World Pool League

The World Pool League (WPL) was a nine ball pool tournament promoted by Matchroom Sport and PartyGaming, and sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). All of the events were held in Warsaw, Poland, annually from 1999 to 2006. Six notable players were selected to participate in each event, which lasted for three days. Despite its name, the WPA was simply an invitational tournament, not a league in the usual sporting senses. The victor in the final event was Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, 8–5 over Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, for a US$20,000 first-place prize.

Format

Round robin stage

The players were arranged such that each on the others once, in round-robin fashion. Unlike most matches in the sport where a player has to score a required number of racks to win, players in this round play in an assigned number of racks (for example: 10 racks or 12 racks). If a player won more racks than those remaining in the match, 2 points were earned. If the match ended with two players in the same score, then both settled for a point each. The leading 4 players in the field proceeded to the semi-finals.

Efren Reyes

Efren Manalang Reyes, OLD, PLH (born August 26, 1954), popularly known as Efren "Bata" Reyes and nicknamed 'The Magician', is a Filipino professional pool player. A winner of over 70 international titles , Reyes is the first man in history to win World Championships in two different disciplines in pool. Besides his World titles he is also a 14-time Derby City Classic champion, a two-time World Cup champion, and a two-time World Pool League champion. By defeating Earl Strickland in the inaugural Color of Money event in 1996, Reyes took home the largest single event purse in pool history. Many analysts, fans, and current and former players consider Reyes to be the greatest pool player of all time.

Biography

Early life

Reyes was born in Pampanga in the Philippines in 1954. He moved to Manila with his family at the age of 5. In Manila, he worked as a billiards attendant at his uncle's billiards hall, where he started learning the various cue sports. Because he was not tall enough to reach the pool table, he played while standing on Coca-Cola cases that he moved around. At night, while he was dreaming of playing pool, the pool table was his bed.

Francisco Bustamante

Francisco Bustamante (born December 29, 1963, Philippines) is a Filipino professional pocket billiards (pool) player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion, nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.

Early life

Bustamante is the youngest of eight siblings. People in his vicinity nicknamed him "Django" because of his scrappy nature and the way he often appeared with a cigarette in his mouth reminded them of the movie character of that name. The character was portrayed by an Italian actor. Their father made a living through building toilets and planting rice, and Bustamante engaged himself in the activities also. His life in pool began when he worked in his sister's pool hall, racking and spotting balls on the tables. When the patrons leave and the place closes for the night, the young Bustamante would grab a stick and practice alone.

He never completed high school and has been concentrating in pocket billiards from 10 years of age. He quoted:

Steve Davis

Steve Davis, OBE (born 22 August 1957) is an English former professional snooker player from Plumstead, London. Known for dominating the sport during the 1980s, when he won the World Championship six times and was ranked world number one for seven consecutive seasons, he is remembered particularly for contesting the 1985 World Championship final with Dennis Taylor, the black-ball conclusion of which attracted a record 18.5 million British viewers. He is a well known public figure and is generally viewed by his peers as one of the greatest players of all time. Today, Davis combines his ongoing playing career with his role as a television analyst and commentator for the BBC's snooker coverage.

In addition to his six world titles, Davis's career achievements include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. He has won a total of 28 ranking events, tied with John Higgins, and behind only Stephen Hendry, and has won over £5.5 million in prize money. Davis has compiled more than 350 competitive century breaks, including the first officially recognised (and first televised) maximum break in professional competition, in 1982. During the 1987/1988 season, he became the first player to complete snooker's Triple Crown by winning the UK Championship, Masters, and World Championship in the same season. His other accomplishments include winning the World Doubles Championship four times with Tony Meo and winning the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England.

World

World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth or pertaining to anywhere on Earth.

In a philosophical context it may refer to:

In a theological context, world usually refers to the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human history, often in religious contexts.

World history is commonly understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present.

World population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies (all countries), especially in the context of globalization. Terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags etc. also imply the sum or combination of all current-day sovereign states.