Mika Immonen (born 17 December 1972) is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."
He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball Championship
He has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the Mosconi Cup, most recently in 2010. During the 2008 event Mika was crowned MVP, forever banishing bad memories of a costly miss in the final game of the 2006 event.
In early 2009, Mika was awarded the title of Player of the Year. Subsequently, he also claimed that title for season 2009 and was awarded early 2010.
Mika was born in London, England, and is also an extremely accomplished snooker player, having amassed more than 100 century breaks.
Mika is a two-time Men's Division title-holder of the US Open Nine-ball Championship, where the worlds top professional billiard players compete in Chesapeake, Virginia. In 2009 Mika won 14 straight matches, finishing with a close 13-10 victory over Ralf Souquet in the finals. On October 26, 2008, Mika claimed a 13-7 victory and pocketed the first-place prize of US$40,000 against runner-up Filipino Ronato Alcano, who settled for $20,000.
Efren Manalang Reyes (born August 26, 1954) is a Filipino professional pool player and a two-time world champion.
Reyes was born in Pampanga 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.[citation needed]
He is called Bata, which is Filipino for "Kid", because there was another older pool player named Efren when he was young. To distinguish between the two, he was referred to as Efren Bata.
Gambling from a young age, Reyes played three cushion billiards in the 1960s and 1970s. After establishing himself as a winner, he was discovered by promoters. This gave him the opportunity to compete in big time tournaments.
During the 1980s, when Reyes was considered a top-class player in his homeland but not yet internationally recognized, he went to the U.S. to hustle. Popular legend claims that Reyes earned US$80,000 in a week; this feat made him a folk hero back home.
Darren Appleton (born 8 February 1978 in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England) is a British pool (pocket billiards) player, nicknamed "Dynamite". He won the first WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2008 against Wu Chia-ching, the former world champion in both nine-ball and eight-ball from Taiwan. With the victory, he became the second male player from Britain to win a world championship after Daryl Peach who won the world nine-ball title a year earlier.
Appleton, who started playing pool at age 12, was formerly the world ranked no. 1 player in British-style eight-ball pool. He was twice runner-up in the WEPF Eight-ball Pool World Championship. In 2006, he joined the International Pool Tour's standardised eight-ball competition. That year, he also won the Straight Pool Challenge at the Derby City Classic.
On 5 October 2008, Appleton claimed an upset victory in the inaugural WPA World Ten-ball Championship over Wu Chia-ching, 13–11, winning the US$100,000 top prize: "I've waited 16 years for this and have to enjoy the moment. I had mixed feelings and I was looking back at my disappointments in the past. I was ranked first (earlier in the decade) in the world but I have never won a world championship... It was a dream come true for me and I'm happy to win the title here in the Philippines."
Rodney Morris (born 25 November 1970 in Anaheim, California, USA) is a professional pool player of Chamorro - Hawaiian descent. He currently resides in Spring Hill, Florida.
In 1996, Morris won his first major tournament by defeating Efren Reyes in the finals of the US Open Nine-ball Championship. In 2003, after six years without a major title, he returned to top form and dominated the World Pool League tournament, besting Thorsten Hohmann the reigning World Champion.
He has represented Team USA in the Mosconi Cup on eight occasions. He was the Mosconi Cup MVP in 2004.
As a member of the International Pool Tour (IPT), in July 2006 he was runner-up to Efren Reyes in the inaugural IPT World Eight-ball Championship which was held in Reno, Nevada. While Reyes earned $500K for first place, Morris won $150K for second.
In July 2007, Rodney Morris was designated as the United Pool Players Association (UPA) Lead Player Representative. The UPA is the men's governing body of professional pool in the United States.
Nick Varner (born May 15, 1948 in Owensboro, Kentucky) is an American pool player and was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America in 1992.
Nick Varner became important on the professional pool scene after he won two ACU-I Intercollegiate Championships in 1970 while attending college. A cliché given to Varner was "Speak softly and carry a big stick" because of the way he conducted himself as well as his competitive endeavors.
In 1989, Varner became only the second man to earn over $100,000 in prize winnings accumulating 16 major nine-ball events and was "Player of the Year" in 1980 and 1989.
Varner achieved moderate success in his chosen "profession". Some of his accomplishments have included being an author, a video star, a pool room proprietor, a manufacturer's representative, and an exhibition player.