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Headstring News
Skowerski Wins Masters in All-Polish Final
Oct 8, 2012, 8:18 AM
 | | Skowerski ousted Sniegocki in a final that served as a coming out party for Poland. (Photo courtesy Matchroom Sport) |
In a fairytale ending, local player Karol Skowerski was crowned 2012 ClubWPT.com World Pool Masters Champion as he put away a host of big-name stars over the course of the tournament before ousting fellow Pole Mateusz Sniegocki, 8-6, in a tense final at the Hala Legionow in Kielce, Poland.
Skowerski had earlier beaten Shane Van Boening, Tony Drago and Nick van den Berg en route to the final, where he faced Sniegocki, who earned a spot in the 16-player Masters via a qualifying event. Hailing from Poznan, Sniegocki was no slouch himself, having beaten Ralf Souquet, Alex Pagulayan and Dennis Orcollo in earlier rounds.
“I still can’t believe it, and maybe tomorrow morning when my wife pinches me it may sink in,” said a shell-shocked Skowerski.
“I felt calm throughout though and for me you need to forget about the tournament, money and title and just concentrate on the pool. And it worked for me tonight.”
The Kielce native added, “The crowd helped me because when you play in this arena and you know that all the people around are behind you, then it’s very helpful and motivating.”
After reaching the final of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool in Manila last month with compatriot Wojciech Szewczyk, Skowerski certainly let everyone in the pool world know who he is. With this win, he has the perfect launching pad to move into the upper strata of the game.
He got off to a dream start as he kept Sniegocki off the table on his way to a 6-0 lead in the tace-to-8 final. All parts of his game were sharp, especially his break, leading to ample opportunities.
Sniegocki had a comeback in him, though, and came back to get the score to 6-5. The 12th game provd critical, though, and Sniegocki came up dry and from there Skowerski ran out to reach the hill.
Sniegocki took the next rack in a bit of a chess match. But when he left the 2 ball on into the side pocket in the next, Skowerski sank it and then eyed a 3-9 combination, which he executed perfectly to take the title and the $20,000 top prize.
“It was a strong field, but you must play well in just four matches to win it and with winner breaks anything can happen,” said Skowerski.
“The money is not important, and if I’d have thought about it in any way then I wouldn’t have achieved this success. I’m going home now to see my wife Alina and 3-month-old son Jan and if we can find a babysitter then we will be out celebrating!”
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