www.pro9.co.uk :Some very big names made it to Cambridge this weekend including Maltese snooker superstar Tony Drago, GB9 Supremo Imran Majid, London's Anthony Ginn, and even players from as far north as Yorkshire like Andy Appleton and Lee Rigby, and as far south as Bournemouth like Simon and Louis Clarke, all of whom braved the snow to join the fray.
The club was jam-packed and has been raking in a small fortune lately as the staff have been working full-pelt for a good while now, and today was no different with pool, football and poker events all happening at the same time.
There were a couple of new rules mentioned at this event, most notably the WPA have decided that a ten-ball made on the break is always re-spotted, no matter where it's pocketed.
From early on it became clear that this was going to be a traditional late finish here as the 47 runners played the new double elimination format and there were still several matches to play before the last 16 matches started as the clock was approaching 5.30pm already, and we weren't entirely sure that anyone had been eliminated at all yet!!!
In stark contrast to the rest of the day's matches, the final, which started at 1.30am, was played in a darkened, silent, and empty Mickey Flynns, as Rico Diks took the hill-hill final rack for a 6-5 win.
Despite the late hour, it was actually refreshing to see a final played at Mickey Flynns and I wouldn't have swapped it for the world. Craig got off to a super start and had a strong lead throughout the opening half of the match, but Rico was no stranger to coming from behind as he had made a string of spectacular come-backs in several of his previous matches here today, and once again he was able to defy the odds and take the match by the narrowest of margins.
I gave Rico a lift home to South West London as it was on my way home and when I dropped him off (at 4am) it was clear to see that despite the late hour he was still buzzing with the ecstatic thrill of victory.
There were quite a few new faces at this event and hopefully they will be around for the full season of Mickey Flynns events this year.
Many congratulations to both finalists - it couldn't have been any closer, and it was a good final to watch. Thanks also to the brilliant Mickey Flynns staff who coped admirably as usual with everything we threw at them - it's always a pleasure to attend Mickey Flynns events.
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