Exclusive: Hjorleifson's First Update from the World Championship

Greetings everyone from Qatar; it's been a long first few days over here. After my 20 hour door to door journey, I arrived in Qatar to find that my bags had been lost in transit. I had hope that they would show up before my match began, however by 6 o'clock yesterday I realized that I would have to go out and buy some new clothes.

On this journey I found out that in Qatar I am a size 47 shoe,of which there were only about six pairs in the whole six story super mall that I went to. A size 38 waist, 2 sizes bigger than in North America and an XXL shirt, also which there were very few of. Second on the unexpected list was finding a cue to play with. I was lucky to find a good quality Joss butt and a WD700 Mezz shaft, which played pretty similar to my normal equipment but was obviously something I did not expect to have to deal with. Fortunately my bags arrived a couple of hours after my first match today so I will be spoiled in comparison for the remainder of the tournament.

Life is always going to throw you curve balls and the important thing is dealing with it the best you can. I'm proud to say that given the circumstances, I gave myself the best possible chance to win my match and I will be moving forward with the same attitude for the rest of the week. The venue for the the 2014 championships is second to none. I believe this is the 4th year that the event has been held at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Qatar. The venue is one of the best I have had the privilege of playing in. The playing area and equipment can be described as follows:

• 14 9 foot Wiraka tables
• Simonis 860 cloth
• Super Aramith TV style balls with Measle cue balls
• 20 foot spacing on all sides of every table
• Well trained referees at each table
• Electronic scoreboards with streaming cameras

Needless to say the event has been very well organized and in my opinion the tables are playing great. There are no issues with leveling and the four inch pockets that they have implemented are, I believe, the perfect size for professional competition. So far the event has not been kind to the Canadian contingent as John Morra lost 9-6 to a very strong lesser known player from South America named Jalal Yousef. I lost to a very good player from Taiwan named Cheng Yu Hsuan, who broke and ran out five racks, and Jason Klatt lost 9-8 to Dennis Orcollo. Mario Morra and Alex Pagulayan will play their first round matches tomorrow against Artem Koshovoy (UKR) and Naoyuki Ohi. The three Canadians on the one loss side will play their matches tomorrow and I can assure you that we are not giving up! Thanks for all the support and hopefully I will be able to get back to you with some good news tomorrow.

Inaugural Canadian University & Colleges Pool and Snooker Championships Announced

It is only half way through 2014 and already cue-sports in Canada has had a banner year. Originally it was the success of the Richler Cup and Le Classique de Billiard. Now the University of Toronto Pool and Snooker Club has continued this positive trend by announcing the first ever Canadian inter-University and College Pool and Snooker Championships, to be held August 25-29 in Toronto.

It is Renjie "Stephen" Lu, a former High School Snooker Champion from China, who is credited with coming up with the idea to organize a cross Canada collegiate championship. It is his connection with Xian Meng (Sam) Huang from the U of T Pool and Snooker Club, as well as Patrick Guigui of Snooker Canada that made this possible.

Huang, a long time player jumped at the idea of being a major part of hosting and organizing this inaugural event. The idea behind this Championship is to promote cue-sports at the grassroots levels, as well as to give competitive minded players an equal alternative to the CBSA Canadian Championships. He explained this when he said,"I've always thought about participating in the Canadian Championships; however, we (students) simply do not have the same time and resources that the top players in the country have. We may play at most 1 hour a day, whereas a pro would be playing maybe 4-8 hours a day.Therefore, this University Championship will level the playing field and determine the best player in the country that's also pursuing a career outside of pool." 

When talking about the involvement of Snooker Canada, Huang was complimentary when he said, "Patrick Guigui has been extremely helpful in assisting us with this event. He helped us with the venue as well as negotiating the table fees, and Snooker Canada will also be providing the trophies for the event."

The determination and enthusiasm the Toronto players showed is what got Guigui's attention. However it was their foresight that ensured his involvement with this project. He explains this when he said, "What impressed me even more was when I asked them why they were so interested in doing this if they were all in the latter stages of college and graduating soon ; their response was that they wanted to do their part in keeping the game going for the younger students.  I thought that was a very selfless and mature way of thinking."

This project is in its infancy and the finer details still need to be worked out. This is a big opportunity for the expansion of cue-sports in Canada and hopefully as many schools as possible jump on-board.

To find out more information or to register for this event please refer to www.snookercanada.ca. Contact information is also available on the Canadian University Pool and Snooker Championship Facebook Page . In order to qualify for this event you must have been a registered student in the winter semester of 2014. Also the top two in the Snooker division will qualify for next years Richler Cup. 

Big Red's Instructional #2: The Importance of Proper Bridging

Hello everyone, I hope these past two weeks have treated you well. Today we will be looking at the subject of bridging, something that is often overlooked in the process of building proper fundamentals. This is one of the most common areas where you will see a difference between amateurs and professionals; in this article I would like to help our readers understand those differences.


To start, the open bridge and its technical variations is the most important bridge to learn and master and it should be used nearly 70% of the time.


Topic #1 Open Bridge

The open bridge is the easiest bridge to execute, any accomplished player usually has a fairly strong open bridge hand position. A perfect example of this would be former World Champion Darren Appleton.The open bridge should be used almost always when hitting a shot lightly, it is a mistake to use a closed bridge in these situations.

The open bridge is also the best to sight the cue ball with, because it is not as high as a closed bridge. There are basically only two times when it is recommend to use a closed bridge. On shots where you feel like your cue will come off your hand because of the speed of the shot, and when you are trying to play a stiff draw shot where you are trying to really dig into the cue ball.

A common error for amateurs when playing a shot with an open bridge is the tendency to lift the back of either side of your palm off the bed of the table. Some players will try to raise the back of their hand in order to gain height on the cue ball, however this causes instability in the bridge. Raising one side of the bridge to contact center ball is also a big mistake. Instead, raise the middle of your hand to create the height when going forward and flatten your hand out to reach the bottom of the cue ball when drawing, this allows you to never sacrifice stability.

Topic # 2 Bridge Length

With the help of the open bridge, your sighting should be better and your stroke more free flowing, allowing for more success with the following methods. Assuming that a player is not reaching for shot and that the cue ball is accessible without using a bridge from the rail, I would like our readers to consider the following:

1.When shooting a slow speed shot your bridge should be the closest to the cue ball, approximately three inches away.

2. When shooting a medium speed shot your bridge should be a medium distance from the cue ball, approximately six inches away.

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3. When shooting a high speed shot your bridge should be about three more inches back for a total of approximately nine inches away from the cue ball.

Note: These are only approximate distances, small variations of these distances are completely acceptable relative to the players stroke length. The reason why we should have different distances from the cue ball is because we should be putting different backstroke lengths on different shots. For example, on a light shot your backstroke length could be about one and a half inches so your bridge length would be about three inches.



This Week I am off to Qatar for the World 9 Ball Championships and based on my availability I will be writing daily reports with all of the results from the Canadian contingent as well as expressing my thoughts on the organization, equipment, level of play etc. at this years event. You will be able to see all the info at straight-pool blogspot.ca. When I get back we will discuss closed bridge and bridging off the rail.

Third Rack-M-Up Summer Series Results.

For the second time out of the three tournaments thus far, a full field of 16 showed up to take part in this handicapped event. A busy end of the season tournament schedule kept me out of the first two of the series. However now that the circuits in Montreal and Ottawa are done for the year the Rack-M-Up series provides a great opportunity for competitive players like myself to stay in form during the off-season.

Unfortunately it was a short and swift exit for me on this day. I started off playing local hotshot Jacques (Jacques-pack) Sauve who is a (7). I currently shoot as a (5) and was up 4-3 when I let one bad miss eat at me and it turned into a flurry of errors that resulted in a 7-4 loss. Next up was Walter Sydlowski (6) a wily veteran who took advantage of my weakened state and punished me 6-2.

Sauve went on to win a few matches after me, then ran into Jeff Flemming(6) from Brockville Ontario, in the winners side final. Flemming, who regained form after suffering a horrific knee injury last year that resulted in a full knee replacement, caught a gear and easily beat Sauve setting up a rematch between himself and Jody (Dirt). Roy, who is also a (7) was dialed in as he won a few matches after his previous loss to Sauve. With this confidence and determination to settle the score, Roy played near flawlessly winning 7-4.

The wait between the Winners side final and the actual final did not seem to bother Flemming. He got to work immediately in the first rack, cutting the 3 ball full table into the 9 which was near the pocket but no hanger for a 1-0 lead. From there, Flemming built a 2 game lead which he never relinquished, eventually winning 6-5.

The next tournament will be June 28. If you have not played in any of the events remember there are only five left to get the four needed to qualify for the Grande Finale. Also I apologize for the lack of photos as I experienced a technical issue with my camera.

To book your spot in the next tournament call Doug at 613-933-9362.

Jeff Flemming-$160
Jody Roy-$100
Jacque Sauve-$60
Kevin Thibeault-$40

Canadian Hopefuls Gearing up for World Championships

John Morra

On June 21 stage 2 of the World 9 Ball Championships will begin at the Al Saad Sports Club in Doha, Qatar. Canada will be represented this year by our current Canadian Champions John Morra (8ball), Jason Klatt (9ball) and Erik Hjorleifson (10ball), as well as Mario Morra.

John "Mr. Smooth" Morra has already proven to be in top form, with a successful final 16 finish at the recent China Open. Because of it's large prize pool and red carpet treatment of the players, the China Open has become a prestigious event that everyone would like to have on their resume. With its qualifiers and group stages, which lead to a final 32 single elimination knock out format, it is also one of the most difficult tournaments in the world to win. 

Morra, who impressively worked his way into the final 32, met up with one of the top players in Asia, Ko Pin Yi. Not phased by playing one of the tournament favourites, Morra was solid and went on to win 11-7.  His next match was an 11-8 loss to Jeffery Ignacio, who played his way into the final where he lost to Chang Yu Lung.

Jason Klatt

Klatt also made the trip to China where unfortunately he was not as successful. However after the completion of the China Open Klatt traveled to "Huslters," a pool room in Bangkok, Thailand. There he met up with Shane Van Boening, Corey Duel and Darren Appleton who were all invited to take part in a series of challenge matches against some local talent. Klatt teamed up with Appleton to play a $1000 scotch doubles match which they easily won. 

Erik Hjorleifson

Hjorleifson has stayed in the G.T.A (Greater Toronto Area) to finish up the 404 K tour and to continue on with his instructional clinics. He plans to practice as much as possible these next few days before he and Mario Morra head to Doha to meet up with Klatt and John Morra. Make sure to stay tuned during the entire World Championships as Hjorleifson will be sending updates the entire time. 

To see the match between Ko Pin Yi and Mr. Smooth click here 

  

82 players for Final Tournament of the Season in Valleyfield

Last weekend Dooly's Valleyfield was the host for the 6th annual end of season handicapped tournament for the Federation Quebecoise (FQSB). The Federation organizes a circuit of tournaments that are played out of the Montreal region; it has divisions for every level, C through Professional. .

This year was one of the best attended as 82 players showed up to take a stab at the $3000 added prize pool. There was also a record Calcutta of $5,815, which added some excitement as there was a large amount of money to win. On Saturday they played down to the final 16 who came back Sunday morning to shoot it out for the top prize.

It was Sylvain Filiatrault, a level A player and local shooter, who proved too hard to beat as he played a solid tournament and went undefeated to claim the $1,000 first prize. He met up with AA player Eric Levesque who had an impressive tournament, battling back from the B side to claim 2nd place and $700.

Tournament Pay Out

Filiatrault, Sylvain #3642	1	1000 $
Lévesque, Éric #1182	2	700 $
Chicoine, Maxime #4004	3	500 $
Otis, Pierre #531	4	340 $
Pétrin, Karl #3648	5 - 6	250 $
Bélanger, Jean-Guy #4014	5 - 6	250 $
Parent, Alain #1369	7 - 8	180 $
Zbikowski, Denys #3053	7 - 8	180 $
Gagnon, Mario #3136	9 - 12	130 $
Abrouq, Anas #3636	9 - 12	130 $
Ellis, Everald #3240	9 - 12	130 $
St-Onge, Serge #1249	9 - 12	130 $
Martin, Steve #1572	13 - 16	80 $
Morissette, Pierre #2911	13 - 16	80 $
Malo, Benoît #1554	13 - 16	80 $
Patoine, Renaud #3318	13 - 16	80 $
Goulet, Jocelyn #1841	17 - 24	50 $
Plante, Serge #3775	17 - 24	50 $
Tremblay, Jeff #917	17 - 24	50 $
Gagné, Daniel #735	17 - 24	50 $
Roy, Luc #1932	17 - 24	50 $
Legault, Jocelyn #2457	17 - 24	50 $
Poudrier, Alain #1381	17 - 24	50 $
Morel, Daniel #1842	17 - 24	50 $

  

Calcutta Pay Out

Andre Dube-$2000 Split with Filiatraut

Sylvain Gringras-$1400
Karl Mixer-$915

Christian Issabelle-$500

Karl Petrin/Serge St-Onge-$300

Andre Dube/Roger Theriault-$200

Rack-M-Up Summer Series #2: Another First Time Winner

Tournament winner Kevin Thibeault

Saturday May 31st was the second of 8 scheduled events for the summer series. A nearly full field of 14 showed up to take part, and once again there was a first ever tournament winner. Kevin Thibeault, who was forced to put down the cue for a few years due to a nagging back injury, showed he has regained his playing form this weekend. 

It has only been about 6 months since Thibeault, who is ranked a B, has been able to play with some consistency but slowly and surely his game came back. All his hard work came to a head this weekend  as he cruised  through the winner side the entire day. At the end Thibeault had two notable wins against winner and multiple finalist since the debut of the series last summer, Jacques Sauve, who is ranked AAA.

The next tournament will be held on June 14. The entry is $40 and is open to the first 16 paid. This tournament is for B players through to AAA, no Pro/Semi-pro's. There are only 6 tournaments left to obtain the 4 needed to qualify for the end of the season tournament. It will have added money and potentially a Calcutta. To sign up call Doug Disotell at 1-613-933-9362 -don't get left out!

1st- Kevin Thibeault-$150                                                              

2nd Jacques Sauve-$100

3rd Ron Periard-$50

4th Wayne lebrun-$25

5/6th Jr Cook, Walter szydlowski

7/8th Jay Hall, Platon Liolios

9-12 Matt Cook, Bob Labelle, Gus Jacobs, Jeff Flemming

13-16 Maurice Hearn, Amanda Collins