Hohmann wins North American Open 8-ball Championship

Germany's Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann won the IPT North American Open 8-ball Championship.

He earned an amazing $350,000 for the win, the richest prize in pool history.

Marlon Manalo (Philippines) was bested 8-7 in an extremely tight and well-played final and had to be content with $99,000.

Manalo's countrymen Dennis Orcollo and Efren Reyes came third and fourth respectively. Ralf Souquet (Germany) came 5th and Evgeny Stalev (Russia) took sixth.

This was the opening event of the International Pool Tour's inaugural season. It ran from July 22-30 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Next up is the World Open in Reno, September 2-10.

See also:

Newspapers & Magazines:

• Hohmann Hits Jackpot: $350,000 Prize at IPT Open and Spot on SportsCenter (Billiards Digest)
• A Perfect Ending (Billiards Digest - PDF)
• Thorsten Hohmann Wins Pool's Biggest Prize (AzBilliards)
• Hohmann on Top of the World (Inside Pool Magazine)
• IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship Record Prize Fund of $2,050,000 Hohmann runs the final rack for a Double-Hill Win (Professor-Q-Ball)
• Manalo loses heartbreaker (Manila Standard Today)
• 'The Hitman' downs Marlon (The Manila Times)
• Manalo falls to German hitman (Manila Bulletin Online)
• Thorsten Hohmann Defeats Marlon Manalo for $350,000 (Pool & Billiard Magazine)
• Still Marvelous (Manila Standard Today)
• Rocket fired up to conquer a new world (Guardian Unlimited)
• Big money gives pro new enthusiasm for the game (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Racking up a comeback (Quad-City Times)
• 13-year-old Pool Prodigy Wins Thousands (CBS 13)

Players:

• My IPT North American 8-Ball Open Experience (Calcul8r)
• IPT North American Open 8-Ball (souquet.de)
• Reporting Back from the Venetian IPT Tournament (Linda Carter aka rackmsuckr)
• On Our Way to the Venetian (Linda Carter aka rackmsuckr)

Fans:

• Thorsten Hohmann, IPT North American Champion (IPT Pool Fan Blog)
• 2006 IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship (Philippine Billiards)
• North American Open - Final Day (IPT World Pool and Football)
• Hohmann Wins North American Open 8-ball Championships (Billiards Boutique)
• Thorsten Hohmann gewinnt 350.000 USD (billiard.info)
• Hohmann gewinnt IPT North American Open 8-Ball Championship (Readers Edition)
• IPT North American Open 8-ball Championship (Pool Online)
• 8-ball Junkie - IPT at The Venetian, Las Vegas (medium rare at MySpace)
• International Pool Tour - North American Open (Ruby's Blog)

Forums:

• International Pool Tour (AzBilliards)
• IPT Tour (uk8ball.com)

Related post:

• The IPT North American Open starts

Corr takes Midwest Classic title

Karen Corr (Northern Ireland) came out on top in the Midwest Classic.

In the final Corr beat Kelly Fisher (England) 7-5.

This was her third WPBA win of the season, the second in a row and 20th of her career. She is now only 80 points behind Allison Fisher in the WPBA rankings.

The event took place from July 26-30 in the Par-A-Dice Hotel & Casino, East Peoria, Illinois.

See also:

• 2006 Midwest Classic - Highlights (wpba.com)
• A successfull, Irish Invasion (Journal Star Online)
• Karen Corr Pockets Yet Another 2006 Victory - She's on FIRE! (Pool & Billiard Magazine)
• Corr Scores Another Women's Professional Billiards Association Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
• WPBA Peoria 2006 Event Diary (Kim Shaw)
• Karen Corr (Official homepage)
• Corr Pulls Ahead of the Pack (Billiards Digest)

Related posts:

• Allison Fisher takes long road to victory
• Kelly Fisher defends San Diego title
• Corr repeats as Florida winner

The IPT North American Open starts

The IPT North American Open 8-ball Championship has begun.

This is the opening event of the International Pool Tour's inaugural season. It runs from July 22-30 at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The winner receives $350,000 from the $2 million purse.

Plenty of top names are entered, including Efren Reyes (Philippines), Ralf Souquet (Germany), Earl Strickland (USA), Thorsten Hohmann (Germany), Marlon Manalo (Philippines), Mika Immonen (Finland), Ronnie O'Sullivan (England), Oliver Ortmann (Germany) and Allison Fisher (England).

Four players have withdrawn, namely Americans Buddy Hall, Jim Rempe and Pete Fusco and Chinese Liu Wei. They have been replaced by Hungary's Vilmos Földes and Americans Keith Bennett, Jeff Beckley and Lee Heuwagen.

Billiards Digest has a superb 2006 Season Preview (PDF) that provides you with all the information you need.

European fans can follow the action live on Eurosport.

See also:

• Groupings Announced for IPT North American Open (IPT Pool Fan Blog)
• "Yikes!" or "Whew...": IPT North American Groupings Announced
  (Billiards Digest)
• Inside Pool Magazine
• International Pool Tour (AzBilliards Forums)
• IPT World Pool Tour (Blog)
• Pool Online
  
• Philippine Billiards
  
• Niels Feijen: Latest News
  
• Ronnie und Jimmy beim Pool
  (Snookerblog)

Related posts:

• Hohmann wins American Open 8-ball Championship

John Spencer dies at 71

Three-times snooker world champion John Spencer died Monday Jul 10 after a battle against stomach cancer. He was 71 years old.

Spencer was also a BBC commentator for many years and became a chairman of WPBSA in 1990.

See also:

• Legend Spencer Passes Away (World Snooker)
• Crucible's first hero, John Spencer, dies at 71 (The Times)
• Snooker legend Spencer dies at 70 (BBC)
• First maximum man John Spencer dies aged 71 (The Guardian)
• Potted history of a snooker great (The Daily Telegraph)
• Reardon Tribute to Spencer (Sporting Life)
• John Spencer, 71, Dies; Helped Popularize Snooker (The New York Times)
• Past Masters: John Spencer (Global Snooker Centre)
• Legende John Spencer stirbt mit 71 (Snookerblog)
• Portrait: John Spencer (Snookerblog)

Corr repeats as Florida winner

Karen Corr (Northern Ireland) successfully defended the Cuetec Cues Florida Classic.

In the final Corr beat arch rival Allison Fisher (England) 7-4. She beat Fisher with the same score in last year's final!

This was her second WPBA win of the season and 19th of her career. The win will cement Corr's 2nd place in the WPBA rankings. Beaten finalist Fisher tops the list.

See also:

• 2006 Cuetec Cues Florida Classic - Highlights (wpba.com)
• Karen Corr wins Cuetec Cues Florida Classic (AzBilliards)
• The Irish Invader wins in Florida (Inside Pool Magazine)
• Florida Diary (Kim Shaw)
• Karen Corr (Official homepage)
• WPBA event (wendy-jans.com)

Newsbites #2

Completed events:

• May 24-28: UPA Florida Predator Open (Jacksonville, USA): Thomas Engert (Germany)
• June 6-11: Reno Open (Reno, USA): Dennis Orcollo (Philippines)
• June 16-18: PartyCasino.com World Pool Masters (Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands): Ralf Souquet (Germany)

Upcoming events:

• Aug 4-19: Philippine 9-ball Championship (Manila, Philippines)
• Aug 22-27: World Cup of Pool (Cardiff, Wales). See also team details (APBU Forum).

Other news:

• 2006/2007 Main Tour Calendar (World Snooker) [see also ArmchairGM]
• 2006-7 Main Tour - Eligible Players (Global Snooker Centre)
• Robertson Comes Close to Double Max (World Snooker)
• International Pool Tour to Air Live Across Europe (IPT) [see also Pro9.co.uk]

Related posts:

• Newsbites #1
  

Web Gems #1: Players

Every once in a while I come across some fascinating web pages. It could be an interesting story, an intriguing product or an entertaining video. I'll try to pick the very best and present them under the "Web Gems" umbrella. The first installment covers the players:

The history of cuesports is packed with legends and originals. At Billiard History's Untold Stories you can dive into the golden era of billiard. The website is a joint effort from Billiards Digest and Hustler Days author R.A. Dyer.

You can read about Bill "Weenie Beenie" Staton, one of the first inductees into the One Pocket Hall of Fame. And did you know that Mosconi made world debut by weird fluke?

The modern game has its share of profiles too. Billiards Digest's Feature Story archive contains articles on two of the all-time greats; Efren "Bata" Reyes and Earl "The Pearl" Strickland.

Jean Balukas is by many regarded as the greatest female player ever. In 1991 New York Women ran a piece on her called "Too Good for Her Own Good".

See the BCA Hall of Fame for more on these and other great players.

Jason Miller may not be ready for the Hall of Fame yet. His story is just as interesting though. Here's the article from Inside Pool Magazine: Jason Miller Model of a Modern Pool Player.

No matter how great these players are they seldom become household names. In Belgium some players are close though. Raymond Ceulemans is among the carom players to have been included in the series "Belgian International Sport Champions".

Borg and Jans defend Euro snooker titles

Alex Borg from Malta and Wendy Jans from Belgium came out on top in the European Snooker Championships. The event was held 5-15 June in Constanta, Romania.

Borg beat Jeff Cundy (England) 7-5 in the final while Jans whitewashed Isabelle Jonckheere (Netherlands) 5-0.

The Maltese star probably had his toughest battle in the semis against Norway's Kurt Maflin. That match was decided on the final colors in the deciding frame.

A Main Tour spot was on offer to the winner of the men's event. Cundy had already secured this prize before a ball was potted in the final as Borg was not eligible, having played on the Tour this season.

This was Borg's fourth final. Prior to last year's win he was runner-up in 2004 and 1998.

Jamie Jones (Wales) had the highest break of the tournament with a 132.

It was an all-Finnish affair in the Seniors final. Jyri Virtanen defeated Kimmo Lång 6-4.

The Romanian Open was played just before the tournament. Netherland's Roy Stolk won the event and a place on next season's Main Tour.

See also:

• 2006 European Championships (Global Snooker Centre)
• EBSA Championships (ibsf.org)
  
• Borg is Euro Star Again (World Snooker)
• Borg retains title after beating Cundy 7-5 in final (The Times of Malta)
• European snooker championships (wendy-jans.com)
• European Championships (Snooker Talk)
  
• Alex Borg from Malta wins the 2006 European Championships (European billiards)
• Wendy Jans European Champion ladies (European billiards)
  
• Dutchman wins Romania Open (The Times of Malta)
• Borg gets WSA wild card for Main Tour entry (The Times of Malta)