2008 World Pool Masters Site Starts Today

Matchroom Sport is delighted to announce that www.worldpoolmasters.com , the Official Online Home of the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters, is now live.

With the tournament being held for the first time ever in Las Vegas, the site will be your first port of call for news, player profiles, results, stories and pictures of what promises to be a hugely exciting event featuring some of the world’s top players.

Four World 9-ball Champions – Daryl Peach, Mika Immonen, Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan – will be taking part in the event as well as some of the biggest names in the game, including Shane Van Boening, Francisco Bustamante, Niels Feijen and Corey Deuel.

All will be vying for the $20,000 top prize.

The World Pool Masters will be taking place at the Riviera Hotel and Casino from Thursday 9th to Sunday 11th May with afternoon and evening sessions daily, concluding with the final scheduled to commence around 9.15pm on Sunday evening.

www.worldpoolmasters.com will feature exclusive interviews with the stars who make up the field as well as comments and predictions from the big names of world pool.

Bookmark www.worldpoolmasters.com today for full details and information about the 16th annual running of one of pool’s most prestigious events.

Final Names added to 2008 World Pool Masters Line-up

The final names have been added to the players’ roster for the forthcoming 2008 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters which takes place at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from May 9 to May 11.

Filipino superstars Francisco Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan have confirmed their attendance as well as top-rated Europeans Ralf Souquet (Germany) and Niels Feijen of Holland.

With 16 players in the field competing for a $62,000 prize fund, event promoters Matchroom Sport believe they have assembled the strongest line-up yet in the 16 year history of the event.

“With four World 9 Ball Champions, six US Open Champions and a host of other title-holders in the field, I believe that this will be the toughest ever World Pool Masters,” said Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn.

“With winner breaks, race to eight matches on the toughest equipment it will take a series of fantastic performances over the three days to lift this prestigious trophy,” he added.

Other recent confirmations include 2001 US Open Champion Corey Deuel and a quartet of stars recently qualified from the Euro Tour.

They are the latest English 9 Ball sensation Mark Gray, Germany’s dangerous Christian Reimering, up-and-coming Italian player Bruno Muratore and 2006 Mosconi Cup player Imran Majid (England).

World Junior Champion, the 18 year-old Ko Pin-Yi of Taiwan cemented his credentials to a Masters spot at the weekend by coming from 14-4 down to beat Dennis Orcollo 15-14 and lift the Brunswick Thailand 9 Ball Open.

Elsewhere, 2003 Masters Champion Tony Drago won the Paris Open at the weekend, his first Euro Tour title, after three losing finals.

2008 World Pool Masters Field:

Daryl Peach (England)
Thomas Engert (Germany)
Mika Immonen (Finland)
Tony Drago (Malta)
Shane Van Boening (USA)
Rodney Morris (USA)
Francisco Bustamante (Philippines)
Alex Pagulayan (Philippines)
Ko Pin-ye (Chinese Taipei)
Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
Ralf Souquet (Germany)
Corey Deuel (USA)
Mark Gray (England)
Christian Reimering (Germany)
Bruno Moratore (Italy)
Imran Majid (England)

2008 Partypoker.net World Pool Masters Announced

The 2008 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters will be heading to Las Vegas for the first time. A total of 16 of the finest players from around the world will be competing in the event, which will be staged at The Riviera Hotel and Casino from May 9 to May 11.

2007 champion Thomas Engert from Germany will be back to defend his title and will be joined by a host of big names from the sport. Other players confirmed include 2007 World Pool Champion Daryl Peach (England), 2001 World Champion Mika Immonen (Finland), 2007 Mosconi Cup players Tony Drago (Malta), Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris (both USA) and 2007 World Junior Champion Ko Pin-yi (Chinese Taipei).

Francisco Bustamante and Alex Pagulayan (both Philippines) have also been invited while the leading four players on the Euro Tour rankings after the Paris Open later this month will also qualify with the other players to be announced shortly.

The PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters is now in its 16th year and has grown into one of the biggest and most prestigious Pool competitions in the sport's calendar. This year it will be hosted by the BCA National 8-Ball Championships with the opening matches on Friday, May 9 with the final on Sunday, May 11.

Matchroom Sport spokesman said: "It's fantastic that the event is coming to the USA for the first time. "I'm sure there will be big crowds, lots of excitement and drama and will be a great competition.

"The invite list is taking shape and, through our agreement with the WPA, we take the top four ranked players on the Euro Tour after their next event which finishes on the 24th of this month."

As always, the World Pool Masters will be televised throughout the world in 15 one-hour highlights programmes. There will be a $62,000 prize fund with the winner collecting $20,000.

Tickets will be made available in March on the Playbca.com website, and if any are left, at the Championships. The BCAPL, in conjunction with the Riviera, is working on a seating plan that will accommodate a few hundred spectators.

BCAPL's Mark Griffin added: "Our players love professional action. This is the first time the Masters has been held on U.S. soil and we are honored Matchroom has chosen us.

"It's been a tradition to entertain the thousands of BCA Pool League members who travel the globe to compete in our National 8-Ball Championships. This year will be no different."

Blackpool boys take on the World

Blackpool has two players hoping to make their big break this weekend in the World 9 Ball Pool Championships in the Philippines. Karl Boyes joins Daryl Peach in the 128 man line-up after winning a qualifying spot in Holland.

The Draw

Group 12 - Karl Boyes
Play starts 4 November:
Mika Immonen (FIN)
Leevan Corteza (PHI)
C. Chang Pei-wei (TPE)
D. Tyler Edey (CAN)
E. Jeremy Jones (USA)
Karl Boyes (ENG)
Goren Mladenovic (SER)
Fahad Mohammadi (QAT)

Group 16 - Daryl Peach

Niels Feijen (NED)
Daryl Peach (UK)
Rodolfo Luat (PHI)
Dharminder Singh Lilly (IND)
E. Charles Bryant (USA)
F. Toh Lian Han (SIN)
G. Matjaz Erculj (SLO)
H. Roberto Gomez (PHI)

Peach received an automatic invitation in the $400,000 2007 World Championships courtesy of his number 3 ranking on the prestigious Eurotour.

Boyes came through a 61 strong field at the European qualifiers in Holland to book his spot in pool's premier event.

Peach is somewhat of a veteran of the big stage in 9 Ball - he won the European Masters back in 1995 and this year realised his ambition of winning a Eurotour event - the German Open.

Boyes is a relative newcomer in comparison having switched from English 8 Ball Pool to play on the IPT's American 8 Ball tour less than two years ago.

Peach and Boyes currently stand at 17 and 19 respectfully on the suspended IPT so Boyes has turned his hand to 9 Ball.

The Championships promoted by Matchroom will be his first trip to the Philippines - which is pretty much the capital of the sport.

Twenty four year old Boyes said: "It's a massive win for me - it's the biggest event in pool and it's in Manila. I watched it all on telly last year - so I'm really pleased to be actually in it this year!"

He added: "I've still got a lot to learn but there's no greater place on earth to learn than out there."

• World 9 Ball Pool Championships, 3-11 November

Mika Immonen

Personal Background

• Name: Mika Immonen
• Known as: "the Ice Man"
• Sex: Male
• Age: 35 years old
• Date of Birth: 17 December 1972
• Place of Birth: Helsinki, Finland
• Country: Finland
• Nationality: Finland
• Hobbies: Playing pool
• Spouse: na
• Sports: Billiard

Achievements:

• 2000 Sudden Death Seven-ball
• 2001 WPA World 9-ball Championship
• 2002 LG Flatron Challenge
• 2003 On Cue; Philippines vs. Europe
• 2003 Philippine Open
• 2004 Atlanta Open
• 2007 Derby City Straight Pool Challenge
• 2007 Korean Pro Tour Championship

Trivia:

• Mika Immonen is a professional 9 ball pool player. He won the World Pool Championships in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, was runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball Championship. He has represented Team Europe on ten occasions in the Mosconi Cup and played for them again in the 2006 tournament.

Groups Announced For IPT World Open Championships

The International Pool Tour announces the official player groupings for the IPT World Open 8-Ball Championship. The tournament starts Sunday, September 3, 2006 at 10am in Reno, Nevada at the Grand Sierra Resort.

This historic event boasts the biggest prize fund in the history of the sport. $3,000,000 is the total prize purse, and the winner of the tournament will win an historic $500,000!

Here are the official groupings:

Group 27:

Immonen, Mika
Frank, Troy
Nunan, Ben
Wiseman, Ronald
Minici, Joseph

Who's Hot and who's not? Knockout draw

As Cardiff recorded the highest temperatures in the United Kingdom, several stars of the blue baize were wilting in the heat on Judgement Day.

Former world champion Nick Varner was one of several American casualties. The Hall of Fame inductee threw away a 4-1 lead over Antonio Lining and with it went his chances of qualifying for the Last 64. He'll be joined on the plane home to America by Charlie Williams, who never showed in Group 5.

Johnny Archer and Earl Strickland left it to the last minute to scrape through their groups. Archer started his campaign with three losses but came with a late run on the rails and Strickland, the defending champion, needed just one win out of three matches on the final day, but lost the first two, putting himself under pressure to win the last, which he did.

The Filipino players will be well represented in the knock out draw. Efren Reyes leads the way with a perfect record of seven wins, with 35 racks won and only 18 lost. Reyes' record is only better by Canada's Alex Pagulayan who lost only 14 racks. Marlon Manalo, better known as a snooker star also notched seven straight wins, for the loss of 21 racks and the fourth player with a perfect record was Ralf Souquet, who also lost 21 racks.

Qualifiers: Draw

Group 1: Ying-Chief Chen, Jorge Llanos, Earl Strickland, Mark Williams
Group 2: Francisco Bustamente, Thomas Engert, Evgeny Stalev, Raymond Cruz
Group 3: Ralf Souquet, Max Eberle, Fabio Petroni, Alex Lely
Group 4: Efren Reyes, Sin-Young Park, Roxton Chapman, John Horsfall
Group 5: Marlon Manalo, Mika Immonen, Haruyoshi Hinokiyama, Pascal Budo
Group 6: Akikumo Toshikawa, Ching-Shun Yang, Teddy Garrahan, Mukesh Rehani
Group 7: Hui-Kai Hsia, Rico Diks, Sten Jarledal, Johnny Archer
Group 8: Satoshi Kawabata, Niels Feijen, Steve Knight, Ernesto Dominguez
Group 9: Steve Davis, Ramil Gallego, Warren Kiamco, Tony Drago
Group 10: Lee Vann Corteza, Cory Deuel, Young-Hwa Jeong, Kevin Smith
Group 11: Alex Pagulayan, Tommy Donlon, Danny Harriman, Shintao Sugaya
Group 12: Hiroshi Takenaka, Che-Wei Fu, Oliver Ortmann, Niclas Bergendorff