Cue Sport Group

Archive for the ‘Pro & Semi-Pro Players’ Category

One of the hottest ladies in the world of pool today is Barona Andoni. This sexy chick is from New York City and started playing pool in 2006. Her first winning experience in the BCA Pool League Open 8-ball National Championships was last year (2009) with the Kiss Of Death as her team. She also became the 5th placer finish in the Ozone Billiards Predator 9-ball Tour and 2009 Runner Up Female Player Of The Year. Andoni also ranked top 5 in the JPNewt Women’s Tour in 2009 and ended as the 5th placer in the Jacoby Malt Tour. This year she was in the 4th place for the Ozone Billiards Predator Tour. She also became more famous because she gained the title of being the 2nd highest female in Predator 9 ball tour. This woman is really creating a big name in this sport not only just because of her beauty but also her skills in playing pool. No wonder she is now popularly known as the hottest pool chick.

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It was Jacob Schaefer Sr. who ruled the sport of Balkline billiards all throughout the end of the ancient centuries. He was so successful in the game that he was the driving force behind the expanding popularity of the carom billiard games. He traveled all over the world and won matches and gained a lot of fans along the way. He even had his own chewing tobacco baseball card then. He retired from the competitive world of billiards after a competition when he was feeling very ill and still brought a surprising victory over Willie Hope. It was a game of 18.2 balkline in 1908.

Jacob Schaefer is known to be ‘The Wizard’ in the world of pool. His longest old style straight rail billiards run was 3000 in a match held way back in 1890 against F.B. McCleery. He won the match with a score of 3004-15. It is because of his outstanding skills that new games were invented in balkline billiards.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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Pankaj Advani is an amazing billiard professional that came from India. Winner of three world titles in both snooker and billiards. He turned out to become the first player to complete the grand double as he won the points format along with the time format titles in the IBSF World Billiards Championship way back in 2005. He also won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for 2005 as well.

It has been said that Pankaj is the best thing that ever happened in the world of Indian billiards. He was named after the legendary Geet Sethi. He showed promise at such a  young age and made his own mark by winning three world titles at the age of 19. As a snooker professional, he did not let anything get in his way. His latest achievements include being the recipient of the 2007 billiard titles in India like the Karnataka’s Kempegowda and the Rajotsav Award.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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As you discuss the game of pool, it is not too impossible to not talk about Jennifer Barretta who is a professional phenomenon. She is amongst the leading 9-ball players in the global level and it is no accident. She spends all day to practice with her coach and hence she once had the ‘Player of the Year’ standing in 2006.

Before she even started her professional billiard career, she used to be a tennis player, a fitness guru and even claimed the title of Ms. Philadelphia in a fitness contest. According to her, to be  an athlete is no easy job and after days of competing and touring, you just want to come home and rest. She always wanted to have that seal of dedication to be hailed as a renowned billiard champion.

She turned WPBA pro in 1997 and she was 29. She is known for being mentally tough and she even starred in a new movie release 9 ball.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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Ralph Greenleaf did a lot of wonders too for the billiard sport. He was known to be a genuine showman and made a lot of strides to keep it from fading in to being obscure by just adding up its popularity.  He won his first world title in billiards by 1919 and was able to defend it nine times in a row. He was married to Princess Nai Tai Tai, a beautiful showbiz personality. He really amazed his every audience with all his trick shots and exhibitions. He really made every billiard event a true spectacular show.

He won fourteen world titles by 1937 and his charismatic personality really showed a natural flair in the world he chose. He was able to rescue the entire sport by putting it into the spotlight when it was staying in the brink of obscurity. His only downfall was his being bad in drinking alcohol. According to other players, he frequently hit the bottle which caused a bitter and premature end to his amazing career that as cut short. There were even rumors that during tough matches, he would run to the men’s room for a quick drink to calm him down believing that this would help him play better.

He then even used heroine to a point that all his addictions killed him. He got a pauper’s grave at the age of 50 broke and drunk.

Photos via billiaardsforum.info

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If you have seen Rocky Lane take a shot or any of his famous tricks, then you will know how ravishingly talented this man is. Rocky is considered to be one of the best 9 ball players of the world and also one of the world’s best trick shot makers. He is also known with the name ‘The Technician’ who holds an amazing world record. He has his very own DVD and website. He is truly a 9-ball player of professional qualifications.

He is also known for mentoring various up and coming players in the field of billiards and has recently made news with his mentoring work with Charlie Nguyen. He also offers free coaching on selected evenings at a local pool near the place where he lives. Here are some of his well known accomplishments:

• 1976 National New Zealand 8-Ball Champion
• 1979 National B Grade Snooker National Champion
• 27 year break from Cue sports, for educational attainments towards a career
• June 12, 2002 FCC Hong Kong Runner up 8 Ball Champion
• October, 2002 4th Place, 9-Ball Borneo

And many more!

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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Willie Hoppe has been known to be the ‘Boy Wonder’ of billiards since he started playing professional billiards when he was just 14. He is known to be one of the greatest and well-rounded pool players of any era that his name can be considered synonymous already to the word ‘billiards’ for the past 25 years because of his innumerable victories and sport titles. Some of his best accomplishments include winning the Cushion Carom world title, World 18.1 Balkline Champion, World 18.2 Balkline Champion and World Three Cushion Champion.

Willie Hoppe lived until he was 62 and in terms of the level of his greatness, he was compared to Ted Williams from the baseball world and in 1999, he was number one on the Billiard Digest’s top players of the entire century list. He was truly a legendary billiards player and he was also able to publish several books about cue sports.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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In the competitive world of billiards, Mike Russell has been such a great driving force over the past ten years and he has won a lot of titles. He was born in England and known to be ‘The King of Billiards’, a nickname given to him that is well deserved. He has won the English billiards world championships for seven times in his entire professional career which makes him the winningest player during the post war times. He was able to become professional in 1989 and has even been ranked as the number one player in the entire world.

He has also been able to compete in various billiard competitions while still maintaining a regular day job. Some of his other accomplishments include being 1989 World Professional Billiards Champion, 1996 UK Professional Billiards Champion, 2000 World Matchplay Champion, and 2000 Named WBA Player of the Year amongst many others. He has not been playing active lately in the professional scene.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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Known as the Ambassador of Pool and the Grand Master of Trick Shots, Paul Gerni has started playing pool since he was 6. And with all those years of experience, everything really paid off. He has also written a lot of booklets on pool and about 200 trick shot articles for various billiard and pool magazines in countries like USA, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Denmark, Spain and Australia. He is also the broadcast host for Pool Around the World which announces chosen pool events and other tournaments.

He has been hailed as the Professional World Champion of Artistic, Skills, Trick & Fancy Shots for 22 consecutive times which makes him hold the record for the longest championship winning streak in all kinds of professional sports. He was also the International Challenge Cup Champion for 15 consecutive times and made him defeat other pool trick shot artists all around the globe.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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Another billiard pride from the Philippines is Alex ‘The Lion’ Pagulayan. He always had his focus set on the prestigious titles in the world of billiards. He was born in the Philippines but was raised in Canada. He has a dual citizenship but this did not stop him from accomplishing anything in the billiards world. For some time already, he was able to achieve impressive titles such as the following: 2005 US Open Champion, 2005 Derby City Classic 10-Ball Ring Game Champion, 2005 SML Entertainment 9-Ball Champion, and many more.

He has certainly made a name for himself and he says that he always wants to bring some excitement, thrill and humor to every tour he is privileged to join. His exposure to the game started early since his father managed a pool hall when he was small. He said that he was attracted to try other sports but billiards captured him the most since it did not need for him to be physically tough. His expertise lies in the pocket billiards game of snooker.

Photos via billiardsforum.info

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