We would like to thank everybody for participating in Event 3 of our first ever 9-Ball Pool Tour. A great tournament again, with a big thanks to everybody involved.

Our second tournament with The Shark Rack continues the trend from Event 2 - stability, speed, and player satisfaction throughout.

We had a full 32-player field for this event yet again, with many repeat contenders. One notable player to enter Event 3 was Jon McAllister - the 2020 IPA World Blackball Championship winner, and also a WPA World Blackball Championship runner-up, continuing his foray into the world of 9-Ball. It was a pleasure to have him enter our tour and we hope to see him at more of our future events.

Continuing from previous trends, the group stage games were a mixed affair - with only a handful of games reaching a decider. Many games yielded decisive wins.

6 players emerged from the group stages unbeaten in their respective groups. Of these, 4 players registered impressive rack differences. Tommy Donlon emerged without losing a single rack, still showing that even at his humble age, class can be permanent. Ashik Nathwani came next with a difference of 13, only dropping 2 racks. Ryan Wissett and Tony Fry only dropped 3 and 4 racks respectively. Impressive stats, when you consider the next two unbeaten players' stats, with differences of 9 and 8.

The last-16 draw was made with all first-place finishes in the bag, picked out at random to determine the player order. The second-place finishes were picked at random after, to correspond with the first.

6 of the 8 players that emerged first in their group progressed into the last 8, all with strong performances. Ashik Nathwani, Michael Levick, Daniel Baker, Tommy Donlon, John Chapman and Bradley Parker. John McAllister and Alan Coton were the only two players finishing second in their groups that progressed into the last 8, beating Ryan Wissett and Tony Fry respectively.

Ashik Nathwani went up against Jon McAllister, ultimately falling short and losing 7-3 via a strong performance from Jon. Daniel Baker found himself against Tommy Donlon again in a repeat of Event 2’s semi-final, and yet again came victorious in a 7-3 win. Alan Coton emerged victorious from a final frame decider against Michael Levick, and Bradley Parker came through 7-5 against John Chapman in another tough contest for both players.

We were licking our lips to the prospect of a final between Daniel Baker and Jon McAllister, however Jon’s opponent Alan Coton, still needed to have his say – and may have been happy not to face Daniel as he lost a final frame decider in the last event to him, in the last 16. Jon was ahead 5-3 mid-match and was on course to progress, however whilst on the hill, Alan staged a gritty comeback to meet Jon at 6-6, and came through a finely contested final frame, seeing him progress into his first final. Daniel Baker, the winner of Event 2, also came through into his second consecutive final with a strong 7-3 win over Bradley Parker, showing excellent form.

The final saw Daniel steam ahead, with Alan possibly feeling the effects of his tough semi-final. Daniel eventually emerged victorious with a decisive 7-3 score line, completing a fantastic double in our tour, boasting a 12-race winning streak throughout Event 2 and 3 with only 1 loss in 14 races, and also putting him second in our tour ranking. We are sure that he will be competing for a hat-trick of wins at Event 4.

We accumulated a £285 pot for this tournament after collecting £95 of entries (adding cumulatively to the £190 from Event 2). We set the prize at £15 per ball, with a further £135 bonus for a full 10-ball run-out. As the pot increases, these figures will increase proportionately.

To our disbelief, Ashik Nathwani was picked out again - we were lost for words, but everyone witnessed a totally random pick - please feel free to check the raffle tickets next time! Ashik broke dry unfortunately, providing immediate justice to the integrity of this side game. Our second pick was Dave Hopkin (to our relief!).

Dave Hopkin broke, with a ball trickling into a pocket eventually. He reached a 5th potted ball and opted to cash out after leaving himself awkwardly on the cushion for a 6th ball. Dave took £75 of the pot for his run (£15 x 5 balls), and the next event will now see a £210 pot, giving players even more to play for.

Shark Rack - Shane Conroy

Tournament Director T-Shirts - PxC Agency

And finally, the biggest thanks to Rileys Leicester, of which this tour wouldn't be possible without - their tables, their hospitality, their staff, and the great venue itself of which had a very nice refurbishment late last year – positively commented on by many players.

Thank you to everybody that entered, and we hope to see you all for Event 4! Entries are open - we are already booked more than three quarters of the way again with only a few places to take us to 32. We will still operate a reserve list as this makes it easier to inject players into the event (first-come-first served) if there are cancellations so if you are interested, please pay your entry fee. If we reach a total of 40 players, the reserve list will become entrants and we will run a 40-player field.

We run this for our players and strive to give great value back to them. We hope to see everybody in Event 4 which will be held on the Sunday 29th May – we are looking forward to it!