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The earlier start of single elimination has pluses and minuses. The good: fewer top players will get knocked out early in the loser’s bracket. There were two events last year in which SVB knocked out Ko Pin Yi in the loses side, and then Ko returned the favor in the U.S. Open. This won’t happen...

Yes.

I was more accurate hitting the CB where I wanted on long banks, using a shorter bridge and stroke. Of course, banks in real games might require something different for positioning ...

No big upsets in the tournament so far. Sanjin had scare, but all the top pros got thru to the 128-player knockout round starting Thursday. The rest of today is losers side matches involving local or regional players.

Skyler and Tyler, as I mentioned, are playing in an Ultimate Pool event in Iowa. Justin Bergman said he had already committed to the event before the date for the European Open was announced. It's possible Sky and Tyler committed early, too, but who knows. MR did not announce the date for the...

It's an interesting question - why does anyone get into pool. I've asked every regular at my pool hall when and why did they start playing? Pool players in my experience are some of the most interesting people around. It all started for me ... in the early 1970s. My dad brought home a decent...

A few days ago, was practicing long banks with the two balls (OB and CB) less than a diamond and a half off the left long rail. The banks I was practicing had slight cut angles. Repeatedly the cut on the bank would throw the OB off just enough for me to miss the pocket. I'd hit the long rail a...

I doubt MR scheduled its European Open to piggyback on the EPBF event. It doesn't seem like Predator and MR communicate much, if at all, and MR in particular has had trouble pinning down calendar dates for its big events. The European Open wasn't announced until late January. Matchroom...

WNT already has the Philippines Open and Reyes scheduled for mid- to late October. Big question to me is whether the Peri takes place again. Even if Hanoi is dropped, Peri would fill a big hole. The event seemed to be a big success last year, the prize fund as just as big as Hanoi and the field...

Hah. I have, as my wife says, an addictive personality. When I take an interest in something, I chew it over like a barking-mad dog. That's how I became a master gardener, excellent home brewer, handy woodworker, lover of jazz and classical, connoisseur of fine wines and whiskies ... I've loved...

Sanderson does like to shout a lot. Odd.

Polish people, or at least the few I know, tend to think of themselves as Central Europeans. I wouldn't want to be associated with Russia either!

Not sure I have an "American" point of view. I didn't know anything at all about pro pool five years ago! None. Nada. Zippo. Didn't even know who Efren or SVB were. I have looked at Fargoes of unseeded players in past WNT Open events, but aside from the Philippines, I don't think I ever noticed...

Lot of speculation after this CPBA post on Facebook. Matchroom recently signed a deal making CPBA its official cloth supplier. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HrGWfTf5U/ The image says CPBA is the official sponsor of all Major Matchroom events. The events listed are the UK, European, US...

Looks like the top seeded players who got a bye only have to win one match to get to the 128-player knockout stage. So far only one seeded player who got a bye has lost - Francisco Candela (754 Fargo). He lost 9-7 to Haris Trtovac (Fargo 709), and was sent to the loser's side.

Another contributor to the weak 2026 European Open field were the EPBF European championships sponsored by Predator. Eight-ball, 9-ball and other events took place in Turkey from Feb. 28 to March 10. The prize money in these events is not big. Less than $60,000 total prize fund for each men's...

Helluva shot https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18EajzQvHd/

There are, to me, a surprising number of European players, mostly Eastern Europeans, with 700 Fargoes or better in the event. I expect a few notable upsets.

The only player whose name I knew who did not get a first-round bye was Quinten Pongers, older brother of the more talented Yannick Pongers. Fargo 744, same as Childress. I was starting to feel bad for him ... until I noticed he lost his first-round match to Estonian Revo Maimre (Fargo 660)...

New format this year for all the 256-player WNT Open events (European, UK, U.S., Florida and Hanoi opens). Single-elimination round begins at 128 instead of 64 as in the past. A Matchroom event manager said the Philippines Open taught them that earlier single elimination got rid of some "dead"...