For all those who don't know, there is no MNT next week, on October 30th. London Snooker Tooting will be closed due to the installation of the new tables and will re-open with an entirely new format for London's Finest Pool members. Exciting times for us, but until it happens, information will be posted on the WhatsApp group for now.
In recent weeks, we've seen Rod the God dominate proceedings, with Rod winning two tournaments in a row, and on the 16th October, Rod eyed up the opposition, noticed that the diminutive Ramma Jamma was still absent, and told the gathering press: "without a doubt, if Ram's not here, I will win. Maybe less confident if he's here, but in his absence, there's only one winner." Such is Rod's confidence these days, the rest of the field looked on and sharpened their knives, hoping to draw him to knock him off his perch. First up was Ranj "Lucky" Sarraj. The man with almost as impressive a beard as Arjon "The Beard" Hasi. The large pectorals were bulging, and up he stepped to take on the local god, Rod. Ok, maybe Ranj wasn't going to stop Rod this time, as he lost 5-0, but this was only leading to an encounter against one of the most competitive players in the UK, Spencer "Afrotastic" Oliver. Spencer had already swiftly disposed of the very dangerous Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali, 5-1, in the previous round. So this was likely to be an epic. And so it proved. Spencer looked like he might be the one to knock Rod out early, and it wasn't a surprise to see both players stay with each other all the way to hill-hill. Quite the match that everyone had one eye on, but Rod seemed to accelerate into the last rack and nab that all important frame to progress to face Henri Linnainmaa.
Meanwhile, Cip "Spin King" Dandu was hitting form and playing really good pool, notably against the highly thought of, Mark Abrigo. Mark's recently been playing down at Tooting, and showing why he's one of the most feared Filipinos in London. His consistency is unreal, and plays in a very un-Filipino way...by keeping it simple. But an in-form Cip is truly ridiculous. Thrilling to watch and makes the impossible, possible. Cip was bang in-form, and a 5-3 win over Mark showed that he was ready to raise the roof. In the semis, Cip went on to take out the Sniper, Hassam Aljumaili, 5-1. Rod was struggling past Henri, but came through 5-3. Only Cip could take down Rod now. The crowd had seen Cip lose 5-0 to Rod just two weeks before, but this time, Cip stepped up to the plate. This made the final a very close affair, and Cip was playing good, whilst Rod had to dig deep to find a way to win. Fuelled by 8 pints of apple juice, Rod often finds a way, and showed exactly what makes him a minor deity. A 5-4 victory to Rod, but Cip was pleased with the way he played too. After the final, Rod slurred "told you, no-one beats me when Ram's away".
And so to this last MNT just gone. A mammoth field turned up, with 31 in attendance, and just about the strongest line-up I've seen for many weeks. Ram was in da house, with Rod, Ciaran "Boylan Point", Saman, Muhammed Ali, Spencer, So Shaw, Fake Taxi, Spin King, Ali Vahab, Martinho, and the Beard! Big hitters indeed. The place was awash with talent. Rod wasn't feeling quite as confident as usual, and bookies just didn't know where to turn to work out who was favourite.
The first round saw a few surprises and some of the big names get knocked out. Saman out to the highly reputed Daryn Vanhinesbergh. So Shaw out to the King of Tooting, Ram. Glen "Hitman" Hargreaves beaten up 5-0 by Dan Jenkins. Into the second round, and Rod won against Martinho (who was off the back of a very good performance at Redhill on the weekend and came in full of confidence). Muhammed Ali losing to Ali Vahab. Spin King losing to Freddie Yang. Ranj beating Fake Taxi for the upset of the night (although in fairness, the Seoul Destroyer softened Fake Taxi up in the previous round). And notably, Joe Granville managed a win against Mark Abrigo. All these big names bowing out, and the quarters proved to be spectacular. Rod had to really get into his groove against Ali Vahab. For those who don't know, Ali represented Iran, internationally, and hadn't been playing for a few months until two weeks ago. He's going to be mega dangerous very soon.
Spencer had to overcome Freddie 4-3, and Freddie is showing that he's going to be a force to be reckoned with also. The Beard really was on fire, as he took out Ram. Arjon had said that it wouldn't take him long to do so, and true to his word, he was playing some great pool. And finally, Ranj couldn't sustain his momentum, against a very strong Joe Granville. The semis saw Spencer gain revenge on Rod, who was looking more confident knowing that Ram had lost to Arjon, but Spencer is highly respected around the country for a reason. And Arjon proved that beating Ram was no fluke, and progressed to the final after overcoming Joe. With Spencer looking fired up, Arjon just couldn't do enough in the final, and Spencer won, much to the delight of his adoring fans.
So that was the last ever MNT at Tooting in its present form. Next MNT will be on completely different tables, which will be an absolute game-changer. Gone will be the SAMs, and replacing them will be the Diamonds. This is going to be absolutely epic for the club and for us, the players.
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As has been the case recently, I'm sorry for lack of updates, but workload is extremely high. This report will be a brief rundown of events at London's Finest since 28th August to 5th October:
28th August: The Bank Holidays often bring out a few big names, and it was a big field as we saw the likes of Tash back in action after a long absence. Robert Nightengale was also making his debut, and is much heralded as a tasty opponent from East London. And we also welcomed two other East Londoners, who are well-known in other tournaments: Jonathan Hughes and Jaz Bamotra. Great to see faces who are familiar on the scene, but making their debuts in Tooting. But Tooting is a bear pit and it's not always the easiest place to play if you're making your debut Robert put up a fight against one of the Tooting resident players, Saman Gholami, but lost 5-4. Jonathan Hughes also had to face up to Muhammed "He's the greatest" Ali, another of Tooting's stalwarts, and also lost out 5-4.
Deeper into the tournament, and Ram had an extremely tough run to the final, where he had to overcome Martinho, Tash, and Ollie Lawrence to get to the final, where he faced Ali. Ali's route was equally tough, as he had to beat Kris, Ollie's Dad, Alex; and then really went at Rod the God in the semis, to win 4-0 and give him the opportunity to beat Ram. However, as is often the case, get to the final against Ram, and the little Guyanan is still playing hot. And indeed, Ali found Ram too hot to handle, and lost 4-2.
4th September: Blind Scotch Doubles was back, and created its usual complete unpredictability. Favourites were Robert and Saman, who looked to be a formidable partnership, but almost all pairings looked strong and the competition proved to be fierce. However, one pairing went completely unbeaten throughout the tournament, and it was a hugely popular win as Mariusz and Spencer took all the glory. Everyone was delighted for Mariusz especially, as he doesn't win too often, but played some really solid stuff, covering at times for one of the leading players in the UK, Spencer Oliver. Mariusz and Spencer had to beat Robert Nightengale and Saman (twice). Once in the quarters (4-0 win) which created the psychological damage, and again in the final (4-2). Well done Mariusz and Spencer, and richly deserved.
11th September: Before the tournament began, quite possibly the moment of the year happened...in fact, the moment of the last two years. One person in our community has put money into the Break and Run almost every single week. An estimated £400 at the every least has gone into the pot by one single player and has never ever been selected. It's incomprehensible! But Monday 11th September will go down in history as the sheer disbelief went round the club as Dan's name was called out for the first time. Luck would have it, Dan didn't have his break cue, so had to borrow one. And of course, despite potting off the break, scratched the cue ball into the middle and it just wasn't his night. Such an anti-climax, but at least he can say that he had his chance.
Into the tournament, and with the importance of the Autumn Open coming up, it was 8 Ball for everyone to contend with. And the big guns came out blazing. Ram's the Tooting Top Gun for a reason, and despite the best efforts of Rod the God, Ram went through the tournament unbeaten again, winning 4-3 against Rod in the final. Ali continued his pretty consistent form, as he reached the semis and pushed Ram to hill hill. Gabriel does his usual trick, when he attends, of getting really deep into the tournament, but Rod had the better of him in the semis.
17th September: Autumn Open time, and out come some pretty big names in the pool scene. A full field of 32 battled it out in the group stages, with Daniel Baker, Gareth Esprit, Imran Majid, Chris Seville, Marius Dandu, Ollie Lawrence, Rod, and Gabriel topping their respective groups.
Into the knockout stages, and up stepped Muhammed Ali to put in two incredible performances, taking Ramon “Monster” Navarro to hill hill, and winning, and then repeating the feat in the quarter-finals, against none other than Imran Majid! However, in the semis, Ali faced up to Spencer “Afrotastic” Oliver, one of the most feared opponents in the UK, and it was Spencer who easily won 7-2. In the other half of the draw, Gabriel showed that when it matters, he’s always competitive and it was no real surprise to see him reach the semis, but Ollie Lawrence was absolutely on fire and powered into the final to face Spencer. The final was a tight affair, but Ollie was showing too much resilience against a flagging Spencer and came through to win 7-4. Well done Ollie!
18th September: The very next day after the Autumn Open, and we were back in action for the MNT. This time, we had a debut appearance from the infamous So “Gamble Gamble” Shaw, who possesses great skill and considered one of the most talented players in the UK when he’s on form. So was, therefore, favourite to win and ended up in the final against one of the stalwarts of the UK pool scene, Martinho Correia. Martinho had put in really strong performances to get to the final, notable against Saman, Rod and Glen “The Hitman” Hargreaves, but in an entertaining final, couldn’t fend off So, who won 7-4 at his first MNT.
25th September: For the second week in a row, So Shaw was back in town, but with Ram back from his USA trip, bookies stopped taking bets on for who would make the final, seeing as So and Ram were on opposite sides of the draw. So ploughed his way through the field, making relatively light work of Tooting’s best, and reached the final. Ram, though, almost was stopped in the quarter-final stage as he had to face a resurgent Seoul Destroyer, who was leading 4-2 with a chance to win 5-2, but somehow contrived to lose 5-4 in the end. Ram knew he had been let off the hook and a determined performance saw off Rod in the semis, leaving the inevitable So vs Ram final.
Tension ran high, as game faces were switched on and they went at each other like two gladiators fighting for their lives. So struck first, running into an early lead, as Ram was making uncharacteristic mistakes that he might not have made against any other. Perhaps So was in his head, perhaps Ram knew that Dan Suh should have been in the final instead of him, but Ram found it difficult to keep pace and in the end, lost 5-3, as So retained his 100% record at MNT.
We also said a permanent farewell to Dhari Alduraibi, who has now been deported and never to be seen at MNT ever again. He brought to us a new level of slow play, an unbelievable knack for dogging important shots, but we’ll miss him loads and hope he might be allowed back in the country again. In all honesty, it’s sad when people leave our community and we all wish him the very best for the future.
Finally, some of you greedy gits munched on so much of Dhari’s farewell cake whilst everyone else was busy playing, that I didn’t get to eat cake. Mind you it was bloody good…available at Korea Foods in New Malden! 😉
2nd October: With So out of town, and Ram having to pull out, Rod the God eyed up the rest of the field and felt very confident indeed. That’s not to say the rest of the field didn’t stand a chance, but Rod doesn’t tend to lose too often, and if he does, it’s usually to Ram or Ali. Ali fell victim to Arjon in the early stages, so all eyes turned to Cip (in the other side of the draw), to see if he could prevent Rod from winning. Likelihood was that Hassan Mehedi and Saman might be the ones to force Rod out early on, but instead, Andy “Banks” Curzon charged through the field to challenge Rod. However, as well as Andy was playing, by the semis, he just couldn’t come up with the answers, and Rod progressed to the final. In the other semi, Cip had unsurprisingly made it through to face Danny “Tsunami” Navidi, who had progressed to the semis for the first time. Well done Danny, but regrettably, facing the newly bespectacled Ciprian “Dennis Taylor” Dandu, Danny couldn’t challenge Cip and lost 5-0. Cip, though, couldn’t get his A game going for the final, and Rod ran out 5-0 winner, but it’s always good to see Cip progress far, as he pretty much as the largest repertoire of shots in Tooting.
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With Ram away, without creating a nemesis situation for Rod, Rod does tend to shine and last week, he took full advantage to win MNT. This week, with Ram still away, the question was whether Rod could keep up his momentum and get back to the god-like form that he showed for most of last year.
First up was the Break and Run. Ranj "Lucky" Sarraj did get lucky and with his sledgehammer break, sunk 3 balls off the break but found himself snookered on the 1 ball, therefore banking £150.
Into the main comp, and with a longer race to 7, there were some unbelievable matches. First round saw one of the favourites get knocked out early by a newbie to Tooting. Ali Vahab had only been in London for 3 days, before finding London's Finest Pool at London Snooker Tooting, and it was pretty clear he's got knowledge of the game. Despite being a touch nervous being in a completely new environment, Ali V put on a very strong display against Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali, to beat him 7-5. Lots of players were paying attention to Ali V, and eventually unearthed that he's considered "pro level" in Iran, and hadn't even played for the past 4 months!!! Certainly one to look out for. Meanwhile, Oscar Li returned to London from his summer holidays, and had to face Ranj. Ranj was well up for it and both players fought hard to reach hill-hill. Fortunately for Ranj, he came through to win, but Oscar must be happy that he competed really well and almost secured his first win at MNT. Also in the first round, Kris and Hassan Mehedi had a bit of a battle. Kris had recently been playing at JJ Faul's club, Savanna's, in Manchester, and reached the final up there, so a dangerous match for Hassan, and so it proved. You just cannot underestimate Kris, despite being mistaken for Ram at times (from behind), he might not have the technique of Ram, but he can pot anything on the table and that makes him a tough opponent. Kris played well to push Hassan to hill-hill, but Hassan has experience and resolve, and came through to win.
The next round saw yet more close matches go right to the wire. Ranj faced up against an in-form Andy "Banks" Curzon, who was off the back of a superb showing in St Alban's last weekend. The match was close all the way, but Ranj managed to get over the line first. Meanwhile, despite both players out of form, Marius Dandu and the Seoul Destroyer had a hard fought match where it was a matter of who made the least mistakes was going to win. Both players conceded after the match that neither deserved to win, but the Seoul Destroyer finally came through. And meanwhile, Mark Abrigo, one of the best Filipinos in the region, came up against a resurgent Dan "Grindr" Jenkins, who did his best to grind Mark down, playing some excellent stuff. But Mark finally edged it but Dan will be happy to have performed well enough to have won.
Into the quarters, and Ranj had the unenviable task of facing Ciaran, who bullied his way through the match to win 6-1. Great to see Ciaran back on form. Newbie, Ali V had luck on his side as he came through to win 6-3 against the Seoul Destroyer. Rod followed up from an excellent performance in the previous round, to win 6-4 against Hassan Mehedi, whilst Mark Abrigo managed to win against Saman 6-4 to reach the semis. The semi-final line-up was top class, and Ali V was just getting into his stride as he would need to be at his best to overcome Ciaran. Ciaran, though, under-performed by his high standards, and lost out 6-3. This left Rod to work his magic against Mark, and despite going 3-0 down, won 6 on the spin to beat Mark 6-3. The final was always going to be a close call. Ali V is clearly one heck of a player, whilst Rod was on his 8th pint and could easily have thrown it away. But Rod the god had told Dazn before the match that he only loses to Ram in finals, and so it proved again. 6-5 to Rod, a very close call, but Ali V is undoubtedly going to go far in future MNT, whilst Rod will be happy to have come through this stern test.
It's great to see the standards continually improve within the community. Some have taken their games to new levels and are genuinely competing to win, whilst many are competing really hard against the better players. it's also great to welcome new players to the community, and we hope that everyone will make every effort to make newcomers feel welcome.
Have a great week and look forward to next week when many people's souls will get destroyed.
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Massive apologies, but due to work and other commitments abroad, it's been a tough month to get match results and reports updated. As a result, the format may change to a monthly round-up, but still no less taking the mick out of players, general immaturity, and so on.
Big news in the Break and Dish over the last month. No-one has won it, still. Such a bunch of lame-o's. Closest was Joe Prince, when he sunk 6 balls off the break. Yup, you heard that right. 6 balls, each worth £50. However, having a massive break is worthless if you can't keep the cue ball on the table. Sadly for Joe, the cue ball flew off the table, and then he spent the next 10 seconds watching 6 balls drop, knowing that he wasn't going to get a penny from it. Lots of people watching on, trying not to pee themselves, but it was hard not to, and it was just sad that it wasn't caught on video along with Joe's reaction.
31st July: 9 Ball
Notably, Andy "Banks" Curzon managed a run to the semis, after overcoming Henri Linnainmaa, Ciprian Dandu, and Ramon "Monster" Navarro to get there. We all know that somehow, Andy can go balls deep into tournaments, but hasn't shown it nearly enough, but occasionally, he somehow manages to push himself and go far. Well done Andy, but he couldn't overcome the main man, Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul, losing 5-0. In this particular Monday, Andrew "Don't call me Andy" Phan also pushed really deep into the comp too. Andrew pushes himself to play almost as fast as Andy "Banks", and when he gets into his flow, is devastating. Andrew reached the semis too, but like Andy, lost 5-0. This left a proper tear up of a final, between Ram and Rod "the God" Altes, the top dawgs in Tooting. With Rod coming back into form, it was expected to be a close contest, but it ended 5-1 to Rod, who was delighted with his form.
7th August: 10 Ball
This particular MNT welcomed the first appearance of the notorious Gareth "Darkside" Esprit, who captured worldwide attention at the Spanish Open with his entrance against Shane Van Boening. Not so much of this at Tooting's MNT, but a big welcome to the big character from all at Tooting. Notably, Gareth and Hassan Mehedi were setting themselves up for a quarter-final showdown, and with Hassan having to go hill-hill in the first and second rounds against Krishen "Kris" Sookhraz and Dhari Alduraibi, the schedule was already falling behind. Whilst I was personally in Germany, following the scores online, I really thought that Cip and Andrew had given up, such was the time taken to finally get a result, but eventually Hassan came through to win his third hill-hill of the night. Elsewhere, Andy "Banks" was continuing his good form and reached the semis, but fell 5-4 to Saman Gholami, who has recently been showing that he has all the attributes to rise to the top, such is his improvement this year. Cip managed to win 5-3 against Hassan in the semi, and then had to dig deep to claim a long awaited MNT win, by beating Saman 5-4 in the final.
14th August: 8 Ball
It was really good to see the resident incomprehensible Geordie, Glen Hargreaves, return to action after a few months out recovering from back surgery. Whilst it did take an inordinate amount of concentration to understand what he is saying, I think he told the local press conference that he was pain-free and ready to go again. Something like that anyway. Joe Prince (whose favourite discipline is 8 Ball, as he struggles to count numbers beyond 8 had performed well and was probably one of the pre-tournament favourites to win. However, Ali Hirji Kheraj, who was back in London for summer, was determined to show that his game continues to improve over in the US, and pulled off a series of great results to beat big Carl Jones, Ranj Sarraj, Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali, and then smashed up the Prince 4-0 in the semis to face up to Spencer "Afrotastic" Oliver. Spencer was really getting into some form, after being pushed early on be Kris and Dhari, and then came two massive wins over Cip (4-1) and Rod the God (4-1). Ali HK just couldn't stop the big Afro man, and Spencer took home this week's title with a easy 4-1 win.
21st August : 9 Ball
This MNT saw a guest appearance from JJ Faul, owner of Savannah's in Manchester, who holds a fearsome reputation in the UK scene. JJ managed to reach the final, and took a tough route as he had to overcome Hassan Mehedi (6-2), Danny "Tsunami" Naviid (5-2), Doug "the Shark" Clark (5-1, and the original gangster of Tooting himself, Martinho Correia (5-4) to set up a final against Ram. Elsewhere, it was good to see a revitalised Sean "Scarf" Avery get a couple of decisive victories under his belt to get to the quarters, but eventually fell to Muhammed Ali. Ali had already had to beat Rod (6-5), and was feeling confident about getting to the final, but with Ram stood in his way, Ali just couldn't find a way past him. This left JJ against Ram, but there was no way Ram was going to allow a newcomer to Tooting to get the better of him, and Ram eventually came through to win his first after an enforced break.
In other news, there is the 8 Ball Autumn Open taking place in Tooting on September 17th, which requires entry fees to Andrew Phan. Details of which were on the WhatsApp group, so please check it out as LFP members get priority entry. No pay, no play.
Finally, whoever paid their entry fee the other week with a fake £20, please note that it had to come out of Cip and Andrew's pocket. Bit out of order, so please don't do that again as checks will be more stringent from now on, or we may be forced to go cashless.
Have a great Bank Holiday weekend and hope to see you all on Monday at the MNT at London Snooker Tooting.
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