Carom & pool - Sevilla Juegos Mundiales

From july 3rd to 9th the Sevilla 2006 Juegos Mundiales are held in Sevilla, Spain. A number of different billiard events will be held:

• International 3-Cushion Open Tournament - Handicap (total price money: 25.600 euros)
• Intenational 9-Ball Open Tournament (total price money: 25.360 euros)
• World Championships in 5-pins
• Spanish Pool Championships
• Artistic exhibitions in billiards and snooker
  

Go to their website now and se the registered players in the 3-Cushion and 9-Ball tournament. In the 9-Ball Tournament Oliver Ortmann, Tony Drago and Imran Majid are already registered.

Snooker - John Higgins voted player of the year

Snookerplayer John "The Wizard of Wishaw" Higgins were voted player of the year by the readers on worldsnooker.com. Higgins won the Grand Prix and the SAGA Insurance Masters last season.He also made it to the finals in Malta Cup and China Open.

Higgins did get 31% of the votes. He was followed by Stephen Hendry (15%) and Neil Robertson (12%).

1. John Higgins 31%
2. Stephen Hendry 15%
3. Neil Robertson 12%
4. Graeme Dott 8%
5. Ken Doherty 5%
6. Ding Junhui 5%
7. Mark Williams 4%
8. Steve Davis 3%
9 Paul Hunter 3%
10 Jamie Cope 3%

Read more on worldsnooker.com

Pool - Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge

Don't miss the Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge!

World class players will fill the place. Former world champion Mika Immonen will come. So will world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. There you'll see multiple european champions Niels Fejien and Oliver Ortmann, most recent eurotour winner Marcus Chamat, as well as world class players Raj Hundal, Imran Majid, Tony Drago and Jasmine Ouchan.

So, if you want to have a chance to play against or to watch some world class pool go to Norway this summer. Besides it's a beutiful country!

Unfortunally I can't come - but I'm not to unhappy about it. The reason is I've just bought a poolhall in Sweden (were I live) so I'm going to be working with it this summer!

Ralf Souquet wins World Pool Masters!

Ralf "The Kaiser" Souquet wins
the World Pool Masters 2006.


Facing a strong field Souquet came out on top in the World Pool Masters 2006. In the first match he won in a thriller-match against Efren Reyes 8-7. In the quarter finals he defeated Imran Majid 8-2. In the semifinal he won over current double world champion Wu Chia-Ching 8-4. Finally, in the final, he won over Alex Pagulayan 8-4. He has now won the tournament five times in its 13 year long history. That makes him the most successful player in the World Pool Masters. Congratulations Ralf Souquet!

Results World Pool Masters 2006

• 1st: Ralf Souquet ($20,000)
• 2nd: Alex Pagulayan ($10,000)
• 3td: Raj Hundal, Wu Chia-Ching ($5,000)
• 5th: Niels Feijen, Vilmos Foldes, Imran Majid, Tony Drago ($2,500)

Read more about the event on the website of the tournament World Pool Masters.

World Pool Masters - Result of first quarterfinal

• Raj Hundal vs Niels Feijen

Raj Hundal won over dutch poolstar Niels Feijen 8-7. Feijen was leading 6-2, but the englishman pulled the score back (honestly a little fortunate) and managed to win the match. Hundal still has the chance to be the first player ever to defend his title in the World Pool Master. Read more about the match here.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Results after the second day

The matches of the second day were:

• Alex Pagulayan vs Steve Davis
• Imran Majid vs Alex Lely
• Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes
• Tony Drago vs Thomas Engert
• Wu Chia-Ching vs Ronnie O'Sullivan
  

Alex Pagulayan won over Steve Davis 8-4 but he says he has to play better to win over Foldes tomorrow. Read more here.

Imran Majid won over Alex Lely 8-3. Lely made some early mistakes and the englishman Majid played a superb game. Lely never had a chance to come back into tha match. Read more here.

Ralf Souquet won over Efren Reyes 8-7. In one of the most exiting matches in the tournament so far Souquet got an early lead 6-2. Reyes then pulled back to 6-6. Souquet held his nerves toghether and made a strong finish. Read more here.

Tony Drago won over Thomas Engert 8-3. Engert made some mistakes in the match, but overall Drago played a great game. Read more here.

Wu Chia-Ching won over Ronnie O'Sullivan 8-5. Wu said he was a bit nervous in the beginning (well honestly who wouldn't be meeting snookerstar"The Rocket"). O'Sullivan scratched of the break two times, scratched playing position for the eight once and miscued on the seven once. Something you can't afford facing 17-year old double world Champion Wu Chia-Ching. Read more here.

My guesses of the outcome of these matches were: Pagulayan, Majid, Souquet, Engert and Wu. So I was a bit better this time. So in total I got 5 matches right out of 8. So now at least I beat the monkey!

Pool - World Pool Masters - Results after the first day

The first days matches were:

• Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka
• Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen
• Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

In the first match Hundal won 8-5 over Takenaka. Though he was most unsatisfied with his game. Both players missed a number of shots. Hundal says he'll have to play a much better game to come any further in this years event. Read more about the match here.

In the second match Feijen won 8-3 over Morris. Feijen got an early lead and Morris (who felt good about his game) said after the match he didn't really have a good chance to come back into the match. Especially with the alternating break format. The match contained some good agressive and defensive play. Read more abot the match on the World Pool Masters site or on Niels Feijens site.

In the third match Foldes won 8-7 over van den Berg. A well played hill-hill match from both players. A number of runouts and some good safety play from both players. Read more here.

In my short analyses of the matches in advance i guessed Hundal, Morris and van den Berg. So I only was right in one of three matches. A monkey knowing nothing about pool is excpected to be 50 percent right (I was 33 percent right)!!! If my guesses doesn't improve I think I've better stay out of sportsbetting!

Pool - Selby wins World 8-ball Championship

Snooker player Mark Selby won the 2006 World 8-ball Championship. Selby, currently ranked no 28 in the world official snooker ranking, defeated Darren Appleton 11-7 in the final of the World eightball Championships.

The win earned Selby £10,000 and Appleton £5,000. Congratulations!

Mentioned should be this is the brittish type of 8-ball, played with snookerlike balls (7 red balls, 7 yellow balls and one black ball) on a table with snookercloth, and with rounded holes (like on snooker tables. The table looks like a small snooker table. The rules also differ from standard (american) 8-ball pool rules.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

• Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

Snooker superstar Ronnie O'Sullivan meets the 17-year old double World Champion Wu Chia-Ching. My guess is this match will be crowded!

Well not much need to be said about Ronnie O'Sullivan. I guess you're all familiar with the two-time World Snooker Champion. One of the most gifted players who ever seen. His potting ability cannot be questioned, and we know he has been practicing pool, but how good is his break?

Will Wu Chia-Ching continue to play his fearless game against world famous Ronnie O'Sullivan? My guess is - he will. This young talanted player just don't seem to have any nerves. And he sure knows how to break and run out. So will he win? I think O'Sullivan still do not fully master the 9-ball break, and I also think Wu know a bit more about the tactical aspects of the game so I hold Wu a slight favourite.

And today the tournament starts. Good luck to all players!

Snooker - Wendy Jans European Champion ladies

Wendy Jans from Belgium wins the 2006 European Championship in snooker (ladies division) with a whitewash over Isabelle Jonckheere from Holland (5-0).

• 1st: Wendy Jans (Belgium)
• 2nd: Isabelle Jonckheere (Holland)
• 3rd: Rosanna Lo-a-Tjong (Holland), Hanna Mergies (Poland)

Snooker - Alex Borg from Malta wins the 2006 European Championships

Alex Borg from Malta wins the European Championships in snooker beating Jeff Cundy, from England, 7-5 in the final. In the semis Borg won over Kurt Maflin, from Norway(6-5) and Cundy won over Lasse Munstermann, from Germany (6-3).

• 1st: Alex Borg (Malta)

• 2nd: Jeff Cundy (England)

• 3rd: Kurt Maflin (Norway), Lasse Munstermann (Germany)

• 5th: Jamie Jones (Wales), Gerrit Bij de Leij (Holland), Yannick Poulain (France), John Torpey (Ireland)

For more results visit Global Snooker Centre

Pool - World Pool Masters - Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago

• Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago

Thomas Engert is certainly back on the world pool stage! 2005 Swiss Open Champion, 2004 World Pool Masters Champion, 2004 European 9-Ball Champion, 2004 International Challenge of Champions winner and 2004 Italian Open Champion (Eurotour). For a couple of years the results seemed to have left Engert. But the latest two years he has definitely re-claimed his spot on the world top! By the age of 40 Engert is back, and he's hot!

What are the chances of the popular and entertaining snooker- and pool player Tony Drago against Engert? Well on the poolstage Drago won the World Pool Masters 2003 and was a bronze medallist in the World Pool Championships the same year. Drago is playing some good pool and he's often finishing high in the Eurotour events.

With Thomas Engert in excellent form my guess is it will be a tough match for Drago. I hold Engert a quite big favourite to win this one.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes

• Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes

Ralf Souquet 2002 US Open Champion, 1996 World Pool Champion, current European 9-ball Champion. Wihtout doubt one of Europes most consistent poolplayers over the past decade. Souquet always plays a great game. He takes the right desicions and he perform the shots well. He is since long one of the best poolplayers in the world.

But so is Efren Reyes! 1999 World Pool Champion, 1994 US Open Champion and IPT King of the Hill Champion 2005. His results hasn't been as good as we are used to though over the last years. He recently went thru an eye-surgery and will hopefully soon be back to the high standard of play we're used to see from him. My guess though is it's to soon after the surgery to face "The Kaiser" - Ralf Souquet. My guess is the winner will be Ralf Souquet

Pool - World Pool Masters - Imran Majid vs Alex Lely

• Imran Majid vs Alex Lely

Imran Majid won the Italian Open (Eurotour) this year, and is currently ranked number one in the UK. It seems Majid has developed his game notably over the last years, since he now often finishes high in many European tournaments. He also is number 4 on the European ranking (Eurotour ranking).

But what are his chances against the 2005 European 8-Ball and 9-Ball Champion, as well as the 2005 Italian Open Champion, Alex Lely? Well I'd say they're pretty good. Lely seems to be struggling with his form. On this years Eurotour he hasn't on six tourments finished higher than 17th (lost last 32)! Although one mustn't forget Lely is a very skilled player, and he know what it takes to win big tournaments. He is also a former winner of the World Pool Masters.

My guess it will be a close match, but i hold Majid as a small favourite.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Steve David vs Alex Pagulayan

• Steve Davis vs Alex Pagulayan

How can one not admire Steve Davis. Six times world snooker champion. At the age of 48 he still holds a place among the top 16 in the official world snooker ranking (11th). He plays snooker, pool, chess, poker, perform trickshot events etc. Davis is always a threat to anyone in the world both on the snooker table and on the pool table. Although not quite as good as the top pool players in the world noone can afford to underestimate him - but Alex Pagulayan wont!

Alex Pagulayan, 2005 US Open Champion, 2004 World Champion and 2003 World Champion runner-up to mention some of his merits, never wants to let his opponent get one single point! He is going to do everything he can to win every frame against his opponent. It doesn't matter if it's Steve Davis or if it's Efren Reyes, if he leads 7-0 or if his trailing 0-7. This should be a cuite comfortably win for the Canadian Alex Pagulyan.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

I'll continue with my guesses of the outcome of the matches in the Word Pool Masters. Next up is van den Berg vs Foldes.

• Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

Before van den Berg finished runner-up after Marcus Chamat yesterday in the Eurotour final, I held Foldes as favourite to win this match. It's a match between two players on the top-level in Europe.

Nick van den Berg have been performing well on the world-pool scene over the last couple of years. 2005 he won the Czech Open, 2005 Runner-up World 8-ball Championships, 2005 winner of the German Open, 2004 winner of the Dutch Open, to mention a few... And not to forget yesterday runner-up in the 2006 Austrian Open Eurotour !

So what about Vilmos Foldes the 2003 Junior World Champion. Well everybody is talking about him. He's hot - normally. Though, after poor results (according to his normal standards) in the Austrian Open I hols Nick van den Berg as a favourite to win the match.

Marcus Chamat winner of Eurotour

Marcus "Napoleon" Chamat won over Nick "El Nino" van den Berg 10 - 7. A couple of unforced errors from both players, but overall a well played final. Chamat made some questionable shots early in the match, but when the players came closer to the finish line the mistakes left him, and he played a perfect game in the end. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

Congratulations Marcus Chamat!

Eurotour Final Chamat - van den Berg

In the final:

Marcus Chamat - Nick van den Berg

Semis:
Thomas Engert - Nick van den Berg 7-10
Marcus Chamat - Niels Feijen 10-7

Semifinals

Thomas Engert vs Nick van den Berg

Niels Feijen vs Marcus Chamat

Results from quarter finals:
Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago 10-6
Christian Reimering vs Nick van den Berg 4-10
Imran Majid vs Marcus Chamat 7-10
Oliver Ortmann vs Niels Feijen 5-10

And the livescoring seems to be working again!

Eurotour Quarter Finals

Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago
Christian Reimering vs Nick van den Berg
Imran Majid vs Marcus Chamat
Oliver Ortmann vs Niels Feijen

Results from 1/8-finals:
Thomas Engert vs Konstantin Stepanov 10-4
Daryl Peach vs Tony Drago 8-10
Christian Reimering vs Radoslaw Babica 10-7
Roman Hybler vs Nick van den Berg 3-10
Imran Majid vs David Alcaide 10-8
Craig Osbourne vs Marcus Chamat 6-10
Oliver Ortmann vs Fabio Petroni 10-8
Sacha Tege vs Niels Feijen 4-10

Eurotour last 16

Last 16:

Thomas Engert vs Konstantin Stepanov
Daryl Peach vs Tony Drago

Christian Reimering vs Radoslaw Babica

Roman Hybler vs Nick van den Berg

Imran Majid vs David Alcaide

Craig Osbourne vs Marcus Chamat

Oliver Ortmann vs Fabio Petroni

Sacha Tege vs Niels Feijen

Eurotour in Austria - Results

Hi! The live scoring from the eurotour seems to be out of order, but you can find some results here at EPBF:s hompage. Biggest surprise so far is Ralf Souquet lost to Daryl Peach in the first match in the knock-out stages (last 32) 7-10. He will now meet Tony "The Tornado" Drago in the next round. Other "big" names still in the tournament are: Thomas Engert, Nick van den Berg, Marcus Chamat, Oliver Ortmann, Fabio Petroni and Niels Feijen to name a few.

Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen

I'm a fan of Niels Feijen (since Jörgen Sandman and Albin Ouchan Jr told me I look a lot like Feijen when I play ;-)) and would like to hold him as a favourite to win. Though he has been struggling with his form lately. He is always a tough opponent to anyone in the world, but to win this one I guess he'll have to find his best game. Following his diary he seems to be on his way back to his best form. Will he find it in time?

Rodney Morris won the 2006 UPA Pro Tour Championship beatind Thorsten Hohmann in the final. The last years we've seen Morris play an excellent game in the Mosconi Cup, as well as in the World Championships. These are two very consistent players on the world pool scene. I'd say whoever is in best form of the day will win the match - and I guess that will be Rodney Morris.

Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka

• Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka

This is a match between two players who have made some great results the last year. Raj Hundal made a name in the poolworld when he bet Alex Pagulayan 10-4 in the knockout stages in the World 9-ball Championship last year. He went on to win the World Pool Masters proving his win over Pagulayan was no "one hit wonder" (Sic! Hundals nickname is The Hitman). Although not very known i Europe Hiroshi Takenaka have been most successful over the last years. Winning Tokyo 9-ball Championship 2005, Tokyo Open 2005 and Seoul Open 2005.

I must admit I haven't seen much of Takenakas game and therefore it's mabye unfair of me to hold Hundal as a favourite. Though I haven't seen Takenaka perform great results outside Asia and I know this is a familiar scene for Hundal. Therefore my guess is - The winner is Raj Hundal.

World Pool Masters - Who will win?

The World Pool Masters starts at friday june 16th! The first round of matches will be played on friday and saturday. The first quarterfinal will be played on saturday. The rest of the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final will be played on sunday 18th june. In the first round we will see:

• Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka
• Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen
• Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes
• Steve Davis vs Alex Pagulayan
• Imran Majid vs Alex Lely
• Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes
• Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago
• Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

A most impressing field of players I must say! With sexteen world class pool (and snooker) players playing 9-ball matches first to 8 points it's hard to guess the outcome. But I'll try. I challenge all of you to come with your guess on the outcome of the matches!

Hi there!

Here I'm going to write about events in european billiards.

First up is the World Pool Masters (16-18 june).

I'll soon be back with more information.