Chicago Poolplayers News

Home Pool Links Tournaments No Mercy team web site

Chicago Poolplayers News

"Life's Short, Shoot Pool"

This is the official web site for the Chicago Poolplayers News which is sponsored by CSI Chicago. This email newsletter goes out to all players and people who subscribe that are interested in billiard news in Chicago, subscribing is free by sending an email to csichicago1@yahoo.com. Tournaments, upcoming events & parties, products & discount coupons to subscribers of the Chicago Poolplayers News. If you would like a free subscription you can send an email and in the info line put Subscribe to Chicago Poolplayers News. We also welcome any comments or news on any upcoming tournaments or league play.

Las Vegas, Nevada- 21 year old billiard sensation Yu Ram Cha of Korea has been invited as the sole woman entrant of the 2009 World Pool Masters. The event took place at the Riviera Hotel on May 8-10 and was produced by Matchroom Sport. Sixteen men are invited each year, with last year being the first time a woman was invited in Jasmin Ouschan of Austria. This year 2009 Yu Ram Cha was selected.

Cha has quickly rised to the forefront of the pool world's more notable players. Nicknamed "The Little Lightning" for her petite stature but powerful break, stroke and explosive game, her titles include 2006 Korea Pro Tour Champion, 2007 Super Billiards Expo Woman's Amateur Champion, 2007 World Junior 10-Ball Champion, and multiple regional pro/am event wins in US women's tours. In 2008 Cha went out to the USA to try to win qualifiers for the WPBA Women's Pro Tour and quickly made a statement coming out of nowhere to finish 3rd at the WPBA US Open including a first time ESPN TV match win over Karen Corr. That year she took down a multitude of top names such as Monica Webb, Jasmin Ouschan, Xiao Ting Pan, Kelly Fisher, Helena Thornfeldt, Jennifer Chen and many more. She started the year unranked and finished #18 and earned WPBA Most Improved Player as well as 2008 Billiard's Digest Breakthrough Player.

Think you've seen every pool movie, guess again here is a list of movies, TV episodes and foreign films on pool. Click here Pool Movies.

Chicago Poolplayers News was at the recent WPBA (Women's Professional Billiards Association) Tournament held at the Blue Chip Casino Hotel in Michigan City, In. this Great Lakes Classic is the only tournament held in the Midwest for this 7 city tour.

Chicago Poolplayers News editor Gary Wing went to cover the 2009 midwest tournamnet shown here with Ga-Young Kim who took 1st place in the first round of the tour held at North Carolina, behind in the white blouse is Vivian "Texas Tornado" Villarreal who finished in the quarter finals, Ga-Young Kim ended up taking 3rd place in the semi finals in this Midwest tournament. Gai-Young Kim & Xiaoting Pan were featured on the cover of Pool & Billiard Magazines. The Great Lakes Classics were shown on ESPN TV.

Xiaoting Pan won first place in the Great Lake Classic in Michigan City vs. Helena Thornfedlt this was her first championship win. She placed Second place when she played Ga-Young Kim in North Carolina. The semi and final matches were shown on ESPN sports.

Jeanette Lee Allison Fisher Jennifer Barretta Karen Coor Jennifer Chen Ewa Mataya Laurance

Some of the pro women players at the Midwest tournament.

As editor of the Chicago Poolplayers News and now past billiard editor with Wassup Magazine, I get a chance to meet up with many of the top men's and women's pro players.


Charlie Williams Ranked #5 in the world		Mike Massey Trick Shot Champion	Franscio Bustamante Filipino Pool Champion	Mike Immonen Ranked #1 in the world

(You can also enter in the email where you play out of / and or your pool team and phone number-but it is not required).

I dedicate this web site to my dad who taught me and introduced me into pool. This photo and copy below is reproduced from an article from the 60's.

Jimmy Hong Wing standing in the doorway of Dragon Q Billiards at 202 W. Cermak, has good reason to smile! His billiard hall is a favorite Chicago haunt of the famous Minnesota Fats. In fact, Minnesota Fats has held exhibition matches at Dragon Q competing against local billiard players. Another frequent visitor has been Willie Mosconi, long-time holder of the World Championship title! Jimmy has played against both of these experts, but modestly considers himself only a "fair" billiard player. (There is an article about him with Minnesota Fats & Mosconi on page 80-81 in the book The GosPool of Bank Pool)

Having started playing at an early age and running the Dragon Q in Chicago's Chinatown. Two of the local players that would come and play was George Michaels who later turned pro and now owns a billiard clothing company in Calif. and Freddy the Beard author of Banking with the Beard and his new book The GosPool of Bank Pool, Freddy also does commentary for ESPN bank & one pocket tournaments. I recently caught up with George Michaels when I played in Vegas at the National APA championships. And see Freddy at tournaments in and around Chicago.

For the Chicago Northside APA web site click here. You can see schedules for all the different divisions, players & teams.

For the Chicago Central Division (downtown area and west) web site click here.

If you are interested in playing completive pool, I highly recommend joining the APA. This gives you opportunity to play against all types of players and will improve your game especially if you are a beginner or novice. You will also meet many new people in your area. If you are just a single player wanting to play on a team or are forming your own team (minimum 5 players, maximum 8 players) you can contact the above 2 Chicago APA leagues and they will walk you through in becoming an APA player or team captain. Your team will play out of a sponsored home bar and just like in any other sport you will have home games and away games. If your team needs team shirts contact us for any help you may need; as we do many of the Chicago APA team shirts. We also do individual photo t-shirts.

For information on the APA or interested in playing or organizing a team click on the above links and email them.