Chase Cyr Gets His First Century Break !

Submitted by: Snooker Canada

A big congratulations is in order to a man named Chase Cyr, who ran his first career century break at the Corner Pocket in Red Deer,  Alberta…and did it in style too!

A few words from Chase himself as he describes the achievement.

"Well the day was June 14th , it was the day I ran my first century , I’d been playing snooker for about 3 years , I was always intrigued by the way the game was played.

I decided to play and  learned new things playing a couple local players around the hall , I always tried to take my game to the next level , and on June 14th I ran my first century.  We were playing a friendly game of cut throat :  with my chance to get to the table I ran a clearance of 133 : 11 blacks , 3 blues and the color balls.

I’ve come close to centuries before but always got nervous when I knew I was getting up there in score.  This time,  I pulled through !  When I had the pink and black left I finally stood up and asked,  “did I run a century” ? Everyone smiled and said yes you’re at 120 points. With a big burst of joy I got up and went around the table and high fived my buddy , going back to the table shooting the pink and black in for the 133 !

As I said this is only a snooker players dream, well for me it is, it’s a big accomplishment and I hope for many more to come."

Well done Chase, here is to a bright future in your next level of the game !

Canadian Tour – New Policy Announcement

Submitted by: Snooker Canada 

After a lot of research and much debate, Snooker Canada’s board has decided that its membership will comprise of all players with the exception of current and former professionals. (Canadians included)

The policy is in effect as of June 24, 2015 and any player that falls under that exclusionary policy will be reimbursed his membership fees in full.

“After researching various sports, we see a pattern that the pros do not really mix it up with the amateurs with the exception of Pro-Am events”, says Patrick Guigui, President of Snooker Canada. “You don’t see Stephen Hendry playing in the Scottish Snooker Championships or James Wattana playing in the Thailand Championships, that wouldn’t be appropriate and certainly would not be fair, a bit of a David and Goliath scenario.

This concludes another step in the direction that Snooker Canada has chosen in order to develop the game here in Canada.

If average players are put in a position to actually get to the later stages of a tournament, or win it, their confidence would flourish and then who knows?

The new national ranking system will be consistent with these policies and we look forward to seeing who will be in the top 16 in Canada shortly.

Looking forward to a great season starting this September!  A full schedule of ranking events will be announced shortly.

John White Wins the C.B.S.A Canadian Snooker Championships

Photo courtesy of JR Photos

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The week of June 7 to 14th saw the 41st annual Canadian Snooker Championships take place at the Corner Bank in Scarborough, Ontario.  To my knowledge this is the longest running tournament in Canada and has a very rich history boasting past champions such as Cliff Thorburn, Jim Wych, Kirk Stevens and Alain Robidoux. You couldn't have asked much more from the host venue this year with 8 brand new Schender Snooker tables on hand. Room owners John White and Jim Wych have shown great interest in reviving Snooker in Canada, they generously added $5000 to the prize fund, this was their first major Snooker event since opening in January,

The week began with the round robin stages and most of the tournament favourites advanced to the final 16 single knockout portion of the tournament. Players were placed in 8 groups of 5 with two groups of 4 players to make up the 38 player field. Three of the groups came down to the last match with Terry Davidson pulling off an upset 4-3 win against Jason Williams to leave Justin Kluznik out of the mix, and having the unfortunate fate of being the only player with 3 wins in the round robin not to advance.

Demos Zachariou almost pulled off an upset of his own falling 4-3 against Defending Champion Al Whitfield. A win for Demos would have let him advance to the redraw portion although it was a promising performance for the young player from Toronto. In one of the last matches of the round robin Jesse Piercey came back from 3 -0 down to win 4-3 and advance to the single elimination. It is nice to see the next generation of players getting into the mix and they will be the future of snooker in Canada.

In the final 16 portion of the redraw the #1 seeds from the round robin were drawn against the #2 seeds from each group. Phil Snache pulled off a minor upset against John Everekian and Derek Martin took out the very capable Jason Williams from Burlington Ontario. In the quarter finals Canadian snooker legend Tom Finstad was taken out by Floyd Ziegler 5-1. Another one of the  tournament favourites Bob Chaperon advanced easily with a 5-1 win over Phil Snache. On the top half of the draw Derek Martin from Ottawa, Ontario was quietly moving along with a 5-2 win over Dean Furey and John White took out defending champion Alan Whitfield 5-3.

The semi-finals featured a titanic battle between two time Canadian Champion Floyd Ziegler and Bob Chaperon from Sudbury, Ontario who was coming off a win last week at the Richler Cup. Chaperon is the only other Canadian player in history besides Cliff Thorburn to win a world ranking Snooker event. This match was played at a very high standard and Ziegler came away with a 6-3 win.

John White had an excellent match against Derek Martin in the other half of the draw moving comfortably into the final 6-1. After a week long battle the field was down to 2 players and it was the homeroom favourite John White that was able to regain the crown for the second time, an astonishing 25 years after claiming his first. Oddly I took a look at the list of past champions and this was not the longest span between victories. Kirk Stevens had victories 30 years apart, Cliff Thorburn had victories 27 years apart and Alain Robidoux went 26 years between wins. Congratulations to John White on a victory well deserved!

Also a big congratulations to veteran champion Kristal McCleod from the maritimes who won the Senior Snooker.

1st John White $1750 + expenses to the world amateur championships

2nd Floyd Ziegler $1000 + expenses to the world amateur

3rd/4th Bob Chaperon   $750
             Derek Martin

5th/8th    Dean Furey   $500
               Alan Whitfield
               Phil Snache    
               Tom Finsad

High Run Floyd Ziegler 120   $500

link to the draw http://cbsa.ca/16sRR-draw.php?event=107

New Canadian Snooker Tour Announced

Submitted by: Snooker Canada

A new snooker tour has been announced in Canada and is sure to create a great buzz for snooker players and fans alike. The Canadian Snooker Tour is officially coming, and it will be traveling to several cities across the country in just a few short weeks.

As a follow up to the busiest snooker season our country has witnessed in decades, Snooker Canada is changing gears and moving forward with its mission to make snooker more and more popular again here.  With over $50 000 in prize money, this season should prove to give quite a boost for snooker and attract players of all ages and levels.

The nice thing about it is that Rogers Television was so pleased with how things turned out with the Richler Cup, they have expressed interest in doing more things with Snooker Canada and details are currently being discussed.

Some of the events that are in the works for the tour include a 6 Reds Canadian Championship, a 50+ Championship, a Team Championship, A North American Championship, a Junior Championship, many Provincial Championships, and of course, a new edition of the Richler Cup.

Snooker Canada is also proud to add fundraising events to its calendar, in order to be able to give back to Canadian communities.  Charities are currently being explored to see where the funds will be properly allocated.

Best of all, a new ranking system will be created where players will have the ability to check their mobile phones or computers daily to see how they rank nationally. The top 32 players at the end of the season will receive prizes and special entries into the final event of the season.

More details will follow shortly on our website with a full schedule, looking forward to a fresh season!

www.snookercanada.ca

President and V.P of the Canadian Billiard and Snooker Association Resign

By: Markus Noé

This past week the Canadian Snooker Championships were held at the recently opened Corner Bank pool hall in Scarborough, Ontario. In most cases this would be the biggest story of the week, however there has been a major shift in our national association. Steve Cooper long time President of the Canadian Billiard and Snooker Association has resigned, along with the Vice President Kyle Richard.

The timing of this comes as a bit of a surprise with the Amateur National Championships right around the corner. However the annual board members meeting was set to be held this past weekend, and I guess this was as good a time as any for this announcement to be made. Mr. Cooper was absent but Mr. Richard did fly in to tie up any loose ends. Exact details are hard to come by as this is still a developing story. The Treasurer Randall Morrison who most of you would know as the guy behind the stream this year, has taken over the Presidential duties on a temporary basis. Morrison could also be the early front-runner to take over permanently.

We here at Cue Sport Nation and myself in particular have been openly critical of the the C.B.S.A. Prior to this years Canadian 8,9 and 10 ball Championships a story we ran just prior to the event got a lot of traction. The headline was "Will the Canadian Championships be a Success this Year," and can be read in our editorial section. In this article I discussed poor player turn out for the last several years, low payouts, and not only mine but our nation of pool players' displeasure with the direction of the C.B.S.A. There have been no qualifiers for our National Championship, player relationships from Western Canada and Québec have been non existent as they have not been participating for years now. Finally as a national association they are responsible for representing us on a international level and last year we were unable to send a team to the World Team Championships.

While John Morra was making history by winning all three pool divisions, many on social media voiced their desire for change. At times this got heated and Mr. Cooper and Mr. Richard instead of listening to the concerns of the players and supporters, took it all very personally and the conversation went off the rails very publicly. Perhaps this was the breaking point for the these two; we hope to find out more as the details become clearer. For now Morrison is the go to guy and we will be talking to him later this week to figure out the election process and where the C.B.S.A goes from here.

Richard will be working with Morrison and the current Secretary Al Tirk throughout this transition. Morrison will be attending the Amateur Championships which are located in Coopers back yard which will allow him to get any more help and information he needs from the former President. John White the Senior Vice President, has stayed on and it will be interesting to see his role moving forward. Stay tuned to Cue Sport Nation as we will update this story as it continues to develop.

Richler Cup Recap – Expectations Exceeded

Cheukyin Kwan and Bob Chaperon

Submitted by: Snooker Canada

The 2015 Richler Cup has come to a conclusion and has exceeded expectations in terms of quantity and quality.

With a starting field of 77 registered players, Canada’s largest snooker tournament proved to be very competitive. It had a combination of 4 former Canadian Champions, a few former Quebec Champions, a few former Ontario champions, 1 former U.S. Champion, and a host of other talented players from all over the country.

pic-finalists 2015After 4 days of battling, the last 2 men standing was a man from Sudbury named Bob Chaperon and another man from Markham, Ontario, who most people were not as familiar with, Cheukyin Kwan.

Last man standing? Bob Chaperon. With a brilliant break of 92 in the final frame, Bob showed his class and professionalism, and reminded everyone why he was the 1990 British Open Champion. (among many other accomplishments).

A big thank you goes out to the Rogers crew for coming to produce the finals and we look forward to watching the finished product at a later date on their television channels.

It was also an honor to see Mrs. Florence Richler, Mordecai’s wife, attend the event, accompanied by family friend and attorney, Michael Levine, who’s speech reminded us of 2 things, how impressive Mordecai Richler’s writing is, and how wonderful our game of snooker can be.

Thank you to Humber College for hosting the event and looking forward to moving forward with more things snooker.

Payouts:

Winner : Bob Chaperon $4000
Runner Up : Cheukyin Kwan $2000
Semi Finals: Gilles Boismenu $1000
Semi Finals: John Everekian $1000
5-8 $750 Each
9-16 $500 Each
17-32 $200 Each

High Run $300 Ahmed Aly
Clear the Colors Contest $1000 Paul Potier

Shooters Snooker Club: Results from $18,000 Amateur 9 Ball Tournament

Photo Courtesy of Shooters Snooker Club Facebook Page. From left to right owner Peter Chen, Winner Brittany Bryant and runner up Naomi Williams. 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

This past weekend Shooters Snooker Club in North York, Ontario held the highest paying tournament of the 2014-2015 GTA pool calendar.  To my knowledge the highest paying tournament in Canada this year. The event was the brain child of shooters owner Peter Chin, entries were $150 for the first 64 paid players $175 for the next 32 players and $200 for the last 32 players with a limited field of 128.

 Shooters ran qualifiers on Tuesdays and Sundays for 3 months leading up to the tournament and it was evident from the beginning that there would be interest in this first time tournament as the qualifiers averaged over 10 players each and drew as many as 20 on some occasions. Entry for the qualifiers was $25 and 1 spot was given out for every 6 players that entered, approximately 50 players qualified for the main event. This played a big role in establishing the monster field that eventually topped out at 115 players, the largest field in the last 10 years for any tournament in Toronto.  The tournament was limited to 7 handicaps and under, it was a double knockout format, alternate breaks, rack your own and players raced to their handicaps ranging from 4 to 7.

The Players Auction started promptly at 11:00 am on Saturday and with only 20, nine foot tables available all the players knew they would be in for a long day of pool. Sumon Sarkar went off as the first blind bid favourite. It should be noted although that it was very tough to pick a clear winner in this event therefore many players went for a high amount. After auctioneer Greg Plester got through all the names about $7000 was collected in addition to the huge $18 000 main prize fund.

Sumon Sakar photo courtesy of www.thepoolscene.com 

As you can guess there were so many competitive matches on Saturday it would take paragraphs to list them all. One that stood in my mind was a third round match between Brittany Bryant and Chris Lee that went right down to the wire and could have gone either way. Another multiple time Canadian Women's Champion Naomi Williams was also making her way through the draw undefeated and this would set up a final 8 winners side match up on Sunday between the two.

Randall Truscott photo courtesy of The Pool Scene

Randall Truscott also made his way through on the winners side after making a comeback from 5-1 down against Nick Blanchard in a 7 to 6 race. As expected tournament favourite Sumon Sarkar advanced to Sunday undefeated as well as Alan Ada and 5 handicap Brandon Griffin. Relative unknown 5 handicap Trevor A was also undefeated on the day along with Scott McDonald.

Sunday Winners side match-ups

Naomi Williams vs Brittany Bryant
Scott McDonald vs Alan Ada
Brandon Griffin vs Sumon Sarkar
Trevor A vs Randall Truscott

A total of 24 players would return on Sunday with the last matches on Saturday finishing well past midnight. I was in attendance all weekend and I must say that with these amateurs being more in their comfort zone with the lower handicaps, a lot of high level pool was being played. Stuart Mctaggart was making his way through the losers side with some impressive play and eventually ended up in 9th place, Greg Plester also played very well after losing his first round match making it all the way back to 9th place.

It was getting down to crunch time on the winners half of the bracket, Brandon Griffin had a super performance against Sumon Sarkar. Griffin broke and ran 3 of the 5 games he won on his way to victory. Brittany Bryant and Naomi Williams went toe to toe and a fluke on the 6 for Bryant was a big turning point in this match. Bryant went ahead and won 7-4, adding another page to the ongoing battle between these two great players. With the field slimming down Ian Argue bowed out with a respectable 7th pace finish and the noticeably improving Randall Truscott went down hill-hill to Sumon Sarkar in the 5th place match.

The final four was set and after both losing in the final 8 on the winners side Naomi Williams and Sumon Sarkar made it back to the fourth place match. Brittany Bryant and Alan Ada would face off in the winners side final. The match between Williams and Sarkar was played at a very high level, after being tied at 3 Sarkar made a few errors to let Williams go ahead 6-3. Sarkar managed to bring it back to hill hill where Williams was able to run out for the win.

Britanny Bryant photo courtesy of The Pool Scene. 

Brittany Bryant made a huge comeback in the winners side final trailing 5-1 in a 7-6 race she climbed all the way back for a thrilling win hill/hill. Remarkably both matches finished within about 5 seconds of each other, Williams and Bryant were both down on the 9 at hill- hill  and the knowledgeable fans at shooters were respectful enough to hold their applause as Bryant potted the final 9 just seconds after Williams did.

The B side final match was also a barn burner with Williams winning hill-hill over Alan Ada, this would set up a rematch between the two women champions. The format was a true double elimination and Williams would have to beat Bryant twice. Bryant played great in the first set of the final going on to win the tournament in style with a 7-2 win. The composure and tenacity of these two ladies was very impressive to witness especially with the huge prize fund on offer and I feel like their experience at the international level was a big factor in their results on the weekend.

Overall it was a great weekend of pool at shooters and from all accounts their will be more events like this in the future. Pool is alive and well in Toronto and we will be looking forward to better things to come. On a personal note I would like to see an 8 player open pro tournament run at the same time as these events, hopefully this can be integrated next time around.


Payouts:              Tournament/Calcutta

1st Brittany Bryant    $6300         $2500


2nd Naomi Willams   $3500         $1500


3rd Alan Ada               $2000         $960


4th Sumon Sarkar      $1200         $600


5th Randall Truscott  $750           $375
       Brandon Griffin  


7th Ian Argue               $460          $225  
       Jeet Kandhai


9th Scott McDonald    $290          $125
       Trevor A
       Greg Plester
       Stu McTaggart


13th Sam Huang        $180
         Ronald Giron
         Ronald santos
         Adam Roos

2nd Season RCC Champion “Ken Stutz”!

Submitted article from R.C.C 

The Final Event for the 2nd Season was held at Tony’s Billiards on May 23rd, where 41 players came out to compete for the top title of Royal City Challenge Champion!  With 10% of the entry fees from the season and $500 added by Tony’s Billiards to the total prize fund, and another huge Calcutta, the stakes were high for everyone competing.

Congratulations to Ken Stutz for his 1st Place Finish, and to Derrick Claus for placing 2nd.
Derrick started the day off strong, beating Rob Brandenburg in the 1st round, and proceeding to go through the Winner’s side undefeated, competing against Rick Hutchings, Stuart MacTaggart, Pod Shognosh and Ken Stutz, where he sat in the A Side Finals, waiting for his final opponent…
Ken also had a strong day, 1st defeating Dan Devos, and continued through the Winners side playing Neil Mills, Brittany Bryant and Paul Duell, where he finally was sent to the B Side by Derrick Claus..Ken played and defeated Pod Shognosh on the B Side to come back to play the finals against Claus..where he got his revenge and defeated him for the title.

Thank you to all the players who came out to support the 2nd Season of the Royal City Challenge.  It was once again a huge success, with some amazing 9 Ball competition.   Thank you also to Tony’s Billiards – Angelo Cupelli and staff, for their continued support in the RCC, and it’s players.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone back in the fall of 2015 when we begin the 3rd Royal City Challenge tournaments!
See you all in the Fall!  ~ Eric & Katherine ~

2nd Season Royal City Challenge Finals – Results

1st Place:   Ken Stutz – $1190 – $1130 (C)
2nd Place: Derrick Claus – $595 – $570 (C)
3rd Place: Pod Shognosh –  $400 – $380 (C)
4th Place: Paul Duell – $300 – $275 (C)
5th/6th: Rob Gray – $240 – $215 (C)
5th/6th: Ray Jansen – $240 – $215 (C)
7th/8th: Rick Hutchings – $180 – $160 (C)
7th/8th: Stuart MacTaggart – $180 – $160 (C)

Sauvé Wins Rack-M-Up Summer Series #3

Winner Jacques Sauvé

 By: Markus Noé

The third edition of the Rack-M-Up Summer Series took place this past Satuday May 30th. There was only 10 players in attendance as the nice weather and prior obligation kept several players from competiting. However most of the top local players were in attendance and would be no easy feat to make it to the final.

The day ended early for me as I won my first match then went on to lose to Jacques Sauvé and Jeff Flemming 7-3. Not exactly the follow up performance I was looking for after finishing 2nd in the previous tournmant, but those are the woes of an inconsitent amateur.

The two players who made it through the winners side bracket, were part owner Amanda Collins (4) and Justin "Killer" Miller(7). Collins who races to 4 came out firing earning herself a 3-0 lead. However Miller who's nickname is not for nothing settled in and began chipping away at the lead and eventually went on to win 7-3.

Sauvé who lost earlier to Miller 7-6 came back on the losers side racking up wins agains Morris Hearn and Jeff Flemming. In the losers side final he met up with Collins and ended her day in 3rd position. In the final Sauvé was looking for revenge and tied at 5-5 an oppurtunity arose. Miller missed a routine 8 ball which Sauvé took full advantage of wining that frame and going on to break and run the next to take down this tournament. If your are interested in participating in the next event June 20th call Doug Disotell 1-613-933-9362.

Payouts:

1. Jacques Sauvé $150

2. Justin Miller $100

3. Amanda Collins $52.50

Hewitt Wins Pro Division Grand Final

From left to right Sylvain Grenier and Danny Hewitt

By: Markus Noé

This past Saturday May 30th, Dooly's Valleyfield played host the the Québec Federations Pro Division Grand Final. There were 54 players who qualified for this event by playing in at least two Professional tournaments this season. However only 27 of those elibigle showed up to partake in this $3500 guaranteed prize pool. Like most other circuits, a portion of each entry was withheld and added to the final tournament.

Despite the small field, all the usual favourites were in attendance for this tournament such as Alain Martel, Danny Hewitt, Luc Salvas and Sylvain Grenier. The only one top player missing who has been playing was Francis Crevier, who was in Vegas playing the V.N.E.A team Championships.

In what can be considered a bit of an upset, local fan favourite Luc Salvas was eliminated early. It was two strong semi-pro's who ended Salvas' bid at being the Grand Final winner. It was Daniel "Cold Blood" Gagné who beat him on the winners side 9-8. Then on the losers side of the bracket another strong player from Valleyfield Eric Claude beat Salvas 7-6.

By the time I was able to reach the venue it was already down to the final four of the tournament. Alain Martel made quick work of Martin Daigle 7-1 and waited briefly for the winners side final to conclude. In this match Sylvain Grenier got the best of Danny Hewitt earning himself a spot in the final.

Hewitt seemingly unphased by his recent defeat got right back to work and beat Martel 7-5 knocking him out in 3rd place. In the final it was a much different story as Hewitt came out to an early 9-3 lead before Grenier was able to mount a charge. Grenier was unfortunate of his break in the final as he was crushing the rack and planting the cue ball center of the table, however more often then not he was unable to get an opening shot. Hewitt took full advantage and was breaking at a high level himself which earned him the 11-6 win and the title of 2014-2015 Grand Final winner. This caps off a great month for Hewitt as he was runner up at the Archer Cup a few weeks back collecting $4000 for his effort

Top Three Payouts 

1. Danny Hewitt $1200

2. Sylvain Grenier $800

3. Alain Martel $500 

Here is a video of the final out by Hewitt for the win.