Pool Tournament
Thursday 27 August 2009 at 18:00
Rileys Victoria, 16 Semley Place, SW1W 9QJ
The SIAS pool tournament hit off on the 28 August, with the teams eager to pot for glory. As the previous winners of the last 4 years, the KPMG Boys, were unable to attend to defend their title, the title was very much up for grabs. A couple of the teams were out to seek revenge on opponents from the previous year while others were out to see how they fared against the crème of the actuary crop. It was looking as if it might be an exciting tournament.
After the usual various discussions on the rules, the games got under way. 41 teams turned up to play and they were divided into 12 groups of 3 or 4 teams. The best teams from each of the groups proceeding into the knock out tournament. The four best runners up from the groups also made it into the knockout stages. This was decided by the results against the top 3 teams in each of the group — nothing like a bit of calculations during a pool tournament. Group 3 was very closely contended between 3 of the 4 teams, with the 3 teams finishing equal on games won. However Vu Vuong and Ming Hav from Prudential managed to go through by leaving more of their opponents’ balls on the tables than any other team. Oliver Payne and his partner, were hoping to do well after winning their company pool tournament, however they were unsuccessful in getting past the group stages. This clearly highlights that the standard of games is very high in the actuarial profession.
With the knockout games under way, the tension in the tournament was building. However, it never fazed Amanda Ryan from Canada Life, who managed to pot the black to put her and Paul David into the semi-finals while the photographer snapped away. In the meantime last year’s runners up Dipesh Mehta and Mitesh Tailor from Hewitt, carried on potting their way to final in the hope that this year the trophy would be theirs. Their opponents in the final, Tom Hargreaves and Harsil Shah from Barnett Waddinghams, had other plans. It was not to be for Dipesh and Mitesh with Tom and Harsil winning 2-0. Congratulations to Tom and Harsil.
After the tournament, the players carried on into the night playing and drinking. Many discussions were heard on how it could have been so different if only their partner had potted an easy ball.
We hope that you all had an enjoyable evening and look forward to seeing you next year for a rematch.
Iain Ritchie