Pool Cue News and Review

Last night’s taping of the Billiards International Challenge of Champions featured two of the old guard in Karen Corr and Allison Fisher against two of the WPBA’s new young guns in Ga Young Kim and Xiaoting Pan.  I’m not quite sure why Karen Corr was invited to this event since she hasn’t won a single WPBA tournament this year (while Kelly Fisher has won twice and is currently the #1 player), but seeing how I’m not the tournament director, who am I to complain.

Anyway, it should be pretty compelling TV, as the Allison Fisher v. Xiaoting Pan semifinal went to sudden death, as did the finals.  Congrats go out to our favorite librarian on taking down the biggest prize in women’s pool.  Why the women get $25k and the men get $50k when they consistently pull better ratings than the men is beyond me, but $25k ain’t too shabby.

The new rankings are up for the WPBA.  Not a whole lot in the way of changes from last month with Kelly Fisher extending her lead over the rest of the pack.  Jasmin dropped out of the Top 10 and The Elbow dropped to #14 due to their no shows.  Monica Webb moves up to #10 with a takedown of Allison Fisher and a TV Round showing in the Pacific Coast Classic and Yu Ram Cha cracks the Top 20.  Here’s how it all breaks down:

1  Kelly Fisher
2  Karen Corr
3  Xiaoting Pan
4  Ga Young Kim
5  Allison Fisher
6  Vivian Villarreal
7  Jeanette Lee
8  Anna Kostanian
9  Gerda Hofstatter
10 Monica Webb
11 Helena Thornfeldt
12 Dawn Hopkins
13 Jasmin Ouschan
14 Sarah Ellerby
15 Iris Ranola
16 Sarah Rousey
17 Kim Shaw
18 Yu Ram Cha
19 Julie Kelly
20 Melissa Little

With just one tournament to go, it would take a colossal collapse to knock Kelly Fisher out of the catbird seat.  Ugh… just one more tournament… what the hell am I going to write about from November through March??

Here are your brackets for the Round of 16

First Bracket
Monica Webb vs. Janet Atwell
Allison Fisher vs. Sarah Rousey

Second Bracket
Ga Young Kim vs. Vivian Villarreal
Gerda Hofstatter vs. Xiaoting Pan

Third Bracket
Line Kjorsvik vs. Karen Corr
Iris Ranola vs. Kim Shaw

Fourth Bracket
Anna Kostanian vs. Yu Ram Cha
Jeanette Lee vs. Kelly Fisher

Honestly, Allison Fisher looks like she’s got the easiest path to the Final Four, but I’m still calling a Ga Young Kim win for this event.

In my neverending efforts to bring little rays of sunshine to our cloudy industry, I’m really pleased to bring the news of the Louis Panullo Charity Tournament that’s going on this weekend courtesy of Tony Robles (who happens to be one of the truly good guys in this industry).  Among the participants are Allison Fisher, Jeanette Lee (no snarky nicknames when she’s doing something altruistic), Mika Immonen, Jasmin Ouschan, Caroline Pao, Gerda Hofstatter and the dangerously dreamy Liz Ford.  Proceeds go to The Michael Magro Foundation to children with cancer and their families.

Keep doing nice things and I’m going to start having trouble being all snarky.  Well, actually I probably won’t have much trouble being snarky, but keep doing nice things anyway.  In all seriousness, I’ve got much love and respect for all the participants in this event.  Anyone in the NY area wanting to check it out should head over to the Cue Bar in Bayside.

4518 Bell Blvd
Bayside, NY 11361
(718) 631-2646

Ok, back to the news. The US Open is going to be an interesting one to watch on the old ESPN, because almost every major player has been knocked out. Allison went 2 and out, Brit-Brit Kostanian got bounced by Vivian and Xiao Ting Pan got bounced by giant killer Iris Ranola. Your quarterfinal matchups (all of which will be on the tube) are as follows:

Iris Ranola
Sarah Ellerbitch

Karen Corr
Yu Ram Cha

Jeanette Lee
Pam Cimarelli

Vivian Villarreal
Kelly Fisher

I’m looking down the line and say to myself, “self, who the hell is Pam Cimarelli”? So, I flip through the WPBA event photos and find this picture of her. I’m thinking to myself damn if she doesn’t look just like Pam Treadway who made a huge splash on the WBPA the same year as Jasmin Ouschan with both having really strong showings at the BCA/EnjoyPool/Generation Pool 9 Ball Championships. I could’ve sworn she was doing the family thing with a dude named Josh Brothers, but after another 10 seconds of research, I found that Pam Cimarelli = Pam Treadway.

If you haven’t had the chance to meet her, let me tell you that Pam is an absolute doll. Granted, I haven’t seen her in a few years, but she’s confident, strong and has a super magnetic personality. I’m pullin’ hard for her, although I will say that this tournament is Karen the Librarian’s to lose. She’s been playing really strong, taking down Line Kjorsvik, Joanne Ashton and Vivian 9-4, then steamrolling Helena Thornfeldt 9-1 in the round of 16.

One more note, my hat is officially off to J-Thug herself, the Notorious L.E.E. who is having another really nice tournament. I threw a bit (well, a lot) of grief her way early on in the season but the last couple of events she’s been looking like the Widow of old.

More updates this evening with quarterfinal thoughts and results.