Hohman is new world 14.1 champion. May be as good as Mosconi.
barry.milliken
At the begining of the tournament I believed the Germans would
dominate, with 4 of my 5 favorites (Hohmann, Ortmann, Engert, and
Soquet) being from Germany.
But as the matches developed I became more impressed with some others,
like Schmidt (who beat Engert in the earlier rounds), Hopkins ( who
beat both Engert and Hohman), Harriman (who beat Soquet) and Eberle
(who beat Ortman). Soquet also lost to Jeanette Lee. Immonen, Davis
and Hunter were also impressive. Mike Sigel went 7-0 out of the first
round robin.
Then the gruelling nature of the competition seemed to wear out some of
the older players (Sigel, Ortman, Hopkins, Hunter). Their
concentration may have dropped from 100% to 99%. Any error risked
defeat against opponents able to run 75 balls almost at will.
Hohmann's athletic conditioning was a factor. So we ended up as I
originally expected with an all Germany final.
Although the level of play by some of the qualifiers was not up to
championship quality, the round of 16 showed awesome levels of play.
They made long difficult shots so easily that when a rare shot was
missed the crowd would gasp. A break shot was virtually automatic at
the start of almost every rack. Impossible situations were solved,
clusters broken, break shots manufactured, multirail position achieved.
When innings ended, it was rarely because of a miss or lack of
position, but rather because of a bad roll on a break shot where some
ball would knock the cue into a pocket or freeze against it. As a
result there was relatively little safety play (with some notable
exceptions).
It's all the more amazing considering that they play 14.1 as a very
part time activity; needing to play 9ball or now 8ball to make a
living.
Hohman also got bonus for hi run of 174 vs Schmidt. Three others had
runs of 125 and over. They haven't posted how many 100+'s there were,
but I guess a dozen at least.
My BCA rule book lists the final standings and hi run of the top 32
players at the 1993 US open 14.1 championships in NYC won by Ortman.
Only one run over 100 was achieved.
I think it can be fairly said that we witnessed a level of 14.1 play as
good or better than has ever been seen, even in the days of Mosconi.
Yes, Hohman has not dominated for 20+ years like Mosconi did. But if
Hohmann could play the young Mosconi at the same age, how would you
bet?
Barry
Cornerman
barry.milliken wrote:
> Hohman defeated Engert in the final last night 200-80.
> Yes, Hohman has not dominated for 20+ years like Mosconi did. But if
> Hohmann could play the young Mosconi at the same age, how would you
> bet?
>
>
> Barry
Willie. Hohmann is machine-like, but his opponents stepped up to the
table with runouts several times. I doubt Mosconi would have let him
off the hook like Eberle and Engert did. Eberle shot at balls three or
four times after he got to 150 and still couldn't get out like he
should have.
Fred
Roger Orsulak
"barry.milliken" <barry.m...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:1149534635.9...@f6g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Good synopsis, Barry. I certainly agree that the level of play was high, as
evidenced by the high runs. The early round, round robin format was, to my
mind, a great plus. The only thing I'd change would be to make the final
round a true double elimination. But hey, I'm also just grateful that there
was a straight pool tournament.
Regarding the 1993 championship that Ortmann won, just who was it that had
the only run over 100?
Roger
Aunty Dan
> Willie. Hohmann is machine-like, but his opponents stepped up to the
> table with runouts several times. I doubt Mosconi would have let him
> off the hook like Eberle and Engert did. Eberle shot at balls three or
> four times after he got to 150 and still couldn't get out like he
> should have.
>
> Fred
>
comparing a modern player to ones from previous generations. It is also
worth noting that all the players involved were, at best, only part time
Straight Pool players. If Straight Pool suddenly became the standard Pro
game again at both the Tournament and Money game level you would see
much stronger Straight Pool games being played, just not necessarily
from all the current Pro players in the circuit.
--
Aunty Dan (Remove "X" from "XHotmail.com" to reply directly)
------------------------------------------
"For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoisted with his own petard."
- W. Shakespeare
---------------------------------------
barry.milliken
Roger Orsulak wrote:
> Regarding the 1993 championship that Ortmann won, just who was it that had
> the only run over 100?
>
> Roger
It was Carlos Vieira at 108.
Barry
Roger Orsulak
thanks Barry.
Roger
barry.milliken
The format was not mentioned except all games were to 150 and Ortmann
won with a record of 6-1.
Meanwhile last week Hohmann won with a record of 13-2 in a field of 64.
He played 7 matches to 100, 2 to 150 and 4 to 200. That is indicative
of the stamina required.
Eberle went 12-1 but lost when it counted most.
In 1993 Viera was third after Ortmann and Lee of China.
Aside from Ortman, and Vieira, others playing in both 1993 and 2006
were:
Hunter, Barouty, Zuglan, and Garcia. Apparently Hopkins and Sigel did
not play??
barry.milliken
Looking more closely at the W-L records of the 32 players,
it's clear that format in 1993 was 32 player double elimination.
Also I can deduce from W-L that Chien-Sheng Lee defeated Ortman for Hot
seat.
Ortman then won final loser side match against Vieira, and won final vs
Lee.