Snooker sensation takes Event 3.......
Seventeen year old Edinburgh born snooker professional, Ross Muir, proved that he can turn his hand to 9 ball in a spectacular display of potting to take the title of Edinburgh 9 Ball Masters Event 3 winner 2013. A strong field turned up to fight for the title and many must have fancied their chances including the former Scottish No1 Pat Holtz on his return to 9 ball after a 3 year sabatical. When the group stages were drawn Group C certainly looked the toughest with Pringle, Valentine and Holtz drawn together. After 4 hours of group stages we were down to the last 16.....
The shock result of this round was Glasgow's Stevie McQueen comfortably disposing of number 1 ranked Chris Fraser and the tournament opened up even more when number 2 ranked Chris Pringle fell to the ever strong Joni Holden. Holtz narrowly escaped defeat too at the hands of Achilleas Chatzitheocharis winning the hill hill game.
In the Last 8 Ross Muir eased into the semi final to join Holtz , Valentine and Holden. At this point Muir started to show his class with his run away 9-2 victory over Holtz. In the second semi final Valentine took care of Holden with an equally emphatic 9-3 scoreline, infact Valentine had only lost an impressive 4 racks to get through the knockout stages to the final.
In the final Muir dominated the early stages racing into a 6-1 lead only for Valentine to peg him back, but it was Muir who held his nerve to take the title on his debut 10-8.
Congratulations to Ross proving that this series is becoming tougher and tougher with each event. Rankings are updated following Event 3 and look out for Event 4 details which will be announced shortly.
PRINGLE CAPTURES 6TH TITLE  |  Running out of fingers...6 titles |
A very strong field turned out for Event 2 of the Edinburgh Masters 9 Ball Series. In the groups there were no real surprises although a few eyebrows were raised at the early exit of number 6 ranked Dave Clark.
In the last 16 both Holden and Pringle showed their intent winning their respective games 7-1 and 7-0. The stand out performance was that of the returning Jim Smith who was unlucky to lose on the hill to GB9 regular Andrew Morris.
Edinburgh players made up 5 of the 8 quarter final places which emphasises the depth of talent in the Capital. At this stage Stirling based Morris eliminated the much fancied No1 ranked Chris Fraser with an 8-6 scoreline.
As always Bowes v Holden was a tight affair which swung both ways before Holden sneaked it in the deciding frame. Pringle destroyed Glasgow's Darren Murray 8-3 and Ross Simpson continued his great run in the tournament disposing of Lee Watt 8-5.
In the semis Holden sent Morris packing and Pringle ended Simpsons run emphatically 9-3 to set up a mouth watering all Edinburgh final.
Holden bolted from the starting blocks hardly missing a pot to race into a 5-1 lead but Pringle slowly pegged him back.
Pringle proved once again that you can never write him off. A tremendous comeback and victory given the fact that he was never actually in front until the final rack of the match! Tough defeat to take for Holden but he will take some consolation in jumping to 3rd in the rankings with this result.
Thanks to all that attended and your continued support will enable the series to grow and grow.
And finally Craig Blackstock was the lucky name out of the hat and took home a lovely Bunjee jump cue courtesy of Edinburgh 9 Ball.
VALENTINE TAKES FIRST 'OPEN' MASTERS EVENT
Michael Valentine became the first non Edinburgh based player to get his hands on the Masters trophy with a solid performance in the final against Chris 'Spanish' Fraser. The top four in the rankings were seeded into different groups but they all proved their ranking is no fluke by qualifying for the quarter finals. There were some regular faces in the last 8 along with Midlothian's Darren Raine playing in his first Masters event. Edinburgh based Ryan Coyle showed that he is constantly improving by taking his place in the last 8 also. |
In the quarters Valentine halted Raine's comeback into competitive 9 ball, Fraser took care of the much fancied Pringle edging a hill hill battle, Holden overcame an early scare to end Coyles run in the tournament and Bowes knocked out number 3 ranked Westwater. In the semis Valentine demolished Holden 9-0 and Fraser held off a slight comeback to make the final with a 9-6 scoreline over Bowes. GB9 regular Valentine showed his class in the final and why he will be the man to beat in the next event! |
Fraser and Valentine before the final
HOLDEN'S HOODOO FINALLY GONE |  |
CHRIS 'SPANISH' FRASER EDGES TIGHT EVENT 4 FINAL Event 4 of the season took place recently with The Newyorker once again hosting the event. Although there were a number of familiar names missing from the draw, Holden, Blackstock and Kempinski, the field was still as tough as ever. Topping the group meant that you went straight into the semi finals and those places were taken by Fraser and Pringle, in the remaining quarter final matches Westwater overcame Waliszewski and Clark disposed of Bowes. It was the two group winners who were triumphant in the semis which would set up yet another Pringle v Fraser match up.
PRINGLE WINS TITLE NUMBER 5
Event 3 of the 2011 season took place recently at the New Yorker, Edinburgh. The field may have been the smallest to date but was still as competitive as ever including 6 previous Masters winners. On the tables you could clearly see who had been putting the practice in with both Joni Holden and Stevie Westwater topping their respective groups allowing then to move directly into the semi finals. Pringle and Fraser took the other semi final places after easing through their quarter final matches. It was Westwater and Pringle that were to make up the final and Edinburgh's number 1 Chris Pringle ran riot in a very one sided final running away with it by a 8-2 scoreline Pringle makes it 4 titles as Holden Hoodoo continues The slightly delayed Event 6 of the 2010 series took place recently at The Newyorker, Meadowbank. All of the top seeds eased through the group stages into the quarter finals. The tie of the round had to be Edinburgh's No1 Chris Pringle v Cameron Bowes with the game finishing 9-7 including a phenominal amount of break and run racks. In the other quarters Fraser, Westwater and Holden eased through their respective games. The semis were both tight affairs with Pringle beating Westwater 10-8 after having been 6-3 down, and Holden disposed of Fraser by the same scoreline. This would be Holden's 3rd final in a row stressing his consistency at the game but yet again the 'Holden Hoodoo' was to strike with Pringle demolishing him in the final 11-3. Holden will start 2011 in 3rd place in the rankings hoping that 2011 win bring that elusive win that has been evading him since Event 2 2009. |  Chris Pringle and Chris Fraser shake hands before the final The final was a tight affair with Fraser edging it by a 10-9 scoreline. With this win Fraser closes the gap on Pringle in the rankings, and with more points accumulated during season 2011 he clearly has his eyes set on the number 1 position by the end of the season.
DATES NOW SET FOR LAST 2 REMAINING 2011 EVENTS EVENT 5 - SUNDAY 27TH NOVEMBER EVENT 6 - SUNDAY 18TH DECEMBER ( The next Scottish Tour event is also in Edinburgh on 4th December - see SAPPA section of this site for info ) 
 Chris Pringle and Joni Holden before the final |
Win Number 2 for Fraser Chris Fraser became only the second player to hold more than one Masters title recently with his event 5 win at The Newyorker, Edinburgh. Topping his group meant that Chris jumped straight into the semi finals where he would meet three time winner Chris Pringle. It was a tight game with Fraser edging it 9-8, highlighting the fact that there is not much between the top players in Edinburgh. The other semi final saw Joni Holden take on Stevie Westwater. Once again a tight match saws Joni win 9-7 to book his place in his second Masters final in a row. The final starting of close but it was Chris Fraser who ran out winner, securing his second title and also stealing number 2 spot in the rankings from fellow finalist Holden. |  Chris Fraser and Joni Holden before the final |
Yet another new Masters Champion Alex Coutts
The slightly delayed Event 4 of the season took place at The Newyorker in October. Yet again this event through up some surprises, mainly the three favourites not making it past the quarter finals...Pringle, Westwater and Fraser. The quarters as always had some interesting ties, Bowes put out Westwater 7-4, Coutts sent Fraser home in a hill hill thriller having been 6-4 down. Jim Smith making a comeback in the Edinburgh pool scene was demolished 7-3 by Holden and finally Blackstock sent Edinburgh No 1 crashing out 7-5. The quarter results made it virtually impossible to pick a winner from the remaining four players, three of which had one previous Masters victory. As suspected both semi finals were very close, Holden edged out Bowes 8-6 and Coutts won another hill hill battle with Blackstock.  Joni Holden and Alex Coutts shake hands before the final | 
After Coutts quarter and semi matches going hill hill there was really only one way the final would turn out. The lead swung between both players until the scores were tied 8-8 and we had yet another final frame decider. It was Alex who took his chance in the final rack to make it another new name on the trophy. Congratulations to Joni Holden also with this runner up spot he has now jumped up to 2nd in the Edinburgh rankings and has closed the gap slightly on No1 Chris Pringle. With two events left this season Event 5 is scheduled for November. Any new Edinburgh residents wishing to compete should contact us at edinburgh9ball@hotmail.co.uk or join us on Facebook - edinburgh 9 ball group. |
Treble Triumph for Edinburgh No1
Chris Pringle
Edinburgh Number 1 Chris Pringle strengthened his position at the top of the rankings with a effortless win at Edinburgh Masters Event 3 2010. The New Yorker played host to August's event and it showed that a number of players were struggling to adjust to the pace of the tables having not used the venue for some time.
In the groups Remi Passiatore was dominant in group A, with Chris Pringle running riot in group B winning an amazing 25 out of 30 racks. Joni Holden made it safely through the groups for the first time in the last 2 events and the shock early exist of Event 3 was previous winner Craig Blackstock. Craig's early bath proves just how difficult this Masters series has become. It was also a harsh welcome back to the original promotor of pool in Edinburgh, Sanjay Varma. Sanjay was eliminated at group stages also.
The quarter final line-up had some regular faces in it with 4 out of the 8 contenders having been previous Masters champions, but also good to see a new face in the running with Gus McDonald making his second quarter final in a row pushing him up to 15th in the rankings. Tie of the round was Joni Holden v Chris Fraser with Chris surprisingly conceeding at 5-2 down due to his poor form.
The first semi saw Remi Passiatore show an excellant standard of play to ease past Cameron Bowes 8-4 and secure his first ever final place. In the second semi Chris pringle disposed easily of Joni Holden 8-3.
The final started out close with both players running racks easily but with the game tied 4-4 Chris decided to stretch his legs and take charge of the final to run out winner by 9 racks to 5.
With his third Masters win Chris has extended his lead in the rankings to over 400 points making him almost impossible to catch in the 2010 season, the race is now on to secure second place in the rankings.......
Blackstock wins first title in Edinburgh
Masters Event 1 - 2010
Following a slight delay to the start of Edinburgh9ball.com's 2010 Masters series the first event of the year took place in April. The outstanding venue The Green Room once again played host to the event.
On the tables there were some interesting early exits, number 1 ranked Chris Pringle fell in the last 8 to the ever strong Stevie Westwater who was fresh from his Edinburgh Open semi final place. In the group stages there was another massive shock when much fancied Joni 'Texas' Holden was eliminated and failed to make the latter stages for the first time ever.
In the other quarter finals Chris Fraser eased past Lee Watt, Craig Blackstock showed that topping his group was no fluke as he demolished Dave Clark 7-2 and in the last quarter Cameron Bowes started to hit form at the right time and whitewashed Dave Moir.
The semi's kept the 2 favourites apart with Westwater in one semi and Fraser in the other, but once again the favourites fell. Blackstock took care of Fraser 8-4 whilst Bowes provided the spectating crowd with a tremendous comeback to win 8-6 from being 4-0 down.
In the final both players were clearly playing well and both were taking away some amazing finishes but it was Bowes who edged into a small lead at 6-4, from then on it was all Blackstock as he took finish after finish to win 5 without reply to take the first event 9-6. Congratulation to Craig Blackstock, runner up in Event 6 2009 and a win in Event 1 2010 means he has closed the gap on Joni Holden in 4th position to only 20 points. Craig is clearly proving a point that the 'big four' should indeed be the 'big five'!
Event 2 will take place in May, once again at The Green Room and with the last 7 events providing 6 different winners anything could happen.....
Cameron Bowes and Craig Blackstock shake hands before the the final of Edinburgh Masters Event 1 -2010
NEW VENUE ......NEW WINNER
There was a last minute change of venue for the last Edinburgh Masters Event of the year due to unforeseen circumstances surrounding the usual venue. Luckily for Edinburgh9ball.com The Green Room were kind enough to offer their facilities at short notice and we cannot thank them enough.
On the tables it was a first event win of the year for Chris Fraser which boosts him up to number 3 in the rankings at the end of season 2009. Suprisingly it has taken Chris until event 6 to secure his first win, many had fancied him to win multiple events this year!
Chris barely lost any racks all day, winning the one sided final against Craig Blackstock 10-2.
Congratulations must go also to Craig, beating Remi Passiatore and Tour number 1 Chris Pringle on route to the final. Craig has now secured 5th spot on the rankings putting a bit of distance between himself and the chasing pack.
2009 has been a tremendous first season for Edinburgh9ball.com and everyone involved in the tour is looking forward to an even better 2010 season.
Full results and updated rankings can be found in the Rankings section of this site.
Anyone interested in joining for 2010 should contact us on edinburgh9ball@hotmail.co.uk
TEXAS BOOKMAKERS ANOUNCES ODDS FOR THE FINAL EDINBURGH MASTERS EVENT OF THE SEASON
Stevie Westwater 5/2 jf
Chris Pringle 5/2 jf
Derek Easton 10/3
Joni Holden 5/1
Chris Fraser 6/1
C Bowes 10/1
R Passiatore 10/1
C Blackstock 14/1
T Walizewski 16/1
R Brady 16/1
D Moir 25/1
D Clark 28/1
L Watt 33/1
G Walker 50/1
Other players on request....
Pringle Takes Event 5
Although only 10 players entered Event 5 of the season, it was a strong field which split into 2 groups of 5 players for the round robin stages.With the top 4 players in each group progressing to the quarter finals, only 2 players were eliminated (Craig Blackstock and Dave Clark).
Both groups were closely contested and after all the games were played out it led to the following quarter final clashes :-
Q1 Lee Watt 9 Chris Fraser 8
Chris Fraser would normally be strongly fancied for this match in the longer distance format, but despite leading several times through the contest, Lee never gave up and managed to eek out a 9-8 victory to knock out the tournament favourite.
Q2 Remi Passiatore 9 Gary Walker 6
Both players were trading racks in the early stages, but it was Remi who finished the stronger and ended Gary's bid to make his first masters semi final. Gary's performance didnt go un-noticed though and there may well be more to come from him in future events.
Q3 Chris Pringle 9 Dave Moir 3
This match promised to be a tricky one for Chris as Dave has a better record than most against him so far this year (which included a Sappa victory earlier in the month). However Chris was simply too strong on this occasion and progressed without too much difficulty to set up a semi final clash with Remi Passiatore.
Q4 Joni Holden 9 Cameron Bowes 6
Joni started off extremely well until missing a routine 8 ball that would have secured a 4-0 lead. This did seem to rattle him a little as Cameron fought back to trail by just 1 rack at 7-6. Joni managed to hang on though and stay on course for his second masters event of the season.
S1 Chris Pringle 9 Remi Passiatore 4
After a slow start to the day, Chris was beginning to find form and momentum was gathering. Everyone who watched this match could see that his confidence was growing and he looked hungry to win. There was some interesting tactical racks of 8 ball in this match which could have gone either way but it was Chris who was getting the better of them as he ran out a 9-4 winner.
S2 Joni Holden 9 Lee Watt 3
Lee never really got going in this one and it was clear that he was not happy with his playing cue. Joni took his chances well to secure the first 7 racks and take all the pressure out of the situation. Lee battled on admirably tho to make the scoreline respectable.
The Final - Chris Pringle 10 Joni Holden 3
A quite brilliant performance in the final by Chris who was not only breaking the balls superbly, but also combining it with a ruthless display of finishing. Joni did take the few chances that came his way to trail by just 2 racks at 5-3. After that it was one-way traffic though. Everyone's congratulations go to Chris for a great tournament and for recently becoming a dad!
Chris Pringle 9/4F Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Finalist S-finalist Winner
Chris has been playing to a very high level over the last 6 months and has really set the standard for the rest of the
Stevie Westwater 4/1 2F Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
- - -
Stevie has taken a long break from the game and has only recently picked up a cue again. Although he has not shown much of his old form so far, we all know what this man can do when he gets in the zone! Well known for his master tactics at 8 ball and a previous SAPPA finalist. But is his best pool behind him?
Joni Holden 5/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
S-finalist Winner S-Finalist
Consistently playing to a good standard recently and the results in the first 3 events will support that. Positional play could be improved and still relies on a strong potting game during runouts. You know he will be there or thereabouts but is he worth a wee bet at 5/1?, you decide!
Cameron Bowes 5/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Winner Q-finalist Finalist
Chris Fraser 11/2 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Q-finalist Finalist Q-Finalist
It's fair to say that we have not seen the best of Chris Fraser so far this year. Last season saw him rise to No 11 in the SAPPA rankings, which is higher than any other
Darren Raine 11/2 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
- - -
An interesting selection as he will be an unfamiliar opponent for most of the other players. As I understand, Darren doesn't get the chance to play all that regularly. Seems to have unlimited cue power and knows how to control the cue ball very well. Several people will be tempted to go for Darren at this price as it would not be an upset if he won, but worth bearing in mind that he will have had far less time on the New Yorker tables than most!
Remi Passiatore 7/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Groups S-finalist Q-finalist
Has not done as well as many predicted in the first three events this year but has found a bit of form recently. In the first SAPPA event of the new season he qualified through to the Sunday before losing 10-8 to Scottish No 1 Pat Holtz which was a great effort. He has a strong all round game in all disciplines of American pool and is a definite banana skin for everyone.
Craig Blackstock 10/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Q-finalst Q-finalist Q-finalist
Perhaps been on the receiving end of a cruel run of the ball in a couple of his quarter final defeats where he certainly had opportunities to progress further. Craig's love for the game is without question and his determination and hunger for pool shows whenever he plays. Qualification through the group stages has not been a problem and it would be a question of 'finding the extra gear' in the later stages. If he can get over the quarter final hurdle it could give him the confidence to make a bold bid!
Sanjay Varma 14/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
- - -
Not without a chance is the ever popular Sanj who has done a lot to promote pool in
Simon Dickson 14/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
- - -
Will be interesting to see how Simon gets on, he has gathered experience from playing against the best pool players in Scotland at the SAPPA tournaments so is certainly not a newcomer to competitive pool. Having not seen him play in the business end of many tournaments its difficult to know what to expect but we will soon see.
Tomas 18/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Q-finalist - Groups
Qualified through to the Sunday at the last SAPPA event and was close to qualifying through the group stage in event 3 where he was edged out by Remi Passiatore and Joni Holden. Difficult to see him going all the way here, but stranger things have happened in sport as we all know :)
Dave Clark 20/1 Event 1 Event 2 Event 3
Groups Groups S-finalist
A great run in the last event with an 8-6 victory over Chris Fraser in the quarter final. Has an extremely quick and aggressive style which can see him cause upsets when things go well. Inconsistency and shot selection would be the concern for Dave, but i would predict that his best is yet to come as he is improving all the time.
Pringle takes 3rd Masters event
The most recent Edinburgh Masters competition was held on Sunday the 3rd of May 2009. As expected the 3rd event of the year attracted some of the best pool players in Edinburgh with Joni Holden looking to make it two victories in a row. Chris Pringle was installed as bookies favourite, and the bookmaker was not wrong on this occasion. Chris Pringle destroyed Cameron Bowes 10-4 in a very one sided final, perhaps taking revenge for his defeat in the final of event 1 to the same player. Joni Holden and Dave Clark made up the other semi finalists.
The victory puts Chris Pringle number 1 in the current rankings with 3 events left for 2009.
