Kelly Fisher Ready to Defend U.S. Open Title

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WPBA U.S. Open / Norman, OK

by InsidePOOL Staff

Kelly Fisher arrived in Norman, OK, ready to defend her WPBA U.S. Open title against 63 other hopefuls at the Riverwind Casino. The event began July 30 and will conclude August 2.

K. Fisher is making a strong bid for the title, having won her first-round match against Erica Testa 9-2 and then escaping a hill-hill squeaker against Nicole Keeney. Her next battle will come from Allison Fisher, who has notched wins over Helene Caukin 9-1 and Ramona Biddle 9-2.

In a surprising turn of events, last event’s champion, Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, was sent to the one-loss side by Kim Shaw 9-3 after surviving a hill-hill bout with Susan Mello in the first round. Shaw goes on to face Ga Young Kim, who has bested Liz Lovely 9-3 and Jennifer Barretta 9-8.

Monica Webb is going strong after two close victories over Sueyen Rhee 9-6 and Joanne Ashton 9-7. Her next match will be against Kyoko Sone, who has allowed only one game between her first two opponents—she bested Maureen Seto 9-0 and then Line Kjorsvik 9-1.

Fisher arrived in Norman, OK, ready to defend her WPBA U.S. Open title against 63 other hopefuls at the Riverwind Casino. The event began July 30 and will conclude August 2.

Perennial favorites Karen Corr and Xiaoting Pan are undefeated as yet—Corr bested Kim Jones 9-1 and then Morgan Steinman 9-4, while Pan went through Caroline Pao 9-3 and Cristina De La Garza 9-4. Corr’s next opponent will be Tracie Hines, and Pan will face off against Helena Thornfeldt.

Jeanette Lee easily handled Julia Gabriel 9-1 in the first round to face a tougher challenge in the next against Pam Cimarelli, whom she sent west 9-7. Lee’s next opponent will be Yu Ram Cha, who survived her first two matches against Tina Larsen 9-6 and Angelina Paglia 9-3.

Only eight players will return for Saturday’s matches, with the four semifinalists returning Sunday for the final day. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

World Cup of Pool Teams Named

Posted by admin as Billiard News

Matchroom Sport can announce the countries taking part in the 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool. 32 teams representing 31 nations will be present in Manila, Philippines from 1-6 September to contest what is pool’s most prestigious team prize.

The Philippines, as host nation, will have two teams present with pool legends Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes, who won the inaugural competition in 2006, making up one of the sides. The other Filipino side will be announced in the near future, as will the players taking part from each nation.

The American pairing of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris, who triumphed in Rotterdam, Holland, in the 2008 event, will be travelling to the pool-crazy Philippines to defend their title.

Morris and Van Boening had success for the American Team at last year's World Cup of Pool.

There will be a strong challenge from Europe with 15 nations all aiming to be the first European team to win the two-man team knockout tournament.

The event will be staged in at the SM City North Mall in the heart of Manila, Philippines with 31 matches played over six days. The host broadcaster is Solar Sports and each match will be produced by Matchroom Sport into 31 one-hour programmes which will be broadcast around the world.

The Teams

EUROPE

1. Austria 2. Belgium 3. Croatia 4. Denmark 5. England 6. Finland 7. France 8. Germany 9. Holland 10. Italy 11. Malta 12. Poland 13. Russia 14. Spain 15. Sweden

ASIA

16. China 17. Hong Kong 18. India 19. Indonesia 20. Japan 21. Korea 22. Malaysia 23. Philippines A 24. Philippines B 25. Singapore 26. Taiwan 27. Thailand 28. Vietnam

NORTH AMERICA

29. Canada 30. USA

OCEANIA

31. Australia

MIDDLE EAST

32. Qatar

Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: luke.riches@matchroom.com, +44 7785 395688

Notes: Matchroom Sport is one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,100 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, the World Cup of Pool is one of a stable of pool events that include the Mosconi Cup and the World Pool Masters.

The 2009 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyCasino.net, the world’s leading online casino. Tables are supplied by Brunswick Billiards, cloth by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc and the Official Cue is Predator.

Latest Billiards Magazine Released for Free Download

Posted by admin as Billiard News

July/August 2009 Issue of Inside POOL Magazine Available for Free Download

The July/August 2009 issue of Inside POOL Magazine, which features Darren Appleton on the cover after his win at the Party Poker World Pool Masters, has been made available for free download at InsidePOOLmag.com.  This month the download features new technology in online magazine viewing such as flipping pages, zooming, emailing, sharing, and printing.

This month features Darren "Dynamite" Appleton posing with his trophy from the Party Poker World Pool Masters.

This month features Darren Appleton posing with his trophy from the Party Poker World Pool Masters. Dennis Orcollo snares a victory in Vegas and Monica Webb takes her second WPBA win. Tony Crosby cashes in at the Seminole Pro Tour while Yang takes down the Philippine Open. The APA gives away $450,000 in Vegas and he BCA Pool League stages their Nationals in Vegas. Get the latest billiard tour news from the regions across the U.S. Score with some curvaceous shots and get more pool lessons from top professionals.

Download the July/August 2009 issue of Inside POOL Magazine for Free

Inside POOL Magazine publishes both print and online versions of each issue. The online version is usually made available for FREE (without a membership) viewing and downloading around the middle of each month. If you would like to receive the print version of this wonderful magazine, please visit InsidePOOLmag.com to subscribe.

Iceman Crushes Amsterdan Billiards Event

Posted by admin as Billiard News

Mika Immonen Dominant in Stellar Performance at Amsterdam Billiards
Written By Jerry Tarantola, NYCgrind.com

A full field of 64 pool players quickly sold out the Predator Tour’s 10th event of the season. Even though it was a beautiful summer weekend, the field was filled in 40 minutes. The popular Manhattan local drew top local and regional players to come out to show NYC’s knowledgeable crowd that they’ve got game.

Standout names that were in attendance were Frankie Hernandez, Tony Robles, Mika Immonen, “Ginky” George Sansouci, Al Lapena, Zion Zvi, “Spain” Marc Vidal, Matt Krah and Bobby Blackmore.

Amsterdam Billiards has a history of hosting pro events and exhibitions, as well as bringing celebrities around the game of pool. While there were no notable celebrities in attendance, each of the 64 players were looking to make a statement at the NYC hotspot.

The Predator Tour event brought back the final 8 players in a showdown beginning at High Noon. The winner’s side match ups were: Al Lapena vs. Bobby Blackmore and reining “US Open Champion” Mika Immonen vs breakthrough player Zion Zvi.

Zion has been playing tremendous as of late, including winning the 8th Stop of the Predator Tour as well as placing 3rd in the Maryland Straight Pool Championships. While Zion showed that he can hang with anyone in the world, Mika was able to clutch out the win 9-7.

Bobby Blackmore (def) Al Lapena 9-7 lining up the winner’s side “Hot Seat” with arguably the best pool player in the world…. Mika Immonen.

Mika is still fresh from snapping off the Qatar Open, and is having a remarkable year, with another recent win at the Japan Open.

Bobby wasn’t able to put the heat on the “Iceman” as Mika controlled the match en-route to a 9-4 score. The “W” left Mika in sole position in the finals on the winner’s side of the bracket.

On the one loss side the match ups were… Matt Krah vs Victor Nau and Mhet Vergara vs Joey Kong.

Matt Krah (def) Victor Nau 9-6, before losing to Al Lapena in a tough “Hill-Hill” battle (9-8).

On the bottom half of the bracket Joey Kong “King Kong” played a big game during his 1st match over local Filipino top player Mhet Vergara.

Joey followed up with another strong performance, but couldn’t overcome new player on the scene, Zion Zvi’s consistent and clutch play. Zion was able to clutch out the set “Hill-Hill” 9-8.

Zion was then matched up with a top Fil-Am player Al Lapena on the front table. This match displayed strong play by both players including outstanding shotmaking and safety play. Al jumped out to an early 5-1 lead before Zion came back with a near perfect performance to win 9-7. When the dust settled, it was Zion Zvi getting the win by way of a 9-7 score.

The stage was set in a match-up between local top player Bobby Blackmore and Zion Zvi. Bobby is known for his aggressive play, hard break and quick tempo. Zion has a more determined shot making process and controlled game. The contrast in styles coupled with the fact that both of these players wanted to have a shot at “The Iceman” built up this feature match up.

Zion was dominant in a outstanding performance allowing Bobbby to only win 3 games in the race to 9.

After a short break that seemed to spark a heavy thunderstorm, the knowledgeable NYC billiards crowd was primed for the feature matchup. The final match was one race to 11 games, determining the winner of the 10th Predator Tour Stop of the season.

Go4pool.net streamed the final match and had commentary by “Snookie” Diana Rojas, “Smitty” Dan Smith, and tournament director, William Finnegan.

Zion won the lag, and pocketed a ball on his first break, but missed a tough cut on the one ball that cost him 2 games. Mika ran that rack out, and broke and ran out the next rack as well. The players traded the next two games making the score 4-2.

Mika went on an impressive 7-2 run, en-route to a 11-4 score… capping off an impressive tournament.

“The Iceman” is preparing for the Mezz Classic which will take place in Orlando from August 6-9th. The former World Champion is looking forward to seeing the cue company that makes his cue give back to the pros. Along with playing great, Mika also mentioned that he feels that he is making a great contribution to the game through his recently-released instructional DVD, “Mastering Pool.”

The Predator Tour would like to thank all its players who came out to this event, as well as the tour’s sponsors: Blatt Billiards, Delta 13 Racks and The Seminole Tribe of Florida.

A full field of 64 pool players quickly sold out the Predator Tour's 10th event of the season, but it was Immonen that stole the day.

Final Results:

1st: Mika Immonen $1150

2nd: Zion Zvi $775

3rd: Bobby Blackmore $550

4th: Al Lapena $400

5th/6th: Matt Krah, Joey Kong $325

7/8th: Mhet Bergara, Victor Nau $250

9-12th: Tony Robles, Mike Yednek, Marc Vidal, Derek Schwager $175

13-16th: “Ginky” George Sansouci, Justin Muller, Junior Sanchez, Richard Louapre $125

B-C Event:

There were 21 players who came out to play in the B-C tournament which took place on Sunday July 27th.

Ed Sumner plays a strong match over home player Trevor Heal defeating him 5-1 setting up a “Hot Seat Match” with Ed Hugh. Ed Hugh played solid defeating Ed Sumner 5-3, earning a shot in the finals.

On the west side of the bracket, Diana Rojas played a gritty match against Sam Islam (7-4), lining up a match between her and Ed Sumner.

Ed earned a spot in the finals by stopping the surging Rojas in a close 7-5 battle.

Ed Hugh was impressive in a 7-3 win over House player Ed Sumner, to capture the BC event.

Final Results:

1st: $250

2nd: $170

3rd: Diana Rojas $110

4th: Sammy Islan $70

Highest Finishing C player:

There was a tie between Neslihan Gürel and Bobby Schlotz

The next event will be at Comet Billiards August 15th/16h.

Galveston World Classic Announces Arena Admission Packages

Posted by admin as Billiard News

Taylor Road Productions is pleased to announce a selection of admission packages for the Galveston World Classic, which is a $1,000,000 billiard event taking place September 11-20, 2009 at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX. The packages are primarily for the various arenas that top professionals will be participating over the course of the Galveston World Classic.

The admission packages for the Galveston World Classic are designed to offer spectators access into the two arenas that professionals will be performing. The two arenas that the professionals will be performing will be divided into the Pro Arena and the Television Arena.

The amateurs will be performing in the Amateur Arenas, which are accessible to the general public as spectators. A detailed layout of the arenas is available for viewing at the Galveston World Classic web site download page.

The Pro Arena is an area with 40 nine foot pool tables that the professional events will be played. This area will include seating for almost 1,400 spectators. The Pro Arena does not include VIP seating and will be separate from the Television Arena.

The Television Arena features 1 nine foot pool table that the live streaming, challenge matches and televised matches will be played. This arena features seating for 400 Gold VIP admission spectators.

Amateur players will be offered significant discounts when purchasing daily and weekly admission packages to the professional arenas. These discounted packages can be paid in advance when paying entry fees, at the event or by phoning Taylor Road Productions.

There are three general packages available for spectators to choose; Silver, Gold and Platinum. Admission packages are available for purchase daily or for the entire event.

The Silver VIP package offers admission to the Pro Arena only. This does not offer admission into the Televised Arena.

The Gold VIP package offers admission to the Televised Arena only. This does not offer admission into the Pro Arena.

The Platinum VIP Package offers admission to both the Televised Arena and Pro Arena.

Each professional player will be given one Platinum pass to be used with any individual of their choice. Amateur players will be offered significant discounts when purchasing daily and weekly admission packages to the professional arenas. These discounted packages can be paid in advance when paying entry fees, at the event or by phoning Taylor Road Productions.

Non-player admission packages are available for sale on the Galveston World Classic web site store.

About Taylor Road Productions
Taylor Road Productions is the producer and promoter of the Galveston World Classic from September 11-20, 2009 at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX. The Galveston World Classic features over $1,000,000 in prize money, will be streamed live online for free, and will be televised in dozens of countries. The vision of Taylor Road Productions is to produce pool and billiard events that promote the sport to a new level by large cash prizes, televised events and high profile events for all to experience. The company web site is The Galveston World Classic.