An Easter MNT this week, with plenty of pool hustling dawgs making their way to London Snooker Tooting, to show off their skills and maintain their competitive bug. Always good to welcome in new players, players who we haven’t seen for a while, and the regulars who help create the scene. Lots of talent on show, and therefore lots of potential for some immense matches.
The first round was especially notable. First up was Hasan Khan against Paul Choong. Hasan is a rarely spotted pool player, having last been spotted in Tooting last July. A wily old fox with a good stroke, he was up against Paul Choong, who you might feel has been under-performing, but has the ability to pull off results against anyone. Both went at each other with hammer and tongs, but Hasan snatched the win, 7-6. The other hill-hill battle in the first round saw Sean Avery up against Marc Harris. Both will have felt that they stood a good chance of progressing, and both battled hard but in the end, Sean came through to win.
The first round, though, was especially notable for the upset of the round. Dan Jenkins, as I have said in the past, is a gritty player who has plenty of potting ability, and therefore has potential to become a decent player. He faced up to Rod “the God” Altes, who gave nothing away as he pointed fingers at Dan “the Destroyer” Suh before the tournament started, shouting “I hope I draw you Destroyer, cuz you’re the one getting destroyed. Ain’t going to be a repeat of last week’s result, that’s fo sho”.
Rod was positively rabid with joy as the announcer called for Rod and Dan to play on Table 4, only for Rod to realise that it wasn’t Dan Suh, but Dan Jenkins. Some might were expecting a week’s worth of frustration to come pouring out of Rod, but instead, after some good punishing play from Dan and more uncharacteristic mistakes from Rod, the match ended 6-0. Yes…6-0. As the scores were reported in, plenty of double-takes, open mouths, and “yeah, right” comments echoed around the arena, but indeed it was. Dan Jenkins was his usual calm self though, and took the win in his stride. Credit to Rod, though, who was his usual sporting self and took the defeat on the chin, but the pressure is building and next week will be a true test of one of Tooting’s Titans.
The second round certainly was no less eventful. Jim Siampanis had the unenviable task of taking on the God Killer, Dan Jenkins, and had to pull out all the stops to eventually win 6-5. Dan wasn’t too bothered though as he had already put in the performance of the evening in any case. Henri Linnainmaa pulled off a superb win over the Destroyer, after a slow start, and finished up winning at hill-hill with a Break and Run, despite the Destroyer’s best efforts to distract him. And Kris Sookhraz took out the highly rated Arjon Hasi, with a top performance to win 5-4.
This left a quarter-final line-up that lacked a few usual suspects, but no less weaker. Tomasz Jedlecki couldn’t stop the momentum of Big Jim, despite beating one of Tooting’s best players of 2023, Sunny “Boy” Garib in the previous round. 5-1 win to Big Jim and in impressive style too. Hasan Khan put Henri on the ropes and made few errors on his way to a 5-2 victory. And Hassan Mehedi put in a ruthless display of potting, as he put Afro Power Spencer Oliver on the tube home, beating him 5-2 in a very efficient display. Meanwhile, the last quarter-final to finish was between Joe Granville and Kris. Joe had decided today was going to be the day where he showed up, and anyone knows that Joe is a master potter on his day, and he had been cruising through previous rounds. However, Kris was on fire. His form in 2022 was somewhat patchy, to say the least, but Kris has somehow undergone some kind of transformation in 2023 and become one of the hottest players in Tooting. Gritting his teeth and clenching his bum, he got down to business and eventually Joe gave in and Kris advanced to the semis, for the second time in three weeks.
The semis, therefore, had Big Jim up against Hasan and Kris vs Hassan. Hasan, by this point, seemed to have run out of steam, whilst Jim was looking stronger and stronger. Jim had finally kicked into gear at the same time Hasan was making mistakes, and a relatively easy 5-1 win for Jim ensued. Meanwhile, Kris and Hassan seemed determined to take this into the small hours of the morning as they went at each other with everything they had. Kris really showed why he’s the hottest player in Tooting of late and punished Hassan’s mistakes at all the key moments, which left Kris the winner with a superb 6-5 win.
This left Jim and Kris in the final. Even Kris admitted that this was a lofty position for him to be in, whilst Jim was wondering how he’d not won an MNT before, and perhaps the different mindsets played out in the final. Jim had pretty much cruised his way into the final, whilst Kris had to go through three hill-hill wins in the previous three rounds, and maybe it was just because there were some tiredness in his play, but a combination of factors saw Jim save his best till last, and fully deserved his 5-2 win.
Overall, it’s great to see unfamiliar faces raise their games and progress further than people might have predicted in previous months. It shows that the standards are rising, and those who might normally be favourites for the latter rounds, face stiffer competition than before. After all, this is very much what the community is about, and demonstrates what playing regular scratch tournaments can do for your game. It forces players to improve to compete. Well done Kris, but of course, well done to Jim for putting in a performance that befits the “talk”!
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The weekly MNT was back in full effect, showcasing some of the best talent you’ll see in one pool hall in Tooting on a Monday night. After last week’s showing, Rod “the God” Altes seemed confident with his chances in the 8 Ball tournament, but also seemed keen to lay down the law, telling the pre-tournament press conference that he wasn’t going to tolerate any inaccuracies in reporting, and reminded everyone that libel laws will protect him. The fearsome Rod certainly sent a shockwave around the press room and the pencils sharpened as clearly he was going to war with the media.
Starting off the evening was the usual Break and Run, at £40 a ball. As is always the case, my ball is yet to be picked out of the hat, and instead it was Sunny “Boy” Garib who got lucky. Putting all of his weight behind his break, 2 balls dropped, but rather than taking on the easy bank on the 1 ball, Sunny turned it down to pocket £80.
The first round had a few significant wins. Lots of quick wins, but notably, Spencer Oliver used the power of his Afro to whitewash Cedric Huang, whilst Gauhar Khan pulled his trousers up to win 5-0 against Josh Roberts. There was one really epic match going on, which captured the attention of the arena. In the bottom half of the draw, the legendary Ramon Navarro squared up to Sunny, for a match that Sunny must have thought he’d cruise through. However, Ramon is dangerous. The big smile on the little man hides the Filipino levels of banditry. If you’re not sure, Filipino’s have banditry sewn into their DNA. First off, play pool with flair. Secondly, look good. Thirdly, sucker your opponent into a false sense of security. Finally, beat your opponent, take their money, and smile at them whilst doing so.
Sunny got suckered, let down his guard, and Ramon took full advantage and snatched the win 5-4.
Into the second round, and Ramon went hill-hill again! Dan “no nickname” Jenkins was keen to grind Ramon into the ground, but a hugely competitive match ebbed and flowed, and went to 4-4. By this time, the upper half of the draw already had already completed their matches, and yet Ramon and Dan were holding up the entire tournament as the quarters and semi-finals still needed to be played! Regardless, Ramon snatched the victory, whilst the rest of the players prayed that the next match Ramon was going to be involved in wasn’t going to be quite as tight.
Tashunka Schultz faced up to the might of Khan in what was a very close match. Khan is, without a doubt, quite the phenomenon. Like a hungry hippo with all the flair of a Brazilian footballer, he is the Bill Werbeniuk of American pool. Khan not only makes some impossible pots, but it’s the ease and speed of which he does it. As easily and quickly as he consumes a kebab roll. However, despite playing some of the best shots of the night, it was Tash who crawled over the line with a solid display. Any other opponent, and Khan would have progressed, but Tash is no ordinary opponent.
Elsewhere, Spencer Oliver had to face SMB Champion from the night before, Andy “Banks” Curzon. Pre-match, Andy was clearly buzzing and re-lived his SMB win with other players as he vividly walked through his semi-final win against Tash and final against So Shaw in epic detail. A big congrats to Andy, but MNT is another day and the question on everyone’s lips was whether he could follow-up with another big performance. However, clearly this wasn’t going to be the night, and Andy crashed out, losing 5-0.
And finally, in the second round, Rod had little to say to the media, as he quietly slipped out of the venue under a blanket, as he lost 4-2 to Ciaran Boylan, fearing that any quotes might be taken out of context! Those pencils will sharpen even more over the week, and next week’s press conference should be lively!
The quarters had a bit of a surprise contender. Kris Sookhraz has recently been tearing up tier 3 in the Wednesday League, and is known to be quite a mean potter, but hasn’t quite set MNT alight…yet. However, after tearing Hassan Aljumalili apart 5-1 in the first round, he then beat Saman Gholami, who had been virtually flawless in his victory over the Destroyer. Furthermore, Kris played really well to then quickly steamroller Ciprian Dandu, 4-1, to set himself up for a place in the semis.
Kostiantyn “Junior Hee Haw” Ivanov played out a big match against Spencer, in front of his parents who had travelled over 1500 miles to watch their son win 4-2 over the famous Afro.
Tash recovered from his earlier scare against Khan, by playing brilliantly against Ciaran, who said after the match, “I don’t remember my hand touching the table”. And finally, with the slow progress, Ramon Navarro beat Muhammed “He’s the greatest” Ali, who looked like taking Ramon to another hill-hill match, but Ramon just about had enough and emerged unscathed 4-2….at 11.40pm!
The semis saw Kris against Kostya. Kris’s previous wins were totally deserved and he was performing at a level that was starting to make bookmakers feel nervous. However, Junior Hee Haw has no fear, maybe other than fear of his parents who had been watching his earlier win over Spencer Oliver, but with their departure from the arena to get some dinner, Kostya turned up the heat, and Kris finally ran out of steam, losing 4-2 to the young Ukrainian talent.
In the other semi, Tash looked to be in a bit of a hurry, and went at Ramon as aggressively as possible. Tash won 4-2, but Ramon could be very happy with his very long night’s work.
With the final being between Tash and Kostya, these are two players who are very similar. So similar, that you might argue that these two could be father and son. Both are fast-paced, aggressive, and make shots that leave crowds open-mouthed, but also both have the capability to be total donkeys. Both wanted to go at each other hard, especially because Ramon had single-handedly held up the entire tournament with his epic matches. Tash exploded into life and won 4-2, after 1am in the morning.
After the final, Tash had this to say: “After getting my ass handed to me by Andy Banks on Sunday at SMB, I had to re-establish myself as king of the donkeys. I was happy to be playing 8 ball, as I’ve become allergic to potting 9’s!”
So, Tash’s form proves to be too much for the others, as Tash holds an 88.2% win record in 2023, whilst big shouts out Kris and Ramon for their performances. The question is whether they can find consistency and challenge again?
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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!
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Last night's MNT at London Snooker Tooting produced another high quality tournament, only a day after the Spring Open event, won by Imran Majid. With a few of the Tooting regulars advancing well in the Open, one person who was disappointed on Sunday was, Rod "the God" Altes.
For whatever reason, Rod wasn't quite at the races, at an event where he wanted to make a statement and get the chance to battle it out with the likes of Imran, Rico Diks, Tom Staveley, and similar big names.
In the pre-tournament press conference, Rod said to the gathering media: "Yeah, I didn't play well yesterday, but I never play badly twice, and tonight's my night."
Of course, we all know that this is typical of Rod's mind games, designed to intimidate the rest of the field, but something felt different, as if Rod meant it.
First up was the Break and Run attempt. With the pot at around £400, Birthday boy, Nick Ronase got drawn out randomly, and took home £40 for potting off the break, but gave up his chance to carry on despite the easy jump shot chance on the 1 ball.
The main tournament commenced, and this is always a chance for either a major upset, or for some of the pre-tournament favourites to warm themselves up.
No huge surprises as the big guns started warming up with relative ease. Perhaps the match between Pistol Pete Cloherty and Spencer Oliver looked to be one that could have the crowd captivated, and it proved to be one of high quality, but Spencer came through to win 6-3.
Additionally, Henri Linnainmaa faced up to unknown quantity, Sammy Liu. On a personal level, it's been around 16 years since I last saw this guy, potting his way around Clapham Riley's, and it was a genuine pleasure to see Sammy after all these years.
Making claims that he hadn't played too much in the last 15 years, Sammy fought his way through the match, but Henri proved to be just a bit more match ready and came through 6-4 winner.
The next round contained two mammoth matches. Dan Jenkins had to face up to Jim "the Greek Warrior" Siampanis. Both highly adept, but Dan's confidence had taken a bit of a battering in the Wednesday League, finishing bottom of the Premier League without a win, but his grit and determination is always in abundance, and took Big Jim to the wire. However, falling at the final hurdle, it was the long-legged Greek who progressed to the next round and Dan just needs to find a way to turn his performances into wins.
The other highlight match was Glen "THE Hitman" Hargreaves, against the very well-respected Sam Storey. Pre-match, Glen told Bet 365: "why aye, aam on fiyuh like, naw won canna beet me, I feeyah naebodee."
Regrettably we didn't have an interpreter at the time.
Not surprisingly, with Sam's last outing resulting in getting to the final, Glen was fired up and determined to take Sam down. However, under pressure, Glen just failed to sink a crucial ball, leaving him to sit in his seat, muttering all kinds of profanities to himself.
Rounding off the major results of the second round, Rod was gearing himself up nicely by quickly taking care of Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali 6-0.
So the quarters shaped up to have even and close matches. Sunny "Boy" Garib had to face up to Kostiantyn "GCE, Young Gun, Junior Donkey" Ivanov. Kostya, we all know, has the game but up against last week's MNT winner, Sunny came through to win 5-3 with a strong display showing off all his years and experience.
Jim was certainly on a bit of a roll, but Sam's steely demeanour translates onto the pool table, as he picked Jim apart 5-1.
Rod was certainly taking care of the stiff opposition that he was facing, but perhaps it might take the force of the Afro, Spencer Oliver, to overcome the local God. A high quality affair, as you would expect from these two, but Rod was looking ominous as he won 5-3.
And then to the upset of the night, as Henri had to contend with the fearsome reputation of Dan "the Destroyer" Suh, the master of disaster, who makes the unmissable...missable. Both players had started off well, making the kind of shots that mere mortals dream of playing. But the Destroyer couldn't capitalise on the chances provided and Henri wasn't going to give up his opportunity to progress to the semis.
Into the semis, and Sunny had to face Sam. Perhaps Sunny underestimated Sam, and if that was the case, that was very much to his peril. A barnstorming performance by Sam and Sunny was blown out of the water 5-1. Surprising result in many ways, as Sunny has shown he has the game to challenge at the top, but as is constantly reported, Sam's merciless and never to be underestimated.
In the other semi, Henri was riding on a massive high after his win against the infamous Destroyer, and had to face God of Tooting. A tough ask, made worse by Rod being slightly peed off with his Sunday performance, and 5-0 later, Henri looked beaten, was beaten, and had the face of a beaten man. After the match, Henri said "to be honest, Rod has a reputation that is quite intimidating", but from my point of view, it's a matter of time before Henri works it out and will prove himself to be more competitive against the elite players at Tooting.
With Rod vs Sam in the final, Sam was certainly looking to go to the next level and get his first win at MNT. Fired up, he looked confident and said all the right things: "I've reached the final in my last tournament, and I can go one better for sure. It's a great experience to be playing on Mondays and good preparation for the upcoming Solihull and T9B events. And don't forget that Rod's lost to me before!" Rod, however, looked even more confident telling fans before the final: "this is my church and I can pretty much guarantee I'll win tonight. " In record time, Rod went about his business and quickly send Sam home after winning 5-1. A strong performance from Rod and that makes it 1 loss in the last 18 games, an impressive run from the resident moaner.
Finally, just a bit of housekeeping, but the magic racks cost us around £8 per rack, and I've noticed new ones are being pinched, which renders them useless. Any pinching of racks ruins them and costs money to replace. Please take care of the racks in future...it's not much to ask for.
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