Cue Sport Group

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

Allen Hopkins was born November 18, 1951, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He is a powerful American professional pocket billiards (pool) player, professional billiards color commentator and BCA Hall of Fame inductee. He promotes numerous annual pool occasions and continue to play being a qualified contender. At seven years old, after viewing many tournaments on tv, Allen commenced to play pool on a small table his mom and dad bought for him. As an amateur, during the age of twelve, Hopkins ran a prodigious 110 balls and even took this skill to experiment with against developed men. By age 17, he proceeded to go professional and went on fifth place in the 1969 US Open Nine-ball Championship.

Around 2002, Hopkins triumphed in the Denver Ten-ball Open, defeating Earl Strickland, Filipino champion Jose Parica, Corey Deuel, David Matlock, and faced Shannon Daulton in a very thrilling double-hill finals. In 2008, he was inducted to the BCA Hall of Fame via the Billiard Congress of America.

Photo via azbilliards.com

Liu Hsin Mei is a popular Chinese Taipei pool player who has won already two World Nine Ball championships for the female category. She first won it in 1999 at Alicante, Spain and in 2002 at her own country in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She also was able to win the BCA US Open Pool Championships in 1993.

She emerged in the scene as one of the best ever Chinese Taipei players all over the world. Many female Chinese Taipei players then started being recognized too in the world of pool, to follow the footsteps of this renowned Chinese Taipei World Champion.

Another asian women pool player that has made her way to the top is Ga-Young Kim. She was given the nickname Little Devil Girl. She is a professional Korean billiard player. She was born in Seoul, Korea and began playing the game when she was just 12. She became a profession by 2004.

Photos via taiwantoday.tw and flickr.com

Thorsten Hohmann is also known as The Hitman. He is a German pool player who became a professional in April 2003. He was born in Fulda, Germany on July 14, 1979 and became a very distinct player for his being precise in his games. He also turned out to be very popular in the world of pool when he beat the amazing Filipino player Alex Pagulayan during the WPA World Nine-Ball Championship in 2003.

He has gained numerous recognitions which include USA Sportsman of the Year for Pocket Billiards in 2005 and the Best Dressed Player award for the same year as well. In 2006, the Pool and Billiard Magazine hailed him as the Player of the Year.

His accomplishments in the world of pool include:

IPT North American Open Eight-ball Championship (2006)

World Straight Pool Championship (2006)

World Pool League (2005)

BCA Open Nine-ball Championship (2005)

Sudden Death Seven-ball (2005)

WPA World Nine-ball Championship (2003)

New Jersey 14.1 Championship (2003)

Photo via insidepoolmag.com

Mika Immonen also known as the Iceman is a popular professional pool player born on December 17, 1972 in Finland. He has already reached the level of being one of the most successful European pool players as he won many pool tournaments and also serving as a regular member of the Mosconi Cup – Team Europe.

With the young age of 35, he has already proven his worth to compete against the top players of pool all around the globe like Efren Bata Reyes and Earl Strickland. He is currently ranked number 10 by the World Pool-Billiard Association.

His recent accomplishments in the world of pool include:

Derby City Straight Pool Challenge (2007)

Korean Pro Tour Championship (2007)

Atlanta Open (2004)

On Cue; Philippines vs. Europe (2003)

Philippine Open (2003)

LG Flatron Challenge (2002)

WPA World Nine-ball Championship (2001)

Sudden Death Seven-ball (2000)

He is surely a great force in the world of pool to compete with.

Photo via nycgrind.com

It could be really so impressive each time we get to hear about a snooker player who have had numerous accomplishments at such a very young age. Jamie Jones is another one.

Jamie Jones is a professional snooker player from Neath, Welsh. At 22, he already has a very impressive amateur record and he was able to qualify for the main tour of 2006/07 by finishing top during the Welsh rankings of 2005/06. Unfortunately he was not able to maintain his place there. The best he could get in his first season being a professional player is to reach the last 48 of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix.

By year 2002, he turned out to be the youngest player ever to make 147 in an event that is official beating the record of Judd Trump.

He is yet to be known in this world and let us all just watch out for this young yet incredible player.

Photo via  prosnookerblog.com

Brian Morgan is a known English professional in the world of snooker being a player and coach. He used to be a World Under-21 Champion and became one of the top 32 players in the world rankings for numerous years.

In his career record, he was able to reach 16 in 1994’s World Championship. He also was able to qualify for tournaments in 1993, 1995, and 1997. By year 1996, he was able to take part in the finals of Asian Open when he beat Stephen Hendry. It happened before a close 9-8 loss against Ronnie O’Sullivan. During the same year, he also emerged as the winner in the Benson & Hedges Championship.

This entitled him to have a wild card place in the Masters. He was able to beat again Hendry during the 2000 Grand Prix. At the Irish Masters of 2004, he was also able to reach the last 16.

Photo via cuesport.net

Ben Woollaston, at the young age of 22 is already a professional snooker player. He is from Leicester. He started entering the professional tour for the 2004-05 season but he was not able to keep up with his place for the consecutive season’s tour. He was able to just regain it for the 2006-07 for his win at the European Under-19 Championship.

He was then given the award for the concessionary place for the tour of 2007-08. He was also able to reach the stages of the final groups of the Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007. He was able to enjoy more the 2006 tournament for there he won two matches compared to winning nothing in 2007.

He was also able to reach the final stages of the Welsh Open in year 2007 by beating David Gray. He was able to reach the second round where he then lost seven times to Stephen Hendry.

Photo via 147.com

Alfred Burden also known as Alfie is a popular English professional player of Snooker. He was born in December 14, 1976 and currently lives in London. He originally wanted to be a professional footballer but due to badly broken leg, his ambition was put to a halt. He was with the Arsenal F.C. during his schoolboy days and he spent with Swindon Town F.C. when he was badly injured.

He showed above average snooker playing skills and was able to qualify for the 1998 World Championship. It was in the 2006-07 season of the China Open that Alfie had his good streak of good luck for success. He was able to defeat Shokat Ali, Rod Lawler and David Gray just to get himself qualified for the tournament.

Last November 25, 2009, he was the winner of the IBSF World Snooker Championship in India. Due to this, he now earned a place at the upcoming 2010/11 professionals main tour.

Photo via billiardpulse.com

Julie Kelly is an Irish pool player who began playing snooker where she had the highest ranking at No.7. She was born at Wexford where she began playing with her dad at age 15 by 1990. Since then, she began competing in the Women’s world circles.

After she won a lot of Irish snooker title along with winning the World Plate Snooker Championships, she was recognized as the best female Irish snooker player. She then moved to playing pool when she joined the snooker tour in the US by 1998. She became a professional player by 1999 and began her first professional pool event in Valley Forge. It was in 2000 when she won the World Ladies 9-Ball Championship event in Canada.

Her most recent achievement in pool include bagging the 3^rd place in WPBA San Diego Classic, 2^nd place in WPBA Florida Classic, along with three more accomplishments in the sport.

Photo via wpba.com

Yes, he is The Dazzler of the billiard world. Daryl Peach is a professional British pool player born in England on March 8 1972. He was the first ever male British pool player to have won the WPA World Nine-Ball Championship competition. It was that time when he beat Roberto Gomez, a Filipino pool player. From then on, Daryl Peach ensured that his name will be in line with among the greatest players of pool.

He was able to win a total of 5 titles in the British 9-Ball Championships and he is a member of the 2007 Mosconi Cup – Team Europe. They were the ones who had the very controversial match with American, Earl Strickland. At present, Daryl is ranked to be at No. 4 of the world’s greatest by the World Pool Billiard Association. With just 4 major events in his track, he is a potential contender for the best of the best in the years ahead.

Photo via pro9.co.uk