Guernsey open 2024

[davejones]

As my partner has had to pull out of the doubles.

I looking for doubles partner if anyone fancies a challenge?

[oge]

www.guernseybarbilliards.org.uk/


Please see the link to our website which has the draws

[oge]

With just over 4 weeks for the guernsey open.

I will be pushing various venues for you to drop in to if you looking for some games away from KGV

First up we have the Fontaine inn. A popular venue. With a
good beer garden.
Jelkes table.
Mega meat and crab draw on the weekend

Table only available during the daytime

James the landlord plays in our division 2 he and his staff will look after you.

[oge]

Mat ogier and Paul dyer replace Roy le page and Pam in the pairs.

[oge]

As we focus on the guernsey open. The next bar we look at is the Hampshire Lodge a regular haunt for many guernsey players. They have pool, darts and skittle alley as well as a Barbilliard table. They have many events held on the weekends and Sharon Ford the landlady and her team will look after any visitor.

[bobhall]

Congratulations to Martin Cole on winning the guernsey open played great barbilliards from the off and grew stronger in the games and deserved the win beating Trevor in the final losing in semi finals were Matt ogier and Matt knight

Also congratulations to Michelle baden beating Lorraine hall in the First Ladies open

And congratulations to stu carruthers beating kt in the plate

[oge]

Massive thanks to everyone that took part and made it the the best Guernsey open so far. Special thanks to those that helped with running the event. Yesterday we even finished on time. Also congratulations to the winners
Martin Cole open
Michelle Baden ladies open
Curt and Gerry. Pairs open
Trevor Gallienne guernsey masters
Stuart plate
Diddy and oggy pairs plate
Martin men’s high break
Anita ladies high break

England men 34-32 international
England ladies 14-10 international

[billiardsmichael]

A nice short report for all of my bizarrely committed followers. I commend you if you make it through to the end in one sitting!!

After two trips to Jersey I decided to make my first venture to Guernsey this weekend and, given I crashed out of all the Redhill competitions basically before they started, to make sure Silents insomnia is treated this week I thought I'd do a special Guernsey report.

It's a long time since I'd last taken a car ferry, nigh on ten years I believe, and so the early morning drive to Poole had a bit of a "driving into the unknown" feel about it. The trip was pleasant and we got onto the island at about 1230 on Friday. I met up with the Redhill mob but, to my extreme disappointment, they had already completed the only sporting event I was really interested in without me... the crazy golf.

Our motley crew arrived for the Ladies Open at KGV and were treated to a spot of cricket, snooker and some bar billiards. I think it was clear that the Ladies Open was a bit experimental this year, it dragged on for quite some time as only two tables were used, while the Guernsey Masters very much took centre stage. Redhill's players were all drawn into one half, but everyone bowed out before the Semi-Finals, so we had a slightly earlier get away than we had wanted.

Saturday morning means one thing to me: parkrun. As this was my first visit to Guernsey I wasn't going to pass by the opportunity to visit a new parkrun, and given I was not on until 1050 I was afforded the time to complete it, have a shower and get to the venue - fabulous. After a (not so) small breakfast a 10 minute drive to the north-eastern edge of the island got to me to possibly the most picturesque parkrun I've completed. The sun beating down made for perfect basking weather, not really my preferred running weather, and 28 minutes later I was ready to jump in my car. Quick trip back to the hotel, freshen up and 5 minutes to the venue got me there with 10 minutes to spare - Im not sure if the Whittla was panicking or not, but I slightly worried "where are you" 20 minutes before the start suggested he may have been!

Our opening match was against the islands greatest player, Trevor, and arguably the islands greatest cricketer, Stuart Le Provost. Stuart was a late replacement and you would be forgiven for thinking that Trevor would have to carry him, but that was far from the case. He was a man inspired - scoring more points than the other three of us combined and consigning James and I to the plate.

Having put that disappointment to one side by watching one of the worst Crucible Semi-Finals in history, we embarked on a plate run. We started with a fairly comfortable victory against two of Bushys friends, I found them on the practice table five minutes after our start time - they were sold a lie thinking they were on 20 minutes later than they should have been. After that a clash against the merry Redhillian pairing of Karen & Sue on the red treacle top. (Just) Tapping up at 1300 in our break game being the telling contribution.

So we had made it to a semi-final, albeit in the plate, and were up against Nigel Senior & Michelle Baden with the grinning Matt Knight in the scorers chair. Matt, never to miss an opportunity to give his Brighton buddy a bit of needle, was happy to point to Nige's unfavorable singles record against Michael, although Nige has the advantage when it comes to pairs matches. Playing on the better red top, Nige was off early and I got the break back only to fluff my lines on the opening split. Nige wasn't going to waste that opportunity and a lovely 7k gave the Brighton pair a healthy lead. My break was a shocker, splits flying all over the show, and, with 2k on the board, I was tricked by the 20 hole. I attempted to go over it, but the cue ball spat out and the object ball ploughed through the opposite peg. From there it was a lost cause - the break wasn't coming back despite all our best efforts, James eventually getting it with time making a win impossible.

So after a good run in the Plate it was Internationals time. The Ladies were up first, 5/8 being from the Redhill contingent, with just the one singles game each, all played concurrently. I must admit I didn't realise it was going to be like this and the match was over before it had begun - maybe stretch it out a bit more next time, maybe play alongside the men so that teammates could watch each other? Anyhow England were victorious (14-10) and on to the men's we went.

After that short match, the men embarked on a marathon version with one set of four-legged pairs games and then the singles games split into two sets. England had sneaked an advantage in the Pairs, despite a brace of 5-0 drubbins, to take a 17-13 lead into the singles. Guernsey were clearly boyant after keeping the pairs close and closed the gap to just two points by winning the first set of singles legs 10-8, Martin Cole keeping England ahead with a clutch 200 shot to take the aggregate in his game. So 25-23 and England needed to tie the last set to keep their undefeated record alive against Guernsey... It was tight, but they managed it to squeak over the winning line 34-32, an emotional oge was clearly delighted to see his side go toe-to-toe with the English team, especially after a bit of a drubbing last time out.

With another late finish, there was just time for a quick nightcap before heading to bed. Another small breakfast in the morning and I was looking ahead to the day with some trepidation. After an unexpected run to the quarters at the Surrey Open, my draw for the first two rounds at Guernsey was comparatively generous. But I could settle in either of my opening matches, I couldn't shake off Claire until midway through the second leg while my frustrations rather boiled over in the L64 against Teri - a rather angry 3k opener in the second enough for me to fall over the line.

With a nice break until my L32 match, I took a meander around the surrounding area - out the back of the cricket pitch and carrying on until I found a road to loop back around on. You'll often see me go for a wander - sometimes it's to clear my head after a defeat, but in this case it was to put aside my frustrations and get myself in batter state of mind for what was to come.

That walk worked wonders as I approached my match with Steve Beach in a far better place. After he had knocked out Matt Jones in the round previous, I had to focus on the treacle top and I eventually sparked into gear. Steve opened with 1.5k and had stretched his lead to 2k before I (somehow) got them back. At this point I knuckled down and put up 3.8k, at the point the tables high break (damn you Coley) to take the lead and stretched that out to 2.5k at the bar. With my break to come I was in control, and despite a disappointing opener the table was quickly loaded up and a L16 spot sealed. With Mel still owed a drink or three after the U30s, I may have struck myself off the Beach Christmas card list!

So I had made it to the L16 and it was England man Phil Osbourne up next. We played on a top with English style pockets and Phil had bad memories from a defeat in the pairs a date before. I had been warned that it was a tricky top, and Phil clearly still was not getting on with it as he was off on about 600. I got them back but the one-up went behind and we were level. From their I think it's fair to say that there was only one person that looked like winning... I got the balls back fairly quickly and a steady 4.5k gave me a good lead before tap-tapping. In the second leg I was once again off with a poor split early, but I'd left them rather horrifically and the table soon loaded up. Some Ingram-esque single ball 30 potting saw me virtually to the winning line, before Phil embarked on a great break that almost saw him clear. It was clearly my day though as Phil managed to leave the last three balls plum for me, a two-baller followed by a three-ball boomer to clear and Phil was ready to shake. I eventually lost my break but it didn't matter, Phil's hand was outstretched and I'd made back-to-back Open quarter-finals.

So that was four down, three to go, but as we all know four down is one too many. The holy Matt, "Silent Knight", was next in my way and after plenty of banter all day, things suddenly became serious. I'd already been giving Matt a little needle in the tap-derby he played with Karen. A magnificent high break of 420, along with no balls potted on the break (at any stage of the match) was enough due to a mixture of standard taps, cushion taps and the odd marvellous inadvertent tap. That good humour was put to one side though and Matt put me in, the first toss I'd managed to lose all weekend. As Sleezy now knows, I'm top notch when it comes to calling tosses.

Onto the match itself and my first split was wayward, when played gently it drifted right, and my pace for the 10 split wasn't enough to see it drop into the 20. I tried the screw shot to get it off the cush, but uncharacteristically I hit it too well, the bottom taking beautifully and missing the object ball by a proverbial parsec. Matt and I both struggled to get them back, despite playing some good shots, and about ten minutes in Matt got them back and added a k before a thick split. I returned the favour by being next to retrieve the balls, adding 2k before another tragic split and I was off. Neither of us got the balls back from then on, but with a ball in front of the 10 Matt looked to hit it off one cushion... But it missed and careered into the black! The bar went soon after and I held a slender 2.5k lead. So, could Matt chase down another Redhillian in an Open quarter-final? Sure, a target of 2.5k is better than 16k, but in Guernsey it was clear that anything could happen. Matt looked very good, 100 splitting his way to parity before a rogue split saw him come off down the back. Michael was next to get them back, but he still wasn't comfy on the split and was off after just over a k. Both players looked like they could get the balls back and, after a few goes, Matt did so. He steadily got to 3k before disaster, thick split and the red went in with the white way short of the 100 and behind the black. Cushion tap was in order. In the immortal words of JV: "he's got the line, but has he got the pace? HE'S GOT THE LINE BUT HAS HE GOT THE PACE??" "Oooohhhhh". I was perfectly in line, Mat hit the red plum but it was going towards the peg, I thought it would pull up way short and so leaped from my seat to try and chase, but the red kept rolling and stopped a whisker shy of the peg. I'd be surprised if Matt's underpants were clean after that. I needed to clear up quick, there was still time, but it was tight. The ball by the peg was no issue, clunk clunk. The ball in the middle? Hit it and hope. Well I hit it, both balls went in, and the white peg was... over. Matt played it out for 2k, what I needed to chase him down, and deservedly progressed. A great game played in a great atmosphere. I look forward to more battles in future opens.

After that I'd managed to be the (joint) furthest Redhillian again and the evening became a classic. A wonderful curry at the Raj/Taj, an endless stream of laughter and a little vendetta prank on the master DC that would have made Damo proud. A great weekend, another quarter-final and I'm looking forward to next year already.

[tommo III]

Well done Michael on back to back quarter finals.....see you Wednesday no doubt the richer as I know the Guernsey prize fund is lucrative!

[BB Warrior]

May 6, 2024 19:06:04 GMT billiardsmichael said:

A nice short report for all of my bizarrely committed followers. I commend you if you make it through to the end in one sitting!!

A quite extraordinary report from one of our foremost correspondents of the modern era which I am sure has been eagerly devoured by his committed (mostly "Silent") followers as the perfect way to end any chance of insomnia at the end of another brilliant weekend over in Guernsey. 

In years gone by, I had a certain reputation for writing some lengthy posts on the forum - to the extent that I even have my own Emoji (partially) named after myself -  .  However, I feel that possibly even my best efforts fall some way short of this War & Peace-esque Epistle that shall, in future, simply be known as "How I Lost My Guernsey Virginity" by the Bandana Bandit!  

So, I will not even attempt to try to compete with the new-found legend of the written word.  

For myself, I thought that the whole weekend was very enjoyable, played in a great spirit and I have always thought that the welcome we have always received from our friends over in Guernsey is very hard to beat.... so my sincere thanks to all involved in organising and running the whole weekend. 

My congratulations go to all of the winners over the course of the weekend.... Martin Cole for winning the Open in a high quality final with local hero Trevor Gallienne, Plate winner Stuart Carruthers (another Guernsey "Virgin") who beat Kevin Tunstall, Michelle Baden for winning the inaugural Guernsey Ladies Open beating Lorraine Hall, Curt Driver and Gerry Fitzjohn for winning the Pairs Competition and the all Guernsey Pairing of Paul "Diddy" Dyer and Matt Ogier claiming victory in the Pairs Plate Final. 
 
Unlike our previous "Guernsey Virgin Reporter", I am one of the only 9 remaining players that have played in every year that the competition has been played since 2008 (This was the 15th Guernsey Open) and it is fantastic how it has grown and evolved into the event as it stands today, so my heartfelt thanks again go to everyone that has worked so hard to give us this weekend that we can all continue to enjoy in the future. 

[bigtj]

My thanks to all that put in so much hard work to organise and run the weekend, it was in my opinion a great weekend, great company, tables offering different challenges, I personally like the venue who always make us welcome and always good to catch up with many we only see occasionally. Well done to all the winners, great to see a ladies open and players of all abilities taking part and so much enthusiasm for our great game.

[tommo III]

Timeline now updated, new Guernsey Open Ladies included.