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Sunday
11th October 2009 @ JFK's
Report
from Martin
Wow! Will Whittles
Whopping Win!
Last Sunday
(the 11th) saw the second ever LSE Fresher’s Tournament at
JFK’s Pool Club in Peckham, and what a spectacle it turned
out to be. Players of all levels, upset victories and hill-hill
matches all round, resulted in what turned out to be a great night
of pool. To get as many games played as possible we first went through
a group stage: 8 groups of 4 with the 2 best going through to the
last 16. Due to some latecomers and no-showers (that is: noshow-ers,
not people who don’t take showers a.k.a. the French), we needed
some creative reorganisation of the groups, but we got there in
the end. The matches were played first-to win 3 frames in the last
16, first-to 4 in the quarters, and then 5 in the semis and final.
Also entering in the last 16 were the 4 “big guns” of
LSE pool; Will Dee, Martin Rydland, Dan Steene and Alpesh Varsani
who played for the 1st and 2nd teams in the All-British
Universities tournaments last year, winning the LSE massive
glory in university pool circles.
The last 16
started out with no great upsets, but not much can be told from
from a 5 frame match. Winning 3-0 does not make one three times
better than the opponent, as I can tell from personal experience
when Rifeng missed more or less three blacks, handing me victory
on a silver platter. A grueling match was simultaneously taking
place at table 5 where Michael Dalgado defeated Will Xie 3-2 after
a great safety battle in the final frame. However, the first upset
came in the quarters where experienced traveller Dan was beaten
4-2 by Yibo after a convincing display. One table away Michael was
put through another exhausting match when he beat seasoned veteran
Martin Rydland 4-3 after a lovely little 5-ball clearance to land
him perfectly on the black. Pool is all about knowing when to go
for the clearance and when not to, and this was definitely one of
the times. Will Dee seemed to have shaken off the early nerves and
won convincingly against fellow Waterloo league team player Hadi
4-1 to go into the semi-finals facing tournament favorite and ladder-league
topspot Alpesh Varsani. The two contestants followed each other
diligently, with Alpesh one step ahead throughout. In the final
frame this was however reversed as Alpesh missed a difficult black
to leave Will in a similar position. Will kept his nerves in check
and sank it after rattling in the jaws for what must have seemed
an eternity. The final frame had it all, great potting, quality
tactics and an intense finish (the whole frame was captured on video
see below). On the neighbouring table the two newcomers Michael
and Yibo were also playing for a spot in the final and when that
game also ended 4-4 before the final frame we knew we were in for
a thriller. However, due to the excellent potting of both players
it was over before we knew it, with Michael clinching the spot in
the final.
Sadly the final
ended with somewhat of an anticlimax (particularly compared with
the semis) and it was clear from the second game how it was going
to end up. Will played a superb match, hardly making a single mistake,
while Michael seemed tired from the exhausting previous games (in
all fairness, winning all previous matches by by virtue of deciding
frames takes a lot out of you). However, both players took their
time and when the final score (5-0) was announced it had taken 50
minutes. The video of the entire final is below for everyone who
wishes to check it out.
In general it
was an amazing tournament with lots of players announcing their
potential for one of the team spots for when the LSE once again
travels to the almighty metropolis of Great Yarmouth to compete
at BUCS in February next year. However, everyone will have loads
of chances to show us what they’re worth as there are plenty
more tournaments coming along after the success of the Fresher’s
tournament.
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Photos
from the Tournament |
