Rod the God Eases into Number 2 Spot
With the absence of Ramesh, Daniel Baker and Tash, from the MNT (Monday Night Tournaments), Rod Altes was looking to regain his number 2 spot. However, one look at the field, and the likes of Ciprian, Gabriel, Kostya, Suk and Doug the Shark, were evidence that many of the top 10 players were out in force and looking at Rod's position and hoping to bring him down. Not forgetting that as we have said many times before, there are some superb players throughout the entire field who have the game to do well in the MNT, but sometimes struggle to bring their form to the table. And what a Monday night we had.
A full field of 32 entered. All the pre-tournament betting went on Rod. Clearly the favourite whilst the usual pre-tournament favourite, Dan the Destroyer Suh tries to recover his form. The first round was simply immense. Some of the big hitters looking to bully their way past the early opponents to send out a strong statement. Doug the Shark Clark breezed past Ramon 5-0. The clearly talented Alex Lawrence had to take pain-killing injections before the tournament to get match-ready, and they clearly worked as he swept Hassan Aljumalili aside 5-0. And the Terminator, Gabriel Vasilache, nonchalantly took Khan apart 5-0. However, the biggest statement sent out was by Rod. His opponent, Shadi Ed, is a previous tournament winner, but occasionally can be vulnerable in the early rounds, and Rod pounced on him, squeezed the life out of him, and ran out 5-0 winner. A strong statement indeed.
The first round was also full of drama as three games went to hill-hill. Geordie Glen inched over the line against Muhammed Ali, whilst the rarely spotted Greg Mostyn managed to grind GJ Oyangoren down with a hard-fought battle. And finally, the much-improved Henri Linnainmaa continued his recent form by getting past the man with all the flair, Andrew Phan.
Round 2 had some tasty match ups. The shortened race to 4 was in place, meaning that there was no room for error. This proved to be the case as 4 out of the 8 matches went to hill-hill. Greg came up against the highly dangerous Usman, and by his own admission, got a bit lucky and managed to win. Alex Lawrence faced the Shark but in a scrappy affair, got himself over the line. Hamza Itum had made his move on Saman by winning 4-3, and the ever-improving Peter Hsu did his best to disrupt Gabriel, but it wasn't enough in the final frame and lost to the Romanian Assassin.
So the quarters looked proper tasty. Suk had been impressing, but Rod's statements of intent throughout the evening saw his best performance of the night as he capitalised on every mistake Suk made to win 4-1. Meanwhile, Greg's luck finally ran out as he lost 4-2 to Alex "Old Man" Lawrence. Henri and Hamza had really locked horns, and went to hill-hill, seeing Hamza snatch victory. And in the final match of the quarters, the Battle for Romanian dominance promised to be an epic, but Cip wasn't at the races and lost 4-2 to Gabriel.
This left two new participants in the semis. Alex Lawrence will remind you that he's not played American pool for long, he's old, and that he had a bad back which required pain-killing injections just to get on the bus to Tooting. I'm sure there were a heap of other excuses that he came up with, but we'd stopped listening by this time! Hahahaha. Anyway, the (old) man from Spots and Stripes has proven himself to be a superb potter, a really good addition to the MNT with his son Ollie, and he raced into a decent 3-1 lead against Tooting's minor deity, Rod. But Rod is made of some stern stuff, and he regained his focus at the same time Alex's pain-killing injection was wearing off, and Rod steamed through to win 4-3. A superb comeback!
Meanwhile, the second semi saw Hamza Itum go toe to toe with Gabriel the hard-staring Assassin. Proving the point that almost any player who comes to MNT is of a high standard and on their day, can beat anyone. Hamza hasn't had a huge amount of success in his previous tournaments, but this time round, a huge performance saw a 4-0 drubbing of Gabriel, and considering that Hamza had just come out of a gritty hill-hill battle against Henri, this really was some performance. Well done Hamza, and surely we'll see him fly up the rankings over the coming tournaments.
So the big final between Rod and Hamza, and all Hamza had to do was carry on his fine form against the impressive Rod. Easier said than done, and Rod went about his business with the kind of professionalism that we expect of him. 4-1 win, but Hamza did brilliantly to demonstrate his capabilities.
This meant that Rod was able to regain his 2nd place ranking, and now has his all-time high of 7.915. A fantastic rise up the rankings for Hamza (59 places to 32nd) and also for Alex Lawrence (47 places to 29th).
Make sure you're ready to register for the next MNT on our WhatsApp group, and look forward to seeing you next Monday. Have a great week everyone!
Rank | Name | Rating | Weekly Change - Ranking | Weekly Change - Points |
1 | Ramesh 'RammaJamma' Gokhul | 8.98 | 0 | 0 |
2 | Rod 'The God' Altes | 7.915 | 1 | 0.392 |
3 | Tash 'Witko' Schultz | 7.559 | -1 | 0 |
4 | Daniel Baker | 7.357 | 0 | 0 |
5 | Ciprian Dandu | 6.781 | 0 | -0.049 |
6 | Gabriel Vasilache | 6.495 | 0 | -0.072 |
7 | Benjamin Belhassen | 6.461 | 1 | 0 |
8 | Suk Gohil | 6.461 | 1 | 0.033 |
9 | Kostiantyn Ivanov | 6.448 | -2 | -0.041 |
10 | Doug 'The Shark' Clark | 6.065 | 0 | -0.03 |
11 | Martin Leonar | 5.977 | 1 | 0 |
12 | Muhammed 'He's The Greatest' Ali | 5.882 | -1 | -0.143 |
13 | Craig Laurie | 5.839 | 0 | 0 |
14 | Tom Staveley | 5.806 | 0 | 0 |
15 | Ruben Bautista | 5.708 | 1 | 0 |
16 | Spencer Oliver | 5.704 | 1 | 0 |
17 | Hassan Mehedi | 5.617 | 1 | 0 |
18 | Shadi Ed | 5.616 | -3 | -0.093 |
19 | Jaz Singh | 5.615 | 0 | 0 |
20 | Martinho Correia | 5.586 | 0 | 0 |
21 | Edgar Navarro | 5.41 | 1 | 0 |
22 | GJ Oyangoren | 5.376 | -1 | -0.105 |
23 | Dimitrijus Teriajevas | 5.373 | 0 | 0 |
24 | Greg Mostyn | 5.37 | 0 | 0.036 |
25 | Del Sim | 5.288 | 1 | 0 |
26 | Merlin FL | 5.285 | 1 | 0 |
27 | Hasan Khan | 5.272 | 1 | 0 |
28 | Saman Gholami | 5.264 | -3 | -0.039 |
29 | Alex Lawrence | 5.248 | 47 | 0.452 |
30 | Ahmad Jomaa | 5.227 | -1 | 0 |
31 | Alexander Vilmanis | 5.226 | -1 | 0 |
32 | Hamza Itum | 5.214 | 59 | 0.631 |
33 | Kinga Rauk | 5.097 | 0 | 0 |
34 | Elliot Johnson | 5.087 | 0 | 0 |
35 | Arham Mohammad | 5.084 | 0 | 0 |
36 | Aki Khan | 5.072 | 0 | 0 |
37 | Daria Siranchuk | 5.037 | 0 | 0 |
38 | Jay Welch | 5.037 | 0 | 0 |
39 | Peter 'Pistol Pete' Cloherty | 5.028 | 0 | 0 |
40 | Oliver Lawrence | 5.022 | -9 | -0.143 |
41 | Tomasz Jedlecki | 5.008 | -9 | -0.148 |
42 | Ricardo 'Borax' Acopio | 5.004 | -2 | 0 |
43 | Jagan Yogendra | 4.977 | -2 | 0 |
44 | George Parkinson | 4.965 | -2 | 0 |
45 | Leo Duarte | 4.949 | -2 | 0 |
46 | Dennis Buttery | 4.939 | -2 | 0 |
47 | Julian Riveros Patino | 4.939 | -2 | 0 |
48 | Tobias Bolt | 4.913 | -2 | 0 |
49 | Rico Diks | 4.908 | -2 | 0 |
50 | Mike Chen | 4.907 | -2 | 0 |
51 | Bechara Moufarrej | 4.905 | -1 | 0 |
52 | Sorin Stancu | 4.905 | -1 | 0 |
53 | Noel Salonga | 4.901 | -1 | 0 |
54 | Hamid Lfp | 4.9 | -1 | 0 |
55 | Henri Linnainmaa | 4.895 | 22 | 0.113 |
56 | Matej Kovacs | 4.881 | -2 | 0 |
57 | Ali Ozturk | 4.88 | -2 | 0 |
58 | Marvin Sabado | 4.877 | -2 | 0 |
59 | Jamie 'Rapid Fire' O'Brian | 4.875 | -2 | 0 |
60 | Ken Ofili | 4.874 | -2 | 0 |
61 | Andy Adams | 4.869 | -2 | 0 |
62 | Marco Paschales | 4.869 | -2 | 0 |
63 | Chris Dews | 4.862 | -2 | 0 |
64 | Hasan Shahid | 4.859 | -2 | 0 |
65 | Matthew Pease | 4.858 | -2 | 0 |
66 | Matt Hilborn | 4.857 | -2 | 0 |
67 | Roy Navarro | 4.855 | -2 | 0 |
68 | Zoltan Kojsza | 4.851 | -2 | 0 |
69 | Jay Lfp | 4.843 | -2 | 0 |
70 | Tej Singh | 4.841 | -21 | -0.066 |
71 | Connor Tracey | 4.84 | -3 | 0 |
72 | Ritchel Ahorro | 4.836 | -3 | 0 |
73 | Hakim S | 4.829 | -3 | 0 |
74 | Joe Singfield | 4.825 | -3 | 0 |
75 | Ankita Sharma | 4.812 | -3 | 0 |
76 | Josh Roberts | 4.807 | -3 | 0 |
77 | Nicholas Ronase | 4.802 | -3 | 0 |
78 | Enrico Genuino | 4.8 | -3 | 0 |
79 | Usman Khokhar | 4.786 | 0 | 0.062 |
80 | Hashim Qureshi | 4.754 | -2 | 0 |
81 | Marius Dandu | 4.71 | -1 | -0.012 |
82 | Glen Hargreaves | 4.698 | 4 | 0.061 |
83 | Ross Cable | 4.665 | 0 | 0 |
84 | Dan Venables | 4.653 | 0 | 0 |
85 | Ernesto Gonzales | 4.649 | 0 | 0 |
86 | Ben Venables | 4.623 | -4 | -0.07 |
87 | Ali Hirji Kheraj | 4.601 | 0 | 0 |
88 | Jim Siampanis | 4.584 | 1 | 0 |
89 | Peter Hsu | 4.537 | 7 | 0.145 |
90 | Hassan Aljumalili | 4.525 | -9 | -0.195 |
91 | Ali Haidery | 4.524 | 2 | 0 |
92 | Tibor 'Tibi' Szatmari | 4.5 | 2 | 0 |
93 | Ramon Navarro | 4.476 | -3 | -0.108 |
94 | Charles Galadiao | 4.446 | 1 | 0 |
95 | Ranj Sarraj | 4.408 | -7 | -0.178 |
96 | Krishen 'Kris' Sookhraz | 4.39 | -4 | -0.186 |
97 | Ciaran Boylan | 4.369 | 0 | 0 |
98 | Hassan Amin | 4.364 | 0 | 0 |
99 | Joseph Cowley | 4.279 | 1 | 0 |
100 | Richard Vinluan | 4.269 | 1 | 0 |
101 | Andrew Phan | 4.259 | -2 | -0.086 |
102 | Ervin Demiraj | 4.162 | 0 | -0.057 |
103 | Paul Choong | 4.14 | 0 | 0 |
104 | Steve Norris | 4.103 | 1 | 0 |
105 | Paz Brennan | 4.012 | 1 | 0 |
106 | Matt Lille | 3.993 | 1 | 0 |
107 | Andy Curzon | 3.985 | -3 | -0.12 |
108 | Sean Avery | 3.966 | 0 | 0 |
109 | Marc Harris | 3.883 | 0 | 0 |
110 | Joe Granville | 3.794 | 0 | 0 |
111 | Arul Ellappan | 3.736 | 0 | 0 |
112 | Sher Baig | 3.713 | 0 | 0 |
113 | Gauhar Khan | 3.559 | 0 | -0.05 |
114 | Dan 'The Destroyer' Suh | 3.428 | 0 | -0.082 |
115 | Mariusz Wiszowaty | 3.346 | 0 | 0.148 |
- Details
- Written by Dan Suh
- Category: Home
- Hits: 135
You Never Know With Scotchy
This week’s Scotch doubles saw 9 half-random pairs pile into the club:
Ali and Khan
Tash and Henri (2)
Hassan and Peter
Konstantin and Ciaran
Cip and Andy C
Spencer and Sean
Martin and Saman
Andrew P and Erwin
Martinho and Glen (1)
Hassan Mehedi impersonated So Shaw in arriving over 90 minutes late so Andrew Phan stepped in for him.
The only pre-round saw second seeds (9/4 to win) Tash and Henri smash up Ali and Khan, 5-2, banishing them to the loser’s bracket.
Quarter final of the winner’s side and pre-tournament second seeds, Tash and Henri storm to another drubbing (5-1), this time over Andrew and Peter.
Bookies favourites, coming in at 2/1 for the title, Martinho Correia and Glen Hargreaves, grilled Andrew and Erwin, 5-3, whilst Spencer and Sean feasted on the scraps left by Cip and Andy C,
toppling them 5-3.
On table 2, Martin “three foul rule” Leonar and the mighty Saman struggled against Konstantin and Ciaran, who swept past them quietly, 5-2.
In the loser’s side, Ali and Khan overcame Martin and Saman, and then Andrew P was to thwart himself (I think?) in a 5-4 tug-of-war, leaving his pairing with Ervin ready for the next round but the Pirate, Peter Hsu, dead in the water.
Ali and Khan tussled on the Brunswick to outsmart a tired and restless Cip and Andy, both unable to hit more than a good shot in three – Andy Banks dogging the last 9 ball at hill-hill. Twerp.
In the winner’s side semis, we saw the clash of the top seeds – a battle of the ages. The key game, 4-3 down, Martinho and Glen couldn’t manage to hold it together to stop Tash and Henri from sinking the final 9, winning 5-3.
Another close one saw Spencer and Sean succumb to Ciaran and Konstantin, 5-3, who were clearly communicating well by this stage - you could see it as a jolly pairing, Konstantin’s jokes keeping things light - leaving the winner’s final (actually the semi final because it’s double elimination) between Tash and Henri, and pre-tournament mid-runners (5/2), Konstantin and Ciaran.
The loser’s side continued with Martinho and Glen taking down Ali and Khan 5-2, Glen playing especially well, as Spencer and Sean zinged past Andrew and Erwin, 5-1.
Table 4 was set for the loser’s semi between the favourites, and Spencer and Sean, and it wasn’t going to disappoint…Martinho and Glen anyway. The two of them worked well together, expecting perfection of themselves - as Martinho always does - and delivering, hopscotching over Spencer and Sean 5-0, setting up the clash of the titans.
Martinho and Glen dug in and marred Tash and Henri’s hopes of a final against the sneaky Konstantin and crafty Ciaran, in their re-match, nailing Tash and Henri by the scoreline of the day: 5-3.
Revenge by double-elim sword. Cutting.
War-torn and bedraggled from the marathon against their top rivals, Martinho and Glen stumbled confidently into the iron curtain of Konstantin and Ciaran, who summoned their inner demons to cast aside Correia the Jordie’s best strikes and take the title, by, yes, 5 frames to 3.
That’s two consecutive finals in a row for Martinho Correia, who we could expect to see up with ‘the big four’ (Ram; Tash; Rod; Daniel) in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
Well done Konstantin you ninja duck! Nicely sliced, Ciaran - wouldn’t want to be in your group on Wednesdays.
Until next time.
Additional notes: Please be aware that ranking points do not count for "special" weeks like the Scotch Doubles events. Therefore, there are no changes to ranking points and positions.
And finally, any mistakes made over the past few weeks are entirely of Andy Curzon's doing. Please direct all social media abuse at him.
- Details
- Written by Dan Suh
- Category: Home
- Hits: 132
Daniel Baker Returns to Form
Whilst the eyes of the world are on the current US Open, there’s no disputing that the eyes of Tooting were on the regular MNT (Monday Night Tournaments) at London Snooker Tooting. The line-up looked as strong as ever, but there was much anticipation as, after an absence of a few weeks, Tooting’s strongest player returned after a few weeks off on holidays.
Yes, the Destroyer was back! In the meantime, some other fella called Ramesh was back from his holidays too. Also, a big shout out to an old crowd favourite, Doug “the Shark” Clark, who was making his first appearance since June
A strong field of 29 showed up, absolutely revved up for what was to be a big night of action.
First up, the anti-climactic Break and Run competition. Cip pulled Paz out of the hat and poor Paz went dry. At least that meant we could start the main competition a bit quicker!
The early rounds demonstrated just where the MNT is right now. Only one whitewash occurred, where newbie, Sorin Stancu came up against Cip who gently eased him out of the competition 6-0. In the meantime, the first round saw no less than 3 match-ups go right to the wire. Sean huffed and puffed, but a mistake at the death saw Hamza Itum take advantage. Hassan Aljumaili brought Marius Dandu to hill-hill, but the little magician is never to be underestimated, and showed off his quality to progress to the second round. Finally, the legendary Andy “Fast Forward” Curzon looked to be easing past Dan “the Destroyer” Suh, but somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
The second round saw some a couple of tight matches where Marius was pushed all the way by Andrew Phan, but after sinking his 6th pint, Marius tipped the balance in his favour. After the match, Marius commented “I have to face either Ramesh or Cip in the next round, so I need another pint” as he marched to the bar to top himself up with another performance-enhancing beer.
In the meantime, Henri Linnainmaa and Suk Gohil played out a gruelling tactical battle that looked like it might never end, but the experience of Suk saw him through to the quarters. Meanwhile, Tash has been in impressive form of late, and Kostiantyn Ivanov had few answers and lost out 5-1.
The quarters proved to be the round where the top seeds really flexed their muscles. Gabriel shot Tej down 5-2, Marius’s 7th pint proved to be his undoing as Ram won 5-1, whilst Suk ran out of steam against an impressive Daniel Baker. The most eagerly anticipated battle was Rod “the God” Altes against Tash, but Rod had already gained confidence from beating the Destroyer in the previous round, and continued his fine form against Tash to win 5-2.
It's of no surprise that the semis consisted of 3 of the top 4 players in the rankings. Interestingly, out of the players who can be considered regulars, Ram, Daniel, Rod and Gabriel make up 4 of the top 5 players in terms of win ratios. Certainly a semi-final line-up that wouldn’t look out of place in any top amateur tournament in the UK. Ram proved his worth by beating Gabriel 5-2, whilst Daniel had to dig in to get to the final by beating Rod 5-3.
With Ram and Daniel being the only two (regular) players with a win ratio above 80%, this was going to be a close one to call. Ram and Daniel had faced each other twice before since the beginning of September, with Ram winning both encounters. But Daniel was in the mood for a return to form, as he was the early frontrunner in the rankings until his enforced absence in March. Despite a competitive match, Daniel overcame Ram 5-3 to win his first tournament since his return from injury.
Congrats to Daniel and as Ram is away for 5 weeks, the question is: who is going to close the gap on Ram during his absence?
Finally, thanks to Andy Curzon for writing up the match reports in my absence. Much appreciated buddy.
Ranking |
Name |
Rating |
Weekly Change - Ranking |
Weekly Change - Points |
1 |
8.98 |
0 |
-0.052 |
|
2 |
7.559 |
0 |
0.004 |
|
3 |
7.523 |
0 |
0.03 |
|
4 |
7.357 |
0 |
0.564 |
|
5 |
6.83 |
0 |
0.047 |
|
6 |
6.567 |
3 |
0.177 |
|
7 |
6.489 |
-1 |
-0.012 |
|
8 |
6.461 |
-1 |
0 |
|
9 |
6.428 |
-1 |
-0.017 |
|
10 |
6.095 |
1 |
-0.108 |
|
11 |
6.025 |
-1 |
-0.244 |
|
12 |
5.977 |
0 |
0 |
|
13 |
5.839 |
0 |
0 |
|
14 |
5.806 |
0 |
0 |
|
15 |
5.709 |
0 |
0 |
|
16 |
5.708 |
0 |
0 |
|
17 |
5.704 |
0 |
0 |
|
18 |
5.617 |
0 |
-0.031 |
|
19 |
5.615 |
0 |
0 |
|
20 |
5.586 |
0 |
0 |
|
21 |
5.481 |
0 |
0 |
|
22 |
5.41 |
0 |
0 |
|
23 |
5.373 |
0 |
0 |
|
24 |
5.334 |
0 |
0 |
|
25 |
5.303 |
7 |
0.165 |
|
26 |
5.288 |
0 |
0 |
|
27 |
5.285 |
0 |
0 |
|
28 |
5.272 |
0 |
0 |
|
29 |
5.227 |
1 |
0 |
|
30 |
5.226 |
-1 |
-0.044 |
|
31 |
5.165 |
0 |
0 |
|
32 |
5.156 |
-7 |
-0.142 |
|
33 |
5.097 |
0 |
0 |
|
34 |
5.087 |
0 |
0 |
|
35 |
5.084 |
0 |
0 |
|
36 |
5.072 |
0 |
0 |
|
37 |
5.037 |
0 |
0 |
|
38 |
5.037 |
0 |
0 |
|
39 |
5.028 |
0 |
0 |
|
40 |
5.004 |
0 |
0 |
|
41 |
4.977 |
1 |
0 |
|
42 |
4.965 |
1 |
0 |
|
43 |
4.949 |
1 |
0 |
|
44 |
4.939 |
1 |
0 |
|
45 |
4.939 |
1 |
0 |
|
46 |
4.913 |
1 |
0 |
|
47 |
4.908 |
1 |
0 |
|
48 |
4.907 |
1 |
0 |
|
49 |
4.907 |
29 |
0.168 |
|
50 |
4.905 |
0 |
0 |
|
51 |
4.905 |
-10 |
-0.095 |
|
52 |
4.901 |
-1 |
0 |
|
53 |
4.9 |
-1 |
0 |
|
54 |
4.881 |
-1 |
0 |
|
55 |
4.88 |
-1 |
0 |
|
56 |
4.878 |
-2 |
4.878 |
|
57 |
4.877 |
-1 |
0 |
|
58 |
4.875 |
-1 |
0 |
|
59 |
4.874 |
-1 |
0 |
|
60 |
4.869 |
-1 |
0 |
|
61 |
4.869 |
-1 |
0 |
|
62 |
4.862 |
-1 |
0 |
|
63 |
4.859 |
-1 |
0 |
|
64 |
4.858 |
-1 |
0 |
|
65 |
4.857 |
-1 |
0 |
|
66 |
4.855 |
-1 |
0 |
|
67 |
4.851 |
-1 |
0 |
|
68 |
4.843 |
-1 |
0 |
|
69 |
4.84 |
-1 |
0 |
|
70 |
4.836 |
-1 |
0 |
|
71 |
4.829 |
-1 |
0 |
|
72 |
4.827 |
0 |
4.827 |
|
73 |
4.825 |
0 |
0 |
|
74 |
4.812 |
0 |
0 |
|
75 |
4.807 |
0 |
0 |
|
76 |
4.802 |
0 |
0 |
|
77 |
4.8 |
0 |
0 |
|
78 |
4.796 |
0 |
0 |
|
79 |
4.782 |
5 |
0.093 |
|
80 |
4.754 |
-1 |
0 |
|
81 |
4.724 |
0 |
0 |
|
82 |
4.722 |
12 |
0.184 |
|
83 |
4.72 |
-12 |
-0.11 |
|
84 |
4.693 |
-1 |
0 |
|
85 |
4.665 |
1 |
0 |
|
86 |
4.653 |
1 |
0 |
|
87 |
4.649 |
1 |
0 |
|
88 |
4.637 |
-6 |
-0.068 |
|
89 |
4.601 |
0 |
0 |
|
90 |
4.586 |
-5 |
-0.088 |
|
91 |
4.584 |
-1 |
0 |
|
92 |
4.584 |
-1 |
0 |
|
93 |
4.583 |
0 |
0.026 |
|
94 |
4.576 |
-2 |
0 |
|
95 |
4.524 |
0 |
0 |
|
96 |
4.5 |
0 |
0 |
|
97 |
4.446 |
0 |
0 |
|
98 |
4.392 |
0 |
0 |
|
99 |
4.369 |
0 |
0 |
|
100 |
4.364 |
0 |
0 |
|
101 |
4.345 |
1 |
0.037 |
|
102 |
4.279 |
1 |
0 |
|
103 |
4.269 |
1 |
0 |
|
104 |
4.219 |
-3 |
-0.143 |
|
105 |
4.14 |
1 |
0 |
|
106 |
4.105 |
-1 |
-0.126 |
|
107 |
4.103 |
1 |
0 |
|
108 |
4.012 |
-1 |
-0.106 |
|
109 |
3.993 |
1 |
0 |
|
110 |
3.966 |
-1 |
-0.083 |
|
111 |
3.883 |
0 |
0 |
|
112 |
3.794 |
0 |
0 |
|
113 |
3.736 |
1 |
0 |
|
114 |
3.713 |
1 |
0 |
|
115 |
3.609 |
-2 |
-0.13 |
|
116 |
3.51 |
0 |
0.104 |
|
117 |
3.198 |
0 |
0 |
- Details
- Written by Dan Suh
- Category: Home
- Hits: 158
Ronase runs riot as Peter Hsu edges closer
Sit back, crack a beer, and nestle into another dream with us at the home of American pool.
This week: 9 ball; race to 6 (next week Scotch doubles).
Let’s get stuck in.
Top half first rounds had crackerjack Nick Ronase face off against Jamie “Rapid Fire” in a tense table two tussle, Nick showing heaps of mettle, a three-nine plant, and lashings of white-ball wizardry to charge through 6-4. Jamie cracked some bangers in, but the table was faster than he’s used to and the white ran away from him, letting the best breaker at the club in two too many times.
Table 4 saw a monster showdown between Andy Adams and newcomer, Ken Ofili. Ken getting used to the Tooting baize, allowed Andy to muster a hard fought 4-0 lead and Ken dragged himself back to 5-4 deficit, but was eventually harpooned 6-4.
Table six saw Gabriel “how does he not win way more” [Ram quote] Vasilache take on a steaming Pistol Pete “The Clinic” Cloherty, building on their rivalry at the top of the second tier at the club in a strange encounter of the third kind (first time they played Gabriel won 5-4 from 2-4 down on table 2: 9 ball; second time they played Pistol toasted Gabriel 6-1, missing one open pot all match: 8 ball).
Pistol had been playing all afternoon, break dishing - or reverse dishing – almost every game, definitely a man on a mission since Ali came back from 0-4 to cream him 5-4 a few months back.
With his newly bedded in soft Kamui tip on 314-3 shaft, The Clinic continued his lessons as Gabriel slowly fell apart, missing two mid-range balls by almost a foot to hand Pistol a 5-2 lead, before Gabriel salvaged a scrappy one, and then scratched in the 9 th to give away the final frame, losing 6-3.
Gifts welcome!
Arul did himself proud winning a frame against Daniel Son. It’s good to see him becoming a regular fixture at the club.
Marius Dandu. What can a man say? Such a fluid player. The Mark Williams of American 9 ball. He can not only pot from anywhere, but command the white to glide neatly into a nun’s corner pocket. But facing him last night was The Gladiator, Hamza Itum. Unshakeable, well-oiled, and grinning at the thought of the challenge, Hamza grilled Marius and eventually bumped him off 6-4.
Approached for his post match interview, Marius was only seen walking outside for a fag, muttering to himself “lucky lucky lucky…”.
Next, Martinho Correia took on Shadi Ed in the most eagerly awaited first rounder since Joshua Filler v GJ Oyangoren earlier in the year. Martinho used to grace the tables of Riley’s Victoria ::boo hiss:: back in the early 2000s and give starts to Rico Diks, Imran Majid, So Shaw, and all the rest. Out of practice, he prepared to face, in my view one of the most respectable cue actions in the London’s Finest cadre, Mr. Ed himself.
Martin galloped ahead, only to find Shadi resiliently sneak back. Martin dribbled some more in with precision, as he does, and found himself 5-4 up. Shadi looked down at the table, determined, composed, and struck a lovely clearance to draw it to hill-hill. But the MC burrowed in for the last sprint and took Shadi at the line in a photo finish.
Ranj snatched victory from the jaws of defeat swindling Ali the Greatest (6-5), and GJ trounced Paz 6-2 without breaking a sweat.
In the bottom half, last week’s bandit, Tash, edged past George Parkinson 6-4. The teenage mutant pool robot, otherwise known as Kostiantyn, decimated Joe Granville by the same scoreline, as Tomasz excavated Henri out of the digging of his own grave, 6-2.
Rod capsized Sean 6-0, leaving him up the creak without a paddle. Peter “The Pirate” Hsu ship-wrecked Richard Vinluan 6-2, and Khan gate-crashed Ervin’s parade, 6 racks to 2. The last two first round games saw Paul Choong sink Glen Hargreaves 6-4, and Hassan Aljumaili rip Andy C a new side-bag, 6-2.
Second rounds and GJ had a rematch with Joshua Filler in mind while milking Ranj 6-0, and then Martinho Correia mutilated Daniel Son 6-2 in a wonderful display, really showing the man how to push out!
Hamza The Gladiator continued his barbaric onslaught against Andy Adams, slaying him with his final blow, 6-5, leaving him awaiting the winner of Pistol Pete or Nick Ronase.
And it was to be an epic, Nick humbly remarking after he’d “just capitilised on the mistakes”, eventually splintering Pete, 6-5. On being asked what it was like being taken to The Ronase Clinic, Pistol Pete mumbled “hot and busy”. How long will this hill-hill loss keep him away?
Bottom half saw artful revenge for the Ukrainian Ninja as he flashed past no. 2 Tash. Kostiantyn poured 6 bucket loads of liquid silliness all over Tash’s head and Tash could only manage 4 back, handing Ukraine a spot in the quarters for a second week in a row.
Peter Hsu continued his swashbuckling run, cantering past Khan 6-4, General Zod (see Superman 2 from 1980) showed Tomasz who’s the daddy, offering him only a single rack in consolation, and Hassan A obliterated Paul Choong’s dream of a deep run, 6-2.
So the quarters: Nick v Hamza; Martinho v GJ; Kostiantyn v Rod; Peter Hsu v Hassan A.
Nick wasn’t in the mood to give an inch to The Gladiator, continuing his electric run as he soldered Hamza 6-2, and Martinho showed his class against GJ by coagulating him 6-1.
In the bottom two quarters, Rod medicated the hyper Ukrainian 6-2, injecting his usual viper grip over his opponents, and then The Pirate played to a new level nudging past Hassan Aljumaili 6-3 to reach his first semi-final at the club.
Here was where the dream was to end for the two hopefuls, Nick Ronase and Peter Hsu – both doing themselves proud by reaching the semis in a strong field. Martin Correia had to deal with a vibrant fight from Nick but eventually cast him aside 6-3, as Rod cruised past Peter, 6-1.
The blockbuster night ended in ruin for all but God. Martin Correia hadn’t even finished his pre-match routine before Rod Altes vapourized him 5-0, once again crowning himself temporary king of Ram Palace.
Pandemonium set in at the club and beyond as Mr. Altes counted his evening’s rack losses on one hand and lifted the trophy in the other, his fan clamouring for autographs as he whipped them further into a frenzied winner’s chant that was heard deep into the night along the streets of Tooting.
Tash and Rod have both basked in a paddle of a Ramless sea, but not for long. Time to wake up now.
Ranking | Name | Rating | Weekly Change - Ranking | Weekly Change - Points |
1 | Ramesh 'RammaJamma' Gokhul | 9.032 | 0 | 0 |
2 | Tash 'Witko' Schultz | 7.571 | 0 | -0.116 |
3 | Rod 'The God' Altes | 7.493 | 0 | 0.408 |
4 | Daniel Baker | 6.793 | 0 | -0.211 |
5 | Ciprian Dandu | 6.783 | 0 | 0 |
6 | Kostiantyn Ivanov | 6.502 | 4 | 0.096 |
7 | Benjamin Belhassen | 6.461 | 0 | 0 |
8 | Suk Gohil | 6.445 | 0 | 0 |
9 | Gabriel Vasilache | 6.39 | -3 | -0.21 |
10 | Muhammed 'He's The Greatest' Ali | 6.269 | -1 | -0.152 |
11 | Doug Clark | 6.203 | 0 | 0 |
12 | Martin Leonar | 5.977 | 0 | 0 |
13 | Craig Laurie | 5.839 | 0 | 0 |
14 | Tom Staveley | 5.806 | 1 | 0 |
15 | Shadi Ed | 5.709 | -1 | -0.127 |
16 | Ruben Bautista | 5.708 | 0 | 0 |
17 | Spencer Oliver | 5.704 | 0 | 0 |
18 | Hassan Mehedi | 5.648 | 0 | 0 |
19 | Jaz Singh | 5.615 | 0 | 0 |
20 | Martinho Correia | 5.586 | 22 | 0.586 |
21 | GJ Oyangoren | 5.481 | -1 | 0.057 |
22 | Edgar Navarro | 5.41 | -1 | 0 |
23 | Dimitrijus Teriajevas | 5.373 | -1 | 0 |
24 | Greg Mostyn | 5.334 | -1 | 0 |
25 | Tomasz Jedlecki | 5.298 | 3 | 0.052 |
26 | Del Sim | 5.288 | -2 | 0 |
27 | Merlin FL | 5.285 | -2 | 0 |
28 | Hasan Khan | 5.272 | -2 | 0 |
29 | Alexander Vilmanis | 5.27 | -2 | 0 |
30 | Ahmad Jomaa | 5.227 | -1 | 0 |
31 | Oliver Lawrence | 5.165 | -1 | 0 |
32 | Saman Gholami | 5.138 | -1 | 0 |
33 | Kinga Rauk | 5.097 | -1 | 0 |
34 | Elliot Johnson | 5.087 | -1 | 0 |
35 | Arham Mohammad | 5.084 | -1 | 0 |
36 | Aki Khan | 5.072 | -1 | 0 |
37 | Daria Siranchuk | 5.037 | -1 | 0 |
38 | Jay Welch | 5.037 | -1 | 0 |
39 | Peter 'Pistol Pete' Cloherty | 5.028 | 10 | 0.094 |
40 | Ricardo 'Borax' Acopio | 5.004 | -1 | 0 |
41 | Niall Lfp | 5 | 2 | 0 |
42 | Yaser Lfp | 5 | 2 | 0 |
43 | Jagan Yogendra | 4.977 | 2 | 0 |
44 | Leo Duarte | 4.949 | 2 | 0 |
45 | George Parkinson | 4.948 | -5 | -0.052 |
46 | Dennis Buttery | 4.939 | 1 | 0 |
47 | Julian Riveros Patino | 4.939 | 1 | 0 |
48 | Tobias Bolt | 4.913 | 2 | 0 |
49 | Rico Diks | 4.908 | 2 | 0 |
50 | Mike Chen | 4.907 | 2 | 0 |
51 | Bechara Moufarrej | 4.905 | 2 | 0 |
52 | Noel Salonga | 4.901 | 2 | 0 |
53 | Hamid Lfp | 4.9 | 2 | 0 |
54 | Matej Kovacs | 4.881 | 2 | 0 |
55 | Ali Ozturk | 4.88 | 2 | 0 |
56 | Marvin Sabado | 4.877 | 2 | 0 |
57 | Jamie 'Rapid Fire' O'Brian | 4.875 | -19 | -0.14 |
58 | Ken Ofili | 4.874 | -17 | -0.126 |
59 | Andy Adams | 4.869 | 5 | 0.014 |
60 | Marco Paschales | 4.869 | -1 | 0 |
61 | Chris Dews | 4.862 | -1 | 0 |
62 | Hasan Shahid | 4.859 | -1 | 0 |
63 | Matthew Pease | 4.858 | -1 | 0 |
64 | Matt Hilborn | 4.857 | -1 | 0 |
65 | Roy Navarro | 4.855 | 0 | 0 |
66 | Zoltan Kojsza | 4.851 | 1 | 0 |
67 | Jay Lfp | 4.843 | 1 | 0 |
68 | Connor Tracey | 4.84 | 1 | 0 |
69 | Ritchel Ahorro | 4.836 | 1 | 0 |
70 | Hassan Aljumalili | 4.83 | 10 | 0.096 |
71 | Hakim S | 4.829 | 0 | 0 |
72 | Joe Singfield | 4.825 | 1 | 0 |
73 | Ankita Sharma | 4.812 | 1 | 0 |
74 | Josh Roberts | 4.807 | 1 | 0 |
75 | Nicholas Ronase | 4.802 | 20 | 0.304 |
76 | Enrico Genuino | 4.8 | 0 | 0 |
77 | Alex Lawrence | 4.796 | 0 | 0 |
78 | Hashim Qureshi | 4.754 | 0 | 0 |
79 | Tej Singh | 4.739 | 0 | 0 |
80 | Usman Khokhar | 4.724 | 1 | 0 |
81 | Glen Hargreaves | 4.705 | -15 | -0.148 |
82 | Ben Venables | 4.693 | 0 | 0 |
83 | Henri Linnainmaa | 4.689 | -11 | -0.138 |
84 | Ranj Sarraj | 4.674 | -1 | -0.003 |
85 | Ross Cable | 4.665 | 0 | 0 |
86 | Dan Venables | 4.653 | 0 | 0 |
87 | Ernesto Gonzales | 4.649 | 0 | 0 |
88 | Ali Hirji Kheraj | 4.601 | 0 | 0 |
89 | Jim Siampanis | 4.584 | 0 | 0 |
90 | Ramon Navarro | 4.584 | 0 | 0 |
91 | Krishen 'Kris' Sookhraz | 4.576 | 0 | 0 |
92 | Hamza Itum | 4.557 | 4 | 0.081 |
93 | Marius Dandu | 4.538 | -9 | -0.127 |
94 | Ali Haidery | 4.524 | -1 | 0 |
95 | Tibor 'Tibi' Szatmari | 4.5 | -1 | 0 |
96 | Charles Galadiao | 4.446 | 2 | 0 |
97 | Peter Hsu | 4.392 | 12 | 0.42 |
98 | Ciaran Boylan | 4.369 | 2 | 0 |
99 | Hassan Amin | 4.364 | 2 | 0 |
100 | Ervin Demiraj | 4.362 | -8 | -0.208 |
101 | Andrew Phan | 4.308 | 1 | 0 |
102 | Joseph Cowley | 4.279 | 1 | 0 |
103 | Richard Vinluan | 4.269 | -6 | -0.185 |
104 | Andy Curzon | 4.231 | -5 | -0.141 |
105 | Paul Choong | 4.14 | 0 | 0.02 |
106 | Paz Brennan | 4.118 | -2 | -0.1 |
107 | Steve Norris | 4.103 | -1 | 0 |
108 | Sean Avery | 4.049 | -1 | -0.049 |
109 | Matt Lille | 3.993 | -1 | 0 |
110 | Marc Harris | 3.883 | 0 | 0 |
111 | Joe Granville | 3.794 | 0 | -0.057 |
112 | Gauhar Khan | 3.739 | 2 | 0.1 |
113 | Arul Ellappan | 3.736 | -1 | -0.038 |
114 | Sher Baig | 3.713 | -1 | 0 |
115 | Dan 'The Destroyer' Suh | 3.406 | 0 | 0 |
116 | Mariusz Wiszowaty | 3.198 | 0 | 0 |
- Details
- Written by Dan Suh
- Category: Home
- Hits: 147