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T9B - Scotch Doubles
The St Albans Hurricane Room
Unit 8 Verulam Industrial Estate
224 London Road
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL1 1JF
www.hurricaneroom.co.uk
www.t9b.co.uk - chat - live score/brackets

Saturday 19 October 2013

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Anyone For Doubles?

Total9ball returned to St Albans Hurricane Room yesterday for a new unique event. T9B this season are mixing events up in many ways trying to provide variety for the players. The event this weekend was Scotch Doubles, played using the 2x format offering each team two chances in the draw and the opportunity to collect the winner's and the runner's up prize money if they remain undefeated for the whole event. Scotch Doubles is teams of two players playing alternate shots. Players were allowed to pick their own partners however there was a rule enforced of only one professional rated player per team. 16 teams in total competed for the prize money, the beautiful glass trophies and the prestige of becoming T9B Scotch Doubles champions. The draw was done live at the venue at 10.30am with the matches being called as drawn. There was a different atmosphere in the venue than normal with players eager to see how they would play together as a pair.

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The first match out of the hat involved Team Lester B (Chris Buckmaster & James Welch) vs Team Snooker (Billy Brown and Phil O�Kane) in this match 9ball experience prevailed with Team Lester B winning 7v2.

A few of the fancied teams drew each other in round one with Team Powerhouse (Chris Hall and Lee Hart) coming up again Hustlin UK (Ramesh Gokhul & Sunny Garib) we expected this match to be a close call but Team Powerhouse showed their Scotch Doubles class winning 7v3, Chris and Lee have a lot of Scotch Doubles experience as they played and won many games during the Money Match TV days in Wakefield.

Team T9B consisting of Mark Parker and Phil Wildman took on Team Shotgun where Craig Osborne partnered Phil Morgan, Team Shotgun capitalised on team T9B�s early mistakes taking a 6v1 lead. Mark and Phil began a comeback and managed to reduce their arrears to 5v6 but unfortunately that was where the comeback ended, with Team Shotgun taking the match 7v5.

Team Don The Smeucci (Courtney Symons & Tom Staveley) began their event strongly with a solid 7v3 victory over Team Goat (Paul James and Rich Gormley). Team Evans (Dave Evans & Steve Evans) looked a team not to be messed with as they beat a pre-tournament favourite� Team Slim Fast (Al Coton & Kev Simpson) 7v1.

The second half of the draw was played to slightly different rules. Winner breaks was used and races were increased by one rack to eight. The rule changes unfortunately didn't help Team Slim Fast as they were the first team eliminated from the competition after Team Lester B struck an 8v6 result. Team 95ers (Lionel Brown & Mark Hughes) produced the result of the day as they got into a great rhythm advancing 8v1 against Team Powerhouse. Team Shotgun battled back from the brink of defeat against team M&M (Mike Stanley and Mikko Tuomi) to book there place in round two 8v7 from 3v7 down.

The event was being played in great spirits and the Hurricane Room had a real buzz going around, with four players to each table in full focus conferring and sharing knowledge of shots this was proving to be a memorable event.

Round Two kicked off with the only 7v0 whitewash of the event Team Lester B certainly seemed to be working well together as Chris Buckmaster and James Welch cruised by Team 95ers (Lionel Brown & Mark Hughes). Buckmaster and Welch followed this by ending Team T9B's event 8v6, the match went one way and then the other, but a missed 6ball at a crucial stage by Phil Wildman ended up costing team T9B. Other results in the second round were a lot closer with Team Evans and Team Powerhouse both edging 7v6 wins over team Shotgun and team Wildboys (Rattapol Sassmann & Robin Cripps). Courtney Symons and Tom Staveley were proving quite the pair winning both their matches in this round convincingly first 7v1 over The Young Guns (Elliott Sanderson & Mark Lunn) and then 7v2 against Hustlin UK, another favourite team eliminated.

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The Quarter Finals were soon under way and we had already been treated to some quality pool but the standard was about to be cranked up a notch as teams got to grips with the best ways to play this game as a pair. Team Lester B were playing some quite outstanding pool as they pushed Team Evans aside with a 7v3 victory. It's not all about big winning results though it's about being able to keep calm when under pressure and that is exactly what happened in their next match against Courtney Symons and Tom Staveley, the match went right the way to hill-hill, Chris and James held their nerve to advance 8v7.

Don The Smucci did however get right in their other match in the Quarter Final stage. Courtney and Tom ended any hopes of the trophies traveling to the north of the country as they got the better of Team Powerhouse (Chris Hall & Lee Hart) 7v4. Team Shotgun were quietly going about their business as they added another win to their day's results, this time by 8 racks to 6 against Team Evans to book their place in the Semi Finals. Hard luck to Team Evans as, after a good run of results, they bubbled in both sides of the draw and left the venue empty handed.

Below is the Semi Final Line up

Team Lester B v Don The Smuecci
Team Lester B v Team Shotgun

There was a chance for Don The Smuecci to get revenge on Team Lester B for the Quarter Final defeat as they clashed again and wow this match was a cracker, again it went right the way to the death with another Hill-hill match. Team Lester B got their chance in the deciding rack, James Welch was left on the side rail , he jacked the butt of his cue up to screw the white ball back to offer Chris an easier 8ball, when Chris stopped him and said just make sure of it... roll it in, James did so but this left Chris a hard long pot while under massive pressure. Chris got down confidently and hammered the 8ball in to the heart of the bottom left pocket and swung the cue ball off four cushions to land perfect on the 9ball. What a shot to end a terrific match. Team Lester were into the Final and were now just one more victory away from completing the double win and collecting the Winners and Runners Up prize money. Team Shotgun stood in their way and looked up for the challenge, while Chris and James both looked like that had just completed a 26 mile marathon. Team Shotgun raced into a 6v2 lead and it looked to be all over but there was still a little life left in Team Lester B as they began to battle back, aided by a couple of miss-cues by Craig Osborne... one of which was on a 9ball to win the match. The score was 7v6, Shotgun were at the table wondering if this was their chance to finally put this match to bed, Craig Osborne sunk the 8ball and left Phil Morgan a nice 9ball finish but there was still more drama as it was Phil's turn to miss-cue! Unbelievable, Luckily for Team Shotgun the 9ball landed just above the middle pocket leaving a tough 9ball for James Welch with a natural angle for an in off in the middle pocket, James avoided potting the white but jawed the 9ball. Team Shotgun 8 Team Lester B 6. This result meant the teams would have to play again in the overall Final. The players at this stage agreed it had been a great days pool and to split the prize fund and play a quick fire race to two for the trophies. Team Shotgun secured the glass by winning 2v0.

Well what can I say..? What a awesome event, full of drama and excitement for both the players involved and the people watching the matches. The event being Scotch Doubles really does level the teams out and it's a lot harder than just playing for yourself. Craig and Phil battled and battled throughout the day and managed to stay alive by the skin of their teeth at times but were worthy champions and worked well as a team. They had a bit of banter with each other throughout their matches which seemed to keep them cool under pressure and fortunately for them when they did make a mistake they had already built up a large lead so they could cope with it. Hard luck to Chris and James but what a streak of winning matches.

Plans are already being made to add another of these events to the Total9Ball calendar as the feedback from players was very positive.

Thanks to the Hurricane Room for playing great hosts, to Nicole Hansen for running another successful tournament, to Mark Parker for the photos and to our sponsors, Dynamic Billiards, Kamui, Sanctuary Cues and Ultimate Break Masters.

Roll on the next T9B event on the 2nd November - it's Event Two of the Amateur Series again held at St Albans. A thread is now available on www.pro9.co.uk so be sure to enter and support our events.

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