Billiards Digest - Pool's Top Source for News, Views, Tips & More

Browse Features

Tips & Instruction
Ask Jeanette Lee
Blogs/Columns
Stroke of Genius
30 Over 30
Untold Stories
Pool on TV
Event Calendar
Power Index

How to Advertise

Current Issue

Two for the Show

American Shane Van Boening escaped an early upset bid, then blasted his way to his second consecutive World Pool Masters title.

Story by Ted Lerner

Photos by JP Parmentier

When he came to Manchester, England, in mid-August to defend his World Pool Masters title, Shane Van Boening was, of course, a betting favorite. Going into Matchroom Sport’s annual 16-player invitational, however, several factors seemed to indicate that savvy punters might want to enter one of England’s many betting shops and plunk their cash down on someone other than the American great.

Sixteen of pool’s elite in one arena, short races to eight, winner breaks and single knockout always spells unpredictability. Perhaps more ominously for Van Boening was this cold hard fact of history: no player had ever successfully defended his title in this star-studded tournament. With so many of pool’s greats having competed in this made-for-TV extravaganza over 22 years, that statistic would surely seem to be some kind of anomaly. The great Ralf Souquet has captured six Masters titles. Francisco Bustamante and Thomas Engert have each won twice. Nobody, however, had managed to win back-to-back titles. Only two champions had even managed to reach the finals in the year following their win.

For Van Boening, there were more possible woes to ponder. When he won the Masters in 2014 in Nottingham, England, Van Boening crowned what had been a sizzling year, including his historic fourth U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships victory, and third in a row. But after falling flat yet again in with Team USA in December’s Mosconi Cup, the 32-year-old’s success on the 9-foot tables in 2015 has been spotty at best.

But the measure of a man’s greatness is surely not necessarily how they perform while on a roll, but how they achieve when times are tough, when things are not easily coming their way. Van Boening knows that greatness doesn’t come overnight, that patience trumps expectation, and, most importantly, adherence to discipline and practice usually leads to positive results.

"Van Boening proved twice was nice at Matchroom's latest extravaganza."

It’s a winning formula that saw Van Boening pull off what none of the greats of pool who have played in this prestigious tournament have ever accomplished. Grinding his way through two difficult opening matches, the American saw his opening and closed the door with two of the most blistering performances of his career, capping a brilliant run with an 8-2 shellacking of England’s Darren Appleton to become the first player in history to win back-to-back World Pool Masters titles.

“It feels awesome to win,” the low-key but clearly happy Van Boening said after his dramatic victory. “Before I came here, I practiced for almost a week and that work paid off. It is amazing. The more you practice, the better you get and that has really built up my confidence.”

"After narrowly avoiding a first-round exit, Van Boening maintained his focus and took dead aim at his second title."

First to the practice table in the morning and always the last to leave at night, the American couldn’t have picked a more appropriate venue to accomplish his once-in-a-generation feat. For its 23rd edition, Matchroom brought the 2015 Masters to England’s second city, Manchester, the booming gateway to the north of the country.

"Morra had Van Boening in his sights, but failed to seal the deal in the first round."

You could almost feel the olden times inside the 100-year-old Victoria Warehouse, a cavernous red brick event space that perfectly represents Manchester’s history of industrial strength. The unique venue also sits right around the corner from the legendary Old Trafford football stadium, home to the winningest team in soccer history, Manchester United.

Matchroom, the Essex, England-based sports television production company, once again continued to up the standards of televised pool, building a gorgeous arena inside Victoria Warehouse, complete with the latest lighting and high definition cameras recording it all for worldwide distribution. The venue and set up provided the perfect atmosphere for the 2015 Masters lineup, which contained the usual mix of current pool greats, with a few up-and-comers thrown in to try and create interest and upsets. (Matchroom had to scramble to fill the field as several players, including the Philippines’ Johann Chua and Scotland’s Jason Shaw, dropped out because of visa issues.)

With just four short matches over three days leading to the title, the Masters offers little chance to get loose, and the first round generally produces the biggest surprises. The first three matches on Friday night didn’t come with upsets, but they did show how nervy this event can be. Van Boening had to grind his way back from a 5-2 deficit against rising Canadian John Morra. The American clawed back to tie the match 5-5 and barely pulled out the win, 8-6. First up on the opening night was reigning World 9-Ball Champion Niels Feijen, who also grinded out a victory against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, 8-6.

The last match of the evening between local favorite Karl Boyes and China’s Liu Haitao didn’t produce an upset, but the match’s conclusion will certainly go down as one of pool’s biggest shockers.

Boyes, from nearby Blackpool. brought a contingent of family and friends with him, all of whom were in good moods and full throat. With his side cheering lustily on every made ball by Boyes, and every miss by Liu, and singing their adaptation of the Christmas classic, “Walking in a Boyesee Wonderland,” the match had the feel of a miniature Premiere League soccer match.

Liu seemed to take it all in stride and led throughout. But down 7-5, Boyes staged a gritty comeback and had two simple balls left for a spot in the quarterfinals. Already smiling and clearly ready to celebrate a comeback win with his mates, Boyes got down and watched a tap-in 8 ball bobble in the jaws of the corner pocket. There was a pregnant pause as the whole Boyes clan lost its collective voice. Liu potted the 8 and made a nervy spot shot on the 9-ball to take the match.

“It was crazy,” a shocked Boyes said afterward. “I cannot explain what has gone on there. I took two good racks out to get to 7-7. I had to play three amazing shots to get to the 8, and when I landed on that 8 I thought I had won. The atmosphere in there was mad. My concentration has never been the best, and when I landed on the 8 I thought it was going to go mental, so when I would win I would jump on the arena. When I played the 8 it rattled. I was in shock.”

More shock was in short supply for the remainder of the opening round matches, which continued through Saturday’s play. Qatar’s Waleed Majid looked in fine form with an 8-4 win over England’s Daryl Peach. The USA’s Johnny Archer manhandled Australian youngster James Georgiadis, 8-2. Souquet looked strong against Greece’s Nikos Ekonomopoulos, winning 8-3. England’s Mark Gray had no problems with a surprisingly weak Ko Pin Yi of Taiwan, winning, 8-5. And England’s Darren Appleton looked the goods with an 8-5 win over Poland’s tough Mateusz Sniegocki.

"Appleton could taste victory."

Of all the first round winners, Appleton looked the strongest and most focused. And the former two-time world champion continued to impress on Sunday’s busy final day. In the quarters, Appleton pulled away from a 4-4 tie to take down Archer, 8-4. The Englishman then moved into the semis to take on compatriot Gray, who had just stormed back from a 6-3 deficit to defeat Souquet in the quarters. Tied again at 4-4, Appleton pounced on several mistakes by Gray, then finally discovered his break shot, and won again, 8-4, to move into the final.

As tough and hard-nosed as Appleton looked, however, it was Van Boening who quickly declared himself the favorite. After disposing of Majid, 8-5, in an error-filled match, Van Boening faced off with the surging Liu, who had looked marvelous in a nervy, 8-6, win over Feijen earlier in the quarters. The match promised to be a cracker, as the American had the winning edge about him, while the talented Chinese looked unflappable.

But it was over in a flash. Van Boening won the lag and ran the first rack. In the second rack, Liu potted the 2 ball, then missed a long 3 ball. From there he took his seat and never got out of it. Van Boening proceeded to run five straight racks to move ahead, 7-0. He finished off the match by potting the 9 ball on the break. The 8-0 destruction took all of 27 minutes and 40 seconds, the fastest match in Masters history.

Earlier in the day, Van Boening claimed he had discovered something in the racking, which was being done with a traditional wooden triangle. In his semifinal, Appleton had finally found the sweet spot near the end. The prospect of two of pool’s greats going head to head while both on top of their games promised fans everything they could ever want in a finale.

The strategy for Appleton against a streaky player like Van Boening had to be to hammer and pressure him early, as the American is nearly unstoppable while leading in winners-break matches. Van Boening’s break deserted him early, but several mistakes from the Englishman allowed the American to move in front, 3-0. Appleton began the fight back.

A dry break from Van Boening led to a clear by Appleton to make it 3-1. Appleton bolstered his confidence further, when an errant safety by the American led to another clear and a 3-2 score line.

With the match already tense and pressure packed, Van Boening fouled, leaving Appleton an open table and seemingly in control of the proceedings. But a startling miss on the 4 ball in the side allowed Van Boening to clear and move ahead, 4-2.

Just as Appleton was wallowing in agitation, Van Boening kicked into the 9-ball on the break, sinking the golden ball for an instant 5-2 lead. Two minutes later, Van Boening found himself with a tidy 6-9 combination, which he deposited for a 6-2 lead. A minute later he stepped up and again kicked in the 9 ball on the break to move 7-2 in front. In a matter of five minutes, Van Boening had put a stranglehold on what had been a very tight match.

But Van Boening’s good fortune would soon get even more surreal. Faced with a cluster of balls and no open shot or safety option, the American literally took a whack at the 2 ball, which flew into a pack of balls and sent the 6 ball flying around the table and into a pocket. Incredibly, the 2 ball settled in the jaws of the top corner pocket, right next to the 9 ball. Facing the easy 2-9 combination, Van Boening became the first player to ever win two straight World Pool Masters titles.

“I don’t know what happened with the golden breaks,” Van Boening, who won $20,000, said afterwards. “The ball came around and hit the 9 ball and it went in. I hit the break hard, so it can happen.

“It is very hard to win the Masters. You have all the best players in the world, and especially playing against Darren Appleton in the final, who is one of the very best pool players.

“I got a lot of fortunate rolls, I made three golden breaks tonight with the one in the semifinal. It is very exciting for me to be the first player to win the Masters in consecutive years.”

Appleton was clearly upset with his loss, punctuated by his belief that early in the match he had Van Boening right where he wanted him.
“He broke unbelievably in the semifinals, so I knew I had to break well in the final,” said Appleton. “I had chances at the start of the game and he wasn’t breaking well, but I didn’t capitalize. I went 3-0 down, but could have been 3-0 up. I started to feel good and had ball in hand at 3-2. It wasn’t an easy finish, but I played a bad positional shot and missed the 4 ball. From 4-2 he broke and got a 9 on the break and he ran the next rack, got another golden break for 7-2, and in the last rack he smashed the balls and fluked the 6 ball to come out perfect for the 2-9 combo. When things like that happen, it is his tournament.”

Appleton, however, seemed to be thinking what others were pondering; the mouthwatering prospect that these two greats of their era will likely meet many times more in the coming months and years, with everything riding on the line.

“Looking back on the tournament I am really happy to have got to the final,” Appleton said. “I would have liked to have got more involved in the final, but he is a great player and hopefully in the next five or so years we will play in more finals.”