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 6 December 2014
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Wildman goes Jackpot Wild at Total9Ball Amateur Series Grand Finals
The Total9Ball Amateur Series Grand Finals took place at St Albans Hurricane Room on Saturday 6th December. The Grand Final was a celebration of the completion of another fantastic season of the T9B Amateur Series. As promised Total9Ball added £300 to the prize fund so it was sure to be another brilliant event. The T9B 2x double chance format was used meaning if one player was to remain undefeated throughout the whole event they would collect the Winner's Prize of £350, the Runner-Up's prize of £205 and the Jackpot Bonus of £250 totaling £805. Surely this was unlikely to happen though as the Jackpot has been available for 3 whole seasons now that’s over 25 events and never been won!!!
Thanks to Dynamic Billard for sponsoring this event - read on for the thrilling full report.
Share this article on FaceBook
"Read More..." for further details!
Matches kicked off at 10.30. The draw was seeded, so it was the non-seeded players in action first trying to win to take on a seeded player in round two. Seedings were determined by the accumulation of ranking points through the 2014 season. The results from the 1st round are below.
Vesilin Papradanov 7v5 Lionel Brown
Aslam Abubaker 7v5 Ant Ginn
Martin Correia 7v4 Paul Taylor
Ashik Nathwani 7v6 Paul Chonge (Ashik was 6v1 down)
Courtney Symons 7v3 Gary Bullocke
Aslam Abubaker 7v1 Neil Margossian
Lionel Brown 7v2 Ant Ginn
Paul Chonge 7v1 Martin Correia
After these results came into the tournament desk the ticket sales began for today’s "Break Dish" event. After sales closed the pot was announced as a massive £735!!! This was broken down to £60 per ball potted with a £135 bonus for the 10ball clearance. The first player out to make an attempt was T9B's very own Phil Wildman. Phil attempted a controlled soft break but the break backfired as no balls were pocketed. Next up was Mr £280 (previous break dish winner) Steve Davision who unfortunately couldn’t make the whole event due to other commitments but made the trip to the club just for some break dish action. Steve delivered a very powerful break potting a ball. Steve decided not to collect the £60 and carry on, unfortunately for Steve that was the wrong decision as he missed the next ball. A third player was drawn at a reduced pot of £5 per ball with a £50 bonus for the 10ball clearance, that player was Courtney Symons. Courtney hit a good break but only left a long bank on the next lowest ball, he took it on and hit the heart of the pocket. The remaining balls were at Symon's mercy surely a £100 winner??? Courtney looked confident as he joked about with the onlooking players, after 9 balls were potted just the 10ball remained. If there was a break dish cash out button with a £100 prize the offer would have been £99.50 but then unbelievably 'WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT' Courtney missed the 10ball, incredible!!! That’s the second time he has done it and missed the last ball for a £100 prize.
So we were now at the stage where the seeded players began their quest for glory. Phil Wildman's event began against Vesilin Papradanov. Phil trailed most of the match but keep composed to take the match 7v5. Neil Margossian started his event with a good 7v4 win over Wayne Rooke to set-up a last 16 match against Wildman. Neil and Phil cant seem to avoid each other in events recently playing 5 times at various events this season. Paul McMichael was tempted to stop playing the sport after a string of bad results but was talked into playing again by his girlfriend Chrystal, I bet Paul was glad she did talk him round and organised him a lift to this event. Paul had sold his cues but at this event he purchased a cue from T9B stock. Paul played some great pool to get the better of Gary Bullocke 7v6. T9B Rookie Champion Aslam Abubaker need all rack available to catch and defeat Ken Ng 7v6. Mark Parker was involved in a another second round hill-hill thriller as he showed his bottle beating Martin Correira 7v6. In fact in the first seeded round out of 16 matches 10 were 7v5 results or closer, I'd say the handicapping was almost judged to perfection. Phil Wildman's Jackpot chances were in jeopardy in his second last 32 match, Lionel Brown started like a house on fire taking a 5v-1 lead, unfortunately for Lionel things were about to swing in Wildman's favour. Lionel scratched a few times were it didn’t seem possible. The match however did reach 6v6 and it was down to a tease last rack decider. Both players looked desperate to advance but it was Wildman who prevailed after a entertaining match. Many people's favourite to lift the trophy Courtney Symons managed two out of two wins from his opening matches beating his good friend Nick Hampton 7v4 and Ashik Nathwani 7v5. Mike Stanley built up a large lead against Mark Parker but missed a few opportunities to win the match, the match reached hill-hill and at this point Mark had to be favourite to book a spot in the next round but NO the form book was turned upside down as Stanley sunk the 9ball with a smile on his face. Tom Staveley ended Ashik Nathwani's event early 7v3 but then was outplayed by impressive Paul Taylor end result 7 racks to 4.
The winners of these next matches would be in the prize money and two wins for players still in both sides of the draw would mean two lots of prize money. Phil Wildman dropped just 5 racks across two matches as he eliminated both Neil Margossian 7v3 and Wayne Rooke 7v2. Aslam Abubaker had two very close matches but managed to get over the line in both as he got the better of Courtney Symons 7v6 and Paul McMichael 7v5. Ken Ng guaranteed his best T9B event finish to date as he produced enough form to beat Paul Taylor 7v5. Paul McMichael regrouped after his defeat against Aslam to end Mike Stanley's good run in the event 7v4. Courtney Symons must have been cursing his luck as he lost a second match in this round 7v6, this time at the hands of Mark Parker.
So it was Quarter Finals time and heading into this round both Aslam Abubaker and Phil Wildman were still on course for the £805 Jackpot. The two Jackpot contestants would compete against each other twice at This stage of the event. Phil began the match -3 racks and Aslam used the handicap well and lead 5v0 surely game over? Wildman isn’t known for having a great mental game but perhaps that's something he has really improved as he looked ready to battle rather than concede. Wildman hit a bit of form but it looked to little to late as Abubaker moved onto six racks with Wildman back on four. Again Wildman looked confident on the task ahead and he was right to be as Aslam broke dry at 6v6 and Wildman cleared the balls to take a match that looked at times impossible to win. This result clearly hurt Aslam and inspired Wildman as in match two, Wildman was on fire taking it 7v2. Paul McMichael was involved in yet another tight match as he ended Ken Ng event 7v6 while Mark Parker seemed to be striking the ball very nicely as he took out Jaspal Bamotra.
So Wildman involved in both Semi Final matches, first up... Paul McMichael. Paul is a player with great ability but things just don’t seem to go his way, the cue action his possesses is sublime and I believe Paul is just a player in need of a few good results to boast his confidence. Today could have been Paul's day but he ran into a player so zoned in on the job ahead... the Jackpot. Phil produce a few wonderful clearances bossing the match to book a spot in the Final 7v4. So just Mark Parker could stop the Jackpot being won. Mark didn’t really seem in the right frame of mind to challenge Wildman and although Wildman missed a few chance to secure the victory early he did so in the end 7 racks to 3. Phil Wildman completes a brilliant season on a mega high. Wildman this season ended up top of the T9B rankings, The Grand Final Champion and became the first ever player to take the Jackpot at an amateur series event.
Thanks to our sponsors Dynamic Billard for supporting T9B event for 2014 and now until the end of the 2015 season, Thanks also goes to the Hurricane Room club in St Albans for again welcoming us into there club and sponsoring the tables for the whole event, Thanks to Kim Rowlett for ensuring the event ran smoothly, to Mark Parker for taking time out to take some brilliant action photos and also to all the players who supported this event and prior events this year.
T9B is back in St Albans next Sunday for the Grand Finals of the Golden Sunday Series. With lots of players eligible and added prize money!! make sure your in the draw by accepting your invite now.
If we don’t see you before have a fantastic Xmas and everyone at T9B wishes you all a Happy New Year. Remember The T9B calender begins with a Euro Tour qualifier and the 2015 Amateur Series (6th Edition) kicks off in late January.
Click the image to view the large poster - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large photograph - use "back" to return here.
Click the image to view the large poster - use "back" to return here.