WNT Hanoi Open 2025, Vietnam, Oct 7-12

I'm far from being a fire marshal, but I suspect it's not up to US codes. There are definitely exits, but fewer and tighter than one typically sees in US venues. Of course, the sparkly background sheets might be disguising other exits. I've not examined that closely.
 
Chances are fortunatly slim, but there have been terrible disasters. Much like the fire in the Station Nightclub. The place is packed, organisers shut doors, few exits. When you said there is just one toilet it popped into my mind thst fire safety might also not be up to par.

Probably nothing, though! Id love to be there one day.
 
Really weird stuff here. I'm currently watching a match on the TV2 table on Youtube, and there are no graphics, no commentary, no nothing whatsoever. No names of players or the score of the match. I have no idea who I'm watching play or who's winning.

Other than that they've got the pockets really cinched down tight on that table. I guess that's good for modern day 9-Ball and the level of the players today. No one, and I mean absolutely not one spectator is watching this match. What if they had a pool tournament and nobody came? It looks like a ghost town there.
 
Really weird stuff here. I'm currently watching a match on the TV2 table on Youtube, and there are no graphics, no commentary, no nothing whatsoever. No names of players or the score of the match. I have no idea who I'm watching play or who's winning.

Other than that they've got the pockets really cinched down tight on that table. I guess that's good for modern day 9-Ball and the level of the players today. No one, and I mean absolutely not one spectator is watching this match. What if they had a pool tournament and nobody came? It looks like a ghost town there.
Someone must have heard me because low and behold there are now graphics on the screen. Gariando and Januarta. Actually they are both good players. I guess the graphics person was on a coffee break.

Januarta makes a really nice clean run out and is playing a soft draw shot for position from the eight to the nine. It's a common everyday shot we see all the time, except.....this time. The cue ball drifts an extra inch and Januarta is corner hooked by the point of the side pocket. I call it the Sigel corner hook. He must kick at the nine and fouls. 4-1 Gariando now.
 
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No one, and I mean absolutely not one spectator is watching this match. What if they had a pool tournament and nobody came? It looks like a ghost town there.
That match is up against a lot of vietnamese matches, and, until a few minutes ago, the Fedor match. Plenty of spectators around for those.
 
This and the Reyes Cup were a good excuse for a vacation to places I'd never been.

The arena is nice. Even with AC it's a touch warm and humid. That's about the only negative I can find. Well, one more: sparse bathrooms. Only one set for spectators that I've found.

I can already tell this place will be a madhouse the last couple days. All Vetnamese matches get a crowd, but Duong Quoc Hoang is on his own level. His last match, a 9-0 win (he played otherworldly by the way--a deserved nickname), was standing room only, and every spectator stayed the entire time and cheered every shot, long after the outcome was clear.

If he stays in until the finals the arena might collapse into a black hole.
see you tonight, or tomorrow...

there are 2 rest rooms on 2 wings of the venue
Serious question: hows fire safety in the venue? Easy exits?
no worries, it's an indoor gymnasium, and tons of doors and exits, Matchroom just requesting to cover them so no sunlight get in, I was in the organizing crew last year, I know this
 
Really weird stuff here. I'm currently watching a match on the TV2 table on Youtube, and there are no graphics, no commentary, no nothing whatsoever. No names of players or the score of the match. I have no idea who I'm watching play or who's winning.

Other than that they've got the pockets really cinched down tight on that table. I guess that's good for modern day 9-Ball and the level of the players today. No one, and I mean absolutely not one spectator is watching this match. What if they had a pool tournament and nobody came? It looks like a ghost town there.
Matchroom reserves the right to broadcast on WNTTV and youtube with clean source, but only WNTTV have graphics, and they only do commentary on TTV

Vietcontent reserves the right to livestream on youtube but only to certain Asian countries and territories... sorry for your experience
 
Brutal day for the 830+ players. FSR, Fedor, Chua, Raga are all out, all against sub-800 players, some below it by quite a bit.

Arseni deserved every inch of his win vs FSR. Watch his runout on rack 14, then watch him confidently dominate til the end.

George Antonakis v Fedor was a little less emphatic. George played some great safeties, but also missed lucky a ton. Every miss, in fact. Fedor got one clean look the last four racks.

Souto looked great against Chua. Only had half an eye on that one. I never saw any of the Raga match, but it was shockingly lopsided.

The last three racks of Lukas' match are worth a watch. Gotta feel for the kid, who had a great run.

Lechner v Krause (not streamed) was one of the slowest, ugliest slogs I've ever watched in a pro match. Lots of misses on both sides right out of the gate. Max caught a gear for a few games then they both regressed back to seemingly two league players. After 3+ hours, the last rack was one neither wanted, with 4 or 5 misses in the last four balls. Max pulled it out after a straight-in, down-the-rail miss on the 9 by Krause, but it was dicey to say the least.

Overall, it's tons of fun here. Too hot and humid even in the venue, but the crowd is really into it and the matches have been great to watch. Can't wait for the final two days!
 
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I didn’t see the Gorst match, but Chua did himself in. Made two huge positional errors, up 1-0 and then 4-2. Leading 4-2, he badly overran position on the 8 on what should have been an easy shot. He then missed the 8.

Souto followed with the lucky roll of the tourney. He tried to bank the 8 into the bottom left corner, and it fluked into the top left corner. He won to make it 4-3 and soon took the lead. Chua should have been up 5-2 and breaking.

Tough loss for Lukas, but he had the worst miss of the tournament. Caused him to fall behind early and play catchup the rest of the way.
 
Brutal day for the 830+ players. FSR, Fedor, Chua, Raga are all out, all against sub-800 players, some below it by quite a bit.

Arseni deserved every inch of his win vs FSR. Watch his runout on rack 14, then watch him confidently dominate til the end.

George Antonakis v Fedor was a little less emphatic. George played some great safeties, but also missed lucky a ton. Every miss, in fact. Fedor got one clean look the last four racks.

Souto looked great against Chua. Only had half an eye on that one. I never saw any of the Raga match, but it was shockingly lopsided.

The last three racks of Lukas' match are worth a watch. Gotta feel for the kid, who had a great run.

Lechner v Krause (not streamed) was one of the slowest, ugliest slogs I've ever watched in a pro match. Lots of misses on both sides right out of the gate. Max caught a gear for a few games then they both regressed back to seemingly two league players. After 3+ hours, the last rack was one neither wanted, with 4 or 5 misses in the last four balls. Max pulled it out after a straight-in, down-the-rail miss on the 9 by Krause, but it was dicey to say the least.

Overall, it's tons of fun here. Too hot and humid even in the venue, but the crowd is really into it and the matches have been great to watch. Can't wait for the final two days!

i believe you, because cloth is sloooow.

100% agree on arseni, that was great fun to watch lol. he has no fear. zero. and stomps around like tony drago.

did not see antonakis but i know who he is and he should have a buzzing shot clock strapped to his ankle wherever he goes. was he slow against fedor?
 
Man I was so excited about raga the mystery man. He had that one tournament where he looked clearly better than everyone and lost to alcaide on a poor decision. He's not had a run since then.

Fedor injury announcement coming soon

Yapp and biado still looking strong.
 
Woodward lost an 8-4 lead after a series of terrible unforced errors, including hung balls, poor safety play and an all-ball foul.

I have to admit, I was sort of disgusted. I've always liked watching him play, but he was visibly nonchalant at the Florida Open in a way I've never seen from a top player. He went out early in that event.

Sky was more focused and consistent in the Peri, but against Robert Gomez in Hanoi, I saw a consistent lack of focus and concentration. Whatever he needs to do - practice more, get coaching, take Niels's mental training courses - he needs to do it. I've gotten to the point I don't like watching him. At least this time he seemed to care and was very frustrated with himself.

Lot of talk Jeremy Jones will pick Sky for Team World so it can have a native-born American. I will be disgusted wiith Matchroom, for the first time, if they allow it. He in no way deserves a spot on Team World. If not Shane, then no one.
 
Looks like the inevitable has happened. Unless Antonakis hoists the trophy, somebody will win the Hanoi Open without having to meet any of SVB, Filler, Gorst, Ko Pin Yi, Ko Ping Chung or FSR in Stage 2. For all the Cinderellas out there, this is your big chance, even though some superstars are still in the draw.

Nonetheless, some great pool is on display and a very deserving champion will be crowned this weekend. It's not easy to pick a winner, but Yapp, who has likely already wrapped up 2025 player of the year, is certainly in with a chance to make it four WNT majors in a row, and what a story that would be.

I'm intrigued by the fact that we may see Shaw vs Lechner in the round of 16. They've had a good rivalry this year, with Max prevailing in Stage 2 at the Florida Open but Shaw getting his revenge in Stage 2 of the US Open 9ball. They seem to produce great matches.

Perhaps this event is best interpreted as a reminder of how deep the Asian talent pool really is and how far the Vietnamese players have come as cueists. Count me among those who has never heard of Dinh Chan Kiet, yet he has beaten Anton Raga and Jeff Roda back-to-back to reach Day 5. If anyone out there knows anything about him, please do share.

Those who said that the Hanoi Open would be an amazing event despite the absence of some of pool's biggest names have been proven 100% right. I'm doing my best to navigate the eleven-hour time difference between Hanoi and New York City, but I'll find a way to watch as much as possible.

Good luck to all the fine players that remain. As Earl Strickland would say, "this is going to be epic." Matchroom strikes again with a breathtaking WNT major.
 
Man I was so excited about raga the mystery man. He had that one tournament where he looked clearly better than everyone and lost to alcaide on a poor decision. He's not had a run since then.
Raga hasn't really done anything since the European Open a few years ago and I don't really expect him too. The top players are consistent. He is not.

Yapp and biado still looking strong.
Yapp, Biado, Duong, Neuhausen, Labutis.

I thought Yapp would go a bit earlier this tourney just because the odds don't favor another deep run. Capito next. We will find out soon.
 
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