World Team Championships: Down to the Final 16

Photo Courtesy Tai Chengzhe/China Foto Press & the WPA.

By: Markus Noé

Over the past few days the group stage has been playing out at the World Team Championships in Beijing,China. Thus far there is not much to report in the way of upsets as all the heavy hitters have moved on through to the final 16 knock out stage. This particular format has opposing countries play six sets which include 8-ball men’s doubles, 8-ball men’s singles, 9-ball women’s singles, 9-ball men’s singles, 10-ball mixed scotch doubles and a 10-ball men’s singles.

With there being a large gap in talent and experience among the 25 teams, upsets were hard to come by. It is understandable that a weaker team might steal a set or two but to win enough to get through to the knock out stage is a long shot for many countries in this format. Team U.S.A (Corey Duel, Hunter Lombardo, Oscar Dominguez, Jennifer Barretta) the sole North American representation at this event beat Bulgaria 5-1 and moved on to the final 16, which will be a single elimination knock out stage.

Photo of Team U.S.A  from Corey Duel Facebook Page, Corey Duel, Jennifer Barreta, Hunter Lombardo, Oscar Dominguez

The knock out stage begins Thursday with the semi-final played Friday and the final on Saturday. The last time Canada was represented at this event they finished in the quarter-finals. The team we would have sent, Jason Klatt, John Morra, Erik Hjorleifson and Brittany Bryant in my opinion would have been one of the few teams capable of upsetting some of the power houses. It has been three years since their last team outing and all have gained lots of valuable international experience since then.

It should be noted that out of the 25 teams who participated in this years Championships. A fair amount of these teams are funded by their governments or local associations with some teams even provided with coaches. This would mainly be true for the European and Asian countries.  Support such as this is something that is lacking for North American players at the moment. Check in for daily updates from the knock-out stages starting tomorrow.

Final 16
1.China 1 vs. Singapore
2.Poland vs. Croatia
3.Philippines vs. Indonesia
4.Chinese-Taipei vs. Austria
5.China II vs. Sweden
6.Great Britain vs. Vietnam
7.Germany vs. Russia

8.Japan vs. USA

Inaugural N.A.P.A Canada Cup Challenge

By: Markus Noé

The North American Poolshooters Association (N.A.P.A) held their inaugural Canada Cup Challenge this past Saturday July 26th, at Raxx Billiards Bar &Grill in Kingston, Ontario. This pitted league members from Montreal against rival league members from the Kingston and surrounding area against one another.

The Québec team came with 15 shooters and the Ontario team had 11. This challenge included singles and scotch double events in 8,9 and 10 ball and "laggers choice" in which the winner of the lag picks the game. It was races to 7, with 5 singles matches and 2 scotch doubles matches taking place in all the disciplines.

Montreal features extensive leagues and circuits such as the Québec Federation, where most of these players have honed their skills in. This perhaps gave them the edge they needed as the Québec team went on to win the first ever Canada Cup Challenge convincingly 220-154. Talking with some of the Ontario team members after the event I found out a few of their top shooters were missing on this day.This should add to this rivalry for next year as team Ontario now feel they have something to prove.

The next Canada Cup Challenge will be held in Montreal at a location to be determined at a later date. It will run a little differently next year as players will have to qualify to be a member of either team. N.A.P.A is a fairly new organization to the pool league scene. They run in a similar manner to the T.A.P leagues and the C.P.A. They boast an extensive "sandbagger" free handicapped system that has a place for all players amateur to world class.

A big thank you goes out to the host at Raxx Billiards Bar & Grill. As well as Rob MacArthur  (Ont) and Eric Rousseau(QC) who organized this fun and flawless event. If you are interested in joining the N.A.P.A leagues or directing one yourself talk to either MacArthur or Rousseau (depending where you reside) and they will set you up with everything you need.

Klatt Double Dips Bergman to Win Memphis Open 10 ball

Photo provided by Rick Hansen 

By :Markus Noé

This past weekend the Memphis Open took place at High Pockets in Tennessee, July 23-27. The events included One Pocket Open, 10 Ball Open and Amateur 9 Ball. These tournaments were all well attended and the two open events featured some world class talent.  It is no wonder why, as this tournament has a substantial amount of added money. $2000 added $500 entry One pocket, $4000 added $500 entry 10 Ball, plus $500 added Amateur 9 ball.

The 10 ball event began play on July 25th. Canadian Jason "Klatticus" Klatt had a bye that lead right to Mosconi Cup team member Brandon Shuff. Klatt set the tone for his tournament here winning this match and continuing on to beat Dennis Hatch and Ruben Bautista. In the winners side final Klatt met up with another Mosconi Cup team member, Justin Bergman. Here Bergman put a stop to Klatt's run and continued his own, winning 17-7.

Bergman overpowered some big names on his way to the final as he dispatched Sky Woodward,  Johnny "the Scorpion" Archer and Justin Hall. Klatt waited in the losers side final as Johnny Archer made his way through the bracket. On this day the Scorpion was no match for Klatticus as he regained his earlier form and won 17-8, against a visibly frustrated Archer.

Photo by Kenneth Lawson 

 This was a true double elimination event, meaning Klatt had to beat Bergman twice in order to win. The first set was a tightly contested affair. At 15-14, Klatt won this game and never looked back to take the first set 17-14. The second set once again was a close affair between these two young talents. However Klatt bested Bergman once again winning 17-13 and claiming the $6,200 top prize and his most prestigious title to date. When talking with Klatt today via Facebook chat, he gave full credit for the win to his mental toughness. "What won me the tournament was my mental game. I just try to keep my head in the game the whole match. Tough to do in long race." said Klatt.

In a classy move Bergman went to Facebook after his match and gave credit to his opponents great play. For those who were unable to watch the live stream, Bergman gave some good insight to how well Klatt played when stated,"Well I'm disappointed I lost didn't play bad Jason Klatt played flawless and broke great."

After being in Vegas for the BCAPL, then heading right to Memphis for this event Klatt is not sure what is next. For now he will take a few days off to relax and enjoy this win. There is a flurry of big tournaments coming up including the return of the Turning Stone Classic and the U.S Open. With his playing getting better with each tournament it promises to be an exciting fall for Klatt fans.

Top 3
Jason Klatt- $6200
Justin Bergman-$3300
Johnny Archer-$2000

The results of the One Pocket and the Amateur 9 Ball will be updated later. Thank you to Ray Hansen and Kenneth Lawson for their help in piecing this story together.

Final CSI Invitation Update

SVB & Ko Pin Chung Photo by Michael Brown

By: Erik Hjorleifson

All good things must come to an end and such is the case with the 2014 BCAPL National Championships from the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. Saturday will be the final day of competition in the team events and Friday saw the last day of play in the CSI Invitational 8 Ball Championship.

In the 16 player invitational tournament going into the final day, two players had guaranteed their place in the final groups. Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) and Ko Pin Chung (Taiwan) finished their groups with undefeated records. In both of the other two groups all four players were tied with 1 win and 1 loss. Which would mean that in both groups two players would finish with a 2 and 1 record, and two players would finish with 1 win 2 loss record. The first tiebreaker in determining who advance was based on  head to head match-ups.

In group "C" Shane Van Boening won his match and to have the head to head edge in the tiebreakers he would need Ralf Soquet to lose to Dennis Orcollo. Soquet won his match in a very close contest 9-8, however in an odd twist of fate Soquet, due to his participation in the World Team Championships starting very soon in Beijing, China, was forced to forfeit his spot in the semi finals to Van Boening who came second in his group. He attempted to change his flight plan but was unable to find an alternate flight. In group "D" Darren Appelton and Ko pin Yi tied with 2 and 1 records but Yi advanced with a better head to head record.

This set up a clash of the titans semi final match-up between Ko Pin Yi and Shane Van Boening. I think this is a rivalry you will see repeat itself many times in the next 10 years. Ko has been Van Boening's nemesis this week, defeating him in the group stages of the 10 ball tournament and with a score of 21-17 in the Kamui challenge event. Shane would finally get his revenge in this match, moving forward into the final with a 9-6 win after being given a second life after Soquet's forfeit.

In semi-final #2 Ko Pin Chung, the younger brother of Ko Pin Yi, faced off against Thorsten Hohmann. Chung has been a pleasant surprise this week, finishing in the final of the 10 ball invitational and he continued his fine form in the semi-finals of the 8 Ball Invitational with a 9-6 win over Hohmann.

The final was now set between Shane Van Boening (USA) and Ko Pin Chung (Taiwan). Chung took the early lead with 6-2 in the now extended race to 11 final set. He then held on for his first major victory in his young career winning the match 11-7.  At only 18 years old this is the first major victory by a player under the age of 21 since Chia Ching Wu won the World 8 ball and World 9 ball Championships in the mid to late 2000's.

Congrats on a well deserved win, pool can be a fickle game sometimes. I watched him lose a match 3 weeks ago in Qatar 9-1 against Chang Jun Lin, making a few errors in the process and I remember thinking to myself that he wasn't quite ready to break into the upper echelon of players yet. But after his first major victory this week and a second place finish in the other event I am reminded that everyone has their ups and downs in this game.

"Quick Nick" Wins World Artistic Pool Championship

By: Markus Noé

One of the Plethora of events that occurred this week at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas was the 2014 W.P.A World Artistic Pool Championship. This event which took place July 17-20 saw 26 of the worlds best trick shot artists compete in an 8 discipline format with highest overall score claiming the title.

This years winner was none other than Montreal, Québec native and world famous trick shot artist Nick "Quick Nick" Nickolaidis. I'll shamefully admit that with the abundance of events we have been covering here at Straight-Pool this one was initially off my radar. Thankfully french Canadians as they so often do support their own in droves, and picture updates of the winner from Billard Quebec filled my news feed shortly after "Quick Nick's" win. This allowed me to get in touch with the champion himself who graciously provided me with the following information.

As mentioned before this was an 8 discipline event with 5 shots in discipline for a combined 40 shots.
The participants were given a 136 page program which outlined all the disciplines, rules and available shots. Each shot had 3 options and were scored based on difficulty.With 40 points available in each discipline a possible max score was 320, something that has never been done.  Since it's inaugural event in 2000 there has never been a final score higher then 270. Nickolaidis broke this record with an impressive final score of 277.

 Straight-Pool would like to congratulate Nick Nickolaidis on adding to his impressive collections of titles with this World Championship, and wish him the best in his next event.

Top 5 

1 Nick “Quick Nick” Nikolaidis (CN) - $3500
2 Gabi “Mr. Perfect” Visoui (EUR) -$2600
3 Andy “The Magic Man” Segal (US)-$1800
4 Abram “Too Tall” Diaz (US) -$1300
5 Jamey “The Sharpshooter” Gray (US) -$1000

Discipline Champions:

Trick / Fancy Shots: Nick Nikolaidis 39 out of 40 pts.
Special Arts: Tim Chin 39 out of 40 pts.
Draw Shots: Gabi Visoiu 40 out of 40 pts.
Follow Shots: William DeYonker 40 out of 40 pts.
Bank / Kick Shots: Chris Woodrum 37 out of 40 pts.
Stroke Shots: Andy Segal 38 out of 40 pts.
Jump Shots: Jason Lynch 39 out of 40 pts.
Masse Shots: Andy Segal 37 out of 40 pts.

BCAPL Day 9 Update

By: Erik Hjorleifson 

Hello again everybody we are back with more updates from the BCAPL National Championships. We are now 9 days into the event and only a few days left of action. Within the next couple of days the team events and CSI pro events will to crown their winners. Since our last report we have seen the completion of all the singles events, here are the final results from some of the divisions we are following:

Men's Grand-Master 8 ball division

Skyler Woodward  $1900
Charlie Bryant        $1400
Oscar Dominguez  $1100
Dennis Hatch           $800

Men's open 8 ball

Greg Romero  $9500
Dan Taylor       $6200
Chris Daly        $4200
Martin Zavala  $3300

Women's Open 8 ball 

Kelly Isaac            $3500
Kris Chamberlain $2400
April Larson          $1800
Faith Thompson   $1400

Men's Master singles

James Davis Sr  $2100
Shane Morrow  $1200
Dustin Gunia      $700
Ace Brown           $500

Men's advanced singles

Alex Olinger           $3100
Kenny Brisbon        $2200
Brett Stottlemeyer $1700
Johnny Kang             $1300

Tuesday also saw the third and final challenge match of the week produced by CSI in association with Tiger products. This match saw Dennis Orcollo from the Phillipines and Chang Jun Lin from Taiwan face of in a  much anticipated race to 21 winner breaks 9 Ball format. Chang took the early lead at 3-0 but there was still a long way to go in the race to 21 match. Orcollo narrowed the gap by rack 23 making the score 12 to 11 in Changs favor. The two champions would go toe to toe in the next 12 racks eventually arriving to an 19-18 scoreline.Chang then went on to win rack 38 and broke and ran out on the hill for a hard fought win.

The second 16 man invitational tournament began on Wednesday with 16 world class players facing off in an 8 ball race to 9 format. Following the same format as the 10 ball invitational the players are placed in groups of 4 and will play round robin format. John Morra was up against Darren Appleton in his first match, Appleton came away with the 9-4 victory. Morra went on to beat Francisco Bustamante  and just lost to Ko Pin Yi ending his chances in this event.  Other notable matches include Mike Dechaine with wins in his first two matches,  Thorsten Hohmann over Corey Deuel 9-3 and Chang Jun Lin over Efren Reyes 9-7. Check in tomorrow for more updates.   

CSI Challenge Match and BCAPL Update

John Morra & Efren Reyes

By: Erik Hjorleifson

Monday, CSI had their second challenge match of the week with an interesting scotch doubles 8 ball format race to 21 . The teams were  Corey Deuel and Mike Dechaine (USA) vs Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes (PHI). In this match the Americans came away with a 21-14 victory, a bit of an upset in my opinion considering the experience and past success from the Filipino team in 8 ball. Although it should be noted that all four players are proven champions, and Deuel is also known a very strong 8-ball player.

The Grand-Master 8 ball division spent most of the day catching up the losers side bracket. Jason Klatt from Canada played a late night match against Ernesto Dominguez and was able to survive this test against the skilled veteran. He now advances to play Charlie Bryant another strong competitor from Texas. There are 8 players left who will be fighting their way for a shot at Skyler Woodward in the final. Blair Lawson from Winnipeg, Manitoba had the highest Canadian finish in the 1000 player Men's Open 8 Ball division finishing tied for 33rd.

Some other Canadian results from Mondays action

Shannon Keenatch (SK) lost in the winners side final of the "Women's Leisure" singles and will continue play waiting for her opponent in the 3rd place match

-Ryan Solleveld (MB) 5th place Men's Master Singles

-Larry Wilson 13-16th (BC) Men's Advanced Singles

-Blaine Burns 13-16th (Sk) Men's Master Singles

-Bev Ashton (AB) 5th  Women's advanced singles.


Today will see the completion of most of the singles events and another great challenge match from CSI. This time featuring Chang Jun Lin (TPE) vs Dennis Orcollo (PHI), I can assure you that this will be an epic match. Even if the scoreline isn't close, it will take phenomenal play to create separation as these two players are right near the top of everybody's list as the best in the world. The match is a race to 21 with the game being 9 ball, this can be purchased on PPV at playcsipool.com