The CueSport TV £50,000 Pool Series returned over the weekend of 8th-10th May. 84 players from as far away as Catalunya, Spain competed to try and get their hands on the £3500 winners prize, or at least a share of the £10,000 guaranteed prize fund.
A lot of the usual suspects including Simon Ward, the winner of the first event in the Isle of Man, and Jayson Shaw made it through to Sunday unscathed after coming through the winner’s side.
One of the biggest stories of the weekend was that of Craig Marsh. Marsh, the runner-up in the Isle of Man, was beaten by England’s Andy Lucas in the final qualifying round. Lucas himself had come through three matches to qualify for Sunday’s knockout stages.
The last 16 contained some well-known names from the world of Blackball and it also contained the name Stephen Dempsey. Local-boy Dempsey is more well known for his World Rules play and it was actually his first ever tournament under Blackball rules. He ended up being the last Irishman standing and was beaten in the semi-final 10-8 by Jayson Shaw after leading 8-7.
The other semi-final pitted the only Englishman in the tournament, Andy Lucas, against another Scotsman, Paddy McMullen. McMullen is a very slow and deliberate player and takes his time over every shot, this lead to a very long match. Andy was leading throughout only for Paddy to peg him back; the match went 9-9 with Andy breaking. He prevailed and managed to book his spot in the final.
The final was a different matter as Jayson really ran away with it after Andy Lucas continually failed on his break. He had a run of 7 dry breaks during the final, which meant Jayson was able to lift the title and the £3500 prize after a 10-4 victory. Lucas settled for second and no doubt will be pleased with his performance after collecting £1500 for the runner-up spot.
The series continues in June with the English leg from Preston over the weekend of the 26th-28th June. Once again this will be live and exclusive to CueSport TV.
