The Players
298 Sukhumvit Road
Klongtoey
Bangkok
Thailand
+66 2 653 1084
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Players
21-22 February 2015
Report and all photography, received with thanks, courtesy of David Henderson.
Beer dishes up for the San Miguel title.
Win tastes sweet for Bangkok’s Beer
The aptly named Beer Baraku, a highly regarded street player who hones his trade in the many clubs and bars of Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, drained the field dry as he claimed the SAN MIGUEL 9-BALL CHINESE MASTERS title this previous weekend at The Players.
The highly sought-after prize might just quench his thirst for success for a short-time at least. After collecting his Chinese New Year ‘ang pao’ of 16,000 Thai Baht, Beer (THA) also received the gold medal and a fine plate trophy to add to his growing haul of wins in the City of Angels.
As runner-up (8,000 THB) there is certainly none more worthy than Megabreak pool-hall manager and MEZZ 10-BALL ASIA tour player Scott Cooney (ENG). On Sunday Scott entered the last 16 as the top seed having “dodged a few bullets” in the short round-robin qualifications with a staggering ratio of 15 racks to 2.
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Scott with the silver.
The R/32 group stages consisted of 3 quick races to 5 so there was little margin for error as the top 2 players with the best win ratio (from each group of 4) qualified for the last 16 round of single elimination. Also there was the small factor of the handicap as the top players found themselves giving the 8 ball and sometimes the 7 to players of a lower ability in this event.
The ‘monster’ from Matlock secured his path to the final by starting with an 8-3 win over Goodfellas (Bangkok Pool League) player Takizawa Hideo (JPN). A routine 8-2 score-line against young gambler Tony Turk was followed with a 9-6 result against vacationer and 1-pocket player Daniel Hult Khazaieb (SWE) in the semi-final. Daniel had been practicing hard with former snooker pro Stuart Pettman (currently away at The World 10-Ball Championships in the Philippines) and the beach lover’s results have paid off deservedly.
Daniel wins the bronze.
Meanwhile Beer’s route to the finals began by qualifying as the 3rd seed whilst previous SAN MIGUEL 9-BALL XMAS OPEN Champion Ruairi McCarrol (IRE) sat in 2nd seed spot at the bottom of the bracket. With easy wins over popular locals John Disney and Lat Amornrat the fast left-hander Beer was punishing his victims for loose safety play and sometimes running out in seconds.
However it was Bhupinder Singh Monga (IND) whom Beer faced in the semi-finals after the Indian chef’s close encounter with Ruairi in the quarter stages. ‘Busta Monto’ (from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand) certainly seemed inspired by his recent visit to the World Chinese 8 Ball Championships in China. With full-time teacher Ruairi spotting him the 8-ball he took the match 8-7 after the bitter rivals clashed head-on before the decider.
Medalist Monto.
At the semi-final stage Beer played Monto in a level race to 9. The quick Thai stick secured his spot in the final by racing to the line first in a sporty set which ended 9-7.
This set the stage for a Thai v. Farang (foreigner) final but for Scott it was not to be as the balls seemed to be lining up only for Beer to dispatch in quick succession. This was confirmed when his dry break allowed the Thai to pull out the short stick and make light work of a ‘welded’ 1-9 combination jump-shot. Beer wasted no time in hopping the cue ball from the head-string over a blocker and hitting the plant head on to take another easy rack. However luck like this was a just reward for the dedication he had put into his game over the past few years and in the end he ran out a popular winner, the final score 10-4.
Pom Sumaporn
Thailand keeps growing in popularity with international pool players looking for a change of scenery and offers a good variety of high quality pool bars and regular tournaments. The number of Brunswick tables (combined together with Simonis cloth) in Bangkok alone is unique in South East Asia. Both visitors and expats alike find it is the perfect backdrop for highly competitive pool. Money games with local players are in no short supply as well as the nightlife that the Big Mango is famous for.
RUNNER-UP: Scott Cooney (ENG) 8,000 THB
3RD PLACE: Daniel Hult Khazaie (SWE) 4,000 THB
Bhupinder Singh Monga (IND) 4,000 THB
BEST LADY: Pom Sumaporn (THA)
