Billiards

After having a number of close top finishes on the Tri-State Tour this season, 14-year-old Thomas Rice broke through to claim his first victory at Gotham City Billiards in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday, May 18. This event at Gotham featured $1,500 in added prize money, and Rice outlasted forty-two other top NYC-area amateurs to cash in on $1,010. Thomas Rice had an early setback in this event, as he lost his second-round match to Kyle Bubet at 6-4 after having defeated Kim Meyer-Gabia 6-0. Rice then made a long trek through the one-loss side, winning seven straight matches to make it to the finals. His path to the final featured wins against Eddie Perez 6-4, Nicholas Chan 6-4, Luis Jimenez 6-0, Brendon Hollock 6-3, Joshua Morancie 6-3, and Alex Osipov 7-4 in the quarterfinal. In the winner’s bracket, after sending Rice west, Kyle Bubet went straight through to the hot seat, defeating Joshua Morancie in the final four and locked a spot in the finals on his birthday by defeating previous Gotham winner Gary O’Callaghan 8-3. While O’Callaghan would have then matched up against Thomas Rice in the semifinal, he had to leave the tournament due to unforeseen circumstances and forfeit the match. This sent Rice through to the finals, where he would get a second chance to take on Kyle Bubet. As Rice is rated a ‘C’ and Bubet a ‘C+’, Rice would be spotted one game on the wire in the final. Thomas took control of the match from the start, and worked his way to the top, winning with a final score of 8-3. Runner-up Kyle Bubet, Gotham owner Kevin Buckley, and winner Thomas Rice with his twin sister Kristin Rice. Congratulations to Thomas Rice on a strong comeback win after his early loss, along with all of the event’s top finishers. Marco Costello also earned recognition at this event for winning the Break & Run contest. Top Finishers & Payout: 1st: Thomas Rice – $1,010 2nd: Kyle Bubet – $680 3rd: Gary O’Callaghan – $420 4th: Alex Osipov – $250 5th/6th: Brendan Ince, Joshua Morancie – $170 7th/8th: Koka Davladze, Brendon Hollock – $125 The Tri-State Tour would like to thank Sterling Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics for their sponsorship leading to this event. The next Tri-State stop is a $1,000-Added A/D event, to be held on May 25-26 at Amsterdam Billiards in New York, NY.

Just announced on the TAR Facebook page: After years of false starts and dead ends TAR On Demand is here. First video available is TAR 34: Efren Reyes vs Shane Van Boening One Pocket Race to 11. The 10 Ball and 8 Ball are coming this week. You can buy the one pocket for $5 or all three days for $15 and have access to them when they go live in a couple days. These are big files so I make no guarantee on downloading them. You should be able to by clicking the download button but due to so many possible variations I can not guarantee it will work for you on such large files. I only guarantee the streaming video will work. You have access to the streaming video for one year and you can download the file to keep forever. Again no guarantees if your ISP drops the download or whatever. So here is TAR 34: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/tar34 . Remaining two days are being converted now and will be up by Friday. -- TAR I am SO HAPPY this is finally happening. There are so many TAR matches I didn't get to see and can't find DVD's of. Hopefully they'll start going back through their catalog and getting the older matches up there. In the meantime, I will be enjoying this rerun - and if you like One Pocket, want to learn it, or just want to see 2 of the greatest players in the world battle, GET THIS!!

Michael Wasley is a talented young snooker player from Gloucester who deserves additional respect for being able to solve the Rubik's cube in a matter of seconds (and not, as I used to in my youth, by taking it apart and then reassembling it).Wasley’s ability to untangle a great enigma may stand him in good stead for when he plays one next week in the first round of the Wuxi Classic.Ronnie O’Sullivan, who sat out almost all of last season, has entered not only Wuxi but also the European Tour event next month in Bulgaria.Whether this is because he needs more money for school fees, he missed snooker and wants to make up for lost time or has contractual obligations to fulfil is anyone’s guess, but O’Sullivan’s presence at the SWSA in Gloucester next week will bring interest at a time of year when snooker has traditionally been in hibernation.He’s playing Wasley because the system has changed. For all ranking events barring Australia, Shanghai and the World Championship, all 128 main tour members start from the beginning.In this bright, shiny new era of ‘fairness’ this means that Ding Junhui, who is from Wuxi, has had to come back to Britain to qualify for...Wuxi.He faces Aditya Mehta, who reached the last 16 of last season’s International Championship. The other Indian professional, Pankaj Advani, a quarter-finalist in the Welsh Open a few months back, will provide the first round opposition for Ricky Walden, the defending Wuxi Classic champion.Steve Davis, having seen off his old foe Stephen Hendry, will play Hendry’s nephew, James Cahill.The first round winners will all progress to the final stages next month.I suspect many top 16 players need this like the proverbial hole in the head. It will be interesting to see who has practised and who will be winging it. And despite what they may say, organisers want the top players to qualify.It’s a great chance for the lower ranked players. For many of them, if they’re going to beat a top player it’ll be in the more prosaic qualifying environment than the big arenas.However, some of them may in time come to reflect that this new system is not quite the leveller they thought. The previous system was labyrinthine, tough and seemingly endless but playing, for instance, the reigning world champion in round one is going to be a lot tougher than playing someone of a similar ranking.Still, it’s an exciting time for the new professionals and if I had a hat I would tip it to those who have come through Q School, including Alexander Ursenbacher, from Switzerland, and Ahmed Saif, a Qatari.In my experience new pros couldn’t care less about whichever system is in place (and there have been a few down the years). They just want to play, and there will be much to play in this coming season.

I played for the first time in the team event at ACS Nationals. Both the 9ball and 8ball divisions.My teammates, Courtney, Angel, and Janet are good friends of mine. We have played league together but not at state or nationals before. We would end up winning all all 9ball matches on Thursday and find ourselves playing for the freaking hot-seat on Thursday morning!!8Ball Sunglasses from our awesome teammate, Janet!The 9ball team event had a funny scoring system. It's a 3-person roster and you play your opponent twice before going to the next person. It's a race to 10. So, IF we happen to sweep the first round, we would be up 6-0.So, I would play two games against player 1, another teammate would play their player 2 twice and our third player would play their player 3 twice, and then we rotate.I know, it's confusing. In one match, it went hill-hill and I was the hill-hill person and won. :) I admit it felt freaking fantastic! I was playing really, really well and it felt great to be there for my teammates.Then our last match, we needed 4 wins to win. Yikes! 6-8 them. Teammate Janet was playing next to me and lost her first game, but then won her second game. 7-8.I'm up and I need to win BOTH my games AND then it goes to the tie breaker match (me). I make the 9ball on the break, then in the next game I hook myself on the 7 ball! But, luckily I kick it in and win that game with super tough shots on the 8 and 9 (my heart is beating out of my chest). THEN I win the freaking hill-hill game by running out 4 balls to a tricky 9ball combo! OMG! We are not going to be playing for the hot-seat the following day! The whole team is SO excited!!Janet, Courtney, Me, and Angel. "Roy's Toys!"A few hours later (the same day), we play our first 8ball match, race to 9. We hang in SO well and [;ay good! The match ends up going hill-hill and I see the run but I accidentally hook myself before the 8ball. I couldn't believe it! I saw the out so well and was so disappointed for that mistake I never saw coming, esp after the girl ran out and we lost hill-hill :(We then play at 7pm and we lost 5-9. This team was the rudest team I have ever come across and the whole "debacle" will be dedicated to an entire future separate blog article. Roomie and Teammate and I, Courtney, on our way to the first match.We were out of the 8ball :( The girls (Roy's Toys) thought it was comical because two of the players are strictly 8ball players and yet we are out of the 8ball and still on the winner's side in the 9ball team event, lol.My teammates were awesome. They were all so happy to be there, played their little hearts out, and really enjoyed the experience. It will prove to be a HUGE learning experience for them! I am very excited for them :) They all stepped up, showed heart, and even some nerves. It was cute and wonderful. At one point, I told myself I would be so honored to help them win a National Title and to be a part of that with them. But, I knew not to think ahead.Turns out, my teammates were already thinking that way. Two of them texted me about being national champions. I had a little pep talk with them before we played in next match and expressed we need to remain in the present, not think ahead, and not worry about misses. Just HAVE FUN. I knew from experience that yearning for a title cane get in the way of playing well.I don't know where I was, but I didn't play well in our next match, and neither did my teammates. We lost badly. We only won one game and lost 10-1. :( OUCH.We were all very bummed. Esp since our opponents didn't run us over at all; we had several chances in all the games, we just didn't play well. I think if we had played this match the previous day when we were on our winning streak, we might have faired better. This 9am match would be our ONLY match of the day, too. WOW.Our third place match would be at 9am on Friday morning. We had all day to kill. And then wake up bright and early again.

I ventured to the ACS Nationals tourney again this year in Vegas. I wouldn't know how I would fair, as I was now considered as 8-ball "Advanced" Player because I placed 3rd in the Open 8ball division last year. So this year I would be playing with the big girls in the 8ball division, and ranked higher in the 9ball division. But, this year I was going to be able to play in the team events! My first time at ACS Nationals. :)For some reason I was rated a Master player in the singles 9ball division. It made no sense to me. I raced to 7 in the all-combined 9-ball division, and Open players raced to 5, Advanced to 6and Standard players to 4.I wasn't happy I had to race to 9, when all the ACS literature clearly states I was an advanced player.As I readied myself for my defense the first morning, already people were in line to complain to the head guy and I already knew my plight would be for nothing. I simply listened and knew I wouldn't be moved down in the next 20 minutes before my first 9am 9-ball match. We asked to just clearly state the 9-ball rankings in the guidelines, as all walked away miffed.I really was apprehensive about having to race to 9, but I won my first 2 matches 7-1, 7-1. I admit, I played pretty dang sporty against the two 5s. BUT - they were new to 9ball.In the next match, I got a little ahead of myself. Thinking now maybe I *could* after all do well as a rated 7 player, I got too confident. I missed a combo, an 8, a 7, and scratched on a 6, and missed a tough 9. That's 5 games right there and lost to the Open player 0-5! Ouch!I was bummed, but sometimes games go like that.I was told later she said I gave her the match and she was correct - I did. I got too confident and lazy and missed when I shouldn't have.I then had to play another 5 on the one-loss side. She told me she was super hung over and may have to run to the bathroom. What? It's 3 in the afternoon, you lasted this long in the tourney? I missed a few key shots but so did she. I made some stupid mistakes but then started to shoot more decent to get with her on the hill, when I freaking hooked myself on the 8 ball! With only the 9ball left. OMG....I knew if I missed this, she would have ball in hand with two balls and it would be over with. My tourney life was dependent on my kick. I got down and then got back up and reconsidered my shot: "Maybe I should kick the other way?"I kicked the other way, and hit the 8ball. Whew! And then I noticed the 9ball slowly rolled toward a pocket and fell in. Oops. OMG, really? I heard my friend say, "Johny Archer says when you make the right choices things work out."I guess so!Now it's hill-hill. 4-6.I then broke, and even though it seemed to take forever, I ran out! I took my time; probably too much time, but actually broke and ran! To think I almost lost the match a game earlier because I hooked myself was unreal. I then played a rated 7 player and was ON FIRE. I won 7-1. I was playing so good, I had wished I was still playing more matches that day! But, my next match would be at 9am the next day.I get to the pool room early the next morning and my "4" player is warming up. If she's lasted this long, she must be over rated I tell myself, lol. We start about 840am, and she's making several balls the first game. I was like, "yep." But then she whacked at the 9ball. Oh, I see.I get out.She would whack at the tough shots, but otherwise shot well. If she would shoot all her shots smooth like she did for most of her balls, she would have had me. But whacking at balls on a bar tables especially isn't good for yourself and I won 7-2.As I'm playing in my match, I notice the match next to me. I wonder, "Do I play the winner?"I check the score-sheet and sure enough I do. This blond girl playing is playing GREAT. She didn't miss but one ball for the 3 games that I saw. I was like, Wow. That has to be a 7.Sure enough, that would be my opponent. I would tell her after our match how

Found these great #DIY ideas for your #mancave, aka the best place to have your pool table!

Liu Shasha is once again back in the international pool limelight, as she made a successful comeback in the final to nail the China Open. While former champion Chen Siming had a shot to make this her second China Open win, their close battle left an opening for Liu to claim the win at hill-hill. Read on for the complete story on the women’s China Open finale by WPA press officer, Ted Lerner. … LIU SHASHA COMES FROM BEHIND TO DEFEAT CHEN SIMING TO WIN THE WOMEN’S CHINA OPEN 9-BALL TITLE By Ted Lerner WPA Press Officer Photos Courtesy of Jin Li/www.top147.com (Shanghai)–Coming into Sunday’s finals of the 2013 China Open, Liu Shasha knew she was on the cusp of a golden opportunity to vault her way back to the upper echelons of not only the fiercely competitive world of Chinese women’s pool, but also the entire world of women’s professional pool. Since coming out of nowhere and winning the 2009 Women’s World 9-ball Championship held in Shenyang, China, the diminutive and glamorous youngster has maintained her place on the Chinese national team, but she hadn’t won any tournaments. In the lead up to this week’s tournament, with 48 top women players from all parts of the globe, Liu hadn’t been playing well in practice and was only hoping to at least reach the quarterfinals. But suddenly she found herself in the finals of one of the biggest tournaments of the year. Indeed on Sunday, in front of packed house at the Shanghai Pudong Yuanshen Stadium arena, Liu seized the moment, coming from behind in crunch time to overtake fellow teammate and young star Chen Siming to win the China Open by a nose, 9 – 8. Liu Shasha With the win, Liu can now claim two of the biggest prizes in women’s pool. She also joins her close friend and “sister” Fu Xiaofang who also has won these same two prestigious events. For Chen, the loss had to be a massive disappointment. The hard working and prodigious player, who many feel is China’s best natural talent, led the contest nearly the entire way only to see the dream die right when the finish line was in sight. Chen was in stride early and jumped out to a 3 -1 lead in the alternate break match. Liu quickly got it together and tied up the match. But then Chen hit one of her high gears, which can be a thing of beauty to watch. Chen went up 5-3, then 6-4, then 7-4. She seemed to have an answer for everything Liu tried and appeared capable of fending off her opponent at will. Chen Siming But as so often happens in pool, one mistake sends the momentum over to the other player’s side. After a break and run by Liu to move to 7-5, Chen broke, but saw the cue ball get kicked into the pocket for a scratch. Lui made a calculated clear to close the gap to one, 7-6. Liu then stepped to the table and tied the match with a break and run out. With the title down to a mere race to two, Liu got Chen once again as Chen left a safe open and allowed Liu to grab her first lead of the night, 8-7. Chen’s the consummate battler, however, and she broke serve in the 16th frame after winning a nervy safety exchange to leave one final rack to decide the champion. Chen broke and sent two balls down on the break. Position for the two ball was tricky and Chen bobbled the 1-ball in the jaws. Liu came to the table with a look at the one and steadily picked off the colors. As she got down to the final 8 and 9 balls, she held her chest and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself as she stood on the cusp of victory. With raw nerves jangling, she potted the last two balls for the championship. On the floor afterwards, Liu was greeted with warm hugs by a tearful Fu Xiaofang. The two are not really sisters, but they are practically inseparable, living together and playing pool together every day. As she drank in the accolades, Liu expressed surprise that she was even standing in the winner’s circle. Liu Shasha “I am very surprised that I won this tournament,” she said through an interpreter. “I have not been playing well la

CORTEZA CASHES IN! FILIPINO LEE VAN CORTEZA IS ALL BUSINESS AS HE CAPTURES THE CHINA OPEN 9-BALL CROWN By Ted Lerner?, WPA Press Officer Photos Courtesy of Jin Li, www.top147.com  Lee Van Corteza waves as he finishes off his final win. (Shanghai)–Playing with his trademarked calm and cool demeanor, all the while exhibiting a deadly stroke and a fierce, quiet fortitude, the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza staked his claim to stardom today as he defeated Taiwanese veteran Fu Che Wei to win the 2013 China Open 9-ball in Shanghai. The win means that the China Open title, one of pool’s biggest tournaments, remains in the Philippines at least one more year, as Corteza’s win follows countryman Dennis Orcollo’s victory in 2012. The victory, besting a quality field of 64 top players from around the globe, is easily Corteza’s biggest  to date in a professional career that has spanned nearly two decades. For the last five of those years, Corteza’s pedigree had already been established far and wide. Everywhere he has played fellow players and fans could see that under Corteza’s humble veneer and boyish smile lay a deadly serious and focused professional with a noticeable swagger that oozed confidence. This is a man who has something inside him that doesn’t allow him to flinch under pressure. This is a man who knows how to close out a match. All of these traits were on full display today in front of over 500 people at the Shanghai Pudong Yuanshen Stadium arena. The match was played at an extremely high quality with 12 of the 17 played racks being break and run outs. The outcome turned on just a few mistakes, and it was Corteza who took advantage and nailed the door shut every time he was given the opportunity. As they had all week, both Corteza and Fu remained untouchable in their respective semi-final matchups which took place earlier on Sunday morning. Corteza easily defeated surprise entry Omar Al-Shaheen of Kuwait, 11 – 3. Fu put a halt to the marvelous run of former two-time world champion Wu Jiajing, 11 – 8. In the finals, the 34 year old Corteza won the lag and broke and cleared the first rack in the alternate break match. The pair traded racks and neither missed a single ball as the Filipino led 2-1. Corteza’s first chance to gain some distance came in rack four when he cleared off a Fu miss on the 1-ball to take a 3-1 lead. Corteza broke and ran the next rack to move up 4-1. The Filipino would never be threatened the rest of the way. Fu Che Wei Fu continued to play well, and continued to break and run racks, but so did Corteza plunking the cue ball dead square in the center of the table on the break and potting 2, 3 and once even 4 balls. Down 7-5, Fu had a brilliant opportunity to narrow the lead in rack 13 when Corteza scratched. Fu was clearing the table beautifully until he missed an easy 8-ball and was soon down 8-5. Fu forced a foul in the next rack to close to 8-6, but Corteza, as all great champions do, put pedal to the medal and sprinted home, while Fu wilted down the stretch. Corteza won going away, 11-6. Afterwards the low key Corteza was typically reserved, but the satisfaction of his accomplishment was all too clear. “I’m so happy right now I really don’t know what to say,” Corteza said. “This tournament is so hard there are so many good players. I tried not to be under pressure and I really enjoyed myself this match. That was one of the keys today. I was relaxed. And that also helped me to stay focused the whole time. “For me this means a lot to win this tournament. It’s been three years since I won a big tournament. And the way I won this, playing really well and of course I get a few lucky rolls, this is going to give me a lot of confidence in the coming months. This is a big win for my career.” As expected Fu was  disappointed as the loss meant his second defeat in the final of major in the course of one year. In 2012 he lost in the finals of the World 8-ball championship in Fujairah, United Arab Em

CORTEZA CASHES IN! FILIPINO LEE VANN CORTEZA IS ALL BUSINESS AS HE CAPTURES THE CHINA OPEN 9-BALL CROWN By Ted Lerner WPA Press Officer Photos Courtesy of Jin Li, www.top147.com (Shanghai)–Playing with his trademarked calm and cool demeanor, all the while exhibiting a deadly stroke and a fierce, quiet fortitude, the Philippines Lee Vann... Want to know the full story? Check it out

Respectively ranked #3 and #5 in the world, it is no surprise that teammates Chen Siming and Liu Shasha of China emerged out of the tremendous field of talent to face one another in the finals of the 2013 China Open. In recent years, these teenage phenoms have become two of the top rulers of international women’s pool, with Siming Chen capturing the China Open in 2010 & the Philippine Open in 2011, while Liu Shasha held the World 9-Ball title in 2009 and was a semifinalist in 2012. The final match between Chen & Liu is set to take place at 1:30pm (1:30am EDT) on Sunday, May 19. Read on for the details leading into this final pairing in the story below by WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner. … TEENAGE PRODIGIES EYE THE PRIZE CHEN SIMING AND LIU SHASHA REACH THE FINALS OF THE CHINA OPEN 9-BALL By Ted Lerner WPA Press Officer (Shanghai)–Chen Siming and Liu Shasha are both 19 years old. They are both members of the Chinese national women’s team. And they each have a prodigious talent with a cue stick that leaves fans of the sport in awe. And now, the two friends will finally get a chance to go head to head in the finals of one of the biggest tournaments of the year in the world of pool, the 2013 China Open 9-ball in Shanghai. The finals will take place at 1:30pm inside the Shanghai Pudong Yuanshen Stadium arena. The match will be a race to 9, alternate break. Both players have achieved fantastic successes in their own short careers but it was Liu who pulled off the most amazing feat, winning the 2009 Women’s World 9-ball Championship when she was just 16 years old. That same year, Chen won the China Open, also at the age of 16. Liu Shasha In the highly-competitive world of Chinese women’s pool, however, it is Chen is who considered to have a freakish talent. Much is expected of Chen from her coaches and fans of the sport. Since winning the Philippine Open 10-ball in 2010, she has faltered in the big events in China and she seems to play under more pressure than does Liu. The finals will surely be a back and forth affair as both players put in rock solid performances throughout the long day of play today. Chen first took down Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan in a messy match, 9-7. She then manhandled the Philippines’ Rubilen Amit, 9-2. In the semi-finals, Chen met up with defending champion and world number one Kelly Fisher. The Brit had relatively easy wins over Taiwanese Tsai Pei Chen 9 – 3, then Lan Hiushan 9-5, and looked to be cruising towards a repeat of the last year. Fisher surely knew, however, that she would be in for a much stiffer test in the semis against Chen. The match, which was about as good a pairing as you could find in women’s pool, was appropriately played on the TV table in front of a packed house and shown live on CCTV around China. Chen grabbed an early 3-0 lead but Fisher fought back to tie. From there on in the two stars sparred in a high quality, give and take match with Chen getting a one rack lead, then falling back in to a tie, then getting a lead, then back to tie again. Siming Chen The whole match came down to two mistakes by Fisher, one in rack 13 with the match tied at 6-6 and one right at the end. Chen was up 8-6, but Fisher fought back to force a one rack decider. In the final frame, Fisher thought she left a lock down safety on the 2-ball, but Chen could see enough of the long shot to sink the pot. She then calmly ran the table for the win and a spot in Sunday’s final. “I played really good today,” Chen said afterwards through an interpreter. “I’ve been practicing a lot in the last few months and my confidence is getting better every time I play. After I lost in the group stages I tried to tell myself to relax and not take it too seriously. Kelly played solid, especially early in the match. At 6-6 she made a mistake and I was able to hold on.” Fisher was disappointed but resigned to the fact that her two mistakes spelled the difference. “It was a quality match,” Fisher said. “She playe