THE FINAL of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool will be between Germany and Thailand after both sides won through their semi-final matches on Sunday afternoon at the SM Mall North in Quezon City, Manila.
Germany laboured for a 9-7 win over Korea while Thailand looked nothing short of sensational in trouncing Taiwan 9-3 and the two winning sides meet later in the race to ten final.
The German duo of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann survived a massive scare against the unheralded Korean pairing of Hwang Yong and Lee Gun Jae as they found themselves 6-2 down in the race to 9 match. The Koreans played fluently in the early stages while the Germans never looked at ease.
A dry break from Lee in the ninth session seemed to be the turning point and from there the Germans won six consecutive games as the Koreans disappeared from the game. Lee and Hwang won a final rack as it looked to go to the wire but they made too many errors over the second half of the match to close out the victory.
The Germans will need to improve considerably on this showing for tonight's final but at least they are in it.
Souquet said: "First of all I have to give my respect to Thorsten as he pulled me through as I made so many mistakes and missed so many balls.
"At the beginning we had a few problems where he missed some and we couldn't find any rhythm. Being 6-2 down we got together, took a time out and came out with a different plan. It didn't go as we wanted but a win is a win."
Hohmann added: "Give Team Korea respect as they took advantage of our mistakes and deserved to be in the lead. When we took a time out we said 'we're still champions and can still come back'. From then on we started playing better, got some rolls here and there and now we're in the final."
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams representing 31 nations - hosts Philippines have two sides. The total prize-fund is $250,000 with $60,000 going to the winning pair.
Meanwhile, the in second semi-final, Team Thailand put in a near flawless showing as they flattened the challenge of the Ko brothers from Taiwan, running out 9-3 winners. Nobody would have predicted this one in advance; the Thais don't have much pedigree in 9 ball, while the Taiwanese were coming in off the back of a great win over the Philippines last night.
Some glaring errors from Ko Pin-yi in the early stages were pounced on by Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Kobkit Palajin who looked a stress-free picture of calmness throughout.
The nearest the Taiwanese came was 4-2 but every mistake was ruthlessly punished by the Thais.
They have now beaten Holland, Estonia, Poland and now Taiwan and while on paper they may be distant second favourites behind Germany, there won't be many who saw today's performance who will be prepared to make that bet.
The 2011 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyPoker.net, the world's leading online poker school. Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Star Xing Pai and the Official Cue is Predator.
SEMI-FINALS RESULTS
Germany 9 - 7 Korea
Thailand 9 - 3 Chinese Taipei
