Billiards was probably the last thing on Sinatra’s mind, when he sang that immortal line. But it sums up the AEJ/Dallinga season, if you only look at averages, records and titles. Was there a shadow side? Yes. The sponsor had bitten off more than he could chew, could not keep his promises. He did not pay his four star players in full, several event organizers did not get paid at all; the three year commitment will now end after a single season and the dream team will split up. Continue reading It was a very good year→
The final match of the 2015 Belgian Cup tournament was captured by the Kozoom cameras, and the world of billiards says “thank you very much”. These five sets were not a tabloid newspaper, used a day later to wrap fish in. They were a leather-bound book, and it should be on your shelf if you are a student of the game. Have you missed it? Get a Kozoom premium pass. It costs about as much as three pieces of Kamui chalk or one-third of a Molinari shaft. You’ll have the entire Kozoom library at your disposal day or night, and it has enough video to keep you in the house for a year. That premium pass is the best money you’ll ever spend. Continue reading Ed & Fred dance like Fred & Ginger→
Tough task I have today: trying to convince you that 9 is about as much as 23. But I’ll give it a go. Blomdahl won his ninth European 3-cushion title last weekend, and he shares second place on the all-time list with the dominant player of the fifties, Rene Vingerhoedt. First is of course the legend, Raymond Ceulemans, who won that title 23 times between 1962 and 1992. If that statistic is not quite mind-boggling enough for you: he won it 20 times in a 21-year period (between 1962 and 1983), de Paepe spoiling the EC streak in 1973, like Kobayashi spoiled the WC streak in 1974). Continue reading Torbjörn’s nine or Raymond’s twenty-three, which is better?→
Recognize this? You come to the table and the position is horrible. You can’t even convince yourself you have a chance to make this point, and you end up doing something stupid that does not even come close. Okay, that is not a boost to your confidence, but you have to realize that not a lot of damage has been done. Even a good shot would have missed more often than it would have scored. A poor effort and a fine effort can have the same net result sometimes. Horrible positions in 3-cushion are not particularly important. The ones that really matter, are the easy ones. Continue reading How to play the unmissable shot→
– 2015. Name:Johan Loncelle. Occupation: taxi driver. If you live in the USA or Asia, I quite understand if you’ve never even heard of him. He used to be a professional 3-cushion player, and a bloody good one. When Loncelle played the game as an 18, 21, 24 year old, he showed as much promise as Daniel Sanchez, Dion Nelin, or Filipos Kasidokostas. Yes, he was THAT good. Continue reading 3-cushion’s Boy Wonder never grew up. Or will he?→
There seems to be an obvious answer: yes, 3-cushion. I am afraid it is a bit more complicated than that. Once you get my point, you will realize that the answer to that question could have a serious impact on the future of billiards for women.
We’re tempted to say that Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova play the same sport: tennis. But it’s not true. Djokovic plays men’s tennis, Sharapova plays women’s tennis. Those are different and separate sports. Men don’t play women, at least not on the professional level. In athletics too, men and women have their own events. High jump, javelin, marathon, the 100 m: none are open or mixed. Continue reading Do Therese and Torbjörn play the same sport?→
A few months ago, I wrote about the synthetic cloth that has taken the billiard world by storm: Royal Pro. Its spiritual father, Greek entrepreneur and billiard aficionado Pavlos Zachariadis has burnt gasoline and racked up the frequent flyer miles in the past year, he has sold his product and found distributors in a dozen countries, on both sides of the Atlantic. And I am not surprised in the least.
Viersen 2015 was as good as it gets. You could not wish for better play, nicer ambiance, more excitement. Sure, the organization messed up here and there: playing time schedules were off by an hour more than once, and the draw for the semi-finals was published incorrectly at first. If you saw “Belgium – Netherlands”and “Turkey – Korea A” published in this group as the semifinals,that was the UMB’s mistake. But honestly, the positives did outweigh the negatives ten to one this week. Continue reading The perfect 3-cushion tournament. Or close, at least.→
The Kozoom crowd was spoiled rotten this January, with quality tournaments one after the other. It started in Blankenberge, Belgium, with the traditional multi-discipline event, was followed by the Dutch Masters in Kaatsheuvel (which is 3-cushion only), and topped off by the Asian championships in Seoul.
Caudron, Forthomme and Merckx did not win the Belgian title. Leppens did.
Jaspers, de Bruijn and Burgman did not win the Dutch title. Van Erp did.
Jae Ho Cho, Jung Han Heo, Sung Won Choi and 317 others did not win the Asian Confederational event. Haeng Jik Kim did. Continue reading Three weeks, three titles, three surprises→
Can’t tell you anything about the meaning or origin of the name, I have no clue. Cheqio is a new product on the market, it’s a food supplement aimed at players of all concentration and precision sports. Dutchmen Rudy Loontjens (Loontjens Biljarts, known for Gabriels tables and Molinari cues) and his friend Nico Smeets came up with it, and it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. They invested for a few years, sank a hefty sum of money into research and product development, and are now convinced they have a winning formula. Continue reading Cheqio. Is it EPO for billiard players?→
The game is bigger than everyone else! "Torbjorn Blomdahl"
Billiards was probably the last thing on Sinatra’s mind, when he sang that immortal line. But it sums up the AEJ/Dallinga season, if you only look at averages, records and titles. Was there a shadow side? Yes. The sponsor had bitten off more than he could chew, could not keep his promises. He did not pay his four star players in full, several event organizers did not get paid at all; the three year commitment will now end after a single season and the dream team will split up. Continue reading It was a very good year