Important Dates for the End of the Season

Here are the remaining dates for your diaries...

Winter/Spring Season 2019 Dates

Saturday, May 18^th – End-of-season double-elimination blind draw doubles trophy tournament

Saturday, May 25^th - End-of-season double-elimination singles money tournament

Wednesday, May 29^th - last regular season matches

Wednesday, June 5^th; Sunday, June 9^th; Wednesday, June 12^th; - Playoffs

Friday, June 21^st - End-of-season banquet

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Written by Dominic Johnson

Category: Uncategorised

Published: 07 May 2019

Hits: 1546

Mid-Season Doubles Money and Scrooge Tournaments

This coming Saturday sees another extravaganza of pool for you lucky people. It's our Mid-Season Doubles Money Tournament.

Venues: JJ's and King Pub

Sign Ups: From 3-3:45pm in JJ's

Entry Fee: 10,000won for any player who has played 1 week of the season...yes, I did say 1 week!

Higher ranked players will be randomly paired with a lower ranked player.

Pay Outs:

240,000won (plus trophies) for 1st Place

180,000won for 2nd Place

120,000won for 3rd Place

80,000won for 4th Place

A big thank you to all those who helped out with the Mid-Season Singles tournament and/or attended the captains' meeting on Sunday.

From the captains' meeting the big changes you should be aware of are the fact we will revert back to the traditional playoff system of 1 vs 8. 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5. That now means playoffs will begin on Wednesday, June 5th.

Teams can return to regular doubles but only if both captains agree.

Mid-Season tournament entry requirements for players changed to 1 week rather than 3...see above!

Promotion and relegation issues will be determined at the organisational meeting by the executive committee along with an independent captain representing each division. A big thank you to Paul, Francis and Scott for agreeing to help us.

A proposal to move to a Songtan League style format was postponed till the organisational meeting in July.

Scrooge Tournaments

From this coming Tuesday, Scrooge Pub will be putting on a weekly pool tournament. Sign ups are from 6pm and play should commence by 7:30pm. It's 10,000won entry. The style of tournament will be determined by the number of participants and there will be spot prizes to be won on the night.

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Written by Dominic Johnson

Category: Uncategorised

Published: 25 March 2019

Hits: 1630

The Passing of Mr. Woo

Sad news for the Itaewon Pool League and the Itaewon community as a whole. Last week, one of the pioneers and true legends of the Itaewon Pool League, Il Sung Woo, passed away. You may not recognize him by that name, as he was more commonly known simply as "Mr. Woo".

Some of you might be wondering who Mr. Woo was. He was the owner of the Woodstock Bar in Itaewon. He was one of the original pool league members back in 2000. He had been out of the league since 2015, but he was a pool league legend. A diminutive little hippie Korean, I would guess in his sixties, but hard living on his part made it difficult to be sure of his age. He was definitely one of the most skilled players ever to play in our league. Scary good. He had Woodoo! He is ranked 9th in the Itaewon Pool League Top 100 of all time with a high rating of 2048. And he was truly that good. He could work a table like an obstacle course. I personally have never seen anyone better at navigating a difficult table. You would have had to have seen him play to understand what I am talking about. If anyone calls me a liar in this regard, that person is a liar.

But more than anything, Mr. Woo was a good person. Eccentric, but good. I can honestly tell you that I don't remember going into Woodstock even once without having him call my name "Ooh, Lenny!!" in his high-pitched voice. This was always followed by a hug and at least one free shot of whisky. The bar was a dive, but no one cared because Mr. Woo was a gem. 

Mr. Woo was much-loved by those who knew him. He was instrumental in establishing and building the Itaewon Pool League, and the live music community has much to thank him for, as well. He was a giver, and a lover of life. I am sad that he is gone, and I am sad for the people who knew and loved him. Even more so, however, I am sad for the people who never had a chance to meet him. Their lives would have been greatly enriched if they had.

Rest in peace, Mr. Woo. We love you and thank you.

Lenny Erickson

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Written by Lenny Erickson

Category: Announcements

Published: 11 April 2019

Hits: 1607

Captains' Meeting, Singles Tournament and Mid Season Review

Lots of business to attend to, so here we go...

Captains' Meeting: Sunday, March 24th at Phillie's at 5pm

A 15 point bonus will be awarded to all teams who send a representative (this does not have to be the captain) to discuss matters of playoffs as well as promotion and relegation.

Mid Season Singles Trophy Tournament: Saturday March 23rd at Scrooge, Shenanigans, JR Pub & Wolfhound

Sign Ups from 3-3:45pm in Scrooge

All players who have competed in three separate matches (played 3 weeks) can enter free of charge.

Trophies will be awarded to the top three players in higher and lower brackets

And just for future reference the Mid Season Doubles Money Tournament will be held the following weekend on Saturday march 30th. Details will be posted next week.

Now the formal business is out of the way, I think it might be time to see how the season is shaping up...

Championship A:

The executive committee have once again been patting themselves on the back for possibly creating the best A division this league has ever witnessed. Only 10 points separate top from bottom and that team currently languishing in last place have only won 1 match all season!!! For 3 weeks running every match in the A championship ended 8-7 before Stupid Strokers had to spoil the party by winning 10-5, I guess Paul was sick of being in last place. Team Pogi have evolved, generously donated half their championship winning side to King Pub, and got themselves a shiny new name...Excalibur. Pogi himself has moved on from narcissism-gate and dubbed himself King Pogi! The also welcomed *&^ %&$# back into the league and I just want to say that it's *&^%& #$@&%% %&*(*& &%$^&$ *^%$#. Sorry, IPL lawyers have instructed me to remove that name and sentence. All Farts are currently second after trying desperately to prove they are the natural home of all Filipinos in Korea by bribing Jun, Idol and others with free Lechon. Next come the Clergy, who were leading the division until Josh returned from vacation...I'm sure that's just a coincidence. 4th and 5th is a close battle between the Angry Birds (does anyone actually still play that anymore????) and the Strokers. And finally in last place the Brats...1 win all season!!! FIVE 8-7 losses in a row!!!! Four of them down to the final frame!!!! While Sam is on a one man crusade to get as many 8 ball runs as possible, their captain and former president of this league has actually forgotten that you are supposed to win games occasionally. Most of the time this wouldn't be an issue, but Rickie Ball has also decided to follow his leader's example.

Championship B:

From the A league being as tight as a nun's "habit" to the B league being as one sided as a Phillie's vs Championship A team match. Troublemakers are the only side this season to win 8 matches. They will, of course, change their name to "We're in Trouble" when they get promoted to A league next season. JJ's the Pain have not given up hope yet but everyone else in the division has. Rob Song has instructed his Sweet Life to have a very average season to vindicate the Executive Committee's decision not to send them up. Shenanigans recruited A League stars Macca, Ronan and Barry to come and join the easy life in B but played their first match against the worst A league team...it did not end well for Willy and the boys. Jumping Jacks and Vagabonds have been so ordinary they don't really deserve a mention. Fireballs have started the same way as last season and only started to realise the league had started in week 6...wake up Sunny!!!

Championship C:

This is all about the rivalry between Cats and Black Hole. Cats lead the way and are unbeaten this season but Black Hole are well aware of Cats' ability to cough up hairballs and thoroughly choke near the end of the season. Only three points separate the teams at the moment. Scandal are plodding along in 3rd place a mere 58 points behind the top two. I believe In Soo still plays for King Pub Fox but he only seems to exist in the pool league matrix as I haven't seen him or received a text from him or seen evidence that he has read a text from me since 2016. Russell is back "managing" Honey Pot...that must explain why the perennial challengers are currently in 5th, 168 points from the top. That leaves us with the most important battle in the league's history...Which Phillie's team will finish bottom???? Normally Bees would be wearing that crown proudly as captain of the worst team but Darrell is putting up a hell of a fight...oh no! Sorry, I just realised Frigates have still to put in last week's result...Congrats Bees!

Thank you for your support this season. Both Lenny and I really appreciate the hard work of the captains in helping us given the problems we have had with the website. Bernard is doing an amazing job from Thailand and sends us regular updates. Both Lenny and I struggle to even comprehend the issues he is having, so it must be tough. A few seasons back we awarded Bernard a 'Hall of Fame' trophy. He really does deserve it more than anyone. He is a true legend for working so hard for the league even though he no longer resides in Korea. He is back here from time to time and if you're lucky enough to see him around Itaewon please buy him a sambuca and say thanks.

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Written by Dominic Johnson

Category: Uncategorised

Published: 17 March 2019

Hits: 1531