2023 World Pool Championship, Kielce, Poland

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Let's dream a little. If FSR wins at the Rio later this month, he'll be the reigning World 8-ball, World 9-ball and World 10-ball champion. What a historic run he's on. Sit back and enjoy the show.
The World 10-Ball player list right now shows only 15 entries so far!?! Maybe they just haven't updated it in the last couple weeks. The list for the Las Vegas Open the prior week shows 176 entries.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What an awesome event

Seeing the Syrian power slamming in balls against Alban Ouschan was crazy.

Then he outright beat Mario He.

Had it 7 to 7 vs FSR.

Mstchroom production was top notch.

agree 100%. production wise they upped their game, there was a good crowd, and i think both us fans and MR got lucky to see some new names from new countries emerge. vietnam for example, 100 mil country. and there were probably many arabs rooting for the syrian sidewinder, and he will inspire many more.

soufi beat wu kun lin, not mario. how he would have fared against mario is hard to know, FSR really performed well to comeback and beat mario
 

SBC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
agree 100%. production wise they upped their game, there was a good crowd, and i think both us fans and MR got lucky to see some new names from new countries emerge. vietnam for example, 100 mil country. and there were probably many arabs rooting for the syrian sidewinder, and he will inspire many more.

soufi beat wu kun lin, not mario. how he would have fared against mario is hard to know, FSR really performed well to comeback and beat mario
Right

Watching Ouschan sulk is almost as fun as watching Mika.
 

SBC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Albin's greatest comeback didn't happen on a pool table, it happened on top of his head.

Albin-Ouschan.jpg
He combs it forward from his back.
 

BasementDweller

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
agree 100%. production wise they upped their game, there was a good crowd, and i think both us fans and MR got lucky to see some new names from new countries emerge. vietnam for example, 100 mil country. and there were probably many arabs rooting for the syrian sidewinder, and he will inspire many more.

soufi beat wu kun lin, not mario. how he would have fared against mario is hard to know, FSR really performed well to comeback and beat mario he
That's a great nickname!
The Syrian Sidewinder.
 

Taxi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Given Soufi's background story, he seems like an almost perfect candidate for a long profile in some major newspaper or some major news network. He's like the Orlando Hernandez ("El Duque") of pool, who also arrived by sea on a refugee boat to become a star pitcher with the Yankees.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What an awesome event

Seeing the Syrian power slamming in balls against Alban Ouschan was crazy.

Then he outright beat Mario He.

Had it 7 to 7 vs FSR.

Mstchroom production was top notch.
I didn’t see the match.

I was told by a HOF player that experience is what won it for FSR, they played “about the same”.

In any case was a great tourney. MR delivering. Now can we just get the balls right? Please
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
The World 10-Ball player list right now shows only 15 entries so far!?! Maybe they just haven't updated it in the last couple weeks. The list for the Las Vegas Open the prior week shows 176 entries.
If those 176 don't include the best players of all the continents, it's cause for concern. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine the superstars of the game coming for the US Pro Billiard Series event and not sticking around for the World 10-ball.
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Poor JJ, he's just called that purple ball they are using here "a four", only to excuse himself when he realized he's in a parallel universe. LOL.
Not the first time he gets his mind messed up. Well, he's been playing all his life with proper colors, so that's totally understandable.
He’s done it several times, I forget as well when watching
 

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
I like Matchrooms overall production of this event. It looked first class all the way. I also like how they are building stars by doing multiple bios and interviews of the top players. This is exactly what our sport needs, and more of it! The big crowds helped to create the right atmosphere. Nothing worse than empty seats.
 

straightline

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I didn’t see the match.

I was told by a HOF player that experience is what won it for FSR, they played “about the same”.

In any case was a great tourney. MR delivering. Now can we just get the balls right? Please
I look at it as pedigree farming. (probably wrong reference) There will eventually be an international spread of "high end" players to populate the show. If it's a show, star quality is job one.

Ironically, (I believe) the show is a product of the poipul fie...
 

mikepage

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If those 176 don't include the best players of all the continents, it's cause for concern. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine the superstars of the game coming for the US Pro Billiard Series event and not sticking around for the World 10-ball.
I'm confident we're just not seeing the world 10-Ball entries yet. Last year at this time we saw nothing for world 10-Ball but as you say the Las Vegas Open list was an indicator of who would be there.

And that's an exciting list.

Compared to the World 9-Ball field, though it appears Shaw is missing at this point, Gorst is in, as is Lee Van Corteza, Roland Garcia, Yu Lung Chang, Jeffrey DeLuna, Roberto Gomez, Edgie Geronimo. More of the over 800 crowd and likely more of the world top 100 will be in Vegas compared to Poland.
 

buckshotshoey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mohammed Soufi made a few fans this week for sure.
Mohammad Soufi was a joy to watch. Brought excitement into this event!

Congrats to Francisco Sanchez Ruiz with the greatest title of them all! What an outstanding and phenomenal player.
It's like he came out of nowhere!
He definitely doesn't have "standard" fundamentals. I don't see how he does it with his elbow so far to the side.
Screenshot_20230206_090404_YouTube.jpg
 
Top