these two qualifiers I'd say, so fingers crossed.

Qualifier News

2006-06-11T13:36:00.000+01:00

Wow! My two to watch in Pasadena both won their places for the North American IPT tournament.

Ismael Paez and Santos Sambajon won through a disappointing field of just 9 hopefuls, but congratulatoins to both. In Kalamazoo, John Kucharo (pictured left)and Jason Kirkwood claimed their spots and Takahashi is still going strong in Japan, nearing the final stages there as I type.

I think that the player Perry Foster who has reached the final in San Francisco is actually a young Welsh lad who won a World Junior Championship in recent times. The site lists him as American. Anyway, if it is the same guy then he has reached the winners' side final and I wish him well. I think he played in at least one qualifier earlier in the year too but missed out. Those fields were extremely competitive, but these ones look eminently more winnable.

More Qualifiers

2006-06-10T00:35:00.000+01:00

More qualifiers taking place today and tomorrow across the USA and one in Tokyo.

The Tokyo one looks a fabulous spectacle with a turnout of 29 players looking for just 2 spots in the upcoming North American Open. Although I am not familiar with a lot of the names on the list, a couple of players - Antonio Lining of Philipines and Takahashi from Japan leap out as potential winners.

San Francisco has a reasonable turnout of 13 Americans (accordnig to the IPT site though I think one of them may not be American!), but none are players I am familiar with.

Surprisingly, Pasadena has just 9 players showing. I was expecting a far bigger field there in such a densely populated area. Top Mexican player Ismael Paez is present as well as Santos Sambajon of Philipines, who has been trying so hard to qualify for this tour. As I write, the two are playing each other for the right to meet John Hager in the winners' side final.

Eighteen players have shown up in Atlanta, GA including English ex-pat Tony Crosby who plays extensively in the US now. Intriguingly Johnny Archer is due there for the IPT pro challenge matches, which should be well worth seeing.

Ten players made it to Kalamazoo for the final qualifier of the weekend, none of whom I know anything about! Sorry guys, no disrespect intended.

So by the end of the week we shall have another 10 players through to the main event, including two well-deserving Asian players and by the look of things, this event is really having a global impact as was intended from day one.

What The Pool World Has Been Waiting For

2006-06-08T21:03:00.000+01:00

I decided to start this blog to chart the course of the IPT (International Pool Tour) - a new and exciting big money and truly global operation devoted to 8-ball pool. Founded by well-known entrepeneur, Kevin Trudeau, the main aim of this tour is to catapult the game onto TV screens, magazines and newspapers all over the world and to make pool a sport that people not only love to play, but also one that people love to watch.

Kevin Trudeau often cites the PGA golf tour as an example of the kind of set up he is looking to begin. Indeed at his only previous major touranment, 2005 King of the Hill, he seemed to hit the right note with all who attended. Vegas glamour and slick TV coverage assured that he grabbed the attention of the pool world and the players themselves seemed to relish the chance to have real money on offer to reward their considerable skills. The players were also very well looked after, something which is not always the case in this game.

Of course there are many naysayers on this issue.Citing Trudeau's past business ventures, they seem somewhat sceptical about whether the promises will be fulfilled, but I for one am yet to see any evidence for this and feel that the sport is genuinely on the verge of a breakthrough.

Even if he fails and it all implodes, then what has been lost? True, the players do have to invest money to play on the tour. True, they have to gear up to 8-ball as opposed to the seemingly non-ending 9-ball tournaments - but surely the prize on offer is worth the risk.

To put this in perspective, several of the top UK players have even gone to the lengths of importing IPT issue tables to replicate the tournament conditions - now that is dedication! The IPT events will be played using tighter pockets than standard and slower, napped cloth. Combined with breaking from the centre of the table, this will certainly be a big change for players and the cream should float to the top.

For UK readers, it should be noted that this is not the UK version of pool we are talking about here. It is played on a larger 9' x 4' table with larger pockets than our bar tables. The rules are similar, but following a foul you have ball in hand anywhere on the table and must pocket your set (solids or stripes) followed by the elusive black (8) ball.

Many of the very best UK players have been invited onto the tour - Darren Appleton, Carl Morris, Pat Holtz, Brian Halcrow Saleh, Phil Harrison etc and several more have spent the past few months and a lot of dollars trying to qualify. Karl Boyes has been very unlucky in particular and if anyone deserves to make it then surely he does. All of the results from the qualifiers are available on the IPT official site.

Please note that this is totally unofficial and I have no interest or affiliation with IPT. The views here are my own and simply a fan's eye view of events as I see them.