Billiards

Although billiards may not be at the top of the list when you think of collegiate sports, hundreds of emerging collegiate pool players from across the country compete for the honor of participating in the ACUI National Collegiate 9-Ball Championships. Each year, regional qualifier tournaments determine which top players will make it to Nationals. The ACUI (Association of College Unions International) has recently announced the list of players who made the cut in 2013…which is set to be a record year for participation. Read on for all the details on the event, and see the complete list of qualified players. … BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Association of College Unions International (ACUI) announces its list of contestants invited to the 73rd collegiate pocket billiards national championships, which will take place at Arizona State University’s “Sparky’s Den” on June 28-29, 2013. ACUI is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to enhancing campus life. With 41 men and 23 women registered for 9-ball, 2012 was the largest field in the 75-year history of the ACUI Pocket Billiards program. With the list of 77 men and 38 women below invited for 2013, the path is paved for a new record to be set. Men’s Division Tommy Adair – University of Wisconsin Whitewater Hussain Aleid – University of Montana Abdulaziz Alkhan – University of North Carolina at Charlotte David Anderson – University of North Carolina at Charlotte Ashkanov Apollon – Portland Community College Taylor Axley – Minnesota State University-Mankato Skyler Banfill – West Virginia University Charles Barker – Weber State University Ernesto Bosque – Florida State University Douglas Cady – Texas A&M University Justin Chan – California State University-Fresno James Chen – Carnegie Mellon University Wilson Dorsey – University of Wisconsin Whitewater Sajal Ghimire – Mississippi State University Sam Gilmer – Mississippi State University Mac Harrell – East Carolina University Jaydan Hergott – Lindenwood University Carter Herrmann – Sacramento State William Hill – East Texas Baptist University Ben Hockman – University of Delaware Dustin Hoffman – West Virginia University Kevin Hsiao – University of Michigan Minghe Hu – University of Illinois Bo Jin – Purdue University Max Johnson – North Dakota State University Ali Jomah – St. Cloud State University Matt Keith – University of Montana Tai Lam – University of Maryland Baltimore County Stefan Le – University of North Carolina at Charlotte Xiaohang Li – University of Utah Raymond Linares – Miami Dade College-Kendall Campus Ben Litvak – Radford University Alex Mann – University of Wisconsin Whitewater David Masse – Fitchburg State University Zachary McKee – University of Akron Paul Min – University of Michigan Derek Morris – Darton College Hesam Mosharraf – Portland Community College Hee Suk (Brian) Myung – Indiana University Dan Otto – Lindenwood University Brantley Oxendine – University of North Carolina at Pembroke Sameer Pandit – California State University-Northridge Alex Pham – University of Texas-Austin Andrei Popa – Indiana University Mohan (Gordon) Qian – Indiana University Ben Reynolds – University of Arkansas Khadaffy Ripors – California State University-Long Beach Winstone Seow – University of Michigan Matt Seus – Oregon State University Matt Shilinski – University of Maryland, Baltimore County Stephen Skvarka – Virginia Tech Thomas Smith – James Madison University William Stem – University of Maryland Nathan Sweitzer – West Virginia University Corey Sykes – Virginia Tech Cody Terry – University of North Carolina at Charlotte Jonathan Ting – Purdue University Nghi Ton

Steinway Billiards, one of NYC’s top spots for pool, was host to the Tri-State Tour on Saturday, June 15. The $1,000-added event had a great turnout of 52 players at Steinway, located in Astoria, Queens, NY. For the second time in three weeks, Luis Jimenez ran undefeated to win the Tri-State. Jimenez, who is an NYC-based pool player, worked his way through the winner’s bracket with wins against Gail Glazebrook 7-3, Chris DeCaprio 6-4, Michael Aro 6-3, and Ambi Estevez 6-2 to make it to the hot seat match. One of the Tri-State area’s top female players, Annie Flores, also came out very strong in this event, and met with Jimenez in the hot seat match after defeating Emerson Verano 7-6 in the final four. In their playoff to see who would guarantee a spot in the final, Jimenez would defeat Flores at 7-4. Meanwhile, the one-loss side featured many top area amateur contenders who also hoped to get a shot at the victory. Of them, Lidio “Rasta” Ramirez would forge a strong comeback after a loss in the winner’s bracket to Annie Flores 7-4. Ramirez then moved on to win eight straight matches, and capped off his run with a win in the quarterfinal against recent Tri-State winner Thomas Rice, 8-4. Lidio Ramirez then got a second chance to take on Annie Flores in the semifinal, and she again prevailed, winning 7-5. Flores would then rematch against Luis Jimenez in the final. With the event finishing late at night, both players were tired, but Jimenez maintained his strong play, winning the event’s finale at 7-2. While Jimenez earned credit for another strong win, Flores also made a great statement, finishing runner-up for the second time at Steinway in recent months, as she also took second in the Predator Tour’s April 14 event there. Luis Jimenez (1st), Rhio Anne Flores (2nd), Lidio Ramirez (3rd) The Tri-State Tour would like to thank Sterling Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics for their sponsorship leading to this event, as well as Steinway Billiards & their staff. The next Tri-State stop is a $750-added A/B/C/D event, to be held on June 22, 2013 at Clifton Billiards in Clifton, NJ. Top Finishers & Payout: 1st: Luis Jimenez – $830 2nd: Rhio Anne “Annie” Flores – $550 3rd: Lido Ramirez – $340 4th: Thomas Rice – $200 5th/6th: Emerson Verano, Ambi Estevez – $130 7th/8th: Bogie Uzdejczyk, Shivam Gupta – $100 9th-12th: Manny Stamatakis, Glenn Rmasey, Chris DeCaprio, Michael Aro – $80 … Juan Guzman continued on his recent hot streak to win the Tri-State Tour’s big $2,750-added event held at Gotham City Billiards on June 8. Adding to his recent run of wins on the Tri-State at Cue Bar & Gotham, along with the Predator Tour at Cue Bar, Guzman dominated once again at Gotham in Brooklyn, NY. On his undefeated run to victory, Juan Guzman defeated Marco Costello 7-3, Rajesh Vannala 7 -3, Jimmy Acosta 7-3, Gary Murgia 7-6, Geoff Bauer 7-5, and Raymond Lee 8-5 to claim the hot seat. Raymond Lee would then meet with the winner of the loser’s bracket…another recent top Tri-State finisher, Geoff Bauer. Bauer had previously defeated Steve Wright in the final four of the one-loss side, then moved on to the quarterfinal, where he won against Ambi Estevez. Estevez, who finished in fourth, has gained recent momentum in New York area events, and has had a number of top finishes as well. Bauer then took on Lee in the semifinal, but Lee would finish strong with an 8-4 victory. Raymond Lee then had another shot against Juan Guzman in the final, and took an initial lead. Guzman then tied it at 3-3. They proceeded to trade the lead, but Guzman then pulled away at 6-6 and won the final two games to take the win at 8-6. Congratulations to Juan on a great win, along with all of the event’s top finishers at Gotham. Geoff Bauer (3rd), Juan Guzman (1st), Raymond Lee

May 24, 2013 (Englewood, CO): CueSight.com, a leading online retailer of pool cues and other billiards supplies, is committed to supporting the young players of the Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) by donating 5% of sales to the nonprofit organization. As an added bonus, shoppers who enter coupon code “SUPPORTBEF” will not only be supporting their favorite charity, but will also receive 10% off their purchase. The retailer is no stranger to supporting worthy causes. They also gave 10% of sales 2010 to the Haiti Relief. “The BEF is instrumental in introducing a younger generation to key elements of the game of billiards that they can carry into their everyday lives. By using billiards to promote character traits such as honesty, integrity, and sportsmanship, the BEF helps kids to develop strategy and communication skills that demonstrate courtesy and respect that will last a lifetime. We are happy and proud to be supporters of the BEF,” said Matt Carter, General Manager of Sterling Gaming, parent company of CueSight. CueSight is an online retailer located in Matthews, NC.  They specialize in billiards supplies and carry such brands as Fury, Milliken, Blaze, Viking, Aramith, Simonis, Slippy, and many others.  For more information about CueSight you can visit their website at www.cuesight.com or call 1-800-660-2572. The Billiard Education Foundation (BEF) was formed in 1993 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity committed to promoting a lifelong love of pool and building the next generation of players through youth programs and academic scholarships. Visit billiardeducation.org or call (303) 926-1039 to learn more about junior billiard programs in your area.

Another week in China, another time to ponder Ding Junhui.Few would argue that Ding is one of snooker’s finest break-builders. He has won six world ranking titles, including two UK Championships, plus the Masters.To me, he is a top four player but the fact remains he is not in the top four and in China itself he invariably struggles.The conclusion must be that this is the pressure of expectation. When he won the 2005 China Open the week he turned 18 he was a virtual unknown, suddenly catapulted to fame.Fans maybe assumed success would come easily to him after that initial win, but success doesn’t come easily to anyone in snooker.The curious way snooker works saw Ding, who hails from Wuxi, have to qualify in Gloucester. Luckily for the tournament he did, but only just, beating Aditya Mehta 5-4.It is Ding the game has to thank for the Wuxi Classic. It began as an invitation event, the Jiangsu Classic, played in the place he grew up and he won the first staging.Now it’s a ranking event, one of five in China. But Ding’s influence seems to have benefited everyone bar the man himself.It seems odd that the only ranking event he has won on home soil was that 2005 success. It proves that home support can be a curse as well as a plus. Jimmy White may agree with that.Snooker is perhaps the ultimate individual sport but when Ding plays in China he is playing for a nation, knowing there are many millions willing him to succeed.I don't think this is the whole story with Ding - he is an inconsistent player in general. But it is a factor and part of the reason is that none of his compatriots have seriously threatened his status as top dog.There are many other Chinese players – eight others have qualified – but Ding is still very much China’s no.1 and this puts him on a precarious pedestal.On Monday he plays Jamie Burnett, a former Shanghai Masters runner-up. Ding once thrashed him at the Crucible but on Chinese soil the old uncertainties return.He would, of course, be a very popular winner of the title. Maybe a run to a trophy in China would banish the pressures he feels when he plays there once and for all.But it is those pressures, as much as the quality of the opposition, which could once again stand in his way.

The final stages of the Wuxi Classic features a varied field of 64 players: big names, old stagers, new faces and, for the first time, a woman.Reanne Evans became the first female player to qualify for a ranking event when she beat Thepchaiya Un Nooh in Gloucester.Her reward is to play a wildcard, Zhu Yinghui, rather than a much anticipated first round match against Neil Robertson.Even if she beats Zhu, World Snooker have scheduled her match with Robertson for the one time UK and European viewers won’t be able to watch – 10am in China, so the middle of the night back home, with Eurosport covering the afternoon and evening sessions.The afternoon match that day on that table is Mark Allen v Peter Lines, which few, perhaps even Allen and Lines, would argue was a bigger deal for the sport, especially given the amount of pre-publicity Evans has got the event, with appearances on television, radio and in newspapers.For all the warm words the governing body has spoken about promoting women’s snooker, this was a golden chance to gain some actual exposure and they’ve completely blown it.The wildcard situation is a nonsense as well in this bright, shiny new era of ‘fairness.’Originally, wildcards were used in China to build local interest and they did do. One of them – Ding Junhui – won the 2005 China Open. With snooker now firmly established in China, the wildcards are being used to give free practice at the top level to Chinese players. This is not what ranking events are for.There are nine Chinese qualifiers plus Hong Kong’s Marco Fu: more than enough local representation without four more having to be parachuted in.The big names who failed to qualify were Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy. Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew from qualifying due to a family bereavement. Stephen Maguire and Mark Davis didn’t enter.The rest of the top 16 are there, with Ricky Walden defending the title. His first round opponent is Jimmy White, one of snooker’s most iconic names. His old rival Steve Davis is also in the draw and faces Andrew Higginson.What’s good about this new system is that plenty of players perennially stuck in the qualifying quagmire are now at the venue, experiencing life in the big time, and are guaranteed prize money.So step forward the likes of Joel Walker, Scott Donaldson, Adam Duffy, Alex Davies, Liam Highfield and the other young prospects making the trip to Wuxi City.With 64 players, plus the wildcards, there will be a lot of matches to get through, obviously many taking away from the TV screens.The first prize is now £80,000 - an increase of £5,000 on last season and massively up on what these ranking events far away from British shores used to be worth.Eurosport are live from 7.30am UK time on Monday.

New York has long been known as one of the nation’s top hotspots for straight pool… and the NYC billiard community, including Tony Robles’ National Amateur Pool League, is once again joining forces to support the World Tournament of 14.1. Check out the details below in the announcement from the NAPL… … We are very proud to announce that the National Amateur Pool League, also known as the NAPL, is an Official Sponsor of the 2013 World 14.1 Tournament, which will take place at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens on August 19-24! Open only to NAPL members, the NAPL will run a qualifier on Saturday, June 22nd at one of its host rooms, Amsterdam Billiards & Bar in Union Square, New York City. This unique experience gives one dedicated amateur a chance to play in a World Championship amongst professionals from all around the world. The winner of the qualifier will get a guaranteed spot in the event and a paid entry (worth $580) to the 14.1 World Straight Pool Tournament. Special thanks to Amsterdam Billiards’ owner Greg Hunt for providing his room for this qualifier event and to Dragon Promotions for giving the amateurs the opportunity to compete against the world’s best straight pool players! For more information about the NAPL please visit PlayNAPL.com. Tony Robles

Chicago, IL – The wait is over. In November of this year, the world’s greatest women players will be showcased like never before in an event that Dragon Promotions has been working on for nearly 2 years. It will be East versus West as Dragon Promotions is thrilled to announce its newest event creation, The Queens Cup! The Queens Cup will be the very first time that the best women in the West will take on the best women in Asia in a dramatic format that will take 3 days to determine the outcome. Four women will be selected from Europe and the USA while another four women will be selected to represent Asia. The format will be versatile including 4-on-4s , Triples, Doubles, and Singles matches. Each team will have to play every which way possible and strategy will be crucial. The first team to reach 10 match wins will be victorious. All matches will be 10-Ball. Renowned writer and publisher of Billiards Digest and Bowler’s Journal, Mike Panozzo says,”The idea of a Ryder Cup-style competition in women’s pool is a natural. Anyone who has witnessed Team USA vs Team Europe in pool’s Mosconi Cup knows that these competitions bring out more excitement, emotion and drama than any other event during the year. The new Queen’s Cup, pitting East vs West, is also a natural. The women’s game really emerged when European players joined the U.S. Players on the WPBA Tour. Now the game is dominated by the talented Asian stars. Will a combination of American and European players be enough to topple the powerful Asians? Not sure, but it should be a lot of fun watching them pull together as a team to try.” World #1 Kelly Fisher of England will take charge as the Captain of Team Europe/USA in the inaugural Queens Cup West vs Asia “This is a pool fan’s dream come true. We have been asked for years to put on something like this, and we have been biting our tongue and chomping at the bit to not release that this was already in the works. This is something that has never been done before. To get all the best women together and settle which side has the best players has been an argument for the past few years,” said Cindy Lee, CEO of Dragon Promotions. Dragon Promotions is the creator of the Womens World 10-Ball Championship, which most players and experts agree is the toughest and most sought after women’s title to win. ”Producing the Women’s World 10-Ball the past four years we have seen two Asian World Champions and two western World Champions. Four different players from four different countries. This event will help settle which side is stronger once and for all. At least for a year!” Pool & Billiard Magazine’s Editor in Chief Shari Stauch says, “I think the idea of the Queen’s Cup, a women’s team event, will be great for both players and fans. We all have enjoyed the rivalry of the world’s top men players; let’s see the women battle it out, too!” “We wanted this to be the ultimate test for the women. So we created the best format we could invent using 10-Ball in a versatile format. The rules cater to the top professionals including a forced hard break rule.  There won’t be any room for excuses or fluff, just plain, hardnosed pool action. Every woman in the Queens Cup will have to bring their A+ game,” explains Charlie Williams. Williams has designed and played in events such as  Korea vs USA, the Patriot Cup, World vs Philippines, and World vs Taiwan. He is also a 5x member of the USA Mosconi Cup Team as well as being a past USA Captain. Dragon Promotions has been an industry leader in creating and producing world class events in men as well as women’s billiards Most of the players have already been contracted and will be announced soon. But the one player that will be announced now is the selection of the Captain of the West Team. And that is , of course, the world #1, Ms.Kelly Fisher of

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By NYC Grind Contributor, Alison M. Fischer Luis Jimenez Takes Castle Billiards Luis Jimenez would be the unstoppable force at The Tri-State Tour’s $780-added event at Castle Billiards in East Rutherford, NJ on June 2, 2013. Charging through the winner’s bracket of the 37-player field, Jimenez was met by Eddie Perez in the final four, where he would win 6-3. In the other final four pairing, Geoffrey Bauer would take out Castle owner John Trobiano by a score of 7-3. Bauer and Jimenez would then take the spotlight in the match for the hot seat, which would be dominated by Jimenez, winning at 8-4. Of the many players fighting to forge a comeback on the one-loss side, Senichi Sekine was the one to make the strongest return. Sekine had lost his third-round match to John Trobiano, but made it all the way to the finals…after a trail of wins over Scott Simonetti 7-5, Ken DeBroske 7-4, John Trobiano 7-4, Eddie Perez 7-4 in the quarterfinal, and Geoff Bauer 7-6 in the quarterfinal. Senichi Sekine had a closely-fought battle in the finals, but Luis Jimenez would close out the victory at 7-5 to seal an undefeated victory at Castle. Payout: 1st: Luis Jimenez – $750 2nd: Senichi Sekine – $450 3rd: Geoffrey Bauer – $250 4th: Eddie Perez – $200 5th/6th: John Trobiano, Ray Marisette – $100 7th/8th: Ken DeBroske, Steven Protzo – $65 … Shawn Sookai Tops NYC at Amsterdam On the weekend of May 25-26, Amsterdam Billiards in NYC hosted the Tri-State Tour’s $1,000-added 9-ball tour stop. The event was open to B/C/D level amateur players only, and drew a total of 41 participants to the Union Square hotspot for pool. Among the many top amateurs vying for the top prize of $950 at Amsterdam, Basdeo “Shawn” Sookhai played strong throughout the weekend to remain undefeated to make it to the finals. Along his path to the final match, Sookhai defeated Mike Zimny 7-5, Wanlop Chantarakolkit 7-4, Jimmy Acosta 7-2, Jamie Poush 7-2, Thomas Rice 7-3, and Bernie Isaacowitz 7-6. After having lost to Basdeo Sookhai, Jimmy Acosta went on to win against Eddie Medina 7-3, Kim Meyer-Gabia 7-5, Michael Fedak 8-7, Ron Mason 7-1, Thomas Rice 7-2, Edward Lum 6-6 in the quarterfinal, and Bernie Isaacowitz 7-5 in the semi before getting to the finals… which set him up for a rematch with Sookhai. The final featured a true double-elimination format… and Acosta played very well to win the opening set at 7-4. However, Sookhai took charge in the second set to win 7-1 to close out the victory Two ‘C’ level players, Bernie Isaacowitz and Edward Lum, came out strong in this event to finish 3rd and 4th respectively. Congratulations to all of the top finishers! Payout: 1st: Basdeo “Shawn” Sookhai – $950 2nd: Jimmy Acosta – $470 3rd: Bernie Isaacowitz – $300 4th: Edward Lum – $200 5th/6th: Thomas Rice, Kirill Safronov – $120 7th/8th: Ron Mason, Jamie Poush – $90 9th-12th: Roger Pachebat, Michael Fedak, Naldo Troncoso, King Victoree – $60

You write off the truly great players at your peril. Old clichés like ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ may be a tired way of putting it but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true.John Higgins looked like he was entering a steep decline towards the end of last season but has won the first title of this campaign. At 37, Ronnie O’Sullivan is at an age where players have traditionally gone backwards but has in fact won the last two stagings of the World Championship.And what of the other member of that golden triumvirate who each turned professional in 1992 and each conquered the snooker world?This is a really important season for Mark Williams. He has been treading water for the last year or so and the question remains whether he can find his stroke again or, to overdo the swimming metaphors, drown while thinking of former glories.Along with Stephen Hendry, these three (Higgins, O’Sullivan and Williams) have been the best players I’ve seen in the time I’ve been covering snooker since the mid 1990s. They are very different men from distinctly different parts of the UK but have each scaled heights most players can only dream of.The other day I was leafing through Snooker Scene’s report of the 2002 UK Championship, which Williams won with a 10-9 victory over Ken Doherty.One of his quotes stood out: “People back home thought I was finished but I’ve shown them that I’m not.”Hang on, I thought, finished? In 2002? How could anybody have thought this?But Williams had won only three ranking titles since becoming world champion two and half years earlier. It marked a departure from the remarkable consistency he displayed from finishing runner-up in the Irish Open at the end of 1998 to winning the world title in 2000, in which he seemed to figure in virtually every final.Leading up to that 2002 UK Championship he had seen Higgins and O’Sullivan win sundry titles. Hendry was still a force and Peter Ebdon had become world champion.Williams, though, won that UK title and it marked the start of a memorable season in which he captured the big three trophies, remaining to this day only the third player after Hendry and Steve Davis to achieve this. He played quite brilliantly throughout this spell, very much an authentic no.1 in an era jammed with contenders to that crown.The following season he completed the hitherto unmentioned ‘BBC slam’ by capturing the LG Cup. He arrived for his UK title defence in 2003 having won his first match in a remarkable 48 successive ranking tournaments.But that great record ended with defeat to Fergal O’Brien and from then on things suddenly got worse for this most laidback of players.We often hear it said that he dropped as low as 47th in the world rankings. It’s important, though, to point out that this was only provisionally. I covered pretty much every event on site back then and Mark was clearly devoid of confidence.Some said he wasn’t practising properly, that he was playing too much poker, that he had management troubles. Whatever it was, he wasn’t his old self and this was reflected by his performances on the table.He picked up the 2006 China Open but was relegated from the top 16 in 2008.Many saw this as a humiliation but Williams’s character was key to him pulling himself out of the mire with the minimum amount of fuss, drama or complaint. When Ken Doherty was forced back in the qualifiers it felt like a death – of his career – but Williams, a man with no airs and graces, took it on the chin and just got on with it.He returned to the top 16 after one season and eventually got back to world no.1 after winning the inaugural German Masters in 2011.This was a triumphant return to the top for a player whose achievements were in danger of being forgotten. At his best, Williams had been one of the few players who could beat Higgins and O’Sullivan at their best. His game had always been based around brilliant single ball potting, forcing openings, but he was also adept at scrapping it out if he had to. He would have