WOMEN OF PRO BILLIARDS

Great Lakes Classic - Asian Invasion Continues

2007-04-01T14:20:00.000-05:00

The WPBA's new tournament format - going to single elimination for the final 16 - has had the desired effect of getting more new faces on TV. Final four for the TV matches were Helena Thornfeldt v Ga-Young Kim (winner in Rocky Mount) and Kelly Fisher v Xiaoting Pan (second in Rocky Mount). This was to be Pan's tournament but with a welcome return to TV and a second place finish for Helena. Pan marched through the field like the "Terminator" with back to back eliminations of Gerda Hofstatter and Allison Fisher. She stayed in form through the TV matches with a flawless break that consistently left her with an open table and one or two balls pocketed. The win moves her into the number 4 spot in the WPBA rankings with a realistic chance to move into number 3 before the summer is out.

Picture to follow in a few days.

Asian Invasion

2007-03-02T17:17:00.000-06:00

Event #1 - Rocky Mt. - is in the books. 2006 Rookie of the Year, Ga-Young Kim (aka Little Devil Girl), eliminated Allison Fisher to advance to the final match with Xiaoting Pan (Miss Unpronounceable?) who herself had defeated Vivian Villareal. Both of these ladies have had a huge impact on the WPBA. Kim is the reigning world champion and 2006 WPBA Rookie of the Year. Pan first appeared on the WPBA tour barely a year ago.

Next stop, Michigan City, IN.

2007 New Season

2007-02-23T15:31:00.000-06:00

The women play in Rocky Mount , NC this week - the first stop of the 2007 season. Lots of new faces this year, but the old favorites look to dominate.

IPT News

2006-11-10T08:12:00.000-06:00

The IPT tournament scheduled for Chicago and the year-end King of the Hill and tour card tournaments in Vegas have been postponed. The IPT says this is due to factors involving the sale of the IPT to Stanley Ho, the Hong Kong gambling billionaire. One theory is that Ho doesn't want tournaments to go forward until he has an online gambling component in place. The players are in the dark as much as anyone and, at last report, have not yet received their winnings for the Reno IPT event.

IPT Reno

2006-09-01T12:19:00.000-05:00

The second of Kevin Trudeau's IPT tournaments wrapped up this past weekend in Reno. Unfortunately, few of the women made it past the first round. That's not necessarily indicative of much seeing as how the previous $350K winner, Thorsten Hohman didn't make it either. After all, there is an element of luck involved, and there are not that many women in the field to begin with. That said, Efren Reyes winning the $500K goes a long way toward confirming the opinions of many pro's that he is indeed the best player in the world.

Peoria Pictures

2006-08-04T12:33:00.000-05:00

The first batch of Peoria pictures are now up on the photo site. They can be downloaded (for non-commercial purposes) at resolutions sufficient for large snapshots. Higher resolution files are availble by email on request.

Peoria Results

2006-08-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

If you’ve never been to a WPBA tournament, I recommend going Saturday. That’s when you see the most intense competition, and the level of play is stepped up. By Saturday afternoon there are 8 players remaining in the winner bracket and 8 from the one loss side. Then they draw to set the final 16 for single elimination play.

The quarter final action started around 10 PM with the winners of White/Webb, Lee/Corr, Minerich/K.Fisher, and A.Fisher/Pan to advance to the TV matches on Sunday. Megan Minerich ran into a ball-pocketing machine in Kelly “Kwik Fire” Fisher, but still had her best ever finish tied for 5th. Megan was sporting a new nickname – “357” - which sounds a lot more dangerous than “Denver Daisy”, but to complete the firearms analogy wouldn’t we have to call her “357 Megnum”?

Allison Fisher played Chinese sensation, the tiny Xiaoting Pan who had unceremoniously knocked Allison into the first round loser bracket back in Michigan City (from which Allie was able to recover to win the tournament). This time in the quarter finals, Pan got off to an early lead and “Fish stick” just couldn’t quite deliver the miracle comeback we were all expecting. It’s as if you’ve seen Jesus walking on water forever, and then some child comes along and pushes him into the pool.

Jeanette and Karen had one of their usual intense matches with Karen coming up the winner and Jeanette getting the TV gig. And WPBA President Kim White, who’s been showing a lot of improvement this year, wasn’t up to handling Monica "The Assassin" Webb.

I came back with over 400 photos which I will be reviewing in the next few days. I'm sure there are some good ones in there somewhere. I'll post them on the photo site (follow the top link) in medium resolution. High rez versions can be emailed by request.

On to Peoria

2006-07-27T00:44:00.000-05:00

Sad to say, Allison Fisher and Gerda Hofstatter were eliminated after the second round of the IPT tournament. At least they have time to get to Peoria so Allison can defend her WPBA title. Surprising Sarah Ellerby made it to round three before running into a Philippino buzz saw. That makes all the women eliminated (along with some notable men - like Mike Sigel and Johnny Archer).

Who will make it to Peoria?

2006-07-25T08:20:00.000-05:00

In Vegas, Allison Fisher, Sarah Ellerby, Gerda Hofstatter, and Loree Jon Jones have all moved on to round 2 of the IPT event and a minimum $5000 payout. Ewa Laurance, Kelly Fisher, Karen Corr, Monica Webb, and Helena Thornfeldt each get $2000 and will be available to play in Peoria.

Allison was one of only 8 of the 200 player field to win all 4 of their matches and over 70% of their games played. She's in good company with the likes of Johnny Archer, Efren Reyes, Bustamante, Marlon Manolo, and Mike Sigel. Sarah Ellerby won 3 of her matches, and Gerda tied for 3rd in her group with only 1 win but moved on due to the tie breaker.

Round two is 5 matches today with the top 3 from each flight of 6 advancing to Wednesday's play. I'd say Allison has a very good chance to move to the next round.

VEGAS BABY!

2006-07-23T14:51:00.000-05:00

This week we have the unusual situation of two overlapping tournaments. The International Pool Tour event at the Venetian in Las Vegas runs from July 23 - 30, while the WPBA event in Peoria is July 27-30. Several of the WPBA players are trying their luck in the IPT which makes for an interesting logistical problem.

My understanding is, the ladies who do not advance beyond the Wednesday round of the IPT will be flown by charter jet to Peoria in time for the WPBA event. Any who do advance, will remain in Vegas to play for the huge IPT payout ($350,000 to the winner). So there is a realistic chance that Allison Fsher will not make it to Peoria to defend her title (winner of all 4 previous events). I will be in Peoria to follow the action and begin a new series of player photos.

The Peoria photos will be added to my photo site http://picasaweb.google.com/JWGraybosch where they are free to be downloaded for non-commercial, personal use.

Photos on my site are stored at medium resolution which should be good for large snapshot size prints. Higher resolution versions - suitable for enlargements up to 11 x 14 - are available on request. Email me at jwgraybosch@gmail.com

Frosty the Snowflake

2006-07-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we saw President Bush excercising his veto power for the first time in his presidency by stopping the embryonic stem cell bill. This appears to be payback to the fundamentalists who believe they put him in office. He said he didn't want us to cross the moral line that would mean we are intentionaly destroying potential human beings.

Arguments that such research may be for the greater good, are rejected by these people. And yet they advocate in vitro fertilization and "adopting" frozen embryos so that they can be implanted and brought to birth - even though the transfer process results in most of the embryos being destroyed. Sounds like they are just advancing their own version of the "greater good".

If the IVF and implantation process will inevitably result in lost embryos, why not make use of them? Isn't it something like the organ donor process?

Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!

2006-06-27T12:34:00.000-05:00

The Senate is once again debating the flag desecration amendment:

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

Funny how they always get around to these hot button issues before the elections. Makes you wonder how serious they really are. Frankly, I think the Constitution is not something to be tinkered with just to give the boys in Congress a photo op.

Passage of the amendment is a cowardly act that will not accomplish its purpose. It is political pandering and shows a lack of faith in ordinary Americans to act responsibly. So far, in my life I have heard of very, very few instances of actual flag burning by Americans. The fact that so few have used such a profound form of protest is a testament to America's strength of character and a celebration of our freedom.

As to the argument that the desecration is objectionable to veterans (and others) I say, so what? Lots of free speech is objectionable, but it is more objectionable to outlaw it. Personally, I'd like to throw in jail all the merchants who use the flag to promote their businesses or turn the flag into clothing, and how about a President (Bush) who signs autographs on souvenir flags - a blatant example of desecration! Individuals have different ideas of what is objectionable, and the purpose of the Bill of Rights is not to protect the majority opinion.

Wouldn't everyone rather live in a country where we have the freedom to protest and where so few feel the need to do so? I mean, that's something to be proud of. Or would you rather live in a country where the political leaders can restrict your speech just because they don't like it. All of the totalitarian regimes protect their flags from a populace that, given the freedom, would cheerfully burn them. Do we want to be like them?

Ever Feel Betrayed By Your Representative?

2006-06-26T12:21:00.000-05:00

In the last Congressional election, I voted for Melissa Bean, a Democrat who upset Phil Crane. Crane was one of Congress' longest serving conservative Republicans, and he could be relied upon to take the most extreme right-wing positions on every issue. In recent years he was involved in a small sex scandal and had lost some of his lustre. The Democrats figured he was ripe for unseating, so they put a lot of money and effort behind Bean. And she won.

This year we have an independent candidate - Bill Scheurer - who calls himself a moderate and is trying to get on the ballot. He claims Bean has not acted like a Democrat in her voting. His website www.winwithbill.com points out several examples of her voting with the Republicans on crucial issues. I decided to check for myself, so I emailed her office for an explanation. After several weeks, I got a partial response which explained her vote to extend Bush's capital gains tax cuts. She was one of only 9 Democrats to cross party lines on this issue. She didn't address my other questions, so I can only assume Scheurer was right about those as well.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't particularly care whether Melissa Bean is a conservative, or thinks she needs to be to get re-elected. My problem is she didn't portray herself that way. How many freshmen congressmen break party lines on critical votes? I feel my vote was taken under false pretenses.

Everytime you hear about some crazy debate in Congress, or see them wasting time and taxpayer money so they can grandstand, ask yourself if you are partly to blame. It is incumbent on us to know where these people stand on the issues we really care about. I recommend Project Vote Smart www.vote-smart.org as a good way to become better informed. You owe it to all of us.