World Pool Masters

Annual nine-ball tournament

The World Pool Masters is an annual international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters (until 1995) until players from other parts of the globe were invited.

## History

[edit]

Throughout much of its history, the tournament has been featuring sixteen world-class pool players, competing in single-elimination format. In 2010, the number of players was doubled to 32. The first round of the event was played in double elimination with the second round in single-elimination.[1]

In 2011, the tournament reverted to the original 16-player single-elimination format, with each match a race-to-8, winner breaks. The 2011 edition was held in SM North EDSA Mall in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. Ralf Souquet of Germany won the said tournament for the record-setting sixth time, beating defending champion Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, 8–5.[2]

For the 2019 World Pool Masters, the field was changed to accompany 24 players, with seeded players being given a bye through the first round.[3] The 2022 World Pool Masters went back to its original format, inviting 16 players, with 8 seeded players meeting the other 8 in the first round of the single-elimination tournament.

## Winners

[edit]

Date  | Location  | Winner  | Runner-up  | Final score

|
|
|
|

1993  | Plymouth, England |  Werner Duregger |  Ralf Souquet | 2–1 (sets)
1994  | Doncaster, England  |  Ralf Souquet |  Jimmy White | 2–1 (sets)
1995  | Blackpool, England  |  Daryl Peach |  Lee Kendall | 2–0 (sets)
1996  | Blackpool, England  |  Ralf Souquet (2) |  Vincent Facquet | 2–1 (sets)
1997  | Thurrock, England  |  Earl Strickland |  Tommy Donlon | 2–1 (sets)
1998  | Thurrock, England  |  Francisco Bustamante |  Ralf Souquet | 11–9
1999  | Thurrock, England  |  Alex Lely |  Efren Reyes | 7–5
2000  | Thurrock, England  |  Ralf Souquet (3) |  Alex Lely | 7–3
2001  | Thurrock, England  |  Francisco Bustamante (2) |  Earl Strickland | 7–6
2002  | Milton Keynes, England  |  Ralf Souquet (4) |  Efren Reyes | 9–4
2003  | Egmond, Netherlands |  Tony Drago |  Hsia Hui-kai | 8–6
2004  | Egmond, Netherlands  |  Thomas Engert |  Oliver Ortmann | 8–6
2005  | Doncaster, England  |  Raj Hundal |  Rodney Morris | 8–7
2006  | Egmond, Netherlands  |  Ralf Souquet (5) |  Alex Pagulayan | 8–4
2007  | Egmond, Netherlands  |  Thomas Engert (2) |  David Alcaide | 8–5
2008  | Las Vegas, United States |  Alex Pagulayan |  Mika Immonen | 8–6
2009  | Las Vegas, United States  |  Darren Appleton |  Nick van den Berg | 8–4
2010 | Las Vegas, United States  |  Dennis Orcollo |  Toru Kuribayashi | 8–3
2011 | Quezon City, Philippines |  Ralf Souquet (6) |  Dennis Orcollo | 8–5
2012 | Kielce, Poland |  Karol Skowerski |  Mateusz Śniegocki | 8–6
2013 | Barnsley, England  |  Niels Feijen |  Darren Appleton | 8–6
2014 | Nottingham, England  |  Shane Van Boening |  Nikos Ekonomopoulos | 8–2
2015 | Manchester, England  |  Shane Van Boening (2) |  Darren Appleton | 8–2
2017 | Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar |  David Alcaide |  Jayson Shaw | 8–7
2018 | Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar  |  Niels Feijen (2) |  Shane Van Boening | 8–4
2019 | Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar  |  David Alcaide (2) |  Alexander Kazakis | 9–8
2020  | Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 | Europa Sports Park, Gibraltar  |  Alexander Kazakis |  Shane Van Boening | 9–0
2022 | Europa Sports Park, Gibraltar  |  Joshua Filler |  Lo Ho Sum | 9–6
2023  | Brentwood, England  |  Ko Pin-yi |  Eklent Kaçi | 13–5
2024  | Hildesheim, Germany  |  Fedor Gorst |  Joshua Filler | 13–12

### Records

[edit]

* Ralf Souquet holds the record for winning the World Pool Masters the most times: six. (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2011).
* Shane Van Boening holds the record for the most consecutive wins: two. (2014, 2015).
* The oldest pool player to ever win the tournament to date is Ralf Souquet of Germany, at 42 years old at the time of his victory. The youngest is Daryl Peach of United Kingdom, aged 23 years old at the time of his victory.

## Top Performers

[edit]

Name  | Nationality  | Winner  | Runner-up  | Finals  | Semi-final
or better

|
|
|
|
|

Ralf Souquet |  Germany | 6  | 2  | 8  | 8
Shane Van Boening |  United States | 2  | 4  | 5
David Alcaide |  Spain | 1  | 3  | 3
Francisco Bustamante |  Philippines | 0  | 2
Niels Feijen |  Netherlands | 4
Thomas Engert |  Germany | 3
Darren Appleton |  England | 1  | 2  | 3  | 4
Alex Pagulayan |  Canada | 1  | 2  | 5
Earl Strickland |  United States | 4
Alex Lely |  Netherlands | 3
Dennis Orcollo |  Philippines
Alexander Kazakis |  Greece | 2
Ko Pin-yi |  Chinese Taipei | 1  | 3
Fedor Gorst |  United States | 1  | 1

* Active participants are shown in bold.
* In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Matchroom Sport (January 28, 2010). "Masters Invites Announced". AzBilliards.com. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
2. ^ Matchroom Sport (September 5, 2011). "Souquet wins Masters for the sixth time". MatchroomPool.com. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
3. ^ "Expanded World Pool Masters Returns To Gibraltar, March 29–31 – Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 31 December 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* Official site
* Tournament History of the World Pool Masters
* Pictures from the 2011 World Pool Masters
* Pictures from the 2010 World Pool Masters
* World Pool Masters News

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World Pool Masters

European Pool Masters|

* Plymouth 1993
* Doncaster 1994
* Blackpool 1995

World Pool Masters|

* Blackpool 1996
* Thurrock 1997
* Thurrock 1998
* Thurrock 1999
* Thurrock 2000
* Thurrock 2001
* Milton Keynes 2002
* Egmond 2003
* Egmond 2004
* Doncaster 2005
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* Las Vegas 2008
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* Quezon City 2011
* Kielce 2012
* Barnsley 2013
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* Gibraltar 2018
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* Gibraltar 2022
* Brentwood 2023

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