Monday Night Tournament (MNT) hosted London's Finest Pool players at London Snooker Tooting, with 10 Ball the flavour of the evening.  In all the tournaments that I've been covering, last night delivered one of the most dramatic tournaments seen at Tooting, and will surely go down as one of the legendary nights that left the audience silent as the news reverberated around the arena.  More to come on that later...plenty more! 

Kicking the night off was the Break and Run.  £30 a ball, and Henri "Sledgehammer" Linainmaa was "randomly" (this is questionable as I'm yet to be drawn out after entering around 50 times) drawn from Cip's dandruff-laden hat.  With the crowd willing Henri on with plenty of encouragement, he smashed the balls and watched the 1 and 9 ball head towards the middle pocket, only for the 2 ball to cannon into them and divert them to safety!  A dry break, and disappointment from the crowd could be heard as far as Mitcham, as the fake groans of sympathy and gentle sniggering from the rest of the players echoed around the arena.  At least Henri smiled for the cameras, hiding his obvious disappointment.  

Into the early rounds of MNT, and there were some notable games that need mentioning.  Nick Ronase, having seen off Ranj Sarraj (with a cheeky sidebet of a pool cue case on the line) faced Omkar Chimbaikar, who was making his debut at MNT.  A battle of styles, where Nick demonstrated his Filipino flair against Omkar, who has a very snooker style that can be equally effective.  However, Nick has plenty of experience in this game and whilst snooker players have a tendency to pot their way out of trouble, it is a very different game and Nick used his knowledge to come through to win 4-3.

Meanwhile, Andy "Banks" Curzon, the master of geometric pool faced Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache, one of Tooting's titans who has been in fine form and is expecting to challenge for the number 1 spot in 2023.  Andy, in the meantime, had turned to Zen Buddhism of late, as he was seeking to turnaround his relatively poor form.  Despite even having a neck injury that forced Andy into emergency medical attention from his French neighbour, his meditative state and the distinct slowdown in pace saw him pull off a superb win over Gabriel, winning after reaching hill hill, and on marched the geometric student of the game.  After the match, Andy had this to say: "I'm making it to the final tonight, that's for sure."  He then looked at his half of the draw and saw he could face Ram, and changed his tune: "Errr, maybe not the final, but semis where I'll face Ram".

Elsewhere, there were two big results involving the two titans of Tooting.  Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul imperiously swept past Marius "Girl's Favourite" Dandu, 5-0.  Marius looked devastated and retired himself into the snooker room and refused to attend his post-match press conference.  

The other result featured Rod "the God" Altes and Tomasz Jedlecki.  We all know that Rod's one of Tooting's titans, but Tom is a fearsome competitor when he wants to be, and took home the Goliath of 2022 Trophy, beating Rod in the final MNT of 2022 to earn the giant-killing trophy.  An immense achievement, and in the pre-match press conference, Tom reminded Rod of this, as they faced off at the weigh-in.  Rod's faced many challenges over the past year, but none more so than Tom.  Tom's record in 2022 against Rod was 2 wins and 1 loss.  A pretty mean feat, and despite Rod's nervous laughter at the weigh-in, spoke confidently "I practised against George on Friday, and despite the luck I had, I switched it right on and played exceptionally well for most of that practice session."  This promised to be fight of the night, and what a game we had.  By the time the results had been reported in, the arena was in stunned silence.  "5-0 to Tom" was the announcement and the sound of gasps of amazement, dropped pint glasses, jaws hitting the floor, and sheer disbelief, made everyone stop in their tracks.  Surely there was a mistake, or some kind of wind-up?  Looking dejected, Rod's sullen face confirmed the announcement and indeed, Tom had won 5-0.  Sure, 5-4 was eminently believable, but 5-0 was a thrashing.  Respectfully, Rod was available for comment after the game.  "I missed my chances, but Tom's my new nemesis.  I hate these tournaments anyway, and yes, I will be crying over spilt milk."  At this point, Rod walked away from the cameras and refused to sign autographs as he went in search of a pint of cider to drown his sorrows.  Tom told Sky Sports Arena: "Rod was a little bit unlucky, but I'm playing well.  I'll always be trying to win this tournament, taking it very seriously to the end."

Moving into the quarter-finals, and Tomasz "the defeater of gods" carried on his momentum with a fine 4-2 win over Nick Ronase.  Craig "Bear" Laurie had shown some excellent signs in the early rounds, disposing two big names:  Martinho Correia and Sunny Garib.  Simply, Craig is known to be one of the big names too, but this time round, he was up against Ciprian Dandu.  Cip is well-known for being a master of the game.  As has been reported, he's been in poor form recently, but his A game can beat absolutely anyone, and tonight was another sign that he's slowly coming back to his A game.  Cip had gently eased himself into contention and pulled off a brilliant performance to beat the Bear, 4-1.  "I can feel I'm getting back to the old Cip.  I'm getting my stroke back, and whilst I'm still not 100% back, overall, I've got more good shots than bad. I forgot the feeling of playing good, but this performance made me feel good again."

In the other half of the draw, Alexandru Fechete came up against the geometry master, Andy, and pushed him all the way.  Andy continued with his slowdown by walking twice around the table after every shot, and held his nerve to win 4-3.  And in the last quarter-final, Kostya faced up to the imperious Ram, but didn't have enough to win, and lost 4-1.

The semis promised to be a one of exceptional quality.  Tom vs Cip, and Andy vs Ram.  And so it proved to be. Despite all the fine performances from Tom, Cip was looking better and better, as his confidence kept growing.  I can't stress enough that Cip is one of the most enjoyable players to watch.  An emotional player, for sure, but with more talent in his little finger than I have in my entire body, Cip is a huge huge threat to anyone.  And disposing of Tom 4-1, proved that Cip is getting back to his A game.  Big win for Cip who would have to wait and face one of Ram or Andy.  Bookies had Ram down as the favourite.  1-5 odds in fact, offered by Bet365, and Andy was 4 to 1 on.  But the odds don't matter.  Every fan in the arena knew that Andy was somehow possessed.  Perhaps by his fit French neighbour, or perhaps by him turning to Zen Buddhism, Andy was a man on a mission.  2-0 up to Andy and a bank shot away from going 3-0 up.  Ram looked shell-shocked, at least that's what we reckon, because you can't really tell from his face.  But despite being the king of banking (can I reiterate that this is real bank shots, not a euphemism for something else), Andy failed to sink the bank and allowed Ram a little bit of a window.  And that's all that Ram needs.  Andy pulled himself together, but couldn't stop the onslaught as Ram edged the final rack to win 4-3, but Andy could be very happy with his performance.

The final was going to be a test for the resurgent Cip.  This was going to be the real test of the night.  An in-form Cip would be worrying Ram, but we all know that Ram can up his game under pressure, and so it proved.  A fine 4-2 win to Ram, but the respect between the two was evident in the post-match press conference.  Cip had this to say: "I fell short and didn't play.  Brilliant all night, but with Ramesh, you cannot miss.  You might get 1 or 2 chances against other opponents, but not with Ram.  Different game against Ram, but hey, tonight felt good.  There's much more to come from me, and I'm back to smiling when I'm playing."  Ram said:  "I got lucky again.  I felt really good in the early rounds, but Andy was really determined in the semis and should have been 3-0 up, but lucky for me, he missed a couple of key shots.  Funnily enough, same thing happened with Cip.  He had the opportunities to beat me, but let me off."  As always, Ram being ever respectful of his opponent.

So Ram continues his excellent form.  Rod fell away massively with the loss of the year, whilst Andy demonstrated what he can do when he turns to meditation.  And finally Cip's on his way back.  Be afraid, very afraid, because when Cip really is back, he's one of the names that makes hearts sink when you draw him in the first round.

Finally, please don't forget that there is a membership fee for 2023.  It's less than £2 a month (£20 for the year), and ALL money goes back into the tournaments, including free table time, and website and rankings maintenance.  Membership will give you access to all the weekly tournaments, and have a track record of your results/rankings on the website.  Without the membership, you will have access to 2 MNT throughout 2023.

Please note that this is not the same as London Snooker Membership.  You may need to check that your membership is up to date or pay guest fees, as this is a licensing issue that the club may be checking on.

We have requested that monies are paid either at the tournament or send it via PayPal to:  https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/londonsfinestpool and then add your name as reference.

Any questions, please privately message Cip or Andrew on WhatsApp.