American Pool and Snooker Venue
220 Stewartstown Road (beside Twinbrook Garage)
Belfast
BT17 OLE
Telephone 02890625217
www.club9belfast.co.uk
Tuesday 28 November 2006.
Picture of league members shows league diversity,
L TO R, from back row is: Floven, Roy, Gibbs, Mars, Rhodel
Seaneen, Colleen, Coilean, Tracy Lynn.
Vegas returns to Club-9
With the American 8-BALL Vegas league just beginning and the league break over, the players and the teams are happy to be back for Monday nights exciting and professionally run sanctioned league night, where they will be part of an organised world wide web of recreational pool players. Quite a few people have remarked that they missed playing and didn't like the break, it has become a regular night out. The atmosphere on Monday night in Club-9 is unlike anywhere else, and it is... We are the only ones in Ireland doing it. The exciting atmosphere of American pool is a big reason for the likes of O'Sullivan, Tony Drago and countless others who have switched over to try their skills as well as using the brilliant imagination that is needed to get the white ball to, at times, almost defy gravity with the multitude of shots required.
Click on "Read More..." for the details.
Now the Vegas League will be starting in Frames pool & Snooker. so come by frames on a Friday night and meet the league operator's Joe & Sam. Contact us at 02890-625217 or visit our site at www.club9belfast.co.uk. Everyone who plays in Club-9 loves the fact that it is a cross-community, cosmopolitan & multicultural venue.
Although Club-9 is in West Belfast it's more like a night out in an upscale room in Toronto or New York. A big reason for this is the fact that the owners are players themselves who are from Toronto and have used their professional experience of travelling across the States playing in professional tournaments and also their years of personal knowledge in the billiard industry to make Club-9 so unique.
The league teams were playing on the TV tables. On table # 1 the new team the Scorpion's with team captain Liam McVeigh played against another new team full of young talent, the Stroker's with Captain Mark McDonald. The match had a chance to go any way but the scorpion's came through to win 4 to the hustler's 2. The Scorpions have a couple of ladies on the squad, Seaneen Symington and Tracy Lynn.
Tracy is the first girl ever to not just win but get a perfect score. Last week Tracy got 50 points and beat a couple of good player's to do it. It goes to show what you can achieve if you give it a go. 6 months ago Tracy was nervous and it was hard for us to get her to play with all the guys but now she is getting better and plays full out in the league.
Congratulations to the ladies for being brave and trying. We also have to give a lot of credit to the juniors and I don't mean the 15 & 17 year olds I mean the 12 and 13 year olds.
Coilean Massey who plays great and won a few tough matches Monday will become a champion if he continues to train & practice right. Conor Callaghan and Corey Smith two more juniors from the Scorpion's who can beat some of the older players with ease are also great young players. We will see how they progress through the season.
NOYPI the Filipino team with team captain Floven Dairo played the Steeler's with team captain Doco Hall on table # 2. It's always a fun time when you play the Filipino team they are a good team and enjoy playing. The steeler's won that match to go top of the standings. The Filipino's are regulars in Club-9 and can relax and enjoy the comfort & craic in their private club. American 9-Ball is a major sport for the Filipinos and they produce the best players in the world. The World Pool Championships last week was held for the first time ever in the Philippines and was won by Ronato "Calamba" Alcano a Filipino player. Efren Reyes another Filipino, and said by the worlds best players to be "the best talent to ever pick up a cue", just recently won the biggest prize fund ever in cue-sport history of $500,000 dollars.
Here's a little history. Even though American pool was invented in Boston by a man called Michael Phellan who left Ireland in the 1840's, it was the American forces based in the Philippines who brought the sport with them, and now they probably wish they hadn't as the American's no longer dominate the game and the Filipino's do. And now the UK players are making a name for themselves also. So we hope the people behind the EPT keep up the hard work because it's guys like Daryl Peach EPT founder and the charismatic Mark Segal from UK Sports Management who puts his heart into it along with the sponsorship he provides too. And also a few others like Big Dave Knight the UK's #1 reporter on the American pool scene and some others also. So thanks to people like this we have something really special for our players to look forward to and we can't wait for the next EPT tour stop, as for us it can't happen fast enough. Our players can't get enough so between EPT tour stops our players are playing in qualifiers for another tour in the UK called the BPPPA run by Mr Ted Bristow but this tour is 9-BALL as opposed to the EPT being an American 8-BALL tour but our players just want to play no matter what the game is, so we will do our best to make it possible by running qualifiers to make it affordable for the players from Ireland to win all expenses paid trips to these exciting events. Hopefully in the near future we can get a little sponsorship help go towards sending even more Irish players to the likes of the EPT. For Sam and myself it's like being back in N. America seeing such professionally run events so we want to give the players here in Ireland a chance to go to the UK. We don't make money doing this in fact it cost us at times but we love what we do and it's all worth it. Ireland is still quite a few years behind the UK in the pool scene so it's harder to get sponsorship but we hope to get something sorted for the new EPT season.
Table# 3 the Balldoctors play the Goodfella's. These teams have met many times and it was a great match and could have went either way at any given time with a lot of tactical play, both teams wanted the win but in the end it was the Balldoctors who played well and won that match 4 to 2 to take the victory. This session is going to be a hard one to pick a winner. With each session the team's get stronger, the league runs smother and this time round it looks like a level playing field but in the end the score board will tell which team qualifies for a spot in the Grand Finale' to go all expenses paid, to play in Las Vegas for a prize fund of almost $1 million dollars.
On table # 4 was a great match with Fast Track playing against the new team, it was a close match at times and all the pressure was on the new hustlers to beat a very seasoned team of top guns loaded with talent. Even though the hustlers are new they have heart and keep on fighting were some players no names mentioned, play bad throw their cue down and pout home, but the hustlers keep coming back so they will develop into a great team no doubt. They have a great team now and Coilean the youngest player at just 13 looking like becoming one of the top players in the club soon , he won two of his team matches against Ray Megahy and Martin Heaney to help his team but the fast track ended up 4 to 2 winners. The hustlers are building a great team and will become a force to be reckoned with.
This weeks team to have a bye is the 02 hitsquad who by the way now stand as one of the more seasoned teams and can easily win it all with some practice.
A year ago most players had none or cheap cue's, no accessories and couldn't play to well. The fast track team shared a cue off the wall, but a year on and Ray Megahy is strutting around the table with a top playing cue (Joss) one of the best cue's in the world. The club-9 players now have or want a playing cue, jump cue, breaking cue, case and all the small bits & pieces a pool player needs. Now most player's are coming to us to order good equipment for them and their new found love, the very addictive sport of American pool.
This type of private upscale American pool club is new especially here in Ireland, as opposed to the dimly lit, smoky, male dominated snooker halls of the past were you could have heard a pin drop. Today's club is a place you hear background music, laughing, clapping, the oh's & ah's of the spectators & players, or cheers from another table. It's a place you can bring your girl out for a few hours or your family for a couple of hours of entertainment for the price of a pack of cigarettes.
There is always a competition or tournaments at Club-9 for you to enjoy and it's not set up only for the stronger players as we have a handicap system in place to make it as fair and equal as possible so any skill level can win and it works, as we have had many amateur players win big prizes and fully paid trips to compete in major events from America to regular UK tours like the Empire Pool Tour to compete against the best in the world. The EPT is brilliant especially when one of our amateur players gets a chance to play Ronnie O'Sullivan or some of the many other world class players the EPT attracts so why not get involved and keep your eye on the sports section for our next EPT qualifiers. So call Sam or Joe to find out what's happening. Monday is league night, Wed nights is just £5 pound entry for the American 8-ball quickie event, Sat & Sun tournament's range from local players to larger tournaments with players coming from all over Ireland.
These weekend events are a great opportunity, not only for our local players from Belfast but also the members who regularly come from Bangor, Milltown, Derriaghy, Newry and elsewhere to play on the best conditions in Ireland. If you would like to play in Ireland's biggest and richest ever reds & yellow 8-ball event for 10,000 Euros contact Sam Gibson on 02890-625217. Club-9 will be hosting a few of these tournaments. If you would like to have one of these events in your bar or club we will help you set it up and the same goes for the Vegas League so if you would like your establishment to get involved just give us a call on the number above.
Next weeks fixtures are the 02 hitsquad VS. fast track, the balldoctor's VS. strokers, scorpion's VS. steelers, goodfella's VS. hustler's and the Filipino team NOYPI get a bye this coming week.
If it's your first time in Club-9 bring a clipping from this article, and Club-9 will give you 2 hours for the price of one.
See you in Vegas!
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