Canadian Pool Championships

DaveK

Still crazy after all these years
Silver Member
Alex Pagulayan wins the 10-ball and 9-ball titles
John Morra came second in both

Alex won the A-side in the 8-ball....
..but a young Steven Holem came back from the B-side and pumped him in the final
...9-1 :eek:....we’ll be hearing more of this guy....Alex loves how he hits a ball

I searched and found the brackets, thanks for pointing out the tournament happened :)

Found a fellow in the brackets who may have been our Saskatchewan rep. I'll have to ask George S if that was him and about his experience. His results weren't that great :(

Dave
 

pt109

WO double hemlock
Silver Member
EE32E8D5-BA22-4CC9-8ECD-13E59956B958.jpeg

Naomi Williams on the left....won the Canadian Ladies 9-ball.
I asked her how many titles she had...she wasn’t sure...but it was a lot...:eek:

On the right, only the third Canuck to hold a world title in billiards, Brittany Bryant...
...she won the 10-ball.
 

SpinDoctor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's pretty hard to take this tournament series seriously anymore. The national championships of a country with 35+ million people, held in a city with a rough population of 2.5 million people and the men's events couldn't manage to draw 40 players while the women's event was barely into double digits.

I applaud the efforts of Jim Wych, John White and The Corner Bank but how much longer does our national organization(the CBSA) get a pass on abysmal turnouts, terrible online coverage and absolutely no attempts to change their ways?
 

GideonF

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
It's pretty hard to take this tournament series seriously anymore. The national championships of a country with 35+ million people, held in a city with a rough population of 2.5 million people and the men's events couldn't manage to draw 40 players while the women's event was barely into double digits.



I applaud the efforts of Jim Wych, John White and The Corner Bank but how much longer does our national organization(the CBSA) get a pass on abysmal turnouts, terrible online coverage and absolutely no attempts to change their ways?



The stream was bad, I grant you. The Corner Bank has crappy wifi and can’t get better service at the moment.

However, they did manage to get a full TV production of the last 8 of 9 ball, which will be shown on national TV. This is a major accomplishment. If players don’t want to come, what can the CBSA do? I don’t know why the top Quebec players didn’t come, other than perhaps knowing that they are underdogs to Alex and in tough with Johnny.
 

SpinDoctor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The stream was bad, I grant you. The Corner Bank has crappy wifi and can’t get better service at the moment.

However, they did manage to get a full TV production of the last 8 of 9 ball, which will be shown on national TV. This is a major accomplishment. If players don’t want to come, what can the CBSA do? I don’t know why the top Quebec players didn’t come, other than perhaps knowing that they are underdogs to Alex and in tough with Johnny.

The CBSA has had the opportunity over recent years to add some fresh perspective to their ranks and work to grow the game, unfortunately, they refuse to listen and want to maintain their status quo. What have they done in the last 10 years to try and attract players from anywhere other than Ontario to any of these events?

Are we to believe that there are only 4 or 5 legitimately strong pool players ANYWHERE in Canada other than Ontario? Based on the entries for the Canadians(for as far back as I can remember), you would think that an organization responsible for the entire country would be doing everything possible to try and draw fields that better represent our population.

Do we less than a dozen serious female players in the country? The Ashton twins in Calgary manage to attract a full field of pro and semi-pro women for their Classic event every single year yet our national championships draw 11 women.

Maybe it's time for someone from the CBSA to explain to Canadian pool players exactly what it is they do to further this sport in our country.
 

GideonF

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The CBSA has had the opportunity over recent years to add some fresh perspective to their ranks and work to grow the game, unfortunately, they refuse to listen and want to maintain their status quo. What have they done in the last 10 years to try and attract players from anywhere other than Ontario to any of these events?



Are we to believe that there are only 4 or 5 legitimately strong pool players ANYWHERE in Canada other than Ontario? Based on the entries for the Canadians(for as far back as I can remember), you would think that an organization responsible for the entire country would be doing everything possible to try and draw fields that better represent our population.



Do we less than a dozen serious female players in the country? The Ashton twins in Calgary manage to attract a full field of pro and semi-pro women for their Classic event every single year yet our national championships draw 11 women.



Maybe it's time for someone from the CBSA to explain to Canadian pool players exactly what it is they do to further this sport in our country.



The CBSA is taking applications for the board. If you have ideas, volunteer!

I don’t know why more people don’t play. Remember however that the main prizes are entry and expenses towards playing in the World’s. And so if you aren’t interested in playing in the World’s it’s not worth it.

And in terms of the women, are there more than three women that have a chance to win? Don you think the Ashtons are likely to beat either Brittany or Naomi. And would they want to play in the World’s if they did?
 

SpinDoctor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The CBSA is taking applications for the board. If you have ideas, volunteer!

I don’t know why more people don’t play. Remember however that the main prizes are entry and expenses towards playing in the World’s. And so if you aren’t interested in playing in the World’s it’s not worth it.

And in terms of the women, are there more than three women that have a chance to win? Don you think the Ashtons are likely to beat either Brittany or Naomi. And would they want to play in the World’s if they did?

I have a very close friend(room owner and high-level player) who did exactly that and they absolutely refused to listen to any suggestions that he presented and stubbornly stayed with their usual course of action. He resigned and nothing has changed since then.

There is no doubting that Brittany and Naomi play well but look at the field for previous Ashton Twins classic events as an example and you'll see a significant number of players entering that don't have a shot at winning.

I would gladly volunteer if I honestly thought that anyone from the CBSA is actually interested in change but it's been eons since they did anything other than pander to Ontario.
 

Inaction

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I first heard of Holem when I watched a Four Bears Casino match on youtube a couple years ago. A teammate of his mentioned that Steve won his division at the VNEA tournament the prior year (2017) by coming through the one loss side. It was a race to 7, and Steven ran out 14 racks to win both matches.

Found the bracket on compusport. It was the intermediate division. He did well this year in the Masters.

I bet the other guy was wishing he started safe breaking on the second set.
 

trophycue

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Best Canadians in recent memory.

I have a very close friend(room owner and high-level player) who did exactly that and they absolutely refused to listen to any suggestions that he presented and stubbornly stayed with their usual course of action. He resigned and nothing has changed since then.

There is no doubting that Brittany and Naomi play well but look at the field for previous Ashton Twins classic events as an example and you'll see a significant number of players entering that don't have a shot at winning.

I would gladly volunteer if I honestly thought that anyone from the CBSA is actually interested in change but it's been eons since they did anything other than pander to Ontario.

You should walk a mile in there shoes.................I doubt a quitter like you would last a km. John , Jim . and Frank worked morning till night for 2 weeks . Frank worked for free, and John and Jim invested thousands , and had to come up with extra money out of pocket to get TSN there. I teased them the whole week I was there , about never seeing them work so hard . By far the best Canadians in recent history , Steven Holem , Barry Maclean said they will never miss another one. Not a chance in hell a whiner like you could even come close to being the men they are . They probably do more for pool in an afternoon , then you have ever done . Pander to ON ? Total BS attitude..............I come from the maritimes and they treat us like gold every year, and show no bias whatsoever . You should go next year, and tell them to there face that they do nothing . Or are you also a coward ??
 

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Alex said he bought them online from the guy in Quebec. I believe this is the website but can’t be 100% positive. http://www.billiard-eyeglasses.com/

The glasses Alex has on in the picture in post #11 above do not look at all like the semi-rimless black frames sold by Gordon Harrison on billiard-eyeglasses.com. Maybe the picture is of Alex in a different, non-billiards pair?
 

SpinDoctor

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You should walk a mile in there shoes.................I doubt a quitter like you would last a km. John , Jim . and Frank worked morning till night for 2 weeks . Frank worked for free, and John and Jim invested thousands , and had to come up with extra money out of pocket to get TSN there. I teased them the whole week I was there , about never seeing them work so hard . By far the best Canadians in recent history , Steven Holem , Barry Maclean said they will never miss another one. Not a chance in hell a whiner like you could even come close to being the men they are . They probably do more for pool in an afternoon , then you have ever done . Pander to ON ? Total BS attitude..............I come from the maritimes and they treat us like gold every year, and show no bias whatsoever . You should go next year, and tell them to there face that they do nothing . Or are you also a coward ??

You clearly missed the part where I applauded Jim, John and the Corner Bank for their efforts but that's ok. It's unfortunate that they had to come up with money out of their own pockets to get TSN there but they chose that route.

My concern is more with the CBSA as a whole and the rationale that these events are our "national championships." It has been well over a decade since any of these events had even remotely close to a national turnout with the western provinces represented by anything more than a small handful of players.

You're welcome to sling whatever insults you'd like because I've watched the turnouts for these tourneys for years and absolutely nothing has been done by the CBSA to rectify these turnout issues. I'm happy that you feel well represented by them but here in Alberta/BC(where there are large number of very strong players) we see and hear nothing from them year after year.

Call me a coward if you wish, but I'd voice my concerns directly to the CBSA members if they ever held an event in the west but we all know that we have a better shot at teaching a fish to ride a bicycle.
 

Denis The Kid

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The glasses Alex has on in the picture in post #11 above do not look at all like the semi-rimless black frames sold by Gordon Harrison on billiard-eyeglasses.com. Maybe the picture is of Alex in a different, non-billiards pair?

Yes you are right. I was at the Canadians and the glasses Alex played with were like Dennis Taylor, very high frame. In that pic, those are regular glasses. By the way, he played very well with them!
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Someone say bicycle fish?

You clearly missed the part where I applauded Jim, John and the Corner Bank for their efforts but that's ok. It's unfortunate that they had to come up with money out of their own pockets to get TSN there but they chose that route.

My concern is more with the CBSA as a whole and the rationale that these events are our "national championships." It has been well over a decade since any of these events had even remotely close to a national turnout with the western provinces represented by anything more than a small handful of players.

You're welcome to sling whatever insults you'd like because I've watched the turnouts for these tourneys for years and absolutely nothing has been done by the CBSA to rectify these turnout issues. I'm happy that you feel well represented by them but here in Alberta/BC(where there are large number of very strong players) we see and hear nothing from them year after year.

Call me a coward if you wish, but I'd voice my concerns directly to the CBSA members if they ever held an event in the west but we all know that we have a better shot at teaching a fish to ride a bicycle.
 

GideonF

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The glasses Alex has on in the picture in post #11 above do not look at all like the semi-rimless black frames sold by Gordon Harrison on billiard-eyeglasses.com. Maybe the picture is of Alex in a different, non-billiards pair?



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