Category: Features

TEAM USA recovered from a first day hammering at the PartyPoker.net Mosconi Cup as they put themselves right back into contention, winning three matches to Europe’s two at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Stellar performances from the Americans saw them level the match at 4-4, before the Europeans derailed their momentum to take the final two games and move into the fourth day with a two point lead.

Van den Berg / Feijen 5-6 Archer / Van Boening
Ralf Souquet 1-6 Mike Dechaine
Appleton / Melling 5-6 Putnam / Morris
Nick Van den Berg 6-1 Johnny Archer
Souquet / Melling 6-2 Van Boening / MorriS

left to right:      2nd Place   Carl Yusuf Khan,  1st Place  Billy Cheng;       3rd Place   Dave Shlemperis

Allison and Craig embrace after an emotional victory against China

Hangzhou,China-  Team England’s Allison Fisher and Craig Osborne fought their way from death to overcome pre-tournament favorite China en route to a semi-final birth at the Taobao.com World Mixed Doubles. England fell behind at the end of the match, but a crucial miss from China gave a small window of opportunity that led to a final game showdown. The victory from England gave them the momentum to win their next match and reach the semi-finals.

Team Philippines Reyes & Amit escaped two heart pounding 8-7 victories

Hangzhou,China- Efren Reyes and Rubilen Amit are en route to defend their World Mixed Doubles title as they eked out another 8-7 victory over the very strong Chinese Taipei Team of Pei Chen Tsai and Fong Pang Chao. This year’s event is exponentially tougher than the one they won before.

WITH THE 2011 PartyPoker.net Mosconi Cup fast approaching, one of two debutants in the event, Rhode Island’s Mike Dechaine, looks ahead to the tournament and what it means to be representing the USA in pool’s toughest proposition.

Dechaine has enjoyed a stellar year that saw him win the Ultimate 10 Ball event and enjoy a host of high finishes that eventually saw him finish third in the US Mosconi Rankings.

“œWords really can’t describe how I feel – all I can do is go out there and try to give a 100%,” said Dechaine.

“œI am sure I will be a little overwhelmed as well, but that should wear off after day four! It should be fun and I feel proud, honored, excited, and maybe even a little scared. This is the big leagues and these are the best players in the world.”

Left to right: Tara Williams, Sergio Lopez ““ Casper’s General Manager, Lisa Marr, Roy & Kathy Robinson ““ Casper’s Owners

The final stop of the OB Cues Ladies Tour for 2011 was more exciting than ever based on three important factors.  For the 1^st time in the tour’s history, the last event of the year was $3,000 added monies, $1K more than the normal added dollars.  Secondly, the OB Cues Tour Champion spot was up for grabs as several contenders were vying to unseat 3-time Tour Champion Lisa Marr.   And finally a new award of Best Sportsman would be voted by the players out of four nominated players.

TAP, LLC returns from another roll of the dice, in Las Vegas NV !

Little River, SC. Nov. 23rd, 2011 -  TAP Players from all over the USA and Canada. The best of the best from each TAP territory, won their trips to the TAP Nationals event held in Las Vegas, NV  November 9^th through the 14^th.

Photo by John Hall

Ga Young Kim Wins WPBA Tour Championship!
Kim Defeats Hall of Famer Allison Fisher 7-5 in ESPN Televised Final
LINCOLN CITY, OR – After defeating Vivian Villarreal by a convincing 7-2 score in the semifinals of the WPBA Tour Championships, #1 ranked Ga Young Kim defeated Hall of Famer Allison Fisher 7-5 to take the tour’s culminating season title!

Fisher looked prime to be a favored contender against Kim after her sound defeat of Jeanette Lee 7-1 in her semifinal match. But Kim came on strong in the final match, opening with a two rack run. A scratch in the third rack put Fisher at the table to run out 2-1, and with a break and run quickly tied the match 2-2. Fisher then pulled ahead 3-2, only to be answered by another win from Kim to tie it up 3-3.

Ga Young Kim won the next three racks to lead 6-3, just one game away from the title, but Allison fought back with a clever masse in game ten, followed by a break and run to trail 5-6. She broke, played safe on the one, but left Ga Young Kim a long cut shot. Kim made the cut and ran out to take the game, match and title victory!

Manila, Philippines-  Great Britain’s Kelly Fisher accomplished her life goal of becoming the World Champion in pool. Fisher maintained her undefeated run in Manila to race to the Yalin World Championship title with her 10-4 dismantling of Taiwan’s Pei Chen Tsai. Fisher excelled in a field that had 70 pro players worldwide vying for the title, and fought for 5 days winning 9 matches in a row in the sport’s hardest tournament to win.