The end of the season has seen a fantastic run-in, and since the last report, the biggest news was that London Snooker Tooting had 8 Diamond Tables installed, with 4.25 inch pockets, which has elevated the entire pool community in London.  This now means that London now benefits from the best tables in England, with Spots and Stripes running Rassons, and London Snooker running Diamonds.  Compared to what we had a year ago, this is phenomenal, and should be the start of a fantastic new era in London.  As far as I am aware, only McGoldrick's in Glasgow can compare in terms of quality tables in the entire UK, so this is a real step forward.  Hopefully, other clubs will take note and follow suit, so the UK can benefit from having good quality equipment for pool players.

Anyway, London's Finest Pool has had some mega Mondays since the new installation, which led to an immense showdown in the final week.

6/11 - The first MNT to be held with the new Diamonds means that we had a bumper turnout.  Rod the God was a man on a mission, as he could sense that there might be a chance of catching Ramma Jamma, especially knowing that Ram was going to be away in the Far East for a couple of weeks, which would give Rod every chance of nabbing the title of "2023 - MNT Champion" by the end of the season.  Rod overcame Ram in the 2nd round, which meant that he had every chance of gaining ground on Ram, but Cip "the Spin King" Dandu was in hot form and smashed Rod up in the quarters and continued his march to the final after overcoming Tooting's number 3, Tash.  Meanwhile, relative newcomer, Ali Vahab, was showing consistently good form and won easily over anyone who stood in his way, dropping only 4 racks on his way to the final.  He's certainly one to keep an eye on in 2024, but in the final on this occasion, Cip was showing that he could adapt to the new Diamonds very quickly, and came through to win after both players reached the hill.

13/11 - The following week saw So Shaw back at Tooting.  So's presence is always welcome, as he possesses some of the most incredible flair in his game, and had won back to back MNT's in September.  On this occasion, though, one of the most improved players of 2023, Saman Gholami had demonstrated why he's highly dangerous and beat So in the semis.  Meanwhile, one of the stars of 2023 has been Arjon the Beard.  Arjon has been a regular since April and has the ability to beat absolutely anyone, with a little wry smile behind his large beard.  Arjon destroyed the soul of the Seoul Destroyer, mashed up the Turnip, and defeated the Greatest Muhammed Ali "Greater than Muhammad Ali", to reach the final.  In the meantime, God had noticed that Ram couldn't make MNT this week, and knowingly knew that this was a chance to really gain ground on him.  Overcoming one of the best players in Tooting, Sunny Boy, he took out Ali Vahab and the So conqueror, Saman, and told everyone who could be bothered to take notice "I won't lose the final...not in a million years".  Rod went down 2-0 to Arjon in the final, but this only spurred him on to win the next 5 racks, and start his attempt to overtake Ram.

20/11 - By this time, Ram had already travelled to Japan, and was going to be absent for the next 2 MNT's.  Rod, fresh off a high from the week before, knew the pressure was on, but had to take advantage.  However, some of Tooting's finest were out to stop him.  Specifically, there's one player who has been consistently ranked 3rd throughout the year.  Tashunka "Hee Haw" Schultz.  Resident dogger, but true character of Tooting.  There's no way Tash was going to let Rod have his own way, and at first glance at the draw, both were the likeliest to make the final.  Tash pumped Ebrar, struggled past Obi Wan Kenobi, breezed past Doug the Shark Clark, and then really had a stern test against Mark Abrigo in the semis, but he managed to pass every test that fell his way.  Rod, though, fuelled by Magners, just swatted away Hassan the Sniper Aljumolybob (as Phil Wildman calls him), disposed of Kris, and then put his foot on the gas against Cip to beat him 4-0.  Ominous stuff indeed.  So ominous that Rod kept his foot on the pedal, which left Tash little to fight back with, and Rod won his second MNT in a row.

27/11 - One look at the rankings before the tournament, and all the talk was that Rod might finally sneak ahead of Ram and go top of the rankings.  Another MNT win might just do the job, but he would need to overcome some big names if he was going to finally go top.  First up was Dan the Turnip, who put up fierce resistance but lost 5-3.  Next came a really big test, Tash.  And Tash was out for revenge for the previous week when he lost to Rod 4-1 in the final.  A real battle ensued, but it was Rod who came through and won at hill hill.  Same again in the quarters, as Andrew Phan was demonstrating why he's actually one of the best players in Tooting by beating Spencer "Afrotastic" Oliver in the previous round, but Andrew just didn't have quite enough to beat Rod.  And in the semis, Saman tried but failed to prevent Rod from getting to the final.  So, who was going to be the challenger on the other half of the draw?  Andy "Banks" Curzon is an enigma.  Capable of beating opponents 5-0 in 5 minutes, or losing 5-0 in less time.  Quite extraordinary, and he had quite a marathon (by his standards) to get to the final.  A hill hill win over newbie, Falak Farhad, another one that went to the wire against Josh Roberts, a really good win over Ali (the greatest one), and then yet another hill hill battle, winning against Joe Granville.  Perhaps Andy didn't have the stamina, but by the time he faced Rod in the final, he had run out of steam and couldn't up his game one more time.  Another win for Rod and yes, that meant that Rod had overtaken Ram for the first time.  Rod was top of the pile, finally.  Broken the magical 10 point barrier, and was looking down on Ram (although everyone looks down on Ram in some ways).

4/12 - News of Rod going top had filtered to Korea, where Ram had been travelling to after his stint in Japan.  Rumours have it that Ram threw something at the wall and cut short his trip to get back to London.  In reality, Ram was snarling, but was in an underground pool hall in Seoul, practicing hard with some of Korea's finest pool players, readying himself for his return to London to reclaim his top spot.  So the MNT had a lot of guests in that night.  Something to do with the USA fans travelling to London to watch their annual drubbing by Europe in the Mosconi Cup.  Loyal fans for sure, but deluded as talk in the arena was that of how USA were going to compete this year.  Lots of nodding in agreement, out of British politeness....after all, they were our guests and we didn't really want them to think that we were all confident of another easy European win.  Anyway, the tension was palpable.  Rod and Ram were staring each other our, giving each other knowing looks across the arena.  They both started really well. Rod won 5-1 whilst Ram won 5-0.   Both had American guests as their opponents, who were both playing with borrowed equipment, so it was a nice easy win to ease themselves into the competition.  And then it started really hotting up.  Ram just went ballistic and trounced his wing man in Japan and Korea, 5-0.  Ram played flawlessly.  Meanwhile, Dan the Turnip, who had been getting coaching from Ram, finally showed some of the form that made people take notice of him when he first started coming to Tooting....and what a time to play some of his best pool of the year, against Rod.  4-3 winner over Rod, with a break and run at hill hill, and Rod could do nothing about it.  Rod's heart sunk, and continued to sink has he watched Ram pump his young apprentice in the next round, pump Tash in the semis, and reach the final without having dropped a single rack.  

In the other half of the draw, our occasional guest but larger than life character, Del the Highlander Sim, had been over from New York City to pop his head in.  If you don't know by now, Del is an extremely highly rated amateur and imposing on the table.  In 13 matches in MNT, he had only ever lost once...to Ram.  Del had powered past joe Granville, Obi Wan Kenobi, Ramonster Navarro, and Saman, dropping only 2 racks en route to the final.  This was surely going to be an epic final between two very good players....but Ram was pumped up.  Throwing down his gauntlet, he absolutely obliterated Del in the final, and went home back on top of the rankings.  

11/12 - Throughout the week, the calculations had been done, and it was pretty clear that whilst Ram had gone back top, he could still lose top spot to Rod depending on results.  During the week, Sky Sports News caught up with Ram and asked him if it was true that Ram might not make the final MNT of the season, to preserve his ranking.  Ram replied that it was his duty to do the honourable thing and ensure that he was available.  And so it proved.  Ram came running into the club last night, looking eager to start proceedings, but actually he only ran in because he was desperate for a wee.  Rod's expression hadn't changed as his poker face usually masks his inner emotions, but he was secretly delighted that Ram had fulfilled his obligations.  It was just a case of whether Ram could get knocked out early and Rod win the tournament.  Like the previous week, Ram and Rod started well.  Both winning 5-1.  Second round, and Ram faced Danny the Tsunami.  A tough proposition, but not as tough as Rod's draw.  Greg "the lesser spotted" Mostyn.  Not frequently seen at MNT, but one of those really really solid players who has incredible ability at times.  Perhaps it's because he's not seen that often in Tooting that some people forget just how good Greg can be, and so it proved.  Capitalising on every mistake Rod made by closing out racks, Greg deservedly overcame Rod 4-2.  And that was it.  Rod couldn't finish 1st unless Ram somehow got thrashed 4-0 by Danny the Tsunami, but despite Danny's efforts, Ram came through to win and that was just about that.  Rod was left to rue his mistakes, but graciously spoke to the press after composing himself, and told them that Greg deserved to win, that Ram deserved to be top, and that being clear 2nd in the field that we have at Tooting, was still a decent achievement.  Gracious words indeed, and all eyes turned to the battle for 3rd. 

Tash knew that it might be tight between himself and Spencer for 3rd and there's something about Spencer that makes him very dangerous under pressure.  Spencer had already displayed why he is one of the elite players by overcoming another of London's best, Gabriel "Fake Taxi" Vasilache, 4-0!!!  So to the semis, and Spencer and Tash were in effectively their own final.  The showdown.  The battle for bronze.  And what a performance Spencer put on.  Tash had come into the semi with a resounding victory over Cip, but had little answer as Spencer just played beautifully to win 4-1.  Ram had overcome the god conqueror, Greg, who cemented his reputation by beating Martinho in the quarters, but yet again, Ram was showing just why he's number 1, and went through to the final to face Spencer.  Bookies had Ram to win, but the smart punters know that Spencer is a beast when he's in the mood, and despite the tension, Spencer held his nerve to win 4-2.  

So this left a big change in the final rankings table of the season.  Ram cemented his place at the top, with Rod finishing 2nd.  Spencer had powered his way up the table, nicking 3rd place just ahead of Tash, in the final round of the season.  Tash had been solid for most of the season and could be pleased that he's still at elite level by finishing 4th.  Meanwhile, Gabriel has had a relatively quiet season, but still performed excellently for most of it, to also show why he's another of London's Elite.  And making up the other two elite spots, who achieved 7 points or more was Sunny, who was in line for the highest points jump award, but got pipped at the post by Spencer.  And finally, bringing up the rear of the elite group is Cip.  Someone we all know rarely brings out his A game, but still managed to get to 7 points.  Imagine what he could do if he was on his A game!

So that concludes the season.  Awards night and Christmas party is Monday 18th December.  All LFP members are welcome, and there will be competitions going on throughout the night, as well as the highly anticipated awards ceremony.

End of year reports will be written up closer to the end of the year too.

Thanks to ALL your support and for making London's Finest Pool a truly unique pool community.  Please keep supporting us in 2024 so we can keep growing the game in London.  2024 promises to have lots more events and competitions, and it's all down to the commitment and sacrifices that Cip and Andrew continuously put in, despite the moaning from their wives and girlfriends.  Without these two guys, there would be hardly any community at all.  Please remember this as we truly have something very special, and it's taken years of effort from these guys to make this happen.

See you all next Monday and have a great week.