Daryl Peach

Backlog......

2011-11-06T19:40:00.000Z

Well I have been so busy for the past few months, I have hardly had time to think never mind post on here.....so I am going to update you all on all of the happenings since my last post to now with this post....

In August I played a GB9 event, a 3rd place and a 5th place was the outcome. I then went to Germany for the Eurotour and had a disaster, I had a real tough draw again, but eventually lost to Tony Drago in a high class match 9-7. I finished 33rd. Then septemaber started with a win at the Gb9event, I beat Jayson Shaw in the final of the pro cup and also finished 3rd in the main event. From there I went straight to Manila for the Predator 10ball event, this was a real high class field. I finished 17th.then to Hungary for the Eurotour and 2 other events sponsored by Beassy. In the eurotour I finished 9th (again), and in the other 2 events it was another 9th and a 17th finsh.
October saw the US open where I played really well, I won many matches and it took 2 of the 3 Philippinos that were there to beat me, and in my final match I ran a 7pack and still lost!....an insight rally to my season as a whole.....really playing well but just not getting the rolls at the right times! I finished 13th here.
Onto Sarajevo, one of the best tournaments of the year as far as I am concerned. I played great stuff again but came up a little short in the quarterfinal against Ralf Souquet....another 5th place finish.

.....I have 2 more trips left this year.....the first will be back to Manila were I will play 2 high profile challenge matches against none other than Ronnie Alcamo, and Francisco Bustamente. These matches will both be Televised on Star Sports as well as a live stream for all to watch. I am really looking forward to these matches and hopefully I will play well and get the victories!
After that I have the Italian Eurotour in Treviso.
Then it's feet up time for Christmas with my family.
I just missed out on the mosconi cup again which is disappointing but to be honest, it's not the be all and end all to me like it is to others......yes all top players want to be in it, but this year, even though I was close, I probably didn't deserve to be in the team....unlike last year where I was virtually robbed lol.
Getting in the 2012 team will be one of my goals, and I am sure I will achieve this.

Onwards and upwards.....

What a difference a day makes!!

2011-07-14T20:44:00.000+01:00

Sanjt Johan, Austria was the destination for the latest Eurotour. I arrived coming off of the back of a 5th place finish in the world 9ball championships, and a respectable 9th place finish in the world 10ball championships. I knew I was playing well and confidence was high, so I was expecting good things here.
It didn't go as planned early on, in my 1st match vs Italy's Vitorio Defalco I didn't perform at all until I found myself 8-4 down!...And Vitorio was playing as good as I had seen him play , so I had to dig deep and make something happen! I DID! It was like I flicked a swith that said "perfect" on it, cos I played near my best for the last 5racks to come through a 9-8 winner.
My 2nd match was against another Italian, but this time I was determined to start the match better and I made light work of it with a 9-4 win.

The next match turned out to be very interesting, but only after the tournament was over!...(i will explain later)...
It was the winners side qualifying match vs Richard Jones (also a good friend). It's never easy playing friends, but on this occasion I was able to focus well on the table, and when Richard made a couple of mistakes early on in the match I capitalised well and played near perfect to comfortably win 9-3.
Next up was my last32 match vs the runner up from the last eurotour, Jayson Shaw.....this was my 3rd match of the day and I had my eye in....I played extremely well again and quickly found myself 7-0 up, we shared the next 4 racks which enabled me to finish the match a 9-2 winner!

So, on the Saturday mooring it was the last16 match, and the same thing happened to me that has happened 3 times this year at Eurotour events.....basically, I played great to this stage, but then really struggle in this match. The only thing I can put it down to is sleep, or lack of it....also, I have to mention on this occasion my opponent, Christian Riemering played very well too, and beat me 9-4.
But another disappointing finish to an event where I felt I was playing as good as anybody in the event, confident, and up for the job....it's very hard to put my finger on the reason why this has happened a few times this year.......but trust me, I will find the reason, I always do! Hahaha.

So, just to finish, I mentioned about the match with Richard Jones being a very interesting one.....well, Richard came through on the losers side to qualify after I had beaten him, and then he went on to win the event. It's not often you can say you beat the winner......it's usually "I lost to the winner" hehehe
But this has happened to me before in Switzerland eurotour a few years ago, where I beat Mark Gray in the very first round, and then he did the same, goning on to win the event!

I have a couple of weeks off now, so I'm gonna have a little rest from pool, then back on it practicing hard ready for GB9, and the next Eurotour.

World championships 2011

2011-07-02T22:16:00.000+01:00

I arrived in Doha in very good form. Even though it didnt go to plan in Shanghia for my last event, I knew I was hitting the ball as good as ever. My 9th place finish in the world 10ball confirmed this to me, mainly because of the caliber of player that I beat there.

The draw came out and as usual this year it wasn't as easy as it could have been. My first match was against a highly regarded Singapore player, who had beaten Mark Gray 9-2 in Shanghai a couple of weeks ago, and finished 9th in that event. I had played and beat him before though, and with my confidence high I brushed him aside with a 9-4 win. My second match to qualify for the final 64 KO stage was against the Mecca's No1 player (middle east). Once again though I played near perfect and came through a comfortable winner by a scoreline of 9-4.
In this tournament there were only a couple of upsets in the group stages so nearly all the top players were on the winners side....so surely I would get a decent draw this time right?
.....no way, I got probably the toughest draw possible!! My first match in the race to 11 straight KO final 64 round was against the very person who I beat in the final match of my triumph in the 2007 world championship......Roberto Gomez of the Philippines. And, even though that 2007 fonal match was close, this one wasn't.....I tore him apart playing the perfect set of pool 11-4. So now I know for sure that I am playing great pool, I feel good on the cue and things are going well....but my last 32 match is against Fu Chei Wei, the very person that had beaten me 9-8 in Shanghai a couple of weeks before.....in that match I played well but didn't get a shot in the final rack, but in this match I played another perfect set, destroying Fu by an 11-1 scoreline!
The ball was starting to roll now and even though no tournament will ever compete with the 2007 event in Manila with the crowds and atmosphere etc, I was getting similar vibes as when I won the title in 2007.
Next on the hit list was the highly talented Ko Pin Yi (Taipei). This was a classic, a battle to the end. The match went back and forward until I found myself 9-7 down, and unlike my previous matches, I had made a couple of errors, so I needed to dig in deep and change up a gear. This I did, playing top notch stuff for the last 4 racks enabling me to come through an 11-9 winner.
So now I found myself in the quarter finals and only 3 wins away from another world crown! In my way was probably the greatest player in the world at the moment, world number1 ranked player, Dennis Orcollo (Philippines). From start to finish in this match every roll went Dennis' way, and there was nothing I could do as he played excellent too. He had done to me what I had done to all of my other opponents previous and beat me 11-4. It's not like I did anything wrong though, just one of those things, one of those matches where there was nothing I could do to change the outcome!

....after looking back at this tournament, it feels like a missed chance, because when I get to the final stages of tournaments I usually get stronger and stronger, and often finish the job by winning the thing, often, the hardest part for me is getting the ball rolling and getting to the final stages. But, having said this, on this occasion the rolls were definitely not with me, and this played every part in finishing my run.

As always, I will take the positives from this tournament just like I do with any other.....and there are plenty of positives to take from this one!
I know if I keep playing the way I am playing that there are plenty of big wins coming my way....it's just a matter of time, I've just gotta be patient and keep doing what I'm doing.

.....onto Austria next week for the next Eurotour......

Kung fu'd by the Fu fighters!!

2011-06-25T16:52:00.002+01:00

Shanghai, China for the China open was the scene. Coming into the event playing well off the back of my good performance in Manila.
I drew talented Venezuelan player Yousef Jalal in my first match but he didn't show, so I got a 9-0 walk over.
Next up was Taiwanese Fu Chei Wei. I played the whole match only making 1 mistake at 4-5 down, this quickly turned into 4-8 down but once again I dug in and showed real heart to pull the scoreline back to 8-8.....only to see him break and run the last rack!
But I still had another chance to get through to the straight ko stage but Fu Jian Bo of China stood in my way.
The match was close up to 4-4 then once again a single mistake from me saw me go 4-8 behind. Once again I dug in, and once again it wasn't to be....eventually losing 9-6.

Sometimes it's really tough losing when you play really well, especially when you see players around you playing poorly and still getting the win. But that's pool for you, onwards and upwards to my next event....the world 9ball championships in Doha, Qatar.

Cursed in Manila

2011-05-18T21:48:00.000+01:00

Well I just got back from Manila....the place where I won my world 9ball crown, This time it was for the world 10ball championships. The tournament set up, organisation, and venue were second to none, and as always in Manila there were plenty of supporters watching from start to finish.
In the first round I had an in form finish player call Petri Makonen, who had recently beaten Darren Appleton in the latest Eurotour. But I got off to a flyer and played strong to run out a 9-2 winner. My 2nd match was live on ESPN tv channel vs top Vietnamese player Phuc Long Ngeyen. This was nearly a mistake free match from both of us, and form from my recent events was starting to show through and I won the match 9-4. Now, because I only dropped a total of 6racks in qualifying for the last 64 players, I was seeded 3 in the draw. Normally you would think that this alone should provide me with a reasonably sweet draw, but somehow it did the opposite....in my quarter of the draw was myself, Alcano, Biado, Orcollo, Boyes, Wu, Gomez Yang just to name a few....all capable of actually winning the whole tournament! in my last 64 match I drew the highly rated Kuwait player Omar Al Shaheem, a young player who has a swagger around the table with a slight resemblance of a young Ronnie o'sullivan. It was a super match where I went 7-2 down, but showed good heart and kept my confidence high to come through a 9-8 winner. Next in the last 32 I had top USA player Shane Van Boening. This was probably my best match, I played near faultless and cruised to a 9-5 win.
Now I was in the final 16 players, playing very well and brimming with confidence. In front of me I had the very in form Carlo Biado who is the latest hotshot to come from the Philippines. I made 2 safety errors and found myself 8-1 down in a matter of minutes! I dug in deep and started to fight back. I got the match back to 5-8 but then broke dry and left the table open, he came in and ran them out to take the match 9-5.
A very disappointing end to my run as I strongly believed as the tournament progressed I was getting stronger and stronger. I guess the fact that Biado destroyed Ronnie Alcano 9-1 and also Dennis Orcollo 9-3 showed that I lost to a player at the very top of his game, and only 2 safety errors was my downfall.....that's why pool is the toughest sport in the world, mentally that is.

So, not another World title to add to my collection, but a very good tournament run, and more confidence in my bin!
My next event is the China Open in just over 2 weeks.....watch this space!

Beijing Open

2011-05-18T21:14:00.000+01:00

As draws go, I couldn't have had a much tougher one than I got here!
The very first round I drew none other than Ralf Souquet, and even though i have probably the best record from any player against Ralf, i knew it was gonna be a real battle. I set off in the match very strong, but as you would expect a player of Ralfs calibre didn't give in easily and came back at me. At 6-6 I was pleased with my change of gear which I needed to do to win this match.....I took the match down by 9 racks to 6.
It didn't get any easier as in the 2nd round I was up against Efren Reyes. I played even better in this match than I did in my previous one, but came unstuck by a 8-9 scorline.....in the last Rack he made a miracle run out....trade mark Efren really.
So now I had to beat a very good Indonesian player to qualify for final 32, but he played the match of his life....not making one mistake and I eventually lost this match 7-9.
So not the best tourney I've ever had, but I can take plenty from it.....I played some awesome stuff, something near to my 2007/08 form so things are looking brighter for the future!

Italian Eurotour

2011-04-19T13:40:00.000+01:00

I went to Treviso and put up a good show in the defence of my title that I won in 2010. All the practice that I have been putting in on my table to perfect the slight changes I've made to my action are now becoming more "automatic" to me, and I know that this will be all positive for the coming big events.
In Italy, I started off extremely well, sailing through the winners side to qualify with ease, and to be honest, some matches I won easier than I thought that I might, but I guess that was down to my play with virtually no mistakes.
I drew a very composed Fabio Petroni in the last 32 straight KO, and even though I was always infront and in control of the match, my form wasn't as good as earlier in the tournament. I eventually came through with a 9-5 win, and had a nights sleep to get ready for the run in from last 16 in.
I got a decent nights sleep although I could feel a cold coming on. In the last 16 I had Konstantin Stepanov, a very strong player but my record was 100% against him before this match with 3 wins from 3.
In the match I set off ok but missed a silly 8ball cut into the side at 2-3 down. I battled well to get to 6-6, and was in control of the 13th rack with only 3 balls left on the table. I then missed what I would call an unmissable 7ball and gave the rack away. The next rack I played a bad positional shot and left myself fully bridging over a ball and missed the 3 ball because of it. Then in the last rack I made another uncharacteristic error, and went on to lose the match 6-9. It was very frustrating because on a normal day at the office I could have probably won the match 9-4, but I have no idea why I played so poor in this match. I guess all I can put it down to is that we are all human, and we all have off days in life in general.

As always though, reflecting back, I can take lots of positives from this tournament, and the main one for me is that the slight changes that I have made to my cue action are now virtually concreted in so that I don't need to think about them.

My next voyage will be to Beijing for the Beijing Open, and then from there to Manila for the World 10ball championships. So until I leave it's more practice!!!

GB9 Daventry

2011-03-14T11:02:00.000Z

Well, the first event of the new GB9 ball tour season got underway this weekend. As usual the standard of pool was superb, the equipment was great, and the event was ran to perfection by the GB9 team.
Firstly in the Pro Cup, where I was defending my title from last years event, I played some steady stuff. That's about as far as it went really, I never got into full flow and eventually got beat in the semi-final. In the main event On the Sunday though it was a different story, I played some awesome pool, demolishing many very good players along the way by score lines of 9-1, 9-1, 9-3, 9-3. In the semi-final it was more of the same in the first half of the match, but when I was leading by a scoreline of 5-2 I simply hit a brick wall and my energy and concentration disappeared. I made several safety mistakes and was just not with it. I eventually lost 9-7. I simply put this down to the fact that earlier on that morning before I played any matches I had an extremely bad stomach, and I found myself in the toilet for the first 2 hours of the day! I felt ok around midday and the afternoon, but I fell that it caught up with me in my semifinal, and this was the deciding factor in the end. Disappointing really because I felt that I was playing the best pool in the tournament by far, and I really fancied my chances of taking it down. But this wasn't to be, and I now have to look forward to my next event.
One thing that does excite me though, is the fact that I have been working on a few slight changes in my technique/cue action over the past couple of weeks and this was the first event where I have had chance to try it in tournament play.....I was really pleased in general, and I am certain that the changes are for the better, and now I will pound the practice table over the next few weeks to perfect the changes and make it so that I don't even have to think about them.....so that they happen naturally.....they will become part of my games make up.

So all in all, 2 semi-final places this weekend, not a bad result, although I knew I deserved better. But the main thing for me was the fact that the changes I am making to my game have been confirmed to me that they are good ones, and now I have something to work on in my practice sessions.

World 8ball champiinships

2011-02-28T19:50:00.000Z

Well, could you really call this tournament that? To be honest, it's one of the worst events I have played in for a long time! I hate to say that because the UAE people are great and I wish the tournament was a big success, but in truth, the organisation was well below par, and the format was terrible. The referees were terrible apart from the odd one, and to be honest ALL the players said the same.
I had what was probably the toughest group, every player in the group was capable of beating the others in the group. But I played some solid stuff and came through on the winners side by beating firstly Joven Bustamente and then Francisco Bustamente, both by a score line of 7-6.
Because of the strange format that they decided to use, there were 56 qualifiers for the straight KO stage, but they decided to give 8 byes to the 8players who had lost the least racks in the group stages....all this meant was that the players who had easy groups got rewarded for it, and players who had tough groups like myself were penalised because it was so hard to win heavily against world class players!
So I drew Vilmos Foldes in the last 56 and had 4 dry breaks from my first 4breaks! I was 7-1 down and got it back to 7-5, but made the mistake of asking the ref to remove the breaking tamplate (magic rack)....he mark the 2 balls that were near the rack but then proceeded to drop one and moved the marker on the other! This messed the whole layout up of the balls. This eventually hindered me in running the balls out and I lost the rack, and eventually lost 9-6.

To be honest, the only reason I was disappointed in losing was because this event carried Mosconi cup points. I was glad to get outta there and get home, and now I look forward to my next event......the superbly organised GB9 ball tour!

Eurotour France

2011-02-28T19:28:00.000Z

Hi guys, I played well in this event, qualifying through a tough group on the winners side by beating a stubborn Markus Juva (Finland) in my last match. In the straight KO last 32 I drew Niels feijen on the main match table, not the easiest of draws especially when there were lots of "new players" in the draw. Well what a match....I hardly had a shot in the first 7 racks and found myself 0-7 down, not ideal in a race to 9 with alternate breaks!! But I kept my head on and kept battling and before I knew it I had got the score back to 7-8.....then just when I felt like I was now the favourite win the match Niels broke and ran the final rack to beat me 9-7. The main thing for me is that I can take a lot from this tournament. I was pleased with my general play and at the end of the day it's my first event of the year.....roll on world 8ball.....

Warmer in Spain

2010-12-09T09:29:00.000Z

Well, guys, just got back from SpIn where I played the Eurotour and also attempted to defend my title in the international 8ball event.
First the Eurotour, after yet another tough draw with the likes of Dimitri Jungo in the 2nd round, I still came through the early rounds unscathed, playing very well with confidence and style. Then cruised through the last32, and met Marcus Chamat in the last 16. This was the match of the tournament, with Marcus only making 1 error, and me making none!....I came through a 8-7 winner. I eventually lost in the quarters to Darren Appleton, and even though I broke much better, and played to about an identical standard, the balls were against me.....not only off of my break shot, but also because I got 2 massive kicks at big points in the match. So even I couldn't overcome this bad luck, especially when Darren played as good as me. Still a decent result finishing 5th. You just have to take the rough wih the smooth in this game.....good rolls and bad ones......there coming to us all.

In the international 8ball, I didn't qualify, mainly due to feeling very much under the weather.....it seemed to be something going around as I know for a fact that Mark Gray was very I'll also. This was a shame for me, because I rate my 8ball game at the highest level, and thought I was one of the favs, with a real good chance to defend my title.

King of Blackpool......again

2010-12-09T09:16:00.001Z

I've only just had chance to update my blog due to my travels and being so busy.
On the 26-28th November, GB9 held another superb event at the tremendous Blackpool Royal Imperial hotel. After winning the Pro event there back in March, I wanted to continue my domination in my home town by repeating that performance. Well, after playing some great pool I managed to succeed again. I relatively strolled through the earlier rounds without much retaliation from my opponents, beating the up and coming Dave Nelson 9-6, and ever consistent James Kay 9-3 in the quarters, before defeating fellow "Blackpooler" Karl Boyes 9-6 in the semis. In the final I found myself up against Mark Gray for the umpteenth time. It wasn't the best final that we ever played against each other to be honest, but after I took the lead early on, I always felt really good during the match as I did all weekend, and eventually came through with a 9-8 win.
So yet another title to add to my impressive haul. In the main event I was cursing along nicely until the quarter finals where I met Imran Majid. The match turned out to be very scrappy and not of a decent standard at all, the table played very funky for some strange reason, and Imran seemed to handle it better than I did. But all in all, a very constructive weekend for me, and having my own table in my house is already bringing my game and confidence back up. It's nowhere near the point when I won the world title a couple of years ago, but I am 500% sure it will be there very soon!

Mosconi Cup here I come.....2011

2010-11-06T16:48:00.000Z

Well, I ended up missing out in this years Mosconi Cup despite having a pretty good season. I won quite a few tourneys including 2 out of the 7 Eurotours, and I topped the Eurotour ranking in April, may, and June. But after Karl Boyes had a good run earlier in the year he pipped me to the number1 spot on the "mosconi cut-off date", and then Darren Appleton won the US Open meaning that I was the one that had to miss out this year unfortunately for me. There has never been 3players play the Mosconi from the same country in previous years anyway (since 5man teams were introduced), so I sort of knew that I would miss out after Darrens super victory in USA....even though I knew I deserved to be in.
It was a wierd feeling watching Darren win, because I was pleased for him obviously, but at the same time I was gutted for myself because I knew what his win would mean with regards to Mosconi Cup.
....so I put all my own feelings to one side in order to give Darren his deserved congrats, and I was the first person to congratulate him on his win. We had a great night after with all the celebrations etc. Then the next day I felt sick.....and not from the drink lol.
That's how it goes when we have so many great players in the Uk now, and after having chance to weigh it all up, I know this will make me stronger and more determined to get in next years team.

After the US Open, I went to Portugal Eurotour to try and defend my title. I had just about as tougher draw as I could have got......when you think, I am seeded number2 and my draw was koshavoy (very talented Ukranian), followed by Sascha Teige (won German Eurotour this year), followed by Raj Hundal ...... And that was just to qualify for last 32!
Then I draw Darren Appleton in last32 who's is on a high after his win in US the week before, but I play something near to when I won my world 9ball crown and come through a convincing 9-2 winner, only to lose to a lesser known German called Marco Vogel in the last16 early the following day. This was the only match I had played at morning in this event and may have still been a little jet lagged from US....meaning it was still 4am where we had just come from! Still it's no excuse for a player of my experience and I have to give Marco credit as he played some good pool to beat me.

So, GB9 event in my home town next for me, followed by Spain Eurotour. I'll update my blog after these events.

Sarajevo Open

2010-10-12T22:07:00.000+01:00

Just got back from sarajevo Open event....one word.....EXCELLENT! The tournament was ran to perfection, and the hospitality was second to none. We were made to feel very welcome, and to be perfectly honest I can't wait to go back there. The people were great and I made lots of new friends which is always a good thing.
The semis and final were played live on Bosnian TV, and the crowds were very enthusiastic.
Ralf Souquet won the tournament beating Raj Hundal in the final. I lost in the quarter final to Raj, who was playing better than I have seen him play for a long time. I had brushed a number of opponents aside unto the semis, but I played a couple of bad safeties in the first few racks, and before I knew it I was 8-1 down....not ideal in a race to 10 with alternate breaks! But I hung in there and started to perform like I can, and got the score line back to 8-9 behind, only to make another silly safety error, and that was my last shot in this event. All in all I am pleased with my overall form and i am looking forward to the US Open which I fly to on Thursday.
On another very positive note, I got my table fitted in my house today, so I now have somewhere to practice for the first time since March when my local club closed down!
So watch out! Lol
I will give an update of the US Open after the event.

Chinesed in China!

2010-09-28T20:55:00.000+01:00

Just got home from a long hard trip to Asia. First was Manila as mentioned below, then I went onto china for the china open. I lost twice in the double ko stage, 11-8 to Marcus Chamat, and also 11-10 to the eventual winner Zhang of taipei. I played really well against Zhang, only to find that at 10-9 up I broke and didn't have a clear shot at the 1 ball, so I played a very strong safety where he only had 1path to the 1 ball....he played the kick shot perfect, re-hooking me where my only option was to jump....I made contact but left a shot on, and that was my last visit as he ran out, then broke and ran the last rack.....something that I have done to players many, many times over the years, so you have to take the rough with the smooth and carry on regardless.
Although it's starting to hurt losing so many matches on the hill, and also I seem to keep losing to the eventual winner of the tournament.....although this may be a good thing as it shows that it's taking a player in great form to beat me! That's how I look at it anyway, always taking the positives where ever possible.
Well, the next event for me is the Sarajevo open, followed by the US open, but a week or so off until then.

Until next time........

Disapointment for WCoP

2010-09-18T08:54:00.000+01:00

Well guys, it was a very disappointing result for Karl and myself in the recent world cup of pool in Manila. We beat Qatar 8-7 in a match that was full of mistakes, and then it got worse as we went don't to France 8-6 in an error stricken match. The biggest disappointment was because we had been playing so well in practice. But, we are not the first top team to suffer and we won't be the last. Scotch doubles is a funny old game and it can be easy to fall into the trap of over analyzing on shots and I think that's what happened.
On a better note though, I stayed on in Manila for a week and played some golf. Awesome courses and really enjoyed it....got the hunger back for the game so might try to play a bit more than I have been over the last few months.
Onto china now for the china open, I will update you all on my progress after the event.

Eurotour Finland

2010-08-30T17:31:00.000+01:00

Well guys, just got back from Finland. I finished 5th eventually losing to the winner, Nick Van Den Berg. I did well to qualify for last 32 after losing my opening match 8-5, after that i won 5 matches in a row to qualify for the KO stages. I drew Ralf Souquet, probably the worst draw posible, but played perfect and romped home 8-2. I followed this up with a very similar performance against good friend Chris Melling, winning 8-2 again. In the quarters agains Van Den Berg i got kicked in-off twice off of my break...and that was it basically....i didnt do much wrong and lost 8-2. Thats the way it goes sometimes in this game, you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Karlos Boyes finished 2nd and nailed the first place in this years Mosconi Cup by finishing number 1 on the rankings, so well done to him for this, and also a great season in general.....a well deserved spot for sure!
I finished 2nd on the rankings well clear of 3rd place, and i was the only player to win 2 events in the series so i am well in the mix for one of the other spots, and because the European players (except for Karl) have not performed further afield this season, it should make my 2 Eurotour wins a big factor in the remaining places.
But lets just wait and see what happens with that.....

Next up is the World Cup of Pool in Manila where Boyzi and myself will be trying to make more history in the pool world!

Up coming events and Preperation

2010-08-21T20:43:00.000+01:00

Well, both me and Karl have been putting plenty of time in on the table, trying to get as ready as possible for the World Cup of Pool on 7th-12th September in Manila. For any of you that dont already know, this event is a Scotch doubles event (alternate shots), with 32 countries participating. Its promoted by Matchroom Sport, and is televised and broadcast around the world. The event is invite only, so for us English players its very hard to make the team because we have so many good players now-a-days, and its pairs so only 2 players get the nod.

Anyway, practice has been going really well, we were going to alternate between my house and Karls but my table has not arrived yet so i have been going up to Karls place. He has a nice tight Dynamic table in his purpose built room, and it makes you knuckle down because anything touching the rail on its way to the pocket wont drop!
We have been mainly focusing on our timing and gelling around the table, because there is a shot clock in this event, speaking though experience its best not to get bogged down with too much talking inbetween shots. It sounds simple enough to do, but when slight doubts come in on certain shots is when it gets hard. Anyway, things are progressing well, and we will be fine tuned ready for this big event. We went out earlier today to pick up our attire for this event, i wont say too much about it, but we could be in with a shout for the $1,000 prize for the best dressed team! lol

Before then, we both have a big event in Finland...the Finland Eurotour. Its more important for Karl and myself than most because we are ranked 1 and 2 on the rankings after winning 3 from the last 6 events between us (Karl 1 and me 2), and the player who finishes number 1 after this event is guaranteed a place on the European team for this years Mosconi Cup.

The only other player who could possibly finish number 1 is Niels Feijen, but both Karl and i would need to have a nightmare event and also niels would need to win it to acheive this. What ever happens in Finland though, all 3 of us are very much in the mix for the remaining places.

Obviously, if we can pull a win off in Manila (World Cup of Pool) then this wouldnt do us any harm towards the call up either!

After the World Cup of Pool in Manila, i will be staying on there for another week to play some golf and basically chill, before moving on to Shanghai for the China Open. This is another major event which was won last year by Thorsten Hohmann. Its an excellent event which also has a seperate Ladies China Open event running along side it, where all of the top ladies are in attendance.
This event is also Televised, so there will be more chance to gain great exposure for my sponsors.

After this i then go onto Sarajevo for the Sarajevo Open (also Televised by local TV). I am very much looking forward to this event as i have heard so many good things about it from other players. There is a ring game which i am in before the main event, and this is held in one of the cities top casinos.

I could go on and on about events after that such as th U.S Open and portugal Eurotour etc, but i will go through those a little nearer the time.
I will also update you on my results in the events mentioned above as i play through them.

So all in all, my preperation is going very well, and i have a pretty busy schedule over the next few months. Its a little like the waiting for a bus......one minute there are none, then they all come at once!
Nothing new in the life of a Professional Pool Player!

10 letters to remember.....

2010-08-15T19:36:00.000+01:00

Determination
Ability
Respect
Yogurt
Limits

Positive
Experience
Athlete
Concentration
Harmony

Now i will go through them one by one....

Determination
Never get disheartened during matches, i know its hard sometimes when luck seems to be going against you, but its just like anything else.....the more you practice staying determined in your head, the better and more consistant you will get at it.

Ability
Try to realise your own ability, and where you can improve your game through practice. Try to put more time into the more inconsistant parts of your game.....dont just practice the things that you are already good at!

Respect
Always respect your opponent, even if they are a much weaker player than yourself. Not doing this is how matches are lost, when things are taken for granted.

Yogurt
Sounds funny doesnt it? Well someone once told me that when you travel to foreign countries, try eating a local plain yogurt before you do anything else. This will help prevent bacteria taking over your body....help prevent the old dodgy tummy etc.

Limits
When your playing in matches, you have to know your limits. Why risk handing the table over to your opponent by taking on a shot that you are not 100% that you will make? I see a lot of players trying to "keep up" with their opponents, and losing because of it. Learn to play your own game, and dont get intimidated into taking on a shot that you shouldnt be.

Positive
Speaks for its self really. Keep positive thoughts running through your head at al times. And just like Determination.....practice makes perfect.

Experience
Its true what they say, there is no substitute for experience, so try and play as many events that you possibly can, it will give you good seasoning, and in the end it will hold you in good stead.

Athlete
You see this a lot on facebook..... John Smith "athlete". Well, if you look at the majority of the top players, they all keep in shape. Obviously some take it further than others, but i strongly believe that keeping fit helps your pool game.

Concentration
It goes without saying that a pool player need to have excellent concentration skills to acheive his/her goals. But this skill doesnt come naturally, it takes practice just like everything else in order to acheive the highest concentration skills. I practice this more than most things as i am a strong beleiver in "the zone" !!

Harmony
You hear players coming off the match table saying "he played his A game, i couldnt do a thing!" Well, the reason why this guy has just acheived his "A game" is because he managed to gel all his ability, concentration, skill, positivness, experience, and determination all together at the same time. When this happens, it doesnt matter who you are playing, and trust me, its an awesome feeling!

Thanks for checking out my new blog.

2010-08-11T21:00:00.003+01:00

First of all, thanks for checking out my new blog.
I hope that you enjoy it.
I will be posting many stories about my pool over the coming months, from practice drills, to tournament preperation, and from tournament results and form to my expectations in the game. In fact i will be posting on almost everything to do with me and my pool game.

So please keep coming back to check out what mt latest news is.

Thanks again,

Daryl.