Tag Archive for money matches

The Best Money Match TV Lineup?

It’s Money Match TV 11 this weekend (14th May) and the event has quite possibly the best lineup ever assembled for an MMTV event.

Both Arfan Dad and Mike Gibney are looking for their 8th consecutive win in the series and both Craig Dixon and Ben Finch make a return to action.

The TV matches will as ever make great viewing with the action kicking off at 11:00am with Chris Hall against Matt Lawrenson. Hall lost recently 21-20 to Jack Whelan after having a chance to win the match and will be looking to put that disappointment behind him as he takes on former European Junior Straight Pool Champion Matt Lawrenson.

Lawrenson was tipped as a future star of the UK pool scene but has stalled in his bid to retain that promise, there is no doubt that on his day he is a class act but sometimes he lacks consistency.

The next match will be at 2:30pm and features one of our 7-times champions in Arfan Dad. Last time out Arfan put on a masterful display against Adam Benn Smith and has had some excellent results over the past 8 months but this time faces a very tough test in Phil Burford.

Phil is also a former European Junior Champion (in the 9-ball division) but has started to fulfill his promise with some excellent displays on the GB 9 Ball Tour. He recently won his first main event title beating Craig Osborne in an absolute marathon so the stamina required for these longer MMTV matches will not be a problem. Whether he can maintain his form over the longer distance is questionable though.

The last match of the day will certainly bring a crowd to the Vegas Bar as Craig Dixon and Ben Finch go head-to-head in a wildcard match. Both have the pedigree, both have the passion and the support and both have history on MMTV this match will be a cracker.

Tune in live from around 10:45am for the small price of only £3.99

So, is this the best lineup yet on MMTV?

On our Travels

Money Match TV 9 is on this weekend (19th Feb) – the 9th time we have done the trip up to Wakefield in Yorkshire. I am sure the city is amazing but I have only ever seen one road in, a hotel and a club when I have been up there and they have all been OK.

For some reason we are not getting major high profile matches on MMTV, not sure if the top players want to play for money when there are so many decent International tournament now. What this has done though is open the door for some of the ‘second tier’ – these are players that no doubt have talent, and the ability to win tournaments, but in some cases perform better in the longer, highly pressurised arena of Money Match TV.

Why this is I don’t know, but Money Matches seem to suit some players more than others. Just because we are not getting the so-called ‘top players’ doesn’t mean that the quality lacks. In fact, far from it, we have seen some amazingly close matches as the opponents in most cases have been very well matched.

Arfan Dad and Mike Gibney will both be going for 6 consecutive wins this weekend, Arfan is playing Adam Shaw who won a GB9 Challenge Cup event last year. Mike is playing a relative unknown on the 9-ball circuit in Rich Wharton.

I always feel like we have to remain impartial at Cuesport TV but it is clear to me that these matches will be relatively close. Both of the matches I have mentioned will be live online at Cuesport TV. For details on the other matches visit here.

What is Great about Yarmouth?

Well for one the amount of pool tournament held at the Vauxhall Holiday Park. For a number of years it has hosted EPA events and more recently the UPC (University Pool Council) 8-ball events have been held there. That is where we come in, from the 23rd-27th February Cuesport TV will be on site at the biggest event in University pool.

We are not advertising this as a live event simply because we have had issues with connection in the past, if it can be broadcast live it will be, if not we will do our usual recordings and broadcast later.

Anyway, that’s enough for now, join us if you can!

What a Day of Live Pool!

It is confirmed, MMTV 6 was the biggest yet in terms of live viewers with a total of 2078 tuning in to watch at some point across the day.

So a really big thank you to everyone that supported the event and also a big thanks to Ben Moore, Lee Rigby, Tone Weafer, Roger Haddon, Adam Benn Smith and Chris Melling for doing a stint in the commentary box. It works well with spreading it around a bit.

The pool was awesome, and the application that Lee Rigby developed to record match stats was simply awesome (even though there was a bit of micky taking as Lee became Statto!)

One of the most amazing stats was Adam Benn Smith breaking and running 9 of his 21 racks in the win against Shane Appleton, after Shane had only missed four balls all match he went on to lose!

Mike Valentine proved his class with a 21-17 win over Chris Melling, and Arfan Dad, Mike Gibney and Phil Newman all recorded there third consecutive MMTV wins. The other winner was Barry Briggs against Mark Lovell.

Our next live event is this coming weekend from the GB9 Northern Masters: 27th & 28th November.

MMTV 6 Coming to Your Screen

Money Match TV 6 (MMTV 6) is live this coming Saturday (20th November), exclusively on Cuesport TV. This one is being billed as the best so far with 6 cracking matches, 3 of which will be on the TV table.

The matches once again start at 11:00am and will be live throughout the day, the session times and matches are all listed below:

11:00
Mike Gibney v Martin Taylor (TV Table)
Barry Briggs v Mark Lovall

14:30
Adam Smith v Shane Appleton (TV Table)
Arfan Dad v Neil Cummins

18:00
Chris Melling v Mike Valentine (TV Table)
Phil Newman v Tem Dixon

All times listed are UK times, all matches on MMTV unless otherwise stated are race-to-21, 9 Ball, winner break with 3 point rule in operation. Watch it all live and uninterrupted on Cuesport TV. If you require further information about the events then go to the Money Match TV website.

The Appeal of Money Matches

We are now onto our fourth edition of Money Match TV this weekend (18th September) and it seems the events just get more and more popular. So much so that this edition has been extended to cope with two extra matches with the TV match at 11am.

It kind if got me thinking about the appeal of Money Matches as opposed to regular tournament play.

What is it that appeals to the players and the spectators?

I have whittled it down to a few ideas:

1. Playing for cash

I think that playing for money puts a different kind of pressure on the players rather than a regular entry fee to a tournament. They know that they only have one chance to win the money and that generally a lot is on the line. Money Match TV events carry a minimum £250-per-man stake before you can play, with many of the higher profile matches played for £2000+ per man.

2. Long Matches

Although tournaments can take a number of days to complete you never get the sustained amount of table time as you do in a Money Match, all Money Match TV games are race-to-21 when playing 9 ball rules. Players prefer this as it is often felt that the better player will win through over longer races, it also hopefully means that any luck will be evenly spread throughout the match.

It is also great from a spectator point of view knowing that there is a long match and you can see the changes in players mindset and whether fatigue is setting in during the course of the match.

3. Support & Atmosphere

Money Matches tend to mean big crowds as friends and relatives come to support the players in the venue. This is a big appeal over tournaments which can have a very clinical, almost hospital like atmosphere at times. Spectators can have a few drinks cheer their player on and really help to build a great match setting. On the flipside the players know that they have some support and it is almost like they are not playing alone.

The more noisy the atmosphere the better when it comes to money matches, and Cuesport TV especially like a football crowd feel!

If you have any more ideas as to why Money Matches appeal more than tournaments then please post them below.

Money Match TV 4 takes place on 18th September and is live on Cuesport TV.

A Call to Arms!

I have been contacted by somebody from the Scottish Blackball fraternity asking if I know of anyone that would want to play some money matches against Scotlands finest up in Glasgow.

Recently it has been clear to me (off the back of the Potts v Bale match) that Cuesport TV needs more high profile one-off matches.

This could be an opportunity for anyone so basically if you fancy testing your skills against some of Scotland’s best Blackball players and are prepared to play for high stakes then drop me a message. I will pass on your details.

This also goes for keeping us informed of any upcoming money-matches, we are interested to hear about each and every one of them.

Challenge Matches on the Horizon

Over the next two weekends (August 8th and August 15th/16th) Cuesport TV are involved in live streaming three separate big money match ups.

Burford vs Gray – Saturday 8th August, 5pm (UK Time) – Cuesport TV

The first on August 8th features, European Junior 9-ball Champion, Phil Burford and former European number 1, Mark Gray. These two stalwarts of the British 9-ball scene go head-to-head for £1000 per man. The game is 9-ball and it will be a race-to-30, winner breaks.

The action for this event will be live over at Cuesport TV to paid up subscribers, something you can do for as little as £2.95. The action starts at 5pm with an undercard match between Andy Appleton (brother of World Number 1 Darren Appleton) and young up-and-coming player Louis Clarke. They are playing for £500 per man race-to-21 I believe and will be live also in advance of the main event.

£10,000 Scotch Doubles Challenge – Saturday 15th August, 5pm (UK time) American Pool TV

Another evening of entertainment that starts with a tasty undercard match, UK Pro players Scott Higgins and Alan Millership match up for £500-per-man. Race-to-15 9 Ball action. A good precursor for what is to come at around about 7pm.

The big match up on the cards on this particular night is an interesting one. Rarely do we see scotch doubles matches outside of the Mosconi Cup so this will be a treat.

Karl Boyes & Chris Melling take on World number 1 Darren Appleton & Imran Majid.

The Prize?

A killer £10,000 winner-take-all pot. The match is 10 ball with a race-to-35 in operation, I expect a very close match, Boyes/Melling have a 5 rack start to make it even more interesting.

This live event will be the first one shown on American Pool TV where you can buy the match in advance for £4.99 or on the night for £7.49 make sure you buy it, amazing match up.

Simon Ward v Craig Reynold’s – Sunday August 16th, 3pm (UK Time) Cuesport TV

Another match for Cuesport TV subscribers.

Simon Ward, one of the most consistent players of the 2008 season plays renowned money player and IPA professional Craig Reynol’ds for a £6,000 pot.

Played to WEPF World Rules this one will appeal to the small-ball fans throughout the UK and Europe, possibly further afield.

To watch this one a subscription is required.

Playing For Cash!

Are we just too conservative in this country or is it that the scene is much more underground?

What I am talking about is money-matches or challenge matches in any pool discipline. Although there are matches played with some large sums of money there doesn’t seem to be much of a scene per se. In the USA money-matches are high profile and quite regular.

Recently (some of you will have watched it) we showed a £10,000 8-ball challenge match between John Kelly and Tony Halpin. The match was not of the highest quality but the money on offer (plus a bit of interactivity with our viewers) meant that it was a tense affair.

It was such a success from our point of view that we would love to do something more regular, ideally midweek so it is away from the usual tournament scene.

Again it does not matter what the discipline of pool is, be it 8-ball or 9-ball the biggest thing is that there is some action, the players, I think, are keen for it and our recent live stream proved that viewers are up for it as well.

It was interesting to see some recent forum comments on a regular 9-ball forum in the UK about a potential £2000 challenge match between Gareth Esprit and World 10-ball Champion Darren Appleton. If this happens we will be there to stream the action live, but again we would love for this to become a regular feature on the channel, so if anyone knows anything or knows a game that is going ahead let us know.

Also, why do you think the money scene is kept under wraps in this country?