SJM Final Thoughts on the World 14.1 Event

sjm · 2014-08-10T16:35:24+00:00

Advance apologies to Europeans and Asians alike for writing this tournament review offered from the vantage point of an American pool fan. Well, it's all over now. England's Darren Appleton is our deserving champion, beating a killer field. I'm still taking it all in, but thanks kindly to Steinway Billiards, Dragon Promotions, Dr Fedak and all who made the World 14.1 event happen. Manny, the proprietor and host at Steinway, rolled out the red carpet for players, fans and staff alike and saw to it that everybody's needs were attended to and then some. Steinway's dining menu must also be taken note of, with the food offerings being the very best in the New York City pool scene, perhaps only rivaled in the Northeast by the food at Snookers in Providence. The tournament officials, led by the always exceptional John Leyman, performed admirably. The Field Brutally difficult, the field included established veteran stars of 14.1 like Hohmann, Immonen, Schmidt, Robles, Archer, Eberle, Eckert, Hatch, Cohen, Appleton and others. Nine ball stars willing to take a stab at 14.1 included America's two best players, Van Boening and Dechaine, as well as Mosconi hopefuls Sossei and Bergman. Sharpshooters Jayson Shaw, Corey Deuel, Evgeny Stalev were also in the mix. Warren Kiamco, who had won the Steinway 10-ball event, had to be taken very seriously. Proven veteran Dave Daya was present and BCA Hall of Famer Jeanette Lee, owner of a 152 ball run, also tried her hand in the event. The Round Robin Hohmann, Robles, and Van Boening all went 5-0 in the round robin, but some others expected to do well stumbled, with Hatch failing to advance out of his group, and Schmidt and Archer managing just third in their groups. Turning more than a few heads was German Qualifier Andre Lackner, who won what seemed the toughest group, which contained Archer, Dechaine, Daya and Hatch. Seemingly all the sharpshooting American nine ball stars advanced, with Van Boening, Dechaine, Sossei, and Bergman all moving on. Jeanette Lee narrowly missed advancing. Former champion Stephan Cohen also failed to get out of his group. Round 2 The event was practically turned upside down when, in Thursday's first session, Immonen lost to Dechaine, Schmidt lost to Eberle, and Hohmann lost to Strickland, but each of them had another life. Immonen managed to advance by beating and eliminating Schmidt and Hohmann ran into a red hot Kiamco, who bested and eliminated him. Mosconi Cup hopeful Sossei, who had beaten Van Boening in the Steinway Classic 10-ball event, failed to reach the final 16, but Van Boening, Dechaine, and Bergman joined veteran American 14.1 players Eberle, Robles, Archer, Strickland and Deuel by advancing to the final 16. America was very well represented in the single elimination portion of the tournament with eight players, while Europe had seven (Stalev, Shaw, Appleton, Immonen, Eckert, Fulcher, and Lackner ) and Asia had one (Kiamco). The Round of Sixteen In the round of 16, Van Boening was the story, running 74 and then 126 to crush Archer 200-10. Bergman was not up to the task against Stalev, but Robles beat Fulcher, Eberle topped Eckert , and Dechaine bested Kiamco to reach the quarterfinals. The Quarterfinals Remarkably enough, each quarterfinal featured one American and one European, noteworthy because Europe has dominated this event in recent years. Eberle edged Lackner, Van Boening easily beat Immomnen, Appleton topped Dechaine in a very tight one and Stalev came from behind to beat Robles. America would have two of the semifinalists in Van Boening and Eberle and was holding its own against the Europeans. The Semifinals Appleton came out slowly against Stalev, but down 123-87, he ran 106 to seize the lead and control of the match to earn a spot in the finals. In a long, grinding, but well-played match, Van Boening's lead on Eberle vanished when Max ran 111. At 182-180, though, Eberle scratched off the pack on a break shot and Shane ran out to earn the second spot in the finals. The Final To be fair, Shane was just a spectator for this one. On his first good look at the table, Darren ran 70 and scratched on a break shot, leaving him at 69. On his very next inning, he ran 131 and out. In fact, Darren pocketed every single ball he attempted, scratching on one of them. It was a beating of the highest order, and Shane was quick to acknowledge Darren's excellence in the closing ceremony. Darren has now finished third, second and first in the last three of these events. The Takeaways Darren must now be reckoned an established superstar of 14.1. Max Eberle, who nearly beat Hohmann in the 2013 event, is the real deal. Shane is getting very good at 14.1 and looks like he may hoist this event's trophy at some point. Mike Dechaine, who beat Hatch, Archer, and Immonen showed he can play this game well. America had a rock solid showing against the always brilliant Europeans. The Hall of Fame Dinner On Wednesday night, the annual hall of fame dinner took place, in which Jim Rempe and Frank Stellman were inducted. I've known Jim Rempe since the 1970's and was delighted to see him, but Frank "the Sailor" Stellman is someone I'd only heard about from my friends in the Midwest. I was looking forward to meeting him, but his friend Tom Karabotsos announced that health issues necessitated Frank's cancellation. The stories told of Frank "the Sailor" Stellman's camaraderie with and influence on many accomplished pros who went onto great things were interesting. His exceptional qualities were evident in a letter read out loud that was submitted by esteemed pro, instructor, and Mosconi Cup captain Mark Wilson. Mark's genuine reverence for Frank appeared limitless. The best stories we heard from Karabotsos were those concerning Stellman's time with Mosconi. According to Tom, once upon a time, while Mosconi and Stellman sweated a pro match together, Willie quietly commented to Frank "they sure don't shoot like us, do they?" Frank, we learned, was humbled but also excited that Mosconi had spoken to him as a peer. The main presenter for the induction of Jim Rempe was none other than Earl Strickland, who stole the show. After speaking of their time together traveling overseas early in Earl's career, Earl spoke generously of Jim's accomplishments and of some of his losses to Jim, but in classic Earl style, he added "of course, Jim, I did torch you a few times, too." Jeanette Lee spoke briefly of how Rempe had inspired her in her youth, and Earl Herring, who competed against Jim when Rempe was in his prime, spoke briefly about the good old days. Jim spoke well, too, and to the delight of the attendees, endorsed 14.1 as the best of all pool's games. Curiously, he made the observation that 14.1 is a better game on slow cloth, a comment I'm still thinking about. The food at the banquet was magnificent and, courtesy of Dr. Fedak, there was an open bar. Socially I caught up with a lot of friends and made a few new ones. If you were there and we got to chat and/or hang out, it was fun. If you were there and I failed to catch up, I regret it. Let's do it again soon. Finally Tournament champion Darren Appleton is getting married next Saturday. On behalf of pool fans everywhere, I'll wish him and his lovely bride-to-be Angie the best of everything. Two things I'm sure of: a) Darren has great taste in women, and b) Angie has great taste in men.