Showing posts with label players. Show all posts
Showing posts with label players. Show all posts

Sunday, January 11, 2009

2008 in the billiard blogosphere

Since last year's edition of this article we have seen many changes in the billiard section of the blogosphere. New blogs have appeared while others have ceased to exist. Here's a short rundown of the year in billliard blogs:

New blogs

A number of new blogs were launched this year. Here are some of the ones I found most interesting:

Players

The Finnish "Iceman" Mika Immonen has been a top pro for many years. He is a former world pool champion and this year he won the prestigious US Open trophy. In his blog he reports from the major events. His straight-forward informal style is very refreshing.

Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee is possibly the one player in the world best known by people outside the sport. She has alway been terrific at promoting herself and the sport and her online presence is no exception. Her posts are honest and informative, giving you an insight into the WPBA.

Another top player to join the ranks of the bloggers this year is Dutchman Nick van den Berg. Although his posts are quite short it's nice to hear yet another voice from inside the circuit.

Katrine Jensen is one of Denmark's top female players. She is also the partner of top pro Niels Feijen. She writes in a personal tone about the events she plays, the drills she do and whatever else goes on in her life. She also reports from her travelling with Niels to the major events.

Caroline Pao is an up and coming player. It will be interesting to follow her pursuit for success on the WPBA Tour.

It's very interesting to follow the exploits of the pros but the amateur game can sometimes be equally fascinating. The goal of Roy "D'Fish" Steffensen is to win the Norwegian Championship. This is a blog/diary about his weekly practise-routines, tournaments he attends and other pool related things he experiences on his way to achieving that goal. He even has a camera hooked up so you can watch him play.

News & results

Pro Snooker Blog was launched in August of 2008 and provides daily reports from the world of professional snooker. It contains the latest results, breaking news, player bios and links to other news sources. The author is a keen follower of the game and he also reports directly from the events he attend. This is a great resource for anyone interested in top level snooker.

... and now for something completely different. Snooker Sceney is also covering the major snooker events. It's very much written in tongue-in-cheek style though. I wonder if you can guess what other blog it refers to :-).

Judging by the number of blogs in German about snooker the interest for the game in the country must be on an all-time high. Kalbs Snooker Break is found on the Eurosport site. Rolf Kalb is the snooker commentator for the German version of the channel and here he provides some well-written articles about the pro game.

billiardblog is another German blog, covering the world of pool. During the 2008 Mosconi Cup they provided daily results and also displayed video from the event.

Pool & Billiard Magazine has been online for 13 years and they now have their own blog. Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog is primarily focused on the major pool events.

Billiards Digest is another magazine with a strong online presence. Jeanette Lee and Tony Robles are two of the authors in the Blogs & Columns section.

Other

Pool Student's Blog is a very promising blog about learning the game of pool. It's written by John Biddle from Florida. He has studied the game in detail and hopes that his posts will help others, and also expects to see improvements in his own game as a result.

The Pool Pack Blog is the newest member of the billiard blogosphere. Their mission is quite simple, namely to aggregrate, collate and discuss the best of what's going on in pool. So far they've already written about such varied subjects as snooker match fixing inquiries, computer games and aiming systems. Colin Colenso is the founder but he's also looking for others to contribute. Email him if you're interested.

More

Here are the rest of the blogs found in 2008:
Dead blogs

A blog is rather uninteresting if it's not being updated on a regular basis.

Some blogs have not had any new postings in 2008 and have therefore been removed from the blog roll:
Others have died or have been closed:
... and some have been password protected:
All this leaves us with about 120 blogs in the blog roll to your right. That's 20 more than last year. Let's hope that number will increase even more in 2009!

Related posts
Posted by Hermund at 7:05 pm 6 comments
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Sunday, December 23, 2007

2007 in the billiard blogosphere

Since posting "My favorite billiard blogs" almost a year ago a lot has happened in our small section of the blogosphere. New blogs have appeared while others have ceased to exist. Here's a short rundown of the year in billliard blogs:

New blogs

A number of new blogs were launched this year. Here are some of the ones I found most interesting:

Players

Grady's Place is written by legendary player Grady "The Professor" Mathews. He has just opened a pool hall in Lexington, South Carolina and gives useful insights on this process. In addition he shares some fascinating tales from his many road trips.

Unfortunately there are very few top players with blogs. Multiple world champion Thorsten Hohmann is one of the exceptions. He launched his blog in September and has so far provided some great content, e.g. from the World Pool Championship. Let's hope he keeps up the pace!

Danish pool player Bahram Lotfy could very well enter the top echelon of his sport. Unfortunately his blog is in Danish, so far too few readers will have the pleasure of following his progress, in competetive play and in practice.

News & results

greenbaize by Andrew Orange and Jonni Fulcher is predominantly a snooker blog, focussing on the major snooker events. Andrew handles the snooker posts while pool star Fulcher provides an inside view of the Euro Tour.

Another blog covering snooker and pool was launched in April. It's called Play89 Pool Blog and keeps you up to date with the essentials (and not-so-essentials) on the billiard scene. It's maintained by the folks at the Play89 online pool room.

As the name suggests NYC Grind is based in New York. It covers both the international and the local pool scene. The articles, mainly written by "Jerry T", makes for an interesting read.

The Philippines is by many regarded as the top country in pool. Billiards Philippines monitors the progress of Philippine players both in national and international competition. The reports are provided by Marlon Bernardino and Jove Sison.

If you're into carom sports and knows a bit of Spanish then Entrada51 is the perfect blog for you. Blogmaster Juan Antonio de los Reyes delivers extensive coverage of events in the no-pocket category.

Snooker Planet is another latin-speaking blog. Author Luis Alves, who writes in Portugese, covers the professional snooker scene in great detail.

Other

I must admit I prefer straight pool and one pocket when it comes to pool. Pocket Billiards therefore is right up my alley, as it deals with the above-mentioned disiplines as well as other great pocket billiard games. Blogmaster Dennis has been playing pool since 1960, but only started playing straight pool in the past few years.

If you're into the technical aspect of pool the Pool Cue News and Review might be the thing for you. The purpose of the site is to review pool cues and accessories, with a preference for products in PoolDawg store. Right now though the blogmaster (identity unknown) is trying to find the ultimate "Billiards Hottie".

Added 24 December: You'll also find some excellent Spanish-speaking blogs over at Billarnet. There are blogs on a variety of subjects, including all the major billiard games. Training Day by Alonzo has a number of interesting looking posts, making me wish my Spanish skills were up to scratch.

Dead blogs

A blog is rather uninteresting if it's not being updated on a regular basis. Some blogs have not had any new postings in 2007 and have therefore been removed from the blog roll:

Others have been closed or died:

All this leaves us with exactly 100 blogs in the blog roll to your right. Let's hope that number will increase in 2008!

Related posts
Posted by Hermund at 11:26 pm 11 comments
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Saturday, January 13, 2007

My favourite billiard blogs

When I started this blog about a year ago I didn't know of many other billiard related blogs. At the last count there were more than 80! Here are my favourites, divided into three categories. (You can find these and all the others in the right menu).

News & results

David Hendon is a long-time writer for Snooker Scene. He is also the author of the Snooker Scene blog. It's a great place for the inside news from the snooker circuit and he's not afraid to speak his mind on controversial issues.

If you master the German language Snookerblog is another excellent source for snooker news. Eric Eggert does a great job of keeping you up to date on both the international and the German snooker scene.

If you're interested in the other cuesports as well European billiards is a nice starting point. Torvald Asplund writes about pool, snooker and carom from a European standpoint.

Yisra'el is from the Philippines and focuses on Philippine cue artists. His blog Philippine billiards keeps you updated on Reyes, Bustamanta and the rest. Every year he makes a list with who he thinks are the top Philippine players.

The next blog on the list comes from an insider. Eirian Williams is a professional referee on snooker's Main Tour. On Snooker Refereeing The Professional Way he makes frequent posts about small and big stories from the world of snooker.

Snooker World is a relative newcomer in the blogosphere but it has great promise and will be followed closely in the months to come. As the name suggests its main focus is on snooker.

The International Pool Tour was probably the biggest thing in cuesports last year. Several blogs focusing on the the new tour popped up. IPT Pool Fan Blog by "mallas" managed to keep a neutral view through both the ups and the downs.

Players

David Slitz is the author of the first billiard related blog I found. Barenada's Pool Blog is an entertaining look into a pool player's mind. He is obviously a very talented player but experiences the same ebbs and flows as novices like myself.

Niels Feijen is one of the world's top pool players. Feijen's blog is very down to earth and informative. He's also very active. During the recent Derby City Classic (which he won) he posted with high frequency.

Alex Lely's blog was also very good. Unfortunately he's now retired from major competition and therefore hasn't posted in a while. I hope to see some action there soon!

The Tip Jar is the product of top player Samm Diep. She has written for several pool publications and her well-crafted posts are a testament to that. She provides tips on how to improve your play, tells about her tourney experiences and shares her thoughts in a very honest way.

You might remember Efren Reyes being beaten in his first match of last year's World Pool Championship. The man behind that achievement was Tony "The Sniper" Crosby. He is a pro player from England, now living in Florida, USA. Tony Crosby's blog covers his activities on the pool tour.

Cary is a pool playing photographer from New York. He frequents a whole lot of pool establishments in the Big Apple and chronicles his experiences in Bank the Nine. His black and white photos manage to capture the essence of the pool subculture.

The world of Hannah Jones is a far cry from that of Cary's. She resides in Derby, England and is the youngest member of the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association. By reading her blog Hannah Jones - Snooker you'll know exactly what's going on in her snooker life.

Diary of a Pool Shooter is written by a slightly older player, namely Michael McCafferty from California, USA. He's "in search of truth and beauty in the game of pocket billiards" and shares his thoughts through both good and bad times.

Frame by Frame is charting the progress of snooker player "Kick". Currently his highest break is 30 but I'm sure he'll improve on that.

Jennefer Gallenberger from Austin, Texas is the person behind Poker, Billiards, and of course Anime. She writes about her own experiences as a player but also covers the subject of billiard in general. One of her recent posts gave an overview of some of the more famous billiard movies.

Unfortunately there aren't many top players keeping blogs, but some of them are still very good at keeping you informed, e.g. Ralf Souquet, Jasmin Ouschan, and Kim Shaw. A lot of the top pros can be found on MySpace, e.g. Thorsten Hohmann, Tony Robles and Charlie Williams.

Other

Billiards Blogger is written by an anonymous billiards enthusiast. She started as late as October 2006 but has already managed to cover a number of interesting subjects. Her last project was to review all the major billiards and pool forums. Next up is a similar review of the best billiard and pool blogs.

If you like me are fascinated by the history of the game then Billiard History's Untold Stories is the place to be. It's a joint effort between Billiards Digest and R.A. Dyer is. Dyer is the author of "Hustler Days", which "captures the game's popularity in the Thirties, its dark days in the Fifties, and its renaissance and apex in the Sixties". The blog displays video clips, images and stories from an era long gone. An era dominated by characters like Willie Mosconi, Wimpy Lassiter and Jack "Jersey Red" Breit.

OMGWTF was created by yet another anonymous pool fan. She attends many big tournaments and in the very funny "Fashionable Pool Junkie" series she gives her view on the players' fashion choices. The posts labeled "Billiards In General" are equally entertaining.

Robert Johnson from Acton, Massachusetts, USA is the author of 8 ball in the corner pocket. He is very interested in the scientific aspect of the game and is happy to share his knowledge on subjects such as throw and banking.

Most players hang out in billiard halls so it's only fitting that we finish up with Kendrick's Billiards Blog. It's written by Brian of Kendrick's Billiards, a billiards hall in Bellingham, Washington, USA. If you have any questions about starting a pool hall he's more than happy to share what he and his wife have learned.

See also:

Related posts:
Posted by Hermund at 4:37 pm 24 comments
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Thursday, March 02, 2006

Player blogs

Ever wanted to know what it's like to be a pro player?

You can learn a little more by reading their blogs. So far the Dutch men and the WPBA ladies are leading the way.

Women
Men
These links are also available in the right menu.
Posted by Hermund at 7:41 pm 0 comments
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