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The
International Pool Tour (IPT) was the main topic even before it really
started. The member associations of the WPA had speculated a lot and issued
warnings to protect us players. Some federations even threatened their
players with sanctions and money penalties, so that there were enough
negative topics to discuss even before the new tour started. A long
discussion between the players and the officials of the International
Billiard Promotion Foundation (IBP) at the last Eurotour event in
Switzerland brought the result that the EPBF players did not have to expect
any kind of sanction. Just in case of tournament collisions between the
Eurotour and the IPT Tour, the players have to pay an acceptable financial
balance to the IBP. The concerned players signed off a declaration which I
had written and could travel with peace of mind to the first big event in
Orlando, Florida.
Kevin Trudeau, founder of the International Pool
Tour, had invited all 150 tour members of the year 2006 to kick off this
million dollars tour and to present himself and the Tour 2006. After a
players meeting which was pretty unusual for the billiards sport and an
extensive presentation of the IPT Tour, each of the present players was
enthusiastic and nobody had the slightest regret to have come to the sun
state Florida. All sceptical voices which could be heard here and there
silenced after a few hours, because what the man has achieved is outstanding.
More than 200 persons were dealing just with the organization of this first
event. All matches were recorded in a professional manner and will be
available in the next few weeks as DVDs on the web site www.internationalpooltour.com. But
not only the matches were recorded, also many interviews and background
information, which makes it a unique approach to our sport. The match hall
was just perfect and the „Green Room“ for 43 players was another
highlight. All participants of the King of the Hill were catered from
morning to evening, as long as they were in the competition. There was also
a free-of-charge internet access, a massage facility, shower cabins and
relax chairs. In my 31 years of billiards career, I have never experienced
anything better and this is why I am convinced that this tour will become
very successful and other promoters
will have to provide a substantial effort to stay on the track.>>
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Arena
Arena
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Here
some information regarding the Tour itself:
In 2006, there will be two tournaments reserved for
the 150 selected players. Two additional events will be played with
200 players. The remaining 50 spots will be filled in 25
qualification events (2 spots to be won per event). The starting fee
for the qualification events will be 1.000 US $ and gives the right
only to participate in one tournament. If a player who comes from
the qualification makes his way through the final, there is a big
chance that he has already scored the tour card for the next year.
The 100 best players from the money ranking 2006 will receive
automatically the tour card for the next year, which is certainly
very attractive. Kevin Trudeau has guaranteed a minimum price money
of 100.000 US$ to each of the 150 tour players in 2007. Tbhis amount
will be composed of price money, merchandising (DVDs, gear, other
IPT promotional items) and commissions from starting fees of the
qualification tournaments.
10 % of all starting fees of the qualification events will be paid
back to the players.>>
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Scorecard
German IPT Players 2006:
Stefan Santl - Ralph Eckert - Bernd Jahnke - Thorsten Hohmann - Ralf
Souquet
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And
now the sport. On day 1, we played in 5 groups of 6 players each in
round robin format in races to 8. The winner kept the break and at
the end of this day, half of the players would be eliminated.
I played my first match against Charlie
Williams (USA) and I had a classical bad start. I had major problems
with the Mali cloth and played more bad positions than expected. Add
a number of bad shots and my 4-8 defeat was more than justified.
Shortly after, I played my second match against George San
Souci from New York. I played better, but was still not OK with the
game conditions. 3 skids
(bad contact between the cue ball and the object ball) and a bit of
bad luck with the table at 6-7 made me lose the second consecutive
match. In my third match, I had to win if I wanted to keep my
qualification chances. Against „Earthquake“ Keith McCready (USA)
I finally found my normal shape and after intermediate scores of 3-1
and 3-4, I won 8-4, running out the last 4 tables.
As
a bonus for the perfect match (8 racks run out from break), Trudeau
had offered a bonus of 100.000 dollars.
My fourth match was against Shawn Putnam
(USA), who had been undefeated so far. The match went back and forth
and I managed to win 8-7. In the 5th match against
the US Open Champion 2004, Gabe Owen (USA), I had everything in my
hands. But after more than 13 hours billiards marathon, I could not
keep my shape and literally collapsed. With my 4-8 defeat, I was one
single rack short as compared to Charlie Williams, and was
eliminated. After all the matches in my group 5, Putnam was in front
with 4-1 matches before Owen (3-2) and all the other players had a
match ratio of 2-3. Now, the GLI (Game Loss Index) was used and
calculated as follows: all lost matches of the 5 matches played are
added and divided by the number of matches played. In my case, the
count was 35 racks divided by 5 matches, resulting in a GLI of 7,00.
Charlie Williams had only lost 34 racks and so his GLI was 6,8 and
better than mine, so he was qualified for the next day. If I had won
in two of my matches just one more rack, I could have entered the
second round. If the GLI is identical, the third parameter is used,
which is the number of tables run out from break and here, I was
leading 9 to 6. The fourth parameter, which is not used in Europe,
is the number of times the 8 ball is potted upon the break. At the
IPT, this equals a won rack.>> |
Ralf - Stephanie
Final Arena
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On day
two, the tournament continued in three groups with 5 players each and the
following 6 players could qualify for the 3rd day:
Mika Immonen (FIN), Corey Deuel (USA), Marlon Manalo (PHI), Johnny Archer
(USA), Francisco Bustamante (PHI) and Nick van den Berg (NED).
On day three, the 12 Hall of Fame players were added and again, the
tournament was played in three groups with 5 players. The following players
could qualify for day 4: Marlon Manalo, Nick Varner (HOF) (USA), Mika Immonen,
Efren Reyes (HOF) (PHI), Francisco Bustamante and Johnny Archer.
On day four, in the last group of 6 players,
the ranks were determined as well as the final opponent of Mike „The Mouth“
Sigel. Finally, Bustamante played Immonen and the player from the Philippines
needed a win to enter the final. In the second match, Manalo played Reyes and
the winner of this match was sure to finish at least third. I case of a defeat
of Bustamante, the winner could even hope to enter the final. Bustamante was
nervous and at 2-2, he shot an easy ball to the pocket edge. On the other side,
Manalo showed his best match and was already leading 4-0. Immonen made use of
his opportunity and defeated Bustamante 8-3. But he could not improve his
ranking with this win and finished on an excellent 6th rank. Once
more, Bustamante was his greatest opponent when trying to win a major title,
but rank 3 in the overall ranking and a price money of 70.000 dollars were a
nice consolation. On the adjacent table, Reyes smelled his great chance and
started a great come-back. In spite of the 0-4, he turned the match around and
entered with his 8-4 win the final of the IPT King of the Hill against
Mike Siegel.
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Final Arena
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At
the beginning of the match which was played in two sets
in races to 8, both players committed a surprising
number of mistakes, which was understandable for Siegel,
who had not played a tournament for more than 10 years.
For Reyes, these mistakes were rather exceptional and
everybody could sense that this was more than a normal
final. The winner would pocket 200.000 dollars and was
assured to play the next final of the King of the Hill
2006, where he was guaranteed at least another 100.000
dollars price money.
Reyes won the first set ion a furious run 8-0 and
was already leading 4-0 in the second set. Finally,
Siegel seemed to wake up and he lost his nervous
attitude. He came back to 3-4 and equalled the score at
5-5. But when he realized that he was about to win the
second set, he lost his concentration and had to give in
5-8. Efren Reyes has written once more billiards history
by winning the highest price money in billiards ever
with his first title at the first edition of the IPT
King of the Hill. Mike Siegel received for his sole
match the proud sum of 100.000 dollars and could be more
than satisfied.
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Efren Reyes-Ewa
Laurance
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For
those interested: for the year 2006, there are still
8 free spots which will be allocated in four
qualification tournaments in January 2006. The
starting fee will be 2.000 dollars, which seems
justified by the high price money and the guaranteed
price money at the first two tournaments of the
first season.
I can only recommend not to miss this opportunity.
If anybody is interested, please contact me at
+49-171-5266639.
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