The best nine-ball pool players on the planet gathered at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, England for this year's World Cup of Pool. This international doubles tournament got underway on the afternoon of Tuesday September 23 and concluded with the final on Sunday evening, September 28.
The schedule for the ninth ever 2014 World Cup of Pool was set and a strong line-up of players arrived to compete, making this event a must watch event for pool fans. There were some notable pairings shooting for the $250,000 prize pool in this single-elimination contest.
Last year's champions, Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza from the Philippines, returned as partners to defend their title. They were the No. 1 overall seed draw and played the best team from South America, Chile, in the final match played on opening night. The Philippines were the 10/3 betting favorites and proved the worth of those odds.
No. 2 Holland were the runners up to the Philippines last year, losing 10-8 in the final. They returned the same double team and head to Portsmouth with revenge on their mind. One half of Team Holland was the 2014 WPA World Nine-ball champion Niels "The Terminator" Feijen. He was back with the same partner as last year, Nick van den Berg, and once again were forced to settle for runner-up as they lost the Crown in the end with a throat-clenching double-hill loss to the England A team of Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes.
Germany was only the No. 7 seed but they had the championship pedigree to win it all. Not only has their team of Ralf "The Kaiser" Souquet and Thorsten "The Hitman" Hohmann won the World Cup of Pool tile only three years ago in 2011, they have also earned individual championships. The 35-year-old Hohmann has won the World Nine-ball championship twice (2012 & 2003) and his ten-year senior Souquet won the same title back in 1996.
Team USA began their campaign on Wednesday night against unseeded Croatia. Shane Van Boening and Earl Strickland represented No. 5 US and they were in the hunt for the title but fell short to England A and settled for the fifth place finish. The US won the World Cup of pool in 2008 but while Van Boening was playing with a different doubles partner. His new running mate, Strickland, is a three-time World Nine-ball title holder.
32 teams are in the running but with so much hardware accumulated between Germany, Holland and the USA, all looked for one of these three to become the 2014 World Cup of Pool champion. Their respective odds were 7/1, 8/1 and 8/1.
But England A came through in the end, proving that sometimes a bit longer odds can be the best bet.
Odds taken from
