World Pool Masters 2023 (10-13 May), nineball, Essex UK, Winner $40K

[decent dennis]

Ruiz goes down to Aranas

 

[skogstokig]

dodong is back! now lets see if the former fargo nr 1 zheng is too

 

[Island Drive]

Only thing I see wrong is, make em all races to 11, finals to 13 Not races to 9 at this level.

Races to 11 has proven itself to come into play with the ''law of large numbers''.

The tee box/head string break area tho.... they might consider making it Smaller.

 

[skogstokig]

All the Matchroom box office stable of darlings are dropping like flies. Feels like this event might send the spotlight on someone who's not been shining as brightly of late. Kinda exciting.

fully agree. i did have ko favorite over shaw, so that wasn't a surprise. but dodong and niels surprised me. fun to see them step up.

zheng still has great touch, 3 years out of intl competition

 

[FrankieD]

I love watching FSR dominate, but the stealthy, relentless and persistence of James Aranas's game is also quite admirable. This field does not disappoint.

 

[MattPoland]

fully agree. i did have ko favorite over shaw, so that wasn't a surprise. but dodong and niels surprised me. fun to see them step up.

zheng still has great touch, 3 years out of intl competition

I also thought Ko was favorite over Shaw. But Shaw is a go-to for Matchroom to interview and put on the posters. I absolutely love the man on and off the table so I hate to say it. I highly doubt he'll make the Mosconi Cup team on rankings and I'm starting to question whether he's the automatic lock as a wildcard like he used to be. Not to add undue pressure but he really needs to do something big pretty soon. I'm wondering if his performance is starting to strain under exactly that pressure.

 

[skogstokig]

zielinski should have put him away but hasn't. 6-6 after zheng increased the tournament golden break tally

 

[Taxi]

At the Challenge of Champions at Mohegan Sun, they played nine spots on the break one year. At double hill, Jeanette Lee made three balls on the break and hung the one over the side pocket. She had a very simple runout to win, or so it seemed. It turned out that one of the balls she made on the break was the nine, and after it spotted, she was snookered tightly behind the spotted nine and was forced to push. She lost, despite a double hill golden break.

If you make the 9 on the break and are snookered after the 9 spots, I've always thought you should get ball in hand. It's absurd that you can make the 9 on the break and wind up being penalized for it.

 

[Taxi]

The evening sees 2021 champion Alexander Kazakis take on Mario He ahead of Van Boening and Alcaide who wrap up the Round 1 action.

Wait, when did Gorst get replaced by Alcaide? What a bummer.

 

[MattPoland]

Wait, when did Gorst get replaced by Alcaide? What a bummer.

Gorst was replaced by Duong Quoc Hoang because even though he submitted his visa request timely, the UK didn't process it timely and he had to withdraw. Duong Quoc Hoang was selected (instead of the next person on the ranking list) because it was enough short notice that they felt compelled to consider additional factors beyond the ranking list including what promotional materials they have already prepared from prior events and what makes a good storyline. A grudge match with SVB was a storyline they got excited about. But Duong Quoc Hoang's visa was only for the timeframe of the UK Open and didn't permit him to arrive early for the WPM. That was a major oversight, so he was replaced by David Alcaide even more last minute for similar promotional, production and commercial considerations.

 

[Taxi]

Gorst was replaced by Duong Quoc Hoang because even though he submitted his visa request timely, the UK didn't process it timely and he had to withdraw. Duong Quoc Hoang was selected (instead of the next person on the ranking list) because it was enough short notice that they felt compelled to consider additional factors beyond the ranking list including what promotional materials they have already prepared from prior events and what makes a good storyline. A grudge match with SVB was a storyline they got excited about. But Duong Quoc Hoang's visa was only for the timeframe of the UK Open and didn't permit him to arrive early for the WPM. That was a major oversight, so he was replaced by David Alcaide even more last minute for similar promotional, production and commercial considerations.

So Gorst gets screwed by some UK immigration bureaucrat. Great, just great. There should be open borders for pool players.

 

[westcoast]

yea sometimes i go full earl when watching 9-ball. it's such a lucky game, and they jump with their lucky little sticks.

9 ball probably shouldn't count on the break

 

[Joe_Jaguar]

There should be open borders for pool players.

LMFAO

 

[skogstokig]

So Gorst gets screwed by some UK immigration bureaucrat. Great, just great. There should be open borders for pool players.

he did get screwed by bureaucracy this time. we will see him play in the european open in germany though.

 

[mikepage]

he did get screwed by bureaucracy this time. we will see him play in the european open in germany though.

We should see Gorst and Filler next week in Wisconsin

 

[boblzer0]

is there a match schedule?

 

[Joe_Jaguar]

is there a match schedule?

World Pool Masters - Matchroom Pool

matchroompool.com

 

[BlueRaider]

Three nines on the break doesn't mean the game is broken and neither would five. I saw David Smith make three straight tens on the break against Strickland playing ten-ball at a PBT event in Cherry Hill, NJ in what I believe was 1998, and it decided the match.

As a veteran sitting in the stands, I know that golden breaks are exciting for most of the fans in attendance and they help market professional pool. Yes, Lechner had 3 and Soufi had just 1, but Lechner won six of the other nine racks and was the deserving winner. Pat Fleming once told me that a golden break is a 3% chance and that sounds about right, and I'll look forward to learning the final golden break rate for this World Pool Masters.

At the Challenge of Champions at Mohegan Sun, they played nine spots on the break one year. At double hill, Jeanette Lee made three balls on the break and hung the one over the side pocket. She had a very simple runout to win, or so it seemed. It turned out that one of the balls she made on the break was the nine, and after it spotted, she was snookered tightly behind the spotted nine and was forced to push. She lost, despite a double hill golden break.

My philosophy is to embrace the randomness of sports or risk dying from the boredom.

I'm thinking we may be a little higher than 3% golden breaks at this WPM. Seems like we're seeing 1-2 minimum per set.

I don't mind it, though. They aren't all dropping in the bottom corner pockets. I've seen them go in both side pockets, too.

 

[boblzer0]

Is Shane playing now but they're showing a different match?

 

[MattPoland]

Is Shane playing now but they're showing a different match?

Nope. SVB is the next match.