Mika & Charlie Williams in final

JennBarretta

JennBarretta

Pro Player
Hi all,

It's the final day of the tournament here in Korea, and it's Mika Immonen & Charlie Williams in the final. Mika ran 9 racks to finish out a race to 11 in the semifinal match. Charlie beat Thorstan Hohmann in the semi's 11-9. Right now the women's final is on the main table with Miyuki Sakai facing one of the local Korean players. I'll let you all know who wins as soon as it happens!

Jenn
 
is the match on-going right now? thanks for the update!!! :)

gold

JennBarretta said:
Hi all,

It's the final day of the tournament here in Korea, and it's Mika Immonen & Charlie Williams in the final. Mika ran 9 racks to finish out a race to 11 in the semifinal match. Charlie beat Thorstan Hohmann in the semi's 11-9. Right now the women's final is on the main table with Miyuki Sakai facing one of the local Korean players. I'll let you all know who wins as soon as it happens!

Jenn
Click to expand...
 
And the winner is...

It's midnight here in Incheon City at Main Billiards and the winners are Charlie Williams over Mika Immonen 11-6, and Miyuki Sakai over Lin Yun Mi in a 9-8 nailbiter. Now I'm off for some 24 hour shopping in Seoul!

Jenn
 
JennBarretta,

Thanks for the report. When you return I think all the AZBers would be interested in hearing your thoughts on your first trip to Korea. The culture, the food, the pool culture there and any billiard rooms you may have seen.

and please tell us about your shopping trip too :D

Thanks,

Wally in Cincy
 
Hi Wally,

Korea was a great place to visit for me because Korean food is one of my favorites. The only thing I didn't like was the Korean style sushi. Everyone was really friendly and most people spoke a little english, so getting around wasn't too bad, although I think I was the only caucasian woman in all of Incheon City.

As far as pool culture I will say that there are billiard rooms everywhere, and most of them have pool tables as well. I only had the opportunity to see two rooms, the one the tournament was in and Ga Young Kim's father's poolroom, which was right around the corner. I didn't see a lot of "serious" players, but pool seems to be a very popular past time. I could definitely see 9-ball becoming very popular there.

Jenn
 
JennBarretta said:
... I think I was the only caucasian woman in all of Incheon City....
Click to expand...

I'm sure you were able to keep a low profile as a tall, gorgeous, blonde American amongst the locals :D

Thanks,

Wally
 
It's interesting that Ga Young kim's father has a pool hall for it helps to explain why she is so good.

It's interesting that Korean Sushi is different than New York Japanese Sushi which is probably the same as Los Angeles Japanese Sushi where many of the sushi chefs are Korean - trained in Japan. Is it that the rice is flavored differently considering that fresh raw fish tastes the same? Is it that they offer different seafoods on their sushi?
 
Hi LAMas,

I saw the table that Ga Young practiced on and the pockets were pretty darn tight. I'm sure that also has something to do with how good she plays.

Korean style sushi was explained by a local to me...the Koreans and Japanese have a great rivalry. If the Japanese eat it raw, then we eat it while it's still alive. I thought that was pretty funny. Basically, the fish is very different and some of it is still moving. I was told that you must chew the squid very well because the suction cups on the tentacles still work and they can stick in your throat. Kudos to Mika...he tried everything. I was a big coward.

Jenn
 
Still in Korea...

Hey Jennifer, glad to see you made it back alright. I really enjoyed our conversations and appreciate all the advice you sent my way. I forgot to mention it at the time but I think you would make a great commentator! With your great voice and knowledge of the game, I think it could add some spunk to 9-ball commentating!

Did you get a chance to read what I wrote about the tournament? It's in the forum section under Korean Dragon's Revenge.

Oh, I have noticed something. Somehow, the womens tournament payout needs to catch up to the men's! Unreal! I just saw Takenaki take home $1100 while Sakai took home only $200! That's one meal over in Japan!

When and where is your next match? Good luck!

Justin in Korea
 
Jenn,
How tight are the pockets at Amsterdam where you shoot? Out here in California they are less than 2 balls wide? Ga's table is tighter still?

Your sushi comment is intriguing. I've never had live squid tentacles served as sushi here so perhaps they also mean live octopus. Here in California, the octopus is lightly boiled in brine for flavor and texture - so it's different in Korea. Thanks. <><~~~>'))))><
 
Hey JRock,

It was great talking to you in Korea. Charlie sent me the link for what you posted on the Inside Pool forum. Thanks for the kind words!

Hi LAMas,

My bad, it must have been octopus. Either way I was a big chicken.

Jenn
 
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