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US Opens back on 9-foot tables!

US Open 10-Ball and 8-Ball Championships Return to 9-Foot Tables CueSports International, Henderson, NV (Feb. 7, 2017) – CueSports International (CSI) is excited to announce several major changes to the 2017 US Open 10-Ball and US Open 8-Ball Championships. The events will flank the 2017 BCAPL National Championships, which will be July 19-29 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The US Open 10-Ball Championship will be July 17-19 and the US Open 8-Ball Championship will be July 29-31. This gives US Open players the opportunity to also compete in three BCAPL events: the 9-Ball Challenge, July 20-21; the 10-Ball Challenge, July 22-24; and the 8-Ball Challenge, July 25-27 – each played on 7-foot tables. Played on 9-Foot Diamond Tables at Griff’s Las Vegas! The opening of Griff’s, a beautiful new Las Vegas pool room owned by CSI founder Mark Griffin, allows CSI to return the US Open 10-Ball and US Open 8-Ball Championships to 9-foot Diamond tables. When asked about the change, CSI Manager Ozzy Reynolds said, “The cost of […]

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The Siberian Express Steamrolls To The Crown

Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov claims the Molinari Players Championship with an emphatic 16-6 win over the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza in New York City. By Ted Lerner – WPS Media Officer Photos by JP Parmentier/WPS (New York City)– Employing an absolute monster break shot, combined with some seriously solid potting and pattern play, Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov handily won both his matches today, including an emphatic 16-6 finals win over the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza, and captured the inaugural Molinari Players Championship at Steinway Billiards in New York City. Chinakov’s success on Tuesday represents the biggest win of the 23 year old’s career. Since he began his international career at the tender age of just 13 years old, the young Russian, a veritable pool prodigy since the very beginning, has been a fixture on the pro scene around the world. At 15 years old he won the WPA Jr. World 9-ball Championship. He also captured two straight Kremlin Cup titles. And he’s had many solid finishes in tournaments globally. But this week’s win in the Big Apple […]

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Final Four Look To Take The Big Apple

It’s Appleton vs. Corteza, Chua vs. Chinakov as the Molinari Players Championship heads to the final day. By Ted Lerner – WPS Media Officer Photos by JP Parmentier (New York City)–As a regular at the top of the pool world, Darren Appleton has found himself in a more than a few tricky situations, funny positions on the table, and emotional roller coasters that are unique to pool at the professional level. But late Monday night in New York City, the multi-world champion simply could not stop shaking his head in disbelief at his latest position, which actually didn’t look too shabby indeed. That’s because after two matches and a hard day’s slog on the table, the Englishman found himself in the semi-finals of the Molinari Players’ Championship, the very 8-ball tournament he conceived, and has spent the last few months promoting. Sure the ultra-competitive Appleton wants to win, but deep down he found he really didn’t have a desire to take the crown, –after all the hospitable Englishman is the host here–and has actually been […]

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2017 World Pool Masters – Draw and Schedule announced

16th January – World Pool Masters Draw and schedule announced WITH THE 2017 World Pool Masters set to get underway in Gibraltar on Friday 17th February, the draw as well as the schedule of play has been announced. With 16 of the best players from around the world competing in the 24th running of the Masters, there are some exciting match-ups in prospect. Defending champion Shane Van Boening (USA) gets his campaign underway against emerging Spanish star Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, whilst current World No.1 Chang Jung Lin of Taiwan faces a tough test in England’s Mark Gray. Elsewhere, 2004 World Pool Champion Alex Pagulayan of Canada will be awaiting the winner of a qualification event in Gibraltar for local players, while current World 9 Ball Champion, Albin Ouschan (Austria) faces off against Filipino legend Francisco Bustamante, a two-time Masters champion back in 1998 and 2001. There are a total of five sessions of play and all tickets are available from https://www.buytickets.gi/events/world-pool-masters-2017-87 Tickets are priced at £15 for the Friday evening and both afternoon sessions and […]

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There’s A New Kid In Town

20 year old American Billy Thorpe upsets two world champions to storm into the final 16 at the Molinari Player’s Championship in New York City. By Ted Lerner – WPS Media Officer Photos By JP Parmentier/WPS (New York City)–For several years up through 2015, Billy Thorpe made a name for himself on the American pool scene as a dashing young talent with a hot stroke who dared to play—and win– ridiculously high stakes money games. Then in 2016 the then 19 year old decided he wanted to transition into being a real pro, and for the last year he has slugged it out with the big boys in tournaments big and small, attracting attention from pool fans eagerly looking for the next great American player. Thorpe did create some noise in 2016, but history will surely show that it was in New York City on a cold Sunday in January, 2017, when the brash Dayton, Ohio native truly arrived as a professional, and stamped his mark as possibly that next great American pool player. Playing […]

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Larsson Leaves Little Doubt

Wheelchair world champ shines along with Brits, Filipinos and Finns on a tough Day 1 at the World Pool Series in New York. By Ted Lerner – WPS Media Officer Photos By JP Parmentier/WPS (New York City)–England’s Darren Appleton promised his fellow players that his new World Pool Series would give the players exactly what they’ve always wanted; a players’ centered tour with rules and a setup designed to test the world’s best pool players to the limits of their skills. If the results of Day 1 of the tour’s first event, the Molinari Players Championship, are any indication, that promise has already been fulfilled. Long races, pockets at a stingy 4.25 inches, breaking outside the center box, having to “take what you make” on the break, 3-foul rule, shootouts on hill-hill matches, and single elimination; these tweaks to traditional 8-ball rules all came together Saturday to prove that the world’s most popular cue game can truly be a hardcore test of pool. In a long grind of a day at New York’s famed Steinway […]

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8 Ball Takes Center Stage With The World Pool Series

Jayson Shaw is the hot favorite as the sport’s newest pool tour gets ready to kick off in New York City. By Ted Lerner – WPS Media Officer (New York City)–It’s common at big international pool tournaments wherever the greats of the game come together, that a buzz of anticipation courses through the hotel lobby or the arena where the players gather the day before at the players meeting. But at Steinway Billiards in the Astoria, Queens section of New York City on Friday night, that buzz had some noticeable extra juice to it. That’s because the newly formed World Pool Series, a four event tour that begins Saturday and will play out over the course of 2017, seems to have all the ingredients to finally offer long suffering professional pool players something they haven’t had in a long time; a player centric tour with a solid plan for growth. The fact that it’s all been put together by one of the game’s greatest and most respected players, England’s Darren Appleton, has surely boosted players’ […]

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2017 World Pool Masters – Field announced

3rd January – World Pool Masters Full field announced WITH HALF THE 16 man field already announced for the 24th annual World Pool Masters, the remaining eight players can now be named to complete the line-up and make the field one of the strongest in recent years. The event will be taking place from Friday to Sunday 17th – 19th February at the Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar. They are: Albin Ouschan (Austria) – current WPA World 9 Ball Champion, two-time Mosconi Cup winner and World No.8 Alex Pagulayan (Canada) – former World 9 Ball and US Open Champion and current World No.5 Chang Jung Lin (Taiwan) – current World No.2 and former World 8 Ball Champion Wu Jiaqing (China) – 2005 World 9 Ball and World 8 Ball Champion and current World No.5 Wojciech Szewczyk (Poland) – Former World Cup of Pool finalist and current European No.6 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain) – Current European No. 10 Omar Al Shaheen (Kuwait) – Highest ranked Middle-Eastern player in the world. Gibraltarian Qualifier – the winner of a qualifying […]

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2017 World Pool Masters – Tickets now on sale

20th December – Masters tickets now on sale WITH THE 24th ANNUAL WORLD POOL MASTERS taking place from Friday to Sunday 17th – 19th February at the Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar, Matchroom Sport can announce that tickets for the event are now on sale. With five sessions of play in total, all tickets are available from https://www.buytickets.gi/events/world-pool-masters-2017-87 Tickets are priced at £15 for the Friday evening and both afternoon sessions and £20 for Saturday and Sunday evening sessions. An all-session season ticket is £75. With a field of 16 of the world’s top pool shooters coming to Gibraltar to chase the $20,000 top prize, eight of the stars competing can be named today. They include the defending champion on the hunt for three Masters titles in a row – Shane Van Boening of the USA. Joining him will be two-time WPA World Champion Niels Feijen (Holland) and England’s recent Mosconi Cup hero Mark Gray. Current European No.2 David Alcaide (Spain) will be competing as well as Scotland’s Jayson Shaw, arguably the best player in the world […]

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2016 US Open 10-Ball Championship Matches Released on YouTube

CueSports International, Henderson, Nevada (Nov. 28, 2016) – CSI is pleased to announce that the 2016 US Open 10-Ball Championship matches have been released on the CSI YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/csipool?sub_confirmation=1). Fourteen (14) matches featuring Shane Van Boening, Skylar Woodward, Alex Pagulayan, Rodney Morris, Justin Bergman, Mike Dechaine and more can be viewed in their entirety absolutely free! The 2016 US Open 10-Ball Championship was held July 20-22 at The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Below are the featured matches: Match #1: Danny Smith vs Mike Dechaine Match #2: Oscar Dominguez vs Donny Mills Match #3: Corey Deuel vs Ernesto Dominguez Match #4: Justin Bergman vs Jason Klatt Match #5: Thorsten Hohmann vs Billy Thorpe Match #6: Shane Van Boening vs Skylar Woodward Match #7: Oscar Dominguez vs Alex Pagulayan Match #8: Rodrigo Geronimo vs Billy Thorpe Match #9: Shane Van Boening vs Rodney Morris (Hot Seat Match) Match #10: Oscar Dominguez vs Skylar Woodward Match #11: Rodrigo Geronimo vs John Morra Match #12: Skylar Woodward vs John Morra Match #13: Shane Van […]