It's Getting Hot in Here
Whilst historically, Rod "the God" Altes has been the main challenger to Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul's MNT title, this year has really seen Gabriel "Fake Taxi" Vasilache make some tremendous progress after starting the year on 7.568, but broke the magic 9 point barrier last night, if only for a short period, becoming only the third player ever to break the 9 point barrier (Rod and Ram being the other two). This season has been a huge success for Gabs, and the rivalry between himself and Ram is really coming to a head as the year starts to come to a close.
Regrettably, Ram will be away for a few weeks in November and December, but there's still plenty to play for, plenty yet to happen, and last night was no exception. Gabs started the evening on 8.939 points, whilst Ram was on 8.460. Ram's confidence was high as he had managed to win at Total 9 Ball on the weekend, in a very strong 60 man field. But surely it would be nigh on impossible to claw back the gap and overtake Gab on the night?
Anyway, before proceedings started, Muhammed "the Greatest" Ali was drawn out of the hat for the break and run. A big power break ensured, but alas, completely bone dry, and Ali stared at the table, willfully willing a few of the straggling balls to roll into a pocket. Never mind Ali, maybe next time!
The first round was fairly non-eventful. No serious upsets to speak of, but Obi "Jedi Knight" Anyouko will certainly be the most disappointed from the first round, as he took on Andri Doci, who had a really good run to the quarters last week. Obi was up 3-0, but somehow contrived to lose 4-3, afterwards blaming his team of cheerleaders (Danny and Alan) for making him lose his concentration. Elsewhere, pre-tournament favourite, Maciej "Crocodile" Kowejsza, took on Andrew "Jumpcue" Phan, and warned Andrew that 8 Ball was his strongest game, and Andrew really had to be on top of his game as he managed to win 4-1. Meanwhile, Gab brushed Tom "Diver" Daly aside 4-0, and Ram eased into the second round with an easy win over Dan "out in the first round" Suh.
What makes MNT such a special weekly event, is seeing the improvements amongst the players, and whilst it can be disheartening to go out early, it should encourage players to find ways to improve and work out how to get on top of their game nice and early. One of the hardest working players who really had a poor 2023, is Ali Haidery. Like many of the lower ranked players, frustratingly inconsistent, but able to pull off some excellent play, Ali's results this year have been pretty consistent. In the second round, he faced up to the experienced Nick "LuckboxQ" Ronase, one of those who can actually bank a ball or perform a four-railer and mean it. Nick and Ali took it to hill-hill, and in many cases, you might expect Ali to crumble under the pressure, but he's a different animal these days, and held his nerve to win. Andri Doci has also shown good improvements, and he was up against Ciaran "Paddy Power" Boylan, who has this horrible ability to squeeze the life out of his opponents, whilst still smiling at them. Ciaran was a little taken aback as Andri performed much like last week, but you don't mess with the big man from Ireland, and Ciaran pulled off the win at the death. Meanwhile, Gabs easily took out Andrew 4-1, and Ram was imperious as he beat a strong contender, Saman "Salami" Gholami 4-0.
Into the quarters and the lesser spotted Tashunka "Witko" Schultz started to make himself known with a solid win over Dandu 2, and Gabs put in a sterling effort to win 4-0 over Ciaran. Ram was up against Rod, and after the afternoon Rod had to endure in the league, ending up losing 13-3 to Joe "the Ponce" Prince over at Spots and Stripes, Rod was determined to end his day on a high note. However, Ram had been playing well all night, and managed to overcome Rod 4-2. The final match of the quarters saw Lord Greg up against Ali Haidery. The bookies had Greg 1-5 favourite, and surely Ali was going to run out of steam at this stage? Greg surged into a lead, but Ali's show of resilience was something else. A switch appeared to be flicked in his head and he turned into Fedor Gorst by playing some of the best pool he had ever played, coming from behind to win 4-3. After the match, Greg looked exhausted and shell-shocked, barely being able to mumble his reaction at the press conference. "Ali was amazing. Nothing I could do when he suddenly turned into an absolute beast. I didn't even play badly, but he just couldn't miss anything". Well done Ali, a first appearance in the semis, and deservedly so.
The semis saw Ali up against Ram, but with Ram's determination to win and Ali having claimed the monumental victory over Greg, it was Ram who easily won 4-1, but Ali will be very happy with his night's work. The other semi saw Gabs face some very stiff competition in Tash. Tash has all the ability in the world, but his multiple retirements means that he tends to only come out once in a while, and when he does, he can beat anyone. But Gabs really looks hungry right now, and wants to end the season on top. A 4-1 win to Gab, marching into the final against arch rival, Ram.
The final surely was going to be a close fought encounter, and it was surely meant to be as Ram hunts Gab down for the number 1 position. It would take a whitewash for Ram to overhaul Gab to regain his number 1 spot, and much to the shock of the fans, Ram turned it on to play near perfectly, whilst Gab was left stunned. 4-0 to Ram and he had regained his number 1 spot at the end of the night! A superb achievement, but there's no doubt that with so little of the season left, that number 1 spot is surely going to keep changing hands again.
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Fake Taxi Drives the Competition Away
Last night saw the best in London gather from all corners of the metropolis. Many old faces and fresh new talent came to the bearpit known as London Snooker Tooting, the most vibrant pool hall in Tooting, as MNT returned with a full field of 32.
The first round was a belter. Carl “The Hyena” Locsin, the Filipino hustler, and Robert “Dread” Nightengale, played out a whopper by the bar as both players knuckled down to a proper slugfest. Both weren’t quite at their peak yet, so it was just a matter of who could capitalise on any mistakes. Carl, with his enigmatic display, pulled out some rabbits from his hat, and managed to win at the death, 5-4.
Meanwhile, Muhammed “I’m the Greatest” Ali, winner of last week’s MNT, faced up to the Salami, Saman Gholami. Both know each other’s game so well, as they are training partners, and frequently argue with each other when they play doubles. This was always going to be a tight match, even though the Salami was a little under the weather, and in the end, Ali came through 5-4, but a bit battered and bruised.
Obi “Jedi Knight” Anyaouku welcomed a noob to MNT, Jacob Leslie, who hails from Ipswich but recently moved to Ilford with his BFF, McKenzie Rae. McKenzie had the unenviable task of getting thrashed 5-0 by Spencer “Afrotastic” Oliver, but Jacob put up a good fight against Obi, who will now forever be known as Slowbi, as the match seemed destined to never end. 2 hour match, which Slowbi finally managed to win 5-4. A true epic, with plenty of good natured heckling from the crowd with slow hand clapping, and general piss-taking out of Slowbi.
Two upsets in the first round, and no, I’m not talking about Cip when he has to repeat himself to players when telling them which table they’re playing on. But first off, Sean Avery was on fire. Not known for going deep, but he thrust himself upon the Turnip, Dan Jenkins, and mashed him up to leave the Turnip completely stunned and subsequently left the arena looking shell-shocked. After the match, Sean told DAZN, “piece of piss mate, I mashed him up, and now I’m going to do the same to Henri. I’m on fiiiiiiiire!”
The other upset came on table 4, the scene of last week’s upset where the Turnip beat up Ramesh “Ramma Jamma” Gokhul. Yet again, Ram found himself on his nemesis table, and this time, against Marius Dandu. Marius played exceptionally, whilst Ram found himself haunted by the defeat by Turnip that he just didn’t show up and lost to Marius 5-2. After the match, Ram told the post match press conference: “That table man, it’s no good for me. I can’t take table 4 no more.”
Round 2 saw the Battle of Romania ensue, between Ciprian “Spin King” Dandu and Gabriel “Fake Taxi” Vasilache. Cip, though, just couldn’t get himself going, and lost 5-2, telling reporters after the match “I can’t deal with Gabby, something about his game, I can’t deal with it”. Elsewhere, Spencer and Rod “the God” Altes played out a match worthy of a final. Both are top quality, as we all know, and it was always going to be close as it proved. A match of few mistakes, but each mistake was getting punished, and in the end it was Rod who made the fewest mistakes, and progressed to the quarters.
After all the talk of mashing up Henri “the Finnisher” Linnainmaa, Sean came a bit unstuck as Henri ran away with it, 5-1. Carl came up against the conqueror of Dan “out in the first round” Suh, Ciaran “Paddy Power” Boylan. Ciaran might have considered himself clear favourite, but the Hyena was on form and won 5-3. Perhaps, the big upset of the round, came from Slowbi, who beat Ali 5-3. And this is the thing about Slowbi, given half the chance, his form can be very impressive and he certainly turned it on, to bolster his confidence.
The quarters were full of names who might not be associated with going deep into comps, which is testament to the increased quality seen at MNT. Gabby was taken to the wire by the Hyena, and Carl will actually be really disappointed that he didn’t win as he had the chance to, but a mistake saw Gabby take the win 5-4.
Usman “Uzi” Khokhar had quietly crept into the quarters, and was favourite to beat Slowbi, but Slowbi was just getting better and better, and easily won 5-1. Henri was also starting to kick into gear, as he had to really knuckle down against Krishen “Kris” Sookhraz, who can be a devastating potter when he needs to be. 5-4 win for the Finnisher, and that left one more semi-final berth to be filled. It was going to either be Marius, or Rod. All the bookies had this down to be a close encounter, with Rod slight favourite at BetFred. Perhaps it was the fatigue from having played such an epic match against Spencer, perhaps it was because he was heckled in the crowd at never being able to achieve number 2 spot again, or perhaps it was because he was on his 8th apple juice of the evening, but Rod crumbled and Marius turned it on to win 5-0. An excellent performance from Dandu 2.
The semis saw Slowbi have to take on MNT’s new number 1, Gabby. And Gabby was ready for the challenge. Make no mistake, Slowbi played well, but you can’t just play well against Gabs, and despite taking 3 racks off Gabs, Slowbi just couldn’t quite keep up with Fake Taxi, and Gabby marched into the final to face either Henri or Marius.
Regrettably, Marius and Henri didn’t turn out to be the close encounter that the crowd had hoped for, as the two completely contrasting styles left the cool-headed Henri in a strong position to hold himself together, as Marius lost patience and lost out 5-1.
With Gabby looking on at the carnage from the semi between Henri and Marius, Gabs plotted his patch to victory in the final, with a swift 5-1 victory in 20 minutes, meaning that Gabby has achieved 6 MNT wins in 2025, just one behind Ram, but can also cement his place as number 1 ranked in Tooting, as the challengers drop away.
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Ramma Jamma Returns To Form
Back at London Snooker Tooting for MNT, and 30 of the best in London were out in force to see the most gargantuan battle for top spot, as Ram "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul and Gabriel "Fake Taxi" Vasilache have had their war of words throughout the week. But before all the action kicked off, Andri Doci, who seems to get selected for the break and run every week, got selected yet again and with all the well-wishers cheering him on, dry broke and the derisions of laughter and heckles echoed around the arena as Andri looked disconsolate. Poor Andri, it's not his fault that he keeps getting selected.
Onto the main event of the evening, and the luck of the draw saw nearly all of the pre-tournmaent favourites in the bottom half of the draw. This was going to potentially throw up some incredible match-ups in the earlier rounds. First off, was the ever-improving Saman "Salami" Gholami against Ram, who has only been recently knocked off top spot by Gabby. Saman might have lost to Ram at the Sunday Classic Shootout, but pushed him hard then and was determined to win this time round. However, Ram just about tamed the ever-wilting Salami, and won 4-3. Elsewhere, making his debut appearance at Tooting, was Kimoye Weekes. An unknown quantity, he faced up to Jacob Leslie. Jacob had shown a lot of promise last week, despite losing at hill-hill to Obi "Jedi Knight" Anyouku in the third longest match ever recorded in the history of pool, so was determined to prove his ability against Kimoye. Another tight affair, but it was Kimoye who progressed to the next round, leaving Jacob to pick up his pom poms to cheer on his BFF, McKenzie. Nick "LuckboxQ" Ronase has been steadily improving recently, and he will be really pleased to have taken out Dandu 2, who is notoriously difficult to play against. Ranj "Lucky" Sarraj lived up to his name against an out of sorts, Lord Greg Mostyn, with a match that could have been wrapped up earlier, but Ranj blaming his loan cue for some of his misses to win more easily. And Maciej "Crocodile" Kowejsza will be really pleased to have pulled off a major upset against Ciprian "Spin King" Dandu, as the Croc brought Cip into his favourite game, 8 Ball, a game that Cip clearly struggled with.
The second round heated up nicely, as the match of round was Sunny "Boy" Garib against Ram. Sunny has been in imperious form, but Ram is really getting back to his best. Both players slugged it out on table 3, away from the nightmarish scenes of Ram's recent losses on table 4, and Ram edged to victory with a 4-3 win, leaving the potential to set up a clash with his arch rival, Gabriel. Stephen "Outlaw" Stedman found himself up against his fellow Romford stablemate, Kimoye, and with two players who spar against each other in any case, this was going to be an intense affair. Both players fought hard, but it was the Outlaw, who seems to have an edge over his Romford buddies, who came through to progress to the quarters. And the final close match was between Ranj and Dan "Out in the first round" Suh. A strong start from Ranj to go 3-1 up, but Dan came back strong to level it at 3-3. But, with no win since the 1st of July, it was Ranj who ended up going through to face Rod "the God" Altes.
The quarters saw Stephen up against Nick, and Nick really turned it on to put in a fine display to demonstrate why he was the Tier 3 favourite in the Spots and Stripes League before he had to withdraw. Rod took about 5 minutes to breeze past Ranj, playing utterly flawlessly. Obviously he was still sober at this stage. Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali has shown indifferent form of late, but was MNT winner only a couple of weeks ago, and he absolutely trounced Usman "the Uzi" Khokhar 4-1. And whilst this was going on, the grudge match was unfolding before our eyes on Table 6, as Ram and Gabriel faced up to each other after their week of smack talking came to a head. After a courteous fist bump between the two, both warriors went into battle. With it being such a short race, it was important to gain and hang onto the lead, and Ram managed to get his nose in front and get the upper hand. Both players determined not to lose this, but in the end, it was Ram who ended up taking the victory 4-2.
You might think that such a big match might have taken it out on Ram for the semis, and Ali exerted all the pressure he could on Ram. With chances to win, Ali fell at the final hurdle, and Ram advanced into the final. Meanwhile, Rod was quietly getting on with business, taking care of Nick's resistance, winning 4-1. And this meant the final had two old foes, two players who have previously dominated the finals, and historically been number 1 and 2 at MNT pretty much since the ranking system was introduced. Whilst Ram has mostly had edge over Rod, Rod felt motivated and was playing some exceptional stuff en route to the final. But Ram's experience often brings through and the final was a really high quality affair between two players who have a lot of respect for each other. Rod did what he could, but despite making some incredible shots, his mistakes were capitalised on and Ram won through 4-3. Rod wasn't too disappointed though, telling DAZN after the final, "it was good to be back in a final with Ram, where we both belong to be", whilst Ram agreed "God played well, some great combos made, and it felt like old times to be back in the final with him".
This now leaves Ram just 0.116 points behind the current leader, Gabriel, which means next week's MNT will be quite decisive, as the top spot could change hands again. We're in the home straight of the year, and we'll expect to see plenty of drama between now and the end of the year to see who will finish the year in number 1 spot.
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Floats like a butterfly, and stings like a bee
Monday night means MNT at LST by the guys at LFP, and as usual, 32 players travelled from all corners of London to climb up, or fall down the rankings.
The first round had some really interesting results, as Obi "Jedi Knight" Anyouku caused a nice little upset over Marius Dandu with a 4-1 win. Sean "Scarf" Avery almost pulled off a bit of an upset against Andrew "I play better with my jump cue" Phan by taking their match right to the wire, but couldn't quite get over the line. Danny "Tsunami" Navidi really piled on the pressure against Tom Jedlecki and took the match to hill hill, but it was Tom who finished off the stronger. Henri "the Finnisher" Linnainmaa has been playing well of late, and was probably favourite going into his match against the Ramon "Monster" Navarro, but despite the famous monster twitch, Ramon went through to the next round. Josh Roberts also nearly caused a mahoosive upset against Ciaran Boylan, but not taking his opportunities when the big Irish Shrek with hair was a bit cold, cost Josh the win.
Certainly, the win of the round belongs to Turnip. At 1-0 up, he was kindly informed by Greg "Lord" Mostyn that his beloved Southampton were losing 3-0 to Bournemouth, and Turnip suddenly went into complete overdrive. Totally beat up Ram "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul, who will be very disappointed not to have progressed after a decent showing at Total 9 Ball on Saturday. Well done to Turnip, who had to fend off the disbelief, but we all know he's got that game within himself. He obviously just needs to get a bit wound up!
Moving deeper into the comp, and Round 2 saw some really good ties. Usman "The Uzi" Khokar was pushed the ever improving Obi, Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali won two games in a row for the first time in ages by beating conqueror of Dan "out in the first round" Suh, Hassan "Wolverine" Mehedi after coming back from 3-0 down! Arjon "The Beard" Hasi, was fresh off a really good showing at Total 9 Ball on Saturday, as he got to the final and only lost to a very in-form Mark Capito. The Beard carried on his fine form by overcoming Lord Mostyn, who put up a good fight. Saman "Salami" Gholami also was pushed hard by Phan, which went right to the wire, but Salami is showing consistency and came through to win.
Into the quarters, and Rod "the God" Altes was looking ominous as he cruised past the Uzi. Ciprian "Spin King" Dandu couldn't quite get past Ciaran, whilst Ali kept on his winning streak as he was the one to stop the Beard in his tracks with a 4-3 win. And finally, an epic between Spencer "Afrotastic" Oliver and the Salami, as it was noticed by officials that Spencer was doing his best to get both himself and his opponent as drink as possible, and in the end the Salami wilted and shrivelled, as Spencer won 4-3. At this stage, Rod the God was looking pretty confident as he thought he had a good chance to win this week's MNT. But, despite the tough run to the semis, Ali was a man in-form and despite the close match, Ali managed to sneak the win 4-3. Meanwhile, Spencer was unable to convince Ciaran to get drunk with him for the semi, and lost out 4-1.
The final, therefore, was against Ali and Ciaran, and it was potentially going to be a real dogfight. However, Ali was on fire, and Ciaran could barely get to the table, and a 4-1 win ensued for Ali. As in his previous win in MNT a year ago, Ali jumped up onto the table to celebrate and shouted to the fans "I told you so, I am the greatest! There ain't nobody like me!" In the press conference after, Ciaran said "I think Ali only missed one ball in the final, but whilst I may not have prevailed, the consensus is that I am more handsome". Meanwhile, Ali launched into an attack on Ciaran as he retorted "That ugly fool...he's too ugly to be champ". Both had to be led away from the press conference as they hurled insults at each other, creating quite the scene.
Anyway, a big congrats to Gabriel "Fake Taxi" Vasilache, who was sadly absent from yesterday's MNT due to his filming on location in his taxi, which we understand to be released on adult themed websites very soon. But Gabby has become number 1 for the first time, and in fact, is only the second person since, what seems forever, to get to the coveted Number 1 spot! Only Rod has achieved it in recent times, when he was top for a week last November, only for Ramma Jamma to reclaim his place. All to play for before the end of the season, and we're pretty sure that Ram ain't gonna give up that top spot easily. Good luck to whoever draws Ram next!
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