Straight Pool Men Worldchampionships 2006 in New Jersey

After 16 years of no straight pool worldchampionship, Dragon Promotions decided it was time to bring straight pool back to life. The event was held in the Hilton Hotel in East Brunswick/New Jersey. It was a 64 players field with 32 invited players and 32 qualifiers from all over the world. All of them fought for one of the most important titles in pool. Beside the top players like, Hohmann, Souquet, Ortmann, Engert, Archer, Immonen, Willimas and many more, the pool billiard legends like Mike Sigel, Nick Varner, Allen Hopkins and Mike Zuglan took also part. To be invited to play in a tournament with all those great players, was of course an honour for me. The first 2 days (nights) we played in 8 groups with 8 players. It was “ round robin “ , race to 100 points. They estimated each match to be 75 minutes and unfortunately that was not enough. So after a few rounds we were up to 4 hours behind in the schedule. The best 4 players of every group were qualified for the finalround of the last 32. Then we played double K. O. System till the last 16 players.

In my first groupmatch I faced Thorsten Hohmann from Germany. In my opinion he is one of the best straight pool players in the world. So I knew to beat I have to play almost perfect pool. I made the opening shot and Thorsten had one ball to play. He shoot it and made me sit on my butt for quiet a long time. He made very good use of his opportunity and run 80 balls in the first inning. When I finally got my first chance I coulnd´t do much. Hohmann finished the match in the second inning with 100:5. It was not a good start for me at this tournament but he played very good so there was no point in being angry. I concentrated on my next match which was against Megan Minerich. I could easily adjust to the table conditions and took a rapid lead. I managed to win 100:35. In my third match I played Ed Deska. He is a very slow player, which could be very though in straight pool but It didn´t influence my game. The match was evenly balanced till I took the lead. I kept him well under control and won 100:65. The next match was a lot more difficult. I played against Allen Hopkins, one of the legends in billiard. I had a bad start and couldn´t find a rythme. I made a lot of mistakes and gave away all the chances. Some unlucky situations wouldn´t let me play my game. I lost 100:57. I had my next match against Cacic. My strategy for this match was a bit different than the match against Hopkins. I could tell that in the match before I wanted to much so I stopped myself of making the balls. So this time I took it a bit easier and just concentrated on shooting. I saw nothing but the table and the balls. My strategy worked out and I run 85 balls in the first inning. I managed to finish the match in the second inning with a score of 100:3. I already had 4 victories and still one more match to play. Deska had also 4 victories so I had to make at least 60 balls in my last match to qualify. That sounded easier than it actually was. I played “ Mr. 400 balls “ John Schmidt. I was very focused and made good use of my opportunities. I played good pool and I run out with a serie of 56 balls. With this last victory over Schmidt I was qualified for the final round behind Hohmann, Hopkins and Schmidt.

In the first match of the final round I drew  Charlie Williams, the organizer of this event. He is not a straight pool player but in this match he played really good. I made some stupid mistakes and he took the chances. In a short time I was trailing over 50 balls. I was totally out of rythme and couldn´t fight back into the match. I lost with 150:75.

In the loosers bracket I faced Fazanes from spain. He da really good results in the pre rounds so I was prepared for that. I overslept the beginning of the match a little bit and so I had to wake me up in the middle of the match. I tried to get some energy back and refocuse again. I waited for my chance. When I finally got it I run 70 balls and took the lead. In th end I won 150:115.

My next opponent was Takami from Japan. From the beginning on I put a lot of pressure on him and played flawless pool. After 3 innings and a 23,49 and 72 serie the score was 144:40 for me. But he didn´t give up and answered with a serie of 70 balls. I managed to win 150:110. Now I was qualified for the last 16 of this tournament.

In the finalround of the last 16 I played the second austrian player Michael Felder. He won 6 of 7 matches in his group and defeated for example Mika Immonen from Finnland. We both had a tough time on the table. It was constantly going up and down but I was able to win it with 200:167.

In the quarterfinal I played Thorsten Hohmann again. The last 4 weeks been very tough so I could tell that my body was a bit tired of all the tournaments. This match was a bit different than the first one. Mistakes of both of us made the match much more interesting. I was leading for a long time but Thorsten played the better straight pool and won 200:112. I am very proud of my result at this worldchampionship. My goal is it to play with the men and of course being successful at men tournaments and I think I am on a good way.

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