ESPN to Stream Mosconi Cup
Just hours before the 2012 Mosconi Cup kicks off in London, Matchroom Sport announced that ESPN will broadcast all of the action live on its ESPN3 network. Here is the full release from Matchroom Sport:
With the 2012 PartyPoker.com Mosconi Cup set to start at 2 Eastern time on Monday 10th December, pool fans across America will be able to follow all the action live on ESPN 3 as Team USA goes in search of Team Europe’s crown.
Taking place at the legendary York Hall in East London between Monday 10th and Thursday 13th December, this is the 19th annual running of pool’s biggest event as two five man teams from the USA and Europe go at it over four days of sheer adrenalized 9 ball action.
Team USA are aiming to win back the trophy they last won at MGM Grand in 2009. The Europeans retained their trophy in Vegas 12 months ago, defeating USA 11-7 in Vegas.
Captained by CJ Wiley, Team USA members Johnny Archer(Georgia), Shane Van Boening (South Dakota), Dennis Hatch (New York) and Mike Dechaine (Maine) are joined by rookie Brandon Shuff (Virgina) for Mosconi Cup XIX.
ESPN3 is ESPN’s multi-screen sports network, a live destination that delivers thousands of sports events annually and accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members. It is currently available to 79 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks.
Hatch and Davis: Star-crossed Players in Fair Verona
The second Joss Turning Stone Classic of the year is under way at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y., with 128 players fighting for a piece of the $25,000-added prize fund.
The star-studded field includes Marlon Manalo, Ralf Souquet, Johnny Archer, Dennis Hatch, Mike Davis, Shawn Putnam, Karen Corr, Ryan McCreesh, Keith McCready, Jeanette Lee, Allen Hopkins, George Breedlove and Santos Sambajon.
One of the field’s two top players will be banished to the one-loss side today, Aug. 17, as Mike Davis and Dennis Hatch will duel in the first round.
IPT Open Kicks Off: U.K. Sizzles, U.S. Stumbles, Qualifiers Thrive
The overwhelming success of shooters from the United Kingdom and several strong qualifiers are the big surprises from the first day of the history-making IPT North American 8-ball Open, now underway at the Venetian in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, conventional-wisdom favorites such as Jose Parica, Mike Davis, Max Eberle, and Tony Robles were headed back to the drawing board, or at least a practice table, to ponder their early exits from the $2 million tournament.
But the biggest shocker was how incredibly well the contingent from the U.K. performed. Compatriots on the English 8-ball circuit (and relative unknowns elsewhere) Michael Hill, Darren Appleton and Carl Morris each went a perfect 4-0 in the first round of round-robin play, which featured 20 groups of five players each.
The second 100 competitors in the 200-player field will wage war today in their first-round matches. The top three players in each of the 40 groups advance to the next round; the eliminated players settle for a modest $2,000 each.
Here’s a brief wrap-up of the first day’s highlights:
• Of the 100 competitors in play Sunday, 13 finished with perfect 4-0 records, representing a wide array of nations: Michael Hill, Darren Appleton and Carl Morris of the U.K.; Americans Dennis Hatch, Steve Moore, Marco Marquez, and John Schmidt; Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes; Ralf Souquet of Germany; Canadian Luc Salvas; Nick Van den Berg of the Netherlands; Filipino Antonio Lining; and Mexico’s Rafael Martinez.
Incredibly, Martinez, Moore and Marquez were among the 50 qualifiers for the event, beyond the 150 regular IPT members. And Foldes earned his spot in the event as Buddy Hall’s replacement, after the Hall-of-Famer bowed out of the Open.
• Some folks have to go, and there were several flame-outs from well-regarded American players: Robles (U.S.), 1-3; 2006 Derby City Classic Master of the Table winner Jason Miller (U.S.), 1-3; Max Eberle (U.S.), 1-3; Robb Saez (U.S.), 1-3; Tony Crosby (U.S.), 0-4; and Tommy Kennedy (U.S.), 2-2.
Filipinos are expected to perform well at the Open, but expatriate Parica struggled to a 1-3 record and an early exit.
• Snooker superstar and 8-ball neophyte Ronnie O’Sullivan (U.K.) squeaked into the next round with a 2-2 record.
• After losing his first two matches, Shawn “Bubba the Love Sponge” Putnam (U.S.) gutted out two victories to advance.
• Long-ago road player Michael Zimmerman (U.S.) emerged to win his group — a toughie that included Filipino Warren Kiamco and Keith McCready of the U.S. It was not clear initially whether McCready or Kiamco would advance, since both held 2-2 records and an identical games-won percentage.
Predator Florida Open Turns To 10-Ball
The 6th Annual Predator Florida Open began on May 25 at the Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville, bringing in 73 players, a third of which were non-Americans.
The first round saw several big names drop to the one-loss side, including Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Gabe Owen, Ralf Souquet and Rodney Morris.
Strickland was ahead in the entire match against Go Takami, but he turned on the afterburners at the end, pulling ahead to win 9-8. Archer trailed the whole match against the speedy Sparky Ferrell, who won 9-7. Owen also lost a 9-7 match to local favorite Butch Croft.
Souquet, who just won the Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championship the weekend before, lost to Dennis Hatch, 9-7, who is also in the midst of a hot streak. Morris lost a close 9-7 match to Rodolfo Luat. Jeremy Jones made it to round two, defeating Rocky McElroy, 9-3, but couldn’t rally against an 8-4 deficit against Thomas Engert.
The Florida Open, sponsored by Predator, has changed its format for the first time in its six-year lifespan, to 10-ball, race-to-9, with alternating breaks. One significant modification has been established, however, so that If the 10 ball is made on the break in the two closest corner pockets to the rack, it will not count as a win. It will count only as a pocketed ball and the player will continue his inning.
“All pro events should move to 10-ball. It should just be automatic,” said Owen. “Now strategy, cue ball control, kicks, banks, and even shotmaking becomes more into play. Any good player that thinks he can compete with the pros should push for playing 10-ball.”
Hatch Fulfills Prophesy, Wins First Major in 8 Years
A weeping Dennis Hatch cradled the championship trophy for the Gabriels Open 8-Ball Professional Players Championship, after mounting a furious comeback to win a second-set squeaker against undefeated challenger Mike Davis in the final.
Hatch, 35, had won the first set, 5-3, but found himself down 4-1 in the second. It looked for a moment like the match would go to a one-game sudden-death tiebreaker, but Hatch was able to break and run out to make it 4-2, and then took advantage of a Davis scratch and dry break to steal the set, 5-4.
“I just felt like I was going to win it,” Hatch said of the event, held March 16-19 in conjunction with the Super Billiards Expo in Valley Forge, Pa. “I was playing better than anyone else. … It’s been about eight years since I won a major — that’s why I cried.”
Hatch’s last major win came at the 1998 Denver 10-Ball Open. He spent roughly two years incarcerated for drug-related charges until his release in September 2003, and since has played sparingly on the Joss Northeast tour.
“For the past two months now — three months, tops — I’ve been playing every day and getting myself back in shape,” he said.
In the final, Hatch avenged his 5-3, 5-4 loss to Davis in the hot-seat match. He defeated Ralf Souquet, 5-4, 4-5, 1-0, to earn the rematch against Davis.
Hatch made a show of kissing a hand and laying it on the crystal vase championship trophy before both his semifinal and final matches.
“Let me kiss my trophy,” he said prophetically.