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Total 9 Ball - The Undisputed 2 - The Weekender
The St Albans Hurricane Room
Unit 8 Verulam Industrial Estate
224 London Road
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL1 1JF
www.hurricaneroom.co.uk
www.total9ball.com

Saturday/Sunday 25/26 July 2015

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Ipswich dominates at T9B Weekender

On Saturday 25th July the waiting was over as T9B launched their new Weekender event at The St Albans Hurricane Room. This fantastic new two day event would consist of multiple events including the Break-Dish, a Main event with players being split in to three separate tiers based on standard (Each Tier Winner would be offered a space at the end of season Champion Of Champions event), A race to 3 rack shoot-out, a one rack last man standing event (rebuy for 15 minutes) and a blind scotch doubles (rebuy 1st round losers only). The plan was to cram as much 10ball pool into the Saturday leaving just the players in the prize money to return on the Sunday. T9B added a total of �325 to create a lucrative prize pool rewarding players for their support of the first running of this style event.

All Main event matches were played as a race to 15 racks, 10 ball, winner breaks and it was this event that kicked of The Weekender on Saturday Morning. First up were matches from the Minnows Medal division (Lower Tier). There was so much action and results over the weekend I will briefly summarise.

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Shakz Islam was the defending champion of this division from the previous one day event version of this format, could he retain the title? The day began well for him as he eliminated High Wycombe ace Dale Cadet by 15 racks to 5. Steve Chick seemed in great form early doors in this event as he defeated an injured Jamie Bryan by the same 15v5 score line. Just the Finalists would return on the Sunday from this tier and it would be Oly Waters taking on Steve Chick in the Finals as they progressed past Kev Kellheher and Shakz Islam respectively in the Semi Finals.
The Shark Shield (Middle Tier) offered many exciting and tense first round matches with three out of four matches going the whole way ending 15v14 with Chris Parker, Kev Kelleher and Rich Fulwell defeating David Worrow, Anthony Illingworth and Steve Chick in order. The four players returning on the Sunday for the Semi Finals in this division were Ashik Nathwani, Jack Triggs, Nick Hampton and Wayne Rooke.

The Main Event. The Daddy Courtney Symons was back in action this weekend and although the practice table has been missing from his life since the birth of his son it didn�t show. He kicked off with a brilliant 15v3 win against in form Wayne Rooke this was followed by good results against Chris Seville and Ramesh Gokhul as Symons booked his spot in yet another T9B Final. Del Sim was the last player to enter this event and his draw couldn't have looked much worse. To reach the Final Del defeated Phil Wildman 15v14 . Del lead in this match 7v1 and 13v6 but as Del said himself after the match 'Phil is a great finisher of matches and I knew no matter how far ahead I got the game wasn't over until I hit 15 racks'. Del followed this win with a good performance against Ashik Nathwani winning 15v10. We will rejoin the action later in the report for all of Sundays results.

Break-Dish time. 2 lucky players were draw to shoot at the �680 break-dish. The prize was broken down to �50 per ball with a �180 bonus for the 10ball clearance.

Rich Fulwell � Unfortunately mis-cued on the break and didn't hit the legal ball
Nick Hampton � Hit a good legal clean break but it was dry.

The pot will now roll over to Amateur Series E6 on Saturday 22nd August at St Albans Hurricane Room.

As we headed into Saturday evening this was were the serious events were pushed to the side to make way for the fun side games. First up was the race to 3 racks 2x shootout. The prize money for this began in the Semi Finals with the winner receiving a health �150. The Semi Final line up looked like this.

Chris Seville v Courtney Symons � Winner Chris Seville
Mark Parker v Wayne Rooke � Winner Mark Parker

The Final was held back as the last match played on Saturday evening and it was Parker who came out on top. Well done Mark good to see you back in form.

The one rack re-buy event was frantic and fast paced. Players were drawn out of the hat to play for 15mins with the loser of each match given the option to re-buy for �5. As this was a last man standing event it was winner takes all. After the re-buys were added to the �100 guaranteed prize fund the winners prize totalled a brilliant �245. With just five players remaining it was down to a one table format and after a couple of matches the players remaining were Courtney Symons, Nick Hampton and Phil Wildman. Nick and Phil were the players pulled out of the hat to contest the Semi Final as it were but it was Wildman who would reach the final after Hampton cleared the table literally, All ten balls with the white on the final shot. In the Final Phil Wildman was in first and had a great chance to take the title but made an untimely error leaving the event on a plate for Courntey Symons to scoop the prize.

The blind Scotch was good fun and played the way it should be with all sorts of banter and barracking going on. Players partners were redraw after each match to create an anyone can win feel. The Final did however see some top players in action as Mark Parker and Ashik Nathwani took on Nick Hampton and Tom Staveley. The match ended 3v1 in favour of Parker and Nathwani the winning pair both received a trophy and �90 cash each while the runners up picked up �40 each for there troubles.

Next up �10 entry heads or tails knockout. 8 players got involved in the game of luck although its a 50/50 chance game there were a few players who claimed to be good at this through experience of many previous tournaments haha. Courtney Symons and Olly Waters split the �80 first prize in the final �40 each.

After a long day crammed full of pool, fun and laughter the player left the venue with some returning for the Semi Finals and Finals of there respective tiers in the Main event on the following morning.

11am on Sunday and the players still battling for the titles and a space at the T9B Champion Of Champions events were back in action.

The Final of the minnows medal was the first to start as Olly Waters took on Steve Chick. Olly looked the winner during the early stages and lead 12v9. Steve began to fight back as he pulled the match level at 12v12 at this stage it looked like Steve Chick has the momentum to go on and finish the match but a rushed 10ball cost him all as this was a chance to take the lead. Olly began motoring again and took the title 15v12.

In the Sharks Shield event we had to very competitive Semi Finals as Ashik Nathwani took on Jack Triggs and Nick Hampton played Wayne Rooke. Jack Triggs began his Semi Final with a one rack lead as Ashik was late to the venue. I didnt see much of this match but was aware Jack lead from start to finish. I did join the match as Jack lead 14v8. Jack looked worried as he saw his lead slip to 14v13 after he missed a few half chances. Ashik potted the 9ball trying to get shape on the 10ball to level the scores at 14v14 but he misjudged it leaving himself almost touching ball on the 10. Ashik played a good safety from the position he was in. What could Jack do to save a hill-hill finish? He eyed up the long bank. It was a risky shot but after the way the last six racks had gone he felt it was a gamble worth taking. He cued up confidently and I tell you he could hit this shoot 1000 times over and not hit it any sweeter, bang right into the heart of the pocket. What a way to reach your first Total9ball final. Jack is a very good English Pool player but even though he loves American Pool he rarely gets the chance to compete in the events.

The other Semi Final saw Nick Hampton against Wayne Rooke. Both players have hit form recently so we knew this would be a quality match and that it was. Nick ran out a 15v11 winner. Hampton back in a T9B Final. Nick has missed a few chances of a Champion Of Champions place recently and some players were asking the question... is he pools Jimmy White? Always so close but yet so fair. Nick stamped out these rumours in the Final with a clinical display as he lifted the trophy 15v8. Great performance from Hampton in the Final and throughout the event. A well derserved winner. Commiserations to Jack Triggs at times you look to have a great all round game and we hope to see you back at a T9B event very soon.

Tom Staveley was the player standing in Del's way in the Semi Finals of the Main Event. Tom has a brilliant record at T9B 10ball scratch events and this was always going to be a close one. Del controlled the match gaining a nice lead at the beginning of the match and he held on to it well keeping Staveley a distance behind for most of the match. It looked all over as Del rattled home the 10ball to lead 11v6 but Staveley battled back. In the end it was all in vein as Del booked up his space in the Final 15 racks to 12.

Courtney Symons vs Del Sim on paper looked a mouth watering clash, both seemed to be in decent form and it was sure to be a great Final. Del again leaded for the majority of the match as he did in his earlier matches. Courtney Symons got the lead in the latter stages but Del wasn't done and levelled at 13v13. It was down to a race to two for the top prize. Courtney took the final two racks to become a T9B Champion once again. Both players have done themselves proud. I think Courntey winning this event was great for him as he said since the birth of his son his practice has been very limited as juggling family life with work. Well Done Courtney. Del Sim has always been rated by T9B as a dangerous player and perhaps this event proves just what a talent he is. A massive break mixed with a good touch game and the ability to pot from anywhere makes Del a player to avoid at all costs in any event,

Thanks to Hurricane Room for the continued support of T9B, to Dynamic Billards for being T9B's main sponsor for 2015 and to all the players who supported this event. Im sure you will agree that even with the shortage of players it was still great value and good fun.

Next T9B events are:-

1st August � Search For A Star Sponsorship event � St Albans � Limited pay in advance spaces remaining
22nd August � Amateur Series Event 6 of 8 � St Albans Hurricane Room � Always a fast seller max 32 players so entry asap.

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www.total9ball.com

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