5-DAY BILLIARD EVENT AT WORLD POLICE & FIRE GAMES THIS WEEK

Submitted Article

FAIRFAX, VA — 12,000 professional, public safety athletes from 70 countries competing in 60+ sports to qualify for over 1,600 medal events. That’s the Olympic-style competition known as the World Police and Fire Games (WPFG).

Held every two years, the games are being staged in the United States for the first time in nearly three decades. The host is Fairfax County, Virginia. The four previous competitions were held in Belfast (Ireland), Barcelona (Spain), Stockholm (Sweden), and Melbourne (Australia). 

The pocket billiards event is a 5-day competition covering 9Ball, 8Ball, and straight pool disciplines. Matches run from Monday, June 29th through Friday, July 3rd. The venue is Breakers Sky Lounge, an upscale room managed by Shanna Lewis in Herndon, VA. The tournament will adhere to BCA rules and be played on Brunswick Gold Crown tables with Super Aramith balls. “The players are in for a great week of billiards,” predicted Lewis.

The WPFG Sport Coordinator for Pocket Billiards is Eric S. Townsend, a 10-year veteran and captain in the American Poolplayers Association, league operator and captain with Cue Sports International since 2009, ambassador and series lead for Joe Tucker’s American Rotation, and author of the billiard book Sharking: Don’t Get Fooled Again(GoBooklets.com, Amazon). “It’s an honor to ensure that our police and fire professionals get to experience the very best that pro am billiards has to offer,” shared Townsend. “It’s the very least that we can do,” he added. 

Townsend was hired by WPFG Sports Director Tony Shobe and his Senior Games Manager Mark Kidd. “We couldn’t be happier with the enthusiasm shown by and for billiards for the better part of a year leading up to this event,” shared Shobe. “Our competitors will be grateful for the extra effort being put forth,” echoed Kidd.

The billiard support team is lead by Dan Madden, director of the Pennsylvania 9Ball Tour and a top amateur player himself. He is tasked with administering the tournament and maintaining a live audio and video stream available by mobile phone, tablet, or computer. “I’m excited for the field to play our unique quadruple-qualifying format, and for friends and family back home to be able to enjoy the live stream,” Madden said.

Additional attractions include professional commentator George Hammerbacher, who will call the action each afternoon from 1-6pm. “How can I not be excited for such an event?” offered Hammerbacher — a sentiment that’s been shared by many involved with the Fairfax 2015 games. Lucasi-sponsored professional billiard player Shaun Wilkie will be on hand Tuesday and Wednesday for player challenges, photo opps, and two different talks on 9Ball and straight pool tips. “‘I was excited to receive the invite for this wonderful event,” Wilkie said.  “It’s not every day that I get to tip my cap through the game that I love,” he added.

If you’d like to catch the live pocket billiard action this coming week (June 29th through July 3rd), then tune in any time from 9am until 6pm on the away channel atwww.tvmike.tv. Commentary added 1-6pm daily. If you have any questions, then please email the WPFG Sport Coordinator at eric.s.townsend@gmail.com.

Accu-Stats "Make it Happen" 1 Pocket Results

By: Erik Hjorleifson

This past weekend at Sandcastle Billiards in New Jersey the Accu-Stats "Make it Happen" One Pocket Invitational title was up for grabs.  Three 'One Pocket' legends and three future stars of the game slated to do battle. The event titled "Make it Happen" described exactly what did happen in this unique event, enthusiasts of the game were invited to step up and buy VIP tickets to the matches. All of the revenue from ticket purchases was put towards the prize fund in which the players were not required to pay an entry. In return the enthusiasts each received a full recording package of the event, front row seating for the weekend and signed memorabilia from all the players who competed.

Four of the players were chosen based on known ability over their careers. One Pocket legend Efren Reyes was at the head of this list and fan favourites Alex Pagulayan, Scott Frost and Shane Van Boening were also chosen in the original selection process. There was then an open vote for the two remaining spots and up and comer Justin Hall who has had many high finishes in one pocket tournaments in recent years took one spot. The other went to newcomer to the big stage Danny Smith, who had a significant challenge match win against Darren Appleton.

The format for the tournament was a race to 3 round robin, the two best records would advance to play in the finals. There were a lot of hill hill matches in the robin, something that was to be expected as all the players in the field were true champions of the game. Scott Frost and Alex Pagulayan were coming off a 4 day One Pocket marathon in Las Vegas just a few days before, they played a challenge match where the winner had to get 8 games ahead. The score could have been 8-0 but in the end it took close to 100 games before Pagulayan was finally able to gain the edge.

It could have just been coincidence and again there were a lot of close matches but Pagulayan and Frost seemed to be showing the effects of the 4 day mental grind. Pagulayan ended the event with a  0-5 record and Frost was left out of contention with a 2-3 record. Justin Hall also fell short losing to Frost, Reyes and Van Boening finishing the weekend with a 2-3 record.

The round robin came to a climactic end with Efren Reyes faced off against Shane Van Boening, both had 3-1 records going into the match. The winner would advance to the final against Danny Smith who had a stellar performance advancing to the final with a 4-1 record.  This match did not disappoint and went right down to the wire. With the the score tied at 2-2 the game went into classic one pocket battle mode with all the balls being pushed up table and the game time going over the 30 minute mark. Reyes as he has done so many times in his career, eventually gained the advantage and won the game. This would set up a final match of youth versus experience and Reyes once again rose to the challenge with a 3-1 victory to claim the title.

Alex Pagulayan, photo courtesy of Ray Hansen

With Pagulayan's recent win in the Frost-Pagulayan challenge match it is hard to deny him as the unofficial best One Pocket player in the world. However Reyes has two major titles of his own this year with the Smoking Aces one pocket title and now the Make it Happen title. It would be great to see these two Filipino champions go head to head in an extended challenge match format.

Let's not forget that Reyes is over 60 years old now and for him to still be winning at the highest level is something that we may never see again. Special thanks goes out to the crew at Accu-Stats who have been bringing world class pool to the American public since the time of VHS tapes, along with the players they truly "Made It Happen" this weekend in New Jersey.

World Pool Masters Draw Announcement: Shaw and Morra Recieve Invite

Photo courtesy of Mario Paradis

By: Markus Noé

With just less than two months away from this years edition of the World Pool Masters, Matchroom Sports has announced the draw and schedule. Each year 16 players from around the globe are selected to compete for this coveted title.

This is a favourite among players not only for its guaranteed pay-outs for each player but for the exposure it brings to them. Matchroom Sports is really alone in terms of marketing in the pool world, as this event will be broadcasted live throughout England and around the world on Sky Sports.

Photo courtesy of Mario Paradis

Canadian John Morra will be representing Canada at this event for the first time since they made it invite only. Last time Morra played in 2010 it was a 64 player event which he lost to the eventual winner Dennis Orcuollo. He will be in tough in his first match of this single elimination format as he plays defending champion, American Shane Van Boening.

Scotland native Jayson Shaw has also been rewarded and invite to this event. His fast pace and shooting from the hip style has endeared him to fans in the U.S.A where he has chosen to make his home. As the defending champion of the previous two Turning Stone Classic's and countless other regional tour wins he will be a force to reckon with this year.

Photo courtesy of Mario Paradis

Shaw will play a favourite player among the profressionals Waleed Majid, who is the best player in the Middle East. Over the past year this newcomer to the international scene who some have dubbed the "most improved"  has had impressive finishes in both the World 9 Ball Championships and U.S Open. Majid is currently ranked 19th in world.

The World Pool Masters will be played August 14-16th at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, England just before the next Turning Stone Classic. As usual it promises to be a great event. Below is a list of the complete first round draw.

The Draw:

(1) Shane Van Boening (USA) v John Morra (CAN)

(8) Waleed Majid (QAT) v Jayson Shaw (SCO)


(5) Liu Haitao (CHN) Karl Boyes (ENG)

(4) Niels Feijen (HOL) v South America No.1
 
(3) Darren Appleton (ENG) v Mateusz Sniegocki (POL)

(6) Johann Chua (Philippines) v James Georgiadis (AUS)


(7) Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) v Ralf Souquet (GER)

(2) Ko Pin Yi (TPE) v Daryl Peach or Mark Gray (England)
 

"Young Guns" Defeat "Old School" in Epic match-up at Teachers Billiards

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend at Teachers Billiards and Sports Cafe in St. Peters, Missouri, a challenge match dubbed "Young Guns" vs "Old School" took place. This pitted hall a fame inductee Johnny Archer and former U.S Open Champion Rodney Morris up against Justin Bergman and Sky Woodward. 

 Most of you would recognize Bergman from his first Mosconi Cup appearance last year and his $20,000 win at Smoking Aces. During this time Woodward has also been making a splash winning his own $20,000 Smoking Aces event along with a $16,000 win at the Carom Room Spring Classic. 

As you can see from the poster above this was a $20,000 challenge match, which began with Johnny Archer calling out the two young guns. Originally Archer wanted to play Mosconi Cup teammates Justin Bergman and Justin Hall who perhaps were among the most useful players for the American team, however Hall declined to participate in this match. This allowed a very capable Sky Woodward to step in. 

Photo courtesy of Richard Schenck

Much to the delight of room owner Richard Schenck, Mosconi Cup team captain Mark Wilson and Derrick Keith agreed to commentate on the live stream and MC the event. The format for this event was 8, 9 and 10 ball with four singles matches and one doubles match for each game. The scotch doubles matches were worth 2 points each while the singles matches accounted for 1 point.

The "Young Guns" lead most of the way with but the "Old School" found a way to take a late lead in the event. Bergman was able to defeat Archer in a 10 ball single match, setting up a scotch doubles match to see which team would win this challenge. Bergman/Woodward got off to an early start as they were breaking at a higher level. Archer/Morris were never able to recover from this early lead and eventually lost this set the 9-5, with the overall score being 10-8.

Photo courtesy of Richard Schenck

I would like to thank Richard Schenck for provided me with all the information necessary to write this article. He also mentioned that there has been a lot of interest from other players who would like to step up and challenge Bergman and Woodward. In the future Schenck said these type of events will be played in a King of the Hill format, with the winning team staying on as the team to beat in the next event. 

Photo Courtesy of Richard Schenck

An arena was set up with two 9 ft Diamond tables by themselves which was surrounded by spectators for this event. It was also streamed by www.oncue2.com   which was said to be a great success I look forward to seeing more of these types of events. From my brief conversation with Schenck it was apparent that Missouri has a great ambassador for pool as he said, "Pool will always be a bottom feeder unless the billiard rooms organize and lift the sport. I'm doing my part. I encourage others to join me."

When asked about the venue and the event Justin Bergman had this to say, "It was top notch. I live in the area and the owner has been doing a lot for pool this year and wants to do even bigger things. I think it's the best pool room in the Midwest."

John Morra to Represent Canada at World Pool Masters

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The first 13 players have been named for the 2015 World Pool Masters which will be held August 14-16 in Manchester England. This is a 16 player invitational tournament in which the invites are picked by Matchroom Sport officials. Selections reflect the best players in the world from different regions as well as players that are ranked high in the world rankings. This year China, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Qatar, Philippines will be represented, the rest of the field will be rounded up by the strong European contingent. 

The event will once again be produced by Matchroom Sport and shown live on Skysports. When an event by Matchroom Sport is produced I feel like the world of professional billiards should sit up and take notice, because the full production value of their events is everything billiards should be working towards. If we had 15 events like this a year I believe the game would be well on its way to mainstream acceptance.   

John Morra

 2015 will mark the return of a new Canadian face to the World Pool Masters. Friend of Cue Sport Nation John Morra has been chosen to represent Canada after of string of years with Alex Pagulayan as the representative. John has taken the bull by the horns as they say in the last year. Boasting a competing schedule that is rivaled by very few pros in the world. Morra has had many impressive results in 2014 including a runner up at the Derby City Classic, the Manny Pacquiao Cup, Smokin Aces invitational and recently had a record breaking performance at the Canadian Championships winning the 8 ball, 9 ball and 10 ball divisions. We are all looking forward to cheering on Morra in August at one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year.
 
Morra will return for the first time since playing as a qualifier in 2010, the only year the Masters went with an expanded field with open qualification tournaments. I asked Morra for some thoughts on his 2015 selection and he said, "I am proud to once again represent Canada at this event, it has been a long time coming and I would like to better my quarter final finish from the last time where Orcollo beat me and went on to win the tournament." He also said he would like to extend a big thanks to his sponsors who make it all possible; Falcon Cues, Kings Of Vapor, Hustlin USA, Touhey Management, Taom Break/ Jump Tips, Moose's Billiard Shoes. 

It will be a busy week for Morra has he has to fly back forth to England then meet up with me a few days later for the Turning Stone Classic. We at Cue Sport Nation wish him all the best and look forward to watching him compete for the title.

 
 
 

Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann Wins Inaugural Archer Cup

 Johnny Archer and Thorsten Hohmann. Photo courtesy of Lynn Gosselin @ www.infiny.ca

By: Markus Noé

Four days of billiard festivities concluded yesterday in Thetford Mines, Québec as the Archer Cup and the amateur divisions both came to an end. This years "Classique des Applaches" which was in its 5th year, boasted amateur divisions for "C" caliber players right to Semi-Pro. The pro division was renamed to the "Archer Cup" in honour of the multiple world champion and hall of fame inductee Johnny "the Scorpion" Archer. This was dubbed a memorial tournament and some of the English speaking players jokingly poked fun, as usually a memorial tournament is for someone who has passed. However this is something that is lost in translation as the intent in renaming the tournament is to honour a great champion and promoter of the game for everything he has done and continues to do. The irony of this was not lost on Archer as he even poked fun of himself in the opening ceremonies, which you can see on the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page.

Archer Cup 

Danny Hewitt photo courtesy of Lynn Gosselin @ www.infiny.ca

The final day of 24 player marquee event started off with Danny Hewitt vs Thorsten Hohmann in the winners side final. Hohmann went into this event as one of the overall favourites and it was no surprise to see him in this match. On the other hand lesser known on an international scene Danny Hewitt was a bit of a surprise to see in the winners side final to most fans outside of Canada. For some this was a coming out party for Hewitt who dispatched both Mike "Fireball" Dechaine and John "Mr. Smooth" Morra on his way to meet Hohmann. However for fans north of the border he is a proven world class talent who is a threat in any tournament. In fact he recently beat Hohmann at the Turning Stone Classic 9-5, which Hohmann later acknowledged in his victory speech.

Hohmann was on a different level this week as he was clearly the most consistent performer and beat Hewitt 10-5. From here Hewitt had to wait for the losers side of the bracket to finish up to see who his oppenent would be in the semi-finals. First up was Erik "Big Red" Hjorleifson up against a strong Semi-Pro from Gatineau, Québec John Leblanc. Leblanc had an incredible run in this tournament as he beat both Johnn Archer and Luc "The Machine Gun" Salvas and only lost to Morra on his way to meet Big Red. This match went back and forth with Leblanc taking an early 3-1 lead then Hjorleifson came back to go up 6-3 before he won 10-7 knocking out Leblanc in the 5/6 Position

Morra was up against Dechaine in the other 5/6 match up. Dechaine got up early in this match 3-1 however his break left him and Morra was breaking and running at a high level and basically played flawless winning 10-4. This set up a match between two long time friends, road partners and Canadian Champions Morra and Hjorleifson. This was an unconventional match as Hjorleifson broke and ran his first 3 breaks in this alternative break format and built a lead 3-1. From there a few bad rolls that resulted in fouls allowed Big Red to pad his lead to 9-2. In alternate break format this is almost a guaranteed win at this level the way they break. However Morra was not done yet as some stellar play and a few errors made the score 9-7 before Hjorleifson was able to secure the final rack.

In the losers side final between Hewitt and Hjorleifson, Hewitt continued on his torrid pace winning 10-2. Hjorleifson's break left him during his match leaving a lot of open tables which Hewitt took full advantage of and combined with his great breaking won this match with ease. This set up a rematch of the winners side final between Hewitt and Hohmann to the delight of the Québec fans. Unfortunately Hohmann was just too good to beat on this occasion as he walked away with this set 12-6. In his post match speech he congratulated his oppenent and acknowledge his high level of skill. Hohmann also joked to the crowd when he said, "I know you all wanted to see a closer match in this final, but I did not."

Archer and Hohmann in front of the "Archer Cup" with CBA Board members, photo courstesy of Lynn Gosselin @ www.infiny.ca 

Hohmann is not only a world class champion but a consummate professional as he gracefully accepted the trophy and acknowledged the great work of the promoters.  I watched him all weekend and was really impressed with how he handled himself the entire event.

Top 3 Payouts

Thorsten Hohmann -$6500
Danny Hewitt-$4000
Erik Hjorleifson-$3000

Final Thoughts

I would not only thank Marco Sanschagrin and the entire C.B.A board for sponsoring Cue Sport Nation to cover this event, but to also congratulate him on its success. Sanschagrin is one of few promoters who delivers exactly what is advertised. He promised a world class event with $10,000 added and that is exactly what we got. In any event of this magnitude there will be issues, that goes without saying. However most issues in billiard related events has to do with broken promises, poor organization, last minute funding issues and the list goes on. What was great to see this weekend is that the only issues that came up were left on the table.

For one Mike Dechaine was very vocal this weekend on his displeasure with having to use the "Magic Rack" and he said the pocket sizes were a bit big. Dechaine who is well known for his break, felt that perhaps the "Magic Rack" made it too easy to make balls and took away one of his key advantages. On the flip side what we did not hear complaints about was missing prize fund money and players not getting what they were promised. It really is a treat to attend an event where we can all focus solely on whats going on at the table.

The amateur divisions and the Scotch Doubles events which we will be covering in an article later this week all went off without a hitch. All the matches were scheduled via an app called CompuSport. At the conclusion of each match the winner simply had to scan their paper and the brackets would automatically update. The app feature also enabled players to get a notification sent to their phone as soon as their match was scheduled to play. This kept all the tournaments running smoothly which is quite a feat considering there was up to 14 tournaments being played simultaneously throughout the divisions.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the C.B.A they are a billiard promotional organization backed by the city of Thetford Mines. Marco Sanschargrin is at the head of all this and you will be hearing more about them in the coming months. They have also secured the Black Lake Arena to host this event for the next few years and have struck a deal with the Québec Federation to host the Provincial Championships as well.

Finally some exciting news for those who have been desperate to see change for our Canadian Championships, which have not been well attended at the highest level for some years now. Sanschagrin has stated he will be placing a bid to host the 2016 Canadian Championships, this news comes to the delight of Canada's top players in which he has their full support. As my partner and I here at Cue Sport Nation usually do after these type of events, we discussed what we thought on this years Classique des Appalaches. I feel Hjorleifson summed it up perfectly when he simply said, "It just does not get any better than this"

Archer Cup Day 2: Hewitt and Leblanc Continue to Impress

Photo courtesy of Hanna Kwon

By: Erik Hjorleifson & Markus Noé

Day 2 is now in the books at the Classique des Appalaches being held at Black Lake Arena in Thetford Mines, Quebec. This really is a first class tournament with 41 nine foot Black Crown 2 tables set up on the floor of a hockey arena. I believe it is the most 9 foots I have ever seen in a venue other than a poolroom. This is the 5th annual edition of this tournament which has progressed year after year. A new added feature this year is the "T.V Table" which can be watched at www.eventime.ca.

Francis Crevier/Mario Paradis vs Richer Francoeur/Danny Hewitt

Today in the doubles division my partner Ashely Nowlan and myself continued on our hot streak with a 9-2 victory to move on to the winners side final. Morra and Cicero had a hard fight hill-hill win over Grenier and Lalande, we will be playing our hot-seat match at 11:00 am.  On the losers side both teams that lost the winners side semi-final bounced back and advanced to the 4th place match. 

Hewitt Vs Morra 

In the Archer Cup 10 ball division Montreal native Danny Hewitt had a high quality match with John Morra. After trailing 7-5 he went on to win 5 of the last 6 games to pull off a hard earned 10-8 victory. Thorsten Hohmann played strong as well as he beat me 10-5 to set up a match-up against Hewitt in the winners side final.

On the losers side John Leblanc who already had a notable win against Johnny Archer in this tournament, was also able to beat Luc Salvas in the last match of the day. This secured Leblanc a match up against me at 9 am in the 5/6 position. Before beating Salvas 10-8 he also ended Yan Lalande's bid at this years Archer Cup. Stay tuned to the Cue Sport Nation Facebook page for continuous doubles and Archer Cup updates as both tournaments will wrap up tomorrow. Also check back in at www.cuesportnation.com later on in the week as we will have last article on this years Archer Cup as well as the results in the Amateur divisions. We would like to thank our Sponsors Marco Sansachagrin and the entire C.B.A team as well as Mario Paradis at Chalk Cube, for making coverage of this tournament possible.