Place Your Bets With Jerry Forsyth

Place Your Bets With Jerry Forsyth

Jerry Forsyth is the most widely-travelled pool scribe on the scene. In his capacities as Tournament Editor for Pool & Billiard Magazine and as a recent addition to the Sky Sports commentary team he visits close to 20 countries per year in the company of the worlds greatest players.

This year alone he has been to events in such diverse locales as the United Arab Emirates, Tokyo, London, Las Vegas, Toronto and Aruba. For more than eight years now he has watched the world of pro 9-ball evolve. His credentials as a player are good: he has competed actively on the American Senior Tour run by Steve Mizerak. To say that he has an 'inside track' on the game is an understatement.

Here Jerry takes a look the betting odds and appraises the chances of some of the fancied and not-so-fancied competitors.



If one explores the betting sheets currently out on the upcoming World Pool Championship, one might find more than a few good bets. Sure, the odds makers have got a lot of it right. Cory Deuel deserves the top spot and Efren, well; you can’t make a living on betting against Efren.

But sitting down there at 14/1 is Fong-pang Chao, the fellow who won this thing just a couple of years ago! Sure, he faltered in the last 64 last year, but this is single-elimination 9-ball and freaky things can happen once without being a premonition of the future. When to bet on Chao: hard to say, he is a tough guy to read who keeps his emotions in check. Watch his opponents list. He does best against Westerners. If you see him facing Yang, cover your bet.

Jeremy Jones and Ralf Souquet could both pay off at 16/1, but the name that stands out is Charlie Williams (who just won the BCA Open in Las Vegas and is on a roll) at 18/1. I really like Charlie’s odds of getting through his initial group and then, once pumped, he can go all the way as easily as anyone with a cue stick. When to bet on Charlie: watch his pace. If it slows down to a crawl your money is in danger. When Charlie is sure of himself he plays pretty quickly.

By far my favorite bet is sitting way down at 28/1. Why the bookies would put Niels Feijen way down there is simply a mystery. This guy has a game that came into its own this year with a second-place finish at the huge Tokyo tournament and another high finish at Valley Forge earlier this year (5th).

His game is just beginning to peak and Cardiff is timed perfectly for him to be a giant-slayer. His biggest problem is he drew a really tough opening group. Still, at 28/1 you’ve gotta lay a few quid on this name. When to bet on Niels: When he is smiling. As long as Niels is enjoying himself at the table he is one tough cookie.

When he forgets that having fun is a primary prerequisite to playing well he digs his own grave. He shares that fault with a lot of sticks. Guys play fast and loose and happy in the opening rounds and can’t be beat. Then they get to finals day and go super serious and just can’t find their game. You study long, you study wrong. Relax, enjoy, and play your pace.

But you say you want to play some real long-shots? OK, we got ya covered. Try Nick Varner or Steve Davis at 40/1. (Especially since Davis gets a pump from the crowd and wants revenge for the drubbing he took in the Mosconi Cup this last year). Longer? Yep, we got ‘em. Radoslaw Babica and Evgeny Stalev both have the game to win and sit at 66/1! And whoever put Ernesto Dominquez down at 80/1 has never seen the man play.

So then, how do you bet £500? Well, if I were not forbidden by my requirement as a journalist to stay out of the action, my money would go down like this:

£100 on Neils Feijen.
£100 on Fong-pang Chao.
£100 on Charlie Williams.

Then the long shots:

£100 on Evgeny Stalev.
£100 on Steve Davis.

That should do it. Of course, in short-race single-elimination 9-ball anything can happen, but these guys all have the spirit and the skills required to go all the way!


Jerry Forsyth