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 - entrants and chat
Saturday 25 October 2014
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Tom 'The Don' Staveley too good in Amateur Series Event 10
Total9Ball was back at the Hurricane Room in St Albans on Saturday 25th October for the final qualifying event of the Amateur Series 2014. This was Event 10 and coming into this event three players were still in with a chance of becoming Total9Ball's number one player for 2014. Those players were Mark Parker, Phil Wildman and Tony Burton. Wildman and Burton were tied for the number one spot before this event kicked off with Parker on their tails just 10 points behind, with 50 points being awarded for attending the event and 10 points per match won, it really was all to play for. A brilliant 33 players were in attendance to support this fantastic series and there was also the little matter of the £700 break-dish side event, would we get a big winner at this event?
Thanks to Dynamic Billard for sponsoring this event.
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The draw was completed by Jaspal Bamotra and boy did he draw some cracking first round match ups. Tom Staveley's day begin with a testing matching against a very much in form Paul Taylor, Staveley had to play some good pool to end up a 7v4 victor. Tony Burton showed his class as he defeated Ashik Nathwani 7v4. Mark Parker produced a good display of 9ball as he kept his nose in front of Luke Rollison throughout the whole match winning 7v5, Phil Wildman battled hard but just lost out to Chris Seville 7v6, Nick Hampton was pushed all the way to hill-hill by new player to T9B Jamie Cox but Nick did eventually get over the line 7v6, This event saw the return of Liam Monk after he spent a few months away from the sport, Liam certainly hasn’t lost any of his ability during his time away, a 7v4 win against Panos Roules proved that, Ricky Collet defeated Jason Rosser in a close match 7v5 while England International player Del Sim got the better of fellow International player Jaspal Bamotra 7v5. T9B Rookie Champion Aslam Abubaker using his T9B sponsorship for the first time at this event advanced past Steve Davison 7v6, Mark Knightley sprung a surprise beating Courtney Symons 7v5 while Paul McMichael produced a brilliant performance to beat Ant Ginn 7v4. In the other half of the draw Tom Staveley made it two wins from two matches as he took out Rick Collet 7v4, Mark Parker was beaten 7v6 by Wayne Rooke, Phil Wildman was on the right end of a 7v6 result against his bogey player Luke Rollison ending his event for the day while Courtney Symons improved as he defeated Chris Seville 7v4. Paul Taylor got the better of Tony Burton 7v6, Neil Margossian was forced into top form by Del Sim but Neil just squeaked through 7v6 and Darian George seemed to be playing well as he showed Mark Hughes the exit door 7v2.
At this point in the proceedings it was 10 ball Break-Dish time. The pot before sales stood at a staggering £700, Phil 'The Salesman' Wildman managed to collect in an extra £200 from the players making a T9B break-dish record pot of a whooping £900... This was divided up to make a brilliant £70 per ball potted with a £200 clearance bonus. The first name out of the hat was our very own Phil Wildman drawn by Dale Cadet. Phil stepped up and punched a powerful break but the cue ball was kicked into the top bag. Next up was Steve 'The Estimator' Davison drawn by Aslam Abubaker. Steve looked shocked at the opportunity ahead of him but after a quick estimation he delivered a near perfect break!! Steve sunk two balls off the break and the prize of £140 was announced, Steve was perfect on the one ball with the two ball not far away, he decided to continue and potted the next two balls to take his potential winnings to £280, Steve failed to get shape on the three ball and therefore collected the prize money!! Wow £280 for potting four balls is amazing and well done to Steve our biggest break-dish winner so far. £620 will carry forward to the Amateur Series Grand Finals held on Saturday 6th December at St Albans Hurricane Room.
Next up was the one rack shoot-out this event was £5 to enter and it was Luke Rollison who ended up winning the event defeating Ashik Nathwani in the Final, gaining himself £100 in T9B sponsorship for future events.
Back to the main event now and it was still all to play for as Phil Wildman, Mark Parker And Tony Burton all had just one life remaining and with the rankings all tied at this point who would find the form to win it? It wasn’t to be Tony Burton's day as he was walloped 7v1 by Aslam Abubaker. Mark Knightley said he was in or of Phil Wildman after Phil displayed some fantastic 9ball in their match, Mark commentated 'I have never been shut out of a match like that before' Phil achieved a 7v4 win. Tom Staveley appeared to be in fine form as he recorded two winning results 7v3 against Del Sim and 7v6 against Wayne Rooke. Paul Taylor needed all racks available to get ahead of Aslam Abubaker 7v6 this was Paul’s second hill-hill victory of the event. Neil Margossian is a brilliant player and he had to be due a good run in a T9B event, would today be the day for him? At this stage of the event it certainly was looking good for Neil as he reported another two winning score lines, Neil edged out Chris Seville 7v6 and pounced on all chances against Mikko Tuomi winning 7v4. Nick Hampton was cruising through matches as he also kept both of his lives intact in this round. Hampton defeated both Ant Ginn and Wayne Rooke 7v5.
On to the last 16 of the event, Neil Margossian, Nick Hampton, Paul McMichael and Tom Staveley were still on for the £660 jackpot. The Jackpot can only be won if a player remains undefeated for the whole event therefore meeting themselves in the Final, taking the Winners and Runners Up prize money and the £250 Jackpot bonus. Neil played a very solid match to eliminate Paul McMichael 7v4 ruining Paul's jackpot ambitions but then Neil had his trashed by Nick Hampton 7v5, Tom Staveley then took Nick's Jackpot dreams 7v5 and also punished mistakes made by Paul McMichael winning 7v1. Phil Wildman had many lucky shots against Courtney Symons but made them count winning 7v6. Mark Parker was outplayed by a classy Liam Monk 7v4, this result meant Phil Wildman was confirmed T9B number One ranked player for 2014. Paul Taylor’s impressive form continued as he knocked out Ashik Nathwani 7v3.
Quarter Final time, by this stage of the event it was just Tom Staveley remaining in contention for the Jackpot, could he do it? Tom was now just 4 wins away from the £660 prize and a place in T9B Amateur Series history as the first player to complete this achievement. First up for Tom was Paul Taylor... this match was a classic, both players in fine form and a match that twisted one way and then back the other, of course as all great matches do it went the distance but it was Tom who prevailed 7v6, Tom was said to be seen kissing his jump cue after this match as perhaps the jump cue was the ending difference between the two quality players as Tom made several jump shots during the match. Paul the great sportsman he is was full of praise for Tom and his jump shot ability after the match. Tom then took on Neil Margossian this match wasn’t so close as Tom raced into a clear lead never to be caught winning 7 racks to 1. Phil Wildman ended up a 7v3 winner against Nick Hampton. Phil began the match well catching up the handicap start in double quick time, a few more rack went to Wildman giving him a 4v1 lead, Nick then re-established his confidence to close the match to 4v3 but then it was all Wildman as took the next 3 racks to add his name to the Semi Final lineup by a 7v3 end result. Liam Monk was 3v0 down against Mark Knightley but then Liam hit top gear to impressively roll off the next 7 racks as he advanced 7v3.
So the Semi Final line up was as follows Tom Staveley v Liam Monk and Tom Staveley v Phil Wildman. Liam took on Tom first, the match was good to watch as both players seemed to be hitting the ball cleanly, Tom had the lead all the way from the start of the match but Liam managed to level the scores at the last opportunity 6v6. In the deciding rack Liam hide the white in behind a ball and Tom was hooked but not hooked tight. Out comes the trusted jump cue, Tom look confident as he cued up, he hopped over the obstructing ball and hit the legal ball full in the face, unbelievably the legal ball came off the bottom rail and kissed the 9ball in the middle of the ball into the centre bag. Heartbreak for Liam Monk as Tom now knew it was just Phil Wildman standing in his way trying to defend the T9B Jackpot. Phil began the match on -2 racks and he knew it would take a an awesome display of pool to stop a seemingly on fire Tom Staveley. Phil broke of in rack one and the clearance looked to be all there but Wildman lost the cueball on the 7 ball and scratched. -2v1. Phil didn’t let this bad shot get to him as he took 5 of the next 7 racks to level at 3v3. Tom then looked to put the match to bed as he add the next two racks to his side of the scoreboard, Wildman wasn’t done yet though as he took the fight to Staveley again levelling at 5v5, Tom looked like he would make it 6v5 but made an uncharacteristic mistake missing a simple 7 ball leaving Wildman needing just one rack. Wildman broke dry but this time Tom played a loose safety shot allowing Wildman to complete the win 7v5.
This meant that Staveley and Wildman would compete again in the Final. It was agreed by both players to split the prize money and to play a short race to three racks for the Final. Tom seemed to be back in top gear as produced the shots needed to win the final event 3v1.
What a brilliant event and a great way to end a magnificent season. Tom Staveley was definitely the player of the day and was so close to taking the Jackpot. Well Done Tom Staveley its really is great to see how much your game has improved through hard work on the practice table and regular attendance to Total9ball events.
The Grand Final for this series will be staged on Saturday 6th December as always at The St Albans Hurricane Room, there are 37 players eligible to enter. To be eligible for this event, you must have attended a minimum of 3/10 qualifying events or 5/10 events to be a top 16 seeded player. The Final ranking list will be available at www.total9ball.com later this week as Mark is away housing purchasing.
Thanks so much to the Hurricane Room St Albans for again playing great hosts, Also to our sponsors Dynamic Billard and Ultimate Breakmasters, also to Kim Rowlett for all her hard work behind the tournament desk, its a very long day and we do really appreciate her effort to make sure the tournaments run smoothly. Finally thanks to all the players who attended this event our support of Total9ball events is really appreciated and we hope you all enjoyed the event.
Next up we have the Scotch Doubles event held again in St Albans on the 15th November. T9B has been told the club hope to have all the tables re-clothed ready for this event, its great to see the Hurricane Room regularly changing the table cloths to offer the highest standard of tables. There are 15 teams already registered for this event and we are still currently accepting Teams. So find a partner and enter this great event now, take your chance against last years winners Craig Osborne and Phil Morgan.
The following week we have the T9B Undisputed Judgement Day event (Saturday 22nd November). This event will be held at High Wycombe Hurricane Room and is open to all amateur players graded at level 4 or below, to check your level go to our new website www.total9ball.com the entry for this event is £125 however this will be discounted to £100 if your entry is paid by Monday 3rd November.
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