stories & results of the 14 players who have qualified can be found at www.seyberts.com
just click onto world 14.1 banner and goto qualifiers and click onto the one you want to read about.
Qualifiers were held in Holland, Germany, Canada and US cities Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Nee York City. Over 150 players in all attended these events to try to qualify for a spot to take a chance to becoming the World Straight Pool Champion!
below is the story from the Baltimore Qualifier written by Peter Burrows, the director of that event and one of the main directors for the main event in NJ, the World 14.1 Championship
iTs very personable so we hope you enjoy.
Baltimore WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 14.1 QUALIFIER
at CuesPort Hosted by Kurt Ziem
Apr. 15, 2006
Prologue
Tournament Results.
Wow! All those shinny faces. New clothes! I didn't recognize half the guys . . .and the one nice lady, all so prettied up! Man, K-Mart did a booming business on Friday night, sold lots of collared shirts, some nice dress shoes . . . even a pair of Bermuda shorts! But seriously, I do think that the consensus was definitely that continuing to have a dress code is good for our game.
I think our event was really super, with some of the largest cities in America, and our little community almost got the full 32. Good going. We are going to become the hotbed for 14.1. Watch out IPT will get envious! Too long of course, but I guess we all expected that and I am going to work very diligently to come up with a better format, which I have already begun to firm up. Something which will make holding a 14.1 Tournament more realistic. More about that later. . . see below.
So you have a record, I will attached a list of all 30 who played in the Bill & Billie's April 15 Qualifier, in the order of finish. And I want to thank everyone who played in this event, and to encourage those that I talked to who did not play to give some serious consideration to the next time, hopefully a MARYLAND STATE OPEN 14.1 event possibly in December, but a different format (see below).
I was only sorry that because I had to play a tough match with Irving Crane that I did not have time to watch some of the early matches myself. As the day began Ceci Strain came over to me . . . " Peter, this Irving Crane chap has not showed up yet . . . ." Neither did Willie Mosconi . . . .
But the matches that I did watch were as good as I've seen. I mean who can beat Ed Moody, who played very strong and got to the last four on the winner side, and his match vs. Brian Keggins, Ed winning 125-124. Sueyen Rhee, our only lady representative made just a great showing, winning her first two matches on the winner's side, before eventually bowing out to Alvin Thomas and then losing a hard fought game to Andy Lincoln. How about some more ladies next time? Maybe a ladies' side might be good.
The last winner's side match, Zion Zvi vs. Ryan McCreesh was fantastic, intense, meaningful to say the least, and just a gutsy game by a young unknown to us, and our well known Ryan. Zion Avi, is a name most of us will not forget now! Talk about an unfamiliar face walking into a strange pool room, picking up a stick, and trampling through all the local hot shots! Shades of Eddie Felson on the road! Two New York players in the room rooting quietly for Zion. Dozen's in Ryan's corner! Like an old time heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden. But who could not deep down root for the young unknown silky stroke lad from NY? Or wherever. Yes, hard not too, and Zion Zvi sure gave us our money's worth. For those who stayed, that last rack and Zion's amazing shot down the rail from a no win position will long be recalled. Frankly I could not believe it, and I've seen my share of great pool matches, but that was one for the ages. It made our tournament I thought.
And when that witching hour finally came around it brought a tremendous match which was witnessed by myself, when Eddie played Ryan for the final spot. After the break Eddie fouled to go -1 . . . and Ryan jumped up . . . have you ever seen Ryan do that??! ! ! Just maybe once or twice. Ryan lived up to his rep as he usually does, but this time unlike any quite before. At five minutes to four he began his run, 100 straight balls, slam bang, slam bam, as only Ryan McC. can do . . . click, click, click, seven straight racks, every break shot like magic, 100 ball run out almost as if it was magic, and finished in maybe twenty five minutes . Where or where was Machine Gun Joe Butera? He'd of been proud of the boy.
I had just witnessed a rare event, and I thought to myself that probably the last time I had seen anyone run 100 balls, and never ever as rapidly, was Crane over Joe Balsis back at the old Sherman Hotel in Chicago in 1966. I have to say I was pretty proud of the way the tournament climaxed.
Probably the best game of Ryan McCreesh's young but sterling career . . . but I assure you this old pool buff will not forget! And of course I knew so well how much it meanT to Ed, dog tired after a very long day, and when Ed had also played so many excellent hard fought games, one after another. Eddie I was very proud of you too. . . I could almost hear you whisper . . . "JTS Brown, no ice, no glass . . ."
My thanks go to those who helped, financially and otherwise: Kurt Ziem, Ceci Strain, Greg Warren, Charlotte & Jeremy. Thanks all. And Prayers are offered to one of the true greats of our game, Steve Mizerak, gravely ill as he fights to recover in the game of life.
Peter Burrows - Tournament Director for CuesPort & Co-Director of the upcoming World 14.1 Championship in NJ
Annapolis, Maryland
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STRAIGHT POOL QUALIFIER – Apr. 15, 2006, Arnold, MD
Player Roster:
Name City Remarks
Zion Zvi New York City, NY Terrific young player from NYC by way of Tel Aviv, and the only one of 30 who never lost. Zion's win 125-117 over Ryan McCreesh was as intense and courageous a pool match as you'll ever see.
Ryan McCreesh Hagerstown, MD In the final loser side match vs. Eddie Deska, Ryan really showed his stuff, likely a career best 14.1 match, when after Ed fouled to go -1, Ryan ran 100 & out to win the loser side.
Ed Deska Prince Frederick, MD
After beginning to play at 9:30 am Sat. Ed did not begin his final match until 3:55 am on Sunday morning!
Always tough to the very end, Ed had by far the worst draw but made the best of it. He beat Curtis Branker and then Mike Davis only to be rewarded having to play Ryan McCreesh who put him on the loss side. Ed then ground his way thru the loser side defeating Prinsloo, Lincoln, Moody & Davis again before finally losing his in his 8 th match of a very long day in a truly remarkable game vs. McCreesh.
Mike Davis College Park, MD Little need to be said about Mike, and as all of his opponents know his reputation precedes him and is not understated. Mike beat loads of people while losing twice to tough Eddie Deska.
Alvin Thomas Elkridge, MD What a smooth stroke. Alvin won three straight before losing to Ryan & then Mike Davis. No disgrace for sure.
Ed Moody Gaithersburg, MD Great tournament & nice to see Ed back playing 14.1. Three wins before losing to young NY phenom Zion Zvi and then to Ed Deska.
Andy Lincoln Columbia, MD As we all know, a very underrated player who plays in our 14.1 league. Andy had an out-standing tournament, with 3 wins and a very close loss to eventual winner Zion Zvi. Someday when Zion is a world renown player Andy will relay tales of his close lose to the grandchildren!
Joey Ryan Washington DC Well known in these parts, and becoming more so week to week. Joey had a strong showing with 3 great wins before a final losses to Zvi & Davis.
Justin Veronick Hanover, PA One of the vastly improved young players in our local 14.1 league. Ask me I know! Fine match vs. me Justin, and also vs. Joey Ryan.
Sueyen Rhee Arlington, VA Talk about a beautiful lady with a beautiful game, and who played very very well. This is the lady! A delightful person who has beaten me often, but always a pleasure to play. Thanks for participating, Sueyen, and your task is to bring along some more of the ladies! And I don't think the gentlemen will mind at all.
Nick Prinsloo Reston, VA Thanks to those years of Snooker, Nick plays great on these small tables with big pockets. And of course the shorts were a definite help.
Rolando Aravena New York City, MD A classy NYC player and Mgr. at Amsterdam Billiards there. Beat Justin Veronick & Frank Heck before losing to Ed Moody & then Mike Davis.
Peter Burrows Annapolis, MD Got to play Irving Crane! I can tell my grand kids too. Running this tournament was my reward.
Buddy Chilton Gainesville, VA A good player, and one who will be sorely missed
when he moves his strong game to TX in a few days. Buddy has long been one of the top players in our area and we will miss him.
Frank Heck Pasadena, MD Frank had a good tournament, and hopefully now he has really been bitten by the 14.1 bug.
David Hunt Richmond, VA Dr. Dave pulled a tough draw right out of the gate in a loss to Ryan McCreesh, then two solid wins before getting knocked out by Mike Davis.
Curtis Branker Baltimore, MD Got a tough draw and lost 1st two to Ed Deska & then to Patrick O'Neill.
Michael Yednak New York City, NY Another of those silky smooth stroking New Yorkers, and I was reminded of Ginky. And Mike likes our dress code too. I have to say the three NY players were just a great addition to our tournament and we hope you guys will return. Michael played well as evidenced by tough losses to Joey & Buddy, two of our very best players.
Carl Carlsen Glen Burnie, MD As in any tournament there will always be players who get a tough draw and cannot pull out a win, or maybe only one. I hope everyone enjoyed the tournament and will play in the next one, Open of 32 players, hopefully to be in December. I think we will go to a round robin format in the begining so each player will play a min. of 3 games and the two finalists will play 7 games altogether. This will be a round robin with 8 brackets of 4 players each playing vs. the others, with top two advancing to a 16 player single elimination tournament. Details to follow but I believe it will work very well & be much shorter. Peter B.
Bob Corcoran Owings, MD
Bill Corrigan California, MD
Michael Gellert Severna Park, MD
Brian Keggins Catonsville, MD
Frank Kolbe Towson, MD
Tony Kolbe Crofton, MD
Myke Munoz Rosedale, MD
Jeff Murray Ashburn, VA
Patrick O'Neill Pasadena, MD
Mark Ploss Baltimore, MD
Frank Silvaggio Arnold, MD
just click onto world 14.1 banner and goto qualifiers and click onto the one you want to read about.
Qualifiers were held in Holland, Germany, Canada and US cities Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Nee York City. Over 150 players in all attended these events to try to qualify for a spot to take a chance to becoming the World Straight Pool Champion!
below is the story from the Baltimore Qualifier written by Peter Burrows, the director of that event and one of the main directors for the main event in NJ, the World 14.1 Championship
iTs very personable so we hope you enjoy.
Baltimore WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 14.1 QUALIFIER
at CuesPort Hosted by Kurt Ziem
Apr. 15, 2006
Prologue
Tournament Results.
Wow! All those shinny faces. New clothes! I didn't recognize half the guys . . .and the one nice lady, all so prettied up! Man, K-Mart did a booming business on Friday night, sold lots of collared shirts, some nice dress shoes . . . even a pair of Bermuda shorts! But seriously, I do think that the consensus was definitely that continuing to have a dress code is good for our game.
I think our event was really super, with some of the largest cities in America, and our little community almost got the full 32. Good going. We are going to become the hotbed for 14.1. Watch out IPT will get envious! Too long of course, but I guess we all expected that and I am going to work very diligently to come up with a better format, which I have already begun to firm up. Something which will make holding a 14.1 Tournament more realistic. More about that later. . . see below.
So you have a record, I will attached a list of all 30 who played in the Bill & Billie's April 15 Qualifier, in the order of finish. And I want to thank everyone who played in this event, and to encourage those that I talked to who did not play to give some serious consideration to the next time, hopefully a MARYLAND STATE OPEN 14.1 event possibly in December, but a different format (see below).
I was only sorry that because I had to play a tough match with Irving Crane that I did not have time to watch some of the early matches myself. As the day began Ceci Strain came over to me . . . " Peter, this Irving Crane chap has not showed up yet . . . ." Neither did Willie Mosconi . . . .
But the matches that I did watch were as good as I've seen. I mean who can beat Ed Moody, who played very strong and got to the last four on the winner side, and his match vs. Brian Keggins, Ed winning 125-124. Sueyen Rhee, our only lady representative made just a great showing, winning her first two matches on the winner's side, before eventually bowing out to Alvin Thomas and then losing a hard fought game to Andy Lincoln. How about some more ladies next time? Maybe a ladies' side might be good.
The last winner's side match, Zion Zvi vs. Ryan McCreesh was fantastic, intense, meaningful to say the least, and just a gutsy game by a young unknown to us, and our well known Ryan. Zion Avi, is a name most of us will not forget now! Talk about an unfamiliar face walking into a strange pool room, picking up a stick, and trampling through all the local hot shots! Shades of Eddie Felson on the road! Two New York players in the room rooting quietly for Zion. Dozen's in Ryan's corner! Like an old time heavyweight fight at Madison Square Garden. But who could not deep down root for the young unknown silky stroke lad from NY? Or wherever. Yes, hard not too, and Zion Zvi sure gave us our money's worth. For those who stayed, that last rack and Zion's amazing shot down the rail from a no win position will long be recalled. Frankly I could not believe it, and I've seen my share of great pool matches, but that was one for the ages. It made our tournament I thought.
And when that witching hour finally came around it brought a tremendous match which was witnessed by myself, when Eddie played Ryan for the final spot. After the break Eddie fouled to go -1 . . . and Ryan jumped up . . . have you ever seen Ryan do that??! ! ! Just maybe once or twice. Ryan lived up to his rep as he usually does, but this time unlike any quite before. At five minutes to four he began his run, 100 straight balls, slam bang, slam bam, as only Ryan McC. can do . . . click, click, click, seven straight racks, every break shot like magic, 100 ball run out almost as if it was magic, and finished in maybe twenty five minutes . Where or where was Machine Gun Joe Butera? He'd of been proud of the boy.
I had just witnessed a rare event, and I thought to myself that probably the last time I had seen anyone run 100 balls, and never ever as rapidly, was Crane over Joe Balsis back at the old Sherman Hotel in Chicago in 1966. I have to say I was pretty proud of the way the tournament climaxed.
Probably the best game of Ryan McCreesh's young but sterling career . . . but I assure you this old pool buff will not forget! And of course I knew so well how much it meanT to Ed, dog tired after a very long day, and when Ed had also played so many excellent hard fought games, one after another. Eddie I was very proud of you too. . . I could almost hear you whisper . . . "JTS Brown, no ice, no glass . . ."
My thanks go to those who helped, financially and otherwise: Kurt Ziem, Ceci Strain, Greg Warren, Charlotte & Jeremy. Thanks all. And Prayers are offered to one of the true greats of our game, Steve Mizerak, gravely ill as he fights to recover in the game of life.
Peter Burrows - Tournament Director for CuesPort & Co-Director of the upcoming World 14.1 Championship in NJ
Annapolis, Maryland
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STRAIGHT POOL QUALIFIER – Apr. 15, 2006, Arnold, MD
Player Roster:
Name City Remarks
Zion Zvi New York City, NY Terrific young player from NYC by way of Tel Aviv, and the only one of 30 who never lost. Zion's win 125-117 over Ryan McCreesh was as intense and courageous a pool match as you'll ever see.
Ryan McCreesh Hagerstown, MD In the final loser side match vs. Eddie Deska, Ryan really showed his stuff, likely a career best 14.1 match, when after Ed fouled to go -1, Ryan ran 100 & out to win the loser side.
Ed Deska Prince Frederick, MD
After beginning to play at 9:30 am Sat. Ed did not begin his final match until 3:55 am on Sunday morning!
Always tough to the very end, Ed had by far the worst draw but made the best of it. He beat Curtis Branker and then Mike Davis only to be rewarded having to play Ryan McCreesh who put him on the loss side. Ed then ground his way thru the loser side defeating Prinsloo, Lincoln, Moody & Davis again before finally losing his in his 8 th match of a very long day in a truly remarkable game vs. McCreesh.
Mike Davis College Park, MD Little need to be said about Mike, and as all of his opponents know his reputation precedes him and is not understated. Mike beat loads of people while losing twice to tough Eddie Deska.
Alvin Thomas Elkridge, MD What a smooth stroke. Alvin won three straight before losing to Ryan & then Mike Davis. No disgrace for sure.
Ed Moody Gaithersburg, MD Great tournament & nice to see Ed back playing 14.1. Three wins before losing to young NY phenom Zion Zvi and then to Ed Deska.
Andy Lincoln Columbia, MD As we all know, a very underrated player who plays in our 14.1 league. Andy had an out-standing tournament, with 3 wins and a very close loss to eventual winner Zion Zvi. Someday when Zion is a world renown player Andy will relay tales of his close lose to the grandchildren!
Joey Ryan Washington DC Well known in these parts, and becoming more so week to week. Joey had a strong showing with 3 great wins before a final losses to Zvi & Davis.
Justin Veronick Hanover, PA One of the vastly improved young players in our local 14.1 league. Ask me I know! Fine match vs. me Justin, and also vs. Joey Ryan.
Sueyen Rhee Arlington, VA Talk about a beautiful lady with a beautiful game, and who played very very well. This is the lady! A delightful person who has beaten me often, but always a pleasure to play. Thanks for participating, Sueyen, and your task is to bring along some more of the ladies! And I don't think the gentlemen will mind at all.
Nick Prinsloo Reston, VA Thanks to those years of Snooker, Nick plays great on these small tables with big pockets. And of course the shorts were a definite help.
Rolando Aravena New York City, MD A classy NYC player and Mgr. at Amsterdam Billiards there. Beat Justin Veronick & Frank Heck before losing to Ed Moody & then Mike Davis.
Peter Burrows Annapolis, MD Got to play Irving Crane! I can tell my grand kids too. Running this tournament was my reward.
Buddy Chilton Gainesville, VA A good player, and one who will be sorely missed
when he moves his strong game to TX in a few days. Buddy has long been one of the top players in our area and we will miss him.
Frank Heck Pasadena, MD Frank had a good tournament, and hopefully now he has really been bitten by the 14.1 bug.
David Hunt Richmond, VA Dr. Dave pulled a tough draw right out of the gate in a loss to Ryan McCreesh, then two solid wins before getting knocked out by Mike Davis.
Curtis Branker Baltimore, MD Got a tough draw and lost 1st two to Ed Deska & then to Patrick O'Neill.
Michael Yednak New York City, NY Another of those silky smooth stroking New Yorkers, and I was reminded of Ginky. And Mike likes our dress code too. I have to say the three NY players were just a great addition to our tournament and we hope you guys will return. Michael played well as evidenced by tough losses to Joey & Buddy, two of our very best players.
Carl Carlsen Glen Burnie, MD As in any tournament there will always be players who get a tough draw and cannot pull out a win, or maybe only one. I hope everyone enjoyed the tournament and will play in the next one, Open of 32 players, hopefully to be in December. I think we will go to a round robin format in the begining so each player will play a min. of 3 games and the two finalists will play 7 games altogether. This will be a round robin with 8 brackets of 4 players each playing vs. the others, with top two advancing to a 16 player single elimination tournament. Details to follow but I believe it will work very well & be much shorter. Peter B.
Bob Corcoran Owings, MD
Bill Corrigan California, MD
Michael Gellert Severna Park, MD
Brian Keggins Catonsville, MD
Frank Kolbe Towson, MD
Tony Kolbe Crofton, MD
Myke Munoz Rosedale, MD
Jeff Murray Ashburn, VA
Patrick O'Neill Pasadena, MD
Mark Ploss Baltimore, MD
Frank Silvaggio Arnold, MD
ive played him before and lost 3-6. he's a hell of a good player. not as known as the bigger guys, like alex lely, nvdb etc, but beekers and schmidt are THE top players and ull hear alot more from them. GRatz and gl to those guys. thx for posting the link