God and the Boy
A cozy 20 man MNT last night saw races to 7 all the way,three newcomers hit the baize - Cedric Huang, Gabriel Welham, and Freddie Young – a couple of hill hill battles drawn out longer than this winter, and some veritable thrashings.
With Jedi Jamma away in Rio and Tash still counting his recent winnings, this week had the flair of Rod Altes (massive early tournament favourite at 6/5) at the helm, the new-school OG, Sunny Boy Garib (9/4) nipping on his heels, and Gabriel (3/1) and Ciprian (10/3) hanging onto their coat tails bidding for their second title of 2023.
Henri the Hammer Linnainmaa started us off against Freddie Young on the not-so-bucket Brunswick, and after a screaming clearance by Young and a rock solid reply from the Fin to level it up, there was a feeling it'd be a doozie. Toe to toe they battled, with patches of well executed safety and the odd rail shot rattle, neither would yield as other matches started, finished, and restarted around them.
Meanwhile, on table 1, Ciprian warmed up his cue arm against Peter Hsu in double quick time, as did God did on table 6 vs Arul, both sacrificing their opponents on the poolfurnace, 7 racks to 1.
Meanwhile, on table 6, Ali took a storming lead against Gabriel and missed position for a 3-0 and was made to pay(painful reminders, on the same table, of Andy C fluffing a bank for 3-0 up against Ram in a race to 4, 10 ball – history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes).
At 5-6 down Ali had another 6, 7, 8, 9 to rock to hill hill but as so often happens in American 9 ball, losing a fraction of position on the 7 led to a 50-50 pot which he made, and was left slightly out of place on the 8 ball but left a tough 9, where the jaws were waiting and that was all she wrote, Gabriel advancing 7-5.
Back to the Henri Freddie saga and we re-join them for a tense 9th frame, locked in at 4-4, both refusing to take risks to leave t’other on. Freddie, a mainstay on the GB9 tour, was itching for the win to start his MNT career and eventually eyed a long 7 ball to go for. But the Brunswick is a cruel mistress, rejecting his advances. Henri had no problem hammering the last the three and taking the lead. The next three frames were tentative and defensive but Freddy the Great slid on in to take them all, winning as he did, 7-5.
In the last of the first rounds, table 1 was graced with the flow of Mr. Andrew Phan himself, taking on Genghis Khan. A classic battle of styles, Khan sliding around in slow motion in his new belt and Andrew gliding balls in like he’s on a practice table. Phan took the lead and held it all the way to the bank, but stopped just outside to smell the roses. At 6-4 up he dogged a couple and let in The Khan, who snagged three in a row for the win.
Second rounds saw Freddie Young face off against the mighty Saman – a battle destined to reach another tense final frame, Cedric Huang take on Ali Haidery, Ciprian play Gabriel Welham, Sunny v The Destroyer, Banks v Khan, Dan Jenkins v Gabriel Vasilache, and the King of Tier 2, Marius Dandu vs Ranj Sarraj.
Saman, the most improved player of 2022, had been struggling with form of late and this bout tested his mettle all the way, finally fingering Freddie 7 racks to 6 for a place in the quarters.
Table 4 saw Cedric and Ali H face off and another marathon 12 frames saw them locked at 6-6, and the newcomer edged it with a creamy finish.
Ciprian won his match without dropping a rack before any of the crowds had gathered, leaving Gabriel Welman left to rue his few chances. Cip was seen smiling after the match but offered no words. He’s a ‘pool does the talking’ kind of man. That’s 14 frames to 1 entering the quarters for the man in form.
Banks crushed a tired Khan 7-2 and obviously didn’t read his 2022 end of term report as Khan, with no hint of bitterness,rightly complained to the authorities of Curzon’s rampant running in the corridors.
Dan entered his match with Gabriel already resigned to losing. Head held low he didn’t look confident as Gabriel slaughtered him, also 7-2.
Ranj was facing the lady’s favourite, Marius Dandu, and wasn’t about to let young Dandu’s reputation put him off, screaming ahead 6-3, before finishing him off in style.
So the quarters:
Saman v Cedric; Cip v Sunny; Andy C v Rod; Gabriel v Ranj.
Unfortunately Andy and Ranj couldn’t take the heat and keep up their first round form as God smited Banks 7-2 and Gabriel announced Ranj dead after 8 frames, winning 7-1.
Cedric vs the might of Saman saw the newcomer fall to his knees at 5-7 rueing his white ball position nearing the end of the match.
The game of the quarters was definitely Cip v Sunny. Sunny has beaten Ram and Rod on the way to a final, and has been putting in some impressive performances along the way, and Cip’s been tightening his game up so it was all to play for. Sunny Boy snuck an early lead, and went up by a couple as Cip fought back, but the Boy took the bull by the horns and prevailed 7-5.
Sunny continued this into the semis, mutilating the mighty Saman 7-4, as Rod came through a tough one 7-5 vs last week’s champ, Gabriel.
And so we had a final: Sunny Boy G vs Rod Altes. Hill hillwas the only option with two men of such calibre and bottle. Rod found it in the end and took the tourney 7-6, leaving Sunny Boy having lost two finals this year hill hill, joining Martinho Correia in the many-finals-but-without-a-win club.
When will Sunny Boy G become the man? Is he just toying with us all to keep a low profile?
Tune in next week – that’s all folks!
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The Hitman and Bear Pair (kind of) Win
The beauty of Monday Night Tournaments is that we have multi-disciplined American Pool, which includes 8, 9, and 10 ball, but also 14.1 (Straight Pool), and also Blind Scotch Doubles, my personal favourite. And last night was the Blind Scotch Doubles, an event where upper ranked players are randomly paired up with lower, and that made for some very interesting pairings, especially as some of the lower ranked players could quite easily be upper half.
The question is how much of a difference does it make?
26 of the best London has to offer, signed up for the Blind Scotch Doubles, and what a night we had. As the pairings were drawn out, there were some really high quality partnerships emerging. Muhammed “He’s the Greatest” Ali and Saman Gholami are two training partners and know each other’s games so well. Hassan Shahid and Paul Choong also promised to be a lively pairing, whilst fresh off the back of his Sunday Night Tournament win, Gauhar Khan paired up with Sunny “Boy” Garib, sending a current of fear throughout the arena.
We also welcomed back to Tooting, Daria Siranchuk, one of the emerging talents in the world of pool, as she prepares for the Euro Tours, and she paired up with the dangerous, Dhari Alduraibi. Additionally, the highly rated Craig “Bear” Laurie teamed up with Glen “THE Hitman” Hargreaves, making one of the strongest pairings. Of course, all the top players were hoping to pull out Dan “the Destroyer” Suh, surely the lower half’s most dangerous player, the master of disaster, and through divine forces, Rod “the God” Altes was the lucky player to pair up with the lowest ranked player in attendance.
First off, though, was the weekly Break and Run attempt. Yet again, someone who has already had chances, entered and got selected ahead of someone who has entered every week and is still yet to be drawn out of the hat...Ali has purposefully been practicing his 10 Ball breaks just for this moment, some say he practices 100 breaks a day, and with £35 a ball, it paid off! 3 balls sunk, and with no shot on the 1 ball, Ali cashed in for £105.
The first round saw the pairing of Dhari and Daria face up to Ciaran Boylan and Oscar Li, a match that went right to the wire. Dhari and Daria were a formidable pairing, with Daria warming up for her Euro Tour matches and Dhari claiming some notable scalps since joining LFP, but they were pushed all the way by one of the most physically imposing characters, Ciaran, and Oscar who has recently joined and developing his skills nicely and showing really good technique. However, the Double D’s inched their way over the line with the might of God and the Destroyer waiting for them in the second round.
No surprise, also, that Tomasz Jedlecki and Andy “Banks” Curzon rattled through their match in double-quick time. Another formidable pairing in Tom and Andy, cruised past Dan Jenkins and Ervin Demiraj 4-0.
The second round saw the big guns really get into their games and flex their muscles. Hasssan Shahid and Paul Choong made mincemeat of Marius “Ladies’ favourite” Dandu and Sher Baig, romping home 4-0. Sunny and Khan made light work of Ciprian Dandu and Ranj Sarraj, winning 4-1, whilst Craig and Glen demonstrated why they might be considered pre-tournament favourites, by easing past Tom and Andy C. All eyes, though, were on the centre table, seeing whether God and the Destroyer could form a partnership that might terrorise the others, and despite early nerves from the Destroyer, God bailed him out to ensure a convincing victory over the Double D’s.
The quarters then saw Sunny and Khan up the ante against Hassan and Paul. Both parings playing well, but Sunny and Khan holding their nerve at hill hill, and progressing to the semis. Meanwhile, God and the Destroyer took Craig and Glen apart, capitalising on any errors to win 4-1, making this dream team the favourites with the bookies.
The semi-final in the winner’s half saw controversy as Khan had thought he had a dinner break and popped out to get his dinner, leaving his partner, Sunny, and opponents, God and the Destroyer waiting as Khan chowed down by the bar. After filing official complaints to the match referees, Khan eventually entered the arena with dinner in his left hand and cues in his right. Sunny and Khan exploded into action, with fire (and kebab) in his belly, Khan potted his team into an early lead, but God and the Destroyer were absolutely flying at this point, with God’s voice in the Destroyer’s ear, it truly was a masterclass in how Scotch Doubles partnerships can work with vastly differently ranked players.
It must be said that God does use his powers to swing a lot of luck his way. This extraordinary superpower was something to behold, as some might call it flukey, some even say their hair went ginger after years of having to face such luck, but after witnessing it firsthand, there’s no doubt that Rod has god-like powers that give him the run of the balls.
With the prospect of facing the superhuman pairing of God and the Destroyer, it was up to the Loser’s half to fight their way to have the privilege of getting beat for a second time in the tournament. Despite being training partners, Ali and Saman just couldn’t get going against Tom and Andy C, and went home without posting up a win. Meanwhile, current boyband member, Kostya and ex-boyband member, Sean Avery, also couldn’t quite wow the crowd with their flamboyant style of play and also left the tournament winless. Dan Jenkins and Ervin, and Ciaran and Oscar also exited without posting up a win.
The Loser’s half threw up some really good battles, but ultimately, it was left to the pairs who had been left in the trail of God and the Destroyer. Craig and Glen were on a bit of a charge, having galvanised themselves, and eased past Cip and Ranj, and then quickly disposed of Hassan and Paul, before coming up against another of God and the Destroyer’s victims, Sunny and Khan. With both teams desperately wanting another chance to beat their previous conquerors, both pairs went at it hell for leather, but it was Craig and Glen showing why they might be pre-tournament favourites, who managed to gain the chance to avenge their earlier defeat.
So to the much-anticipated final.
Craig and Glen came storming out of the blocks. Clearly their motivation was revenge, and their strokes were bang on as they had plenty of more frames of getting their eye in in the loser’s half. Like a man possessed, Craig produced some extraordinary shots, leaving God and the Destroyer fearing the worst. At this point, the Destroyer forgot which team he was on, by repeatedly snookering his partner and effectively the match was over. 3-1 down, but a few rousing words from God saw a legendary 5th rack played out where after a tactical battle, the Destroyer potted the impossible, leaving God somewhat impressed by his new disciple. However, this mini fightback wasn’t enough as Craig and Glen were immensely impressive and ran out 4-1 winners to win the tournament…or had they? God and the Destroyer had only lost 1 match, as had Craig and Glen…surely this was a draw? Surely, with the aggregate scores being 5-5, there could be something to demonstrate a clear winner?
But no, a pre-agreement for the final to be the last round, with no double-elimination in place, meant that Craig and Glen really did emerge the winners. I would reiterate that this was pre-agreed and therefore fair and final.
Well done to Craig and Glen, who were superb. Great sports, superb players, but in the heads of God and the Destroyer, “it ain’t over!”
Have a great week and next week will be 10 Ball.
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Gabriel Ends the Storey
The usual MNT was in full swing over at London Snooker Tooting, with all of the top 5 ranked players in attendance, which will be the last time for about 2 months, that it will be possible to get all top 5 together, as Ramesh “Ramma Jamma” Gokhul goes off on his tour of Brazil, the Caribbean, and the US of A, playing his way through various competitions and pool halls. Everyone at London’s Finest Pool wishes him safe travels and hopes he performs to the best of his abilities as he ducks and dives, representing London.
But that’s the end of the well wishes. There’s a heap of players ready to tear him down and take advantage of his absence, and last night was evidence of the high standards that keep rising at MNT.
To kick the evening off, Break and Run took place, with….Muhammed “He’s the Greatest” Ali selected again, for the second week in a row. Yet again, despite this running for over a year, I have not been selected out of the hat, despite entering it around 40 times or more. I know that, one day, I might get selected (maybe in 2034), and that if that time ever happens, I’ll either dry break or the pot will be £1 per ball or something stupid like that.
In any case, imagine my disappointment as Ali broke dry…boohoo.
So, into the early rounds. Unusually, not one match went to hill-hill. And only one match was a whitewash. Notable results, therefore, came from Dan “the Destroyer” Suh, who blasted his way past Saman Gholami 5-1, with an almost flawless display of pool destruction, reinforcing the view that 2023 will see the Destroyer climb up the rankings. Elsewhere, Henri Linnainmaa battled hard against Ranj “Lucky” Sarraj in a gruelling tactical affair, but Ranj displayed some excellent play to run away 5-2 winner. Tomasz Jedlecki and Dan Jenkins also had a tough match together, but Tom’s experience shone through to win 5-3. And Ciprian Dandu, who has shown improvements in 2023 without reaching the levels he expects of himself, blitzed his way past Ali Haidery 5-1.
Into the next round, and the tournament really came alive, with the “big guns” able to flex their muscles. Sunny “Boy” Garib has been in great form, showing week on week improvements, and faced up to Ramma Jamma. Despite being small in stature, Ram’s reputation is feared by most…but not by Sunny. As has been mentioned in previous reports, Sunny’s an old hat at this game and coming out of retirement has sparked a bit of a fire in him. He has a game that rivals anyone’s, and he fears no-one, least of all the notorious Ram. With a 5-3 win under his belt, that’s twice he’s beaten Ram in February, leaving Ram to rue his missed chances. After the match, a smiling Sunny told the gathering reporters that he’s a man on a mission, and there’s more to come.
Also, it was good to see Gabriel “Hitman” Vasilache start to really motor again. Gabriel has continually threatened to push for the top, but has failed to win a tournament this year. A lack of practice, a bit lacking in match fitness perhaps, but he has a steely determination (and glare) that, last night, even the imperious Tashunka “Witko” Schultz couldn’t overcome, despite Tash’s great showing at SMB on Sunday. 5-2 win to Gabriel and questions in the arena were being asked of the current top 2 players.
So to Rod “the God” Altes. Up against one of the stories of 2022. Kostiantyn Ivanov, the young pup from Ukraine, has consistently been in the top 10 for some time and showed signs of threatening to rise further up the rankings. With Rod being (by his high standards) a little off-form, Kostya might well have challenged God, but regrettably lost his form and ended up losing 5-0.
Meanwhile, Sam Storey entered the tournament and played solidly to beat Ranj 5-3, whilst Ali took advantage of Tom’s mistakes to also win 5-3. And finally, Cip eased past his fellow compatriot, Alexandru Fechete, 5-2.
With no Ram or Tash in the quarters, Rod must have been feeling confident about his chances. However, with Sam being fairly new to the community, little was known about him. Sam has been playing well in other tournaments, and is known to be a great solid potter. And in the quarters, he really rose to the occasion by beating Rod 5-3. Rod was left devastated, but pointed out in his post-match interview that the standards are really increasing and getting beat only makes him more determined to find a way to get back to winning ways.
Sunny continued his good form by disposing of Glen “THE Hitman” Hargreaves 5-2, and Gabriel easily won against Hassan Mehedi 5-1. And finally, Cip might have been winning without playing well, but up against Ali, came apart and lost 5-1.
This left a semi-final line-up that looked a little unfamiliar, without Ram or Rod, and not even Tash. Sunny was hoping to show that the OG is the new Top Cat in town, but Gabriel was determined to blow him out of the water and played excellently to put Sunny back in his place, to win 5-2. No doubt Sunny will be back, but Gabriel was looking pretty focused by this point, and waited for the winner between Sam and Ali. Ali is a bit of an enigma. His refusal to use a pool cue (which would really help his game improve if he gets used to it) means that he has to be stroking the ball perfectly, in order to get results. Also, with no chance of playing power shots, it’s a wonder that the talented Ali even threatens the top 10. However, he keeps insisting to play with his one-piece snooker cue, and when he plays well, he plays really well.
Sam is a relative newcomer to Tooting, and has been itching to prove himself, but been a touch unlucky as he’s had to face the likes of Ram and Rod in his previous opening round attempts, which isn’t exactly an easy introduction into the community. However, he is a very solid player and he was proving himself and was getting better and better. Despite Ali reaching the hill first, Sam dug deep and knew that there were only going to be few chances left, and somehow Ali let Sam get back into the match. With both players on the hill, either a moment of magic or disaster was going to win or lose this match, and regrettably for Ali, it was disaster. A relatively easy missed pot on the 9 ball meant that Sam could crawl over the line, despite the heckling from the crowd, leaving Ali to roll his eyes to the back of his head in disappointment.
So to the final. And Gabriel continued his charge. Sam ran out of steam, but gave Gabriel a good match and Gabriel ran out 5-3 winner, finally getting back to winning ways, but Sam will take great heart from his fine performances. In the post-match press conference, Gabriel explained that lack of practice has made him suffer, coupled with strong competition at MNT. It’s great to see the rise of certain players, stepping up to the mark, and no doubt that the coming weeks will see yet more people challenging.
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Cip Stops Sunny From Shining
London’s Finest Pool hosted the weekly Monday Night Tournament at London Snooker Tooting last night, where no other club can boast a gathering of such mighty talent in one place on a Monday night. The smell of sweat, testosterone, and kebab rolls lingered in the club’s atmosphere as 31 players rolled in to cause upsets, create magic, and ultimately…win.
First off, Paz “the Punisher” Brennan got pulled out of the hat for the Break and Run. Only pulled out of the hat two weeks ago, and broke as dry as the Sahara desert that time, could he possibly pull it off this time? Nope. Another dry break, and an opportunity missed. Maybe that chance, next week, might fall to someone who has entered every bloody week since it started and STILL hasn’t had even one chance to have a go.
Anyway, onto the first round, and there was relatively little drama. Alex Vilmanis and Krishen Sookhraz produced a match up where Kris threw everything he could at Alex. However, Alex is a seasoned player who can play under pressure, and despite Kris’s decent showing, Alex came through to win 5-4.
Some really impressive, but ultimately, easy wins in the first round. Marius Dandu, the ladies’ favourite, seems to have slowly started to turn his form around. Normally a slow starter, and having been in poor form lately, he came out of the blocks to win 5-0 against Arul Ellappan. Marius has all the ability, and this might well be the start of an upsurge in his fortunes, as his ranking doesn’t reflect his ability.
In the battle of the Hassans, Hassan overcame Hassan 5-0, which was surprising as Hassan can be a slow starter, whilst Hassan has shown good determination and fight in previous MNT. Hassan will be disappointed with his performance, whilst Hassan gained plenty of confidence having started the tournament with a positive performance.
Meanwhile, Sunny Boy Garib kicked off his evening with a 5-0 win over Marc Harris, and Ramesh “Ramma Jamma” Gokhul also made light work of Ervin Demiraj.
The second round also only saw one match go to the wire. Saman Gholami faced up to Kostya Ivanov, who turned up to the tournament looking like a dodgy teen pop idol auditionee with his new hair colour. Saman has all the ability to play well, but can be a bit inconsistent at times, whilst Kostya produces some absolute magic at times. This was always going to be a good game, and it wasn’t a surprise that it went to hill hill. Despite the chances that Saman had, Kostya scraped through, leaving Saman wondering how he lost the match.
In other key results, Marius Dandu continued to wow the audience with a second whitewash win of the evening over Glen “THE Hitman” Hargreaves, Hassan Mehedi also pulled out his second clean sheet of the evening by beating Henri Linainmaa, and Ram also pulled out his second thrashing of the evening against Alex Vilmanis. Phenomenal stuff from these three, and not an easy feat to achieve.
The quarter-finals is where it gets really tasty. Marius Dandu against Hassan Mehedi. Ciprian Dandu against Martinho Correia. Rod “the God” Altes against Sunny. And Ram against Kostya.
Marius and Hassan engaged in a gritty battle, but Hassan was building up a head of steam and was starting to play pretty well. Marius just couldn’t take his chances, and was ground down by Hassan 4-2.
Cip and Martinho seemed to produce a poor quality match by their high standards, and Martinho lacked his usual flow. Cip managed to get himself together, and came through 4-1.
Rod and Sunny had a really interesting match-up as Sunny is slowly and surely getting back to a level that he might be happy with. Rolling back the years, Sunny is making some nice progress, but Rod’s a different proposition and there was no way Sunny was going to get easy chances. And Rod didn’t provide many chances at all. Not really even missing any pots, but Sunny created his own chances by break and running 3 out of the 4 times he broke, to win 4-3. Stunning stuff.
And in the last quarter, Ram was displaying some fine form, making the most of every opportunity in the way that he does. Very few mistakes and Kostya is yet to beat Ram since August of last year.
The semis saw both matches go to the wire. Hassan and Cip had a really good but tense game. Cip was still yet to fire on all cylinders, whilst Hassan battled hard and played well to keep it tight. With Cip about to either turn it on or run out of steam, in the final rack, he absolutely flicked a switch to run out the last 3 balls with absolute precision and mastery. Cip showing glimpses of his A game again.
In the other semi, Sunny had no fear. Ram might send a shiver down most people’s spines, but not Sunny. His languid style covers much of the competitive spirit that he possesses, and as he’s been showing his improvement of late, this was the time to demonstrate it. With both players on the hill, Sunny took his opportunity and waved to the crowd as they celebrated a hard fought victory.
And to the final. It’s been argued that Cip had the easier run to the final, as Sunny had to overcome Rod and Ram. Was it going to drain Sunny, or was Cip just getting stronger and stronger? As has been said a few times, Cip is one of the best players I have ever had the pleasure of playing against. His A game is flawless and a match for almost anyone in this country, but this man is focused on ensuring that MNT goes smoothly and his game has suffered as a result.
Up against Sunny, this was never going to be anything other than top quality pool, and the final didn’t disappoint. 3-3 and it went to a one rack shootout. Just one rack to decide the winner of what had been an exhausting evening, and in the end, Cip came through for the win. A thrilling encounter and it was great to see more names challenging at the top. Sunny’s on his way back to his best, and Cip is showing signs of getting back to his A game too, so expect some real fireworks over the coming weeks.
Next week is a non-ranking event, the Blind Scotch Doubles! One of the most entertaining tournaments where players are drawn together and play with much less pressure. It’s a good exercise as doubles is very much a part of the scene, and with no ranking points involved, it’s always been an enjoyable evening for all concerned.
Have a great week everyone!
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