Posted on Wednesday, July 02 2025 @ 07:32:10 UTCby admin
GB9 2025 Event 2
What an event we've had. 75 entries, with plenty of participants from the first event, a load of new faces trying out GB9 for the first time, and a few who have played in GB9 in the past, wanting to see what the new GB9 is about.
The main event was so full of quality with sterling performances throughout the comp, but it was Fraser "the Razor" Patrick who came through after a sustained challenge from Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul, winning 11-7.
The Quarter Finalists alone were full of absolute beasts of players, and big names like Benji Buckley, Sunesh Garib, Mark Foster, Matthew Rigley, Phil Wildman, and Imran Majid weren't able to progress to the last 16. The quality on show was exceptional, but Fraser really is playing with huge confidence and rightly so. He was pushed hard by Stephen Ellis, Adrian Pollard, and Carlo Blasi, en route to the final, but he just had too much for all the challengers. Well done to Fraser, in his first ever GB9, and should point out that he's an incredible person to talk to. Zero arrogance, but 100% confident.
The Tiered Events were really competitive too. Tier 1 was won by Event 1's Main Event Champion, Stephen Ellis. By his own admission, Matthew Rigley had played better than him in the final, and would count himself lucky that Matthew didn't go on to win. Both finalists had extremely tough matches to get to the final, as Stephen had to win against Imran Majid and Mark Foster, whilst Matthew had to beat Phil Wildman, Adrian Pollard, and Ashik Nathwani. No such thing as an easy game.
Tier 2 Champion was James Lee who overcame Karl Williams in what proved to be an incredibly tense final where Karl had looked like he was in complete control. But James showed incredible resilience and took advantage of any mistakes Karl made.
We even ran a flyer on the final day, for anyone not scheduled to play on the final day. It was a great opportunity to keep people playing pool, no matter the standard, and a lot of fun was had. Fraser Patrick took it down, winning 5-4, but David Hine will feel gutted that he didn't win after leading 4-1.
Winner of the Mosconi VIP Tickets is Glen Bailey, and winner of free entry to Events 3 & 4 is Harry Harrison.
A huge thanks to Spots and Stripes for their support and hospitality. Their facilities really are top notch, and their staff clearly care about the game. Without Spots and Stripes, GB9 could not go ahead.
The officials, Andy, Dean and Julian. Whilst none of us have huge experience of organising these events, they do nothing but put every ounce of effort into making the competition run smoothly. After two events, we've done pretty ok, but we know we can improve. They're a small team too, but they've done so well.
Special mention to Julian for his constant monitoring of matches. He does over 20,000 steps a day, although it could be argued that his little legs are the equivalent of 12,000 steps of others, but he's like a Duracell bunny. So committed, full of energy, and on the lookout all of the time.
A massive thank you to the media team. Sam Jones puts on the best stream I've seen through TYP Live, and Ben Grady puts out the very best reels that gives everyone a flavour of each day, and takes loads of photos that have just been published. Both of these guys never stop working and the production that they're able to provide reflects what GB9 intends to do. To be the pinnacle of the game in the UK.
Also a huge thanks to Ben Taylor-Fuente for his amazing commentary skills throughout. And to Graeme Hamilton, Paul Taylor, Carlo Blasi and Dave Hopkin for their commentary during the various finals. What a great job they all did.
Not forgetting the incredible work that Andrew Phan does behind the scenes as our creative consultant and designer. He's done so much to ensure that we have a recognisable brand.
Rob Jones for being our incredible website developer, and with Dave Goldsmith helping, there will be some serious improvements and updates to the website and social media over the coming months.
Finally, to you the players. You're incredible, and you're investible. Your attitude at events is infectious, it's motivational, and it's a lot of fun. GB9 talks a lot about retaining GB9's integrity. Whether you're one of the top players or a Tier 2 player, you're all equal in our eyes, you're part of the community, and all we want is for you to enjoy the event and feel you've gotten value for money.
Many thanks again and remember that Event 3 runs from 12-14th September. Registrations will open in around two weeks time. We strong recommend looking at accommodation booking as early as possible.
P.S. I'm not in the office until Wednesday, but will prioritise payouts on Wednesday. I will follow up with a report and player survey shortly after so we can make Event 3 bigger and better.
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