VALENTINE’S DAY ON HALLOWE’EN

Michael Valentine from Falkirk won the 2004 Carlsberg Scottish 9-Ball Pool Championships with an 11-7 win over Bellshill’s John Owen. In total, 94 players turned up at Styx Pool Hall in Kirkcaldy for this year’s tournament.

The format saw the top 32 seeds from the official rankings qualifying directly to Sunday, with everyone else – 62 in total – arriving at 11am on Saturday to play for one of 16 places available on Sunday. From there, the 16 qualifiers would play the players seeded 17 to 32 with the winners of those matches moving on to play the Top 16, with a Single Elimination knock-out format being played.

This year also saw 16 of Ireland’s top 9-Ball players coming over for the tournament. Their involvement in this year’s tournament made for a fun, and very competitive, weekend.

Saturday

A total of 62 players turned up to play in the Saturday Qualifying section of the tournament. The format was initially set to be a race-to-9 single elimination, but Ross McInnes, Tournament Organiser, took a vote of the players present and a race-to-7 double elimination format was adopted, due to the distances that a number of the players had travelled.

Willie Dines breaks another rack

After nearly 7 hours of play, 16 qualifiers emerged to play on the Sunday. They were:-

Winners' Bracket

Dave Clark

John Owen

Pat Holtz

Scott Ross

John Wims

S. Cameron

G. Aliman

Ronnie Boyle

Losers' Brakcet

Stevie Westwater

Gary Houstoun

Clark Smith

Pete Grierson

Paddy Mc Laughlin

Willie Dines

Charlie Murphy

Peter McLanachan

Congratulations to all of them.

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Sunday

Last 48
Sunday saw the start of the single elimination portion of the tournament. The 16 qualifiers who had played matches on the tables the previous day were first drawn against the seeds numbered 17 to 32. This round saw a number of hill-hill matches and a few surprises including Peter King and Martin Hughes both losing out in 9-8 decisions to Ronnie Boyle and Dave Clark respectively.

I Mitchell	S Westwater
R Armstrong	J Wims
S Varma	P Grierson
J Brannan	P Holtz
D Tait	G Houston
J Murray	J Owen
P King	R Boyle
S Boxall	W Dines
S Capaldi	G Alliman
D Turner	P McLaughlin
D Markey	C Murphy
D McPherson	S Ross
M Hughes	D Clark
I McIntosh	P McLanachan
B Hunter	C Smith
E Jones	S Cameron

Last 32
The last 32 stage was where the players ranked in the top 16 joined the tournament. They didn’t have it all their own way including Steve Capaldi’s 9 – 6 result against Ross McInnes in a match that both players said was, at best, scrappy and Tam Talent being sent back to his role of being Tournament Director (in other words, he went back to the bar!) after a 9 – 8 scoreline went the way of Paddy McLaughlin.

Clark Smith finishing off another rack

G Dunn	9	3	S Westwater
C McCaig	5	9	J Wims
G Tough	9	5	S Varma
G Fagan	0	9	P Holtz
P Moir	9	1	D Tait
D Jack	5	9	J Owen
T Wilkinshaw	9	8	R Boyle
D Raine	9	7	S Boxall
R McInnes	6	9	S Capaldi
T Talent	8	9	P McLaughlin
J O'Hare	9	8	C Murphy
J Pollock	9	4	S Ross
S Ellis	9	4	D Clark
A Reynolds	9	8	I McIntosh
D Murray	4	9	C Smith
M Valentine	9	4	S Cameron

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Last 16
Tie of the round was, undoubtedly, the match between reigning Scottish Champion, Geoff Dunn, and the reigning All-Ireland Champion, John Wims. It was a day for the Irish as Wims ended Geoff’s reign as Scottish Champion with an excellent display and a 9 – 6 score.

G Dunn	6	9	J Wims
G Tough	1	9	P Holtz
P Moir	4	9	J Owen
T Wilkinshaw	2	9	D Raine
S Capaldi	3	9	P McLaughlin
J O'Hare	9	7	J Pollock
S Ellis	5	9	A Reynolds
C Smith	5	9	M Valentine

John Wims breaks

Quarter Finals
With a new name set to join list of Scottish Champions, all eyes were on the Wims - Holtz match - a repeat of the All-Ireland Championship final, which John had won by 13 racks to 9. This time around, it was nowhere near as close as John ran away a 9 - 4 winner.

J Wims	9	4	P Holtz
J Owen	9	7	D Raine
P McLaughlin	9	2	J O'Hare
A Reynolds	1	9	M Valentine

Semi Finals
The Semi Finals saw 2 Scotland – Ireland match-ups in the shapes of Paddy McLaughlin v Michael Valentine and John Wims v John Owen. Owen was 4-0 and 6-4 up on Wims, but before too long, Wims managed to claw back to 6-6. Owen put on an impressive spurt to finish the match 10 racks to 6.Valentine, on the other hand, was involved in a tussle against Paddy McLaughlin. Michael started off strongly taking an early lead at 3 racks to 1, only for Paddy to start clawing his way back into it again. Michael, however, managed to start taking control of the match and eventually took it by 10 racks to 8.

J Wims	6	10	J Owen
P McLaughlin	8	10	M Valentine

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The Final
The 2004 Carlsberg Scottish 9-Ball Championship Final was a race to 11 racks. For those of you who were unable to watch the match, here’s what happened…

The 2 combatants before the battle

Rack 1

Michael Valentine wins the lag, but his break does not reap any rewards leading to a scrappy, tense first frame with few clear chances for either player to run the rack out and some excellent safety play by both players. John eventually manages to run a few balls to lead 1-0.

Rack 2

John brakes and this leads to another scrappy rack, which John eventually wins. John leads 2-0.

Rack 3

John brakes and, again, another scrappy rack, which John seems to like best. Michael cannot find any rhythm and is missing some makeable shots. John takes this one as well to lead 3-0.

Rack 4

Another scrappy rack leads to John getting the first chance. He runs the first 5 balls, including a lucky double bank on the 4 followed by a table-length 5-ball, and plays position for a bank on the 6-ball, which he misses – he didn’t spot the more makeable 6-9 combination. Michael runs the last 3 balls to get his first mark on the scoreboard. John leads 3-1.

Rack 5

Michael suffers from a dry break – even though it is one of the most thunderous on the SAPPA tour. John pounces on the position that he is left on the 1-ball and runs up to the 4-ball. He gets bad position on the 5-ball, forcing him to attempt a table-length bank on the 5. He misses this by 5 or 6 inches but there is so much pace on the 5-ball that it makes its way back up the table and manages to luck the 9-ball into a pocket. John now leads 4 racks to 1.

Rack 6

John breaks and leaves another scrappy layout. Michael finally pounces on an opportunity and takes the rack to trail 4 racks to 2.

Rack 7

A solid break from Michael leaves the 1-ball in an awkward position near the head rail with the 2 and 3 at the same end of the table. Michael attempts a safety, which John manages to escape from leaving Michael a shot on the 1-ball. Michael misses his attempt on the 1-ball. John plays a 2-3 combination, but hooks himself on the 2-ball. John then flukes the 8-ball, but then scratches. Michael runs the rack out from the resulting ball-in-hand. John leads 4-3.

Rack 8

Michael’s break is letting him down just now as he comes up dry again but he leaves John no makeable shot at the 1-ball. John tries a wild 1-9 combination, but manages to hook Michael on the 1-ball, from which he escapes leaving John a table-length 1-ball. John makes the 1-ball, but misses the 2. John’s failed attempt to get out of the safety laid by Michael left ball-in-hand and a relatively easy 2-5 combination. Sadly, Michael’s run of bad luck continued as he suffered a massive kick causing him to miss the shot. John plays a great bank shot on the 2-ball and runs the rack up to the 7, missing a relatively easy shot down the rail. Michael ran the rack out to level the match at 4-4.

Rack 9

Michael finally finds the 1-ball to the side pocket on the break. A good 2-way shot on the awkwardly placed 2-ball leads to ball in hand, allowing Michael to run out the rack and take his first lead in the match at 5 racks to 4.

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Rack 10

Valentine scratches on the break. Owen attempts a difficult 2-9 combination – some 12 to 18 inches between the 2 and the 9 – showing a little inexperience in 9-Ball. Michael struggles with the run of the balls as he falls funny on the 3-ball, but plays an excellent safety. John fouls and Valentine, with ball-in-hand, runs the rack out to lead 6-4.

Rack 11

Referee Tam Talent creates the only “slug” rack of the match, with the minimum 4 balls barely making contact with the rails. A push-out leads to Owen smashing the rack open in the hope of lucking a ball. Valentine makes a couple of balls, but over-draws after making the 4-ball and hooks himself behind the 9. He manages to escape, but leaves John a shot, which he takes advantage of and clears to pull back to be 6-5 behind.

Rack 12

A good break from John, making 2 balls, but makes a very bad error and hooks himself on the 2 ball. He plays and intentional foul, trying to tie some balls up. Valentine plays a “piqué” stroke – a sharp draw shot played with a vertical cue and with the cueball no more than 1” from the object ball – in an attempt to make the 3-ball, but hangs it in the jaws of the pocket. An excellent run out leads to a difficult, but well executed 7-9 combination to tie the match again at 6-6.

Rack 13
John breaks but is forced to push out from the resulting position. He is put back in and gets more than a little lucky by hooking Michael on the 1-ball. John gets ball-in-hand, but the run of the balls is certainly going John’s way, though, as he hooks Michael again while missing a straight in 3-ball. Michael manages to escape and lay a hook of his own, leading to ball-in-hand after a wild shot from John. Michael runs out the remainder of the rack to re-take the lead at 7-6.

Rack 14
A monster break from Valentine gives him great position and he completes the first break and dish of the match. Valentine now leads 8-6.

Rack 15
Michael makes a monster break with 3 balls going down. Unfortunately, the balls are still running against him as he is left with no easy shot, but he does manage to play a decent safety. John escapes but leaves Michael a makeable 3-ball. More misfortune as he gets bad position on the 4. Valentine leaves Owen a half-chance on the 4-ball, which he takes and finishes a very nice run out to trail 8 racks to 7.

Rack 16
Owen breaks, but misses the shot on the 1-ball. Valentine clears up to extend his lead to 9-7.

Rack 17
Another great break, allowing Michael to break and dish for only the second time in the match. Valentine is now on the hill at 10-7.

Rack 18
Needing one more rack, Michael’s break fails him again with yet another dry break. John makes an excellent shot on the 1-ball, but his inexperience in 9-ball shows once again when he tries to make a 3 ball combination instead of playing an easy safety on the 2-ball. Valentine comes to the table and clears up to win the match and his first Scottish Championship title.

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Michael Valentine pockets the winning 9-ball

J Owen

M Valentine

John Owen receives his cheque from Tam Talent

Michael Valentine receives his trophy from Tam Talent

All in all, not exactly a classic match, but definitely one with many interesting talking points with Michael’s lack of luck with the run of the balls and John’s excellent display at the start of the match being 2 of the major ones. The one thing to come from this year’s Scottish Championship is that Michael Valentine is Scotland’s best 9-Ball player by a long way as the Number One ranked player on the SAPPA rankings, Scottish Champion and winner of more Tour Events this year than anyone else.

You can see the tournament charts for Saturday and Sunday by clicking on the relevant day.