Mika Immonen in Finnish 8-ball Championships

mjantti

mjantti

Enjoying life
Silver Member
Hi all!

Last weekend we had our Finnish 8-ball Championships and we had a nice visitor: Mika Immonen was visiting Finland and participated in the tournament after being absent for many years from Finnish Champs! Mika's appearance was a thrill for many spectators and also for many players who have never seen him in action. Men's division had a total of 124 players, partly because of Mika's entry, and with so many good players there, it would've been a tough field for anyone. Surprisingly (duh), Mika came through in the end as the winner and added one Finnish Championships under his belt :)

I was battling with Mika for a place in the last 8 single elimination, but lost 6-5 :( I took 2-0 lead from the lag, but came up dry on the break, Mika ran to 2-1 but missed a long 8-ball :confused: ... I ran straight to 4-1: broke and cueball somehow jumped off the table ! :mad: Mika played safe, I sold out, Mika ran 4 racks to 4-5, dry break from Mika, I ran out to get to hill-hill 5-5, dry break from me, Mika ran out 6-5. Nice match ! :p (I eventually finished tied 9th)

Mika beat Stefan Sellberg in the finals 8-3 and took the title (once again). Sampo "White Shark" Eronen, who has been living in the Philippines, gave Mika a scare in the semifinal, losing 8-6.

Match results here:
http://www.poolgarden.com/cgi/tulokset.cgi?hae=9
(kierros = round, voittajien puoli = winners side, hävinneiden puoli = loser side)

I'll post a few pics as well as soon as I can get my hands on them...
 
crawdaddio said:
Congrats, you must be a pretty strong player.

~DC
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Well, I think I have at least 10 finishes tied for the 9th in Finnish Champs (also in Nordic Champs) throughout the years, but never higher. I was looking for a finish at least in the top 5. Maybe next time... sigh. Being strong is quite relative :)
 
Relative to me-you're popeye on spinach.
Again, congratulations, I'm sure that is no small feat, and I would be proud of myself.
~DC
 
Losing 6-5 to Mika is a pretty impressive accomplishment, I'm sure your disapointed about losing but you should still be proud of taking him hill-hill. Congratulations Mikko!
 
"fight to the Finnish" --hehe. i'm cracking up here. especially after crawdaddio's reference to popeye, who always used to say "i'm strong to the finishk, cause i eat me spinichk".
 
it was nice of mika to go and take away everybody's money hehe. but i understand that the experience is well worth it. congrats again, mjantti. btw, can you tell us more about this white shark fella? he must be really good to give mika a scare. how come we haven't seen much of him in tv, like in the WPC or other tournaments? does he play much in the phlippines? how come he's living there now? sorry i ask too many questions :)
 
Renegade said:
it was nice of mika to go and take away everybody's money hehe. but i understand that the experience is well worth it. congrats again, mjantti. btw, can you tell us more about this white shark fella? he must be really good to give mika a scare. how come we haven't seen much of him in tv, like in the WPC or other tournaments? does he play much in the phlippines? how come he's living there now? sorry i ask too many questions :)
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Sampo is a tough player, he lived in the RP for many years, he had a girlfriend and a job there. Now he has returned to Finland and plans to settle back here with his family. Sampo "White Shark" is a Finnish champion in straight pool (PB run 181 !!) and can give a scare to anyone. During his last year or so in the Philippines, he played pool for living... meaning he had his only income from pool gambling. In RP, that's not easy to do as you can imagine :eek:

Nice puns about "Finnish"... not the first time I've heard them :p I have a few friends around Europe and pun jokes about nationalities are funny. For instance, if you go to Czech Republic and after a good meal in the restaurant order "Check please!", the waitor might say: "here I am!" :)

And I wonder if people in Poland keep their silverware always Polished :)
 
mjantti said:
I was battling with Mika for a place in the last 8 single elimination, but lost 6-5 :( I took 2-0 lead from the lag, but came up dry on the break, Mika ran to 2-1 but missed a long 8-ball :confused: ... I ran straight to 4-1: broke and cueball somehow jumped off the table ! :mad: Mika played safe, I sold out, Mika ran 4 racks to 4-5, dry break from Mika, I ran out to get to hill-hill 5-5, dry break from me, Mika ran out 6-5. Nice match ! :p (I eventually finished tied 9th)
Match results here:
http://www.poolgarden.com/cgi/tulokset.cgi?hae=9
(kierros = round, voittajien puoli = winners side, hävinneiden puoli = loser side)

I'll post a few pics as well as soon as I can get my hands on them...
Click to expand...
Congratulations again, Mikko. It seems like you're having a banner year! The most interesting aspect of 8 ball in my opinion is when the layout after the break doesn't allow either group of balls to run out. That forces you to plan far in advance how and when to re-maneuver which group of balls while leaving your opponent safe. But the way it sounds, you're getting out from everywhere! We're waiting on the pics...
 
lewdo26 said:
Congratulations again, Mikko. It seems like you're having a banner year! The most interesting aspect of 8 ball in my opinion is when the layout after the break doesn't allow either group of balls to run out. That forces you to plan far in advance how and when to re-maneuver which group of balls while leaving your opponent safe. But the way it sounds, you're getting out from everywhere! We're waiting on the pics...
Click to expand...


This is the exact reason why I feel 8-ball should only be played on a bar-box. It truly is a beautiful game when the congestion-factor is huge.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
This is the exact reason why I feel 8-ball should only be played on a bar-box. It truly is a beautiful game when the congestion-factor is huge.
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Well, Jude, the bar-box may cause a little too much trouble! :D But it can be a beautiful game if played correctly, no doubt. Unfortunately, it's very rare to see expert players venturing away from standard equipment and 9 ball. Usually what you'll see on the bar table is the traditional running the loose balls first (which usually means you're strategically lost) and then taking a flyer bank or kick at your problem balls. And forget about safeties if you want to keep your reputation!

I just wish I saw more top players playing 8 ball, period. No matter what type of equipment. I don't mean to sound like a bronken record, but I just don't get why so many players feel 9 ball is a superior test of skill. In the 9 ball dictatorship we live in, it sometimes sounds like power shots and multi-rail cueball movement are the only skills there are!

Oh, I forgot to mention: yet another VERY interesting feature of 8 ball is when the 8 ball hangs after the break forcing the players to play with only 5 pockets.
 
lewdo26 said:
Oh, I forgot to mention: yet another VERY interesting feature of 8 ball is when the 8 ball hangs after the break forcing the players to play with only 5 pockets.
Click to expand...


Ha ha. Never thought of that. I really do not play 8 ball or on a bar box that often. Sure is different from a 9 ball hanging.
 
Still a great tourney Mikko, add more videos to your site, i watched all the ones of you playing.
 
lewdo26 said:
Well, Jude, the bar-box may cause a little too much trouble! :D But it can be a beautiful game if played correctly, no doubt. Unfortunately, it's very rare to see expert players venturing away from standard equipment and 9 ball. Usually what you'll see on the bar table is the traditional running the loose balls first (which usually means you're strategically lost) and then taking a flyer bank or kick at your problem balls. And forget about safeties if you want to keep your reputation!

I just wish I saw more top players playing 8 ball, period. No matter what type of equipment. I don't mean to sound like a bronken record, but I just don't get why so many players feel 9 ball is a superior test of skill. In the 9 ball dictatorship we live in, it sometimes sounds like power shots and multi-rail cueball movement are the only skills there are!

Oh, I forgot to mention: yet another VERY interesting feature of 8 ball is when the 8 ball hangs after the break forcing the players to play with only 5 pockets.
Click to expand...


That's the thing, you'll never see professionals playing 8-ball on a barbox simply because the general population thinks barboxes are automatically less challenging which, as anyone who's played the game knows, is contradictory. It would be nice to see 8-ball though, even if it were on 9 footers. I've argued for years that although one can argue that people don't really watch the details of what's going on anyway, it's still better to have a game the general pop. is familiar with. I'd reckon the majority of viewers don't even know the rules to 9-ball and don't consider it "real" pool.
 
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