A sense of anticipation last night at MNT as Del "the Highlander" rocked up at London Snooker Tooting. Somewhat a bit of a legend both here and in the US, the big bearded dude who looks like he should be caber tossing rather than playing pool, makes the game look easy and his presence was warmly welcomed at Tooting.

In the meantime, a strong lineup was in attendance, as many of the regulars faced up to each other, preparing to take each other down and destroy each other's reputations.

First up was the Break and Run. Switching tactics, I decided to take Rod's number 3, despite being first to enter...and then the number 1 ball got pulled out. FFS. Should have been me, but instead Kostiantyn "GCE" Ivanov stepped up to break off and smashed 3 balls down...but scratched off the break, missing out on £105. As is always the case, the arena sighed in relief and maybe next week, it'll be my turn!

So, into the first round and some close games that grabbed the crowd's attention. Dan Jenkins pulled off a great result against the highly-fancied Tomasz Jedlecki,  whilst Sam Storey really was pushed all the way by Saman Gholami, and needed to finish with a break and run at hill hill to stumble over the line.

Hassan Aljumaili pulled off the shock of the first round, by pushing Tashunka "Hee Haw" Schultz all the way, and then some, bringing home the win after going hill hill too. And finally, the last hill hill match was between Andy "Banks" Curzon and Paz "the Punisher" Brennan. Both turned up to the tournament in fancy dress, although Andy forgot to bring his labrador as he turned up as a blind man and Paz turned up as a hill billy trucker. Certainly looked like a scene out of a movie as they went at it to the death, with Paz showing his emotions as he sunk the 10 Ball and embraced Andy who was magnanimous in defeat.

Only one drubbing in this round as Andrew Phan quickly disposed of Tibor Szatmari in record time, showing off his flair during the process.

The second round didn't see any close matches, but it did produce the biggest shock of the season, which will be regaled in tales for many years to come. Dan "the Destroyer" had the task of having to face up to one of Tooting's Titans, Rod "the God" Altes. Even the most generous of bookies weren't even bothering to take any bets such was the expectation of a Rod win. Before the match, Dan said "hopefully I'll get a rack off Rod and not completely embarrass myself tonight".

Into the match and Rod started off with a break and run, leaving the Destroyer fearing the worst. But, as the match progressed, with Dan using every tactic in the book to gain an advantage, Rod started to make uncharacteristic errors, all of which were punished by an in-form Dan. A murmur started going round the arena as fellow players kept one eye on the match, in complete disbelief as Dan kept edging ahead, to the point where Dan reached the hill first and continued to exert pressure on Rod with some superb flukey shots, finishing off in style to win 5-3.

Such was the surprise, news reached fans who were at London Bridge who had to turn up to Tooting to check whether there was a mistake in the entering of results, or whether Dan had actually beaten God!

Only one whitewash in the second round, as Sunny "Boy" Garib set about Paz, annihilating him 4-0.

The quarters, although without Rod and Tash, still looked very strong. In the top half, Marius "Ladies Favourite" Dandu took on Del, and took him right to the wire. Marius can certainly be a very dangerous opponent, but even after losing 4-3 to Del, Marius said "Del's different, he plays shots that normal players don't play".

The other top half quarter-final saw the Destroyer continue his momentum with a big battle against the mighty Ciprian Dandu. Cip, however, wasn't at his best and Dan got lucky on a number of occasions, raising his hands at least once every rack to apologise for the flukes. 4-3 to Dan, and the arena was stunned into silence again as he'd been playing way above his normal levels.

The bottom half of the quarters had Sunny up against Kostya. Both players have been in fine form of late, with Kostya reaching the semi-finals of T9Ball last Saturday before falling asleep as it was past his bedtime, and Sunny reaching the heady heights of 5th in the rankings in 2023. Was to be expected to be a close call, but Kostya is in form and swept Sunny aside 4-2.

In the final quarter, Hassan (conqueror of donkeys) had to face up to Pistol Pete Cloherty, who had been easing his way through the tournament. Pete does have a tendency to tear through opponents and he blitzed past Hassan 4-1.

So to the semis. And Del totally outplayed the Destroyer, thrashing him 4-0, whilst Kostya showed off his fine skills by taking down Pete 4-2, setting up an intriguing final between one of the most experienced and best players seen at Tooting, vs the up and coming rising star, Kostya, who shows such potential.

But my experience of this game knows that experience often makes the difference and the final was no exception. Unable to make the most of any chances, Kostya couldn't quite get into the match whilst Del just went about his business and came through to win 4-0.

A real pleasure to see guests coming down and displaying their talents, but from a personal point of view, as one of the lower ranked players, to receive such support from everyone after my Goliath win over Rod, proves just how much of a community we are.

Anyway, have a superb week. I certainly will. Next Monday will be multiball and I bloody hope I don't face Rod again, as he might be slightly more motivated to wipe the smile off my face!