Thursday 9 December 2010

Warmer in Spain

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

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!