Author: Paul

Luc Salvas with Scott Sullens of Fusion Tables (left) and Ivan Lee of Simonis Coth

The 2009 ESPN ZONE BILLIARDS SHOOTOUT was held September 16 in Las Vegas. Luc Salvas defeated Dave Pearson for the INTERNATIONAL SPEED POOL CHALLENGE crown and the $25,000 purse. ESPN Zone Las Vegas was host to the event, which was taped for three 1-hour telecasts on ESPN November 15..
The Fourth Annual INTERNATIONAL SPEED POOL CHALLENGE drew an international lineup battling for the $25,000 winner-take-all prize. The action in Speed Pool is fast and furious (the speed of light compared to  9-ball) with two sets, twelve racks in each set, the first set Straight Pool and the second set 8-Ball. Players routinely run racks of fifteen balls in about 1-minute and the player with the lowest accumulated time for twelve racks wins the match.
Salvas of Canada and Pearson, a native of England, emerged from the pack as the top guns. In the Championship Match, Salvas overcame Pearson by scores of 7:37 / 7:43 minutes the first set and 8:31 / 10:41 minutes the second set to capture the title and $25,000. In the match, Salvas ran five perfect racks for a bonus of 50 seconds deducted from his overall time.  In semifinal action, Salvas zipped past Jason Kane  8:16 / 8:31 in the first set and 9:58 / 10:35 in the second set. The other semifinal saw Person zap Bobby McGarth, the 2008 Champion, in straight sets 7:38 / 8:10 and 8:40 / 9:32. Pearson, who holds several Speed Pool records in the Guinness Book of World Records, displayed excellent form to defeat McGarth, who also won the event in 2007. Even then, it went to the last rack of the second set to decide the match.

Korean phenom, Yu Ram Cha, certainly had her work cut out for her going into day 5 of the Women’s Pro 9-Ball Tournament at the Galveston World Classic, but would prove to be up for the challenge. Cha had suffered a loss in early rounds to Allison Fisher but would have her chance at revenge.

Joining the ranks of the new Shooting Star Classic champs is Brad Krystofiak of Cambridge, Minnesota. Krystofiak soared through the field of 128 players in the Men’s Open division without losing a match. In fact, the only to get more than two games on him was runner-up Cullen Newton, in the final match of the tournament. The modest Krystofiak did not want to comment on his stellar performance claiming, “œI got lucky a few times.”

Reyes and Bustamante win World Cup of Pool again

PHILIPPINES B have won the 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool

The pairing of Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes defeated the German duo of Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet 11-9 in an incredible final full of twists, turns and drama.

photos courtesy Jerry Tarantola

Cohen made history as France’s first World Pool Champion Stephan’s Cohen name will be inscribed as the 69th Champion of the World 14.1 Tournament

photo courtesy Jerry Tarantola
Deuel will enter the next stage of the event as #2 seed, and the top seeded American

Parsippany, New Jersey- Oliver Ortmann’s dominance of Group 2 has been unparelled compared to the previous years of the Predator World 14.1 as he utterly blitzkreiged his opponents. Ortmann held all of his opponents to 10 points or less, with two matches where he ran perfect 100’s . Surprisingly is USA’s Corey Deuel and Charlie Williams who not only went undefeated in their groups, but edged out the Europeans to take the #2 and #3 spots in the stage 2 cut of the Predator 69th World 14.1 Championship presented by Ozone Billiards. The Dragon Promotions revived event is in its 4th consecutive year alive with help of industry giants such as Predator, Ozone Billiards, Brunswick Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Master Chalk, Aramith Balls, Accu-Stats and the Laser Rack. Comet Billiards will host this year’s event which will start play on August 24, 2009 and end August 29. The greatest straight pool players from around the world will arrive on USA’s east coast again to New Jersey, and attend this prestigious event to play for the coveted title of World Straight Pool Champion.