EPBF and APBU launches Referee Exchange Program

Submitted by Alison Chang 

In 2015, the EPBF (European Pocket Billiard Federation) and the APBU (Asian Pocket Billiard Union) launched its new Referee Exchange Program. The two EPBF Senior Referees, Laszlo Zabo (HUN) and Danilo Hebestreit (GER) came to Asia and to work at the 2015 Amway Spring International Women Open in Taipei. 

At the same time, two Asian referees will working at the European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair athletes in Vale de Lobo, Portugal. Therefore the referee exchange program will definitely be another tool to raise the level of refereeing at all parties involved. 

The following are a short Q & A interview with the EPBF Senior Referees, Laszlo Zabo (HUN) and Danilo Hebestreit (GER).  

Q: How do you think about the referee Exchange Program?  

A: I think it’s very useful. Basically pool is pool, so in the game there’s not much difference. But we experienced some new matters, like making mark on the table. But in Europe, every table is computerized, so players can keep their own scores, time-outs…there’s no paper in the restriction. Every table is covered by an internet camera, so everyone can follow every table’s happening. Referees are referees here and there. Our colleagues have accepted us as friends from Europe in the same profession. 

Q: What is the biggest difference between Europe and Asia?  

A: I think the biggest difference our colleagues from Asia will experience in EC is that most of time they have to do area referee, not table referee. In EC an area ref sometimes will oversight 5, or 6 table sat one time. The system is different. The act of referee is different. Area referees act upon the players’ request, as table referees do everything on spot. They will be accustomed soon for that. A big difference in Europe we’re not allowed to use the video replay to determine whether it is a foul or not. Here it is allowed and it’s a good thing for referees. In Europe we have to decide at the very moment despite the game is recorded on TV。 

 In the referee’s act, the shot clock countdown is not done by the referee, but there’s a shot clock keeper in Europe. We just watch the table. 

Secondly, we don’t have the movements. For example, we rise our hands with the shot clock, which could be disturbing for the players. I think there would be simpler solution than this gymnastic in my opinion. 

Q: What is the impression of Taiwan? 

A: Taiwan is nice. It’s clean. People are friendly. 

It’s my second time in Taiwan. The 1st time is just 2 days, as a businessman two years ago. It’s quite a pity that we haven’t seen much so far, except the hotel and venue. But we are planning to have some exploration on Sunday or Monday. 

Yuan-Chun Lin Wins her 2nd Title at the Amway Cup

Submitted by: Alison Chang 

Taipei - The championship game of 2015 Amway e Spring  International Women 9-Ball Championship in Taipei Gymnasiums was between Yuan-Chun LIN from Taiwan and Rubilen   Amit from Philippines. The final was tense and close, went up from 3:3, 5:5 and 9:9 until Lin broke the tie to take the lead and game point 10:9. In 20 racks, Lin broke and missed one ball, but was able to come back to the table and won the game after Amit's fatal error on the 3-ball. Lin's second Amway Cup trophy with the final score 11:9 brought her a prize of $34,000.  

Although being struggling throughout recent years, Yuan-Chun Lin had her first challenge in the tournament, to play Kelly Fisher in the quarterfinal. Lin's 5:1 early lead turned 7:6 after multiple misses and illegal breaks, but she gathered up and advanced 9:6.  

The young talent from China Liu Yuchen was Yuan-Chun Lin's semifinal opponent. Lin trailed for most time of the game and was 8:9 behind, one game shy of elimination. The next game Lin took her chance from her opponent's illegal break and ran out the deciding game. For the second time Lin entered the final of Amway Cup after her championship run of 2008.  

The other semi was between Rubilen  Amit and Angeline Ticoalu from Indonesia. The score was 9:1 as Amit cruised into the final, which was her second appearance after 2007's runner up. 

Yuan-Chun LIN says after the final she felt "offended" when the ‘Taiwan Sports Lottery’ gave her 1-50 rate for winning the trophy before the tournament. She was on a mission to prove something and took a step at a time in games. Her fantastic performance in front of a huge home crowed plus a little bit of luck brought her the champion and confidence as well.  

The 30 years old Taiwanese has a long career and plays Amway Cup since 2004. Four year later she won the 2008 Amway Cup which was her greatest moment in her career. The next year her 14 consecutive winning streak in the tournament ended in the game against her fellow Ho-Yun Chen. After that Lin did not achieve much and last year's loss in the group stage almost destroyed her confidence.  

This much needed trophy could be a topping point of Lin's career. She thanked all for not letting her give up and honored her passed enlightenment coach. She's also planning to use to prize to open a pool hall where she can practice in her own place.  

Deuel Edges Out Morra to Win $20,000 at Smokin Aces

From left to right Corey Deuel, Justin Bergman, Dennis Orcollo, John Morra. Photo courtesy of  Pool Action TV

By: Erik Hjorleifson 

Smokin Aces BBQ and Billiards in Poplar Bluff Missouri, hosted the third edition of their $2000 entry 16 man invitational. The format was Bar Box 9 Ball double knockout race to 21 winner breaks. Notables in action on the weekend included; Corey Deuel, John Morra, Johnny Archer, Warren Kiamco, Shane VanBoening  and Dennis Orcollo. Also past winners Justin Bergman and Skylar Wodward were present as well. 

The first round yielded one major upset with Missouri native Chuck Raulston dispatching Shane VanBoening. VanBoening had recently dropped out of an event in Sweden after complaining about a pinched nerve in his neck. The 3 time reigning U.S Open Champion did go on to win his next three, so it does appear that he has at least partially recovered. Also in the first round Warren Kiamco won over Johnny Archer, who surprisingly went two and out losing his next match to Danny Smith.

In the Second round John Morra had his first of many impressive wins on the weekend defeating Warren Kiamco 21-6. In a field of only 16 Morra quickly found his way into the final four on the winners side with tournament favourites Orcollo, Bergman and Deuel. Morra matched up with Orcollo in what turned out to be a real barn burner. With the score at 20-20 in the race to 21  Orcollo miscued on the 8, leaving a stunned Morra to finish out the rack. Deuel also advanced defeating Bergman.

This set up a winners side final with Deuel and Morra. Who were also the finalists at the Chinook Winds Casino Bar table 8 ball tournament in March. The match lived up to its billing and was very close with Deuel edging out a hard fought 21-18 victory. On the losers side Jayson Shaw's run was ended by Justin Bergman. This came after Shaw was putting together a good run which included a win over Shane VanBoening.  Dennis Orcollo also ended Rob Saez bid leaving him one short of the prize money in 5th place.

In the 4th place match Filipino star Orcollo would defeat Bergman to set up a rematch with Morra. This was another close one with Morra pulling out the 21-18 victory. The finals was played as a true double knockout and Morra would have to beat Deuel twice. 

Photo courtesy of Pool Action TV

Morra took the early lead 14-3, but Deuel made a huge comeback bringing it all the way back to even and eventually gaining the 20-18 lead. Morra managed to get it to hill hill but after a safety exchange Deuel ran out a tough rack for the win. Deuel has long been revered as one of the best bar table players in the country and with the recent move to big prize money tournaments on the bar table he has had the chance to prove that. For Morra the future looks bright coming up just short in this one but he has been unstoppable in recent months. The  next tournaments will be the Super Billiard Expo in New Jersey and the the Carom Room $2000 entry bar table event in Wisconsin.

This event was streamed by Pool Action TV. I welcome you to visit their website www.poolactiontv.com  and check out their upcoming events. Also you can follow them on their Facebook page Pool Action TV

Prize money


Corey Deuel $20 000 + $8000 Calcutta                 


John Morra   $7000 + $5500 Calcutta


Dennis Orcollo $5000+ $4000 Calcutta


Justin Bergman $2000+$2000 Calcutta 

 

Trump Beats O'Sullivan to Claim £100,000 Top Prize

By: Markus Noé

This past Sunday in Llandudno located in North Wales the final of the 2015 Grand Prix took place. The field featured most of the top players in the world. Current reigning World Champion Mark Selby participated along with other big names in the world of Snooker such as Neil Robertson,Ding Junhui, Mark Davis and many more.

The two finalist Judd Trump and Ronnie O'Sullivan had two very different paths to the finals. Trump battled through many close matches in which he was down multiple frames each set, but was able to find a way through. For O'Sullivan leading up to the final he only dropped 3 frames the entire tournament, including a whitewash of Stuart Bingham 6-0 in the semi-final.

There was no doubt that O'Sullivan was the favourite based on his performance this week. However as we all learned leading up to the final you cannot count Trump out. The 25 year old Trump was down most of this match which was a best of 19 frames. Early on he was down 4-1 and then at 7-4 down he made an improbable comeback.This thrilled those in attendance as he went on to win the next 6 frames to claim the Grand Prix title 10-7. Trump also claimed the high run prize of 5,000£ with a 142.

Here is a link to the entire finals for your viewing pleasure.

2015 U.S Open Registration will be done by Accu-Stats

By: Pat Flemming

Beginning April 1, 2015, Accu-Stats will be the only authorized entity to accept the $1,000 entry fees for the 2015 U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship.  The event will take place at the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Virginia on October 23-30, 2015.  Accu-Stats will also be collecting the $75,000 in added money derived from ticket sales, sponsorships, and promoter Barry Behrman.

These monies will be deposited into a Bank of America bank account for the purpose of paying out the projected $188,000 in prize money.  One of the reasons for this action is to guarantee that the event will be sanctioned by the WPA as a Tier 2 event which awards more WPA points to the high finishers.

Accu-Stats/Pat Fleming is the only person authorized to accept entry fees.

• There are several ways to pay your $1,000 entry fee.  They are:
• Mail check or money order payable to Accu-Stats Video Productions to Accu-Stats, PO Box 299, Bloomingdale, New Jersey 07403
• 
  
• Log on to accu-stats.com and pay your entry fee on line by check/money order, credit card or PayPal.
• 
  
• Log on to Ticketfly.com and pay your entry fee on line plus applicable Ticketfly fees
• 
  
• Pay on site with check, money order, or cash.

Accu-Stats/Pat Fleming is the only person authorized to sign the prize money checks.

There are several ways to collect prize money:

• 
  
• Business check (no fee)
• 
  
• Cashier’s check ($10 fee)
• 
  
• Wire Transfer ($35 fee)
• 
  
• Automatic deposit into your Bank of America bank account (no fee)
• 
  
• Wire transfer (US Currency) to foreign bank (a fee is charged)

For 1099 Purposes:

IRS form W-9 (for those players having U.S. Social Security or Tax ID numbers) will be given to prize winners to be completed and returned before the prize money check is disbursed.No withholding taxes will be deducted but all winnings in excess of $600.00 will be reported and a 1099 will be issued to the player at the end of the year.

Likewise IRS form 1042-S will be given to all non-US citizens, non-resident aliens, and foreign persons not in possession of a valid U.S. Tax ID number. This form must be completed and returned prior to the check disbursement and an amount equal to 30% of the prize money will be withheld and submitted on the player’s behalf to the IRS.

The local Bank of America (walking distance) will gladly cash your prize money checks provided you present proper identification.  The “cashable” amount would depend on how much currency the branch has on hand.  If you are a high finisher, you can accept two checks which will total your prize money.  The smaller check could be an amount that can be cashed.

If by July 23, 2015, the total of $75,000 in added money is not reached (received by Accu-Stats), the WPA may take the event off its calendar and not sanction the event.  At the same time (If that delisting should occur), an accounting of the monies in the account will be addressed and other decisions may be made.

Deuel Double Dips Morra in Chinook Winds Final

Archived photo of John Morra 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

On the weekend of March 7th most of the best players in the Northwest and a few from across the country descended on the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon. This Casino has been a long time supporter of pool and has held WPBA pro events in the past. This weekends tournament has a 20 year history and in the last couple of years they have raised the added money to a level where they have been attracting some big names. This year the open men's event was billed as a 128 player, double knockout bar table 8 ball event with $13 000 added to the prize fund of $150 entries. There was also an open women's event that created some interest. Notables in attendance in the men's event were Shane Van Boeing, John Morra, Corey Deuel, Rodney Morris, Jayson Shaw, Rafael Martinez and numerous other top bar table players from the Northwest.

It should be noted that in the past year and a half there have to been a lot of new tournaments on the bar table that have been popping up on the scene. Most notably the Smokin Aces, White Diamonds, Andy Mercer Memorial and Carom Room tournaments, whereas the only major nine ball events remain the U.S. Open, Turning Stone, Derby City Classic and Super Billiards Expo. Also this year the U.S. Open 8 ball and 10 ball will be back but this time they will be played on the bar table, those events will carry a $15 000 first prize. The main thing that is driving the prize money in these tournaments is the Calcutta but if the players are fortunate enough to be able to participate in that the amount of prize money they can win is probably almost 15 times more, believe it or not,  than the total prize money they can win on the 9 foot.

Whether this is a good thing or not for pro pool is a multi-layered answer but my gut reaction is that one of the complaints about the game is that it is already too offensive on 9 foots and the game is even more offensive on the 7 foots, the size of the table just doesn't do justice to the talent of pro players. Others will say the general public most commonly plays on the 7 foot table and it is a good thing for pros to be playing on the same table. I think there is some merit in that. For me it will be interesting to see if American pro tournaments being played more on the 7 foot is just a fad or if it is here to stay.

Here's how they finished this weekend:

THE TOP 16 MONEY WINNERS
1st – Corey Deuel - $10,000
2nd – John Morra - $5,000 
3rd – Shane Van Boening - $3,000
4th – Joshua Roberts- $2,000 
5-6th – Taylor Anderson Matt Horner- $1,500
7-8th – Randy Baker , Danny Olson- $1,000
9-12th – Dan Louie Jayson Shaw, Rafael Martinez , Stan Tourangeau - $600 
13-16 – Rodney "The Rocket" Morris Mike Stevens, Mike Massey Edmund Carrido - $300

Women's event results:

1st – Vivian Villarreal - $4,000 
2nd – Cindy Sliva - $2,000 
3rd – Kim Jones- $1,400
4th – Carissa Biggs- $900 
5-6th – Stacy Allsup Linda Carter– $500
7-8th – Mary Coffman Kathie MacDonald– $250

Controversy Overshadows Ko Pin Yi World 10 Ball Championship Win

Ko Pin Yi, photo courtesy of Stephan Doiron 

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend the 2015 World 10 Ball Championships wrapped up in the Philippines. A first time World Champion was crowned as Ko Pin Yi from Chinese Taipei beat local Carlo Biado 11-9 in the finale. Biado to his credit showed a lot of heart in front of the hometown crowd as he was down 7-2 at one point and clawed his way back to make for a very entertaining match.

 It was another poor showing for North American players, as none finished higher than the top 32. When I say North American players I really mean Canadians as I believe only Hunter Lombardo and  Rodney Morris made the trip over to represent U.S.A.  Alex Pagulayan (Can) was the only one to make it through the final 32 and lost an 11-10 to Liu Haitao(CHN).

Carlo Biado, photo courtesy of Stephan Doiron

Unfortunately as so often is the case in major pool tournaments lately, there has been more talk about mismanagement and poor playing conditions which has overshadowed the fact that this has been the first World 10 Ball Championship in several years. The biggest concern is that around $10,000 was taken from the $300,000 prize fund, it amounted to 5% less for each player. Obviously there is some wrong doing and and players who traveled 15-24 hours by plane are rightfully upset. Azbilliards has a story posted today with a detailed response from the W.P.A, which briefly states they do not really know what happened, but an investigation will ensue. 

Now understandably so this event had its flaws. However I do feel what many "Western" players and media have been doing this past week on social media is counter-intuitive to the betterment of the sport. From day one, even before the announcement of the missing money, players have been on social media complaining about everything from the conditions, the heat, the referees and the list is seemingly infinite. I reiterate by saying "Western" players because you just do not see this kind of lack of professionalism from the Asian players. 

You would think that players would be more appreciative of the fact that Manny Pacquiao donated all of this money to try and give something to the pool community. On Azbilliards  they are basically crucifying the Pacquiao's.  I believe that Manny Pacquiao who is less than a year into his involvement, deserves a lot more room to grow before he is condemned as another shady promoter. 

In all fairness what happened last week does not compare to the shenanigans that has plagued the U.S. Open, for what feels like the entirety of its existence.  Financially you could not find a better candidate than "Pacman" to help grow the sport internationally. He is a millionaire a hundred times over and does not need to make a dime off any of these pool promotions. Let's be honest we need it because there is no money to be made off of pool at the moment. 

 Using logic the "Pacman" is not directly involved with the day to day operations of the World 10 Ball or any event his name is attached to. Besides his hectic training schedule he is also a high ranking politician. Thus he relies on people to take care of this stuff for him, and well he picked the wrong people.  If the organizers of the U.S. Open are allowed chance after chance I think as players and media we not only have the ability but also the responsibility to be more supportive by easing up on a first time promoter who obviously has the right intentions. Whether you are a player, media, promoter or anyone that plans to make a living off of pool - our fates are all intertwined. Maybe once everyone gets to that level of thinking than we can collectively bring pool back to the mainstream. As is stands now with the bickering, complaining and lack of professionalism our sport is exactly where it deserves to be.