UK Open 2025 Telford, UK, May 6-11

sjm said:
Given that so many of the stars of the WNT (Fedor Gorst, SVB, FSR, Jeff Roda, Anton Raga, James Aranas, Dennis Grabe, Ko Pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung, Albin Ouschan and others) were no shows, maybe some youtube celebrities are just what is needed to keep things entertaining for those in attendance.
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They do it at the US Open also.
 
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Bob Jewett said:
A couple of the reasons have already been given here:

There is a huge billiard trade show in China. Sponsored players are expected to schmooze and be amazing.

The Filipino players had some problem with visas.

Also, in 256 entries, you can always expect a number of people to have issues even without the above. I think there were five or so in the European Open who did not show up.
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Ultimately, the reasons don't matter. The fans want the most elite fields in pool's major championships. Here are the Top 7 based on Fargo:
  1. Joshua Filler DEU858
  2. Ameer Ali IRQ851
  3. Fedor Gorst USA846
  4. Pin-Yi Ko TWN845
  5. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz ESP844
  6. Shane Van Boening USA843
  7. Ping-Chung Ko TWN843
Exactly one of them is in the UK Open field. Have we ever seen this level of absenteeism among the elite in a major? Yes, it happened during the rift of 1976 when the PPPA formed, when many elite players skipped the US Open 14.1 event, but I can't remember it happening since.
 
sjm said:
Ultimately, the reasons don't matter. The fans want the most elite fields in pool's major championships. Here are the Top 7 based on Fargo:
  1. Joshua Filler DEU858
  2. Ameer Ali IRQ851
  3. Fedor Gorst USA846
  4. Pin-Yi Ko TWN845
  5. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz ESP844
  6. Shane Van Boening USA843
  7. Ping-Chung Ko TWN843
Exactly one of them is in the UK Open field. Have we ever seen this level of absenteeism among the elite in a major? Yes, it happened during the rift of 1976 when the PPPA formed, when many elite players skipped the US Open 14.1 event, but I can't remember it happening since.
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ameer ali's fargo isn't 851 in reality. the rest are at the chinese billiards expo, likely because of sponsor contracts / agreements. MR shouldve announced the dates for this event earlier and not left players in the dark. it's been a scheduling fuggup. it still is actually (when is spanish open, world cup of pool?)
 
Holy crap, Eklent Kaci is losing by a few racks on the other stream table and is now literally taking 5 minutes in between shots. This is beyond brutal to watch.
 
hunter lombardo beating neuhausen is a bit of an upset. also big kaci seems to be losing to fraser patrick
 
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skogstokig said:
ameer ali's fargo isn't 851 in reality. the rest are at the chinese billiards expo, likely because of sponsor contracts / agreements. MR shouldve announced the dates for this event earlier and not left players in the dark. it's been a scheduling fuggup. it still is actually (when is spanish open, world cup of pool?)
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Who is at fault here is not what I'm posting about. We all know about the expo and the scheduling issues. As fans, however, all we see is the product, and for a major championship, this product comes out a little weak.

When anyone that customarily offers a first-rate product offers anything less, every consumer feels short-changed. Still, it will all be forgotten if we get super-elite fields at the Florida Open and the US Open.
 
4 Americans made it through the the last 64, only Hunter Lombardo made it via the winners side...

Hunter Lombardo, Sam Henderson, Skyler Woodward, Tyler Styer
 
yea looking good for the favorite filler now with several title contenders already out.

taiwan player lin ta li is an unknown entity. no fargorate, but obviously good enough to beat feijen and go unscathed to single elim
 
Tyler will face Filler if they both win their first round of the last 64. That would be great for Tyler's confidence!

Badpenguin said:
4 Americans made it through the the last 64, only Hunter Lombardo made it via the winners side...

Hunter Lombardo, Sam Henderson, Skyler Woodward, Tyler Styer
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I watched the Hunter / Moritz match. Hunter shot really well! Moritz scratched and blew shape more than usual.
 
A lot of surprise entries in Stage 2, and some of them have a pretty good draw. Quite likely we will see a player outside of the Fargo Top 100 (Fargo 788+) reach the quarterfinals.

Good luck to the 64 fine players that remain.
 
FrankieD said:
Tyler will face Filler if they both win their first round of the last 64. That would be great for Tyler's confidence!



I watched the Hunter / Moritz match. Hunter shot really well! Moritz scratched and blew shape more than usual.
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Hunter has claimed some big scalps over the years but has not been consistent enough to make deep runs at the majors. This is a big opportunity and I wish him well.
 
Who was the best player in Stage 1? It may have been Pijus Labutis, who won 27 racks and lost 4.
 
skogstokig said:
yea looking good for the favorite filler now with several title contenders already out.

taiwan player lin ta li is an unknown entity. no fargorate, but obviously good enough to beat feijen and go unscathed to single elim
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Lin Ta Li is dangerous. Took a lot of money from a friend of mine haha not so much an unknown here, but in the world of Fargo, maybe.
 
2 Finnish players in last 64. Uski is solid and did beat Oi earlier... New name for most of people is SUPER FAST paced Arseni Sevastyanov. He was player of the year 2024 in Finland. Won pool, Pyramid and Finnish Kaisa, Finnish Championchips last year.
I lost semis vs him last weekend in small open in our club. He played perfect match and my break did not work so it took about 15 min to finish me 8-1. I got one chance and ran that out...
If you can watch him play and like fast pool check him out. I don´t know how fast he is on 4 inch pockets but Finnish Kaisa tables are very tight and he plays that fast too.
took some info from his instapage...

Athlete
21v
🇫🇮Pool Player
2x Nordic Champion
🇫🇮Player of the Year 20, 22, 24
23x SM🥇
EC🥇U23, 8-ball
Straight pool 196
Spot Ball WR 149
Line Up WR 1253
 
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