European billiards

Eronen Sampo wins Baribal Open, Estonia, Tallinn

2009-09-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Finnish player Eronen Sampo wins the Baribal Open with a 9-2 victory over the swedish junior star Jim Chawki (16 years old)!

In the semis Sampo defeated Konstantin Stepanov 9-8, and Jim won over Aki Heiskanen 9-5. Congratulations to all medalists!

Great Britain and Russia winners of Nations Cup 2009

2009-06-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

Team Great Britain (Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes & Imran Majid) won the Nations Cup for men 2009!

In the last round team Great Britain faced another great team - Team Russia (Ruslan Chinahov, Konstantin Stepanov & Egor Plishkin), but they managed to win the match comfortably. Darren Appleton won his straight pool match against Konstantin Stepanov 125-59, Imran Majid won over Ruslan Chinahov in an exciting third set, and thus the victory was secured and Karl Boyes and Egor Plishkin left their match tied at 1-1 in set.

The Nations Cup for women were won by Team Russia (Olga Levina & Darya Sirotina), by defeating team Germany (Janine Schwan & Anja Wagner) in the finals.

Nations Cup is an EPBF-event this year held in Kielce - Poland. The mens teams consists of three players: one player plays straight pool, one plays 8-ball and one plays 9-ball - in each round. The straight pool match is a match first to 125 points, the 8-ball match is played in three sets - first to 4 points and the 9-ball match is also played in three sets - first to 5 points. The womens teams consists of two players: one player plays 8-ball and one plays 9-ball, and if the score is even a shoot-out game will be played.

Updates on Twitter

2009-06-02T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hi dear friends of all kinds of cuesports!

I've been really lazy with my updates for a while. Now a father of two wonderful kids, and also a poolhall owner, so I've been kind of busy. Anyhow I'll try to find some time for updates about what's happening on the european billiardscene.

From now on I'll be using Twitter (se right column) for short updates, and upcoming events. Do you have some information you think shold be published on this page, please drop me a line!

Torvald

Team Europe wins Mosconi Cup for second year in a row!

2008-12-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

Team Europe won over Team USA for the second year in a row, with 11-5. Congratulations!

Every year Team Europe and Team USA battles in the Mosconi Cup. This year the event took place on Malta (for the first time). This also means the even will be held i Europe next year.

With the lead 10-5, Mika Immonen, Europe were up against Shane van Boening. And with a 5-3 victory Immonen sealed the deal for Europe.

This years team Europe:
Ralf Souquet
Niels Feijen
Mika Immonen
Tony Drago
Mark Gray

This years team USA:
Earl Strickland
Johnny Archer
Rodney Morris
Jeremy Jones
Shane van Boening

Read more about the event here:
- Mosconi Cup
- Matchroom Sport

Daryl Peach wins World Championship in 9-ball!

2007-11-12T01:04:00.000-08:00

Daryl Peach became the first player from England to win the World Pool Championship. Having been playing well all tournament Peach finally won over phillippino player Roberto Gomez.

Gomez is the first qualification player ever to make it to the final. A humble Peach says Gomez played the best pool in the tournament until the final. Though in the final the nerves and the pressure made both players make a couple of uncharacteristic errors.

At 15-15 Peach missed a bank on the 9-ball. But then Gomez missed an open shot on the nine before Peach was able to sink it and reach the hill 16-15. In the last rack Peach won a safety battle and then run out securing victory at 17-15!

Read more here:
- Worldpoolchampionship
- Azbilliards
- Insidepoolmag
- Pro9

Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the Masters

2007-01-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan bet Ding Junhui in the final of the Masters 10-3. Knowing he had to perform at his best to beat chinese 19-year old snookerstar Ding Junhui Ronnie O'Sullivan did just that. Four centuries (highest 143), two 90+ breaks and outstanding performance from O'Sullivan got the better of Ding Junhui. Ding was also clearly out of balance in the later stages of the match, seemingy disturbed by the loud audience at the Wembly.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has once again why he's considered the best snookerplayer in the world by so many fans. O'Sullivan also gave a lot of credit to Ding Junhui as a player in his interview with Steve Davis after the match.

The Masters - Final

2007-01-21T01:51:00.000-08:00

Today we'll se the final in the Masters between Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan. Ding Junhui beat Stephen Hendry in the semifinal 6-2. Ronnie O'Sullivan bet Stephen Maguire 6-4. O'Sullivan who weren't satisfied with his standard of play, says in an interview he has to raise his game in the final (www.worldsnooker.com). Having seen both matches I must agree. I hold Ding as a quite big favourite to win the title.

Feijen wins The 8-Ball Battle of Scandinavia

2007-01-21T01:35:00.000-08:00

Niels Feijen wins The 8-Ball Battle of Scandinavia in Oslo (Norway) over 17-year old Artem Koshevyy!

Niels Feijen beat Mick Hill in one of the semifinals, Artem Koshevyy beat Ralf Souquet in the other semifinal. Congratulations to both, and a special congratulations to Artem who I got the oppertunity to practice with a couple of month ago when I were training for Jorgen Sandman in Malmo. A very talented young player and also a very nice guy.

The format of the tournament were first group stage, matches to 5, alternating breaks. From last 32 best of 5 sets first to 3 points, alternating breaks.

Read more about the torunamnet here:
pro9.cu.uk

The Masters - semifinals

2007-01-19T13:45:00.000-08:00

The Masters are now down to four players.

19-year old Ding Junhui from China beat Stephen Lee in the quarterfinal (6-2) had a good chance to become the first player ever to score two maximum breaks in the same tournament. He came up a little short with only two more reds on the table. He ended with a decent shot on the black but hit the pink so it came close to the cushion. Trying to get a perfect angle on the last red to move the pink he ended up missing the black... Exciting though!

Ronnie O-Sullivan bet Ken Doherty who at the scoreline 5-5 got a bad hit on the white and missed with an open table - and O'Sullivan took care of the opportunity. Overall a very well played match.

Stehphen Maguire won over Neil Robertson in the tournaments probably most shaking quarterfinal. Maguire seemed to have some troble getting over the finish line and Roberson got several chances. Though Robertsons attacking game wasn't working and that gave Maguire the chances he needed to finish the match 6-2.

Shaun Murphy who seem to have found his form were struggling in the match against Stephen Hendry. Both players seemed to have problems controlling the white ball (my guess is somethin in the conditions of the table changed). The match finished 6-3 to Hendry.

Semifinals:

Stephen Maguire vs Ronnie O'Sullivan
Stephen Hendry vs Ding Junhui

The Masters

2007-01-17T01:10:00.000-08:00

The Masters (The Saga Insurance Masters, formerly the Benson & Hedges Masters) is now running. The Masters is not a ranking event but one of the most prestigiuos titles in snooker with a lot of price money. The tournament is an invitation event, where 19 players are invited. The top 16 in the ranking are automatically invited. One place goes to the winner of a qualifying tournament (Stuart Bingham), and two players are invited by the tournament board (Jimmy White and Ding Junhui). Those three players have to play preliminary matches against seeded player 14, 15 and 16 to advance for the first round in the 16-player single elimination tournament. Read more about the tournament at Wikipedia.

19-year old Ding Junhui became the youngest player ever to score a televised maximum break (147) in the match against Anthony Hamilton (6-3). Junhui yesterday contiuned on his eventual way to victory beating Peter Ebdon (6-3). He now faces Stephen Lee in the quarter final. Sthephen Lee won over current World champion Graeme Dott (6-2). Today we'll se the matches for Quarterfinal 3. The winner of the match Stephen Hendry vs Matthew Stevens will meet the winner of Shaun Murphy vs Steve Davis.

The Quarterfinals:

Stephen Maguire vs Neil Robertson

Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Ken Doherty

Stehpen Hendry/Matthew Stevens vs Shaun Murphy/Steve Davis

Ding Junhui vs Stephen Lee

Ebdon wins UK Championship

2006-12-17T23:57:00.000-08:00

A promising final between two world class players: Peter Ebdon and Stephen Hendry finished with victory for Ebdon 10-6.

Both players seemed to be in exellent form in the tournament. Peter Ebdon beat Ding Junhui in the quarter final 9-5 and John Higgins in the semifinal 9-7. Stephen Hendry beat Mark Williams in the quarter final 9-6 and Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi final 9-1 (O'Sullivan gave up and left the arena when the score was 4-1 to Hendry).

Both Ebdon and Hendry started to miss more in the final than they had done in their earlier matches. After the first session Hendry was in the lead 3-1, but after the second Ebdon leveled the score 4-4 with breaks of 60, 83 and 135. From there Ebdon won the next four frames 8-4. Hendry managed to win the next two frames (8-6). After that Ebdon controlled his nerves and won the last two frames to claim victory 10-6.

With this title Ebdon joins only nine players in the world who have won snookers most prestigiuos titles: The world championship and UK Championship. An effort previous made by: Steve Davis, Terry Griffith, Alex Higgins, John Parrot, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Ebdon is very pleased to win the UK Championship Title and especially to join the field of players who won both the UK Championship and the World Championship means a lot to him.

Read more:
Worldsnooker
Eurosport/snooker
BBC Sport/snooker

Ebdon and Higgins into the semis

2006-12-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

Peter Ebdon won the quarterfinal against Ding Junhui yesterday 9-5. Ebdon is very pleased to beat his training partner and looks forward to the meeting with John Higgins. Higgins confortably beat Joe Perry 9-3. He admitted to loose focus a bit when he had the lead 8-1, but att 8-3 he managed to make a century to win the match.

Todays quarterfinals:

Stephen Hendry
Steve Davis

UK Championship - Quarter Finals

2006-12-13T02:05:00.000-08:00

The field in the UK Championship is now down to eight players and the quarter finals starts today:

Ding Junhui vs Peter Ebdon
John Higgins vs Joe Perry
Stephen Hendry vs Ronnie O'Sullivan
Steve Davis vs Graeme Dott

Mosconi Cup Trophy goes to USA - again!

2006-12-13T01:43:00.000-08:00

The mosconi cup became a real thriller this year. Team Europe came in with a strong start and had the lead with 8-4, 9-6 and 12-10 before Team USA managed to fight back to 12-12, and the rules states that the defending champions keeps the title in case of a draw. Congratulations USA - but we'll be back next year and then we're going to win!

Team Europe:

Mika Immonen (Finland)
Ralf Souquet (Germany)
Thomas Engert (Germany)
Nick van den Berg (Holland)
Imran Majid (England)
David Alcaide (Spain)

Team USA:

Earl Stickland
Johnny Archer
Rodney Morris
Corey Duel
Mike Davis
John Schmidt

Fabio Petroni wins eurotour in Spain

2006-12-10T02:22:00.000-08:00

Fabio Petroni wins the Spanish Open (Costa del sol Open) 2006 by beating Niels Feijen in the final 10-1! He also beat Oliver Ortmann 10-7 in the semifinal. Niels Feijen won over Martin Kempter 10-7 in the other semifinal.

More information about the tournament at the eurotour hompage.

Eurotour Costa del sol Open 2006

2006-12-09T02:45:00.000-08:00

The eurotour currentlyt running in Spain (Costa del sol) is down to last 16. Some great players are missing since the Mosconi Cup is running in the same time (Team Europe: Mika Immonen, Ralf Souquet, Thomas Engert, Nick van den Berg, Imran Majid and David Alcaide). But it's still some really tough competition: Thorsten Hohmann, Oliver Ortmann, Marcus Chamat and Niels Feijen to name a few of the world class players entering the competition. Though Marcus Chamat fell in the early stages - with a loss against english player Paul Kellett 9-10 and against portugese Manuel Gama 6-10.

These are the last 16

Bruno Muratore - Daryl Peach

Markus Juva - Antonio Fazanes

Marco Tschudi - Thorsten Hohmann

Mariusz Roter - Brian Beekers

Niels Feijen - Michael Felder

Sven Pauritsch - Fabio Petroni

Vincent Faquet - Martin Kempter

Oliver Ortmann - Michael Schmidt

Read more at eurotour.nu

Ronnie Alcano World Pool Champion

2006-11-27T23:18:00.000-08:00

The 34 year old phillippine poolplayer Ronnie Alcano won this years World Pool Championship in 9-ball by beating german player Ralf Souquet in the final (17-11). On his way to the final he also knocked out former world champion Efren Reyes (10-7), last years runner-up Kuo Po-Cheng (11-5) and last years world pool champion Wu Chia-Ching (11-6) to name a few impressive victories on his way to the crown!

Read more here: World Pool Championship

World Pool 9-ball Chahpionship 2006

2006-11-06T01:43:00.000-08:00

Right now the group stages in the World pool championship in 9-ball are held in the Philippines.

Native favourite Efren Reyes were in big trouble loosing his first match against Tony Crosby (7-8). He though managed to win a tight match against Radoslaw Babica (8-7) and with todays win over Apancho (8-5) he moves to the last 64.

Among the last 64 so far is also Wu Chia-ching, Marcus Chamat, Ralf Souquet, Michael Schmidt, Chao Fong-pang, Vilmos Foldes, Hsia Hun-kai, Fabio Petroni, Charlie Williams, Daryl Peach and Ramil Gallego.

Earl Strickland has again showed bad manners at the pool table and Chen Ying-chieh and the Chinese Taipei delegation have submitted a written protest.

Read more about the event here: World Pool Championship 2006, Insidepool, Azbilliards, Billiard Pulse.

Neil Robertson wins Grand Prix

2006-10-30T01:08:00.000-08:00

The 24 year old snookerstar from Australia, Neil Robertson won the Grand Prix yesterday. In the final he beat the even younger Jamie Cope (21 year old) from England. Robertson claimes Australias first ranking title ever and hopes his victory will inspire other young players in Australia.

At 8-2 to Robertson it seemed as if Cope just wanted the match to be over. After a lot of uncaracteristic misses from Cope who seemed taken by the moment Robertson advanced from 5-2 to 8-2 without problems. But then a couple of misstakes from Robertson gave Cope the chances and the time at the table he needes and he managed to pull back to 8-5 aganinst a now most nervous Robertson. Though Robertson managed to control his nerves in the next frame to secure victory 9-5.

Roberson said that his 5-1 win over Ronnie O'Sullivan built up his confidence for the rest of the matches. In the interwiev after the match Robertson said it was a good thing the audience weren't placed closer to the table, because if they were he'd probably have nocked a couple of them down with his shaking elbow in the last frames. He also said this has been the best week of his life! Robertson said he has been training hard for this event training at least six hours a day, and without visiting the pub or drinking a beer for the last month - the following week he has other plans. Now his going to relax and enjoy his victory!

For the resluts in the semi- and quarter finals see here: Globalsnookercentre.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry dominates the group stages

2006-10-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening the group stages were finished and the field is now down to 16 players. Even though the short matches and the group stages format is most exciting for the audiance - the disadvantages of the format became obvious in i e the match Ding Junhui vs Joe Perry - where Junhui were out of the tournament if Perry won one frame (Junhui didn't seem to excited to be there after Perry won the first frame...).

The most impressive performance in the group stages came from Ronnie O'Sullivan and Joe Perry. O'Sullivan won all his 5 matches in his group looking most confident and in great form. Joe Perry lost only one of five matches in his group - Stephen Maguire (3-1), Ding Junhui (3-0), Mark Allen (3-0), Andrew Norman (3-0), Graeme Dott (2-3).

Stephen Hendry, Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy failed to advance from the group stages.

Here are the matches in the next round:

ALAN McMANUS Winner Group 2A - MARK SELBY Runner up Group 2E

RYAN DAY Winner Group 2B - IAN McCulloch Runner Up Group 2F

RONNIE O'SULLIVAN Winner Group 2C - DAVID GRAY Runner Up Group 2G

NEIL ROBERTSON Winner Group 2D - ANDREW NORMAN Runner Up Group H

MATTHEW STEVENS Winner Group E - JOHN HIGGINS Runner Up Group A

STEPHEN LEE Winner Group F - MARK KING Runner Up Group B

ROBERT MILKINS Winner Group G - JAMIE COPE Runner Up Group C

JOE PERRY Winner Group H - KEN DOHERTY Runner Up Group D

Follow the results on www.worldsnooker.com, bbc sport, or on globalsnookercentre.

Royal London Watches Grand Prix - snookertournament in Aberdeen

2006-10-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

The group stages of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix is now running. In the first round of the groupstages Ronnie O'Sullivan won over Steve Davis 3-1, John Higgins beat James Wattana 3-0, and Graeme Dott (world champion) lost against Ding Junhui 0-3. Read more about the results of the group stage matches at worldsnooker o

You can follow the tournament live and read more about the results at www.worldsnooker.com or on bbc sport.

Young snookergenious Paul Hunter is dead

2006-10-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

It's tragic having to inform you that 27 year old snookerplayer Paul Hunter died from cancer this
monday evening. He was one of the best young snookerplayer in the world steadily raising in the ranking lists until he started with cancer treatment last year.

Hunter was also a most appreciated player both of the audience and the other players. A determined and talented player who if he would have stayed healty probably would have become an embassy world champion.

Regards to his wife Lindsey and his baby daughter Evie Rose.

Read more:
sportinglife.com
BBC Sport

Jonni Fulcher wins Swiss Open 2006

2006-10-08T02:15:00.000-07:00

The swiss player Jonni Fulcher won this weekends eurotour event Swiss Open. Congratulations!

He won it by beating the maltese sooker star Tony Drago 10-8 in the final. In the semifinal he won over Dejan Dabovic from Austria (10-7). Tony drago won in his semifinal against Francesco Diaz.

A lot of top players fell in the earlier rounds. Such as Oliver Ortmann, Ralf Souquet, David Alcaide, Nick van den Berg, Niels Feijen and Thomas Engert.

Poolhall running

2006-09-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hi dear readers!

After a lot of work in july I reopened the poolhall in august. I must say I enjoy life as a poolhall owner and the people in Trollhättan are very nice and friendly.

Though I'm still waiting for broadband in the poolhall so I can starting to work with updating this blog from there. Everyday when I come home I go to my computer checking what's happening in the poolworld. IPT, US Open, Eurotour tournaments and more. At the moment I have no sparetime to write about all the events but as soon as I get the broadband installed I'll be back with more frequent updates.

Turning proffesional

2006-07-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hi dear readers of my blog. Excuse me for not having updated for a while. I've been having a lot to do the last two weeks - Because I'm turning professional!!

No not a professional poolplayer (I'm not that good) - but a professional poolhall owner. I've bought the poolhall in Trollhättan (Sweden). I moved 350 km from Malmö to Trollhättan this saturday. And this july I'm going to close the poolhall because I'm going to make a few changes. I have bought a snookertable, and to make room for it we have to make some rather big changes. If you're intrested you can see a few pictures at my provisionary hompage www.biljardpalladium.se.

I'll probably not have time for to many news on this blog this month, but I'll be back in august with tournament and event information on the european billiard sports.

Carom & pool - Sevilla Juegos Mundiales

2006-06-22T00:30:00.000-07:00

From july 3rd to 9th the Sevilla 2006 Juegos Mundiales are held in Sevilla, Spain. A number of different billiard events will be held:

International 3-Cushion Open Tournament - Handicap (total price money: 25.600 euros)
Intenational 9-Ball Open Tournament (total price money: 25.360 euros)
World Championships in 5-pins
Spanish Pool Championships
Artistic exhibitions in billiards and snooker

Go to their website now and se the registered players in the 3-Cushion and 9-Ball tournament. In the 9-Ball Tournament Oliver Ortmann, Tony Drago and Imran Majid are already registered.

Snooker - John Higgins voted player of the year

2006-06-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Snookerplayer John "The Wizard of Wishaw" Higgins were voted player of the year by the readers on worldsnooker.com. Higgins won the Grand Prix and the SAGA Insurance Masters last season.He also made it to the finals in Malta Cup and China Open.

Higgins did get 31% of the votes. He was followed by Stephen Hendry (15%) and Neil Robertson (12%).

1. John Higgins 31%
2. Stephen Hendry 15%
3. Neil Robertson 12%
4. Graeme Dott 8%
5. Ken Doherty 5%
6. Ding Junhui 5%
7. Mark Williams 4%
8. Steve Davis 3%
9 Paul Hunter 3%
10 Jamie Cope 3%

Read more on worldsnooker.com

Pool - Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge

2006-06-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

Don't miss the Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge!

World class players will fill the place. Former world champion Mika Immonen will come. So will world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. There you'll see multiple european champions Niels Fejien and Oliver Ortmann, most recent eurotour winner Marcus Chamat, as well as world class players Raj Hundal, Imran Majid, Tony Drago and Jasmine Ouchan.

So, if you want to have a chance to play against or to watch some world class pool go to Norway this summer. Besides it's a beutiful country!

Unfortunally I can't come - but I'm not to unhappy about it. The reason is I've just bought a poolhall in Sweden (were I live) so I'm going to be working with it this summer!

Ralf Souquet wins World Pool Masters!

2006-06-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Ralf "The Kaiser" Souquet wins
the World Pool Masters 2006.

Facing a strong field Souquet came out on top in the World Pool Masters 2006. In the first match he won in a thriller-match against Efren Reyes 8-7. In the quarter finals he defeated Imran Majid 8-2. In the semifinal he won over current double world champion Wu Chia-Ching 8-4. Finally, in the final, he won over Alex Pagulayan 8-4. He has now won the tournament five times in its 13 year long history. That makes him the most successful player in the World Pool Masters. Congratulations Ralf Souquet!

Results World Pool Masters 2006

1st: Ralf Souquet ($20,000)
2nd: Alex Pagulayan ($10,000)
3td: Raj Hundal, Wu Chia-Ching ($5,000)
5th: Niels Feijen, Vilmos Foldes, Imran Majid, Tony Drago ($2,500)

Read more about the event on the website of the tournament World Pool Masters.

World Pool Masters - Result of first quarterfinal

2006-06-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

Raj Hundal vs Niels Feijen

Raj Hundal won over dutch poolstar Niels Feijen 8-7. Feijen was leading 6-2, but the englishman pulled the score back (honestly a little fortunate) and managed to win the match. Hundal still has the chance to be the first player ever to defend his title in the World Pool Master. Read more about the match here.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Results after the second day

2006-06-18T02:26:00.001-07:00

The matches of the second day were:

Alex Pagulayan vs Steve Davis
Imran Majid vs Alex Lely
Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes
Tony Drago vs Thomas Engert
Wu Chia-Ching vs Ronnie O'Sullivan

Alex Pagulayan won over Steve Davis 8-4 but he says he has to play better to win over Foldes tomorrow. Read more here.

Imran Majid won over Alex Lely 8-3. Lely made some early mistakes and the englishman Majid played a superb game. Lely never had a chance to come back into tha match. Read more here .

Ralf Souquet won over Efren Reyes 8-7. In one of the most exiting matches in the tournament so far Souquet got an early lead 6-2. Reyes then pulled back to 6-6. Souquet held his nerves toghether and made a strong finish. Read more here.

Tony Drago won over Thomas Engert 8-3. Engert made some mistakes in the match, but overall Drago played a great game. Read more here.

Wu Chia-Ching won over Ronnie O'Sullivan 8-5. Wu said he was a bit nervous in the beginning (well honestly who wouldn't be meeting snookerstar"The Rocket"). O'Sullivan scratched of the break two times, scratched playing position for the eight once and miscued on the seven once. Something you can't afford facing 17-year old double world Champion Wu Chia-Ching. Read more here.

My guesses of the outcome of these matches were: Pagulayan, Majid, Souquet, Engert and Wu. So I was a bit better this time. So in total I got 5 matches right out of 8. So now at least I beat the monkey!

Pool - World Pool Masters - Results after the first day

2006-06-17T01:12:00.000-07:00

The first days matches were:

Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka
Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen
Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

In the first match Hundal won 8-5 over Takenaka. Though he was most unsatisfied with his game. Both players missed a number of shots. Hundal says he'll have to play a much better game to come any further in this years event. Read more about the match here.

In the second match Feijen won 8-3 over Morris. Feijen got an early lead and Morris (who felt good about his game) said after the match he didn't really have a good chance to come back into the match. Especially with the alternating break format. The match contained some good agressive and defensive play. Read more abot the match on the World Pool Masters site or on Niels Feijens site.

In the third match Foldes won 8-7 over van den Berg. A well played hill-hill match from both players. A number of runouts and some good safety play from both players. Read more here.

In my short analyses of the matches in advance i guessed Hundal, Morris and van den Berg. So I only was right in one of three matches. A monkey knowing nothing about pool is excpected to be 50 percent right (I was 33 percent right)!!! If my guesses doesn't improve I think I've better stay out of sportsbetting!

Pool - Selby wins World 8-ball Championship

2006-06-17T00:51:00.000-07:00

Snooker player Mark Selby won the 2006 World 8-ball Championship. Selby, currently ranked no 28 in the world official snooker ranking, defeated Darren Appleton 11-7 in the final of the World eightball Championships.

The win earned Selby £10,000 and Appleton £5,000. Congratulations!

Mentioned should be this is the brittish type of 8-ball, played with snookerlike balls (7 red balls, 7 yellow balls and one black ball) on a table with snookercloth, and with rounded holes (like on snooker tables. The table looks like a small snooker table. The rules also differ from standard (american) 8-ball pool rules.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

2006-06-16T01:03:00.000-07:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

Snooker superstar Ronnie O'Sullivan meets the 17-year old double World Champion Wu Chia-Ching. My guess is this match will be crowded!

Well not much need to be said about Ronnie O'Sullivan. I guess you're all familiar with the two-time World Snooker Champion. One of the most gifted players who ever seen. His potting ability cannot be questioned, and we know he has been practicing pool, but how good is his break?

Will Wu Chia-Ching continue to play his fearless game against world famous Ronnie O'Sullivan? My guess is - he will. This young talanted player just don't seem to have any nerves. And he sure knows how to break and run out. So will he win? I think O'Sullivan still do not fully master the 9-ball break, and I also think Wu know a bit more about the tactical aspects of the game so I hold Wu a slight favourite.

And today the tournament starts. Good luck to all players!

Snooker - Wendy Jans European Champion ladies

2006-06-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Wendy Jans from Belgium wins the 2006 European Championship in snooker (ladies division) with a whitewash over Isabelle Jonckheere from Holland (5-0).

1st: Wendy Jans (Belgium)
2nd: Isabelle Jonckheere (Holland)
3rd: Rosanna Lo-a-Tjong (Holland), Hanna Mergies (Poland)

Snooker - Alex Borg from Malta wins the 2006 European Championships

2006-06-15T14:40:00.000-07:00

Alex Borg from Malta wins the European Championships in snooker beating Jeff Cundy, from England, 7-5 in the final. In the semis Borg won over Kurt Maflin, from Norway(6-5) and Cundy won over Lasse Munstermann, from Germany (6-3).

1st: Alex Borg (Malta)

2nd: Jeff Cundy (England)

3rd: Kurt Maflin (Norway), Lasse Munstermann (Germany)

5th: Jamie Jones (Wales), Gerrit Bij de Leij (Holland), Yannick Poulain (France), John Torpey (Ireland)

For more results visit Global Snooker Centre

Pool - World Pool Masters - Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago

2006-06-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago

Thomas Engert is certainly back on the world pool stage! 2005 Swiss Open Champion, 2004 World Pool Masters Champion, 2004 European 9-Ball Champion, 2004 International Challenge of Champions winner and 2004 Italian Open Champion (Eurotour). For a couple of years the results seemed to have left Engert. But the latest two years he has definitely re-claimed his spot on the world top! By the age of 40 Engert is back, and he's hot!

What are the chances of the popular and entertaining snooker- and pool player Tony Drago against Engert? Well on the poolstage Drago won the World Pool Masters 2003 and was a bronze medallist in the World Pool Championships the same year. Drago is playing some good pool and he's often finishing high in the Eurotour events.

With Thomas Engert in excellent form my guess is it will be a tough match for Drago. I hold Engert a quite big favourite to win this one.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes

2006-06-13T01:18:00.000-07:00

Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes

Ralf Souquet 2002 US Open Champion, 1996 World Pool Champion, current European 9-ball Champion. Wihtout doubt one of Europes most consistent poolplayers over the past decade. Souquet always plays a great game. He takes the right desicions and he perform the shots well. He is since long one of the best poolplayers in the world.

But so is Efren Reyes! 1999 World Pool Champion, 1994 US Open Champion and IPT King of the Hill Champion 2005. His results hasn't been as good as we are used to though over the last years. He recently went thru an eye-surgery and will hopefully soon be back to the high standard of play we're used to see from him. My guess though is it's to soon after the surgery to face "The Kaiser" - Ralf Souquet. My guess is the winner will be Ralf Souquet

Pool - World Pool Masters - Imran Majid vs Alex Lely

2006-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

Imran Majid vs Alex Lely

Imran Majid won the Italian Open (Eurotour) this year, and is currently ranked number one in the UK. It seems Majid has developed his game notably over the last years, since he now often finishes high in many European tournaments. He also is number 4 on the European ranking (Eurotour ranking).

But what are his chances against the 2005 European 8-Ball and 9-Ball Champion, as well as the 2005 Italian Open Champion, Alex Lely? Well I'd say they're pretty good. Lely seems to be struggling with his form. On this years Eurotour he hasn't on six tourments finished higher than 17th (lost last 32)! Although one mustn't forget Lely is a very skilled player, and he know what it takes to win big tournaments. He is also a former winner of the World Pool Masters.

My guess it will be a close match, but i hold Majid as a small favourite.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Steve David vs Alex Pagulayan

2006-06-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

Steve Davis vs Alex Pagulayan

How can one not admire Steve Davis. Six times world snooker champion. At the age of 48 he still holds a place among the top 16 in the official world snooker ranking (11th). He plays snooker, pool, chess, poker, perform trickshot events etc. Davis is always a threat to anyone in the world both on the snooker table and on the pool table. Although not quite as good as the top pool players in the world noone can afford to underestimate him - but Alex Pagulayan wont!

Alex Pagulayan, 2005 US Open Champion, 2004 World Champion and 2003 World Champion runner-up to mention some of his merits, never wants to let his opponent get one single point! He is going to do everything he can to win every frame against his opponent. It doesn't matter if it's Steve Davis or if it's Efren Reyes, if he leads 7-0 or if his trailing 0-7. This should be a cuite comfortably win for the Canadian Alex Pagulyan.

Pool - World Pool Masters - Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

2006-06-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

I'll continue with my guesses of the outcome of the matches in the Word Pool Masters. Next up is van den Berg vs Foldes.

Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes

Before van den Berg finished runner-up after Marcus Chamat yesterday in the Eurotour final, I held Foldes as favourite to win this match. It's a match between two players on the top-level in Europe.

Nick van den Berg have been performing well on the world-pool scene over the last couple of years. 2005 he won the Czech Open, 2005 Runner-up World 8-ball Championships, 2005 winner of the German Open, 2004 winner of the Dutch Open, to mention a few... And not to forget yesterday runner-up in the 2006 Austrian Open Eurotour !

So what about Vilmos Foldes the 2003 Junior World Champion. Well everybody is talking about him. He's hot - normally. Though, after poor results (according to his normal standards) in the Austrian Open I hols Nick van den Berg as a favourite to win the match.

Marcus Chamat winner of Eurotour

2006-06-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

Marcus "Napoleon" Chamat won over Nick "El Nino" van den Berg 10 - 7. A couple of unforced errors from both players, but overall a well played final. Chamat made some questionable shots early in the match, but when the players came closer to the finish line the mistakes left him, and he played a perfect game in the end. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!

Congratulations Marcus Chamat!

Eurotour Final Chamat - van den Berg

2006-06-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

In the final:

Marcus Chamat - Nick van den Berg

Semis:
Thomas Engert - Nick van den Berg 7-10
Marcus Chamat - Niels Feijen 10-7

Semifinals

2006-06-10T07:08:00.000-07:00

Thomas Engert vs Nick van den Berg

Niels Feijen vs Marcus Chamat

Results from quarter finals:
Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago 10-6
Christian Reimering vs Nick van den Berg 4-10
Imran Majid vs Marcus Chamat 7-10
Oliver Ortmann vs Niels Feijen 5-10

And the livescoring seems to be working again!

Eurotour Quarter Finals

2006-06-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago
Christian Reimering vs Nick van den Berg
Imran Majid vs Marcus Chamat
Oliver Ortmann vs Niels Feijen

Results from 1/8-finals:
Thomas Engert vs Konstantin Stepanov 10-4
Daryl Peach vs Tony Drago 8-10
Christian Reimering vs Radoslaw Babica 10-7
Roman Hybler vs Nick van den Berg 3-10
Imran Majid vs David Alcaide 10-8
Craig Osbourne vs Marcus Chamat 6-10
Oliver Ortmann vs Fabio Petroni 10-8
Sacha Tege vs Niels Feijen 4-10

Eurotour last 16

2006-06-10T04:13:00.000-07:00

Last 16:

Thomas Engert vs Konstantin Stepanov
Daryl Peach vs Tony Drago

Christian Reimering vs Radoslaw Babica

Roman Hybler vs Nick van den Berg

Imran Majid vs David Alcaide

Craig Osbourne vs Marcus Chamat

Oliver Ortmann vs Fabio Petroni

Sacha Tege vs Niels Feijen

Eurotour in Austria - Results

2006-06-10T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hi! The live scoring from the eurotour seems to be out of order, but you can find some results here at EPBF:s hompage. Biggest surprise so far is Ralf Souquet lost to Daryl Peach in the first match in the knock-out stages (last 32) 7-10. He will now meet Tony "The Tornado" Drago in the next round. Other "big" names still in the tournament are: Thomas Engert, Nick van den Berg, Marcus Chamat, Oliver Ortmann, Fabio Petroni and Niels Feijen to name a few.

Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen

2006-06-10T00:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a fan of Niels Feijen (since Jörgen Sandman and Albin Ouchan Jr told me I look a lot like Feijen when I play ;-)) and would like to hold him as a favourite to win. Though he has been struggling with his form lately. He is always a tough opponent to anyone in the world, but to win this one I guess he'll have to find his best game. Following his diary he seems to be on his way back to his best form. Will he find it in time?

Rodney Morris won the 2006 UPA Pro Tour Championship beatind Thorsten Hohmann in the final. The last years we've seen Morris play an excellent game in the Mosconi Cup, as well as in the World Championships. These are two very consistent players on the world pool scene. I'd say whoever is in best form of the day will win the match - and I guess that will be Rodney Morris.

Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka

2006-06-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka

This is a match between two players who have made some great results the last year. Raj Hundal made a name in the poolworld when he bet Alex Pagulayan 10-4 in the knockout stages in the World 9-ball Championship last year. He went on to win the World Pool Masters proving his win over Pagulayan was no "one hit wonder" (Sic! Hundals nickname is The Hitman). Although not very known i Europe Hiroshi Takenaka have been most successful over the last years. Winning Tokyo 9-ball Championship 2005, Tokyo Open 2005 and Seoul Open 2005.

I must admit I haven't seen much of Takenakas game and therefore it's mabye unfair of me to hold Hundal as a favourite. Though I haven't seen Takenaka perform great results outside Asia and I know this is a familiar scene for Hundal. Therefore my guess is - The winner is Raj Hundal.

World Pool Masters - Who will win?

2006-06-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

The World Pool Masters starts at friday june 16th! The first round of matches will be played on friday and saturday. The first quarterfinal will be played on saturday. The rest of the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and the final will be played on sunday 18th june. In the first round we will see:

Raj Hundal vs Hiroshi Takenaka
Rodney Morris vs Niels Feijen
Nick van den Berg vs Vilmos Foldes
Steve Davis vs Alex Pagulayan
Imran Majid vs Alex Lely
Ralf Souquet vs Efren Reyes
Thomas Engert vs Tony Drago
Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Wu Chia-Ching

A most impressing field of players I must say! With sexteen world class pool (and snooker) players playing 9-ball matches first to 8 points it's hard to guess the outcome. But I'll try. I challenge all of you to come with your guess on the outcome of the matches!

Hi there!

2006-06-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

Here I'm going to write about events in european billiards.

First up is the World Pool Masters (16-18 june).

I'll soon be back with more information.