He had already found a way to "escape". Russia isn't nearly a bad place as its made out to be but has to look after himself.
Fedor Gorst nominated for Mosconi CUP Team USA!
- Thread starter marek
- Start date
Quite a few of those players had a crack at the Hanoi open and despite their results had a great time.
Yeah, apart from the whole "being drafted to go fight a war in Ukraine to boost Putin's ego", it's a great place.
Ruslan Chinakhov
I was just watching DeLuna vs Chinakhov in the 2019 WPA Players Championship and it got me thinking. I have seen/heard little about Chinakhov since his 2019-2020 seasons. I hear about how Russia’s recent aggressions against Ukraine has affected Gorst and Tkatch but I never hear about Ruslan. Is...
forums.azbilliards.com
Was the Russian federation at the General Assembly? A well known pool player from Russia has gone missing.
FSB reports a large cash sum in rubles for tips leading to Fedor Gorst. Would FSB agents turn up at the provided location?
Would you call it in?
He is known to travel the country with a strong female player that could pass for a short American girl from anywhere USA.
FSB reports a large cash sum in rubles for tips leading to Fedor Gorst. Would FSB agents turn up at the provided location?
Would you call it in?
He is known to travel the country with a strong female player that could pass for a short American girl from anywhere USA.
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
Yup, I was talking an inclusive Mosconi cup style grudge match. Wouldn't work. For many reasons.
In retrospect, this action seems to have been inevitable. A week ago it seemed impossible to some.
I was thinking along the same line as you. Fedor made the right choice to get out of that place! Fork Putin!
well, yes inevitable but years away. MR speeded up the process. my objection was never fedor's heart but rather the "what if" he eventually fails to get citizenship
Kinda like Vietnam?
Not sure if you really know what it looks like in Russia beyond rich cities like Moscow or St.Petersburg going by your comment..
I've got no issue with Fedor joining team USA except for the timing of it. It's a slap in the face to the players that have invested time and money chasing points all year. Someone is having the rug pulled out from underneath them 2 months before the event. Matchroom should have waited to announce Fedor's eligibility in January for the 2024 Cup. Either that, or he could have been the Captain's Pick this year.
i suppose JJ can still pick one or both of the wildcards from points
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
New-ish to the forum, and bored at work hahaI'm impressed to no end that Flakeandrun tried to have a cogent exchange with justnum. Brave man. Or really bored.
If he went back to Russia, wouldn't he be vulnerable to being enlisted and have to fight in the atrocious war that Putin is waging against Ukraine? He is definitely prime fighting age
Correction: They spent time and money "chasing 4th/5th place", because they don't, and likely never did, play well enough to guarantee 1st/2nd/3rd. SVB and Skylar had 1st/2nd locked up LONNNNNGG before Fedor got picked, and literally no other American "pro" ever had a chance at taking those spots. The argument can be made that Billy Thorpe was always gonna be #3, because realistically, no other active American player has a real chance to beat him consistently, outside of SVB/Skylar. "Points" be damned. MAYBE Styer? But only because Billy needs some help from Mark Wilson or similar on his stroke mechanics/timing, to allow him to play his top speed more consistently. Styer seems to be able to "play his speed" more consistently than Billy. But Billy's top speed is higher, in general.
That's the brutal truth of it when it comes to American "pros". It's a bunch of second tier players fighting to barely squeak in to the Mosconi Cup to get a payday. And none of the players in that group have a prayer at getting more than 3/4 rounds through a killer tournament field, so you don't expect them to do much better against a killer Euro field in the Mosconi Cup.
I don't like it, you don't like it, but there it is. And Deuel's whining on Facebook about it is ridiculous, because he had less chance than most at grabbing one of those two spots. He wouldn't like playing Tyler Styer right now, and that's an absolute guarantee, no matter what breaking tricks he utilized. Personally, I think these days it might be a tossup between him and Reinhold. So, before Gorst, it would have likely been SVB, Woodward, Thorpe, and Styer, with #5 up for grabs. With the U.S. scraping the bottom of the barrel for that last spot, with whomever getting picked being a MAJOR wildcard as to how they would hold up.
So, all those people biatching about Fedor's pick shortchanging those folks "who spent time and money chasing points"? My take on it is, if your lack of ability means you were only ever chasing the #4/#5 spot anyways, and now you only have a chance at the #5 spot? Big Wooooooo! Most of them are older players looking for one last taste of the pie, and there are more young, hungry players out there wanting to prove themselves, and are in a portion of their lives where they have no real commitments, and can practice 12 hours a day preparing for their shot.
Corey Deuel hardly plays pro tournaments any more. I think he may be arguing on principal rather than solely self-interest.
I think he and guys like Archer and Morris could probably still play pretty well but there isn't much financial reason for them to compete because even if they were in top form they likely wouldn't advance much further than the 3rd or 4th round of a major tournament, but they could still probably play about as well as Styer, Thorpe, Dominguez, and Reinhold.
It is great to have Team USA with Fedor. This reminds of the Earl invite to Mosconi but did not compete due to covid.
Is there anyway another federation can have Fedor banned for any obscure reason?
Corrupting players to drop out of Matchroom events are the next possible WPA tactics.
Is there anyway another federation can have Fedor banned for any obscure reason?
Corrupting players to drop out of Matchroom events are the next possible WPA tactics.