O'Sullivan Wins Fourth Welsh Open Despite Off Table Distractions

By: Markus Noé

Last week many of the top Snooker players in the world took part in the Welsh Open. This world ranking event is the third longest running event of its kind outside the U.K Championship and the World Championship.

O'Sullivan was competing in only his second event of the season after winning the Masters last month. He has continued the trend of picking and choosing the tournaments he plays regardless of what it means to his world ranking. However despite being currently ranked #4 he is still widely considered the best player in the world. A penalty of sorts for not playing in as many events as the other travelling professionals is on route to winning these titles he has to face top players earlier in the draw.

For instance in the quarter-finals he was matched up against current #1 Mark Selby. However after dominating each previous match up O'Sullivan cruised to a 5-1 victory. Early in the week he sparked controversy by deciding to opt out of a "maximum" which is a 147 by choosing to shoot the pink instead of the black needed when it was technically available. This was highlighted when he asked what the bonus was for the 147 earlier on in the run. When he heard it was €10,000 Euros he was visibly disgusted and later choose to shoot the pink meaning he could only get to 146 with a clearance.

Most top players would like to avoid any type of controversy or extra attention while competing at the highest level. However O'Sullivan appears to welcome it, which is a testament to his bullet proof mental game at the moment. In the final he was pitted up against Neil Roberston who O'Sullivan himself considers the best player currently going. Being down 5-2 did not seem to phase him as going into the evening session he needed to put some frames together. He quickly won the first two frames and Roberston seemed to fade under the pressure he was put under by O'Sullivan. The final score ended up being 9-5 and O'Sullivan claimed his 4th Welsh Open title.

The accused Matt Balme 

The 146 was not the only off table distraction this week, as O'Sullivan has been spamming his Twitter feed to expose a con-artist. According to the "peoples champ", this character Matt Balme presenting himself as some sort of business man has been taking peoples money for investments and disappearing. O'Sullivan has admitted that this man has bilked him for €125,000.  During the Open he posted a warning and photo of Balme telling people to look out for this character almost daily. It is hard to believe that while playing at such a high level he had all this going on in his mind at the same time. He is definitively one of a kind.

In the post match interview O'Sullivan stated that he will be putting the cue down again until the World Championship in April. So Ronnie fans will have to wait until then to get the next show. The benefit of all this time off he takes is he comes into each event fresh and ready to play. Which for us means we will once again be treated to some fantastic Snooker in April.

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Buddy & Ewa Win Legends of Pool Championship at the Florida Billiards Expo

Buddy Hall, JoAnn Mason Parker, Ray Martin,Ewa Mataya Laurance, LoreeJon Hasson, Jim Rempe surround executive producer Charlie Williams (center), creator of the Legends of Pool Championship. The Villages, Florida-  There were numerous highlights where each pro shined, but it was the stellar play of Buddy "Rifleman" Hall and Ewa "Striking Viking" Mataya Laurance that beat out their esteemed peers for The Legends of Pool Championship. Six legends of pool reunited after 25 years, and day 3 didn't fail to please the full house audiences of the 3rd Annual Florida Billiards Expo   at The Villages, Florida. Ted Harris Custom Cues, Grindn Clothing, Richard Black Cues, and SharkStrokesBilliards.com were just some of the vendors featured at the FBE. Fans can still order the Official Shirts of the Expo with the Legends of Pool players on them by calling SharkStrokes at 407-288-2656 The Legends of Pool & The Florida Billiards Expo are sponsored by Fross & Fross Wealth Management, Rasson Billiards, Arden's Fine Jewelers,Andy Cloth, Quantum Vitality Centers, Aramith Balls, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Taom Tips and Viking Cue. Sponsorships are still available.  The events are produced by the Villages Billiards Club and Dragon Promotions. Event marketing and promotions by Orlando Synergy. Buddy Hall continued his undefeated momentum from Day 1 with a 5-3 win in the singles against Ray Martin. Hall got an early lead at 4-1, but Martin fought back to get within 1 game at 3-4 before a final break and run by Hall. "I've never beaten Buddy in the finals of any tournament. I beat him plenty of times on the winners side, and then he would always come back and beat me in the finals", Ray stated even during the match. Rempe & Hall share a moment. The legends had barrels of fun during the weekend Next the fans were in for a treat with a 6-handed Ring Game between all the legends. Once again, it would be the Rifleman Buddy Hall taking the first game that set the tone for the entire ring game. Martin and Rempe were winless in 7 games in a row and were eliminated in game 7 with a Buddy Hall runout. This left Buddy as the lone male with all 3 lady legends still alive. JoAnn Mason Parker was eliminated shortly after with Ewa and LoreeJon trading racks to hold on. In an all in situation down to her last barrel, LoreeJon won that game and kept herself alive. Ewa found herself in the same predicament next but was eliminated. LoreeJon hanged tough after a fortunate miss on the 9-ball by Hall, but Buddy was too far ahead in barrels and cash that LoreeJon succumbed in game # 12. The Rifleman had proven once again why he is one of the all time greatest money players in history. "A 5 handed ring game is perfect. 8 would be a lot. But 6 works just fine", said Buddy before the match began. Guess he knew what he was talking about! Next the pros took a break and fans were able to enjoy a well organized brunch with their heroes. After that, they were treated to a live music show in the arena. The evening session started with a highly anticipated showdown between LoreeJon Hasson vs Ewa Laurance. The two rivals had not played against one another in 15 years. The arena was at full capacity for this one. And you could hear a pin drop.    TV host and actor Mitch Laurance watches his legendary wife.  Tennis Hall of Famer Tom Sweitzer (center) & his wife Mikel enjoy their first pool event. "It's all fun and games before, but now this was a match I wasn't going to miss", said Mitch Laurance, famed ESPN billiards analyst and golf host who is married to Ewa. "Neither one of them wants to lose this match", said Dave Hasson, LoreeJon's husband. Unfortunately there had to be a winner. Ewa came out strong just as she did in her whitewash of JoAnn. Within 20 minutes, Ewa held a 4-0 lead and only needed one game more to have a perfect 10-0 game record in both her singles matches. But LoreeJon the "Queen of the Hill" lived up to her nickname and fought back in 3 straight games and now we had a real match. A packed house watches as Ewa vs LoreeJon reignited one of the fiercest rivalries in billiards But a costly position error gave Ewa a final opening and she took advantage of it with a runout to seal the victory over her longtime nemesis 5-3. "LoreeJon is a fighter. She never gives up. That's what all these champions have in common", said Rempe. "Ewa has a heart as big as the world in competition", LoreeJon had stated before the match. Rempe was not able to stop the Rifleman Next was the final singles match of the event with Hall vs Rempe. Both players recalled the last time they had played, incredibly, which was 17 years ago. Rempe made too many unforced errors, while Hall played precise and consistent. Buddy cruised to a 5-2 victory and locked himself up for 1st place in the event. The finale event was 8-ball, and it was the Battle of the Sexes. The ladies vs the gentlemen. The crowd had not stirred and was anxious to see this historic match-up. But during the final introductions, Ray Martin's daughter Robyn came out and gave a brief speech about her father in celebration of his pending 81st birthday. Ray was moved to tears, as well as most of the audience watching. "My father stepped away from the game to provide for his family first...he still came back to the game and won world championships. He always emulated the virtues of a gentleman    and embraces what is truly important in life", said Robyn. "Why couldn't you have said this after I played this match!", said Ray jokingly as he wiped tears from his face and embraced his daughter. "I didn't script this, but this may have been the best part of the event!" said Phil De Angelo, President of the Villages Billiard Club who co-promoted the Florida Billiards Expo with Dragon Promotions.  In the finale match, it turned out not to be a match at all. The ladies trounced on the men 2-0 getting to the hill first. With ball in hand, the men had a ray of light as Buddy Hall studied the table for a good minute , deliberating the best pattern for his teammates in the scotch doubles format. Finally picking his path, he shot his ball in. "Foul." said the referee. "Eeeeeeee! Buddy shot the wrong ball!", exclaimed LoreeJon screaming with delight. "I told you I'm not an 8-Ball player", laughed Hall to his team and the audience. "Buddy, you are now officially a Villager!", announced De Angelo to the laughing roar of the audience. The ladies ran out with JoAnn making the final 8-ball for a 3-0 shut-out of the men. Ewa and Buddy had both won their respective divisions with a splintering identical 5 win and 1 loss record. They were both crowned and announced as the Legend of Legends. Doubles partners Buddy & Ewa won everything and are now the Legend of Legends! "Oh I had such a wonderful time. These are such good friends of mine and I care about all of them deeply. It was such a pleasure being here at the Florida Billiards Expo", said Hall. "The best part was seeing everyone. That was always what I looked forward to the most", said Rempe. The Florida Billiards Expo is slated for January or February of 2017 and is already being designed to dramatically increase events, players, and vendors to triple the size of this year's. Visit FloridaBilliardsExpo.com for full stories and photo galleries.             The Official Sponsors & Products of the Florida Billiards Expo & The Legends of Pool   Sponsors are welcomed to contact 407-782-4978 floridabilliardsexpo@gmail.com.  Visit www.facebook.com/floridabilliardsexpo .   Dragon Promotions & Orlando Synergy are event organizing and marketing companies respectively. Visit www.dragonpromotions.com  For interest in marketing and branding your company, business, or events please contact Orlando Synergy at 1-407-782-4978 or email support@dragonpromotions.com

Alex "The Lion" Pagulayan Remains the Master of the Table.

9 Ball Champion Shane VanBoening, 1 Pocket Champion Alex Pagulayan, Banks Champion John Bumback. 

By: Markus Noé

This past Saturday at the Horseshoe Casino in Southern Indiana the Derby City Classic (D.C.C) came to an end. This event is definitively a marathon and not a sprint as it is 10 days of non stop tournament and gambling action. The three main tournaments which account for the Master of the Table points are the 1 Pocket, Banks, and 9 Ball which featured over 400 players in each field. The player who finishes the best in each event and accumulates the most points wins this coveted title which pays an additional $20,000.

Going into the final day Alex Pagulayan who already won the 1 Pocket title, needed a top three position to win his second all around title in row.  In the end Pagulayan had to get past a fellow Canadian Jason Klatt in the 4th place match to secure another title. He did so with ease winning 9-5 and drew into Shane VanBoening next. With SVB being perhaps a top 3 player in the World he has done this to a lot of nations, however I  have dubbed him the "Canadian Killer". He has a very impressive record against our best players John Morra and Alex Pagulayan, and earlier in the tournament he beat Hjorliefson 9-0 in 25 minutes.

That being said after a very competitive match, Pagulayan came out ahead 9-8. After this match there were three players left and all had one loss so they did a draw with one player getting a bye into the final. The always crowd favorite Pagulayan was the one who got the bye into the final. As soon as it was announced he let out a Lion like roar and celebrated to the delight of the crowd. In the semi-final we got to see another chapter in the rivalry between Dennis Orcullo and Shane VanBoening play out. Once equalizing the match at 7-7 SVB broke and ran the set out to win 9-7 and earned a rematch with Pagulayan. The final was a completely different story as SVB came out to a 8-0 lead in the race to 9. Pagulayan managed to secure 4 racks and lost 9-4 as SVB secured another D.C.C 9 Ball title.

Earlier in the week Pagulayan beat Niels Feijen in the final of the 1 Pocket. Jayson Shaw made his first appearance in the Banks final losing to the seasoned veteran John Brumback 3-2. Shaw was impressive all week wining the 10 Ball Bigfoot Challenge and taking home $16,000. In doing so he became the first player to beat SVB in this event in 3 years, winning 11-5 in the final. It was not experience but pure talent that got him to the final of the Banks division, I had the pleasure to watch a few matches and Shaw plays banks like he plays 9 ball, fast and loose. The scary part is he fires all these banks and makes them at a high percentage. However in the final the savvy of Bumback who is among the best bank players ever, was too much to deal with.  

The other "side" tournament was the 14.1 George Fels Memorial. Through qualifying Lee Van Corteza had the highest run of balls at 225. It was John Shmidt and Dennis Orcullo who met in the final with Orcullo coming out the winner. In the end it was once again Paguluyan's week at the Derby and for those who may have doubted it he has now proven himself to be one of the best all around players of all time.  There is not one cue-sport that he has not played and been successful at. He has multiple 1 Pocket titles at the D.C.C and as won the 9 Ball and the Banks at least one time. Also some might not be aware he is also a decorated Snooker player, winning the Canadian Championship several times. Last year he was agonizingly close to earning his "tour card" which no player who began by playing pool has ever come close to.  Congratulations to Pagulayan and all the winners this week and thank you to Accu-Stats.com for the great stream.