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.
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Happy New Year everyone!
MNT was back in action last night for a new season, with statistics reset and ready to go for a big year ahead. The question was whether some of the regulars had too many mince pies, or whether they had been secretly training during the close season, ready for the opening day.
Regrettably, London's Finest Pool reporter was hurrying back from the Brentford win over Liverpool, so was late to the MNT, meaning that there were no interviews in the early rounds. However, there were some epic results, notably Ervin "Vini" Demiraj getting his first ever win on a Monday night! His game is starting to come along nicely, an he took our Peter Hsu in a match that went hill-hill. Notably, the boy wonder, Kostiantyn Ivanov was fresh back after a little bit of a lay-off where he actually had to attend school and do some studying rather than spend his life at the pool hall. He managed to take out Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali 6-5. Also, in a real close game, Gauhar Khan took out Pistol Pete Cloherty, which really shows off Khan's improvement that he showed towards the end of 2022.
Into the second round, and Ciaran Boylan was looking ominous. During the close season, whispers had it that Ciaran was going to step up to the plate this season as he looked really good in practice. However, practice is practice, and whilst Ciaran might have taken out Paz "the Punisher" Brennan in the first round, Dan Jenkins came in to gain revenge against Ciaran for a defeat less than a month ago, and won 6-5. Elsewhere, Ranj Sarraj looked determined to get off to a flyer, and inched past Andrew Phan 6-5.
All hotting up nicely, and the quarters looked tasty as Doug "the Shark" Clark breezed past the conqueror of Ciaran, Dan Jenkins, 5-2. Saman Gholami was also looking pretty serious as Kostiantyn didn't quite have the answers to beat him, and Saman came through 5-4. And then onto the big guns. Ram decided that time wasn't on his side, and took out Dhari Alduraibi 5-0 in super quick time. Meanwhile, the other big gun, Rod "the God" Altes quickly took out Ranj 5-2. All looking setup for a Ram-Rod final (again), but the question was whether Saman could defeat Rod, and whether Doug could take Ram down.
Nope...was the answer.
To be fair, Doug played well. Really well. Almost flawlessly in fact, but "almost" against Ram isn't enough. 5-4 to Ram and into the final against............*surprise surprise*, Rod. Rod quickly took care of Saman with a 5-1 win, and the first MNT final by LFP at the LST was Ram vs Rod. Winning the first rack, Rod was looking ominous, but Ram bashed up Rod 5-2 in the end. Rod was left stunned at the end and commented "The guy's consistency is unbelievable. Respect!" But we all know that Rod is just going to knuckle down and work Ram out. But what a superb evening, with the big guns starting the season exactly as they left off the last.
Over the coming weeks, though, the challengers (piranhas) will be out in force. This was just the curtain-raiser, a taster of what's to come, but whilst 2023 started out with the usual suspects, but expect a sea of change. Way too much talent in the rest of the field. So who to watch out for?
Cip's gone into a secret location, doing an impression of Rocky Balboa in Rocky 4, getting his game back to where it belongs. So be very scared when Cip is back in the frame.
Gabriel is undoubtedly going to be a fearsome competitor this season, but just needs a break from all the Christmas excess that he's been indulging in.
Tash is already known to be one of the big guns in Tooting. He fears no-one.
Martinho has proven himself with his exceptionally high win ratio in 2022, so expect great things from the great man.
Kostiantyn could well be the surprise package, as he's threatening to be consistent, and with his talent, could surpass anyone. And then there's still the likes of Doug, who probably needs to find that extra 1% in his consistency to be threatening, and Craig would be right up there if his mummy let him play on a Monday more often. Some fine talent in the pool of piranhas waiting to eat Ram and Rod alive. 2023 is going to be a fine year for our community, and standards are going to reach new levels.
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And welcome back to MNT, where London's Finest Pool hosted the 2nd event of 2023. Most will tell you that it's the best you'll see in London, some say that it's the best you'll see in the UK. Whichever you believe, the fans waited in anticipation for the gathering of London's Finest Pool players at London Snooker Tooting. Most spectacularly, Dan "the Destroyer" Suh unveiled his new sponsored apparel. Fans were overawed as he unveiled his new sponsors: London Snooker Tooting, Seyberts, Predator Cues, IQ Cues, Korea Foods/Seoul Plaza, and Takini Cloth/Table Min. Dan told the media before the night began that so many companies had been after his signature for a number of months, and had to succumb to putting an extra sponsor, such was the high demand. "I was especially delighted to sign up with Takini Cloth/Table Min, who are a Korean company, where London Snooker Tooting will exclusively be using their cloths in 2023." Destroyer merchandise was expected to be launched last night, but due to the huge numbers of pre-orders, this has been delayed by a few weeks.
So, into the early rounds of last night's MNT. Amazingly only one match went to the wire, with Kris fighting his way to hill hill with Glen "THE Hitman" Hargreaves, but Glen's a canny operator and with one eye on a massive match-up against Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache, he had every incentive to get through to the quarters to face the Romanian assassin. 4-3 to the big Geordie lad, in what was a gruelling, nail-biting affair. Two big grudge matches were also played out. Paz "the Punisher" Brennan and Ciaran "Killer" Boylan are partners...no, not that kind, but they do work together and regularly practice against each other. They had faced each other at the end of November, where Ciaran came through easily, 5-0. And just last week, Ciaran beat Paz 6-1, so Paz was bang up for some revenge. It didn't happen. 4-1 to Ciaran, who even had to play with a borrowed cue after all his pool equipment was nicked out of his car the other day. Paz was left to rue the day, but will surely come back stronger and get back to his punishing ways. And in the other grudge match, Saman Gholami and Muhammed "he's the greatest" Ali, faced each other after an immense battle in the Piranha Bowl last Saturday. Both had played exceptionally well in the Piranha Bowl, and Saman was looking very sharp in the warm-up. So this was really the match to put an end to last Saturday's rivalry. However, Saman just couldn't summon up enough of his powers to give Ali much of a game, and Ali was on fire, resulting in a 4-1 victory.
Meanwhile, three spankings in the early rounds. Henri continuing his decent form by disposing of Ranj (4-0) to get to the quarters. Ram got off to a flyer with a 4-0 win over Dan Jenkins, Rod followed suit with a 4-0 drubbing of Pistol Pete Cloherty. The two main men really laying down the early markers, but let's not forget Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache. After 3 weeks of not playing, indulging in every Christmas excess you can think of, weighing 5 kg heavier than his pre-Christmas fighting weight, Gabriel is considered one of the ones to look for in 2023 to topple the Ram/Rod titans at the top. Gabriel saw off another of the big names, Martinho Correia, in the first round, 4-2, and then disposed of Kostiantyn Ivanov, the young star at Tooting, 4-2 also. What a route to the quarter-finals! However, what a modest man Gabriel is, as he described his chances of winning the tournament as "slim, unlike my belly".
The quarters looked tasty. Dhari Alduraibi faced Rod the God. Dhari had been playing really well too, seeing off Ciaran 4-2 earlier, and he was looking confident. Rod, however, was finding his usual inspiration from his pint of cider (some say he was on his 5th pint by the quarters), and ran out 4-1 winner. Post-match, Sky Sports Arena caught up with Rod to question his pre-tournament brags about giving any player a 5 frame start...Rod responded "no starts for anyone, that's a fool's game (*pulls a BA Baracus face at the cameras*), but I WILL be getting to the final". Meanwhile, an out of form Ciprian Dandu was still dishing it out, winning 4-1 against Henri, but was still disappointed with his game having only broke and run won once in his quarter. We all know that when Cip hits form, he's going to be challenging for the top spot as his C game is pretty much better than most people's A game. Ram really was in fine form as he overcame Ali 4-0. In the post-match interview, Ram was his usual modest self, explaining "I fear Ciprian, Andrew, Gabriel, Kostiantyn, and Rod the God. There's too many people in here who can win." Great words from the great man, although he did leave out the Destroyer, but I'll have words with him later. And the last of the quarters, the two hitmen faced each other to see who the real Hitman is. Pre-match, Glen "THE Hitman" Hargreaves said that he held great respect for Gabriel but "I'm feeling confident, and we shall see who the best Hitman is tonight, but I can think I can go all the way". And what a match we had. A real high quality game between two high calibre players, but having seen off both Martinho and Kostya, it was Gabriel who came out on top with a 4-3 win, leaving Glen distraught at fans questioning whether he really was "THE" Hitman, or whether he was just "A" Hitman.
The semi-final line-up was full of high quality and reflective of how experience in this game can really push you to the pinnacle. Cip lost out 4-1 to Ram, but as has been said before, Cip's only on his C game, and his A game is one of the best in Tooting. Meanwhile, Gabriel ran out of steam and perhaps, a lack of match fitness took its toll and lost 4-2 to Rod. This set up the two titans, Ram and Rod, in the final for the second week running. Both are highly competitive and both are pushing each other hard. In the last 10 meetings, Rod had lost to Ram 7 times, with 2 of those wins coming in March and April of last year, but Rod's right up there for a reason, and the final went to hill-hill. Psychologically, this was going to be an important rack. If Ram won, then he really does become Rod's nemesis and potentially it could scar Rod for a while. But with a point to prove, a win for Rod would close the gap, remind Ram that the gap is closer than is sometimes believed, and ensure that the next time they face each other, it would be psychologically more even than ever. Fuelled by his magic apple juice (reports are that Rod was on his 8th pint by now), Rod came through to bag the all important win and be crowned champion in only the second MNT of the year.
Post-match, Rod said "I'd just like to say that I picked the winner from the start. And going into the final, luckily, the statistics were 50% in my favour! This year, nothing matters more than my earning the Top Gun badge that Ram won last year. It's what every player should aspire to own".
So, another fantastic night drew to a close and the rankings are already taking shape. Ram still leads Rod, but there's not much in it, whilst Gabriel is starting to make his move on the top two already, and Tash is still very much in early contention. Hopefully, by next Monday, we will see new cloths on the tables, with a few other minor fixes to tables. This may well see a big improvement take place, and we expect there will be more substantial news to follow over the coming weeks.
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At the Annual End of Season LFP Golden Balls Awards Gala Dinner at the prestigious London Snooker Tooting, sponsored by London Snooker Tooting, and Korea Foods, press from around the world caught glimpses of some of the biggest names in Tooting on the red carpet. This long-awaited event is the highlight of Tooting's calendar, and many of the big names came out in force to receive their awards.
Award Winners were as follows:
Most Tournaments Played - Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali
Goliath Winner - Tomasz Jedlecki
Longest Winning Streak - Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul
LFP Ranked Number 2 of 2022 - Rod "The God" Altes
LFP Ranked Number 1 of 2022 - Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul
Ram took home a trophy, a Jack Daniels hamper with whiskey tumbler, and a special badge that he'll be wearing at the next official tournament. Just look out for it, as it is the most impressive badge you'll ever see.
Ram had some great words for the audience as he thanked Tash for introducing him to London's Finest Pool, where he's felt part of the family and pushed to improving himself as a player by everyone trying to gun him down. He thanked Asif, the staff, the LFP Organisers, and the players themselves for making it a true community.
Throughout the night, plenty of mini competitions were held, which brought a lot of laughs and really made the whole evening worthwhile. Winners were:
Speed Pool - "Pistol" Pete Cloherty with a flawless and stunning time of under 40 seconds. Pete won a £50 bar tab, which was generously consumed throughout the evening.
1 v 1 Speed Pool - Imagine the amazement of the crowd as Rod and Ram faced each other in the final of the 1 v 1 Speed Pool. Watching everyone run around the table was great viewing and in the end, Ram came away winner and took a box of chocolates as the prize, which he duly went round the club sharing with everyone.
1 Rack Shootout - Not surprisingly, the Destroyer made it to the final and looked most likely to win, but in the end, young Kostiantyn pounced on the one mistake the Destroyer made and ended up as winner. Kostya was eyeing up the champagne but was warned off it by security as he's still underage. In fact, his age was the sole reason the adult entertainment was cancelled for the event.
One-Handed Shootout - If there's one thing you can say about Rod the God, is that he learns bloody quickly. Starting off slowly in the first round, he ended up running out the last 4 balls in the final against Ranj and won himself a bottle of Moet, to add to his mini Jack Daniels hamper that he had already picked up for being ranked number 2 this year.
Killer - A lot of entrants for this one, and in the end Doug "the Shark" Clark pulled through to fend off the opposition. Given a choice between the chocolates and the Moet, Doug took home the champagne as the evening drew to a close.
This year has been a really extra special year for many of us who love playing pool. I cannot even begin to tell you the sacrifices that Cip and Andrew make to make this happen, every Monday, and it's the ONLY place in the UK where 32 players can get together on a Monday night and play a high standard scratch tournament, with fantastic characters and competitors. Cip and Andrew stay till the end every Monday, they piss off their partners/families, and most of all...they have given up their own pool playing standards to make this happen for you. They do not make a penny from these tournaments, so please bear this in mind for the future, just by listening to them, supporting them, and co-operating in any way you can, but most of all, enjoy yourselves and keep maintaining this community to its high standards and make this a welcoming place for all.
On behalf of Cip and Andrew, have a great Christmas period, have a wonderful New Year, and I hope you lot all bow down to the Destroyer in 2023.
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