John Morra
HIGHLY DANGEROUS Canadian cueist John Morra will be in Las Vegas in May as he won through a tough qualifying event at Shooters Snooker and Sports Bar in Toronto last weekend. Morra, 20, is the ninth qualifier to win a spot in the PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters which takes place at the Riviera Hotel from 12 – 16 May.
Morra beat Erik Hjorleifson 13-12 in a nail-biting final. Earlier, John had beaten his father Mario in another hill-hill thriller in the ‘B' bracket final - the final score was 11-10. John trailed 10-7 before Mario missed a combo on the 2-9 to win the match and from there John took over to win.
Hjorleifson had beaten Alex Radomski in the ‘A' side final 11-5, having earlier beaten Jason Klatt 11-9 in the semi-final. Morra wins a trip to the Masters where he will surely be one to avoid in the early stages.
In other qualifier news, UK tour GB9 are staging another qualifier after the first, which takes place, in Buxton, Derbyshire on Monday 15th March, sold out all 32 spots.
The second will take place at the Barcelo Imperial Hotel in Blackpool on Monday 26th April. To enter visit the GB9 site - www.gb9balltour.com
Working with an array of respected partners around the world, the qualifying events take in France, England, Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. This will give every pool player in the world the opportunity to win a trip to Las Vegas and mix it with the world's elite in the Masters.
Each qualifying event will carry an entry fee and have, in most cases a maximum field of 32 players. The winner of each event wins a trip to Vegas, to include flight and accommodation, to compete in the Masters and there are cash prizes for high finishers depending on entries.
After 17 years as a 16-player invitational competition, the Masters, one of the longest established tournaments in pool, has moved to 64 players and will run from Wednesday, May 12 to Sunday, May 16, will take place at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Working in conjunction with Cuesports International, the Masters takes place during the annual BCAPL National 8-Ball Championships, which sees thousands of players and fans flock to the Riviera for a lengthy festival of pool.
The first two days of the main event in May feature double elimination play on a multi-table set-up as the field reduces from 64 down to 32.
The event then goes to single elimination and the last 16 is played out in a single table arena setting in front of the TV cameras, culminating in the final on the evening of Sunday, May 16.
Television is produced by Matchroom Sport and will be seen as 15 x one hour programmes in 14 countries around the world with more to be added to the list.
The prize fund is set at a guaranteed $100,000 with $20,000 going to the eventual champion.
