England’s Raj Hundal Wins World Pool Masters
Hundal made a prize winning comeback.
But the 23-year-old Londoner wasn’t finished just yet. He’d already had the run of his life, beating Niels Feijen and Thomas Engert, among others, to get to the finals. Morris got to the hill after Hundal scratched on the break, and victory seemed unimaginable for Hundal, but he wasn’t ready to hang up his stick. Morris missed a long cut on the 1 in the next game, and Hundal turned it into the opportunity of a lifetime.
Game after game, Hundal put himself back on the scoreboard. He won eight consecutive games to win it all with a final score of 8-7. “I guess what goes around comes around,” Morris told event promoter Matchroom Sport. “But that’s pool. I don’t mind losing to Raj, though, because he’s a cool guy!”
Hundal, who collected $20,000 for the win, was overwhelmed: “It was the best day of my career, but now I’m just at a loss for words,” he said.
Jones No Match For Sigel
Mike Sigel leaned on his experience to secure pool’s biggest bundle.
Presented with bundles of cash that totaled a highest-ever $150,000 top prize, Sigel tried to put the moment into words. The only thing that came out, however, were tears.
“Six weeks of practice, and all the hype, and what this means for pool, it was too much,” said Sigel of the much-anticipated “battle of the sexes” head-to-head match.
Jones, who admittedly was no match for her own nerves, still received a tidy $75,000 paycheck for the afternoon’s work.
The Sigel-Jones match will serve as the launching pad for bigger and more elaborate events for pro pool in the future, according to entrepreneur/promoter Kevin Trudeau.
“Just think,” Trudeau said after the match. “Mike Sigel just earned the biggest single payday in the history of the sport, and it will be the smallest first prize in IPT events!”
As expected, both players were shaky at the start of the match, played in an elaborate arena setting and witnessed by 500-plus fans, including numerous sports and entertainment celebrities. Jones missed several chances to put pressure on Sigel, who rolled off from a 3-2 lead to a 9-2 first-set win. In the second set, a relaxed Sigel played more to expectations, while Jones again missed several critical shots.
“BD Live Chat” Tonight with Kevin Trudeau
Who is the man behind this weekend’s $225,000 Battle of the Legends match between hall of famers Mike Sigel and Loree Jon Jones?
It’s millionaire entrepreneur Kevin Trudeau … the informercial pioneer and author of The New York Times bestseller, “Natural Cures.” And Trudeau’s grand plan for pool extends well beyond Saturday’s marquee match-up at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Trudeau’s International Pool Tour is the buzz of the pool world.
Tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST, Trudeau will be live on “BD Live Chat,” answering YOUR questions about Saturday’s big match, the IPT, his formula for bringing pool into the big time, and why 8-ball is pool’s future.
The BD Live Chat room will open at 7:30 p.m. EST to give users an opportunity to begin posting questions.
TONIGHT – Live Chat With Mike Sigel!
Get your questions ready – Tonight’s your chance to talk online with Mike Sigel!
Just click the red button above! In advance of their epic $225,000 face-off in Las Vegas, Aug. 20, Loree Jon Jones and Mike Sigel, as well as promoter Kevin Trudeau, are sharing their thoughts on the Battle of the Legends showdown LIVE on BilliardsDigest.com this week.
TONIGHT, (Aug. 17th) at 8pm EST, nine-time world champ Mike Sigel will offer his opinions and answers questions from site visitors. Each night visitors can log on at 7:30 EST and begin submitting questions for that night’s visitor. Tonight, Mike will join the chat at 8pm EST, and he’ll be online with us for about an hour.
The red button above will take you to the BD Live Chat page.
Last night’s guest was Loree Jon Jones; Kevin Trudeau will answer questions this Thursday (Aug. 18) at 8pm EST.
Loree Jon Jones LIVE Chat Tonight!
Tonight’s your chance to chat with Loree Jon Jones!
Just click the red button above! In advance of their epic $225,000 face-off in Las Vegas, Aug. 20, Loree Jon Jones and Mike Sigel, as well as promoter Kevin Trudeau, will share their thoughts on the Battle of the Legends showdown LIVE on BilliardsDigest.com this week.
BilliardsDigest.com will feature live chats on three separate nights leading up to the mega-match. Eight-time world champion and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Jones will offer her views and answer questions from site visitors TONIGHT, (Aug. 16th) at 8pm EST.
Sigel will be online tomorrow (Wednesday Aug. 17) at 8pm EST, and Kevin Trudeau will answer questions this Thursday (Aug. 18) at 8pm EST.
Each night visitors can log on at 7:30 EST and begin submitting questions for that night’s visitor. The red button (above) on the BD home page will direct visitors to the BD Live Chat page.
Sigel, LJ Ready To Lay Down Some Smack!
Bring on the Hype! In advance of their epic $225,000 face-off in Las Vegas, Aug. 20, Loree Jon Jones and Mike Sigel, as well as promoter Kevin Trudeau, will share their thoughts on the Battle of the Legends showdown LIVE on BilliardsDigest.com next week.
BilliardsDigest.com will feature live chats on three separate nights leading up to the mega-match. Eight-time world champion and Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Jones will offer her views and answer questions from site visitors on Tuesday (8pm EST). Sigel, nine times world champion and also a BCA Hall of Famer, will surely bring his A game to the BD site on Wednesday (8pm EST). And Kevin Trudeau will talk about his involvement in pool and his grand plans for the International Pool Tour on Thursday (8pm EST).
Each night visitors can log on at 7:30 EST and begin submitting questions for that night’s visitor. A button on the BD home page will direct visitors to the BD Live Chat page.
Let’s get ready to rumble!
Practically Perfect, Fisher Seizes Fourth Trophy of the Season
Still struggling with a stiff neck and playing a bit out of sorts, Allison Fisher nonetheless pulled it all together in the final of the WPBA’s Midwest Classic and played nearly flawless pool to flatten challenger Helena Thornfeldt, 7-1.
“That was the best I’ve played all week,” the Duchess of Doom said after the match, in which she missed just two balls and ran the final rack. As scored by the Accu-Stats system (percentage of balls pocketed vs. table errors), Fisher played at a .962 clip — an astonishingly high figure.
Fisher was coming off a disappointing, medal-less trip to the World Games in July, and a fourth-place finish at the WPBA’s Southeast Classic in June, where she developed intense muscle spasms in her neck the morning of the final TV matches. It forced her to play left-handed for part of her match, as well as with a bridge for normally routine shots.
The malady hadn’t entirely disappeared by the beginning of the Midwest Classic, held Aug. 4-7 at the Par-A-Dice Hotel & Casino in East Peoria, Ill. Fisher struggled through the pain, however, and managed to get through the tournament undefeated despite lackluster showings against Sarah Ellerby in the quarterfinals, 7-2, and Monica Webb in the semis, 7-3.
Against Sweden’s Thornfeldt in the final, Fisher found her speed and raced to a 5-0 lead. Frustrated by small but costly errors and a dry break, Thornfeldt got on the board finally with an aggressive 2-9 carom in the left foot-rail corner. Fisher countered with a sporty shot of her own, a 7-9 combo that put her on the hill, 6-1. Thornfeldt again broke dry, bringing Fisher up for a typically elegant runout and the $16,000 title.
Fisher now has won four of the six Classic Tour points events so far in the 2005 season. With just two remaining, she is the leading contender for Player of the Year.
WPBA Midwest Classic Underway
The Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s Mueller Recreational Products Midwest Classic, being held Aug. 3-7 at the Par-a-Dice Hotel and Casino in East Peoria, Ill., has completed several rounds of play going into Friday evening’s matches.
There have been few notable upsets in either the winners’ or losers’ brackets, with the exception of BD contributing writer Sueyen Rhee, who beat Melissa Herndon, 8-6, to reach the third round of the winners’ bracket, where she plays 8th-ranked Julie Kelly later today.
Sigel-Jones Battle of the Sexes to Launch Million-Dollar Tour
The International Pool Tour, a major new pool organization founded by media mogul Kevin Trudeau, will launch on Aug. 20 with a high-profile, made-for-TV battle of the sexes between Hall-of-Famers Mike Sigel and Loree Jon Jones.
Titled the IPT World 8-Ball Championship, the match will take place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and will be broadcast on national television and in some foreign markets in September.
The winner will take home $150,000, the richest single payday for a tournament win in the history of pool. The runner-up will receive $75,000. The format will be best 2-out-of-3 sets, with each set a race-to-9.
Hoping to stimulate mainstream interest in the event by grafting poolroom conditions to tournament pool, Trudeau has mandated several unusual rules for the matchup. There will be no shot clock, jump cues or breaking from the side rail. Winner will break, and slow-speed cloth will be used.
Trudeau expects a full-fledged series of televised 8-ball tournaments to follow in the next year under the International Pool Tour banner. Each will have a minimum of $1 million in guaranteed prize money.
IPT founder Trudeau, who launched and owns the Golf TV Channel in the United Kingdom, has built a $2 billion global business empire in television, publishing and marketing. He is best known in the U.S. for his many infomercials hawking self-help and holistic health products.