Germany - Sonja, World Team Pool and a lecture

Hi folks

It feels like it, but my latest Germany trip was only 4 weeks ago and is now but a memory. Visiting Sonja for a few days as well as watching the World Team Pool Championships and doing a magic lecture in Hannover made for a busy, and fun, week.

First thing I should mention is the weather. It was COLD! Not quite as cold as it was here from mid-December to mid-January but still cold enough for there to be about an inch of ice on the ground the whole time. Luckily, the German attitude towards snow and ice is “if there is snow and ice on the pavement outside your front door, clear it!” (I just wish more people in this country would take that attitude!) so the conditions underfoot were not that bad.

A distant view of the venue of the World Team
Championships - with at least an inch of ice on the pavements!

Sonja had to work most of the days that I was there and when she was not away at work, she was working hard to prepare lessons for the following few days. I knew that she worked hard at what she did, I don’t think I realised just how hard and how much she works at home too. No wonder she’s so good at her job!

The Friday saw me travel to Hannover to watch the World Team Pool Championships at the huge exhibition area in the Hannover suburb of Laatzen. The tournament was taking place in Hall 25, alongside the ABF, a huge motor show, food and drink, leisure and camping show that takes place every year. Actually, that’s not all that was on show there but was all that I could get a chance to see!

A display of Harley Davidson motorcycles with a little bit of
the motorshow on view in the background

The 16 tables that were used for both the World Team
Championships and Bundesliga matches

The tournament itself saw some 48 4 to 6 player teams from 40-odd countries taking part in matches involving Scotch Double 8 Ball (where the players play alternate shots) and singles 9 Ball and Ten Ball. Matches would consist of 2 sets in each discipline with the winner of each match being the team that reached 4 wins. In the event of a 3-3 draw, pool’s equivalent of a penalty shoot-out would be used to decide who went through, but more on that in a bit.

The matches of the World Team Championships did not start until 6pm but that allowed the Bundesliga to use the 16 tournament tables in the playing arena for some of their matches on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday. These involved 4 player teams playing 8 Ball, 9 Ball, 10 Ball and Straight Pool and this gave me a chance to see one of my favourite players playing, in my opinion, his best discipline - Oliver Ortmann playing Straight Pool, at which he is a former US Open and World Champion. Great stuff.

One of the Bundesliga matches - from left to right:
Straight Pool, 9 Ball, 8 Ball and Ten Ball

As for the World Team Championships itself, I had a team to support - Great Britain 1, made up of Mark Gray, Imran Majid, Karl Boyes, Daryl Peach and team captain Darren Appleton. Britain had 2 teams in the event but the GB2 team, which contained 2 SAPPA players, had been eliminated by Greece a couple of days before I arrived in Hannover while GB1 seemed to be playing pretty well and winning their matches without too much bother. Their quarter final match, and the first that I would see live, was against China who are turning into a real power house of pool talent. The Scotch Doubles 8 Ball sets were shared but the Chinese won both 9 Ball sets, meaning that GB1 had to win both Ten Ball sets to force a shoot-out. 2007 World 9 Ball Champion, Daryl Peach, managed to win his leaving 2008 World Ten Ball Champion Darren Appleton to have to win his. This he did in a very tight set that had all the spectators at the edges of their seats.

Daryl Peach studies another shot in his
Ten Ball set against China

This forced the shoot-out. Pool's answer to a penalty shoot-out in football. The cueball is placed on the spot at the end where the players break from and the black is placed in a position similar to the black spot on a snooker table. The idea of the shoot-out is for 4 players from each team to take it in turns to try to cut the black directly into one of the corner pockets at that end of the table (see the image below for a better idea of both the set up and the shot). The first team to do so 6 times, with a 2 clear point margin, would progress.

The set up for the shoot-out used in the World Team Championships

The GB1 v China shoot-out ended up being one of the most exciting pool events I have seen in many, many years. In what felt like 20 minutes, an hour and a half had flown by and after some 40 attempts by each team, GB1 finally came out on top as winners in an epic that ended 27-25. What a match!

The next day, and GB1 were facing the surprise package of the event - Greece. They had eliminated GB2 in the last round before the single elimination phase started, then proceeded to eliminate the USA in the last 16 in a shoot-out, then Switzerland in the Quarter Finals. This put them up against GB1 who were still on a high from the previous evening's adventure against China.

Mark Gray and Daryl Peach watch their Greek opponent
break off at 8 Ball while Markus Hofstaetter takes
more pictures for Touch Magazine

The Greek team were tough opponents keeping things tight right through the match and it went down to the final Ten Ball set, once again involving Darren Appleton, but this time he knew that if he won then his side were in the final. And win he did, putting GB1 into the first World Team Championship final against the might of The Philippines.

Imran Majid pockets the winning 9-Ball in his set against Greece

Darren Appleton pockets the winning Ten Ball to
send GB1 through to the World Team final...

...and is more than a little relieved at the outcome.

The Great Britain 1 team at the World Team Championships:
(from left to right) Imran Majid, Karl Boyes, Mark Gray,
Darren Appleton (capt.) and Daryl Peach

Sadly, I had to miss the final but this was due to a prior engagement. I had been booked to present my card magic lecture to Magischen Zirkels Hannover (Hannover Magic Circle). Around 20 magicians turned up to listen to me talk - and without a translator! For nearly 3 hours! Now, first of all, I did not present the lecture in German! I presented it in English and they were able to understand what I was saying! I was really impressed that I was able to do it! And, they all seemed to enjoy what they saw and heard. I certainly had a good time!

A collage of images from my lecture in Hannover
(picture created by, and courtesy of, Juergen Meyer

The journey home was, to say the least, entertaining. Heavy snow started to fall on the Tuesday and by Wednesday there was a good couple of inches lying around with more falling all the time. As it was, my flight home was delayed by over an hour due to the snow at Bremen Airport but such is life and it was just another part of what had been a fun adventure.

The scene on Sonja's balcony after a little snow!

And so another trip to Germany is consigned to memory. Another trip with filled with fun and enjoyment. It was great to be able to watch the pool tournament, be able to present my lecture and, of course, be able to see Sonja for a wee while but as always, these visits always come to an end far too quickly and this one was no different. Still, there's plenty of time this year to go back a couple times more. I just hope I am able to do it!

Speak soon.

The Cardman :-)

Lynette Horsburgh Fundraising Pool Exhibition

Hi folks

Just a quick post to let you know that my friend, who also happens to be the 2008 WEPF Ladies World 8-Ball Champion, Lynette Horsburgh, will be doing a fundraising exhibition at Braehead Shopping Centre this weekend in aid of "Hearing Dogs For Deaf People". The dates and times are:-

Friday 3rd October 2008 from 10am till 9pm
Saturday 4th October 2008 from 9am till 6:30pm
Sunday 5th October 2008 from 10am till 6pm

Also, for your information, here's a little information about the work "Hearing Dogs For Deaf People" do.

"Nearly nine million of the UK population experience some degree of hearing loss. That's one person in every seven. Over 650,000 of these people are severely or profoundly deaf and could benefit from a hearing dog.

Hearing dogs change lives. They alert their deaf owners to sounds we take for granted, providing greater independence, confidence and security. Most are selected from rescue centres or donated as unwanted pets.

We rely totally on the generosity of individuals and organisations to continue transforming the lives of deaf people and unwanted puppies. Thank you for your interest in our work."

Lynette will be available to play between 10am and 9pm in return for a donation of £3 or more. At intervals during the day, trick shots will be performed, and lucky members of the audience will be invited to have a go.

If you can, get yourselves down there and help raise a ton of cash for a very worthy cause.

Speak soon

The Cardman :-)

2007 Philippines World Pool Championships

Last week saw this year's edition of the World Pool Championships taking place in Manilla in The Philippines. What a lot of you may not know is that Pool is HUGE over there. Apparrently it is a close second to Basketball in popularity! As ever Sky Sports were giving live coverage of the event, taking the broadcast feed from ESPN in Asia.

This year, Scotland had 3 players in it - Swiss-based Scot Johnny Fulcher, Glasgow's Stevie Capaldi and Larkhall's Pat Holtz. Sadly, none of our players managed to qualify from their groups into the last 64 knockout phase but that didn't stop the event from being one of the most amazing tournaments I've watched in many years. Although Pat qualify from his group, he did manage to make another good impact in the commentary box working with Texan Jerry Forsyth, Englishman Nick Halling and Filipino Bob Guerrero. As ever, Pat proved that you can take the boy out of Larkhall, but you can't take the Larkhall out of the boy! Last year, while talking very clear English, he slipped up my talking about the "wan-baw" (the one-ball). This year, I could only imagine Forsyth's face when he described an up-coming match as a "hum-dinger".

At the end of the week, the final came down to a Filipino, Roberto "Superman" Gomez, and a British player, Blackpool's Daryl Peach. I've met Daryl on many occasions, mostly when I was in Blackpool for the Convention that takes place there at the end of each February, and he's always been one of life's good guys. It was great to see him progressing so far through such a major tournament.

Let me just interject that there was a second British player involved in the late stages of the World Championships. Karl Boyes, who also lives in Blackpool, managed to reach the Semi Finals of this year's event before being on the wrong side of an 11-4 scoreline to Gomez (Karl was 4-0 up at one point before "Superman" took off). I had met Karl at the Scottish Championships at the end of October when he came up with his partner Lynette Horsburgh. Lynette, like Daryl, is someone I had met on numerous occasions when I was in Blackpool for the Convention. Had Karl won that match and made it an all-British final, I honestly don't know who I would have favoured!!!

As it was, it was easy for me to favour one player over the other and so, at 6:30 on Sunday morning (yes, 6:30AM on a Sunday!!!), I switched on Sky Sports to watch live coverage of the final (it's at times like these that I hate time differences!). The match started around 7am and, with the match being a race to 17 racks, I knew it would be a long one. I never thought it would take nearly 5 hours! But it did and, in the end, and to my joy and total disbelief, there was Daryl pocketing the final 9-ball to become 2007 World Pool Champion. It was, and is, an amazing achievement and one that finally starts to pay off all his hard work and dedication that Daryl has put into the game.

Daryl, a million and one congratulations to you! Yes, I cried as that final 9-ball was pocketed to give you the World Title you so deserve. Do I care? Not a jot!!! I could not have been happier for you. I hope you have a great year.

Speak soon

The Cardman :-)

Catch Up - Blackpool Magic Convention and SAPPA Tour Event 10

It’s been a while, so I’m going to use this post to catch up on a couple of things that have happened recently.

The Blackpool Convention is now but a distant memory, but what a memory it is! One of the craziest and most fun weekends I’ve had in a long time and, socially, the most enjoyable Blackpool for many years. Some people tend to knock themselves out by trying to go to everything that they possibly can and have a great time doing so. Others pay their money, walk into the Dealers’ Hall and never leave it – apart from the (very) occasional trip to the bar – and have a great time doing so. I managed to find a happy medium between the 2 – going to see the things that I wanted to see as well as just hang out in the Dealers’ Hall – mostly helping out behind Aaron Fisher's stand, which was great fun allowing me to re-discover some of Aaron’s material that I had forgotten.

It was great to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in a while – in some cases, quite a while – which made this year’s Convention all the more fun for me. Strangely enough, I am actually looking forward to next year’s convention already!

The weekend following the Blackpool Convention saw me in Kirkcaldy for the final 9-Ball tournament of the 2006/07 season. In the first round, I managed to exact my revenge on Andy Bain of Glasgow for the beating he gave me at the previous tournament, but that was about the highlight of my tournament as 2 rather tame losses meant that I was knocked out of the tournament fairly quickly.

I’m in the middle of typing up a post about my trip to Germany last week. It is probably going to be a big ‘un, so beware!

Speak soon.

The Cardman :-)

SAPPA Tour Event – Styx, Glenrothes

Yesterday was the latest event on the Scottish American Pool Tour in the newest American Pool club in Scotland. Styx, already a firm favourite in Kirkcaldy and regular stop for the Scottish 9-Ball Championships, recently opened a new venue in Glenrothes, only a few miles along the road from Kirkcaldy. Located in the same building as the Glenrothes Snooker Club, Styx Glenrothes houses 9 American Pool tables and 3 UK pool tables. The surroundings are very similar to the Styx we already know and love in Kirkcaldy, only a little more intimate.

My first match of the day was against Remi (that’s all we know him as!) from Edinburgh who is a pretty handy player. As it was, it didn’t help that I was making a few silly errors and was 4-1 down in the race to 6 before I realised that I should start playing. So, I tried one of my Cardman Classic Comebacks and got to 5-4 up before Remi managed to win the last 2 racks to beat me 6-5.

That put me directly over to the Losers’ Bracket and a match with Andy Bain of Glasgow. Now, with no disrespect to Andy, I know I can beat him and was fully intent on doing so. Then Andy got really lucky and got every roll going for him – along with every roll that I got going against me! As it was, Andy won the match 5-3, eliminating me from the tournament.

Ach well, another bad luck heartbreak story to add to the collection. Still, there’s always the final event of the 2006/07 tour, which will take place on 4 March 2007 at Styx, Kirkcaldy.

Speak soon

The Cardman :-)

SAPPA Tour Event 6 - The 8-Ball Sports Bar, Leith, Edinburgh, 12 November 2006

I turned up in Edinburgh for the latest tour event of the year having not picked up a pool cue since the Scottish Championships some 3 weeks previously! I walked in with only expecting one thing - that I would lose my first 2 matches and be knocked out of the tournament in double quick time.

The club looked excellent - built in a room made up of different little "caverns" that each held 3 tables and with the bar area off to the side in another couple of "caverns". We were only using 9 of the club's 12 tables, so the matches would be races to 6 on the Winners' side and 5 on the Losers' side.

The draw paired me against Gavin Wiseman from Glasgow. Gavin's a handy player and I enjoy playing him as he will give me a good run for my money. As it was, when we started, I managed to jump out to leads of 3-0 and 4-1 fairly quickly only to be pegged back to 4-4 before I knew it. Gavin then won the 9th rack to put him "on the hill" - needing only one rack to win the match. Luckily, things started going my way and I managed to win the last 2 racks to steal the match 6-5.

It was during this match that all play stopped to welcome back Pat Holtz from this year's World Pool Championships in Manila in The Philippines where he had managed to reach the last 16 of the tournament, earning himself an automatic spot in next year's event and Scotland a second spot in the tournament. He was also drafted in by ESPN to do some commentary with American Jerry Forsythe and they made a great duo. Well done, Pat. We're all really chuffed for you and proud of your achievement in putting Scottish Pool on the world-wide map. I, personally, hope to hear Pat back in the commentary box at the major events again before too long.

Next up was another good friend, Pete King, another handy also from Glasgow (never leave this guy even a sniff at a bank or kick shot!). Another quick start from me, another fight back from Pete and another case of me staggering over the finish line to progress to the last round of the Double Elimination phase, again by 6 racks to 5.

Now, time to face Tam "The" Talent - the SAPPA Tournament Director and ranked in the top 8 in Scotland. This time, it was Tam who had the quick start, being 4-0 and 5-1 up before I started getting my brain in gear, stopped making so many silly errors and started playing. I managed to get back to 5-4 before making one last mistake that allowed Tam in to finish off the match and send me to the Losers' Bracket with a 6-4 scoreline.

I had to wait a wee while for my next opponent but finally local player Jim Purse emerged to be the opponent to stand between me and my first-ever last 16 spot. As it was, I was on a roll and never allowed Jim a clear shot for the first 2 or 3 racks. In the end, I had a comfortable 5-0 victory, giving me my first spot in the last 16 - and my first payday in a SAPPA event, guaranteeing me at least £20.

As it was, I was only to play one more match as Davy Jack from Arbroath was having the tournament of the year, blitzing his way through the field with unnerving accuracy. Simply put, he blitzed me 7-0! I had a couple of complaints as I was making some decent shots, but just not following them up with finishes. Ach well, I made the last 16 – next target is for me to get to the last 8 of a tournament.

Maybe next time?

Before I go - a few wee pictures for you all. This is how over-excited some people can get at SAPPA events.

Dave Tait finding things a little too exciting!

Pat Holtz catches up on a little shut-eye. We can let him
away with this one, he was just off a 27-hour flight from Manilla!

Martin Hughes just prior to being his face
being attacked with chalk

Best wishes

The Cardman :-)

2006 Scottish 9-Ball Championships, Kirkcaldy

Hi folks

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. Things have been a little on the crazy-busy side once again, but let's see if I can catch up with the next few posts.

First off, the 2006 Scottish 9-Ball Championships held, once again, at Styx in Kirkcaldy. This is always a fun weekend and now that the visiting of the Irish players has become an annual event, it has become even crazier!

This year, 95 players turned up!!! They included the likes of Wales' 2-time World 8-Ball Champion Rob McKenna and Andy Croasdale – former European 8-Ball Champion as well as the usual Scottish Tour suspects. It was sure to be an enjoyable, if somewhat tough, weekend.

When the draw was made, I ended up with a bye in the first round. Always nice – means I can sit back and relax for a wee while. As it was, I ended up babysitting Ross McInnes’s 6-month old son Preston as his Mummy, Snooker and Pool Referee Michaela Tabb, was in Aberdeen working at the Grand Prix Snooker. I am far from complaining! Preston and I had a great time to ourselves over the 2 days of the tournament walking about the pool hall watching the different things going on. It’s amazing how easily babies can lower themselves to my intellectual level! He was a very content young man over the weekend, only getting a little (very little!) grumpy when he was getting hungry or tired.

As for my playing over the weekend, I had a bit of a nightmare playing-wise, but still did not bad in the tournament. Let me explain. I had a bye in the first round. I had to wait for a while for my next match but not long before it was going to get called, my opponent – one of the Irish players – staggered up to the control table and said that he was forfeiting his match and going to bed as he was drunk. So, without hitting a ball, I get into the third round in the winners bracket! This is where it went kinda pear-shaped. My next opponent was one Pat Holtz – winner of Scotland’s World 9-Ball Championship qualifier and one of Scotland’s top all-round pool players. Pat was 4-0 up before I knew what was going on! All of a sudden I found a gear and got back to 4-2 down and could have made it 4-3 if I hadn’t missed a tough 9-ball. Pat took control of the match from here and won 7-2.

That put me over to the Losers’ Bracket of the chart where I had to wait for other matches to be played before I knew who I was set to play. As it was, I ended up having to play Graham Tough – aka Tookster – one of my closest friends on the tour. I played a few good shots in the match, but nothing that would make it any sort of a match for him and Tookster won 7 racks to 2.

You can find out about how the rest of the tournament went – along with a bunch of pictures that I took when I was there – by going to www.scottish9ball.com.

More very shortly!

The Cardman :-)

2006 SAPPA Tour, Event 4: Riley's, Inverness – 23 April 2006

Last weekend, I headed up to the City of Inverness for the latest event on the SAPPA (Scottish American Pool Players Association) 9-Ball Tour, which took place at Scotland's newest Riley's American Pool and Snooker Club. This was the 4th Tour Event, but only the 3rd to be played, after the Glasgow event due for March was cancelled due to snow.

I arrived on the Saturday afternoon and after checking into my hotel and getting a few bits and pieces done, made my way up to the Club to find that some of the Glasgow players had already arrived and were getting a ton of practice on one of the tables. I was soon to find that these tables were still very new and that the pockets were very tight. You had to be very accurate in pocketing balls - if the ball touched the side of the pocket on the way in, it would get spat back out at you.

After heading dinner with 3 of the guys from Aberdeen at a great Indian Restaurant called "Cinamon" (the walk to which involved Jim (n)O'Hare complaining that it was too far away - "we're in Nairn!" was his comment) we returned to the club to play in a wee flyer that was taking place. My first match - against Edinburgh's Simon Dixon - was a taste of what was to come over the weekend as I was not able to play any decent shots and played truly rubbish pool. Suffice to say, Simon beat my by6 racks to 2. After that, the maddest Ring Game (multiple players - usually 6 - playing the same game of pool at the same time) I have ever played in took place and was concluded by SAPPA Tournament Director pocketing balls whilst singing "I Am The Music Man" as he walked (staggered, more like!) around the table!

Sunday morning, and after breakfast I made my way to the club. You know you're arriving at a pool hall early if the cleaners are still there - and still working, which they were! After a wee while, the place started filling up with players from all parts of Scotland, some of whom had driven up that morning to play. Davy Jack from Arbroath had even been in Manchester to watch Liverpool dump Chelsea out of the FA Cup Semi Final (WOO HOO!) at Old Trafford, then made his way to Inverness to play! Now, that's devotion for you!

My first tournament match was against Edinburgh's Chris Fraser, a young lad who came from nowhere (in a pool sense) at the end of last year with a string of brilliant results. Well, it turned out that I was just going to be another name on his list of victims as he destroyed me and played me off the table with his new cue. As I mentioned before, the pockets were spitting balls back out at me all over the place (suppose I should become more accurate, eh?). The final score was 6-3 to Chris. He is going to be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.

After waiting for a bit, due to all the byes in the Losers' Bracket, I had to play Dave Tait from Glasgow. You go all the way to Inverness and end up playing someone from home! Geez-oh! Again, same thing happened to me - I try to play a shot I know I can make and the pocket spits the ball out at me. Three run-outs were spoiled because of this and my confidence was knocked for 6, with Dave beating me 6 racks to 2.

After that, it was time to relax. For a while. As other the matches in the later stages of the tournament were being played, I played a friend from Edinburgh (via Greece) called Achilles at a discipline called One Pocket, a discipline that we both really enjoy. By this time, my brain was starting to turn to mush and my play was starting to get even worse still (if that really was possible!). Fortunately, I was able to finish playing as I was asked to referee the final of the tournament between Falkirk's Michael Valentine and Clark Smith of Glasgow. It was a very tight, if somewhat scrappy, final with Michael taking the spoils by 9 racks to 8.

As ever, you can find a full report, with pictures, at www.scottish9ball.com

The Cardman :-)

Catch Up – 2006 SAPPA Tour, Event 2: Riley's, Stirling – 12 February 2006

Sunday 12 February, the day after my Mum’s party, saw the second of this year’s SAPPA Tour events, this one being held at Riley’s in Stirling – always one of my favourite clubs in Scotland.

Another excellent day with several more SAPPA debutants making an appearance and giving the Scottish Tour a try. As last time, the format was Double Elimination until the last 16, with Single Elimination to find the winner.

My first match was against Usman Sabir, one of the aforementioned first-time players. Although it was a scrappy match, I did manage to win it 6 – 0. The match also contained one of the most amazing shots I have ever played. The important balls, the cue ball, the one-ball and the 6-ball are all that I can remember from the shot. They sat on the table like this...

With the balls as they lie in the diagram above, I was obviously snookered on the one-ball (in 9 Ball, you have to hit the lowest numbered ball on the table and jumping the cue ball over an intervening ball is legal). I dug out my jump cue from my case and lined the shot up, intending to get the one-ball into the pocket at the bottom right corner of the picture. I hit the shot and the cue ball jumped over the 6 and hit the one-ball on its landing. This caused the one to jump into the air a little and landed on the corner of the side pocket. The one ball then jumped vertically into air and dropped straight into the side pocket! This caused the games around me to stop as we all laughed at one of the most amazing shots that any of us had seen. I promptly missed my next shot, which was straight on! Typical!

Next match and my reward for beating Usman was to play number 4 ranked Clark Smith. In a very scrappy match, which at times looked like neither of us wanted to win a rack, Clark managed to get a few more good rolls of the balls than I did and came away a 6 – 3 winner.

Over to the losers’ bracket I went, a place I am more than used to. I had Ian McLachlan in my next match. Things started OK, but at 2-1 up a couple of drunk eejit football and rugby fans started singing and shouting at the top of their lungs. This threw me totally and my concentration was out the window and heading down the road! Before I knew it, I was 4-2 down! By this time, the management of the club had kicked the a***holes concerned out of the club and I started to play once again, managing to bring it back to 4-4. Sadly for me, things were not to go too well in the deciding rack as I made nothing on the break and when Ian came to the table, he started pocketing balls and managed to fluke the 9-ball to finish the match off. His comment of “the best player didn’t win” after the match was greatly appreciated.

As ever, you can read what happened in the rest of the tournament by going to www.scottish9ball.com

The Cardman :-)

2006 SAPPA Tour, Event 1: Riley's, Kirkintilloch - 22 January 2006

Last Sunday saw the first event on the 2006 Scottish American Pool Players Association tour, which took place at Riley's, Kirkintilloch. It was an enjoyable day with plenty of SAPPA debutants at the event, but playing-wise, it wasn't that good a day. As usual, the tournament was 9-Ball, Double Elimination until the last 16 when it would change to a Single Elimination to find the winner. The matches were race-to-6 on the winners' side and race-to-5 on the losers' side.

My first match was against Billy Edmond of Glasgow, a cracking UK 8-Ball player who has just made the switch to the big table. My problems started in the first rack when the bottom right-hand corner pocket decided to spit a ball out at me. I played the shot perfectly down the rail, had perfect position on the next ball, but it wouldn't fall! It happend - at the same pocket - twice more during the match. In all, that one pocket cost me 3 racks in that match and sapped any confidence I had in that table. I lost, horribly, 6 - 1.

Next match up, my first in the Losers' Bracket, was against Alan Stewart, a pal of mine from Stewarton who was playing in his first SAPPA event. I managed to capitalise on a few mistakes that Alan made and won the match by 5 racks to 1.

Next up was John Ward of Glasgow, who I've played a few times and the matches are always enjoyable. It was close up until about 3-3, but I made a couple too many errors and allowed John to take the match 5 racks to 3. Even though I lost, I was still happy with my play - especially one shot that allowed me to tie the match up at 3 each. With the cueball no more than ½ an inch from the top rail, i had a dead-straight shot on the 5-ball, which was situated half way down the table. If I had played it with a level cue, the cueball would have followed the 5 into the pocket - there was no escaping it. So, I took a chance, raised the butt end of the cue and pocketed the 5-ball, stopping the cueball dead in its tracks. I managed to finish off the rack to tie the match up, but that one shot gave me more of a boost in confidence than any other shot I've played recently. Sadly for me, my tournament ended with this match as I made a couple of unforced errors allowing John to go through by 6 racks to 3.

After that, I played Martin "Blue Suede" Hughes at, firstly, 10-Ball (9-Ball with one extra ball) and then American 8-Ball, each match for £5. I was lucky enough to win them both but we sadly had to abandon the 9-Ball match (for another £5) as my transport was leaving! Maybe we'll be able to play next time we see each other.

You can read the official report on the tournament, including who won, at scottish9ball.com. The next tournament is in Riley's, Stirling on 12 February. Maybe see some of you there?

The Cardman :-)

SAPPA Tour Event 6, Stirling

On Sunday, I played in the final SAPPA (Scottish American Pool Players Association) American Billiard Company 9-Ball Tour event of the year, which took place at Riley’s in Stirling. The club’s always a popular one on the SAPPA tour with decent tables and good staff.

As ever with SAPPA events, this was a double elimination format until 16 players remained, then it would resort to Single Elimination (straight knock-out) with the matches being races to 6 on both sides and being increased once the Single Elimination phase had started.. Only 48 players turned up to play, which is a shame as American Pool is about to have its biggest year ever with the introduction of the International Pool Tour (IPT) and its multi-million dollar prize funds (I’ll post about that later).

When the draw was made, I found myself up against Edinburgh’s Cameron Bowes, a good player who I’ve only played once – I won that one. This time, sadly, was very different as I could not get my game head to “kick in” with anything and everything interrupting my concentration. After the 6-3 defeat, I was not exactly a happy bunny. I knew that I could play much better and would have to do so in my first losers’ bracket match.

My opponent in that one was another of the Edinburgh “posse”, Barry Scott. This one went a lot better as I found my self 3-0 up before I knew it after 3 fairly scrappy racks. Barry managed to pull one back. Then at 3-1 up, I had the chance to run the rack out and get to 4-1 but a huge miscue meant that Barry cleared the table up and as quickly as I was 3-0 up, I was 4-3 down (didn’t help that I hung the 9-ball to lose one of those!). Time to dig in and start playing. I pull back to 4-4, then Barry hangs a 9-ball to put me “on the hill” (in other words, one rack from victory). Scrappy seems to have been the key word to describe this match, as the 10th rack ended up being yet another scrappy ones with a couple of clusters on the table and no easy balls to use to break them up. Somehow, I managed to get a chance to clear the table, which I took, and I managed to advance to the next round.

Next up was Dave Tait, aka “The Fud”, a pal of mine from the club in Glasgow. I hate having to play against pals, but on this tour you have to! I didn’t start too well, missing a fairly easy shot and gifting Dave the first rack. I then had to sit and watch as Dave broke and ran the next game to make it 2-0. I was starting to fear the worst with this one. However, after a dry break and a scrappy third rack, I managed to get a rack back. Then followed one of those things that don’t happen that often. I broke and didn’t make a ball. Dave came to the table and ran the rack out to go 3-1 up. Dave broke and didn’t pocket anything and I responded by running the rack out. We did it again! All of a sudden, it’s 4-3 to Dave and the only shots missed were the breaks! I broke hoping to stop the run of empty breaks and made a couple of balls. Sadly, one of those was the white and Dave came to the table to play a table-length 1-9 combination to go to the hill at 5-3.

Rack 9 saw Dave make a couple of mistakes and saw me getting a bit lucky with position on a couple of shots. However, while I was running the last few balls out, I over-hit position from the 5-ball to the 6 and could only watch as the cue ball headed straight towards the corner pocket. Dave didn’t make any mistakes in finishing off the last few balls and my tournament was over placing me in the 25-32 bracket (again!)

I don’t know what that will do for my rankings. My aim was to get into the top 40 by the end of the year and I hope I’ve done enough to do that. Next season’s aim is to get into the top 32. Only time and hard work will tell if I can do that.

The Cardman :-)

2005 Scottish 9-Ball Championships

This year's Scottish 9-Ball Championships took place a few weeks ago at Styx in Kirkcaldy and, as always at that particular club, a great time was had by all. As last year, a gang of Irish players (25 in total) came over for a fun weekend of pool, drinking and anything else they could (legally) get up to!

The format for the 2-day tournament was to start off with Double Elimination (meaning that, essentially, all the players had to lose twice before being knocked out - but it is too complicated to explain here fully) until there were 16 players left, then a straight Knockout format would bring us down to one winner. In the end, it was Jayson Shaw of Glasgow who beat the reigning Champion, Falkirk's Michael Valentine, in a great final.

My weekend went very well. I started off playing Charlie Murphy of Ireland. Currently ranked number 33 in their rankings (although he was as high as number 10 about 18 months ago). I managed to get by him by 8 racks to 6. I was on 7 for what felt like an age before I managed to crawl over the line, but a win's a win!

Next up was Darren Murray who is ranked in the top 10 in Scotland. Darren is one hell of a tough player who always give 110% in every match. Darren managed to squeeze by me by 8 racks to 7 and considering that I was 7 - 6 up late on in the match, he did very well to win especially since he hung 3 8-balls or 9-balls leaving me easy finishes. But, that's 9-Ball - you've got to take the finishes when they are presented to you. The slightly annoying thing is that I had a couple of shots to win the match - especially at 7 - 7. Ach well.

The following day, I had to wait on a couple of matches being played before I found out who I had to play in the "Losers' Bracket". As it turned out, I had to play Jim O'Hare from Aberdeen - another of the top 10 players in Scotland (and remember, my official ranking is a lowly 52!). This time, things were a bit different. I managed to get by Jim by 8 racks to 7, but not before making a meal of it first! I was 4 - 0 up at one point before Jim started to claw his way back into the match. I even had several chances to win the match at both 7 - 5 and 7 - 6 up! Finally managed to compose myself and pocket the last 4 or 5 balls to win the match after Jim had made an uncharacteristic mistake in trying to finish off the match.

Then it was Paddy Mac Laughlin, Ireland's number one ranked player. This was a tight match all the way, with Paddy always having the upper hand and eliminating me from the tournament by 8 racks to 6. I've got to say, it was a great match to play in, but I would have really liked to have had the upper hand on that one!

Still, it was a great weekend. The club was great fun on the Friday and Saturday nights with the music, the pool, the girls... I look forward to the next time we are back in Kirkcaldy.

One wee footnote, a lot of the players complain about the tables in Kirkcaldy saying that the cushions don't bounce right, that the pockets are too tight, that the cloth should be the same colour on the bed of the table as it is on the rails, etc. My personal preference is that the tables are OK. Yes, the rails are really bouncy, but I think that the pockets are great for making you pay attention to hitting the centre of the pocket. Cheating these pockets is very difficult.

The Cardman :-)

2005 US Open 9-Ball Championships

So I’m not one to brag, but…

Mid-September saw the 30th edition of the US Open 9-Ball Championships and my first trip to Chesapeake, Virginia. If you are a pool fan or a pool player and you ever get the chance to go, take it with both hands and don’t let go!

The best players in the world all turn up looking to have a shot at one of pool’s most prestigious titles. This year was a full entry of 256 players meaning a $40,000 first prize to the eventual winner.

There were so many things that happened that week that it is difficult to know where to start. Let’s try my day one! Obtained my VIP Pass (which means that I’m guaranteed a good seat at the TV table), and walked into the arena only to bump into TV Commentator Jim Wych. He and fellow Canadian player Jeff White were on their way to watch a match and asked me to join them. These guys are 2 of the nicest, and most knowledgeable, people you could ever wish to meet and it was a pleasure to meet them throughout the week.

The Accu Stats company was in the worst possible position for me – right beside the main door of the arena. All those videos and DVDs sitting there waiting to be bought. Suffice to say – I bought! Tom, the guy who was looking after the stand, was full of great information and stories. One of my highlights of the week was when Tom started talking with Bobby Hunter and the 2 of us ended up having a verbal tutorial on the finer Straight Pool from Bobby Hunter, the 1990 World Straight Pool Champion.

The website for American magazine Billiards Digest has a great online forum called the Cue Chalk Board (CCB). For the last few years, they have had a get-together at the US Open, including a dinner at a local steak house on the Friday night and a fun tournament at the host club, Q-Masters in Virginia Beach, on the Saturday morning. It was great to meet a number of the members from both the CCB and the AZ Billiards Forum – Wendy (9ballgirl), Brian in VA, Rich, Marissa (Sweet Marissa) and a whole load of others far too numerous to mention.

And mentioning the CCB Tournament, I think it is now safe to let them all know about my vicious competitive streak! Yes, it was a fun tournament and I had great fun taking part, but I cannot help myself! I not only have to try to beat my opponent, but destroy them! Fortunately, I don’t think it came to the surface too much during the day. Oh, and I won the tournament, too! The trophy – made and donated by another of the members – is a replica of the one that the US Open Champion gets at the end of the tournament and is absolutely beautiful!

Favourite match of the week? Tough to say, but probably the losers’ bracket final between Jose Parica and Francisco Bustamante (both from The Philippines) which Parica won by 11 racks to 10. Excitement all the way with great shots being made and easy shots being missed along the way.

I’d better stop here for now. What I’ve posted is barely the tip of the iceberg! I’ll try to post more later.

The Cardman :-)