2008 World Pool Masters Site Starts Today

Matchroom Sport is delighted to announce that www.worldpoolmasters.com , the Official Online Home of the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters, is now live.

With the tournament being held for the first time ever in Las Vegas, the site will be your first port of call for news, player profiles, results, stories and pictures of what promises to be a hugely exciting event featuring some of the world’s top players.

Four World 9-ball Champions – Daryl Peach, Mika Immonen, Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan – will be taking part in the event as well as some of the biggest names in the game, including Shane Van Boening, Francisco Bustamante, Niels Feijen and Corey Deuel.

All will be vying for the $20,000 top prize.

The World Pool Masters will be taking place at the Riviera Hotel and Casino from Thursday 9th to Sunday 11th May with afternoon and evening sessions daily, concluding with the final scheduled to commence around 9.15pm on Sunday evening.

www.worldpoolmasters.com will feature exclusive interviews with the stars who make up the field as well as comments and predictions from the big names of world pool.

Bookmark www.worldpoolmasters.com today for full details and information about the 16th annual running of one of pool’s most prestigious events.

Pagulayan Wins Magnificent 7 Title

Former world champion Alex Pagulayan out-steadied Joven Bustamante in their race to 100 finals showdown to rule the Magnificent 7 Winner-Take-All 9-Ball Invitational second qualifier Saturday night at the Bravio Sports and Resto Lounge in Mandaue City.

Pagulayan came back from a six-rack deficit at the start of the match to fashion out a 100-91 decision en route to pocketing the P300,000 top purse and booking a slot to the grand finals of this series organized by Hilton Professional Cues and Bravio Sports and Resto Lounge and supported by the Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines with Fundador, Cebu Rajah Hotel, Sunstar, and Monster Radio BT105 as sponsors.

“It feels good to win this tournament, especially when you’re up against a field with world-class players and a couple of young stars,” said the 28-year-old World Pool Championship titlist in 2004, who also won the World Pool Masters last month.

“This victory also kind of boosted my confidence, which I need coming back here in the next couple of weeks for the Manny Villar Cup, which is my next target,” added Pagulayan.

Pagulayan and Bustamante made it to the finals after emerging as the top two players with the most number of racks won after the round-robin elimination. Bustamante, who won all his matches, came in with a 78-rack aggregate, while Pagulayan had 72, despite losing two matches.

But after Bustamante won the opening rack of the championship round, it was all Pagulayan show, as he took advantage of the former’s inconsistent break, while holding for his own to take away the fight and become the second winner of this one-of-a-kind event after former Asian Games gold medalist Gandy Valle.

The tournament is the second of a series of winner-take-all competitions leading up to the grand finals slated in December.

It also serves as the preview to the First Senate President Manny Villar Cup Cebu Leg, the biggest pool tournament to be held in the Queen City of the South, on June 20 to 22.

Besides Pagulayan, Bustamante and Valle, the others who competed in this three-day tournament were 2007 World Pool runner-up Roberto Gomez, Cebuano rising stars Marvin Gentapa and JJ Kid, and Mike Hilton.