Ralf Souquet

Ralf Souquet (born 29 November 1968 in Eschweiler, Germany) is a German professional pool player. His nicknames are "the Kaiser" and "the Surgeon." Since 1981, he has won more than 200 tournament titles, including 41 German Champion and 32 European Champion titles.

He began playing billiards at the age of six in his parents' pub, practicing up to five hours per day. He won his first German Championship title at the age of fourteen in the juniors division. In 1985, Souquet co-won his first European Championship team title with the National Team, and in 1986 won his first individual title at the European Championship (juniors division). In 1997, he received the Silberne Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest official distinction awarded to sportspeople by Germany, which was presented to him by German President Roman Herzog.

In the 2006 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship in Manila, Philippines, he lost the final to Ronato Alcano 17-11. Souquet won the World Pool Masters Tournament for the fifth time in June 2006. He represented Team Europe in the 2006 Mosconi Cup in his twelfth appearance.

Personal Background

• Name: Ralf Souquet
• Known as: "the Kaiser" or "the Surgeon"
• Sex: Male
• Age: 39 years old
• Date of Birth: 29 November 1968
• Place of Birth: Eschweiler, Germany
• Country: Germany
• Nationality: German
• Hobbies: Playing pool
• Spouse: na
• Sports: Billiard

Achievements:

• World Pool Masters (1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006)
• WPA World Nine-ball Championship (1996)
• International Challenge of Champions (1996)
• US Open 14.1 Championship (2000)
• US Open Nine-ball Championship (2002)
• BCA Open Nine-ball Championship (2003, 2006)
• All-Japan Pool Championship (2004)
• Derby City Nine-ball Classic (2004, 2006)

Trivia:

• Ralf Souquet is a German professional pool player. His nicknames are "the Kaiser" and "the Surgeon." Since 1981, he has won more than 200 tournament titles, including 41 German Champion and 32 European Champion titles.

• He began playing billiards at the age of six in his parents' pub, practicing up to five hours per day. He won his first German Championship title at the age of fourteen in the juniors division. In 1985, Souquet co-won his first European Championship team title with the National Team, and in 1986 won his first individual title at the European Championship (juniors division). In 1997, he received the Silberne Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest official distinction awarded to sportspeople by Germany, which was presented to him by German President Roman Herzog.

• In the 2006 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship in Manila, Philippines, he lost the final to Ronato Alcano 17-11. Souquet won the World Pool Masters Tournament for the fifth time in June 2006. He represented Team Europe in the 2006 Mosconi Cup in his twelfth appearance.

U.S. Open down to final four: Van Boening, Mekari, Souquet and Alcano

Red-hot American Shane Van Boening will meet the surprising Tomoko Mekari in the hot-seat match of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship on Saturday afternoon, with Ralf Souquet and Ronnie Alcano hoping to emerge from the losers’ bracket to take the $50,000 top prize.

The final four finally emerged at 4:30 a.m. Saturday as Alcano beat Louie Ulrich, 11-3, to stay alive, and Souquet beat Ramil Gallego, 11-9, to earn another shot at the title.

Van Boening, 24, dominated his winners’ bracket semifinal against reigning world 9-ball champion Ronnie Alcano, showing no fear in attempting sporty combinations and precise banks. The lanky shooter from Sioux Falls, S.D., took a 8-3 lead on the strength of his smooth stroke and a crafty cut break that reliably sank balls on the otherwise stingy Diamond 9-footer.

The reserved and measured Van Boening showed no sign of the sudden case of nerves that made his 11-8 victory over Corey Deuel in the previous round unnecessarily close. After a cooled-off Alcano botched a 3 ball at 9-4, Van Boening mopped up the table and then broke and ran out to take the match, 11-4. The packed arena gave the young gun a standing ovation for a virtually flawless performance.

“I felt very confident in myself. Very calm, and that is what it’s all about,” Van Boening said.

The performance was in line with Van Boening’s rocket-like ascendancy this year to the top of the American talent pool. After finishing second to Dennis Orcollo at the EnjoyPool.com 9-Ball Championships in May, he won the World 10-Ball Championships later in the month – his first major title.

A U.S. Open title would virtually guarantee Van Boening a spot on America’s Mosconi Cup team in December – and make him a prime candidate for Player of the Year. Although cool in his match against Alcano, Van Boening couldn’t hide his glee afterwards.

“I’m just trying my best; I can’t wait until tomorrow,” he said.

Former world 9-ball champ Ralf Souquet had a tougher time with Mekari, a 38-year-old straight-pool specialist from Tokyo, Japan. After sprinting to a 3-0 lead, Souquet couldn’t keep any distance between him and his similarly deliberate opponent, who eventually knotted their back-and-forth match at 7-7.

At 8-8, Souquet broke dry, ceding control of the table to Mekari for the rest of the match. The current Japanese straight-pool champion and 10th ranked 9-baller showed superlative touch, weaving in and out of clusters and splitting the pockets on the longest of cut shots.

“That was a good game for me,” Mekari said through a translator. “I played the way I was supposed to play.”

Immediately after the match, Mekari fielded cell phone text messages from a half dozen Japanese pro players sending congratulations. His performance so far has surpassed his previous high finish at the U.S. Open, which he guesstimated in the top 32.

“The only thing I’m upset about is that I can’t have a beer right now,” said Mekari, who makes a practice of not drinking during tournaments.

Predator World 14.1 Day 1: Souquet & Stepanov Step It Up

East Brunswick, NJ- The battles have begun. Even the most elite 14.1 players would not be able to avoid defeat the first day as titans clashed early on. Russia's Konstantin Stepanov, also ranked #1 currently in Europe, won all three of his matches including a 100- 55 trouncing of legendary Allen Hopkins in which he ran 77 balls. Dennis Hatch suffered a worse beating to Netherland's Van Den Berg 100-18. European 14.1 Champion Niels Feijen demolished Immonen 100-28. Max Eberle defeated fellow USA player Mike Davis .

Some big upsets included local NYC player Michael Yednak defeating Danny Harriman and NYC's Joey Kong win over Germany's strong young gun Nico Otterman. Strong Northeast player Bob Maidhof handed former US Open 14.1 Champ Ralf Souquet a 100- 11 defeat.

Despite a loss, Souquet led the day with the highest run of the tournament with a 101. Hohmann came in second for the day at 100 while Dennis Hatch jumped back from his first loss and managed a 85 and out while Stepanov stayed strong with a 77. Ouschan ran 74 and tied with Immonen 74 while Schmidt ran 73. The top four highest runs of the entire event will receive bonus money with 1st taking $3000. Anyone running 200 balls or more will be awarded an additional $3000.

Other notable matches included a nail biter 100-95 win to Thomas Engert over Charlie Williams. Engert led the match from 56 to -1 and then 90-50 when Williams made a 40 ball run comeback while using a borrowed cue(many players had lost their cues in transit), and made a terrific backwards bankshot in the end but got stuck in the rack at 95-99 in favor of Engert. Fabio Petroni won his first two matches also using a borrowed cue from Thorsten Hohmann.

World Pool Masters Day One: Defending Champion Souquet Falls

The 2007 PartyPoker.net World Pool Masters got underway this afternoon at the Hotel Zuiderduin in sunny Egmond aan Zee, as defending champion Ralf Souquet suffered a shock exit at the hands of Spain’s European No.12 David Alcaide.

Event promoters Matchroom Sport had made the decision NOT to tap the balls into the table, and that proved telling as there were four golden breaks including a victorious one for Alcaide in the 14th and final rack.

Souquet, looked the better player throughout as Alcaide struggled with his positional play. However, the 28 year-old from Malaga stuck with it and when Souquet missed a relatively easy 4 ball with the scores at 6-6, the Spaniard seized the opportunity.

Alcaide made no mistakes as he ran through the remaining balls to take the lead for the first time at 7-6.

Just when he needed it, Alcaide delivered a golden break as the 9 ball got a fortuitous nudge from the 7 ball to help it into the corner pocket and seal an 8-6 win.

After the match Alcaide explained how the golden breaks came about; “The problem was that there was a gap between the 1 ball and the second ball in the pack and this allows the 9 to roll towards that corner pocket. You just play a normal hard break shot and watch it roll.

“The turning point for me was when Ralf missed the 4 ball and that gave me a good chance to finish off the table and of course, I made the golden break to win in the next.”

Germany’s Oliver Ortmann made it through to the next stages with a comfortable win over Naoyuki Oi, who became the third consecutive Japanese player to exit the third round of this event.

Ortmann, who won the pre-tournament warm-up event in Amsterdam on Thursday night, always looked in control although the flashy Japanese player had his moments with some spectacular pots.

In the final match of the afternoon session, Scotland’s Pat Holtz won an error-strewn encounter with the highly-fancied Li He-wen of China, a semi-finalist at the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship.

Both players struggled throughout as the pot-success rate fell by the rack. Holtz opened up a 3-0 lead before Li came back to get his nose in front at 6-5.

The Scotsman though dug deep and held on the secure a fine victory. "I never give in, the guy always has to beat me. Getting close is not good enough," said Holtz.

"I didn't feel nervous but I played some poor shots. I was struggling with the pace of the table and under-hitting and over-hitting, which cost me a couple of frames.

"It was a shaky match for the two of us and both of us were new to the event and you want to make a good impression, maybe we were trying too hard."

First Round
David Alcaide (Esp) 8 – 6 Ralf Souquet (Ger)
Oliver Ortmann (Ger) 8 – 3 Naoyuki Oi (Jap)
Pat Holtz (Sco) 8 – 6 Li He-wen (Chn)

Ralf Souquet on World Pool Masters Tournament

World Pool Masters Tournament World Pool Masters, is an international nine-ball tournament. Formerly, it was called the European Pool Masters until players from other parts of the globe were invited. The event is an annual invitational, featuring just sixteen world-class pool players, competing in single-elimination format. Ralf Souquet won champion in 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002 and in 2006.

World Pool Masters 2007

Ralf Souquet will begin the defence of his World Pool Masters title against Mosconi Cup team-mate David Alcaide.

Souquet, who has won the Masters a record five times, faces a tough first round encounter against Spaniard Alcaide in the opening match at the Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee, Holland.

These two players know each other well as they were part of the near-miss European Mosconi Cup side that played America in Rotterdam last December.

The Masters, one of the most prestigious events on the pool calendar, will be held from June 8-10 and features 16 top players from around the world, including reigning World Champion Ronnie Alcano (Philippines) and current European Champion, Niels Feijen (Holland).

Each match will be played in a race-to-eight, alternate break format with a 45-second shot-clock. The prize fund totals $62,000, with the winner pocketing $20,000, while first round losers take home $1,500. The event's major sponsor is PartyPoker.net.

World 8-Ball Pool Championships Fujairah, UAE Day Three

Erik Hjorleifson and Jason Klatt are representing Canada at the World 8-Ball Championship. Both players have played their way to the next stage.

The field at the World 8-Ball Pool Championships in Fuijairah has now been reduced to thirty-two players. On this elimination day perhaps the most surprising exit from the tournament is that of Oliver Ortmann. Ortmann lost yesterday to Farhad Shaverdi of Iran (8-7) and was eliminated today by Joven Bustamnte of the Phillipines (8-3).

The players who successfully negotiated this first stage of the event include most of the familiar names. Those include Thorsten Hohmann (GER), Hui-Kai Hsia (TPE), Nick Van Den Berg (NED), Ronnie Alcano (PHI), Dennis Orcollo (PHI), Francisco Bustamante (PHI), Marcus Chamat (SWE), and Efren Reyes (PHI). A complete list follows this report.

But first, a day off and a little celebrating. Tomorrow will be void of competition as the players will take some time off and will all be treated to a desert safari, including camel rides and a desert barbecue. This will be followed by a taste of the Dubai nightlife before returning to Fujairah to resume play on Tuesday.

Our hosts here in Fujairah have gone out of the way to make the players comfortable. Each evening a meal is catered to the tournament site by the restaurant of the five-star Meridian Al Aqah Beach Resort that includes five main courses accompanied by side dishes, salads and a huge selection of desserts. The playing conditions in the brand-new Al Bustan Centre are excellent, well-lit with lots of room between the tables and each individual match is presided over by local referees who answer ultimately to the WPA Sports Director, Thomas Overbeck, who is on-site overseeing the action.

Following are the results of play on Sunday and the pairings for play on Tuesday.

Results From Day Three:

Darren Appleton (GBR) def Olaf Köster (GER) 8-3
Marcus Chamat (SWE) def Saleem Al Juneebi (UAE) 8-3
Ralf Souquet (GER) def Jobert Panga (PHI) 8-2
Hisashi Kusano (JPN) def Mohammed Asim (IND) 8-5
Fabio Petroni (ITA) def Joybe Vincente (PHI) 8-3
Efren Reyes (PHI) def Bashar Hussein (QAT) 8-5
Muhammed Benali (QAT) def Zbyniek Vaic (RSA) 8-2
Rizandro Arrieta (VEN) def Mubarak Al Juneebi (UAE) 8-6
Jason Klatt (CAN) def Kareem Al Gendi (EGY) 8-2
Naif Al Jeweni (KSA) def Thomas Damm (GER) 8-4
Thomas Engert (GER) def Günter Geisen (GER) 8-1
Mario Tolentino (PHI) def Nasser Al Mujebel (KUW) 8-3
Joven Bustamante (PHI) def Oliver Ortmann (GER) 8-3
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) def Henrik Asperup (DEN) 8-3
Kevin Becker (GER) def Alex Evreniadis (AUS) 8-4
Lee Vann Corteza (PHI) def Issa Al Boloshi (UAE) 8-1
Satoshi Kawabata (JPN) def Hani Al Howri (UAE) 8-1
Ben Nunan (AUS) def Joven Alba (PHI) 8-4
James Ortega (PHI) def Karl Boyes (GBR) 8-6
Ralf Souquet (GER) def Saleem Al Juneebi (UAE) 8-1
Muhammed Benali (QAT) def Bashar Hussein (QAT) 8-2
Joybe Vincente (PHI) def Rizandro Arrieta (VEN) 8-2
Hisashi Kusano (JPN) def Olaf Köster (GER) 8-4
Alexander Dremsizis (GER) def Aki Heiskanen (FIN) 8-6