Go Customs is the fastest growing name in cue sports. Specializing in custom carbon fiber shafts and jump cues for players who only want the very best equipment.
Pool is primarily a mental game, especially at the highest levels. Therefore, it’s important for players to develop a strong inner game that emphasizes mental toughness. Often, you see up-and-coming players who have lots of natural talent, but rarely do they ever play up to their potential. The problem is that most pool players are not educated about the various advantages developing a mentally tough game can bring. This is because most coaches didn’t stress the importance of a solid mental game when their students were learning to play.
In pool, your decisions, thoughts, mental images, and feelings set you up for each stroke you deliver during a match. Mental training helps players develop key mental skills which complement their mechanics. What most people do not know is that mental training isn’t just for players who have challenges with their game. In fact, it’s also for great players who are looking to improve their overall performance. Coaches and players have used mental training for years to gain a competitive edge. Every day I teach my students about confidence, composure, and how to make their game more process driven. Developing a good understanding of all 3 of these components allows players to become more mentally tough and raise their game to a much higher level.
To develop mental toughness in pool there are several
skills that you can learn. From my work and research in pool, I have discovered that most pool players who are playing in “dead stroke” are confident, process driven, and composed. Most pool players have experienced the zone at one time or another, if only for a short time. And every player can learn to develop a mindset that helps them enter the zone more frequently by learning how to make their game more process driven and ritualistic.
Mentally tough pool players are at an advantage because they have…
A good understanding of how to get in the zone, and they also understand the feelings associated with playing in the zone.
Confidence or a strong belief in their skills or ability to win.
Great focus and concentration and have an uncanny ability to play in the present moment.
A narrow focus of attention or a unique ability to focus on one specific thing without distraction.
The ability to subconsciously deliver a straight, smooth stroke.
The ability to successfully manage stress and remain calm under pressure.
A sound decision-making process.
The ability to regroup or collect themselves after they make a mistake or shoot a bad shot.
Fun, no matter what the score is, because they love playing the game.
A strong mental game is one of the most important aspects a serious player should learn. To develop a strong mental game, it takes a daily commitment to practice. To be successful with mental toughness training, pool players must learn how to apply it to their games, matches, and tournaments. It can only be mastered through rigorous practice. It’s easy to do mental training and then forget about the strategies you learned a week or two later. The key is to find a system you like and practice it until you can apply it daily. Practicing sound mechanics will improve your game but always remember that it’s often the player with the best mental toughness training who takes home the trophy!
Anthony Beeler is the current Billiards Instructor of the Decade and is a former BCAPL National Champion. He has numerous “Top 25” national finishes and is the primary author of the ACS National Billiards Instructor’s Manual. He has also authored the book Unstoppable! Positive Thinking for Pool Players. Anthony currently has the highest established Fargo Rating of any Master Instructor. He has won over 300 tournaments and has defeated numerous professional players in tournament competition.
Ko Ping Chung has risen to a career-high on the World Nineball Tour Rankings at ninth in the world after defeating Michael Feliciano in the final of the Sharks International 9-Ball Open in Quezon City, Philippines to claim the $30,000 first-place prize.
Ko battled his way through one of the toughest fields ever assembled at a ranking event over six days beating the likes of James Aranas and Naoyuki Oi on his way to the final.
Local hopeful Feliciano had the tournament of his life to reach a maiden final and take the $15,000 runner-up prize that sees the Filipino enter the World Nineball Tour rankings for the first time at world number 54, putting him behind Roland Garcia and US Open champion Carlo Biado who jumped to 43 in the world.
The win for Ko is not only notable for moving into the top ten for the first time, but it also sees him leapfrog brother Pin Yi in the rankings for the first time. Fedor Gorst’s run to the Last 16 meant he maintained a strong footing in the top 16 whilst Naoyuki Oi’s run to the quarters that included knocking out Gorst saw him move to the periphery of the top 20.
Former world champion and two-time World Cup of Pool champion and all-round Filipino legend Francisco Bustamante made a good run of it to enter the rankings for the first time whilst it was a welcome return to World Nineball Tour ranking events for the likes of Jeff De Luna, Roberto Gomez, and Garcia to name a few whilst young hotshots such as Anton Raga made their mark.
Coverage from SHARKS was live streamed in the Philippines through the league’s website with Matchroom Pool fans treated to all six days of action through the YouTube channel which tipped over 300,000 subscribers for the first time during the final. Key matches from the tournament can be watched in their entirety on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel now. Subscribe here.
The Sharks International 9-Ball Open marked the first World Nineball Tour - Ranking Event to take place in the Philippines with the top 64 on the WNT Rankings invited.
The Balkan Pool Tour’s Longoni Visoko Open follows the Sharks International 9-Ball Open from August 5-7 2023. See information on how to enter here.
The next signature Matchroom multi-table open event comes next at the European Open Pool Championship from August 8-13 at Hotel Esperanto in Fulda, Germany with the first-ever Fillers’ Junior Open taking place on August 11-12. Buy your tickets here from €15.
“I think that the most difficut opponent to deal with in the game is yourself, because pool is a sport that requires self-talk, and players are often defeated by their own emotions” Ko Ping Chung told SPM in an interview in 2022.
Ko Ping Chung at the US Open in Atlantic City in 2022
Photo by Takaimages for Matchroom Multi Sport
By Steve Jennings
The physics of a spinning cue ball and the different results they produce may be one of the most misunderstood subjects in pool. Today, I want to try to clear up some questions and help understand how different kinds of spin produce different results.
There are two basic types of spin that can be applied to the cue ball, and they are quite different. Top and bottom spin applied on the vertical centerline will determine the path the cue ball takes after it contacts the object ball. Left or rightside spin, often called English, changes the rebound angle when the cue ball contacts the cushion. Both are important to understand to play position for another shot.
Most of us know that on a straight-in shot, applying topspin will allow the cue ball to follow the object ball after contact, while using bottom spin can cause the cue ball to travel back with draw. If there is neither forward nor backward spin upon contact, the result is a stop shot, where the cue ball remains at the point of contact.
All that changes when there is any cut angle on the shot. After contact on any cut shot, the cue and object balls will separate on a 90-degree angle from the line of centers of the two balls. This path is often called the tangent line. If the cue ball has forward spin, it will then roll forward of the tangent line, while backspinwill cause it to curve back off the tangent line. Only when there is no forward or back spin at contact will the cue ball continue along the tangent line. Side spin actually has very little impact on the path of the cue ball after it separates from the object ball. It can radically change the rebound angle the cue ball takes when it hits the cushion. For clarity, we refer to either inside or outside English. If your shot is cutting a ball to the left, then left spin would be inside, and right spin would be outside. For a cut shot to the right, the opposite would be true. Just remember that inside is the side closer to the pocket you’re shooting toward.
same angle as it approached it. So if the cue ball comes into the rail at a 30 degree angle, it will rebound off the rail at about 30 degrees. Note that the speed of the ball may alter the rebound angle. But if the cue ball hits the cushion at a 30 degree angle with outside spin, it will come off at an angle greater than 30 degrees. Inside spin will shorten the rebound angle to less than 30 degrees.
Adding more sidespin by striking the cue ball farther away from the vertical centerline will increase the amount of change to the rebound angle.
It’s important to know that applying sidespin to the cue ball will cause it to move slightly off the aim line. Left spin will push the cue ball slightly to the right, and right spin will push it to the left. How much will vary based on how much spin is applied. The weight and composition of your cue, along with speed, will impact the amount of deflection you will see. Most instructors will encourage players to focus primarily on using top and bottom along with speed for position play whenever possible. Sidespin will make every shot a little bit more difficult. To paraphrase Jerry Briesath, the cue ball doesn’t care if sidespin is applied intentionally or by accident, it will still deviate from the original aim line.
I hope this helps clear up any misunderstanding about how applying spin to the cue ball will affect the shot. If you would like more on this topic, feel free to contact me or another qualified professional instructor.
Until next time.
Steve Jennings PBIA/ACS Level 4 Master Instructor
Tanner Pruess is a Top Amateur Player & PBIA Instructor. He has given inperson and online custom lessons to both junior and adult players featuring his unique AlignRight System. www.PoolConfidence.com
Let’s zoom in on your routine – specifically your final stroke. What exactly should be happening during the final stroke? Where should my eye be focused? What things should I implement to improve consistency better?
Everyone has a final stroke as they pause at the cue ball, then transition to the backswing, then the fore swing. Recording yourself from a side angle can show any flaws that are keeping you from a consistent and higher level of play.
#1 – Back Forearm and cue should form a 90-degree angle as the cue tip is addressing the cue ball. Having the tip strike the cue ball at the bottom of the arc will give the SPM
purest and most efficient contact.
#2 – Eyes are focused and gazing at the contact point on the object ball. Find the target as you are standing up to address the shot, then step into your stance. Return your eyes back to this same target upon the final stroke.
#3 – Cue tip position needs to be near the cue ball as the final stroke begins to be the most accurate. I would recommend having your tip within one chalk cue distance from the cue ball. We want to prevent players from having to ‘reach’ or ‘run out of room’ for their stroke as the cue tip strikes the cue ball.
#4 – Now, we have transitioned to the end of the backswing. You might be thinking I am going to mention a ‘pause’ here, but I am not. I want most amateur pool players to have a smooth transition between the backswing and fore swing, but definitely not a ‘forced’ pause. This point is actually reserved to discuss knuckle position on the backhand. A loose but controlled grip is necessary, and this is highlighted back by the knuckles pointing downward at the transition.
#5 – Eyes are still focused and gazing at the contact point of the object ball.
#6 – As you pull your tip back from the cue ball to the end of your backswing, we need to pay attention to a few things. You will need to have a slow and controlled backswing. We don’t want any abrupt or herky-jerky movements that may cause your body/aim to become out of alignment.
#7 – Now we are in the finished position, and your knuckles should now be pointed up. This proves a controlled but loose grip. Grip hand may also be at a resting place on your body.
#8 – Eyes are still focused and gazing at the contact point of the object ball. It is important to stay down and not have your head pop up to see the balls rolling on the table. Over time you might develop a poor habit of then having your head raise up during your final stroke.
#9 – We need to send the cue tip through to the cue ball, not to the cue ball. Leave your tip extended and stay down so you can evaluate your forward stroke. Many amateurs have a tendency to jerk the cue tip back, especially on draw shots – let’s avoid this as it kills consistency and can cause stroke deceleration.
Pool players at any skill level can benefit from reviewing their stroke from a side angle. Watch for these #9 points and consider making some tweaks to improve your consistency. If you have questions or need further guidance, please reach out for a final stroke analysis or custom online lessons.
Niels “the Terminator” Feijen at the World Pool Masters
Superior, Colo., July 12, 2021 — The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) Hall of Fame welcomes one of the game’s hardest working and most ferocious competitors when the Netherland’s great Niels “the Terminator” Feijen is inducted into the sport’s most prestigious club.
Photo by Takaimages for Matchroom Multi Sport
Feijen, 46, a two-time World Champion, was the clear choice of voters in the Greatest Players category and is the first Dutch-born player to be inducted into the BCA Hall of Fame.
Feijen will formally be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, Nov. 3, at the Norfolk Sheraton Waterside Hotel in Norfolk, Va., in conjunction with the 2023 International Open pool tournament.
“Obviously, this is a huge honor,” Feijen said when informed of his election. “To be in the same club with my heroes — legends like Efren Reyes and Earl Strickland — is an amazing feeling.
“It’s something I really didn’t think about at all until about five years ago. I was still focused on trying to win tournaments. Once I was on the ballot, I know I was close a few times. You hope, but you have to tell yourself, ‘It will happen when it happens.’”
The road has been long and measured for Feijen, an avid athlete as a youth. After discovering pool in his hometown of The Hague at 16, Feijen’s pursuit of greatness was relentless, with a stint in the U.S. as a 20-year-old, playing against the stars he’d studied on so many videos. In short order, Feijen began placing in the top 10 in numerous international events. His first major breakthrough came in 2008 when he won the WPA World Straight Pool Championship.
After finishing third in the WPA World 10-Ball Championship that year and runner-up twice in the WPA World 8-Ball Championship (2010, 2011), Feijen finally captured his second world title at the WPA World 9-Ball Championship in 2014. He won the World Pool Masters in 2013
and repeated as champion in 2018. His biggest years were 2013 and 2014, a two-year stretch in which he added backto-back World Cup of Pool runner-up finishes, back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Derby City 10-Ball Challenge, and a pair of Mosconi Cup wins and MVP honors to his Masters and World 9-Ball crowns. He won the Derby City 9-Ball title in 2007. He has appeared in 14 Mosconi Cups, winning eight times and earning MVP honors four times. He is a three-time European 9-Ball Champion, seven-time European Straight Pool Champion, and European 8-Ball Champion.
“I remember my father asking me years ago what I wanted to do in pool,” Feijen recalled. “I told him, ‘I want to win a world title and get into the Hall of Fame.’ Crazy that it has happened.”
Voting for the 2023 BCA Hall of Fame was conducted by the USBMA Hall of Fame Board, which consists of USBMA members, elected At-Large members, and living members of the Hall of Fame. In his fifth year on the ballot, Feijen was named on 29 submitted ballots (79%). American Corey Deuel was named on 17 ballots (48%). Jeremy Jones, JoAnn Mason-Parker, Stefano Pellinga, John Schmidt, Vivian Villarreal, and Charlie Williams completed the 2023 ballot. To be eligible for consideration in the Greatest Players category, a player (a) must be 40 years old by Jan. 1 of the year of their inclusion on the ballot; (b) must have a professional playing career of at least 10 years; and (c) must have recorded significant achievements in U.S.-based and international events recognized by the BCA.
Founded in 2007, the United States Billiard Media Association (USBMA) is a non-profit association dedicated to elevating the visibility and status of billiards in the media at large. The USBMA consists of professional print, radio, TV, public relations, and Internet media persons who cover cue sports. One of the association’s main functions is electing billiard media members to the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame Board for the purpose of nominating and electing players and notable figures to the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.
Founded in 1948, the Billiard Congress of America is a non-profit trade organization dedicated to growing a united, prosperous, and highly regarded billiard industry through BCA leadership. The BCA seeks to enhance the success of its members and promote the game of billiards through educational, marketing, and promotional efforts, annual industry trade shows, tournaments, and other programs designed to encourage billiards as a lifestyle and make pool everybody’s game.
For more information, visit bca-pool.com or call 303.243.5070. Billiard Congress of America | 303.243.5070 | BCA-Pool.com | PlayBetterBilliards.com
Niels “the Terminator” Feijen at the World Pool Masters
“I’ve enough food in here to feed an army, but I can’t eat a bite. It’s too painful to swallow this stuff now.”
Alex Higgins
Introduction
Alex Higgins will always be best remembered for his flamboyant shots and a player who not only lit up a snooker table but also changed the direction of snooker for the better. Yet beyond the bravado of this Belfast-born snooker player lies in a man who, in the end, was a shadow of his former self, weighing only 6st 7 lbs, barely able to speak due to ravaged vocal cords caused by intense chemotherapy
treatment for throat cancer and a vicious mugging in 2008 where he was violently strangled. The once-showman was reduced to a man who whispered when he spoke and shuffled when he walked, only recognisable from the faint twinkle in his eyes.
Living now in sheltered accommodation, a small flat situated in Sandy Row, Belfast, his former lavish house in Cheshire seemed to be a distant memory. Alex lived his last days in relative comfort with his sisters, Jean Simpson and Anne Brown, helping him keep his food cupboards stocked and his flat heated and checking up on him periodically to make sure he was coping. Yet the irony of this help was that Higgins was spiraling towards an irreversible fate, a tragic demise, and a life that could have been so different if Higgins had not chosen the hedonistic path he did in life.
The Final Bell TollsHaving researched some of the last interviews of Alex Higgins, I must say I was left tearful with a sheer feeling of emptiness. This relatively young man, only 61 when he died, didn’t bear any resemblance to a man of his age. His skeletal appearance displayed someone who had almost had the life sucked out of him. When a journalist knocked at his flat door, the person was met with a man who was only able to inch open the door, frail and a ghost-like figure who whispered “Come in, take pictures and talk to me”. Walking into his kitchen, the reporter saw cupboards laden with medicines, ready meals and protein shakes, enough to feed an army but lay redundant due to the two-time world champion finding it too difficult to eat, having lost all of his teeth. Alex had to resort to sucking down pate and pureed meals despite having 10 sets of dentures which left him in agony if he wore them.
Although extremely ill, Higgins was still extremely house-proud with his wardrobe and airing cupboard stacked with clean sheets and clothes. Yet when you moved into his living room, it was as if Alex was saying goodbye to snooker. His trophies and a treasured set of snooker balls lay discarded on the floor and Alex had to step over them to reach his beloved armchair where he slumped in torturous pain. Now bespectacled, this snooker legend took off his glasses but dropped them on the floor. Slowly bending down to retrieve them, a pained gasp reverberated around the room with Alex uttering the words “I’m getting old… I’m the walking dead.”
Alex Higgins was found dead in bed on the 24th of July 2010 by his sister Jean who was delivering a food parcel and found him with a plate of untouched food fallen to the floor next to him. A death that resulted from malnutrition, pneumonia, and a bronchial condition. Ironically before his demise, Alex was looking forward to taking part in a veterans’ tournament that November, hoping to get back to good health, but sadly it never materialised. This is a tragic end that may have been avoided if Higgins had accepted an offer to get him dental implants at a cost of £20,000 after a number of players contributed to a collection. However, a subsequent visit to a Spanish dentist in Marbella would result in being turned away for being underweight. Alex was sadly his own worst enemy and decided to turn his back on many who loved him and wanted to help him. An end that could be largely blamed on the pressure thrust on him at an early age and one that he struggled to cope with.
His best friend Jimmy White was reduced
to tears when he heard the tragic news, claiming that Alex wasn’t actually a heavy drinker as claimed. Rather it was his choice in life to refuse to eat at the best of times, choosing to be a picky eater that would ultimately be the start of his spiraling downfall. A body that was already ravaged by the effects of cancer and hard living. In the end, Higgins barely had the strength to lift a cue, a snooker genius that sadly paid the price for his life choices.
Welcome to Snooker Loopy, a blog created and inspired by my love of the game spanning over 32 years. My name is Elliott, and I remember the first time I watched a snooker game on TV way back in 1987, flicking through the four channels we had, and came across this wonderful game. I was mesmerized and couldn’t
quite work out what was going on. But I knew I was hooked and wanted to learn more.
Thirty-two years later, I’m still here avidly following the tournaments and players, both on TV and around Europe.
Please enjoy my content and you can also follow me on Twitter @elliottwest87
Follow Elliott West at https:// greenbaize1972.blogspot.com/
Ihad the privilege of sitting down with Alex in a Zoom Interview two weeks ago! It was fun talking with him and getting to know him better. Alex has a fun personality; talking with him was a pleasure!
Alex had a great start to the year beating Joshua Filler once in the Nineball at the Derby City Classic and twice at the 2023 World Pool Championship in Kielce, Poland. Alex won the first match, 9-7, against Filler, then Alex turned around and beat him again in the next game, 11-
9, which put a damper on Filler’s winning streak! “I played him once in the Derby City Classic and twice at the World Championship. Very fortunate for me that I came out on top,” stated Pagulayan! I had mentioned that Alex had broke Filler’s winning streak, and his reply was, “Oh, I don’t know. But he didn’t like it.”
Pagulayan went to Yushan, China, to play Chinese Eightball and loved it! The Chinese Eightball started before the Spanish Open but took place during the Spanish Open, which he missed because he was in Yushan, China!
In the interview, I asked Alex, How was it in China? Tell me a little bit about that. Alex replied, “Oh. That’s a good question. I loved it. I love every bit of it. I think I’m going to switch. I love to play. In most of the tournaments now, we play race to seven, race to four, and race to 9 at the most, and I’m a very slow starter, and I think the game doesn’t suit me anymore. So, when I play Chinese 8 Ball, I enjoyed it. I got six practice tables at the hotel. We get to play a lot. They call it Chinese Pool now. They don’t like to call it Chinese eight ball.” he went on to say, “I won in three matches, I actually did pretty good. The last time I played, I believe, was 2015. I’m not really sure if that’s accurate, but I think I probably say I would have like 100 hours to the game, maybe 150 at the most.”
When asked if Pagualyan liked Chinese Eightball better than Nineball, he replied, “I think the race is too short. I mean, for me anyways. The players are already getting too good for these short races, you know. I don’t really enjoy it anymore.” stated Pagulayan. Pagulayan enjoys the Chinese eight ball much better than nine ball because the matches are much longer!
Pagulayan spent a total of 17 days in China and had quite an experience when it came to getting laundry done! Here is a little bit about that from the interview.
Kat- I saw you on video washing your laundry in the hotel room.
Alex doing what he loves most, playing Snooker!Photo by
Max Patino
Alex- “Oh, that was too funny. Yeah, because I asked the hotel if they do laundry. Yeah, we do laundry; it’s $10 per load. I said, What? So, I decided to wash my own clothes right for—It cost me $1.50 for the laundry detergent. So, I’m looking for a place to hang my clothes, and I saw a space by the window. I have some tape with me, so I tape them to the handle of the window, and I’m going to leave them there for a few hours to dry quickly. And it started raining, I said. You, mother fucker. So, I have to redo everything. So it was fun. I put tape on it to make sure it doesn’t fly right, it really crossed my mind the clothes could blow away, but Luckily for me, I have Some tape on me.”
Many of you already know Alex Pagulayan, but do you know him? Alex Pagulayan was born Cabagan, Philippines. Alex was asked if he has dual citizenship. “Yes, I do. Yes, I think the Canadian passport alone is easy to travel anywhere in the world, and I have a lot of friends. Everywhere I go, they see my passport and say Come in, Welcome!” Stated Pagualyan. He and his family moved to Canada in 1994 when he was 16. His father managed a pool hall, so Pagulayan was introduced to the game at an early age. Though he was also attracted to other sports, he thought his physique may have been unsuitable. He has said, “I like a lot of sports, but with pool, you don’t have to be physically tough.” His primary training venue was Loma’s pool hall.
I asked Alex when he originally arrived or moved to Canada, and this was his reply “I went to Canada on August 17, 1994. Then I move out in 2003, Yeah, and move to Hawaii for a few
years. As we speak, I still have two kids, and their names are Dylan and Ray Pagulayan. I miss my kids.” When asked what his childhood was like and how he was introduced to the game, this was what Alex said. “ What is my childhood like, and how am I introduced to the game? Well, I’m one of those kids that I’m spontaneous. I like to try a lot of things, and at that time, my father keeps bringing me to the poolroom, and he keeps getting beat. I told my dad. You know what, Dad, give me three years. I will beat all of them for you. But my dad says don’t be silly and starts laughing, right? So a few months later and then my dad rented the pool room; I found out from my brother. Just me and my brother and my uncle, which is a year older than me. We always do something like play cards we shoot basketball. Whatever we can bet our money on. Nothing much. Very small money. We just like to beat each other, right? It just so happens I get the best of them, so. They did not tell me my father rented the pool room. They told me two weeks after. So they have already been playing for two weeks, so they want to get the edge. So when I went there, they asked me to play. I said no, Not yet. So they didn’t know I started playing after a week of playing. They couldn’t beat me. The rest is history. That was the birth of my pool career right there.”
Kat - Who were some of your early influences regarding early mentors and favorite players?
Alex - Well, the person that changed my game overall, his name is Paul Thornley. He’s from Canada. I believe he’s 79 years old now. I met him when I was 16. I also like to watch. I’m one of that person that if you tell me something, it’s hard to register. But if I watch a lot, then I will learn from there, then I will try to apply it to my game, add to my arsenal, and then practice it. I would like to do it when I see something. I like to do it on my own first, and then if I can’t find
A wonderful Capture of Alex Greats, by the late great Robert Ross
A wonderful Capture of Alex with the Greats, by the late great Robert Ross the answer, I seek someone to help me to figure it out.
He was one of your early mentors. and who were some of your others?
Alex likes Efren Reyes, Bustamonte, and Earl Strickland, “I learned from a lot of people It’s just like I if I see one thing I like about the game, I just mimic that,” stated Pagualyan.
I asked Alex how he got the name “The Lion,” and here was his reply: “I thought you would never ask that. OK. The lion comes from Paul Thornley, actually. Because my last name is Pagulayan, everybody’s having a hard time pronouncing my last name. So, the lion is kind of like there’s a rhyme; layan, you know, sounded like a lion. So they just call me the lion, and one other part is I just love to play, no matter who it is, and they think I have a heart like a lion. That’s why they call me the lion.” Alex also stated that one day he had dyed his hair all blond, and it was spiked up like a lion, so it was confirmed he was the lion!
Pagulayan has experience in the game of snooker other than Pool, helping the Filipino team to win the Snooker Gold Medal at the 2005 SEA Games (held in Manila, Philippines) with teammates Joven Alba and Leonardo Andam. After the team’s 3–2 win against Thailand at the Makati Coliseum, Pagulayan emerged as a triple gold medalist.
I asked Alex, You’ve won snooker titles in Asia and Canada, and your pool success is well known. So as someone who has played both at a high level, how do you think Pool compares to Snooker in terms of both similar and unique skill sets?
Alex replied, “Well, I would say they’re completely different games. I wouldn’t say oh, this is
easier; they are just completely different games. Obviously, it’s hard to pot a ball in snooker. But in Nineball, it’s hard to relax because anything could happen. Like, even if you’re up four or five games. The guy can literally run four or five racks on you, right? And there’s a lot of strategy in Nineball that when you make a mistake, for some reason, you get penalized a lot. In Snooker, you can get away with it. But so I would say for me, they are both a hard game, right? But mind you, Snooker is my favorite game.” Snooker is Alex’s favorite game, just a little over One Pocket, which is next, and Chinese Eightball is third! These are his three favorite games now!
I asked Alex if he would like to see something more to what Snooker has with Q school and qualifying events.
Alex replied: “100%, you know when I tried to Join the Q School 11 years ago, in England. I’m very fortunate I made it high enough to get invited to replace the players that could not make it. So. I get to play their pro event, and they took me to one of their rooms for the meeting. Like maybe nine of us, And they showed us on the big screen what Snooker is all about. One good thing about Snooker is that a month and 1/2 from now, you know when you’re playing, what day you’re playing, what table you’re playing on. So you know there’s no players meeting. They already do that before. If you like, go there for your match and go three days early, four days early, or a day early. It’s all up to you. But if you lose, you can go home. You don’t have to spend another four or five days and all the food. You don’t have to spend another 1500. For that trip, right? So that’s why I loved it.”
The most memorable tournament win for Alex was winning the all-around at the Derby City Classic in 2015, and One of the most memorable matches for Pagualyan was the 2004 WPA World 9-Ball Championship. Pagulayan remembers the quarter-final like it was yesterday! “I remember every single shot from the one all the way to the 9, I was up 10/5. I made one bad decision. The next thing you know, it’s 10-10,” stated Pagulayan. In that tournament, Pagulayan won to Fong-Pang Chao in the quarter-final World Championship in Taiwanese, Taipei 11-10, and then went on to beat Kuo Po-cheng 11-4 in the semi-final and
took the championship against Chang Pei-Wei 17-13 becoming the 2004 WPA World 9-Ball Champion! Watch this clip from the World Pool Championship! https://www.facebook.com/ watch/?v=679793262886845
In the interview, Alex discusses how he does not like short matches. His ideal match is “For me if I’m going to play 9 ball or 10 ball, I would like to play. Four and 1/8 pockets on a diamond table, race to the 13, single elimination, break from the box, nineball on the spot. with a shot clock, and for the timeout, you’ll have 10 minutes consumable. It’s like chess. Whatever you use on your first time out, the remaining 10 minutes. That’s what you have. After that, you don’t have any more time. for some, it requires 2-3 minutes to think. So that’s if I’m going to play or have a tournament.” stated Alex Pagulayn. Alex plays with a Steve Lomax cue.
Alex literally loves to walk. He walks at least an hour a day, if not more! He also enjoys cooking! He spends a lot of time in the studio creating content for his fans and posting it to his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/alexpagulayanpro and YouTube channel. https:// www.youtube.com/@AlexPagulayanPro
Look out, Alex Pagulayan fans, The Pagulayan brand has many exciting things coming soon. There is a shaft in development, and Alex has just started testing different models. Chalk, Gloves, Cue Cases, and many other things all coming soon. ell Pagulayan brand is a premium pool brand representing Alex and everything he stands for; integrity, excellence, and heart. Apparel is coming soon, and many other pool products to follow.
Alex is returning to China to play some more Chinese Eightball and attend the China Nineball event!
Check out the full interview with Alex Pagulayan. Alex Pagulayan talks with SPM Billiards Magazine’s https://youtu.be/6DM3AZKktJQ
By Dominic Esposito
Ilove doing what some call “Living the dream”— reaching out to people from city to city, spending time doing billiard exhibitions, and BOOT CAMP Pool Schools. I remember what happened when I spent one of my memory-making weeks doing the Grand Opening of Shore Thing Billiards in Myrtle Beach, SC. This beautiful pool hall full of new Diamond tables, great food, and an awesome staff was not enough to cover up for the overwhelming number of pool players I watched night after night surrendering their turn at the table to their opponents for the same reasons that I see in so many places I visit. I like to call them a “Pool Ball Klutz.”
By definition, a klutz is someone who can’t get through a day without knocking, banging, tripping, tipping, slipping, or breaking something. A Pool Ball Klutz is a player that causes the cue ball to collide into another ball or balls for no intended reason during their attempt to pocket an object ball.
This is not a good thing to be doing if you are that player. Why? When you cause the cue ball to collide into another object ball, unplanned, 80% of the time, it will result in you not being able to finish running out to win your game. I’ll say that another way. If your cue ball unintentionally hits into another object ball, after it already hit the object ball you were shooting at, you have at least an 80% chance of not running out. It could cost you the game.
This training drill is intended to bring you into a new level of play where you learn how SPM
to navigate the cue ball shot after shot without running the cue ball into another object ball. Don’t do this unless you intended to. Now let’s get to work! This drill comes from one of my training drills on DITV that will help you develop cue ball speed and position planning accuracy within a sea of open balls.
Lower-skill level players should start out shooting the drill at: Level I.
1. Start with Ball In Hand from any point on the table.
2. Make any ball in the pocket of your choice, moving the cue ball freely.
3. Avoid hitting any of the other balls. You can drive the cue ball or an object ball to the rails.
4. If you miss or hit another ball, reset the entire table and start over repeating steps
Advanced players may want to try starting out at: Level II.
1. Start with Ball In Hand at either end of the table.
2. Pocket each of the 3 object balls in each row.
3. Complete each row in succession from one end of the table to the other.
4. Remember, NO TOUCHING ANY OTHER BALL ON EACH SHOT.
5. If you miss a shot or hit another ball, reset the pattern, and start over.
Attempt this drill ten times during a practice session. Don’t give up or become
discouraged. Work hard to complete it. Soon you’ll see your ball count per rack increase, and in time you’ll be counting successful racks completed. You’ll see a notable increase in your skill level after just one month. When you can do my drills 7 out of 10 times, you’ll be in the top 70% of the players in the world. A Sample class of DITV as seen on “The CLINIC” on Facebook nad YouTube
Pool has come a long way in terms of competition on the world stage. People who have come to the game in the last couple of decades, I don’t think, know how far things have
Photography by Takaimages for Matchroom Multisport
really come. Yes, they have certainly seen pool rise, especially in the last few years, but if you are like me, someone who remembers Steve Mizerak winning his four consecutive US Open 14.1 titles and watching Mosconi and Fats on TV, it’s a much bigger deal. Players from Europe, South America, and Asia were a bit rarer, and most cue sports outside the US were the various forms of carom billiards, English Billiards, Snooker, Russian Pyramid…etc. Not 9-Ball.
Most remember when Efren Reyes and Jose Parica from the Philippines started making waves in the US, along with the terrific Oliver Ortmann from Germany. Slowly but surely, more and more players began to compete, and the level of play slowly increased every year. Now we have major events all over the world, we have the Mosconi Cup, and we just finished the World Cup of Pool team event.
The quantity and quality of play that we have today is amazing. Every major event now is packed with talent, and there are few easy matches. The last sixty-four of the majors this past year have proven that if you want to win, then you had better come ready to play, and the World Cup was no different.
We started with thirty-two teams from thirty-one countries (*Note the host country gets two teams). Right out of the gate, the team of Johan Chua and James Aranas from the Philippines took on the A-Team of Spain, David Alcaide, and current world champion, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz. This team is also the defending champions from 2022. (The bookmakers across the pond had Aranas and Chua at twenty-five to one to win the event)
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz took on the first break, and Spain-A runs out game one. Johann and James didn’t get to the table until game three but took advantage and got on the board with the score 2-1. They quickly took games four and five and the lead at 3-2. David and FSR battled right back, and with a touchy shot on the 9 in rack seven, they went back on top 4-3. A misplayed safe by Team Philippines in rack eight led to another Spain-A victory and a 5-3 edge in this race to seven. A rare miss by FSR left the door open for Chua and Aranas to get SPM
back to within one game. Another miss on a two-ball by FSR gave James and Johan tied the match, but a miss by Aranas on the three-ball let Alcaide back to the table where he also missed the same ball! Team Philippines reached the hill first and breaking with the chance to close the match out. A safe by Aranas leaves a touch kick to Franscisco. He makes contact but leaves an open shot for Chua, and the Philippines close the door on Spain-A.
The team from Greece faced Singapore, the runner-up team from 2022. Singapore jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and Aloysius Yapp and Sharik Sayed looked to be cruising through the match. Sayed missed a routine ball in rack six. Alexander Kazakis and Nikos Ekonomopulous cleaned up to pull within two games. Singapore made another error in the following rack taking on a jumpshot after a pushout and scratching. It looked like an easy out for Greece, but Alexander over position on the 9 ball a bit, and Nikos missed the shot on the nine in the side. Singapore moved out to a 5-2 lead. A scratch off the break of rack eight and a miss in rack nine by Singapore gave two more games to team Greece to get within one. Both teams struggled in
The next match for day one saw Alex Pagulayan and John Morra for Canada up against Myanmar’s Phone Myint Kyaw and Thaw Zin Htet. An early exchange of leads finally saw Team Canada out in front 4-2. A scratch by The Lion almost gave the seventh rack to Myanmar, but a miss on the eight and John and Alex increased their lead to 5-2. After some less-than-stellar play from both teams, Myanmar missed an opportunity by overrunning position on the 9 and missing the final ball to let Canada go up 6-2 and reach the hill. Alex dropped an early nine-ball in the final rack to close it out at 7-2.
Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw and Elliott Sanderson stepped in against Qatar’s Ali Al Obaidli and Bashar Hussein in round one. Struggles with the table continued as Sanderson missed an easy five-ball to turn the table over, and then Qatar overran shape on the eight-ball to get snookered by the nine and missed the jump shot. Shaw and Sanderson finished off the
rack and gain the early lead. Some tough misses continued to plague team Qatar, and Great Britain took a commanding 6-0 lead. It looked like Qatar would get on the board, but a missed thin cut on a seven allowed Great Britain to get the shutout and advance to round two.
Albania’s first-round match was against Peru. Gerson Martinez and Christopher Tevez took the first rack against Eklent Kaci and Besar Spahiu. Kaci quickly led his team back into the lead at 3-1. Taking rack five, Besar broke rack six and got a fortunate golden break to increase the lead to 5-1. Keeping control of the table, Kaci and Spahiu ran rack seven to reach the hill with a five-game lead. Gerson and Christopher did not fold, however, and took down the next two racks to cut the lead to 6-3. A miss on the five-ball in rack ten left the final rack to Team Albania, and the match win 7-3.
Mario He and Ablin Ouschan playing for Austria, took on the team from down under, Australia’s Justin Sajich and James Georgiadis. Australia saw themselves land on a tough nine-ball, but Justin knocks it down to get out of the gate first. Rack two saw a great safe from Australia, but Albin fluked the one-ball in. Mario, having no shot on the two, tried to kick thin and missed giving ball in hand to Justin and James. Austria tied the match up at 2-2, but Australia’s play did not falter as they found themselves on the hill leading 6-3. Mario and Albin took advantage of a couple of mistakes and pulled themselves to within one game at 6-5. A misplayed safe in rack twelve gave Albin a look at the seven ball, and he and Mario win their fourth in a row to tie the match at hill-hill. The final rack looked like Australia would get the upset win, but a missed four-ball opened the door, and Austria walked on to round two taking the win 7-6.
Day two continued with round one matches as the Netherlands stepped up to face Hong Kong. The pressure of the event and playing in a scotch-doubles format was evident
throughout the event. It was a tough opening rack as Robbie Capito was forced to jump two balls to try to pocket the three and gave Niels Feijen a clean look. Niels and Marc Bijsterbosch had a slight hiccup with the eight-ball, but a fortunate roll let them take the first rack. Lo Ho Sum and Robbie Capitio, however, regained their composure quickly, and they win the next three games. Marc hung a three-ball on the tight corner pocket in rack five but rolled safely behind the four leaving a tough kick. A foul shot by Hong Kong gave ball-in-hand to Marc and Niels, and they quickly pull even at 3-3. A terrific break by Feijen in rack seven, dropping three balls, but Marc missed the long shot on the two-ball. Team Hong Kong runs out to retake the lead at 4-3. Robbie’s foul on the break stalled their momentum shift in rack eight, and The Terminator and partner went on to even the match up once again. Rack Nine also went to Team Netherlands with some very smart defense and steady ball striking. Rack ten put Niels and Marc on the hill, and Team Hong Kong really felt the pressure. Neils hung a four-ball, but again, Lo and Capito were looking at a kick. A foul by Hong Kong allowed ball-in-hand for the Netherlands, and they moved on to round two.
A very interesting match followed with the Ko Brothers for Team Chinese Taipei and The Iceman Mika Immonen, and his partner Petri Makkonen for Finland. Table speed, tight pockets, and pressure against seemed to bleed into the match as rack one got turned around for Finland, and Pin Yi and Ping Chung took down game one. Little Ko hung a two-ball in the corner on a very thin cut. It was very deep in the jaws, and Mika failed to hit in on the rail first attempt, and Taipei adds game two to their score. Rack three saw Petri miss a back cut on the seven giving the Ko brothers this game and the next. Down 4-0 Finland needed to get some focus and control back on their side. It looked like they might, but a safe attempt led to a fluke on the six-ball by Makkonen, and Mika had a tough long cut on the seven which he missed, and Taipei moved on to increase their lead 5-0.
Rack Six finally saw Finland on the board. Mika scratched on the next break but did not leave an easy out, even with ball-in-hand. A safe by Pin Yi put Finland on two fouls, and a two-way safe by Little Ko put the game in jeopardy for Finland. A kick shot lead to a good hit but also a scratch with the cue ball, and the Ko’s saw themselves up 6-1. A textbook runout and Chinese Taipei move on to round two.
Wiktor Zielinksi and Konrad Juszczyszyn of Poland were next up to face Serbia’s Aleska Peclj and Lazar Kostic. This first rack also saw unexpected misses, and with a good safe, Poland takes the first rack. Serbia came back to win game two, but in the third rack, another missed seven-ball led to Poland taking over the lead at 2-1. Serbia got their second win in rack five. Poland nearly pulled off a three-foul, but they still won rack six
to move the gap back to two games at 4-2. The young Serbian team just could not get any momentum going their way and found themselves down 6-2. Zielinski had a rare miss on the eight-ball letting Serbia see a shot for the first time in what seemed a very long time. While not a hanger, the eight was makeable, but the long wait and the pressure led to a miss by Serbia and the win for Poland.
Evening on Day Two began with Germany and New Zealand squaring off. Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen versus Matt Edwards and Sullivan Clark. Playing a good safe shot that led to ball-in-hand, Clark and Edwards take rack one. Germany came back in game two with a great runout after a tricky combination. Neuhausen’s break comes up dry in rack three, and New Zealand has a nice layout until a little too much draw forces
them to go all the way around the table to get on the nine and sink it and lead 2-1. The teams traded scratches in rack number four, with Filler finally dropping the nine-ball for the win and a tie score. Germany also takes rack five, but a missed four-nine combination gives New Zealand a chance that they fail to capitalize on, and Joshua and Moritz are up 4-2. They find a rhythm and an early nineball to keep piling up the games and lead 6-2 over Team New Zealand. Again, Clark and Edwards have a chance but a miss on the four-ball leads to Germany moving on to the next round 7-2.
The next match gives us a look at some players that the wider audience may not be familiar with, Hungary’s team of Oliver Szolnoki and Bezdan Attila matching up with the team from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sanjin Pehlivanovic and Ajdin Piknjac. The first rack saw a tough scratch by Bosnia & Herzegovina trying to position for a tough out, and with ball-in-hand, Hungary make a long three-ball combination on the 8 to draw first blood in the match. Sanjin and Ajdin come right back at them, taking rack two, and then B&H for two break and runs to lead 3-1. Hungary feeling a little pressure misses an opportunity in rack five, and Sanjin and Ajdin run out another rack to lead 4-1. A great safe gives Sanjin ball in hand, and he takes the next rack with an early combination on the nine. Bosnia & Herzegovina got to the hill leading 6-1, having won six in a row. The last rack is a repeat of the previous one as Sanjin and Ajdin win the match and move on to round two.
Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi and Mohannad Hamoud Alghumayz followed with their match against the host country’s B team of Jose Alberto Delgado and Jonas Souto Comino. Alberto and Jonas showed that the “B” designation should not fool anyone as they came to win, and they dominated the match, winning the first six games in a row. The Saudi team was able to dig deep and win rack seven. Show brilliant shot-making and terrific firepower, Spain B moves on to round two, winning 7-1.
Day three, session one of round one, started off with Syria taking on China. Wu Jiaqing and Wang Can got off to a slow start as Mohammad Soufi and Zaid Al Shariti took the first three racks before China was able to get a game on the wire. Once they got rolling, however, they became the force everyone expected them to be, winning the next seven games with great play and giving few opportunities to their opponents, and taking whatever came their way.
Duong Quoc Hoang, Nguyen Anh Tuan of Vietnam, and Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyousef and Bader Alawadi took center stage to battle out their first-round match. An early miss by Hoang on a tricky cut shot gave Kuwait a chance, but a missed bank on the eight-ball sets up Vietnam for the first win. They went on to win the next two games to lead 3-0. A missed cut on the eight by Vietnam gives Kuwait another opportunity, but they are unable to take advantage, and Hoang and Tuan lead 4-0. Even when they miss, Vietnam seemed to be the team with a favorable fate, and Kuwait just could not gain any traction to get going until rack six, where they finally took their first step out of the hole. They took the next rack, and then a miss by Tuan led to a third game on the wire for Kuwait, and they closed to within two games. Rack had Alawadi missing a routine kick and allowing Vietnam to get to the hill. Vietnam keeps control and takes the match 6-3.
Next up, we have Japan with Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka, mixing it up with Team Italy’s Daniele Corrieri and Francesco Candela. Japan takes rack one, and with some very smart play, they take rack two as well. The pressure was on the Italian team as with Oi leading Japan, they were the underdogs on paper. Oi and Yashioka kept the heat on as they played very well, and when Italy had opportunities, they could not make the most of them. Down 4-0, Italy makes a great bank shot to get into position to win their first rack and a four-nine combination to win their second they were down only
two games going into rack seven. A tricky miss on a three-ball lets Japan extend their lead to 5-2. Another tough miss on the six by Italy puts Japan on the hill leading 6-2. Francesco and team Italy fight back to cut the lead to 3, taking rack nine. A fortunate roll on a miss by Corrieri leads to a miss by Yoshioka, and Italy gets back another game trailing only by two games going into rack 11. A couple of nice jump shots by Oi and Yoshioka help get them some measure of control as they take down a tricky layout to win 7-4.
The evening session saw Team USA take on South Korea. Shane and Sky take rack one, but Kang Lee and Seo Seoa answer right back to take rack number two. Team USA took a 3-1 lead, and in rack five, it looked like South Korea would cut the lead back to one when Kang Lee had an unexpected miss on the six-ball, and SVB and Sky were off and running. Getting to the hill at 6-1, they gave few opportunities to Kang and Seo, and they, in turn, gave a few too many to their opponents. Despite the 7-1 score, it was fun to watch Seo Seoa compete in an event like this, and hopefully, we will begin to see it more often. This was the final match of round one.
Round two began with Poland taking on Albania. Rack one looked to be one for the Albanians, but a miss on the nine gave Poland the early lead. Rack two had a nice safety battle, and again it looked to favor Albania, but a missed eight-ball put the game in danger of a loss, and after a safety by Poland, Kaci, shooting from the rail double, hit the cue ball for a foul and ball-in-hand to Zielinkski. Leading 2-0, Wiktor missed a four-nine combination but did not leave anything easy for Albania. Kaci took a swing at it and got a little fortunate with the six-ball, and Albania ran out to get on the board. Team Albania went on to take racks four
and five to lead 3-2. Poland came back right away to tie it up at 3-3. Poland finished off the seventh rack to take the lead again. With Poland leading 5-3, Spahiu missed the two-ball, and Konrad and Wiktor moved to the hill at 6-3. A mistake by Poland gives some hope to Team Albania, but an unfortunate scratch gives it back to Poland, and they drill the nine ball to send Albania to the sidelines.
Austria and Bosnia & Herzegovina are the next battle in round two, and both teams come out firing aggressively and exchanging the first four racks tied 2-2 going into rack five. A missed six allows Austria to take a 3-2 lead. A good safe by Albin in rack six brought them their fourth win. B&H cuts the lead back to one game, but they can’t keep control of the table, and Austria takes the next game. Austria extends their lead to three games, and they get to the hill first. He sinks the last eight and Albin the final nine to win the set and match.
Day four and the Philippines, who have a very tough draw, face Spain B after already defeating Spain A in round one. Chua and Aranas take the first rack and the early lead. They went on to win three in a row before Spain stopped them in rack four. James and Johan, looking very solid, take two more racks to extend their lead to 5-1. Spain, who dominated their first match, try to stop the bleeding with a win in rack seven. The Philippines takes rack eight to lead 6-2, and then Aranas ends the match with a golden break as they move on to round three.
Our next round-two match was China versus Singapore. Misses still plagued the players as in the first rack, Can missed the nine-ball, but the miss was returned by Yapp, and Wu finally put it down for the win. With the score all even at two apiece, Yapp barely hung the one ball, and Wu hits an absolutely beautiful jump shot making the buried one-ball and coming back for shape on the three for Can. They take the rack to lead 3-2. A great kick-safe by
Yapp lets Singapore tie the score up once again. Even with a higher-than-normal number of misses, there was still plenty of great shot-making, especially in this match with Wu and Yapp, to keep the score close. At 4-4, Wu plays a great position shot from the six to the seven, and China once again goes on top 5-4. Sharik Sayed also contributed some fine shots, and Singapore evened the match once again at 5-5. Singapore takes advantage of an error from China to get to the hill and a one-game lead going into rack twelve. Wu Jiaqing is never out of a match, and China comes back to make it a hill-hill affair. A tough miss on the two for Singapore gives China the opportunity to run the final rack and move on to the next round.
Team Netherlands with The Terminator takes on the Ko Brothers of Chinese Taipei in round two. A safety shot that leaked out by Taipei gave Team Netherlands the opportunity to go in front 1-0. Niels has a scratch on the break, and with ball-in-hand Pin Yi and Ping Chung easily run out rack two. Another scratch in the third rack gives the Ko’s another win and the lead at 2-1. With Chinese Taipei leading 6-2 Little Ko drops two balls on the break and leaves an easy shot to get started. Big Ko drops the nine for the fifth game in a row and the final of the match.
Hoang and Tuan of Vietnam step into the box against Shaw and Sanderson of Great Britain. GB quickly grabbed the first two racks, but Vietnam followed up with a win in racks three, four, and five. In rack six, Tuan missed badly, and Sanderson played a great shot down the rail as Great Britain went on to win. The next game saw a kick by Shaw that left an opening, and Hoang dropped the shot, and Tuan followed with a combination on the nine for the win
and the lead. Shaw and Sanderson draw even again. Shaw scratches on the break in the next game and leaves an open table for Vietnam to retake the lead. Playing safe on the one in rack ten, Sanderson scratches in the corner to give Vietnam a chance to get on the hill. Down 6-4, Great Britain shows great heart to make it a hill-hill match. A missed safe sells out the rack to Great Britain, and Sanderson drops the winning nine-ball.
Joshua Filler leads Germany against Alex Pagulayan and Canda in the next round-two match. Great shots, fluke shots, and golden breaks start off this match, and we saw Germany leading 3-2 when Alex and John keep control and even things up at three all. Germany takes the lead again, but Canada will not fold, and they pull level again to 4-4. A missed position by Morra and a missed bank shot by Pagulayan allows Germany to steal the lead again. This puts Josh and Moritz on the hill. The final rack saw a smooth break and run for Germany to take it 7-4 and moved to the quarterfinals.
Team USA steps up to take on Oi and Team Japan. An early nine ball gives Japan the early lead as they take two in a row. SVB and Sky quickly right the ship and pull even at 2-2. A little back and forth through the middle of the match, and then Japan goes up by two games again at 5-3. Team USA fights back to get even once again at 5-5, but the momentum again shifts to Oi and Yoshioka, and they closed the match out at 7-5.
The quarterfinal matches started off with Chinese Taipei and the Philippines. Chua and Aranas came flying out of the gate to win the first six racks. The Ko brothers finally got on the board in rack seven after a miss by Aranas. Pin Yi and Ping Chung make a valiant run and get hill-hill with Aranas and Chua. Taipei breaks but does not have a good look and miss and turns the table back over to the Philippines, and with a beautiful run-out, they moved on to the semifinals 9-8.
Germany went up against Poland in their quarterfinal match. Poland showed their strong prowess by immediately taking control and going up 5-1. German got a bit of a break with a scratch by Poland in rack seven. Germany managed to win a couple of more racks before Poland got things back in their control to move to 7-4. But you can never count out a team with Joshua Filler, and Germany pulled even at 7-7 and then went on to get to the hill first. German moved on to the semis with a 9-7 win.
Great Britain and Austria faced off next. A misplayed two-way shot by Mario He gives GB a chance to take the first rack but a funny miss and foul by Shaw gives Austria a reprieve, and they get on the board first. Austria built up a 3-0 lead quickly on Great Britain before they could get a game on the wire. Albin looking like he is getting some rhythm, leads Austria to a three-game lead. Great Britain gets a game back, but a scratch on the break in the next rack allows Austria to clean up and get to 6-3. GB has another chance, but a hung 8-ball in the next rack moves Austria to a 7-3 advantage. Austria takes the next rack as well to get to the hill, but GB fights back and makes it 8-4. Great Britain plays aggressively and tries to make something happen, but Austria smoothly shuts the door on GB 9-4.
Japan coming off a bit of an upset over the USA, must try to get by China in their next match. China takes the first game, but a very uncharacteristic 9-ball miss by Wu in the second rack lets Japan tie it up and take the break. The team’s trade racks for the next few games, then with China leading 5-4, Japan lets the cue ball get a little loose, and with ball-in-hand, China moves out to a two-game lead. Japan, however, would not go away and pulled within one. A great jump shot by Japan was followed up by a missed shot, and China moved back to the Continued on Page
SPM Media’s market penetration includes the professional billiards community throughout the world on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and of course www.sneakypetemafia. com. On average SPM Media has a combined reach of over 290,000 unique readers Monthly. We have the two Facebooks: Sneaky Pete Mafia Page, and the Sneaky Pete Mafia Family that you must join and become a member we have 12.7k memebers and growing daily.
SPM Media, previously SPM Magazine, has transformed the Billiards Industry as a whole bringing a professional yet flashy images and focusing on celebrating, lifting up, and most importantly, Getting the stories on professional and Junior players, product reviews, companies, and locations. With a new, and ever updating website, you can expect your advertisement to be exactly where you want it, linking to your site, or product ensuring the most value. The Digital Magazine is going through some very interesting and unique changes, with plenty of space to advertise your product, service, or location, you can even use a video ad now!*
Here’s what some advertisers have to say about ADVERTISING with SPM Billiards Media:
“I own a printing business and service customers all over North America. I advertised my banners in Sneaky Pete Mafia for 6 months and was very pleased with the level of service that I received from Garrett and his team. I also was able to gain customers as a result of my advertising. I would highly recommend him and SPM for your advertising needs!” - Louie Campbell, owner Campbell’s Printing Service (
“I love what SPM has done to help elevate the sport for pool players and enthusiasts, keep up the good work, you’re making a difference!” Alberto Trujillo, Fort Worth Billiards https://www.facebook.com/ftworthbilliards/
Trim Size : 8.25” Wide X 11.00” High
An Advertising Agreement is included with this kit for your convenience. Signed agreements must be faxed or mailed to our offic before being eligible for Agreement rates.
PRODUCTION COSTS Text and graphics layout, photography, match prints, etc., are charged at competitive market prices. Quotes available upon request.
or high-resolution {300 dpi} JPGs/TIFs/EPS/AI or In-Design. Please include all fonts and graphics. Email to MarketingDirector@SneakyPeteMafia.com. You can send larger size via YouSendit.com or Dropbox.com for free in order to bypass email size limitations.
STANDARD COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE: We cannot use home software, such as Print Master, graphics in MSWord, etc. Send all fonts & graphics with your ad or embedded in the PDFs. Text files: MS Word for Macintosh or Windows. Other word processor files accepted: Save as . rtf {Rich Text Format}.
Keep “live material” {everything other than background} a minimum of 1/4 or .25 inch {.635 cm} inside the trim size unless your design/graphic should bleed/trim.
COPY REGULATIONS: Sneaky Pete Mafia Magazine reserves the right to decline or reject any advertisement for any reason at any time without liability even though previously acknowledged and accepted.
PLEASE NOTE: The advertiser and the advertising agency assume liability, jointly and severally, for all content {including text representations and illustrations} of advertisements printed, and also assume responsibility for any claims arising therefrom made against Sneaky Pete Mafia Magazine. The advertiser and the advertising agency agree, jointly and severally, to indemnify and hold Sneaky Pete Mafia Magazine harmless from all costs, expenses {including reasonable attorneys’ fees}, liabilities and damages arising in any way from publication of any advertisement placed by the advertiser or the advertising agency.
Let the SPM Media Production Team take care of all of your advertising production needs for an additional fee! We offer an inexpensive and competitive monthly service fee for your businesses production needs or you can pay for each production service al-la-carte at an extremely competitive rate.
table. China gets to the hill first and then follows with the match game to win 9-5. The semifinal matches were Austria v Philippines and China v Germany. Austria fought with the Philippines and was leading the match 3-2 when Chua and Aranas stepped it up and went on to win four games in a row. At 7-4, Chua flukes a safe and leaves Austria in a horrible spot which leads to a ball-in-hand situation for Aranas. This put the Philippines on the hill at 8-4. Austria makes a wonderful comeback winning four games in a row to get hill-hill. Mario, scratches on the break, and the team from the Philippines move on to the finals.
Germany took rack one against China, but Wu and Can quickly won the next two games. At 3-2, China made an early 9-ball to extend their lead, but a missed two ball in the next rack turned control back over to Germany. Defensive shots helped Germany keep China close, and they were finally able to tie the match at 5-5. China showed they have a few defensive shots in their arsenal, and they were able to keep Germany from being able to regain their early lead. China missed their chance to get to eight games and the hill by hanging the nine-ball, and Germany pulled within one game. Germany kicked into a new gear and pulled themselves up the hill first to lead 8-7. A nearly missed four-ball teased the crowd, but it dropped, and Germany put themselves into the finals against the team from the Philippines.
The finals upped the ante with a race to 11, and both teams were looking to take home the gold. Aranas and Chua looked very strong as they won the first rack and put Germany on the defensive right off the bat. Coming up a little short on the nine led to a miss by Chua, leaving a very long shot for Germany. Neuhausen drills it to make the match one game apiece. Taking the lead at 2-1, Filler missed a routine two-ball, and Chua and Aranas were right back in it. The Philippines went on to win the next seven games before Germany could get one back. Trailing 9-4, Germany breaks and runs two racks to cut the lead to 9-6. Rack sixteen gave the Filipinos their first look in a few racks and but they were kicking, and Germany kept the advantage draw closer at 9-7. Chua flukes in an 8-ball while kicking in the next rack, but it gives some momentum back as Aranas drills a great two-ball shot, and they get to the hill. Breaking in rack eighteen, Chua and Aranas have a bit of a tricky pattern to get out, but they play it as well as anyone could, and they are the 2023 World Cup Champions!
This was a great event, and one aspect that I liked is that while, in general, no one questions the Filipino player’s skills, with most talk recently around Gorst, Filler, and FSR, it was nice to have a subtle reminder that even a team without Orcullo, Bustamante or Biado, can still match up and win with the best players in the world. Congratulations to James Aranas and Johan Chua for their victory and to Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen for a great run. Once again, Matchroom has put together a great presentation of the players and the game of nine-ball for the world to get another look into the window of our world.
Shane Van Boeing and Skyler Woodward below Mohammad Soufi
Mika Immonen below Ko Pin Yi at the World Cup of Pool
By Brian Pauley
Pool is a sport that all ages can enjoy. You have people that start playing very young, while others don’t pick up a cue until later in life. The Allen Hopkins Super Billiards Expo proves this. On one table, there could be two juniors playing a tournament match, and the next table has two senior players playing a match. That aspect makes our sport as good as we know it to be. Our sport, just like others, encounters innovation. Over the last ten years, we have seen so much innovation in cues that sometimes it’s tough to keep up. Some innovations are just gimmicks and fizzle off. Some innovations, however, make an impact and stand the test of time. One such innovation in the pool world is the Marty Carey Jump Cue. The Marty Carey Jump Cue is the most famous jump cue designed for close jumps. The design and technology of the cue allows players to get the cue ball up very quickly. Even gaps of a chalk cube or less can be cleared with the right technique. This cue is used by many professional artistic pool players as there are some close jumps in the current artistic pool program. In the hands of the right people, the cue ball can do so magic. In the hands of “The Bloodshark” Theo Mihellis, it’s a World Record. Theo Mihellis uses the Marty Carey Jump Cue in competition and is the current Guinness World Record holder of the highest jump pot of a billiard ball at 31 inches! Theo jumped over a bar 31 inches off the table and pocketed the ball. Thanks to a commercial on ESPN, Marty’s cue is the most well-known short-distance jump cue.
Aside from creating the Marty Carey jump cue, Marty competed in many pro-ranking artistic pool tournaments. Marty was always in the mix and always did well in the jump discipline. Marty does have one world discipline title to his name in the 2018 World Follow title. Marty retired from active competition after the 2019 World Artistic Pool Championship after many years on the road for events. All of his accomplishments over the years in pool earned him enshrinement into the New England Pool and Billiards Hall of Fame. I got the opportunity to interview “The Farmer” himself who competed well into his 60s.
How were you first introduced to pool?
My older brother and his friends (High Schoolers) would go to the poolroom every day after school. I wanted to go with them but was only 13 years old in 1965 and not allowed inside. The owner told my brother if I got a note from my father, he’d allow me in. So, I conveniently wrote my own note, signed my father’s name and Bingo...I was allowed in!!!
What got you into Artistic Pool?
I idolized Norm Webber, who was a well-known champion in New England doing trick shots. I went to a few of his shows, which stuck with me for years. In 2010 I retired from work and decided to give trick shots a try and joined the tour.
Everyone in Artistic Pool has a nickname. How/where did you get yours?
The nickname “Farmer” came from Norm Webber, who was the original Farmer. I asked him if I could use that name myself because he knew I grew things, and the name fit perfectly.
How did you start doing a trick-shot show? What is your favorite part of doing shows?
I started doing shows to challenge myself with all the different shots, but also I enjoyed the showmanship it involved. Very satisfying!
What are some of your favorite trick shots to perform and why?
Two of my favorite shots are “just showing off” and “the window shot.” Always ended my shows with “just showing off.”
How did the Marty Carey Jump Cue come to be?
The Jump cue evolved in 2013 at a UTS Masters event in Philadelphia when I matched up against Andy Seagal, and he did the high bar jump shot. Well, I stepped to the table with a standard jump cue and didn’t know how I was ever going to elevate the cueball up and over the 13” rack and make the 8-ball in the corner. Well, it didn’t happen, and Andy Sigel asked me why I didn’t have a Dr. Popper for that shot. At that time, I had never heard of it. It was the only jump cue around for those types of jumps. I had some ideas to improve on the design, so I decided to build one for myself. After using it for the first time at an event, Abram Diaz and several others asked me to build them one too. After that, it just took off like wildfire.
Your cue was advertised during ESPN’s Trick Shot Magic. How did that happen, and what was the result from that?
I was approached by Frank Del Pizzo about being a sponsor for Trick Shot Magic because he heard about my jump cue being in such high demand. He offered me a 2-minute spot for three straight weeks before Christmas for $8500! He claimed my target audience would be USA and Canada, of 1-2 million viewers. My first reaction was I’d never get that money back because it was so expensive. Well, after the video came out, I had so many calls every day that I couldn’t keep up, so I hired an answering service out of Seattle. Everyday I’d get a list of all the numbers who had called in. My first thought was that they were going to ask all kinds of different questions about the cue etc. But after returning a couple of calls, they were all sales! Every one of them would offer their credit card numbers! I got ALL my money back in 6 weeks, and from then on, it was crazy notoriety everywhere I went. The mileage I got from that sponsorship went on for years to come.
Could you have imagined the success of the cue when you first started?
Absolutely not! I only built that jump cue for me to use in trick shots but it took off like mad and I had to learn how to handle all the demands that came with it.
You and your cue are staples at billiards expos. What are some of the most common stories from people who have never seen your cue and then jumping
with it?
Watching the persons jaw drop after seeing how easy and close I could jump with it. Then within 3 minutes the person would do it themselves which usually ended up a sale.
What is your favorite accomplishment from competing in Artistic Pool?
My greatest achievement from trick shots came from winning the Classic Cup VII in Lake City, Florida, in 2013 against three other finalists; Mark Dimick, Mike Massey, and Steve Markle. I made 9 out of 10 shots on the first attempt in the finals to mathematically close them out! Also, in 2013 I got inducted into the New England Pool and Billiards Hall of Fame!
Being in a Hall of Fame is a big deal. How did this come to be?
Tom Mcgonagle contacted me in California and offered the induction to me but said there was one stipulation. I had to make an appearance dressed in my tournament attire, vest and all, and prepare a speech.
Who were some of the pool players that you looked up to? Both regular pool and Artistic Pool.
Regular pool I idolized Allen Hopkins and trick shots I idolized Norm Webber, and later on Mike Massey, of course!
What is your favorite regular pool game to play and why?
My favorite pool game has always been 9-ball because it’s fast and I liked the format. I first learned pool playing rotation, bottle pool and straight pool. My high run is 87.
What is your least favorite regular pool game to play, and why?
That’s easy. I never liked 8-ball because I was a runout player. I would run all my balls and not have a shot on the 8-ball, which usually resulted in a loss. Also, 1-pocket is too slow a pace for me, I wanna shoot balls in the pocket!
If you could play any player, living or deceased, in any game, who would that be?
SVB in 9 ball because he is the best of them all.
Where do you see the future of the Marty Carey Jump Cue?
The future of my jump cue is coming to an end. My physical and mental stability has declined noticeably over the last ten years, and I’m not able to keep up with the scheduling, building hundreds of cues a year, and the grueling 10 hours a day for ten straight days of trade shows. I NEVER intended to have a business with it, but because it took off so well, I had all I could do to keep up with the sales. People would send me money into my account, and I always felt obligated to fulfill their wishes. In fact, the year I went on ESPN with it was my biggest year,
88k! With a minimum of 3 shows a year for ten straight years, I attended over 30 shows and never lost money on any shows. It was always profitable.
By Garret Troop
Choosing the right shaft for you can be an overwhelming challenge in the world of shafts. Some people are dead set on a none laminated straight wood-to-wood shaft. These are the traditionalist, and they play a lot by feel. There are so many shafts to choose from, and it is mind-boggling.
The Carbon craze hit hard, and many companies have taken the next step and are making these shafts. Many people on either side of the border love or hate them. Jacoby is always on the cutting edge and is always trying to improve what they have for the best playing experience.
They completely redesigned their existing shafts and now created the V4 Black shaft. This shaft is different in almost every way imaginable. They reduced the end mass, creating an even more Low Deflection shaft than they already had. The acoustics of the shaft are greatly different, and you don’t get that “ting” when you hit the balls or the table with it. That’s a big selling point. “See Video” The fine line of carbon was many people didn’t like how stiff they were, and Jacoby found the happy Medium where the amount of flex matches the necessary amount to control the cue ball.
The more you play, the more you play by feel and performance. It doesn’t feel like a carbon shaft. You get instant feedback when you hit the cue ball. That’s ultimately, what you want when playing with any shaft on the market is to feel what you have done right or wrong in your stroke. “This shaft is a game changer.”
These shafts are made right here in the heart of the cue-building country in the middle of Wisconsin. Everything is assembled in the shop and goes through rigorous R&D to get the exact same outcome every time. So many steps are involved in creating these shafts; people take that for granted when they pick it up off the shelf. It’s a consistent way that they create each and every shaft with a lot of care about what goes into it.
They make these shafts in an array of anything you need. From every joint, you can imagine a variety of tip sizes. It is available in 11.80mm, 12.4mm, and 12.75mm. These shafts retail for $475, and the amount of worth that goes into them is incredible.
This shaft retails for $475 and is a very hot item!
The deflection of this shaft can match any other Carbon out there. It’s just enough for you to swerve the ball without losing control. Where you aim is where you hit. This is literally the best shaft I have ever played with, and I feel that once it gets out there, it will have many wooden traditionalists out there making a move to carbon. I have been playing with this shaft for the last six months and feel that when you pick it up, you will feel an immediate difference in your ability to feel the shots you take.
This shaft has a very crisp hit and feel to it. I love the instant feedback you get. With a wooden shaft, the hit has many different Variables: The Pin, The Tip, and The Ferrule. You can buy these shafts from many different retailers in stock at the shop. https://www.jacobycustomcues.com/black_shafts.html
This shaft gets the SPM Seal of Approval.
Iwould like to tell you all about one of my favorite events that I just attended last weekend. The Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament and Juniors for Larry Gayle is a clinic to offer Junior players of all ages and skill levels a chance to play and grow in the sport. Before I talk about either of the events, I’d like to tell you a little about Larry Gayle himself. After all, he is the man that inspired a whole community. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to become acquainted with Larry during my early years and gain knowledge from his teachings and mentorship. Larry played pool for over 50 years, and not only was he a top player in the Southeast, but he also deeply loved the game and its community. He was also known to be quite the talker. It didn’t matter even if Larry was in an important match, and he always had time to chat. He was as friendly of a pool player you’ve ever met!
Larry was a family man who loved his daughter, but he also loved all kids too. Especially the kids that like to play pool. Larry wanted to see pool grow, and he was always vocal about wanting to see more kids learning to play pool. In Larry’s time, most pool halls still allowed
smoking and were not kid-friendly. Gayle just wanted to see more kids in the pool halls. He believed that the smoke prevented them from coming in more. I recall him mentioning his desire to encourage more young people to develop a passion for the sport and start learning it early.
The Larry Gayle Memorial tournament and Junior’s for Larry Gayle was held at Qball Beaches at 1226 Beach Blvd in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The owners of Qball Beaches were highly accommodating for the event, and the Qball team worked around the clock all weekend to ensure a smooth and successful weekend despite having just opened a few months ago! They even spent the first day of the Junior’s event hanging a mirror wrap on the front windows to prepare for the event. The Qball team deserves a massive shout-out for helping to create such a magical event!
One of the most important aspects of keeping the USA relevant in the World pool stage is training and teaching our upcoming players. I’m a huge fan of seeing juniors with the passion and devotion to putting in the work it takes to master the game we all love.
For the second year in a row, Jeremy “Double J” Jones and Joey Gray have taught an outstanding Junior Clinic starting two days before the start of the Memorial tournament. My son Thomas has had the privilege to attend both clinics, and my only complaint is how tough he is to keep up with after the event has ended! Watching the juniors improve leaps and bounds in three days is truly inspiring. It’s unsurprising, considering the Mosconi Cup
Captain and Vice-Captain are coaching them.
Double J was kind enough to talk to me after the event. Mr. Jones knew Larry Gayle very well! Jeremy lived in the area briefly in the early 2000s, and he told me that he initially met Larry through another of our local legends, Harley Bryan, who happened to be in attendance this weekend. When I asked Jeremy why he would go through so much trouble to help the local kids each year, he said he knew Larry’s stance on juniors, and he felt it was the perfect way to honor Mr. Gayle. Jeremy said that since he started playing pool at 17, he missed out on playing in the big events for Junior’s but that didn’t stop him from watching and taking inspiration from respectable Junior players of his time, such as Shane McMinn and Michael Coltrain. Jeremy said he had wanted to help attribute to junior players after taking inspiration so many years ago. Jeremy also commented about how he associates the Jacksonville pool scene with its feeling of being a part of a big family spread out amongst several pool halls. Having
attended both the clinic and the tournament, I can attest that Marianne Raulerson and the staff of MT Productions (Marianne’s Tournaments) is largely responsible for the magic behind the Larry Gayle Memorial.
On Saturday the 22nd, they held a BEF Jr. Nationals qualifier at Beaches QBall on 7ft Diamond tables in the middle of the room while the Open tournament was played on the 8 ft Diamond around the outer edges of the room. The Junior’s qualifier had some action-packed and dramatic moments, and in the end, Roman Boone and Aidan Rigsby qualified for BEF Junior nationals. Mercedes Supply and the Dunnski Dungeon both provided contributions and sponsored a Junior entry into the event.
In Honor of Larry Gayle
The Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament held at Beaches QBall hosted a large field full of monsters. If you’re a fan of top-tier pool, then you would’ve really loved the experience that this event offers! At any given point, it felt like you could look anywhere in the room and be watching a break and run in progress! That’s one of the many reasons that I love attending big events like this. There were so many memorable moments throughout the weekend that I couldn’t possibly name them all. The event really brings out a passion amongst players, and that’s how we really grow the game.
I remember warming up early Saturday morning with a drill that helps me to dial into a table and adjust to its speed when Mike Delawder came up and joined me in rotation. He pulled his cue out completely cold and hit the shot well over 25 times before getting out of line. As he grabbed the cue ball and started to reset the drill, he asks me, “You think I could hit this shot 100 times?” We didn’t have enough time to get to 100, but I bet he could! Next thing you know, Jordan Burden and Dominic Dunn joined us as we all shared tough drills and challenged each other with tough shots and crazy banks. My favorite part about these big events is to see how passionately players can come together.
Once again, Josh “the beast” Roberts has snapped the tournament off, managing to best Runner Paul Song twice to take this year’s title. Trenton White took third after playing an incredible tournament! One of my favorite parts of the event was watching Trenton White battle with BJ Ussery. Their first match ran hill-hill, and after Trenton made an unfortunate mistake BJ closed out the set. Their second set also turned into a frantic setting, but Trenton came out on top this time.
1. Josh Roberts
2. 2. Paul Song
3. Trenton White
4. Lee Heuwagen
5. 5-6. David Grossman
6. 5-6. Shannon Fitch
7. 7-8. Nick Applebee
8. 7-8. BJ Ussery Jr
9. 9-12. Kristian Dimitrov
10. 9-12. Billy Burke
11. 9-12. Jesse Link
12. 9-12. Jeremy Jones
13. 13-16. Adam Poole
14. 13-16. Gregory Pugh
15. 13-16. Jack Smith
16. 13-16. Mike Delawder
17. 17-24. Thomas Swain
18. 17-24. Aidan Rigsby
19. 17-24. Matt Deweesee
20. 17-24. Clayte Davis
21. 17-24. Jason Wells
22. 17-24. Kyle Smith
23. 17-24. Wayne Kelly
24. 17-24. Johnathan Stafford
Late Friday night, one of our local staples, Tim Bob, who runs the Facebook page The Jacksonville Voice of Pool, was involved in a tragic incident that landed him in the hospital early Saturday morning. While in the hospital, Tim Lee kept the community updated on Facebook, and by Sunday morning, he was back in the commentator’s booth, fulfilling a longtime dream of commentating next to his Commentating idol Jeremy Jones.
A word from Marianne Raulerson from MT Productions
Kat Day the Editor in Chief of SPM Billiards Magazine reached out to Marianne to ask about the event and I cannot express enough how special the Larry Gayle Memorial Tournament is to Marianne.
“This event is more than a tournament, it holds a very special place in my heart. I don’t really know what I would say that could be good enough for Larry. t’s just how I feel. Larry loved pool and he loved teaching kids about life and the game he loved” stated Marianne Raulerson of MT Productions! “
Marianne Raulerson, Aidan Rigsby with his grandparents
Hi Frank, tell me a little about your pool background…where do you live, when did you get started, how much do you play, skill level, etc.
I live in Philadelphia, PA. I started playing pool competitively at the age of 17, and I began playing in the APA at 21 years old. I have been playing in the APA for 22 years, and I am currently the League Manager of the Philadelphia APA - Home of the 2022 APA World Champion 9-Ball Team: #LepLife I am a skill level 7/9 in 8-Ball & 9-Ball. I play probably 3-4 days a week.
• You say your whole family plays?
Yes, My father, Anthony SL3, My mother Dee SL2, My sister Andee SL2, My Wife Mindy SL6, My cousin Jason SL5, and my Uncle Fritz SL4 all have played or currently play on the same team with me.
• Biggest pool influences?
My local pool influence was a man named Kenny Carfagno, a fantastic shooter; he taught me the etiquette of the game and how to move the cue and positional play. My favorite pro influence is Thorsten Hohmann. I could watch videos of him for hours. The way he approaches the table, mental aspect; it’s just all perfect to me. I have also become a very big fan of Lukas Fracasso-Verner. He has been coming to some of my tournaments, and I have been just watching and learning from afar from him. Just watching him, I believe, has helped me gain a ball in speed.
• How did your idea of forming PA Pro-Am get started?
PA Pro-Am was formed out of spite, I guess you could say. I had gone to a tournament in PA. It was a cheaper tournament, a $60 buy-in with a $10 greens fee included. So $50 in the pot per person, or so we were led to believe. In actuality it was a $10 greens fee and a $15 tournament director fee. I won the tournament and made less money than the tournament director, which really annoyed me at the time. So I spoke with a few people and created my own tournament in December of 2022, a 9-Ball Open. It was a huge success. I ran a 10ball Open in January of 2023 and I had several pro-players from the NYC area attend: Bean Hung, Caroline Pao, Jimmy Rivera all attended. I knew then I was on to something and thus began the roots for PA Pro-Am. The PA is actually a double entendre. We are based out of Pennsylvania, so PA for the abbreviation of the state, but the actual letters stand for Perfect Alignment, so Perfect Alignment Pro-Am Pool was born in Feb 2023.
• Tell me how it works - Handicapping? Fargo? Where do players come from?
All of our tournaments are even races. We do however occasionally run skill level capped Fargo tournaments: 599 & Under, 499 & under. We have also run very successful women’s tournaments and open doubles. We do report the matches to Fargo. Our players have been coming from all over. Our 599 & under tournament had players from 13 different states and 1 player from Canada. We are very open to running tournaments that our players want. Ultimately, the players are who makes your tournaments so we are glad to run tournaments they are happy with.
• What are your tournament dates and who can participate? Entry and green fees? Dress code?
We are kicking off our 1st annual set of Pennsylvania State Championships starting Sept 16th with the ladies 9-Ball in collaboration with the JPNEWT (A WPBA qualifier event). These State Championships will run over the course of 4 months until the end of the year. Our future State Championship dates are
Oct 7th - Open 9-ball
Oct 21st - Open 8-ball
Oct 28th - Women’s 8-ball in collaboration with the JPNEWT (Also a WPBA Qualifier event)
Nov 11th - Open 10-ball
Dec 9th - Juniors - 14u & 18U
Dec 16th - One Pocket
The winners of each of these events will receive the new highly coveted Pennsylvania State Championship belt provided by our esteemed sponsor TrophySmack.com
Our open events are $120 buy-ins
Our women’s events are tiered entry
Our Junior events are $70
Yes, we do have a posted dress code for the PA State Championships. I believe a professional atmosphere at our events is what makes us rise above everyone else.
• Who do you sponsor?
We currently sponsor 2 fantastic and wonderful ladies. Our first sponsored player is the amazing Briana “Beast Mode” Miller. Briana is a wonderful 28-year-old woman from the Allentown, PA area. She is the current director of her own tour, also the JPNEWT (Joe Pechauer Northeast Women’s Tour).
Her accolades are:
7X BEF Junior National Champion
4X ACUI Collegiate National Champion
3X Super Billiards Expo Women’s Amateur 9-ball Champion (2010, 2015, 2016)
Our 2nd sponsored player is the super talented young Skylar “Ice Princess” Hess. She is a 14 year old incredibly awesome junior player. She is a 2x National Junior Champion.
We are super proud to support these young ladies and to have them represent our brand.
• Future tournament plans
Our future plans are to make these Pennsylvania State Championships an event that pool players from all over, circle on their calendar each year. I would really like to partner with Predator or Matchroom in the future and run a full multiple day pro event in the Philadelphia area. I think that would be an amazing event.
• What challenges have you had to overcome to get where you are?
Some of the challenges I had to overcome is being the “new kid on the block” Having run very large APA tournaments over the years (I currently help produce and run the 3rd largest amateur pool tournament outside of Vegas in the world) sort of prepared me for running my own events, but there were still little hiccups along the way. The other issue is jealous TD’s from the area. One of my best friends and my current tour sponsor Kevin Stier from Integrity Cues, his best advice he ever gave me was “Stay the course”. He said if other TD’s are mimicking what you are doing or trying to poach players, then you are doing something right. And that is what we did, we stayed the course and I think we have become super successful because of it.
• Sponsors of your tour?
We are incredibly proud to be sponsored and associated with such a great group of people and companies who share our vision they are:
Integrity Cues (Integritycues.com)
Kamui Tips (kamuitips.com)
TrophySmack (trophysmack.com/paproam)
In The Box Sportswear (Inthebx.net)
Salotto (salotto.app)
JPNEWT (JPNEWT.com)
And our amazing venue Bluegrass Billiards has over 50 tables with incredible food and drinks and are open 365 days a year.
• What is your most memorable pool moment?
I have two
My 1st memorable pool moment involved my beautiful wife Mindy. Sept 4th, 2022 was our wedding day. Two months prior, Mindy and I both played in tournaments in the same weekend at a local bar. The tournaments and player auctions at this bar get crazy high dollar
amounts. I won the open tournament on Friday night and Mindy won the ladies tournament the following night. We paid off 90% of our wedding in 1 weekend of playing pool.
My 2nd memorable pool moment was being the 1st player inducted into the APA Philadelphia Hall of Fame. While it might not be as prestigious as winning a US Open or a Mosconi Cup, the Hall of Fame was a voting process by the players in the League. And being voted as one of the best they have ever played against was truly an honor and something I will never forget.
• What goals do you have for your future, in or out of pool?
My future goal is to grow Pa Pro-Am Pool into a major US touring series that attracts top end players from all over the country.
• Anything else you want to add?
We are players who want to grow the pool community and give back as much as we can to a sport that has given so much to us. Players interested in playing or companies wishing to sponsor our tour can reach me at frankm@paproampool.com.
By Mark White
In 1975 there was one of the most famous battles of all time that took place in the Araneta Coliseum in a boxing ring measuring 16 feet by 16 feet square. It was billed as the ‘Thriller in Manila’ between two of the greatest boxers of all time, Muhammed Ali and Smokin Joe Frazier.
Fast forward to the present, and some of the best pool players in the world went toe to toe, cue to cue, just over 2 miles from the Araneta arena in the ‘Great White Arena’ at Sharks Billiards on Tomas Morata Avenue in a ‘Ring’ of similar size to that of the boxing ring used 48 years ago. It was another new addition to the ever-growing Matchroom wnt (World nineball tour), the brainchild of another ‘Smokin hot’ Frazier, Emily.
128 players from 20 different countries descended on the Mecca of pool in Quezon
City.
68 of those were Filipinos, who the majority of pool fans outside the Philippines will have never heard of, including myself. The reasons for this are usually the difficulty of obtaining a visa and the cost of travel; unless you have a wealthy sponsor willing to put their hand in their pocket to enable you to put balls in their pockets, the chances of seeing these hidden shining stars talents anywhere outside their home country are as rare as a total eclipse on the sun. There were some well-known Filipino players on show, such as 2021 US Open champion Carlo Biado, Hall of Famer and multi-world champion Dennis ‘Robocop’ Orcollo, Jeffrey ‘The Bull’ De Luna, and his lesser-known Brother Jack ‘The Bulldozer’ De Luna, who knew Jeff had a Brother who played? World Cup of Pool champions Johan Chua and James Aranas were in the
‘The Dragon’ Raga, who is rarely seen outside of Asia.
Out of the 68 Filipinos that started, 50 of them reached the last 64, 13 of them were in the last 16, and 3 of the four semi-finalists were from the host nation, but none of the above reached the quarter-finals, all beaten by players most of us have never heard of, such is the abundance of quality pool players in the country which just seems to keep churning out incredible players, why is that do you think? Could it be that they see it as a way out of poverty, a chance to travel if they are lucky enough to find sponsors? It could just be the Efren effect, he is idolized here, and it’s no surprise either that another great sporting legend and multiple world champion lives here in Manila also, Manny Pacquiao; he loves his pool and even has an annual tournament that he not only sponsors plays in, he is well known here also for supporting the disadvantaged and homeless with his
charities and house building projects. The Filipinos are a calm, caring, mildmannered nation, 25% of the world’s nurses, medical staff, and carers are Filipino, but get them in any kind of arena, and you will see a different side to them, fierce competitors who will fight until their last breath.
Other top names from outside the Philippines that made their way to the inaugural Sharks Open included Fedor Gorst, Aloysius Yapp, Vietnam’s number 1 Duong Quoc Hoang, the Japanese Joker Naoyuki Oi made the short trip from Tokyo, World 8 ball champion Chang Junglin and all 3 Ko pin-up boys were in town, also, something I have noticed about the Taiwanese trio is you rarely see a fan ask for a selfie with just one of them, I guess you could call it a ‘Selfthree,’ they come as a ‘Pin Package,’ three for the price of one, always smiling, always the most polite people you will see at a tournament, and ready to give you a piece of their time. It must be so nice
tournament, plus Roland Garcia and veterans Lee Van Corteza and Warren Kiamco, Antontraveling around with your Brothers playing a sport you love, two world champions already and a third for sure in the future.
The Ko dynasty started with their Father, Ko Chi Ming. He owned a pool room, it had eight tables, and he was Pin Yi’s coach. He would often take his eldest son to as many pool halls as he could, as he wanted the future ‘Prince of Pool’ to get as much experience against better players as possible. Not a bad idea if you want to grow your game. No point in just beating up on players you beat every time with ease; sound advice for those of you reading this who are looking to advance your game. Just a word about Ko Pin Yi’s nickname, Corey Duell has had that Monika for some time, so I have been trying to come up with a more fitting, not already taken name for the eldest KO Bro, and I came up with ‘King Kobra,’ when I first told Pin Yi he proceeded to lower his t-shirt to reveal a tattoo of a Cobra snake on his back, it was kind of spooky, and I am trying to convince him to change his nickname.
Ko Pin Yi took over as Chung’s coach as the role was passed down from Father to son and now from Pin to Chung; when will Chung take over the job of mentor to baby Ko?
His Father recently sold his pool room, but now the Brothers have a practice room in a friend’s
building with a 9 ft Rasson OX, a Diamond, and a Rasson Chinese 8 ball table, and taking pride of the place is the actual table that was used for the Amway Cup Final in 2018 won by Siming Chen. An interesting fact about Rasson tables, they are made in a city called Chiang Shi, and it’s where the slate mines are, which they use in the manufacture of all Rasson tables. If you notice, the slate on Rasson tables is usually thicker than most other table manufacturers use, probably because the transportation is so expensive to transport. It’s a case of bringing Mohammed to the mountain, which saves on cost.
There was a total prize fund of 100,000 US Dollars up for grabs, 5.5 million Philippine Pesos. 30,000 to the champion, 15,000 to the runner-up, 7,500 to 3rd and 4th, and paid down to the last 32.
The entry fee was just $10, and it was double elimination to the last 64.
1st round was a race to 7
Last 64 race to 9
Last 32 race to 11
Last 8 race to 13
Semi Final race to 15
Final race to 17
The format was 9 ball on the spot
Break from the box with a 3-point rule
Alternate break
Three foul rule
Golden break
30-second shot clock with only a 10-second extension, one per rack each.
The tables were all the same; Rasson ‘Accur’s,’ made specifically for the Asian market, one of the title sponsors was Andy cloth, it was the shark grey colored cloth in line with Matchroom events, the balls were the Aramith black, and the pockets were approximately 4.25 inches. The great white arena is the second one of its kind. The ‘Tiger Arena’ is just two blocks away
from its newer addition which opened just a few months ago. The latest arena is enclosed in glass and sunk below the other six identical Rasson tables, it’s not a huge venue, but
The Great White Arena in Sharks
there is plenty of cueing room around all the tables and seating around the perimeter, and screens are spread around the room like video walls as the main function of the ‘Pool pit,’ my words not Sharks, well come on, pool is like a religion here, where was I? Oh yes, the main purpose of the ‘Great White’ Arena is gambling. They have various challenge matches going on 24/7, and there is a designated stream channel called ‘Lucky Break’ where you can bet on every rack. Three players will usually participate in a race to 30 racks operating a winner stays on format, the first to 30 wins 20,000PHP, 2nd gets 10,000, and 3rd place gets 5,000PHP.
The reason I am mentioning this in the middle of an article on the Sharks International 9 ball open is to make a point, don’t get me wrong, the pool room is amazing, all new and purpose-built, V.I.P. rooms overlook the main room, completely soundproof just like the glass arena itself, you can even sing karaoke as loud as you want and you wouldn’t disturb the players below.
It is an upmarket place; it will cost you 250 Pesos for an hour to play, that’s roughly 4 dollars 50, more than most other places, but you get what you pay for. It seems like a good time to mention that they also have another pool room called ‘Hard Times,’ about a 5-minute walk from Sharks, much more lively, and it seems anyone not gambling in the glass box is here. You will see all the top guys playing. I found a game and was beaten badly by someone who wouldn’t stand a chance against the lowest-rated player in the tournament a few blocks away.
Ko Ping Chung (Not a spelling mistake) Yes, I know, they are all Ko Pin; why then is Chung known as Ko ‘Ping’ Chung? It’s simple, really, and a mistake, a spelling error by Chinese Taipei immigration, so after Ping sent Naoyuki Oi packing back to the land of the rising sun, he took on ‘Devil boy’ Patric Gonzales in the semi, he was the only non-Filipino left in the tournament but played near perfect as Patric made 3 or 4 costly errors and key
moments and middle Ko was through to the final, but which Filipino would he play? Oliver Villafuerte has a huge reputation amongst a lot of the top players in the world. He has played 15 challenge matches against level with 800 and above fargo rated players and won 10 of them; he is known as Coy Coy, but for some reason that no one can explain, he has recently changed his nickname to ‘Batman,’ well he did get off to a flying start but Michael Feliciano, ‘Agent 44’ who is named after a James Bond type character in Filipino movies as he apparently has the same moves and mannerisms of the actor that plays him.
After Batman looked like he was going to run away with the match at 8-4, Feliciano found some form after Oliver had a mini meltdown, and Michael ended up winning yet another Thriller in Manila to set up the race to 17 final against Ko Ping Chung.
It was the final I had hoped for out of the last four remaining players purely from a viewership point of view; a Filipino against a player from Chinese Taipei would draw an audience from 2 huge pool-loving nations, and they were treated to a final thriller in Manila, Mohammed Ali had given his fight against Joe Frazier that title back in 1975 when he wrote a poem, which he did about most of his opponents, he wrote;
It turned out to be just that, and after 30 racks, the 27-year-old Taiwanese Ko Ping Chung ended Michael Feliciano’s dream of winning the first-ever Sharks International 9 Ball Open Championship in his own backyard. I wonder if we will get to see more of him traveling abroad to more Matchroom ranking events after pocketing the 15,000-dollar runners-up prize? Ko Ping Chung moved one place above his Brother Pin Yi in the Matchroom money list rankings with his cheque for 30,000 dollars and moved ahead of his coach in the Fargo ratings.
I had an amazing six days in the booth, the first 2 with local commentator Bob Guerrero who unfortunately got sick. No, not sick of
“It’s gonn be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila”.
my voice; at least, I don’t think so. Manny, Genesis, and Kelvin jumped in with me from time to time, and I ticked off another bucket list item when I got to commentate the last three days with Sky Sports and ESPN legend Jay Helfort.
I got a day off, but then it was back in the booth for Fedor Gorst against Dennis Orcollo for a race to 90 over three days.
To be continued............. Also coming soon
Wei Tzu Chen vs Rubilen Amit Race to 90
Kelly Fisher vs Chezka Centeno Race to 90
Kelly/Wei Wei vs. Rubilen/Denise Santos Race to 90 scotch doubles
Check out www.sharksbilliardleague.com
Live stream for free also on the Sharks Twitch channel.
