Accolades for Warren Kiamco

I've told the story on here before, but warren really won me over at the 05 U.S. open. I had already heard his name associated with top-level play and been introduced to him and had a brief exchange, so I knew he was both solid and approachable...

He was playing a match against chuck raiuston and every time warren took a turn, it ended up worse than before he shot. I probably woulda been hollering and smashed all my sticks by the time I was into the 5th game.

Well, you wouldn't even have known the pool gods were doling out mischief , if you didn't know pool...warren was so level-headed and approached each shot with that matter of fact demeanor. He stuck with it and won the set, and a fan in me.
 
Warren Kiamco Story

I first met Warren in the 90's when I was working with Cue Sports Journal and running some 9 ball tournaments for new pool rooms in the East Bay. Warren used an alias at first if my memory serves me. Anyway, I played him in a couple tournaments and he won a nice tournament I ran at Santa Clara Billiards when they first opened up.

I had played Efren in a few tournaments and my record against him was terrible. 11/3 in Reno (Right after I had beaten David Howard), 9/zip at Hard Times, Bellflower, and another spanking somewhere along the way.

Around 1995 I was playing in the San Francisco Classic at Chalkers in San Francisco, and my next match was the winner of Kiamco and Efren. I was rooting for Kiamco of course, because I had at least had a competitive match or two against him when we had played. I was terrified of Efren and very happy when Warren beat him hill/hill and I did not have to play Efren again.

Warren won the lag and put a five or six pack on me right out of the gate.

Congratulations Warren, glad to see you are better than ever.
 
played PLO with warren one night in poker room i sat directly to his left i swear i must of asked him atleast 20 queastions about the keys to playing good pool he was absolutely very nice and professional and answered every question Thanks Warren for letting me pick your brain Really nice guy
 
Warren, you have long been a champion player, glad to see your work pay off.

jay helfert said:
I see quite a few threads here about many of the top finishers at Derby City and barely a mention of Warren Kiamco. He just overcame a huge and deep field of 9-Ball players to win his first ever Derby City title at age 46! All the credit in the world to a man who never gave up, and kept on grinding out a living at this very tough game.

Warren remains the same soft spoken man I met two decades ago, gracious and humble, always respectful of his opponents and the fans. Warren has long been one of the top Filipino players, usually rated a notch under the top guns like Dennis, Alex, Lee Vann, Efren and Francisco. Of course being second tier in the Philippines makes you first tier anywhere else in the world.

Warren is a good family man with a wife and three lovely daughters. He takes care of them no matter what sacrifices he has to make. I've been fortunate to visit his lovely but modest home in Quezon City. He has made a good life for himself and his family despite the odds being stacked against him. He will travel all around the Philippines playing small money games just to make ends meet if need be.

I'm very proud of Warren for what he just accomplished. No easy task to take down the best player all week (Alex) to win the 2015 DCC 9-Ball crown. Way to go my friend! :thumbup:
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Well stated, Jay!

Congratulations, Warren, you have long been a champion player, glad to see your work pay off. Best wishes to You and Yours: :thumbup:
 
Congrats to Warren and the huge win. Anytime I hear about a pro pool player supporting his family and working to get on top I am inspired.

this is definitely one of those stories. Thanks for the inpiration Warren, and to Jay for bringing us a little closer to Mr. Kiamco with the great post and some background information
 
Great to see Warren win! You can tell how much it meant to him. The biggest win of his career!
 
Warren 9b derby title is very well deserved and was wanting him to win big title for the last several years. Congrats to you sir!
 
jay helfert said:
I see quite a few threads here about many of the top finishers at Derby City and barely a mention of Warren Kiamco. He just overcame a huge and deep field of 9-Ball players to win his first ever Derby City title at age 46! All the credit in the world to a man who never gave up, and kept on grinding out a living at this very tough game.

Warren remains the same soft spoken man I met two decades ago, gracious and humble, always respectful of his opponents and the fans. Warren has long been one of the top Filipino players, usually rated a notch under the top guns like Dennis, Alex, Lee Vann, Efren and Francisco. Of course being second tier in the Philippines makes you first tier anywhere else in the world.

Warren is a good family man with a wife and three lovely daughters. He takes care of them no matter what sacrifices he has to make. I've been fortunate to visit his lovely but modest home in Quezon City. He has made a good life for himself and his family despite the odds being stacked against him. He will travel all around the Philippines playing small money games just to make ends meet if need be.

I'm very proud of Warren for what he just accomplished. No easy task to take down the best player all week (Alex) to win the 2015 DCC 9-Ball crown. Way to go my friend! :thumbup:
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Very nicely said Jay, Warren carries himself like a true professional should. Congratulations Warren :thumbup:
 
I was just saying this...

I don't know if I posted it, although I think I did, but I DO know I was just saying to a friend of mine that it would be nice if Warren won the DCC event.

He's been a grinder and a top player for a long time. When you see him in the pool hall whether it be playing or sitting in his chair watching others play, you can tell a couple of things about him that are obvious. He loves pool and is dedicated to the game.

Also, he is paying attention. He is paying attention to the other players and he is paying attention to what he is doing on the table too.

He's earned this win many times over and I'm glad that he has another title under his belt because of his hard work.

Jaden
 
In 2006 I witnessed him plow through a very strong field in Country Club Billiards (MA), beating Breedlove in the final, to win his IPT tour card. It was a joy to see. Congrats Warren.
 

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Very nice man - met him at a tournament in Houston a couple of years back with my girlfriend - very cordial and soft spoken.
 
jay helfert said:
I see quite a few threads here about many of the top finishers at Derby City and barely a mention of Warren Kiamco. He just overcame a huge and deep field of 9-Ball players to win his first ever Derby City title at age 46! All the credit in the world to a man who never gave up, and kept on grinding out a living at this very tough game.
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We were waiting for you to start the thread honoring Warren, Jay!

Congratulations Warren, well deserved!
 
AtLarge said:
The AzB database has his birthday as 5/2/1970. If that's accurate, he's currently about 3 months from turning 45.
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I don't know the reasons why but during the "invasion" most of the pinoys coming over either lied about had their age or gave false birth dates. I was always confused watching some of the older accu-stat tapes that had Bustamante listed at 30+ and then a couple of events later, he's 27.
 
He was trying to get a game with Morra last July in Vegas and he says "I'm old-bad eyes!" Morra asked him how old and he said 47. Doesn't mean a thing of course as he was trying to get a game and fibbing is pretty mandatory.
 
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