Mosconi Cup

2015 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup – Shane takes the early lead

3rd March, 2015 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup Shane takes the early lead SHANE VAN BOENING, looking to make his ninth appearance in the PartyPoker USA Mosconi Cup, is the early leader in the nine tournament qualification series for the three automatic spots. So far, four events have been played and Van Boening carries a 12 point lead over second placed Justin Bergman, following a strong showing at the recent USBTC in Reno, which included winning the 9 ball division. The third automatic spot is currently occupied by Jeremy Sossei on 26 points, with Skyler Woodward and Scott Frost both snapping at his heels on 25 points. Players who finish in the top 32 in the qualifying events will receive ranking points and there are three categories of tournaments with differing amounts of points awarded accordingly. The next event in the series is the Super Billiards Expo which takes place from 16-19 April in Oaks, outside of Philadelphia. This is a Category2 event. The PartyPoker Mosconi Cup takes place from 7th to 10th December this year at […]

Mosconi Cup

2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup – Europe win again

4th December – 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup Europe storm to another MC victory EUROPE 11-5 USA Darren Appleton 5-2 Shane Van Boening Nikos Ekonomopoulos 5-2 Shane Van Boening TEAM EUROPE won the 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup, beating the USA 11-5 in front of a boisterous crowd at the Tower Circus, Blackpool. The score line was their joint second best winning margin and leaves the Americans with some soul-searching to do as they attempt to get back into competitive shape for the annual transatlantic 9 ball showdown. Leading 9-5 going into the final session, the Europeans wanted just two points for the glory and two matches were all that were needed as first Darren Appleton beat Shane Van Boening 5-2 and then Nikos Ekonomopoulos did the same by a similar score to seal a one-sided victory for Europe. For the winning captain, Johan Ruijsink, it was his seventh and last Mosconi Cup in charge and remains undefeated, an astounding record in any sport. He said, “It is humbling to win again. The players played great and […]

Mosconi Cup

2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup – Day Three Report

3rd December – 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup Europe within two points of five-peat EUROPE 9-5 USA Boyes / Ekonomopoulos 5-3 Schmidt / Hall Nikos Ekonomopoulos 3-5 Justin Hall Gray / Boyes 5-3 Deuel / Schmidt Feijen 5-2 Bergman EUROPE WON three of the four Wednesday night matches to leave themselves four points clear of their American opponents and within two points of their fifth consecutive PartyPoker Mosconi Cup win following a torrid night at the Tower Circus in Blackpool. The Americans needed a big session as they trailed 6-4 from the previous night but bad rolls and some poor performances ensured that didn’t happen as the Euros increased their vice-like grip on the coveted trophy. “The Americans are still breaking well but the situations were a bit tougher,” said Euro skipper Johan Ruijsink. “We didn’t play our best earlier, it was scrappy at the start of the night but if you win scrappy matches that is huge. If you don’t play well but win that hurts the opposition. “Anything can happen in any match but […]

Mosconi Cup

2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup – Day 2 Report

2nd December – 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup Europe increase lead but US still fighting EUROPE 6-4 USA Feijen/Gray 2-5 Hall/ Bergman Boyes 5-2 Deuel Appleton/Ekonomopoulos 5-2 Schmidt / Van Boening Feijen 5-3 Bergman Appleton /Gray 4-5 Van Boening/ Deuel EUROPE INCREASED their lead at the 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup as they won the second session 3-2 to take the overall score to 6-4 with a potential 11 matches to complete. The US though, topped and tailed the session with wins but looked slack in the middle as the Euros asserted themselves with three wins. Trailing 6-3 going into the final match, it took a moment of magic from Shane Van Boening as he executed a hugely difficult shot to perfection to set up the US win and keep their Mosconi Cup hope alive. Commented US captain Mark Wilson, “The last point is naturally very important. We ended on a high after struggling through a few matches. We feel good about our chances from here on in. “Shane’s shot was one of the most gutsy shots […]

Mosconi Cup

2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup – Day One Report

1st December – 2014 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup Europe nick early lead after bruising battle EUROPE 3-2 USA 1. Team match – Europe 5-1 USA 2. Appleton & Boyes 3-5 Deuel & Hall 3. Mark Gray 3-5 John Schmidt 4. Feijen & Ekonomopoulos 5-1 Van Boening & Bergman 5. Darren Appleton 5-3 Shane Van Boening TEAM EUROPE will take a 3-2 into the second day of the PartyPoker Mosconi Cup after an exciting evening’s play at the Tower Circus, Blackpool. Played out in front of a capacity crowd at the Victorian amphitheatre, it was tense stuff from start to finish as the spectators played their part. Having endured a pounding in Las Vegas last year, the new-look American side got off to a sticky start as they lost the team match but then found their feet to take the lead in the Mosconi Cup for the first time since day two back in 2012. The evening ended disappointingly for them as their star man Shane Van Boeing took a hit in the two remaining matches to […]

News

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Shane is King!

16th November – 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters Super Shane crowned Masters King The Final Shane Van Boening (USA) 8-2 Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) Semi Finals Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) 8-3 Karol Skowerski (POL) Shane Van Boening (USA) 8-5 Chris Melling (ENG) ‘WANT PAIN? PLAY SHANE’ say the tee shirts and so it proved as Shane Van Boening torched his way through the field to become only the second American player to win the PartyPoker World Pool Masters as he looked in total control to beat Nick Ekonomopoulos 8-2 at the Portland Centre, Nottingham. Van Boening’s victory silenced any doubters who felt he couldn’t do the business outside of the USA and sent out a warning shot ahead of the Mosconi Cup which gets underway in two weeks time. Wins over Australia’s James Georgiadis and then England’s Mark Gray took him through to the semis where he disposed of Chris Melling to set up the championship showdown. “It is an honour to win the World Pool Masters, this is one of the greatest days in my career,” […]

News

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – down to the last four

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – down to the last four 16th November – 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters Quarter Finals Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) 8-3 Alex Pagulayan (CAN) Chris Melling (ENG) 8-6 Karl Boyes (ENG) Shane Van Boening (USA) 8-4 Mark Gray (ENG) WE’RE DOWN to the last four at the 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters as Nick Ekonomopoulos, Chris Melling and Shane Van Boening all enjoyed victories in their quarter-final matches at the Portland Centre, Nottingham. That leaves one Greek, one Pole, one American and one Englishmen to contest pool’s most prestigious invitational tournament as it concludes on Sunday evening. Nikos Ekonomopoulos put paid Alex Pagulayan’s hopes with a solid performance in the first match of the afternoon. It was a bit of a scratch-fest as both players lost control of the white but the Greek player was solid throughout as he cruised to victory. “At the start of the match I was a little bit unlucky, I scratched twice on the brake but after that I played near perfect and didn’t miss any […]

News

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Mosconi Brits hit form

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Mosconi Brits hit form 15th November – 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters Round One Karl Boyes (ENG) 8-1 Waleed Majid (QAT) Mark Gray (ENG) 8-4 Mika Immonen (FIN) Quarter Finals Karol Skowerski (POL) 8-3 Daniele Corrieri (ITA) THERE WAS double delight in Nottingham for England’s Mosconi Cup contingent as Karl Boyes and then Mark Gray won through their first round matches at the 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters at the Portland Centre. They now complete the quarter-final line up, the first match of which was won by Karol Skowerski who is through to the last four on Sunday evening. Boyes made light work of Qatari hopeful Waleed Majid, winning 8-1 in just 45 minutes as he put on a break and run clinic to leave his opponent rooted in his chair. He can now look forward to a last eight match up against compatriot Chris Melling. Boyes said, “It is nice to win a match like that, especially in the first round. I broke off in the first rack […]

News

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Shane survives a scare to progress

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Shane survives a scare to progress 15th November – 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters Round One Karol Skowerski (POL) 8-5 Wang Can (CHN) Chris Melling (ENG) 8-6 Dennis Orcollo (PHI) Shane Van Boening (USA) 8-6 James Georgiadis (AUS) US NO.1 SHANE VAN BOENING survived a nerve-jangling half an hour at the hands of young Aussie James Georgiadis as he edged his way through to the last eight of the 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters at the Portland Centre, Nottingham, England. Van Boening, who returns to the UK in two weeks for his eighth Mosconi Cup appearance, looked to be in the driving seat as he free-wheeled through the racks in the winner breaks format to reach the hill at 7-1. However, facing a seemingly impossible situation, Georgiadis loosened up and began to claw the racks back with some excellent shot-making and tight safety play. Van Boening, by contrast, looked uncomfortable as he started to miss balls. In the end though, Georgiadis was up against it in the 14th game […]

News

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Mixed fortunes for Mosconi stars

2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters – Mixed fortunes for Mosconi stars 14th November – 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters Daniele Corrieri (ITA) 8-4 Niels Feijen (HOL) Nick Ekonomopoulos (GRE) 8-4Thorsten Hohmann (GER) Alex Pagulayan (CAN) 8-6 Darren Appleton (ENG) THERE WERE first round defeats for 2014 European Mosconi Cup team mates Niels Feijen and Darren Appleton at the 2014 PartyPoker World Pool Masters while fellow team member Nikos Ekonomopoulos recorded a fine win over Thorsten Hohmann at the Portland Centre, Nottingham, England. Niels Feijen crashed out of as the 21st annual invitational event got underway as the Dutchman was beaten 8-4 by Italian danger man Daniele Corrieri. The break conditions employed at the Masters saw the three point rule scrapped and no balls tapped into place. That meant the players needed to hit the pack hard in order to give themselves every chance. The European No.8 from Rome looked focused throughout while World Champion Feijen made too many errors when it looked like momentum was shifting in his favour. Corrieri said, “It was a tense […]