London’s Finest Pool presented another round of MNT at London Snooker Tooting last night, and there was a huge buzz in the arena with talk of the upcoming UK Open, and the biggest subject on everyone’s lips, could Ram win 4 games to beat his previous record of 23 straight wins?

Despite a smaller field of 21 players, some of the major hitters who could bring Ram down were still waiting in the wings, plotting Ram’s downfall.  As much respect as we all have for the little Guyanan, there’s nothing like getting a big win over the resident Jedi-like master of Tooting, and breaking his streak.

As is always the case, the Break and Dish competition preceded the main event, and as is always the case, someone other than me was drawn out of the hat, and on this occasion, it was Ranj “Lucky” Sarraj.  Ranj, with his powerful break (he’s got s strong right wrist) sunk two balls down but refused to take on the next pot and pocketed £100.  Well done Ranj!

And so, to the main event of the evening.  8 Ball is not played often at MNT, but really tests a different aspect of your game.  Manoeuvring the balls around the traffic is no easy feat, and the tactical aspect really plays an important role if the runout isn’t on.  The early rounds were fast and furious.  Only one match went right to the wire, which was between Andy “Banks” Curzon and Pistol Pete Cloherty.  Andy had a decent warm-up match in the first round, trouncing Dan “Grindr” Jenkins 5-1.  I had predicted that Andy might win this match, as before the night had started, Dan had been asking about the rules of 8 Ball, which kinda indicated that he might be struggling with the 8 Ball format.  Probably was surprised that there wasn’t a two shot rule…

Both Andy and Pete are very familiar with each other’s games, and we all know that both can really turn it on.  No real surprise, as whilst Pete is more consistent, an in-form Andy is a match for anyone, the match went to 4-4.  Pete’s consistency and fighting spirit saw him sneak through to the quarters, but it was good to see Andy battle hard and play some excellent pool to take it to the wire.

No whitewashes in the early rounds, and so the quarter-final line-up was as follows:  Tashunka “Witko” Schultz against Dan “Seoul Destroyer” Suh.  Ciprian Dandu vs Doug the Shark Clark.  Ramesh “Ramma Jamma” Gokhul vs Arjon “the Beard” Hasi.  And finally Pistol Pete Cloherty vs Saman Gholami.

Tash was on fire against Dan, but any of his mistakes were getting punished, which saw this match level at 3-3.  But, Tash is ranked 2^nd for a reason and in the end, Dan just couldn’t cope with him and lost out 5-3. 

Cip’s still underperforming, but got through past Tomasz Jedlecki and Henri “the Finnisher” Linnainmaa in the previous rounds, but Doug proved to be too strong for Cip, and despite going hill-hill, Doug got over the line and progressed to the semis to face Tash.

Ram was looking a little nervous as he knew that he had to beat Arjon to match his previous best streak of 23, and at times, uncharacteristic mistakes gave Arjon the opportunity to win racks.  However, Arjon was equally struggling to finish him off, and Ram will punish those who fail to take advantage of any mistakes he makes.  5-2 win for Ram.

And in an eventful and tense match between Pete and Saman, both players looked to pile on the pressure on each other in what was a very even match.  A lot of close calls, this match was highly competitive with two players determined to win.  In the end, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that the match went to hill-hill.  With Saman getting over the line, it was really good to see that despite the fierce competitiveness, both players took their respective win and loss in good spirits.

This left a semi-final where only Saman could stop Ram from breaking his record, and whilst the results don’t always show some players’ true abilities, everyone is well aware that everyone can beat each other on their day.  And the hope was that Saman was at his best to stop Ram.  And my word did Saman play well.  Pushing him all the way to 4-4, whilst Ram was feeling the pressure as a win would see him get to 24 wins, Saman just couldn’t finish Ram off, and Ram punched the air in delight as he came through to win.

In the other semi, Tash played some stunning pool as he picked Doug apart 5-1.  After the match, Doug told Sky Sports News: “Tash was unbelievable, didn’t give me a chance, and I couldn’t really get onto the table to create chances”.  This left Ram to break another record, to win 5 tournaments in a row, something that would be extremely difficult to achieve, especially against Tash, the number 2 ranked player.  Ram said in his pre-match interview: “I’m here to break records and set the bar so high that they’ll build a statue of me.  It’s up to the rest of the field to step up, but in fairness, everyone is upping their game, which means I have to also.”

With Ram in the ascendancy and Tash in fine form, this promised to be a tight affair, but the reduced racks in the final due to the last train, meant that it was a race to 3, which Ram quickly blitzed 3-0 to ensure that he won 5 in a row.  The new record really is a milestone that demonstrates the consistency that Ram is at, but means that the rest of us need to step up and take him down (in a nice way of course), or the new records he is setting are going to be beyond attainable.

In other news, the UK Open starts on Tuesday 30^th May, and we have a load of Tooting regulars who are participating (Fargo rates are not actually that accurate for the lower ranked amateurs, but it is a small indication):

Nick Ronase is facing up to Karl Gnadeberg, the world junior champion who looks young enough that his voice hasn’t broken yet.  Fargo is 702 (with robustness of 3598).

Sam Storey, who has a Fargo of 579 (673) is up against Chang Jung Lin, ex-world champion in 8 Ball, and currently world ranked 17.  Fargo is 829 (4968).

Jim “Greecey Slim Penis”, Fargo – 508 (264) will battle against Marcel Price, one of the UK’s best players with a Fargo is 729 (3855).

Tomasz Jedlecki, Fargo 578 (574) faces Kun Lin Wu of Taiwan, who is ranked 26^th in the world, and has a Fargo of 806 (3687).

Dan “Seoul Destroyer” was originally supposed to face Chetan Chhabra, who repped for India in 9 Ball, but it seems as if he’s withdrawn and I’m now facing Michael Dodd from Hawaii, who has a Fargo of 576 (3322).

Tash has a Fargo of 650 (195) and faces Max Lechner, ranked 8^th in the world, and has a Fargo of 809 (5660).

Paul Choong will be up against Marco Dorenburg of Germany, who is 129^th in the world with a Fargo of 735 (2448).

Hassan Mehedi’s Fargo is 635 (76) and comes up against Duong Quoc Hoang from Vietnam, who is ranked 47^th in the world, and his Fargo is 807 (1623).

Gabriel “Fake Taxi” Vasilache has a Fargo of 678 (890) and faces Karl Williams from the UK, and therefore will be favourite to progress to the next round.

Joe Prince stands a really good chance of progressing too, as he faces Michal Puk who has a Fargo of 621 (175).

Joe Granville appears to have a Fargo of 557 (38) and plays against snooker pro, Gary Wilson, who appears to have a Fargo of 746 (70).

Sunny Boy Garib has a Fargo of 702 (192) and gets to face Tobias Bongers, Joshua Filler’s practice partner, who is ranked 65^th in the world and his Fargo if 779 (3795).

Spencer Oliver is ranked 191^st in the world and his Fargo is 663 (1255), and he will be favourite to overcome Phil Johnson. 

Ram has a Fargo of 712 (1640) and will be looking to overcome Jeremy Sossei who is 85^th in the world with a Fargo of 756 (9202).

GJ has a Fargo of 561 (521) and will be up against a Filipino brother, Kyle Amoroto, who has a Fargo of 779 (179).  I wonder if they’ll put some money on the game!!!

And finally, Andrew Phan gets to play Matthew Rigley, who has a Fargo of 659 (427).

Good luck to everyone who has entered, and play well.