Four Undefeated Players Remain in 14.1 Championships

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Four Undefeated Players Remain in 14.1 Championships
Predator Straight Pool Championships / East Brunswick, NJ

by Skip Maloney

Van Den Berg is one of the four undefeated players going into the single elimination rounds at the Predator World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship in East Brunswick, NJ.

Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen, Nick Van den Berg, and Niels Feijen advanced undefeated Thursday in the Predator Straight Pool Championships, held in East Brunswick, NJ, this week. The top four finishers in eight groups of eight players have advanced to Thursday’s double elimination round of 32.

Germany’s Oliver Ortmann, the reigning champion, was also among those who advanced, concluding his three days of round robin action with a 6-1 record and total ball count of 660. Ortmann ended up in first place in his group. Mike Dechaine came in second with two losses, and Allen Hopkins finished at 5-2 in that group to finish third.

Five players in Group 2 of the round robin pairings ended up with 5-2 records. Tournament founder Charlie Williams finished at the top of that group with a 663 total ball count and advances, along with Mike Sigel (644), Ignacio Chavez (599), and Thorsten Hohmann (597).

View the NEW Predator World 14.1 Straight Pool Single Elimination Brackets online

View the UPDATED Predator World 14.1 Straight Pool Brackets online
View the UPDATED Predator World 14.1 Straight Pool Scores

USA’s Dave Daya was at the top of his group with a 6-1 record, in spite of recording only the fourth highest total ball count (613). Advancing with him were John Schmidt (5-2; 688); Germany’s Dominic Jentsch ((4-3; 657); and number-three seed, Netherland’s Huidji See (5-2; 629).

Advancing with Feijen were Bob Maidhof (5-2; 621), Danny Harriman (5-2; 598) and Danny Barouty (4-3; 584). Francisco Bustamante and Ralf Souquet finished with 6-1 records in their group and tied at 667 for the second-highest ball total. Advancing with them were Tony Robles, who, though finishing at 4-3, recorded the highest ball total for that group – 677. Vincent Facquet (4-3; 555) of France also advanced.

Van den Berg will be joined in the round of 32 by Corey Deuel (5-2; 626), Thomas Engert (5-2; 568), and Raj Hundal (4-3; 554).  Joining Immonen from his group will be Konstantin Stepanov (6-1; 648), Bobby Hunter (5-2; 571) and Ed Deska (4-3; 507). USA’s Mike Davis was edged out of contention in that group, scoring the fourth-highest ball total (522), but finishing with a 3-4 record.

The young Jasmin Ouchan managed to tally the fourth-highest ball total (546) in her group that included the undefeated Johnny Archer to advance even with a 3-4 record at the end of the round robin action. Archer and Ouschan will be joined by Poland’s Radislaw Babica (5-2; 624) and Steve Lipsky (4-3; 587).

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Posted by admin as Product Reviews

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Archer Successfully Defends Turning Stone Billiard Title

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Archer Successfully Defends Turning Stone Billiard Title
Turning Stone Classic XI / Verona, NY

by InsidePOOL Staff

Archer successfully defended his title at the Turning Stone Classic XI billiards tournament.

After four days of play against some of the toughest 9-ballers in the world and in one of the most anticipated events of the year, Johnny Archer has come through the one-loss side to win first place at the Turning Stone Classic XI, defending his title from the tenth event last February. This $25,000-added event was hosted by the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY, and boasted a full 128-player field.

They day began with the final four in the winners’ bracket fighting for the hot seat. Raj “Hitman” Hundal overcame Francisco Bustamante by a strong 9-4 score in their match and advanced to the hot seat match to play Charlie Williams, who had just sent Jeremy Jones, recent victor of the GenerationPool.com 9-Ball Championships, to the west side 9-6.

On the left side of the chart, the last four remaining were fighting to stay alive. Shane Van Boening, who took his first loss Saturday from Williams 9-6, eliminated Steve Moore 9-3 and then went on to play a newly arrived Bustamante. But Bustamante was fired up after his loss to Hundal and took control of the match against the 2007 Player of the Year, besting him 9-6.

In the lower bracket, defending champion Johnny Archer was not to be ruled out. Archer fought through the one-loss bracket all day Saturday to culminate in a 9-6 victory over Ronnie Wiseman in the last match of the evening. Sunday morning he started out with a close 9-7 defeat of Jonathan Pinegar. He kept going with his momentum, breezing through Jones 9-2 to meet up with Bustamante in the quarterfinals. This was his toughest match so far—it went double-hill, but Archer prevailed again.

View the final Turning Stone Classic tournament brackets      Bracket is updated round by round

The hot seat match between Williams and Hundal was a close one that ended with Williams winning 9-7, sending Hundal to the west side to face Archer. There Hundal had complete control, racing to an 8-2 lead over the former world champion. However, things took a turn for the worse for Hundal when Archer got back to the table and caught fire, running racks out from everywhere and coming back to an 8-7 score in Hundal’s favor. Faced with a kick shot on the 4, Hundal made it but scratched, and Archer had no trouble clearing the table to make it a hill-hill match. After Archer’s break, he played a billiard off the 1 into the 9 to win 9-8 and advance to the finals.

In the extended race-to-13 final match, Williams never really stood a chance. Archer, after his defeat at the hands of Hatch Saturday, was forced to make the long trudge through the one-loss side and won eight matches in a row to reach the finals. Not only was he pocketing balls on the break but he kept control of the cue ball afterward, giving him the ability to break and run out often. It was this that enabled Archer to take the final match 13-6.

Raj “The Hitman” Hundal

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Raj Hundal

Raj "The Hitman" Hundal

“I live life in the fast lane, that’s the truth,” smiled Raj Hundal. “I think I live every day like it’s my last, almost. Try to get the most out of it, that’s my mentality. That’s why when I’m behind in matches, I’m not scared at that point.”

Hailing from Hounslow in the United Kingdom, Hundal was six when he began playing on his cousin’s snooker table. When his father saw Raj beating not only his cousins but his uncles as well, he took his son to the snooker room.

“I was way too short to play, so I used to have a beer crate about a foot high,” remembered Hundal. “I used to play a shot, drag the beer crate around, and jump up on it and play another shot. I had a real passion for the game, to play snooker. I was crazy as a kid.”

From there, he began playing in handicapped events at 10 and had his first “century break” when he was 13. Hundal became of the UK’s top junior snooker players and made the natural progression into 9-ball when he sighted a poster for an upcoming event. Playing with a snooker cue and a house stick, he ended up taking third place.

His game steadily improved, and it wasn’t long before he made a name for himself as one of the top 9-ballers in Britain. Off to the World Pool Championships in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, he was matched up with one of the toughest players in the world, Chin-Shun Yang, in Yang’s hometown, and won.

“There were five hundred guys in the audience rooting for him, and three guys rooting for me. That was a big win for me, I thought that the whole world was against me, but I really love that. I got a big buzz off of it.” He was eliminated by Rodney Morris from that event but got his revenge a couple of months later when he bested the Hawaiian in the finals of the World Pool Masters.

“Everyone’s as good as each other. On their own day, anyone can be the greatest,” Hundal averred. “I think that as professional athletes and sportsmen that the world actually looks up to, we should set an example.”

Eight Set to Return in Turning Stone Classic

Posted by admin as Billiard Tour News - Pool Tour News

Eight Set to Return in Turning Stone Classic
Turning Stone Classic XI / Verona, NY

by InsidePOOL Staff

Raj "The Hitman" Hundal is one the final eight billiards players returning Sunday at the Turning Stone Classic XI in Verona, NY.

The axe has fallen for all but eight fine players at the Turning Stone Classic XI, hosted by the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. This four-day event will end tomorrow, with one player taking the lion’s share of the $25,000-added purse.

In the winners’-bracket matches, four remain. The UK’s Raj “Hitman” Hundal is dealing death blows to his opponents left and right. After besting Greg Atonakas 9-4, Raj Hundal went on to defeat Ronnie Wiseman by the same score. Hundal will face Francisco Bustamante in Sunday’s rounds to see who advances to the hot seat match. Bustamante has been on a tear—the closest his opponents have come has been putting up five racks to his nine. In his last match of the evening, Bustamante sent frequent Joss Tour winner Dennis Hatch west 9-5.

Charlie Williams, fresh off his Lucasi Hybrid win in Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago, did the near-impossible by sending Shane Van Boening to the one-loss side 9-6. Williams’ first opponent Sunday will be recent EnjoyPool.com winner Jeremy “Double J” Jones, who defeated Shaun Wilkie 9-6.

Tony Crosby, who suffered a second-round loss earlier in the tournament, finally succumbed when he met Van Boening in the one-loss side. In the last round of the evening, Van Boening eliminated Crosby 9-5 and will advance to play Steve Moore, who had an illustrious day Saturday. He started off by ousting lone female Karen Corr 9-4, went on to eliminate Chris Szuter 9-4, and then fought to double-hill with Wilkie before winning 9-8.

View the Turning Stone Classic tournament brackets

Defending champion Johnny Archer has had a long road ahead after his loss to Hatch Saturday but still remains standing. He bested Dave Fernandez 9-3 and Shawn Putnam 9-4 before meeting up with Wiseman. In this rematch of their semifinal match in the EnjoyPool.com 9-Ball Championships, Archer wreaked revenge to win 9-6 and advances to Sunday’s rounds. He will play Jonathan “Hennessee From Tennessee” Pinegar, who also had a long day in the one-loss side bracket. After eliminating Mike Badsteubner 9-6, Pinegar ousted tournament director Mike Zuglan 9-4 and then had a tough battle with Hatch, winning 9-7.

Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.